A/N: I've changed my layout style a little in this chapter. Each new line of dialogue begins on a fresh line. Please tell me what you think. Do you prefer this format to the previous chapters?
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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The two punks were grumbling together in the hallway outside the double doors.
"Fuck it! Why do we get stuck with damn guard duty? Now were gonna miss out on all the fun…" Spike kicked at the doors as he muttered. Slick took a long drag on a fresh cigarette. After watching the smoke waft away he interrupted his friends' tirade.
"Don't sweat it will ya. There's no way that brute is goin' anywhere" he flicked his fag towards the doors "an' there aint no way the others c'n get in here. We've got nothin' ta worry 'bout really. So once we hear the shit going down up there, well just pop up an' watch. It's not like Hun's gonna notice us anyway, guessin' he's gonna be too busy."
"Heh, heh. Yeah. Can't wait to see how he goes. He acts so damn tough, and I wouldn't be stupid enough ta cross him, but he's definitely got himself plenty of back up tonigh…Oh! Hi Tausha, wha'cha doin'?"
Both the goons stood a little straighter as she approached.
"Nothin', just been told to keep out of the way of what's happening up there." The look the men shared spoke volumes.
"Great" quipped Slick, trying to sound upbeat "So what ya got there?" He motioned to her clenched hands with his cigarette. Tausha glanced down at her fists then looked back up at the guys with an over-bright smile.
"Got a little something for ya!"
Holding her hands with her fingers curled over on top she held them aloft. As the goons got close to inspect her offering she flipped her hands over and drove a throat strike home on each at once. They reared backwards, clutching their necks. She stepped between them using the impetus to hammer a blow to each solar plexus. In unison they doubled over, gasping for breath. Without hesitation Tausha grabbed the back of Slicks head as she drove her knee into his face, letting go to allow him to crumple to the ground. Spike had stumbled away a little to the side providing the perfect distance for Tausha to topple him with a roundhouse kick to the head.
"Well that was easier than expected!" She exclaimed to no one in particular, since both the goons were obviously unconscious. All the extra 'sparring practice' she had gotten in lately was paying off, especially with that last kick. She'd been exposed to that particular move a lot in the past few weeks, though more often than not she'd been the one trying to dodge it.
Tausha patted Slick down and found the keys he had slipped in his pocket. Shouldering through the doors she quickly unlocked the cage and knelt next to Mike. He was still lying on the floor, eyes closed. She got a little worried when he didn't stir much as she unsuccessfully tried the cage key in the shackles. Fumbling through the smaller keys on the ring she starting calling his name quietly, hoping he had just fallen asleep.
"Wha? Hey wha'cha doin?' He asked groggily as the third key worked. Tausha slipped the shackles off.
"Helping you get out of here, I hope. Where's your phone?"
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Raph and Casey slipped back inside the Battle-shell.
"They know we're here Leo, we got most of the scouts, but my bet is it's gonna get pretty hot here soon if we don't move it." reported Raph. Leo nodded to acknowledge the information and then turned to Don who was engrossed with the tracking monitor on the wall.
"So what are our options?"
"Well given he is in the basement the tunneller would be our best bet at gaining entry. I'm trying to triangulate his precise location and I've had to make a few assumptions about the size of his cell."
"What the hell does that matter?" Casey interrupted rudely. Unperturbed Don explained
"If we are not careful we may miss his position and have to face off the Dragon's while we break him out, or we may hit the cage spot on and risk injuring Mike as we surface…"
"I don't see why we don't just storm in there and bust some heads?" Casey drove his argument home with a solid thwack from his hockey stick on the van door.
"Easy Case" Leo tried to sooth, with an unusual thread of irritation in his tone "we all want to get Mike out asap. But Hun is expecting us, he's sure to have an ambush set up waiting for us. We're not gonna be any use to Mike if we get ourselves killed trying to get to him."
"But we can't just sit here thinkin' all night!" Casey started to pace.
"Just give us a minute, OK?" As Leo turned back to his genius brother, his shell cell sounded.
Leo waved his hand for silence as he answered the call, his family quickly crowding around to be privy to the conversation.
"Mi… Oh, um Tausha?"
"Listen to me, if you guys come in here you're gonna die."
"We don't have a lot of choice, were not going to leave our brother in there any longer than we have to. Is he alright?" Leo could see Mike's arm draped over Tausha's shoulders.
"Not great, look the entire gang is armed to the teeth and waiting for you upstairs in the main warehouse. There is only one stairway down here and you have to go through the warehouse to get to it." Tausha stumbled slightly as Mike tried to pull away from her.
"Hang on. Mike, what's up?"
"My gear, need it…"
"No you don't, we need to move…"
"Please, I need it." With an impatient growl she leaned him up against the locker next to the bench with his equipment and shoved the phone in his hand. Raiding the lockers on the other side she found a duffle bag and roughly shoved his gear into it. Shouldering the bag on her left, she slipped her right arm back under Mike's to support him. Taking back the phone she steered her charge towards the doors.
"Gees, you guys sure have your damn priorities straight!" she muttered sarcastically, her filthy look failing to dampen Mike's grin.
"So what are you planning to do?" queried Leo.
"Dunno really…" Leo and Don exchanged a worried glance.
"What? Then what the hell are ya doin'?" Raph snapped impatiently past Leo's shoulder. Tausha ignored him, trying to negotiate Mike past something on the floor of the hallway they were in.
"Uh, Tausha?" Leo prompted once she looked up again.
"Huh? Oh…, look this is the best I can come up with. There are a couple of small windows along the front of the warehouse, pretty much at street level I think. They do have thick metal grills on 'em, and I don't think they can be opened at all. I can get Mike under them, but you guys have to figure out where to go from there. And make it quick, OK?"
"Alright, were on it." Leo snapped his phone shut.
"So what's the plan bro?" Raph asked expectantly. He knew that look on Leo's face; it was 'go time'.
"Raph, Case you're on distraction. Just keep moving, no heroics, got it? Do not go into the warehouse. Try to draw them out and away from the street if you can. Don, you're with me. We'll give you guys a head start. Then we'll approach the front of the building from the far side, right?"
"RIGHT!" the team chorused, leaping to action.
Casey booted open the back doors to leap cowboy style onto his bike. He gunned away quickly giving Raph plenty of room to launch the Shell-cycle. Leo briefly watched them race down the alley whooping like Indians on the warpath. He couldn't help shaking his head as he closed the doors and took his seat next to Don before the Battle-shell rocketed off in the other direction. Without looking away from the road he was traversing Don asked the same question that was niggling at Leo's mind.
"What if this is a trap, Leo? Don't you think it is a bit weird that a Foot Soldier would be helping us out?"
"I know Don; it doesn't make any sense to me either. But my gut is telling me this is the fastest way to get to Mike. If not we'll just have to play it by ear." Don nodded grimly.
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It hadn't been easy but Tausha had finally gotten Mike to the far end of the hallway and into the large dojo that occupied half the area of the warehouse above. She had only been in here a couple of times before, preferring to train on her own. The room was dark, chill and stuffy. Walled in concrete it had been built as a storage area. On the shorter wall to her left she spotted the two narrow panes near the ceiling that allowed access for a little light from the street. She sat Mike against the wall under the one of the windows.
After making sure he was settled she did a quick tour of the room. Grabbing a few pole arms off a rack she secured the doors as best she could, the weapons slotted through the handles. At the other end of the room she found a hatch in the wall. Shoving it open she found the shaft of a disused dumb waiter. Wiping away the dust that had coated her face during her inspection of the duct she couldn't help a smile. She might just get out of this in one piece yet.
Mike was tentatively feeling his jaw as Tausha approached, fishing inside his mouth to remove a loose tooth.
"Awww" he moaned, dejectedly looking at it sitting in his hand. Taking a seat next to him she rested the back of her head on the wall with a sigh, closing her eyes and forcing herself to relax. She started, feeling the weight of his hand gently taking her own.
"Thank-you." He said quietly as she met his eyes.
"Um…No problem." She muttered, looking away nervously. A sound like all hell breaking loose erupted. Tausha found herself cringing against the wall, the grip of their clasped hands tightening as they both pictured the worst happening in the warehouse above.
Suddenly Mike launched himself sideways, crushing Tausha under his weight. An explosion rocked the dojo and they both coughed as the dust swirled. The window further down the wall had been obliterated and a shadow dropped through to approach them.
"Uh, sorry." Mike apologised with a lopsided grin as he struggled to push himself upright. Tausha lay stock still; the fear of being caught by another gang member in a rather compromising position with one of the enemies they were trying to eradicate froze her muscles. To her relief the shadow resolved out of the dust cloud to expose the purple clad turtle. He reached down and helped pull Mikey upright.
"Thanks Don!" Mike croaked as loudly as he could over the increased volume of noise from above. Don swiftly but gently ran his hands over his brother, assessing the damage done.
"Are you OK? Can you move Mike?"
"Yeah, a bit."
Don helped Mike to his feet and over to the hole near the roof. Recovering from her panic Tausha picked herself up. Grabbing the duffle bag she followed the two turtles. Leo jerked his head out of harm's way just as she threw the bag through the gap. The edge was well out of Mike's reach and it was obvious that he couldn't jump to it in his current state. Don turned to the girl, cupping his hands to give her a leg up, to find she was already doing the same for Mike. Catching sight of a movement at the dojo doors left no time for arguments.
He helped to shove Mike up the wall, Leo getting a grip on his arms to pull him through. Again Don turned to give the girl a hand. She was motioning for him to go first, offering a leg up to him now. The racket from above and the added din from the far side of the straining doors made speech impossible. With a quick shrug he complied, guessing she knew what she was doing on her own turf.
Once Don was out Leo quickly directed him to take Mike to the Battle-shell and get ready to move out. Leo then ducked back down to the opening, already extending a hand to help her up. Tausha wasn't there. Peering further into the gloom of the dojo he spotted her sprinting to the far end. She disappeared into a cavity in the wall just as the main doors burst open. A wave of punks surged into the area. Leo spun, scooped up the duffle bag and made a run for the Battle-shell. It wasn't far but he still had to duck and weave about to dodge the shots and projectiles from the dojo, and from a second group of punks closing from the warehouse car-park. He'd felt at least two hits ricochet off his shell before managing to gain the safety of the van.
"Where's Tausha?" queried Don.
"Not coming, go!" No further encouragement needed Don gunned the Battle-shell, racing through the punks gathering on the street and past the car-park entrance. Seeing this Casey and Raph left the game of 'cat and mouse' they had been playing amongst the gangs' vehicles and roared off in pursuit. Some well aimed shuriken had made sure the cars closest to the entrance all had flat tyres, hampering the Dragon's efforts to follow.
Watching from the office window Tausha felt a thrill of satisfaction at seeing the gang members milling about in confusion and fear. She couldn't believe they had pulled it off, and obviously neither could Hun. She spotted him rampaging through the car-park, punching and kicking anything that came within range whether it was metal or no. From her high vantage point he looked like a child throwing a tantrum at having his favourite toy taken away. The spectacle made her smile coldly.
"Looks like my best bets to lay low for a while." she murmured to herself. She was sure she wasn't the only Dragon to be thinking that right now.