Broken
The end of one story, the beginning of a new one.
The turtles were ready to go. The lair felt alone. They just wanted to leave the sewers and to distract their mind for a while. Those past three days were full of tears. They were tired of tears. Master Splinter was gone and he was not coming back. Leo and Mikey liked to think that he was in a better place now, while Donnie and Raph were almost sure that heaven was made for those who didn't wanted to face that their loved ones left them for good, turning into dust, noting else. April and Casey had decided to give the turtles some space. They knew that they would call when they were ready.
"Come on guys, lets check how the city is been doing without us for the past three days." Leo talked. That felt weird. He hadn't spoke much. He had been meditating, trying to contact his dead father, with not much success.
None of the turtles replied. The four of them started walking to the party wagon. Everyone took their place at the van and sat down while Leo started driving. It was a very silent trip. Finally, Leo spotted a place to pull over.
The turtles went out of the van and immediately climbed to a building's rooftop. Once up, they couldn't find what to do next. The city seemed to be calmed. After some seconds, Raph decided to sit down at the border of the rooftop, looking at the streets. With nothing better to do, his brothers followed him.
No one talked. Not a single noise coming from the street. A few minutes later, Leo decided to finally say something. His brothers needed him. He was supposed to be the leader, the strong one, the big brother and all that he was doing was to cry.
" Guys… I'm really sorry that I'm not strong enough to get over this. I'm supposed to be the one to comfort you when you are sad, but I just simply can't. I can't believe Master Splinter is gone and that Shredder is still out there. Whenever I think of that I get a feeling of pure rage."
Leo's tears started to come out again as well as all of his brother's tears.
"If you feel rage Leo, then let us use it now. Let's kill that son of a bitch who murdered our father, the one who raised us, who fed us, who took care of us. Because of him is that we are alive and we are who we are. We need to take revenge on him!"
"Raph you need to understand that we can't do that now! We are broken. We need to recover so that we can focus. Killing Shredder is not a piece of cake. We can't make mistakes."
"Then I say that we should start planning what are we going to do Leo. I'm gonna avenge Master Splinter." Donnie finally talked.
"Guys, we are going to get over this. I love you bros." Mikey said, making, at least for a moment, everyone to stop talking about revenge and to remember that they were still brothers, no matter what.
The four of them hugged full of tears. They all stayed there for a moment, enjoying the hug, enjoying their brothers, their family. After all that had happened and all that will, they knew deep down that they were never going to be alone as long as they had each other to rely on. Alone they were strong, but together they were the strongest.
After many tears, the hug was over.
"Donnie is right. We need to start planning what are we going to do with Shredder. We can't stay like this any longer." Leo suggested, whipping the tears of his face.
"So, what do we do next?" Mikey asked.
"I'll tell you. We need to know what Shredder is up to now that Splinter is… dead. We are going to his lair tonight to spy on him. We are not going to do anything, just watch. Alright?"
"Sounds like a plan, fearless." Raph answered with a smile on his face. They all missed to smile.
The four of them started jumping rooftops. It felt nice. Running helped to reduce all the anger and the sadness they felt and, for a moment, it all seemed to be good. The air of the city at night and the loneliness of the streets. It all seemed the same that a week ago, when their master and father was still alive. It almost felt like if they were going to get scolded by him when they showed up at 3:00 on the morning. Now, they were on their own.
Finally, they arrived to the old church that had turned into Shredder's lair. It looked as abandoned as usual. The turtles stopped in the rooftop of the building across the street.
"Now, what's the plan?" Donnie asked.
"We don't need any plan. We just sneak in, don't get caught and listen to what they say. Easy." Raph replied before Leo could even think of a plan.
"Fine. We'll get inside by the same broken window that we always do." Leo agreed.
"They seriously need to fix up that window." Mikey spoke.
"Anyway, remember we just want to know more information. We won't fight anyone." Leo finalized.
With that said, the turtles jumped off the building and climbed up to the church's broken window. They got into the church one by one, without making any noise. They stopped. Shredder wasn't sitting on his throne. The place was completely alone.
"What the hell? Where is everyone?" Raph asked.
Suddenly, they started hearing voices, when the doors opened. Shedder walked inside with Stockman following him.
"Master, please. Just give them to me. I will do more than those guys. I promise!"
"Stockman! I said no! They are offering me really good money for them, and I don't care about them anymore. I've accomplished my goal."
"But master…"
"Enough, you filthy fly! Now get out of here and tell Tiger Claw, Bradford and Xever that I need them. I want to see my new ornament."
"… Fine Master Shredder."
Shredder sat on his throne while Stockman exited the room.
"None of what they said is making any sense." Mikey whispered.
"Then shut up and listen." Donnie ordered.
Moments later the three allies of Shredder entered the room with a box. It was a medium sized box. The three of them bowed and placed the box in front of their master, who immediately changed his expression for a grin.
"Open it." Shredder ordered.
Tiger Claw did. The turtles moved a little closer so at they could see what was in the mysterious box and why did Shredder was so happy about it. Tiger Claw pulled it out. Whatever it was, was wrapped. He unwrapped it. Suddenly, the turtles saw it. A wave of anger and rage hit their body, while Shredder smiled like a child.
It was Splinter's dissected head.
"Great. I want you to put it somewhere nice"
"As you command Master." Tiger Claw responded.
The turtles were speechless. Shredder was insane. Their faces were full of tears once more. They simply couldn't believe it. That was inhuman. Murdering Splinter was a thing, but cutting his head off, dissecting it and showing it as a price, they were not going to let that happen. Where was this man's honor?
Raph carefully took out one of his Sais. Shredder was going to die that night. He pointed it to Shredders head slowly. He wasn't going to miss. He was ready. Before he could throw the weapon, Leo noticed.
"Raph, no!" He whispered and aimed to stop Raph's shot, but what he did was to push Raph's Sai away from his hand. The weapon fell to the church's floor, making a strong noise when it touched the ground.
All of their enemies faces looked at it. Then, they looked up. No one was there. The turtles had moved. In the dark, they were just shadows. Shredder started laughing.
"This is just what I needed to make this a perfect night." He whispered to himself.
" Would you want us to go outside and chase them?" Rahzar asked.
"No… Listen. They are still here." Shredder replied with a big smile on his face. "Get out turtles! I wish you weren't cowards as your father was! That imbecile though he was going to beat me someday, but all he did was to hide on his miserable sewer! All he did was to send you to fight me! Always! He didn't loved you, he used you as a shield! He used you to fight his battles! Thanks to him, now you are in trouble with me too…"
In that moment, all of the turtles came out of the shadows. They weren't going to let him talk like that about their master, their father. They all started fighting.
Mikey ran to hit Rahzar with his Nunchucks. Rahzar tried to scratch him with his long claws, but Mikey wasn't going to let that happen. He felt sad and angry. He was going to give the best of him.
Donnie jumped to fight against Xever. He couldn't stop crying, but he had to gain control and focus his feeling on winning the fight. This was for his master. Donnie stopped thinking for once, as Splinter once told him to do, and he just followed his guts.
Raph was now fighting Tiger Claw. He had never felt so angry before. His stomach was burning up, filled with rage. His heart was beating strong, his head felt like it was going to explode. He didn't even knew what he was doing, he was just throwing punches to Tiger Claw, who was now bleeding. Raph was too fast. Tiger Claw couldn't even start to hit him.
Finally, Leo took on the Shredder. It was a fair fight. Both of them were really strong. Leo was going to defend his father, no matter what. He was not willing to lose that fight. He couldn't. He felt tired and weak by the sadness, but inside of him there were still lots of anger to gain energy.
The fight went on for some minutes, when suddenly the doors opened. It was Stockman, but no one even looked at him, they were busy fighting each other. Stockman was carrying a gun. He loaded it and he started shooting the turtles. They were tranquilizers.
Mikey and Donnie felt the pinch, while Leo and Raph didn't even felt it. All that they felt was his energy getting lower and lower. The turtles weren't willing to fall asleep, but the adrenaline that kept them going was almost gone. Rahzar grabbed Mikey and Leo. They tried to fight, but they simply couldn't. Fishface grabbed Donnie and Tiger Claw managed to stand up with his face covered un blood and his body full of scratches and he grabbed Raph with all the strength he could gain.
"Shredder, Splinter didn't used us..." Leo managed to talk. "… He taught us how to fight, he took care of us and… We loved his as much as he loved us. He never, ever made us fight a battle for him… We fought for him because we wanted to. We fought for him because we were his sons and the moment you were his enemy, you were our enemy too. I want you to know that I… We love Splinter and we will fight for him until we die." Leo cried.
"Well, then it not going to be any longer. Good night turtles. I'll miss you too."
Those were the last they heard when they fell asleep. They didn't held any longer. What was Shredder going to do with them? They'd figure it out later, all they did was to sleep.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story! Don't forget to leave a review with your opinion!
Thanks for reading!
