Disclaimer: I am fully beginning to understand why having to constantly do this annoys people. Seriously, folks, I don't own the TMNT. (Obviously.) I'm not even claiming that I do. In fact, no one else on this site is either, probably. All we're doing is borrowing the characters and creating adventures for them in order to share ideas with other people. I mean, honestly, if I did own them, don't you think I'd have a nicer computer. :D And another thing; if I owned them, why would I be writing a story about them? Why not just make it a TV show episode and make hideous amounts of money off of it? Nope, I don't own them. Never have, and most certainly never will. Why? Well, think about it: if you owned a hugely successful and profitable TV show, with dozens of opportunities for merchandising and expansion, would you sell it? I know I wouldn't. Especially not to some teenaged hoodlum like myself. :D (Just in case anyone's curious, I'm not really a hoodlum. But it's a fun word nonetheless.) Anyways, there's my exceptionally drawn out little rant.
Let us now move on to new and better (not to mention less long-winded) horizons!
I updated two days later! And it's another long chapter! Woo! Go me:D
(Note: The new character's name, "Iganno", was changed to "Iganna", for a couple reasons. One, the translation works better, and two, I like the sound of it better; it sounds more feminine and like an actual name.)
In this chapter, one can expect violence, angst, suspense, mutated turtles, and of course, all the expository goodness you can handle! And then some! XD Also, this is a chapter where the 'T' rating comes into play, especially for the language and violence. There are several bombs dropped in here, which means plenty of epithets, swear words, what have you. Also, this is a very bloody chapter, so be warned. And the swearing is kind of bad, but not as bad as it could be; I don't swear, so writing it was kind of weird for me, but it fits the story. So, yeah. You've been warned.
Now on to the story! Enjoy:D
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&ERSAND IS A FUN WORD&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Previously on "Bleeding Heart": (sorry, I've always wanted to say that. :D)
The woman tried to back away, but stopped at the pain in her side. Looking down at her wound, she paused, and then glanced at Leo with a strange and calculating look in her eyes. She held out her right hand and spoke in a husky voice. "My name is Iganna."
"Leonardo," Leo said, stretching a three-fingered hand out to take hers. However, the instant he did, he felt a strange shock run through his body. He immediately felt exhausted and dizzy, and dropped her hand to hold his spinning head. 'What's wrong with me?' He wondered, missing the triumphant look in Iganna's eyes. 'Must be tired from the fight.'
But while Leo tried to clear his head, he didn't notice a gang member stirring on the ground a couple feet away. When the punk saw the woman, he reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a gun. Aiming it at her, he yelled, "Die, you freak!" Grinning delightedly, he pulled the trigger.
And for the second time that night, a shot rang out, followed by a cry…
"AGH!" Leo screamed, clasping both of his hands over his plastron. The bullet had hit him almost square in the chest, burying itself in the upper regions of his stomach, and the pain was coming in waves.
Looking down at himself, he saw a gaping hole in his chest where the bullet had dug itself in, and a blast of dizziness and nausea caused him to drop to his side. He choked, coughing up blood and watching dazedly as it joined the ever-expanding pool forming in front of him. How did this happen? He wondered numbly, the rushing of his blood pounding in his ears. I could have sworn he was aiming at Iganna…
Three voices yelled in unison at the sight of their brother falling, Don dropping his bag of equipment in shock. "LEO!"
"No, LEO!" Raph shouted. His rage took over him, and spinning around, he searched the alley for the gang member with the gun. Catching sight of him, he pulled out one of his sai. "YOU! You bastahd. You're tha one that did this to him!" he snarled. The man paled in the face of the turtle's anger, and he tried to bring the gun to bear again. But before he could, Raph hurled the sai, piercing the man through the heart. The man choked and shook, his body going limp as he bled to death.
Don was at Leo's side in a flash. He added his hands to his brother's, applying as much pressure as he could to the wound. But Leo's scream quickly brought his hands away. However, in the absence of the constant pressure, blood continued to flow from the gunshot wound. "Oh shell!" Don swore. "Raph! Get over here, now! Mikey, get the first aid kit out of my bag and help Iganna."
His youngest brother nodded and ran to the woman while his red-banded brother joined him. "What is it, Donnie?"
Don glanced at him while he removed his elbow and knee pads. "I need you to knock Leo out."
"Ya want me ta do what!"
Finishing with his pads, Don started on Leo's. "Knock him out! Use the pressure points Sensei taught us. With him in this much pain, I can't keep pressure on the wound if he's still conscious. And if I don't, he's going to bleed out."
"He just got shot! I can't knock 'im out!"
Don whipped his head around to face Raph. "Dammit, Raphael! Listen to me!" he snarled, finally losing his cool in the face of his oldest brother's situation. "If you don't knock him out so I can stop the blood flow, he's gonna die. Now just SHUT UP and DO IT!"
Raph was shocked at the intensity in his brother's eyes and voice. Donnie was always the calm turtle, and Raph had never seen him like this. But as Don's last words registered, Raph took a deep breath before turning to his older brother. "Leo. Hey, Leo. Can ya hear me, bro?" He watched as his older brother struggled to focus on him. The pain he saw reflected in his eyes chilled him. "Leo, I'm gonna knock ya out now, 'kay bro? Don's gonna get ya fixed up, and you'll be fine, okay?"
While Raph waited for a response, Don said brusquely, "He's in shock, and too far gone in the pain to hear you, Raph, let alone answer. It's now or never."
Raph nodded, then reached out and set his fingers on his blue-banded brother's neck. Leo instantly stiffened, then relaxed, his eyes closing and his hands dropping away from his plastron, only to be replaced seconds later with Don's. Holding an elbow pad in place, Don pressed firmly on the wound, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. His voice strained, he spoke to the hotheaded turtle. "I'm gonna try and stop the bleeding. We won't be able to move him until it's at least slowed, and I can't remove the bullet till we get him out of here. Call Casey and April, tell them to grab all the medical supplies they have available and get the van over here as fast as they possibly can. I'm gonna need your pads too, Raph," he said, discarding a blood-soaked pad and replacing it with a fresh one. Glancing over his shoulder, he added quietly in a softer tone, "I'm also going to need you to help Mikey."
Remembering his youngest brother and the woman, Raph turned around. The woman looked pale, but the bleeding was stopped and her side was bandaged; she would be fine for the time being. Mikey, however, was a different story. He was standing over the body of the man who shot Leo, and was wielding his nunchuks with a fury that almost scared Raph, striking the corpse again and again. Wincing at the dull thuds as wood hit flesh, Raph quickly gave his pads to Don and made his way to his brother's side. Grabbing Mikey's wrists, Raph struggled with him in an attempt to get him to lower his weapons.
"MIKEY! Mikey, let it go, bro. Mikey, it's over, it's done! Just let it go." Seeing his youngest brother's obvious agitation, he tried to calm him. "It's alright, bro. It's alright."
"BUT HE SHOT LEO!" Mikey cried, anger and fear distorting his voice. "He shot him! Leo didn't do anything, and he still shot him!"
"It's alright, Mikey," Raph soothed. "He's dead now; he ain't gonna hurt Leo no more."
"He already hurt him! Leo c-could die!" Mikey choked out. He dropped his nunchuks, exhaustion and worry overcoming him. Throwing his arms around Raph, he sobbed into his neck.
Raph returned the embrace, hugging his brother back. "Don't say that, Mikey. Don't you dare say that. Leo'll pull through, you'll see. He ain't gonna let somethin' like this keep 'im down. Remembah when Leo was attacked by da Foot and the Shredder? He came back from that, an' he can come back from this. We jus' gotta have some faith," Raph said.
Glancing over at his other two brothers, he hugged his brother tightly as Mikey continued to cling to him. "We jus' gotta have some faith," he repeated, more to reassure himself than Mikey. He rubbed the back of Mikey's shell, and was glad Mikey hadn't let go yet. Raph needed the comfort more than he wanted to admit. He was always the tough guy, but it was hard to see his unbreakable older brother like this. He knew, though, that it had to be even harder on Mikey. Raph and Mikey were really close, but Mikey had always looked up to Leo. He was Mikey's hero and idol, and he had always been his brothers' rock; to see him hurt like this was a hard blow to all of them.
Remembering Don's other request, Raph backed away from Mikey, grabbing his Shell Cell. "I gotta call Case an' April an' get them ovah here. Can you see if Donnie needs some help?"
Mikey took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine." He made his way over to the purple-banded turtle, taking special care to step on and kick any gang members that were in his way.
Raph chuckled, then dialed Casey's number.
"Yo. 'Dis is Casey." Casey Jones appeared in the screen of the Shell Cell, a distracted look on his face.
"Hey Case. Ya busy?" Raph asked.
Something in Raph's voice must have reached Casey, because suddenly all of the vigilante's attention was focused on him. "What's up, Raph? Somethin' wrong?"
"Yeah, somethin's wrong," Raph said. He took a deep breath, finding it hard to get the words out. "It…it's Leo. He…he got shot."
"Oh shit!" the voice on the other line swore.
Suddenly another voice joined Casey's. "What is it, Casey? What's the matter?"
Raph sighed with relief when he heard April. The fact that she and Casey were both together meant they could get here sooner. He listened as Casey told her the news, as well as her shocked whisper; "Oh god, Leo."
"What da hell happened, Raph? Is he okay?" Casey asked, turning back to the phone, then smacked himself on the head. "No, Jones ya idiot, of course he's not okay," he continued, berating himself. "Is it-is it bad, Raph?"
Looking behind him at his older brother, he watched Don and Mikey still working on him while Leo lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood. He didn't want to say it, but Raphael was an honest turtle if he was anything. "Yeah, Case. It's bad. I'll explain latah."
"What can I do? Do ya need any help?"
Raph snorted wryly and rolled his eyes, amused despite the situation. "Dat's th' understatement of da year, Jones. Yeah, we need help. Donnie wanted me ta get you an' April over here with the van. And grab all the medical stuff you can get your hands on, ya got it?" He heard rustling on the other end as April ran around gathering supplies.
Don called to his brother. "Tell them to be sure to get bandages, penicillin, and some painkillers. Morphine, if possible. If not, the strongest stuff they can find. And ask April to bring some extra clothes for Iganna, too, if she can."
Raph turned back to the screen. "Did'ja get all that?"
"Got it, Raph," April replied, taking the phone from an indignant Casey. "Tell Donnie I've got all of it, and we'll be there as soon as we can. Where are you guys?"
Glancing around him to get his bearings, Raph quickly gave them the street names. "Get here fast guys," he urged unsteadily. "Leo's…just get here fast."
"Five minutes," April promised. "Hang in there." The screen went blank.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
True to her word, five minutes later, April, Casey, and Casey's van skidded around the corner of the alley. Raph swore that those were the longest five minutes of his life. April and Casey jumped out, and April joined Don and Mikey with the supplies while Casey opened the back of the van. He and Raph cleared out the back of it, and then joined the others around Leo.
Raph was the first to break the silence. "How…is he, Donnie?"
Don looked up, exhaustion and worry clearly etched on his face. "He's not good, Raph. There's just…so much blood. And…but he's stable enough right now." Turning to April, he asked, "Hey April? Would it be alright if we brought Leo to your place? I know that hasn't turned out well in the past, but the truth is, I don't think he'd survive a trip to the lair. Not to mention that a sewer is no place for open wounds-"
April cut him off. "Donnie, of course you can bring him over! If you hadn't asked I would have offered. You guys are family, no matter what. After all, 'mi casa es su casa'."
Don heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks, April. You're a lifesaver," he said, then winced at the possible double meaning of his words. "Alright, Raph, I need your help getting Leo into the van. Mikey? You and April help Iganna into the van. Casey? I need you to grab my bag and the supplies." While everyone ran to get things taken care of, Raph joined Don by their motionless brother. "Okay Raph, I need you to grab Leo's arms and chest, I'll get his legs. Be as careful as you can not to disrupt his wound; I finally got the bleeding to slow, but it could start back up at any time," Don cautioned. Raph nodded, and they carefully lifted their fallen leader and settled him gently in the van, joining him in the back to keep him safe. As soon as everyone was settled, Don nodded to Casey. "Alright, Casey. Get us to April's place as quickly, and carefully, as you can."
"You got it, Donnie."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
As the van took off down the street, Raph turned to Don. "There's somethin' you ain't tellin' us, isn't there, Donnie?" he said quietly out of the others' earshot.
Don avoided meeting Raph's gaze. "What are you talking about, Raph?"
Raph growled under his breath. "Don't bullshit me, Donnie. I've lived wit' ya for 16 years, and I know there's somethin' you ain't tellin' us. Now spill."
Don sighed and wiped his forehead with the back of one hand. Gazing at Leo, he spoke softly. "It's the bullet wound, Raph. Its location…the only real way it could have been in a worse spot would be if it hit him right in the chest, or in his heart. But it's terribly close to his chest as it is. And until I can look at him properly, I won't know if the bullet hit any internal organs. Not to mention the blood loss. There's been so much of it, it seems like the bullet hit something major. And it's still inside him. And if infection sets in, his body will be too weak from the blood loss to fight it. It…there's just so much that could go wrong...So much already has gone wrong," he said, his voice breaking as he buried his face in his hands. "We should be at home, listening to you and Mikey fighting over the remote, and then breaking it for me to fix again. Leo should be breaking up the fight between you and Mikey, and yelling at us for interrupting his training, not lying here bleeding to death after getting shot by some punk in an alley!"
Raph put an arm around Don's shoulders. "Donnie, I know. I hate dis as much as you do. But there's no way Leo's gonna die. He's too strong, and too damn stubborn to go out dis way. Not here, not now; not like dis."
Don squeezed Raph's shoulder in silent thanks, then looked up as the van pulled to a stop. "We're here." Looking down at Leo, he continued. "Let's get him inside."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
A/N: Bum bum bum! Yes, I admit it! I did it! I shot Leo! Well, not personally, but I got him shot. (Cowers and hides from the ravaging hordes of Leo fans) Hey, I'm not the only one who's done it. Besides, I love Leo too. (Peeks from behind barricade) Would it help if I said I'm sorry? (Looks at glares and hides again) Guess not. But at least he's not dead! And I know that not a whole lot happened this time, but hey, at least something happened. And besides, if I'm able to update in another two days like I did for this chapter, the story will keep moving along. Also, reviews are great encouragement for me to update quickly…Hint hint. :D Yes, that was a shameless plug for reviews. Why do you ask? Again, please let me know of any mistakes or inconsistencies with POV or whatever. And please review! Make me feel loved:D And as always, many thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. You guys are great!
And a special note to BubblyShell22: I'm sorry I hurt Leo! But I will not make you cry any more, I promise. :D
