A/N: Okay. To Aaron Smiley's question: Yeah, I think I'm gonna continue the love triangle. evil grin Although I'm not sure how it's going to work out in the end... I also added another minorromance to my story.Anyway,read the chapter so you canleave me a nice review! I loooove reviews! (No flames please.)
Chapter 8
Touch and Go issues.
Donatello squinted his eyes, trying vainly to see in front of him. He was in the ventalation shafts of Dr. Andrew's mutation laboritory. His brothers were behind him. He heard a bang and a quiet curse from Raphael, who had presumably hit his head on the ceiling.
"Yo, Donnie, you think you could get some light in here?" he growled impatiently. "I can't see a thing –"
A sickening crack was heard. Raph swore loudly.
"Mike, would you watch where you put that big head of yours?" Raph snapped.
"Not my fault!" Michelangelo moaned, clutching his head. "You smashed into me."
Don's three-fingered hand found a metal grille. He pryed it loose and pulled it off, peering cautiously into the room beneath them.
"Shhh," he motioned to his brothers. They blinked in the sudden light and crawled over to him, gazing into the room. It was a security room. Guards in khaki green uniforms with a bright yellow symbol stamped on their chests moved around, feverishly trying to reactivate the security in sector fifteen, which Akasha had deactivated.
"On my signal," Leonardo whispered. "Three, two, one, go!" they sprang down into the room. The startled guards looked around, taking in their unusual appearances. They were quick to draw their weapons, however, guns and batons among them.
Even with weapons, they were at a disadvantage. Their ninja foes quickly rendered them all unconsious, and piled them non-to gently in a corner. Don sat down at one of the computers and set to work hacking into the mainframe. He idly messed with his headphones, accidently flicking a switch. Totally absorbed in the information on the computer screen, however, he did not notice.
"Hm," Don said thoughtfully. "Guys, look at this."
Leo, Raph and Mikey gathered around the computer. Don tapped a panel on the left-hand side of the screen with a thick green finger.
"Look, the list of Dr. Andrew's clients. And guess who just happens to be on there." The name 'Oroku Saki' was second on the list.
"Shredder!" Raph ground his teeth in fury, one hand instinctively grasping the handle of his sai. "We shoulda known he'd be in on it!"
"I gotta tell Akasha," Don pressed a butten on his wristwatch.
"Akasha?" he asked.
No answer.
"Akasha, are you there?"
Nothing.
"Hey, dudette, ya there?" Mikey called into the speaker. She did not reply.
"That's weird," Don muttered.
"Maybe she turned it off," Leo shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess," Don took off his headset and set it on the computer desk before turning back to the screen.
Akasha lay belly-down on the cold asphelt of the carpark. Her head ached ferociously from her two-story jump from the laboritory, and from Mr. Go almost tearing a chunk of her hair out. A shallow cut in her palm bled sluggishly; she had caught it on the jagged edge of the window as she had lept through it. The steady drip, drip of the motor oil slowly soaking the sleeve of her sweatshirt reminded her of her current situation. Luckily Mr. Touch and Mr. Go had seemingly given up and left, but Akasha was reluctant to venture from her hiding place in case they were lying in wait around a corner or behind a different car.
Suddenly she heard a faint crackling on her headphones. Then a familiar voice souded:
"Guys, look at this."
It's Don! Akasha thought, elated.
A series of bangs and scrapes from the headphones, then:
"Look, the list of Dr. Andrew's clients. And guess who just happens to be on there."
The much deeper voice of Raphael cut in:
"Shredder! We shoulda know he'd be in on it!"
"I gotta tell Akasha."
A moment of silence followed.
"Akasha?" Don asked.
Akasha pressed the 'speak' butten on her watch.
"I'm here!" she hissed into it. "Can you hear me? Don?" Her wristwatch flickered briefly, as if trying to turn on. It failed.
"Akasha, are you there?"
She tried again.
"I'm right here!"
"Hey, dudette, ya there?" Mikey's voice.
"That's weird," Don muttered.
"Maybe she turned it off," Leo suggested.
"Yeah, I guess." A rustling was heard.
"No, don't go!" Akasha almost cried. But she could still hear voices.
"We should go and find her," Raph sounded agitated for some reason. "Maybe she's in trouble."
"Why Raph, am I mistaken, or are you worrying about Akasha?" Mikey asked mockingly. He began to sing in a ridiculously high, childish voice. "Raph and Akasha, sittin' in a tree. K – I – S – S – I – N – G!"
Akasha blinked.
I'm going to kill Mike, she vowed, her cheeks burning. Raph was apparently thinking along the same lines. Akasha heard him bellow "MIKEY!" followed by a series of shrill squeals. She smiled in satisfaction.
"Could you two keep it down?" Don sounded irritated. "I can't hear myself think over here."
"Quiet," Leo ordered his two younger brothers. "Don's working."
"I have an idea." Don said abruptly. "I didn't plant a Turtle Tracker on Akasha, but I'm sure I could trace the signal of her headphones, from when she used it before. I'll give it a try."
Akasha hit herself on the forehead. Why hadn't she thought of that before? Not wanting to be found under a car with oil dripping on her and blood all over her hands, she rolled carefully out from under the car and stood up. Her head throbbed and she sank down on one knee, gasping. A stray splinter of glass lying on the ground drove itself through her jeans and into her knee. She cried out. Gritting her teeth, she pinched the glass shard with her forefinger and thumb and slowly drew it out. Her head spun.
Must… get… to… the… building… she faught the bile rising in her throat and heaved herself to her feet again. She broke into a heavy trot.
Akasha made it to a side door, made of heavy iron and with a keypad, like the front door. Luckily, however, calimari was the right password, and she got in without trouble. She decided to find a washroom to clean up, and wait for the turtles to find her.
On a nearby rooftop Mr. Go surveyed the horizen critically, one white gloved hand on his brow, shielding his eyes from the glare of the street lamps below him. The figure of a girl appeared from beneath a parked car and started toward the laboritory.
"Ah, so the little mouse has decided to come out of her hidy-hole!" Mr. Go commented to Mr. Touch. "Perhaps we should follow her, eh, Mr. Touch? We will make sure she does not come to harm. Our employer would not like that." Without a word, Mr. Touch nodded, and vaulted over the side of the building. His white-clad companian followed silently.
Raphael paced up and down, his head lowered, his mind racing. Ever since he had found out that they could not contact Akasha, a little voice in his head had been screaming at him to go and find her, to make sure she was all right. What if she had been kidnapped? Or a mutant had broken out and killed her? Horrible images appeared in his head. In the end he sat with his shell against the back wall and meditated to calm himself down.
Donatello was delving in his bag, trying to locate the tracking device he needed to find Akasha. By the time he had found it, Raph had given up his meditation and was pacing again.
"Since I'm not doing anything here, I'm gonna look for Ash," he stated abruptly, turning towards the door.
"I'll go with you!" Mike jumped down from the computer desk.
"No," Raph shook his head.
"Hang on Raph," Don motioned for his brother to come over to him. "Right," Don pulled a gizmo out of his bag. "This is a tracking device. You can track Akasha from the signal coming from her headset." He handed the contraption to Raph.
"Thanks." Raph took it and left. He wandered down several corridors before coming out to a crossroad where four halls met up. He looked down at the tracking device. It said that Akasha down the right hall, and to take another right about five hundred meters down. He set off, keeping up a brisk pace. The laboritory made him feel nervous. He would be glad once he was out of it.
He stopped outside a door. According to the tracking device, Akasha was in there… he looked at the sign on the door. It was a ladies washroom.
"Oh, great," he muttered. Steeling himself, he pushed the door open.
Akasha heard the door open and pretended not to notice. Someone came up behind her, and when he or she was two feet away Akasha ducked, dropping and rolling away to spring up again and face her attacker. Then she saw who it was.
"Oh, Raph!" She sounded relieved. "I thought is was…" She took a deep breath. "Never mind. What are you doing here?"
She thought of what she had heard on the headphones and blushed.
"We tried to reach you on the walkie-talkie and you didn't pick up, so we figured you'd been hurt or something. Donnie said that we could track the signal from your headphones," he explained. "What happened, anyway?"
"Oh, these two deranged dudes showed up, Touch and Go, or something." Akasha told him all about her encounter with them, and explained that her wristwatch walkie-talkie had been broken. She chose to leave out the part about her listening in on their conversation.
"Touch and Go?" Raph asked. "Mikey and Splinter ran into them a while ago, and then Mikey and Leo a little while after that. Apparently they were a couple of dudes Hun hired to get rid of us."
"But why were they after me?" Akasha wanted to scream. "They said that their 'employer' – Hun, obviously – didn't want me 'meddling in buisiness that I ought not meddle in'."
"They didn't follow you here, did they?" Raph whipped out is sais, twirling them threateningly.
"I don't think so," Akasha was past caring. She felt like tearing her hair out in frustration. "Let's just go back to the others."
"Oh, but we haven't been introduced!" Mr. Go walked nonchalently out of a bathroom stall, twirling his walking stick. "Who is this? One of Michelangelo's friends?"
Raph settled into a fighter's crouch, sais drawn and crossed in front of him. He maneuvered himself so that Akasha was behind him.
"How did you get in here?" Akasha was livid. "My mother's got a top-notch security system!"
"Our employer simply gave us the password!" Mr. Touch came out from another stall, a wide grin on his rough features. "You can't hide forever!"
"I'm not going to hide!" Akasha snarled. She sank into a fighter's crouch like Raph.
"You know martial arts, huh?" he asked, noticing her posture.
"Long story."
"I suppose we will simply have to take you by force!" Mr. Go said with an attempt to be sorrowful. "After you, Mr. Touch."
"Too kind, Mr. Go!"
Mr. Touch stepped forward. Raph moved to stop him, sais crossed in a defensive position over his plastron.
"Bring it on!" He swung his sai, but Mr. Touch caught the movement in a gigantic fist, and ripped the iron fork from its owners grip. He threw it carelessly into one of the sinks.
"You wanna fight tough, huh?"
Akasha, meanwhile, was dueling Mr. Go. He was fast, and she only just managed to block his blows.
"Don't call you Mr. Go for nothing, eh?" she panted. She flipped backward and landed in a crouch. She rolled to one side as Mr. Go's walking stick landed where her head had been.
"Come out, little mouse," he called, an evil grin on his face.
"Stop calling me that!" Akasha swept her leg under his, trying to dump him on the ground, but he simply jumped right over her and lashed out with his walking stick, hitting her in the face. She fell backward, clutching her nose, blood pouring from between her fingers.
Raph roared and kicked Mr. Touch in the stomach, sending him sprawling backward, before running to Akasha's aid.
Mr. Go spun, hitting Raph in the chest, sending him careening backward. He hit the row of sinks shell first, the breath knocked out of him. Mr. Go advanced, walking stick raised.
He felt something tickle the back of his arm. His sai! With a quick flick, he snatched it from the sink and threw it at his white-clad opponant. Mr. Go ducked; the sai hit a bathroom stall and clattered to the tiled floor.
"You see, little turtle-man, you cannot fight us," Mr. Go said silkily. "Say bye-bye, freak!" He swung his walking stick –
Akasha brought the butt of Raph's sai down on Mr. Go's head. He collapsed, out cold. Akasha wiped blood from her nose with the sleeve of her sweater, a look of savage satisfation on her face.
"Here," she gave Raph his sai back. He took it.
"Thanks." Raph looked around. Mr. Touch was picking himself up off the floor, looking a little dazed. He stumbled over to his fallen companion and turned him over. Seeing that he was still alive, the purple-wearing man growled and came at Raph, fists raised.
Raph ducked his first punch and blocked his second. He parried his third and hit him over the head, knocking him out. Mr. Touch fell to the ground, on top of Mr. Go.
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt," Akasha commented. Then she laughed.
"They're not so tough without their little power-up routine, eh?"
Raph shook his head, sheathing his sai.
"Let's go find the others," Akasha yawned, rubbing her eyes. "I'm so tired…" she sat down on the floor, and yawned again. Raph looked a little taken-aback.
"C'mon, we gotta go," he yawned. "Then again…" He slid down to sit next to Akasha, who was already fast asleep. They didn't notice the yellow smoke coming from a tiny vial Mr. Touch was now hurriedly stowing in his jacket pocket, or that neither he nor his white-clad friend was really unconsious.
Mr. Go got up and stretched luxuriously, like a sleek white cat.
"Ah, good thinking, Mr. Touch," he praised, tweaking the hem of his tuxedo jacket into a more suitable position. "They will be asleep for hours! We can take them back to our employer." He studied the slightly squashed rose in his buttenhole and tutted. He carefully removed the offensively crumpled flower and dropped it into a garbage bin before turning back to his large companion.
"Our employer only wanted the girl," Mr. Touch pointed out. "What about the turtle-being?"
"Surely our employer will enjoy destroying such a troublesome little green menace?" Mr. Go smiled cruelly. "We would not want to deny him such a treat."
Mr. Touch nodded and stooped to pick up Raph and Akasha. Then he turned and left the room. Mr. Go followed, the tapping of his walking stick fading away into the silence.
Michelangelo fiddled with his bandana tails. He was sitting on the computer desk next to Don, who was busily typing, his eyes glued to the computer screen.
He glanced at Mikey, an irate expression upon his face.
"Would you quit swinging your legs?" he said, a bit of a snappish edge to his voice. "You're moving the desk around."
Mike rolled his eyes and continued to swing his legs, although he slowed them ever so slightly. Leo narrowed his eyes at Mikey, who then ceased his leg-swinging immediantly.
"I wonder where Raph is?" Don muttered to himself. "He's been gone for ages."
"Maybe he got lost." Mikey sniggered.
"Nah, he'd've called us on his Shell Cell," Don pulled out his own Shell Cell and dialled Raph's number. "I'm gonna call him."
The dial tone issued from the cell phone. Nobody picked up.
"That's weird." Don shrugged.
"I wonder why he didn't pick up?" Leo said. "He always picks up."
"I can go and get him!" Mikey lept down from the desk, rubbing his hands together with eager anticipation.
"I'll go with you." Leo decided. He turned to Don. "You'll be okay here…?"
It was Don's turn to roll his eyes.
"Duh, Leo, I got it covered," he assured his older brother. "You go and find Raphie-boy. I'll catch up."
Leo nodded and followed the orange-banded turtle out of the room. He paused at the doorway.
"Phone if you need anything," he said. "I'll leave my Shell Cell on." He closed the door behind him.
Don turned back to the computer screen.
A/N:See? No cliffie this time. How merciful of me. Don't forget to leave a review!