Donatello's plastron heaved with gasps and every breath was like fire to his shoulder.
He had nothing to staunch the blood, so he had to suffice with applying pressure with his good hand to the sword wound, which was bleeding the most.
All the while, Donatello did not dare move his attention from Baron.
His heart was pounding, his hands were shaking, and he was doing everything in his power to not throw himself from the truck, but overall he thought he was doing relatively fine at controlling himself.
In truth, he was terrified.
He knew that at any second, the high from battle and the adrenaline would retreat from Baron's system and fury would remain- fury aimed at him.
And it's not like it wouldn't be warranted, shell, Baron would be entitled to hang his shell on his wall if he wanted!
Donatello mentally shook his head at himself. One rash decision motivated by blind, imbecilic emotion was going to get him killed. Then again, it seemed like rash decisions were monopolizing his life at the moment.
And you're supposed to be smart, he mentally berrated himself. Oh yeah, so smart that you're going to get yourself killed in a sec.
And yet the blow that he was waiting for never came and as the seconds passed, Donatello realized that Baron wasn't glaring at him or preparing to strike like he had anticipated.
The man was indeed seething with fury, but it was quite obviously not aimed at him.
"Rabid freaks!" He hissed. "How did they even know where we were?"
"Well, obviously, they saw what the Purple Dragons were carrying and decided to follow the bread crumbs you left behind." Donatello snapped, not understanding how a man who was supposed to be a chief strategist somehow not understand how his enemy followed what Donatello believed to be a very obvious trail.
He had gotten too arrogant was the problem, though he would never speak that.
The only reason that he dared to be so arrogant himself now was because he was probably dead anyway, so what did it matter if he spoke out of turn a little? His death certificate was already signed and sealed and nothing he did now would change that.
Baron's nostrils flared at the obvious dig and Donatello once again prepared himself for an attack that didn't come.
Instead, Baron only glared at him for a moment before nodding at his rapidly bleeding shoulder.
"When did that happen?" He asked, his tone a mix of suspicion and curiosity.
Donatello tensed. This was it. This was how he died.
Taking a somewhat futile breath to calm himself, Donatello forced himself to answer honestly. It's not like he could really lie, anyway.
"After I hit you." Donatello admitted. "The turtle in blue got me instead of you."
Part of Donatello wished that Leonardo had hit his mark, maybe then he wouldn't die today. But he knew that he was the only one to truly blame for this.
It was his own stupidity that led to his simple refusal to follow orders, his unchecked emotion that made him attack a superior.
"I see." Baron said slowly, watching him with careful eyes.
Why didn't he say anything? Shell, why wasn't he already dead? Was Baron waiting to tell the Shredder what he had done? If that was so, his death was sure to be much more painful than Donatello had been planning.
But Baron wasn't the one to wait. Even if he were going to wait until Shredder knew, he would still hint, still taunt, still maim. Donatello had seen him use Foot soldiers for literal target practice for his Kusarigama for simple infractions. So that begged the question that Donatello couldn't get out of his head:
Why wasn't he dead?
But Donatello didn't get to think too much on it when the van screeched to a hault and the van doors were being pushed open by Baron.
"What happened?" He heard Karai demand. "Our ninja stopped reporting back, we heard of sightings of the turtles, and police scanners and social media outlets have reported sightings of two mutant rats running amock in the streets!"
"There was an incident." Baron muttered, his back to Donatello. "Where's Master Shredder?"
Donatello's heart dropped at those words.
"In the war room." She responded. "The containers, are they here?"
"Yes." Donatello cut in. "All except for three."
Karai's eyes narrowed in on him with anger.
"What happened to the other three?" Karai demanded with a huff of irritation that bordered on danger.
"Well you know those two mutant rats you were talking about?" Donatello asked with a shrug. "Take a wild guess."
Karai glared at him for a moment before turning her attention breifly to something to her right.
"Stockman, get these canisters under lock and key. No one is to touch them, do you understand?"
"Yes, mistress Karai." Donatello heard Stockman's mumbled reaponse.
"Donatello, come with me." Karai ordered and walked toward the door.
Here we go, Donatello thought as he forced himself to stand, hating how gravity pulled at his already aching shoulder. He gritted his teeth and jumped down from the back of the van and quickly moved beside Karai to follow her.
Each step sent a new stab of pain through Donatello's shoulder but he forced himself to remain stoic. If he was going to die today, he wasn't going to be crying out in fear or pain.
Of course, his will began to crumble dramatically once he stepped foot inside the the war room.
The entire room was in movement, not a one stationary body but for Shredder and Baron, who appeared to be in deep conversation.
They stopped talking when Donatello and Karai entered, and Donatello could have sworn that he felt the fury rolling off of Shredder in waves. But that was just his imagination. Probably.
"Sensei, I-"
He didn't even get to start his explenation before he felt the claws at his throat shoving him back against the wall with such force that if he didn't have his shell, Donatello was certain that his spine would have been crushed.
"Do, and make it believable, turtle." Saki hissed venomously, spitting out the word turtle like it was a disease.
Donatello grasped at the gauntlet surrounding his throat, cutting off the precious oxygen to his brain.
Just as the edges of his vision was beginning to blacken, he heard his saving grace.
"Master Saki, he can hardly answer you with his windpipe being crushed." Baron said soothingly, shockingly coming to his aid. "Perhaps allow him to speak."
There was a moment when the Shredder seemed to debate the value of his life against the irritation and trouble that he seemed to cause, before ultimately freeing him.
Donatello couldn't help the desperate gasps that his body gulped down, each more ragged than the last as he sunk to the floor on his knees in a pathetic display of weakness.
The hand that wasn't trying to staunch the bleeding mess of his shoulder was attempting to rub some kind of feeling back into his throat in the hope that it would stop feeling as if it were about to be crushed.
"Now speak." Shredder ordered in a deadly calm voice that was more frightening than if he had yelled.
"We were caught by surprise, Master Saki." Donatello wheezed almost immediately. "They hid in the rafters and took us by surprise. By the time they showed themselves, our numbers were depleted. Baxter and I put the mutagen into the truck and I went back for more when one of the turtles attacked me."
Donatello realized that this was a line that he would have to tread carefully. He didn't know how much Baron had been paying attention to him during the fight, and whether or not he had seen him and Leonardo speaking. If he had and Donatello didn't say it before he could, it would look bad on him. On the other hand, if he hadn't been paying attention and Donatello admitted to talking to the turtle, that would spell just as much trouble for him.
He decided that he would make an excuse if he had to cross that bridge.
Don't admit to it unless you must, he told himself.
"The turtle got distracted when he saw Baron get too close to his companion and-"
And that was it for his elaborate hoax. The moment he spoke the words his fate was sealed. Then again, Baron had probably already taken the liberty to explain everything to him anyway. And even if he hadn't, Donatello greatly doubted that the man would allow him to simply ignore what happened.
"Speak, Donatello!" Saki commanded, his tone no excercise in tranquility.
He tried, but he couldn't speak anymore now than if the Shredder still had his throat in his grip. Only now it was his heart in his throat, pounding so impossibly fast that Donatello found that he couldn't possibly speak another word.
"Speak!" Shredder thundered, but Donatello was still rendered mute by his own fear.
"Master Saki, allow me to continue where Donatello left off." Baron said, glancing at the turtle in question.
This is how I die, Donatello thought, surprised at how calm the voice had been, almost resigned.
"Their leader was engaged in battle with Donatello when he saw me advance toward his brother, and attacked. I was not aware of him before Donatello shoved me aside." Baron looked back at Shredder. "He saved my life, Master Saki."
Donatello didn't actually know if his heart stopped at that moment, but if it did, it couldn't have had any bigger shock to his system.
He was vaguely aware of his mouth being slightly ajar, knew that his eyes were more than twice their usual size, yet all he could focus on was Baron.
He saved my life.
Was that what it had truly looked like to him? That he had saved his life, instead of attempting to do the opposite and save another's?
He was frozen to his spot on the floor, though not by fear or pain, but shock.
Saki was looking carefully between Baron and himself and Donatello had thr mind to force his face to become impassive.
"I see." Saki said carefully.
Donatello's heart dropped at the words that rarely ever ended in anything pleasant, preparing himself for his imminent death, feeling his body go rigid at the anticipation of an attack.
"You will see Dr. Roland tomorrow morning and you are not to leave your room unless you are given permission. Karai, escort him."
Donatello attempted to control his expression as he stood, barely having the sense to bow before following Karai.
Never before had he ever gotten an easier punishment.
Then again, never before had a superior made a statement on his behalf. Still, Donatello was cautious. A day with Roland? That was it? For loosing three containers of mutagen, allowing two mutants to rampage the city, and almost killing Baron? Though, granted, Shredder didn't know about that last one.
Karai used scanned her card and opened the door for him, not sticking around to chat, but Donatello didn't care.
He quickly reached under his thin mat on the floor and pulled out his medical supplies that he had gathered over the years and sorted through it.
He pulled out the stitching supplies, reminding himself to grab more as soon as possible as he saw how low his stash had become, and popped two pain pills into his mouth before setting to work on removing the pieces of glass inbeded in his arm. After only ten minutes, he had all the glass on the bed in a neat pile and he could feel the beginning effects of the drugs.
Just in time.
He took a calming breath before readying the needle in his good hand.
Steady, he reminded himself.
Donatello gripped the needle tightly in his hand and began the tedious task of sewing his skin back together in careful, slow motions.
He was ever-grateful for the effects of the drugs, for all he felt now was a light tugging.
After he was satisfied with the stitches, he grabbed the last of his amoxicillin for keeping away infection.
He quickly wrapped the wound and popped another pain pill in his mouth, knowing that he would never be able to sleep when the medication wore off in the middle of the night.
Donatello arranged his staff beside him carefully as he always did and quickly fell asleep to drowsy thoughts.
"Master Saki?" Said a voice from beside him. "You wished to see me?"
Oroku Saki nodded but didn't quite look at him.
"Yes, Donatello will be spending some time with you tomorrow morning." Saki responded, still not turning around.
"Of course, Master Saki." The doctor said cautiously. He had known he would be seeing the turtle soon- his breaks of obedience were not very lengthy. "But why did you call me here?"
"You will not be using shock therapy." Saki informed him, turning to look at him from the corner of his eye as the doctor moved closer.
"And what will I be doing then?" The doctor asked, interested in the sudden change of tactics.
"For years I have wondered what makes those wretched turtles tick, what weakens them, exactly how to destroy them." Saki admitted. "Donatello is going to help you with this."