Leo paced back and forth in his cell, one hand clenching his uninjured forearm in a tight grip and the other squeezed into a rigid ball.
It had been hours since they had last seen Mikey and the leader in blue was far past the point of worry. He was practically hyperventilating with every step. What condition would his baby brother be in when he returned? Assuming that they brought him back at all!
But Leo couldn't stand to think along that line, so he thrusted it from his mind and refused to entertain it.
Mikey would be fine. He had to be fine. Leo refused to believe otherwise.
And if he wasn't, Leo didn't know what he was going to do. If anything happened to Mikey, it would be entirely his fault.
But given the choice, Leo wasn't sure how he could have done anything else.
Raph had long exhausted himself from his tempermental break of throwing himself at the bars and screaming obscenities until he was hoarse and had slipped off into unconciousness unwillingly only a few minutes ago.
Leo sighed and finally gave his aching legs a rest, sitting on the ground and crossing his legs underneath him.
The young leader attempted to search for the calm demanded of entrance to the astral plain, slowing his breathing and finding his center.
The horribleness of their situation dissipated as he entered the serene peaceful environment that he had become so acquainted with over the years.
He couldn't feel his aching body here, nor his overwhelming and crushing fear of what was to come. He could only feel the peace and restfulness of the astral plain and he welcomed it wholly.
Leo opened his eyes to see the wide open plain that rested before him, undisturbed by the physical world.
Leo could feel his brothers without having to think about it, could feel their light, as it were. Raph's was burning bright but damper than usual. Mikey's... Mikey's worried him. His presence here was weak, barely bright enough to make out. But worse, Leo could feel the pain they were inflicting on his baby brother. A sharp, jolting pain that radiated throughout his entire body and continued for several prolonged minutes before it was mercifully stopped.
Leo winced. He would have much rather take his brother's pain away than be a witness to it here. The only good news was that his brother was still alive, but the leader worried how long it would remain that way.
Leo hesitantly reached out for a light that he hasn't bothered with trying to find for years, only to get the same empty feeling that always accompanied Donnie's presence, or lack thereof.
How could his brother not have a presence here while he was very obviously alive? How had Shredder hidden his spirit from them for all these years?
And then there was his father's light, bright as a beacon that Leonardo quickly raced toward, hoping that he could catch his father meditating.
"Sensei! Sensei!" Leo yelled, knowing full well that he didn't have to speak loud for his father to hear him here.
Turtle luck seemed to be forgotten for the moment as he saw his father kneeling on the ground some distance away, eyes closed in meditation, which snapped open and stared back at him with surprise.
"My son," He gasped, standing and crossing to his eldest son. "My son, where are you three being held?"
"We woke up in cells, some kind of dungen. They- they took Mikey and Raph. Father, I almost-"
"Calm, my son." Splinter gently reminded him. "We will find you. Mr. Jones has already informed me of what happened."
"Casey?" Leo repeated. Though he had never wanted to think it or say it aloud, the leader had secretly known that if the human wasn't in the cells with them, he was dead. Why would he have been left alone when the rest of them were taken? "Casey's okay?"
"It is my understanding that Donatello gave Mr. Jones advice meant for me, and then knocked him unconcious. He attempted to follow you three but was unable to get into the building." Splinter informed him. "Once he is recovered and we have gathered our allies, we are coming, my son, I promise you."
Leo nodded even though he hadn't even begun to think through what his father had said about Donnie.
"I'm worried, Sensei." Leo admitted. "I can't protect them."
"My son your strength comes from each other. Draw off that. We will be there, but you must be strong for them until then." His father implored.
"But-"
"Leo! Leo! Damn it, Fearless, wake up!" Leo felt someone shaking him roughly back into the physical world.
"W-what?" Leo stumbled over the simple word as his head pounded from his abrupt removal from the astral plain.
"Mikey's back Fearless, wake up." Raph grunted, giving his groggy brother's arm one last shake before letting go, never having been the touchy-feely type of turtle.
As soon as his ears were able to process the words, "Mikey," and "back," Leo moved at the speed of light to his little brother's side, completely forgetting his protesting body.
"Mikey, hey look at me." Leo pleaded, reaching a hand through the bars to cup his baby brother's cheek.
The leader in blue was surprised at the fever he felt rising on his brother's forehead. A fever meant infection, right? Leo had never been a medically knowledgeable turtle, and so this was new territory to him. He should have taken the time to learn at least about what fevers meant and how to stop them, but he hadn't and now he was seriously regretting it.
"Mikey?" Leo whispered.
"You're loud." Mikey complained, though Leo had thought he had been as quiet as possible.
"What'd they do, Mikey?" Leo asked, needing to know how badly his baby brother was injured, and only then realizing that he didn't know what he would do if the damage was any more extensive than a scratch. And Leo highly doubted that his brother, though often over dramatic, would be acting so weak over a paper cut.
"T- took me back to the eletric place." Mikey stuttered in such a small voice that Leo had to strain to hear it and Raph grunted his disapproval of not being able to hear his little brother's response.
"They shocked you again?" Leo asked, horrified at the treatment his brother had been subjected to and angry that he didn't have the first clue about how to go about helping him.
Mikey nodded numbly and attempted to nuzzle closer to Leo and the elder immediately wrapped him up in his arms in an awkward jumble around the bars in an attempt to console his obviously shaken brother only for said brother to jump when the sounds of footsteps met their ears.
Leo heard Raph growl in warning at the newcomer and tightened his hold on his baby brother.
Leo wanted to tell Raph to wait, to hold his strength for a good opportunity, knowing all too well that his volatile brother would never agree to it.
But he never got the chance as Raph's cell opened and the fearless leader was unable to do anything but plead and attempt to bargain- "Stop! Take me! Don't touch him!"- but the four Foot ninja didn't seem to care about his desperation as they dragged his red banded brother out of the cell and out of the room.
Feeling a sudden, pressing, overwhelming exhaustion suddenly befall his body and a heavy weight somehow muddle his brain, Leonardo sunk down onto the cold concrete, his head between two bars and his entire body shaking with the force of the realization that his brothers were not going to last long like this.
What was worse was that Leo understood their strategy and knew that it was working. Shredder knew that the best way to hurt the turtle in blue was to hurt his family, but worse, leave him in working condition while his brothers deteriorated before his eyes and he was unable to do anything about it.
Leo saw Mikey's mouth moving and somewhere in him he knew that his baby brother was trying to talk to him, but Leo could no longer hear him over the loud nothingness in his ears.
He had failed. He had greatly and undeniably and hilariously failed. And his brothers were going to die because of it.
Raphael snarled and kicked and even attempted to bite the hands on him to get free, but every time he managed to knock one out of the game, another was there to take his place.
They dragged his squirming, cursing form into a brightly lit room with a single long table in the middle and Raph immediately knew that this was the room they had taken Mikey to.
This fueled his fight instinct even more when they slammed him onto the table, cuffs snapping onto his wrists and ankles almost instantly.
Raph snarled his distaste and the Foot ninja who had brought him in the room retreated, revealing Baron standing by the door with a small smirk on his face, a man who quite obviously was the doctor that Mikey had told him about, and Donnie, who stood near a computer with a hesitant expression on his face.
"Raphael, is it?" The doctor asked him.
Raph didn't answer but for a glare. This was the man who had hurt his baby brother and when Raph got ahold of him, he was going to wish he had never been born.
The doctor came closer, ignoring Raph's snarl of rage.
"Where is Hamato Yoshi?"
"With your mother." Raph snapped.
"Ah, so you all make jokes then." The doctor observed. "Well, I'm sure our session here will tire you out, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Raph was about to go for the obvious next, "your mamma" joke when the most intense, bombarding pain he had ever felt spread through his body like wildfire. It was like Zeus had taken an extreme disliking to the red banded turtle and decided that he wanted a fried turtle-kabob.
Raph yelled out as the pain continued to spread through every fiber of his being and no matter how hard he pulled on the restraints, they never gave way, leaving Raph trapped under the electric hands of the so-called doctor.
The eletricity only stopped for brief moments, just long enough for the doctor to ask, "Where is Hamato Yoshi?" And for Raph to snarl his defiance, which eventually turned into grunts, and then nothing at all.
The only thing keeping the volatile turtle awake at the moment was the unbridled fury running through his veins like wild fire. And before long, though he had no idea how long he had been strapped to that stupid table, even that always dependable resource began to deplete. Not for lack of anger- no, certainly not that. He had that by the truckload- but simply for lack of energy.
It took every ounce of strength in his body for Raph to simply keep his eyes open through the torture. Though Raph really didn't know that much about medical stuff, he really didn't want to know his chances of waking up again if he were to close his eyes now.
But it seemed as if that wasn't going to be left up to him as his body sagged and his breath came in gasps and his eyes struggled against him to close.
When the torture briefly stopped again, Raph struggled to take in air. His vision was blurry and he blinked to clear it, making sure to not close his eyes for too long.
Baron was the one to ask the question this time, his smirk widening into a grin as he stooped over the turtle.
"Where, Raphael?" Baron asked, obviously taking amusement in all this.
"Go ta hell." Raph found the strength to mumble, and felt victorious when Baron scowled in response.
"Continue then, Dr. Roland." Baron instructed and Raph committed the name to memory as he anticipated the next round of torture that didn't come.
"That's enough, actually." Donnie argued. "His vitals are past their danger levels."
Raph focused on Donnie, who seemed to be intentionally avoiding his gaze as he leveled one of his own at both Baron and Roland.
"Dully noted, Donatello." Baron said with a dismissive tone. "Doctor, cont-"
"Any more and he will die, Baron." Donnie interrupted. "His body can only take so much abuse."
"We have two other freaks downstairs if he does." Baron said with a shrug.
"Master Saki wants to question them all, by which means he will need them all alive, and when he decides to kill them, it will be by his hands. Not yours." Donnie snapped. "So why don't you leave the thinking to me and stick to the plan, yeah?"
Both Baron and Roland turned to stare at the turtle in surprise, obviously not having been expecting that kind of outburst from him.
Raph couldn't help but smile slightly.
It seemed that sass was genetic in their family.
Baron seemed to be thinking the same thing as he rushed toward the turtle and grabbed the back of his neck, yanking him off his feet before he could counter the attack, and promptly dragged him outside.
If Raph had the energy, he would have yelled. He would have screamed for Baron to let his little brother go, but he didn't have enough energy to lift his head, let alone scream.
Dr. Roland clicked his tongue distastefully and started to talk to himself, something that Raph had seen him do many times between shocks.
"Was never this bold..." He muttered. "Shredder will have to deal with him before long... More visits with him soon..."
Raphael would be lying if he said the one sided conversation wasn't freaking him out a little.
The man was obviously insane on a whole other level.
And Baron seemed to have a temper, not that Raph wasn't in that category as well, but he had never dragged one of his brothers- okay bad example. But Baron seemed to have no restraint and no one was here to restrict him as to what he could and couldn't do, and when Donnie tried to do just that, he dragged him out of the room.
The door swung open suddenly and Baron stormed through, a scowl fixed in place on his face as he glared at everything around him.
Raph was beginning to panic when Donnie finally followed, a large welt on his face but otherwise unharmed.
Though it was a small mark, Raphael was still furious that Baron has touched his little brother at all. He was lucky that Raph was still chained to the table.
As if answering his thoughts, the cuffs suddenly retracted from the table, leaving him free. Normally, he would have taken this chance to bash the closest enemy's head into the wall, but seeing as how he couldn't possibly move, that didn't leave much for him to do.
"Bring Leonardo." Baron snapped and Donnie nodded, his head bowed and his eyes downcast.
Baron ordered three Foot ninja to haul Raph up and Donnie led the way out of the room with Raph limp in their hands, having not even a slight bit of energy to fight back.
Raph focused his still bleary eyes on Donnie.
"What'd you say to him?" Raph asked, not really sure if he was going to get an answer.
To his surprise, the answer was quick, almost proud.
"I can be very convincing when I want to be." Donnie answered him with a small smirk.
Raph considered him for a moment.
"You're blackmailing him, aren't ya?" Raph demanded and Donnie's smirk instantly dropped.
"Of course not." Donnie said with a dismissive tone, as if this were a ridiculous question.
With that, Raph was dragged back into the room and thrown into his cell rather unceremoniously.
"Raphie!" Mikey yelled immediately upon seeing his second oldest brother. "You alright?"
"M' fine Mike." Raph grunted and attempted to find a decent position to sit in when a pain began to bloom in his chest, like Leatherhead decided that he was going to take a seat on the poor turtle's chest.
At first he tried to ignore it, but it began to spread, his chest growing unbearably hotter with every second and his breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps and everything around him had turned to darkness.
"Leo, check on Raphie!" Mikey demanded, looking pleadingly at his oldest brother, who didn't so much as blink back at him.
Leo hadn't responded to him at all since Raph had been taken, instead he simply stated at the floor with blank eyes, not responding to his brother's pleas at all.
"Leo please!" Mikey yelled. "Something's wrong with him!"
But still, the leader responded no more to this than he had to anything else the youngest brother had said previously, not even noticing that Donnie had opened his cell and had come cautiously close to him.
"Something's wrong with Raphie, Leo!" Mikey yelled, praying for his brother to show any sign of recognition of this fact.
Finally, Leo's eyes met his. Confused at first, but slowly understanding reached them and his eyes flickered toward Raph's gasping form.
"Raph!" Leo's voice was hoarse and thick with emotion that he rarely ever showed. "Raph, what's wrong?"
Donnie, still keeping Leo in his line of sight, looked to his right into Raph's cage and almost immediately bolted out of Leo's, yelling at the three Foot ninja to lock it behind him before running to Raph's side and kneeling there.
Donnie put two fingers against their brother's throat and muttered something that Mikey couldn't hear before pressing the side of his head against Raph's chest.
"Told them!" Donnie spat. "I told those idiots!"
He said this several times as he kneeled beside Raph and intertwined his fingers together before shoving them down roughly onto his plastron.
Mikey looked at Donnie's face which was, to put it simply, terrified, but Mikey couldn't understand what was scaring him.
"Hey! What're you doing with that?" Mikey heard Leo demand.
Donnie was holding his staff above Raph's chest, the end of it sparking between two wires.
"His heart stopped and he's not breathing." Donnie informed them. "This should get his heart going again."
His eyes bore into Leo's, silently asking permission which the leader nodded his assent.
Donnie sunk the sparking end of his staff into Raph's plastron and Mikey couldn't help the scream that escaped him when his second oldest brother's body suddenly jumped and then thumped down onto the ground with a sickening sound that Mikey didn't dare think about.
Donnie moved his staff out of the way and pressed his head against Raph's chest again.
Donnie shook his head angrily and pressed the eletric staff into his brother's plastron again.
Mikey wanted to look away- he didn't want to see his brother's body slump down like that!- but he had to see, he needed to see. That way he would know if- if-
Donnie pressed his head against Raph's plastron again but instead of continuing the cycle, leaned back on his knees and sighed in relief.
"Is he- is he okay?" Mikey demanded, pressing himself up against the bars.
"He's fine, Michelangelo." Donnie assured him as he stood and positioned Raph's unconscious form near Leo's bars and looked at the leader in blue.
"If he starts coming short of breath tell him to calm down and sit with his head between his knees and not to exert himself." Donnie instructed.
Leo watched him, nodding after a moment, and Mikey recognized the thoughtful look on his face.
"Donatello, what's going on?" Baron demanded, suddenly coming up behind said turtle.
Donnie jumped and swiftly turned to face the man, tucking his staff back into its holster.
"He had a heart attack." Donnie said and continued spitefully. "I told you that his vitals were waning long ago, and this is what happened as a result."
"I would watch your mouth turtle." Baron threatened. "Besides, there's two more. Stop worrying."
Donnie's hands balled into fists. "Master Saki said-"
"Speaking of which, Master Shredder wants to see you. Now." Baron said, grabbing the edge of his jacket and yanking him forward and out of Raph's cell.
"Take Leonardo to Roland." Baron called behind him, still pulling a protesting Donnie with him.
"I can walk, Baron!" Donnie snapped. "Stop manhandling me, let me go!"
Leo for his part fought them off as best he could, giving them just as much of a struggle as Raph had and forcing them to require the help of more Foot ninja. Alas, like on the rooftop, numbers simply overpowered skill.
Mikey was left alone in the dark with one brother unconscious and two others being led away from them. They might as well have been on the moon for all the good it did the youngest turtle.
Mikey sat back on the ground and watched Raph's barely perceptible rising chest and didn't look away. There was still hope. They were going to get out of this. They just had to hold out.
With this in mind, Mikey took a deep breath and prayed that turtle luck would take the day off.
I'm not totally happy with this one but I think it needed to happen. Thank you to all who are following this story! Hope y'all had a good week!