Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT, or any related characters (much to their relief, I'm sure!) If there is anything else in this story you recognise from somewhere else, then I don't own that either.
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There was a carnival atmosphere in the warehouse. Hundreds of punks filled the floor and gantries; whooping, fooling about and showing off with all manner of hand held weapons, and gossiping about the fun they were expecting to have soon. On the raised section in the middle of the floor that was usually reserved for 'entertainment', Hun was overseeing the distribution of an array of munitions, and barking commands to bring some order to the chaos milling about him.
It had taken Tausha around thirty minutes to get up the courage to leave her apartment again. She figured forty had ticked by since she had first fled until she found her self sneaking back into the warehouse through the passage that joined the two buildings. She had ducked into the shadows under one of the gantry stairs. It was another five minutes before she spotted Hun leaving the basement stairwell with his entourage of helpers. She hadn't seen him look so pleased in ages; the thought of what he had enjoyed made her feel sick.
Once Hun was occupied with his preparations she cautiously made her way through the throng to the basement stairwell. It wasn't too difficult, most of the punks just ignored her anyway, and one of Hun's first orders was to send Dragon Face and quite a few others out to scout for the rest of the turtles. She managed to hop down the stairs without arousing any curiosity from those stood nearby. The double doors were closed again, and she stood with her back leaning lightly against them for a moment. What the hell was she doing? She was gonna get herself in serious trouble if she was caught. Did she really want to see the extent of what had happened? What if he was dead? Or perhaps worse, what if he wasn't? Steeling herself with a deep breath she slipped through the doors and saw… nothing.
The lights had been turned off and it took a few moments for her vision to adjust to the near complete darkness. Trying to pierce the gloom in the cage her heart started to creep into her throat, the total silence mocking her. Surely he was still in there, she groped forward until she could clasp the chill bars. Using them as a guide she started to make her way around the enclosure. Finally the play of the feeble light as she moved revealed a darker shadow on the floor, near the far corner.
Moving more quickly she reached the point closest to the bulk. She couldn't hear any sounds of breathing or movement. He had fallen face down with his head towards the corner. Tentatively she reached in to touch his neck. She shuddered at the sticky feeling of drying blood on his rough, cold skin. He didn't respond at all as she applied a little pressure with the balls of her fingers; nothing. She moved her hand a little; maybe his carotid artery was in a different spot to humans. Still nothing. Her anxiety rising she pressed harder as she probed, finally feeling a faint pulse. It was weak, but fairly steady. Tausha sighed out the breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.
The relief boosted her confidence, and she reached into the cage with both hands to gently turn his head to help clear his airway. The slight warmth on her hand in front of his mouth confirmed he was breathing, if only shallowly. The first aid training she'd had at school trickled into her mind. It would probably be easier for him to breathe if she could get him onto his side. But how the hell could she do that? She'd had to push her face hard against the bars just to be able to reach to move his head. She had no idea where the key to the cage was kept, probably with Hun upstairs.
Tausha groped through the darkness behind her, finding the door way to the bathroom she turned on the light within. Glancing back she gasped as the beam of light illuminated the turtle crumpled on the floor. He had been pretty badly bruised and battered the last time she saw him. But now as much of his upper body as she could see was darkening to an ugly purple under the smears of blood where his skin had been broken. His face was almost completely coated, as small red pool gathering on the floor beneath the corner of his mouth.
Not knowing what else to do Tausha grabbed a few more towels, shoving them all into a sink to wet them, then carried her soggy load back to the cage. Working in the light from the bathroom she started to mop away the blood from his face, trying to determine its sources and hoping the attention would wake her patient. Long minutes later Tausha had managed to cleanse his face. She sat back, giving her aching arms a rub. Most of the blood seemed to have come from a nasty cut down the side of his right eye, and a split on the left side of his mouth that traversed through both his lips. Given the amount of blood that had pooled from his mouth Tausha suspected he had a lot more damage inside. He still hadn't moved or made a sound.
The cut on the side of his face was still leaking onto his eyelid, the damp towels doing little to help it clot. Tausha raided the bathroom again for a dry cloth and was dabbing the excess seepage away when he groaned weakly. "No…, please…, no more…" the appeal almost inaudible as he twitched slightly away from the touch of the material. Tausha dropped the towel to the floor and ran a reassuring hand gently down his cheek. "It's OK, I'm here to help you." Mike struggled for a moment to open his eyes and turn his head slightly to see her. "Thanks" he rasped with a shadow of a smile. She beamed back "Just relax, you're in a pretty bad way." Tausha picked up the towel again and returned to her administrations. Mike swallowed thickly "No dah!"
Finally Tausha was satisfied that the damage to his face had clotted as well as could be expected. Mike had only winced a couple of times as she daubed too close to his wounds. However, she was still concerned about his breathing; even now it was very shallow and ragged. Dropping the towel she cupped his cheek, waiting until he opened his eyes again. "Can you move at all?" she asked gently. "Dunno." He grimaced as his shoulders flexed. Wedging her shoulder as far through the bars as she could Tausha managed to push on the edge of his carapace to help him roll on his side. She knew from her run-ins with his brother that their plastron offered some protection, indeed there had only been a few spots of colour on Mikes' front previously. Now it was hard for her to see areas that weren't darkening.
Mike groaned as he settled into his new position, his eyes fluttering shut once more. However, he was able to take deeper breaths now he wasn't hindered by the weight of his shell; or by his hands that had been folded under his chest. Tausha let him rest for a few moments, but looking at the damage to his arms knew he needed more attention. "Can you give me your hands?" she asked once his breathing had settled into a steady rhythm. He gave her a pained look, but slowly complied. She took them, taking care not to let the shackles rub against the skin they had already damaged as his weight had crushed them into his wrists. Grabbing a fresh damp towel from the pile she started to clean up his arms.
It was awkward work, until Mike grabbed her arms feebly. "Help me up…" he rasped. They struggled to sit him up against the bars, but eventually ended up sitting side by side. Tausha watched him intently as she caught her own breath back. He was obviously in a lot of pain, but still managed a weak smile once he had settled a little. She reached over to grab yet another towel, intent on wiping the blood off his chest. Mike grabbed her hand again. "Don't s'pose you can help me with somethin' else?" he murmured earnestly. "Sure, what?" "Need my shell cell, talk to my bros, let 'em know I'm OK." Tausha wasn't too sure she'd heard him correctly, his speech was fairly slurred. "Did you say 'shell cell'?" Mike started to nod; then wincing thought better of it. "Yeah, like a mobile, over there." He pointed towards his gear on the bench, not bothering to raise his hand off his knee.
Tausha shuffled uneasily, glancing towards the double doors. "I dunno, I'm gonna be in for it if I'm caught just being in here…" "Please, jus' the phone. Promise won't ask for anythin' else." Tausha looked at him dubiously, but his earnest expression and the effort it cost him to ask overcame her reluctance. She stood up with a huff. "Damn it, I dunno why I'm doin' this. I'm gonna wind up dead for sure…" she continued muttering under her breath as she dug through the gear on the bench. She checked the long coat first with no luck, only half a packet of Strawberry Pez and some crumpled comics there. Tossing the coat aside she uncovered the leather belt, straps and pads of his 'uniform'; along with a bright orange bandana and a pair of nunchakus banded in the same colour material. "What the…, orange? I thought these guys were meant to be ninja!" In one of the compartments on his belt she found a device that looked a bit like a shell. Guessing it was what she was after she returned to sit next to Mike with it.
The small grin he gave her as she handed it over proved she was right. Curious she peered over his shoulder as he flipped it open and pressed a button. The mini screen in the top half of the device flickered to life almost instantly. A blue clad turtle had obviously answered the call, a second in purple craning over his shoulder to see. They seemed to be in some kind of van, moving at a bit of speed by the look of it. "Mikey! What the hell happened to you?" demanded the blue turtle, the purple asking simultaneously "Mike! Are you OK?" In the background a third voice she recognised also demanded "How is he, is he OK Leo?" The blue turtle scowled briefly at the interruptions. "Sorry Leo" muttered the purple turtle, though he didn't shift from his position at all.
Through all this Mike just grinned even wider, making him wince again. "I'm OK guys, just bit worse fer wear." "'A bit' is an understatement Mike, we know you're in the Purple Dragon Head Quarters. We're heading there now to scope out the situation. Can you tell us exactly where you are… and who the hell is that?" Leo pointed towards the top of the screen. "Yeah. I'm in a cell; think in the basement." Tausha nodded to confirm this fact, then Mike tipped his head slightly in her direction. "And this? Heh, tell Raphie Tausha says 'Hi'!" "Tausha?" Leo queried. "Who?" demanded the voice in the background.
The purple turtle disrupted the conversation, pointing at something in the distance. "Pull in there Raph, if we get much closer we'll be spotted for sure." Mike chortled softly as the screen showed his brothers being roughly jostled, the van taking a sharp turn at speed, then halting abruptly. "Smooth as always, Raph. HEY!" Leo quipped sarcastically before the screen blurred, Raph grabbing the hand set from him. "DAMN Mikey! You look like cra… YOU!" He spied the girl in the background of the screen. "If you've hurt my brother I'm gonna…" "What? Kill me?" She completed for him, dead pan. "DAMN STRAIGHT, Bit… HEY!" Leo snatched the handset back again. "Stop it. There'll be plenty of time for you two to finish this nonsense later. We've got more important things to deal with now." The image of Raph stalking to the rear of the van was blocked by the purple turtle craning further over Leo's chair for a closer look.
Mike groaned slightly, his grin taking its toll on his battered face. Tausha gave him a worried look, having to turn back from the huff she'd made at Leo's comment. "It's cool guys, she's been helping me out." Leo shot Tausha a dubious glance. "Why?" Not really knowing the answer to that herself Tausha shrugged. "I… er, I… Uh oh." Voices sounded from the hallway outside the doors once more. Mike and Tausha shared a fleeting look of understanding before they acted. Mike shuffled sideways to lay back down on the floor, Tausha grabbing the mess of towels and bolting for the bathroom. "Got company, gotta go." Mike whispered into his phone before closing it up and tucking it under his side. He closed his eyes just as the main lights flickered on.
Two punks entered, one looked like he was playing host to a bright green sea urchin on his head, his dragon tat curling up his leg under his cut-off denim shorts. The other had slick, greasy looking black hair pasted back in a pony tail at the nape of his neck. His dragon writhed around his neck, its tail disappearing under the half open shirt he wore. Tausha couldn't think of their names, but recognised them as recently promoted 'lieutenants' in Hun's make-shift army. She had grabbed a small shaving mirror that had been left by one of the sinks and was using it to peer round the corner of the bathroom entrance, holding it near the floor to hopefully avoid being seen.
The slick goon unlocked the cage and motioned for his companion to enter first. The spiky haired punk strode in and squatted just out of arms reach of the unmoving form on the floor. "Looks like he's out cold." He muttered. "Best make sure he's still with us, eh?" Said Slick as he stood beside Spike, then waved him forward impatiently when his comrade gave him a questioning look. "Why do I have ta do it?" Spike queried as he rose to his feet. "'Cos I said so. 'sides you're wearin' sodding great boots, these are real Italian leather." Spike rolled his eyes at his vain friend then gave Mike a solid kick in the gut. The blow forced a sharp grunt from the turtle as the air was forced from his lungs, but other than that he didn't stir. "Yep, still kickin'" was Spikes' diagnosis "gonna be fun when the others get here." Slick agreed with a laugh. "Yeah, were all gonna be livin' off turtle soup for a month!" The two seemed to find this particularly amusing, their mirth continuing as Spike relocked the cage. They didn't bother turning out the light as they left.
Crawling from her hiding place back to the side of the cage Tausha laid a tentative hand on the back of Mike's head. He managed to look up at her with a brief, faint but brave smile. She stroked his head reassuringly a couple of times as he relaxed back on the floor. Her curiosity was piqued about what was awaiting his brother's upstairs. Deciding there wasn't anything else she could do here anyway; she snuck back out of the basement and hid in the deep shadows in the corner near the stairwell. The warehouse was quieter and a bit more orderly now. Only the spotlights illuminating the centre stage were still lit. Despite this Tausha could make out hundreds of punks on the stands and gantries; most of them carrying rifles, the rest with hand guns.
On the far side of the platform there was an old office area raised up on stilts. In the deeper darkness underneath this structure Tausha saw a platoon dressed in a similar kind of uniform to the one she had taken a couple of weeks before. She thought that peering through the brightness of the lights between her hiding spot and the ninja legion must be playing tricks on her eyes. Some of them seemed to be moving so quickly it was like they were appearing and disappearing into thin air.
The whole place seemed to be buzzing with a pent up energy, the murmur of dozens of whispered conversations, the creaks and groans of the gantries as people shifted their weight uneasily created a hushed sound track to the scene. Hun and a sizable group of his most trusted associates were still on the stage, most talking on mobile phones, giving orders to runners or warming up with their weapons. None of them were holding guns, although a few were sporting laden holsters.
Hun ended his call and held up his hand for silence. It only took a few moments for every eye in the place to be fixed on him. "Listen up! The freaks have been spotted close by, and an extra bit of good news. They've brought that damn vigilante with 'em." A brief cheer went up from the crowd, dying quickly as Hun raised his hand for quiet again. "There will be no mistakes tonight. If they don't make a move soon we already have squads in place to drive them to us. Either way we won't be waiting long. Remember, fire only to drive them up here, keep them from escaping and to cripple them. Do not shoot to kill, or aim at them once they are on this stage." Hun drew his katana from its sheath. "I want to be able to finish them myself. Tonight the Dragon will be VICTORIOUS!" A deafening cheer went up from the whole assembly.
Feeling weak at the knees Tausha leant against the corner for support. She wasn't naïve; she understood that the members of her gang were violent thugs and criminals, but all this against a handful of guys? It seemed to be overkill, quite literally. She watched as Slick hopped up on the stage to talk to Hun. A few irate gestures from their leader sent the two punks walking back towards the basement stairwell. Tausha watched numbly as they descended the steps, they hadn't even noticed her in the shadows.
White noise buzzed between Tausha's ears, blocking any attempts of coherent thought regarding what she should do now. Absently she started to rub her left wrist. The damn bandage hidden under the cuff of her shirt was itching again. The complaints from the damaged limb at her rough treatment seemed to give her mind something to focus on. Suddenly a thought struck her like a smack to the head. Despite being her enemies, the turtles had spared her life, twice now she thought about it. The second time she had very nearly killed Raphael first. It was so obvious she wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. That was way she had felt compelled to help Mike, she owed his brother her life whether she liked it or not. The least she could do is try to even the odds a little tonight in return. Besides, this event was obviously something the whole gang was anxious to enjoy. Her father would be soooo pissed if it went wrong. With an odd manic smile and absolutely no idea of what she was gonna do; she started back down the stairs.