Chapter Two
Leonardo descended as quickly as the ropes would safely allow him to do. He was ahead of Splinter and Raphael, and within a few minutes, the torch on his belt – something that Donny made, Leonardo remembered with a wince – showed the summit of the mountain of rubble.
"Sensei, Raph!" Leonardo called up. "I'm at the bottom! I'm gonna look for the guys!"
Not wasting a second, Leonardo found himself a steady piece of ground to land upon, and untied his abseiling ropes. Armed with a beacon, which was a far more powerful torch than the one on his belt, he switched it on and scanned the area.
The foot of the narrow elevator shaft opened out into a vast cavern. It was easily three times the size of a school gymnasium, and was made all the more difficult to negotiate due to the hills of rubble.
Leo quickly spotted a collection of Donny's tools, which glinted in the dim light. He hurried over to them, hoping to spot one or both of his brothers in the vicinity.
"Donatello!" He shouted, but then dipped his voice as small, coin-sized fragments of rock and dust showered on him. "Michelangelo!"
As Leonardo scoured the area where he had found the tools, both Raphael and Splinter landed at the foot of the elevator shaft. The two quickly undid their ropes, and began searching along with the oldest turtle.
"Yo, Leo, you find anything?"
"A couple of wrenches and stuff over here," Leo called back, waving to where he'd discovered the find.
As Raphael headed over to where Leonardo stood, Splinter's keen sense of smell took him in another direction. Sniffing about one particular pile of debris, the rat moved aside a few rocks, and gasped at what he found beneath them. "Raphael," he commanded sharply.
Raph immediately turned away from where he and Leo had been pulling away the larger rocks, and was at his Master's side. He did not need to be told what he had to do. He fiercely began pulling away at the rocks to reveal his brother beneath it.
"Donny," Raphael murmured, spying the sash across the turtle's plastron, the one which usually held a bo staff in place. The turtle's olive skin was coated in a film of thick, beige dust, some of which was stained with a dense scarlet liquid from the cuts and abrasions riddling him. Donny's arms were draped over his face in protection. When Raphael shifted Donny slightly, to get him away from the sharp wreckage and onto an area of flat ground, his arms fell to reveal the pained frown on his visage, which was only intensified by the jumping shadows.
As Splinter and Raphael moved him, Donny stirred and cracked his eyes open. "Anyone get the number on that truck?" He murmured, before trying to stand up.
"Hush, Donatello," Master Splinter said soothingly. "Do not try and move, please just relax."
"Where's Mikey?" Donny rasped agitatedly.
"Leo's looking for him, take it easy," Raph said as comfortingly as he could. "Anything hurt, bro?"
Donny closed his eyes and shook his head. "Just bruised," he said, this time with more strength. He opened his eyes and continued. "I don't know what happened, it just started shaking..."
Whilst Donatello explained his side of events, Leonardo continued to scour the wreckage. On the edge of the mountain of rubble he spied a green arm, which he noted as he ran towards it, looked quite bruised and swollen.
As he crouched down and began to dig the ruins away, Leonardo noted a disturbance and saw that Mikey's other hand had emerged from the rocks. Leo acted on instinct and grabbed the hand, squeezing it, to let his brother know he was there.
With the help of Mikey's free hand, and now knowing where to dig first, Michelangelo's face was unearthed. Coughing and spluttering dust and debris, Mikey took in a gasping breath of sweet, precious air.
"Easy, Mike, I'll get you out," Leo assured him, carefully pulling the larger pieces of stone away. He did so with haste; one incident rested in the back of his mind, when just over two years ago, Michelangelo had been trapped when a sewer tunnel collapsed. That day, and those that followed, had been tough on the entire family. Pushing the sting of the memories to the back of his mind, Leonardo continued to dig until Mikey was able to sit up.
"Are you hurt?" Leonardo already had a good idea that he was, but he wanted to test his brother's alertness and responsiveness.
"I think I sprained my wrist, or at least did something to it, but it's not so bad," Mikey said through gritted teeth. "Did you find Donny? Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine," Raphael confirmed, heading over to check on his youngest brother. "But how about you?"
"I'll live," Michelangelo said a too quietly for his brothers' liking, before adding in a stronger voice, "can't say the same for the elevator."
Leonardo and Raphael smirked to each other. "He's fine," they both agreed, as they helped their orange-banded brother to his feet.
"Do you know what happened?" Leo asked as he helped Mikey away from the precarious rocks.
"Are you kidding me?" Mikey asked in disbelief. "Does this look like the face of a turtle who's in the know? One minute, me and Don were fixing the elevator, the next minute, the world is playing Shake That, and we're dropping, and then BANG! And then it was all dark and quiet, and then you guys showed up."
"To clarify," Donny said, as he and Master Splinter approached the group, "I was fixing the elevator whilst shell-for-brains over there was talking for New York City in my ear. He got the rest more or less right."
"My sons," Splinter cut into the banter, "I fear that another tremor could cause further damage to this area."
"So, it was an earthquake?" Mikey asked.
Leonardo thought about this, and then realised something. "If it was, then wouldn't have the power in the lair gone off? And if not, then the news at least would have had something to say about it. Master Splinter was watching it before we left, and we were up there for ten minutes before we started abseiling. I don't remember anything on the news about it."
"Well, if not an earthquake, then what -"
Donatello was abruptly cut off by the shaking and tremors, which had apparently returned for an encore. The rescuers sheltered the two already-hurt turtles as they ducked for cover.
"There!" Leonardo called out over the clamour. He had spied a tunnel beyond the wreckage, which would suffice to shield everyone from the falling rubble. His family followed him, diving into the opening as the rubble caved in behind them and sealed the entrance shut.
As the dust settled, the turtles and their father stood up cautiously, to check that themselves and their family were okay.
"Well, that's the second time today that big chunks of rock have tried to fall on top of me, and I'm gonna sue!" Mikey exclaimed dramatically, folding his arms for effect. However, having sharply crossed his arms, he then recalled that his wrist hurt. "Oooh," he grumbled, cradling the injured limb.
"Here, let me put some bandages on it," Donny offered, ushering Mikey over to him and his brown bag. "We should both clean up our wounds, before they get infected."
Leonardo and Raphael raised their brows. "Okay... you fell down an elevator shaft, were trapped under two tons of bricks, and were pulled away just in time to throw yourself in here, and you STILL got your bag of tricks with you?" Raphael asked in disbelief.
Donny rolled his eyes. "Duh, I never go anywhere without it," he said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
As this exchange took place, and both youngest turtles' wounds were taken care of under Raphael's supervision, Splinter and his eldest son surveyed the area. "Well, we can't go back," Leonardo said, feeling a little sheepish for having stated the obvious.
Splinter nodded, and ventured further into the pitch-dark tunnel with the aid of his torch. "I have never ventured this deep into the tunnels," the sage rat admitted. "However, we have no option but to do so now." He looked back, to make sure that his sons were ready to go. "Be vigilant, my sons – as we all know, any kind of foe maybe lurking within the area. We must be silent, and prepared for anything."
"Prepared for anything, huh? That's easy for you guys, you didn't leave your weapons at home," Mikey moaned. He and Donatello did not think they would need their weapons whilst fixing the elevator. But then again, no one had foreseen the events of the last half an hour.
"Don't mind him, Master Splinter, Mikey's always grouchy when he gets a boo-boo," Raphael said sardonically.
"Master Splinter instructed for silence and stealth," Leonardo hissed at his brothers.
"You're talking," Mikey pointed out.
"And he technically didn't ask for stealth," Donny added cheekily. "Silence, yes, but the actual word 'stealth' was never mentioned."
"Hey, Don, I expect that kind of thing from Mikey, but not from you," Raphael commented with a sly grin. "Did ya land on your head when you took a one-way ticket south in the elevator duct?"
"My sons," Splinter whispered in exasperation, "we are a walking bullseye for the enemy!"
"Hey, I think Sensei just made a joke," Mikey said with a chuckle.
"Michelangelo," Splinter said in that warning tone that he saved especially for his youngest son.
"Um, Sensei, I don't think there's anyone in the vicinity," Donny hazarded, "they'd have been disturbed by the elevator dropping in on them. Either they'd have come out to look and we'd have probably seen or heard them, or they'd be long gone."
"Still, experience tells us to be alert," Splinter insisted. "For anything..."
On cue, a further set of tremors commenced. The rock face to their left side began to crumble, and a stony avalanche began. The five had to jump back quickly to avoid being struck by the rocks.
As the dust once again settled, and the turtles and rat picked themselves up. Splinter would have shot his sons the usual "I told you so" glare, had the five of them not been quite so transfixed by what they saw ahead. The rock face had deteriorated to leave a brilliantly bright light beaming out over them.
"What the shell is that thing?" Raphael demanded to know.
"Some kind of vortex, a portal to somewhere," Donny suggested. "Only, I wouldn't like to guess where it leads."
"Think we should see what's on the other side?" Mikey asked in a chilling voice that sounded as though it had come straight out of a horror movie.
"Well, we can't go forward and we can't go back," Raphael pointed out. "I don't think we got a choice here."
"We have no idea what lies on the other side of that portal," Leonardo reminded them in an ominous voice. "Or even where it goes. For all we know, stepping through that could mean the end for us."
"Well, wouldn't you think a quick end would be better than sitting here and wasting away?" Raphael countered heatedly. "And who knows how long this thing's gonna be here? We're wasting time!"
"At least here we know what we're up against!"
Michelangelo turned to Donny and whispered, "whatever's in there has gotta be better than listening to those two argue. Shall we just go through and see if they notice?" Donny smiled wryly, but shook his head.
"My sons," Splinter said, stepping between the two eldest turtles. "As Raphael has said, we have no option but to go through the portal." He saw the sour look on Leonardo's face, but he ignored it and continued. "I also believe that events take place for a reason. It appears that the portal is the next step in the path, and no matter what we find on the other side, we must take that step."
"Wa-hoo! C'mon, let's go!" Mikey yelled. With his good wrist shielding the other, he dived head-first into the bright vortex.
Splinter rolled his eyes. "I'll get him," Raphael grumbled, before launching himself after his brother. The two remaining turtles and rat followed soon after, not knowing where they would end up, and what they would face when they got there. As Splinter's tail disappeared through the portal, it shrunk into itself until it disappeared silently, leaving the empty, dark tunnel to completely cave in on itself with a deafening rumble.
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