5. Desperate Times...
The time that passed healed her body, but not her pride. Every time she went down to the lair to hang out with Donnie, Leo would of course be there.
He did his best to be polite, but the small nod of greeting he gave her didn't cease to make her redden from her neck to her ears. She spent most of her time in the lab, avoiding his cool gaze.
Now she had a more pressing reason to be nervous.
This was the night of Shredder's prison transfer, and they had reason to believe there was going to be a breakout.
She sat at Donnie's monitors as the boys loaded into the truck, wringing her hands and chewing on the inside of her cheek.
The boys took off down the road as Ardyn pulled up the traffic cam footage of the police escort surrounding the truck. The NYPD wasn't taking this transfer lightly.
"Shredder's transfer is 7.2 miles northeast," Ardyn instructed into comms.
"Punch it," Leo ordered.
Ardyn watched the truck barrel through the streets, doing her best to clear the path of red lights. They caught up with the entourage in record time, and Ardyn's heart rate hadn't slowed. Her eyes darted back and forth between screens, until she spotted it. Bikes fanned out, sticking something to each of the police SUVs that accompanied the truck.
"Oh, no."
Each SUV blew up, flames lighting up the night. They flipped and landed uselessly on the side of the road, left to burn with the officers inside.
"They're taking out the entourage, you've gotta get in there!"
"I'm going as fast as I can," Donnie answered.
"Take your next left!"
The truck swerved.
"Hop the curb, it'll drop you right on the ramp."
"You got it," Donnie answered.
The truck bumped roughly over the cement, swerving onto the ramp and accelerating onto the cleared highway. They approached the police truck.
"Guys, we've got company."
"We got bogies on the bus," Donnie confirmed.
"Let's light 'em up," Leo instructed.
"Okay, hit the button."
"Button, what bu- Donnie, there's like a million buttons in here!"
"Number three! Number three!"
Manhole covers darted out of the front of the truck, flying like frisbees and hitting the soldiers that were clinging to the police truck.
Ardyn watched as more motorcycles appeared behind the truck, "More bikes, on your 4 o'clock."
Leo turned around in his seat, "Mikey, clear our right flank."
Ardyn could hear Mikey's happy chuckle over the comms, "Nunchucks giganticus."
Two large arms came out of the sides of the truck, wielding nunchucks. Mikey twirled them, "Say hello to my little friend!"
The nunchuck came down on the enemy vehicle roughly, flattening it almost completely.
Ardyn fist pumped in her chair, "Yes!"
"Good job, Mikey!" Leo affirmed.
"Those things are pretty awesome, huh?" Donnie called back proudly.
Ardyn slapped a hand over her mouth as they went under an overpass, taking the raised arms completely off the truck. They heavy metal crashed to the pavement loudly.
"Yeah, pretty awesome..." Mikey muttered guiltily.
"Oh my god," Ardyn breathed through her fingers. "It took him so long to calibrate those."
On another screen, another wave of Foot soldiers fanned out behind the truck. Adryn dropped her hand, "Guys, you've got more. Fanned out on your five and seven."
"Ooh, I don't like those guys," Mikey quipped lightly.
Raphael's growly voice came over comms, "I'm not being used to my full potential here, Leo."
"Hey, just chill, Raph. We're a little busy."
"They're coming up fast," Donnie reiterated.
"Enough!" Raphael shouted.
Leo turned back to look at him.
"Time to take out the trash."
Ardyn pinched her brows as she watched the back of the truck open up. Raphael leapt from it, arms out wide, clotheslining the soldiers off of their bikes. He landed on the front of another, plopping himself before the rider on her seat.
"That's how I roll!" He threw his head onto the soldier's helmet, knocking him off the bike limply. "That's how you roll."
He turned around on the bike and sped it up to catch the truck. Ardyn watched incredulously as he surfed on the bike until it hit the back of the truck. He leapt and rolled inside. "Anything else I can do for ya?"
Mikey gave a laugh over comms.
Ardyn covered her mouth to muffle the laughter. It halted in her throat as something appeared on another screen. She scrambled to pull it up on a closer one, her breath coming quickly.
"Incoming!"
The helicopter flew over the truck just then, making the boys all look forward.
"What is that thing?" Leo asked.
"It's a big ass magnet," Donnie answered, shocked.
"Oh no," Ardyn breathed. "Can't you take it out?"
They watched as the magnet stuck itself to the truck and lifted. The back tires came off the ground, then dropped as the cut piece gave way. Sparks lit up the highway.
"Can truck drivers not swerve?!" Ardyn shouted into the comms.
A rope dropped down from the chopper, directly over the straight-routed truck. Ardyn gripped the table, "No! He's getting away!"
"No he's not," Leo slammed his hand down.
A katana whipped out from the front of the truck, spinning through the air and slicing the rope. Shredder dropped to the roof of the metal truck, barely hanging onto the side.
"Yeah!" Ardyn slammed her fist on the table.
Shredder crawled back up onto the truck as the chopper swerved back overhead.
"Okay, it's all you Mikey."
"Time to shine."
Ardyn waited to see something happen, but all she heard was Mikey's 'ow's and Donnie grunting.
"It's stuck!"
"Oh, this sucks," Mikey complained.
"Oh, there it is."
The top of the truck opened up, revealing Mikey fist pumping into the wind. He was seated behind a large gun of some sort, legs kicking wildly in the air. "This is awesome!"
"Alright, Donnie, you've gotta get Mikey closer."
Ardyn bit down on her lip.
The seconds that passed seemed like an eternity. Ardyn could swear she tasted blood in her mouth.
"Take the shot Mikey!" she burst out.
A net fired from the gun, spreading out and heading straight for Shredder. He had righted himself and was crouching, aiming for his escape route. He leapt from the truck as the net approached.
A flash of light consumed him, and he disappeared.
Silence flooded the comms as Donnie slammed on the breaks of the garbage truck. The net Mikey had fired slapped uselessly to the pavement.
Ardyn's breath stilled in her chest.
"Where'd he go?" Leo asked no one in particular.
He was free. Shredder had escaped. The man that ruined her life, that hurt so many people... he'd disappeared in a flash of light, and there was no way to track that.
Her breaths started small, but grew faster and deeper the more her mind raced. This was it. This was the end of her safety. No number of skilled protectorates, no length of solid concrete, no distance from this place would keep her out of harm's way now. She was helpless, a target. He would come for her, and he would take what she had never wanted by force.
She ripped the earpiece out and threw it on the table, then stood from her chair, leaving it to spin until it hit the desk roughly. Master Splinter didn't get the chance to ask where she was going.
...
She paced in her apartment. She had to do something. She was a sitting duck, whether she was in the lair or across the country. He would be looking for her. Karai no doubt would fill him in on her presence in the city, then it was only a matter of time before he got his hands on her. She had feared this day for as long as she could remember.
They had to find him, and fast. Wherever he had disappeared to, he would be back in the city. But there was only one person in the world that would be able to find him before he found her.
And that was a call she had promised herself she would never make. A bridge long since burned.
The person she needed now was the very person she swore she would never need. Shredder's escape had not only shattered her hope of safety, but shattered her moral resolve as well. The tracker Ardyn needed was nearly as bloodthirsty and ruthless as Shredder himself. This psychopath had bloodier hands than all of the Foot Clan's nameless goons packed into one.
But this bloodthirstiness was exactly what made them so damn good at tracking.
Never in Ardyn's life had she known anyone more insatiable, more driven, than them. It stirred fear in her anew, the thought of bringing that kind of sick obsession into her life again. She would certainly regret it.
Still she found herself picking up the phone and dialing the number. A number she'd tried for years - and failed - to forget. The line only rang twice, but it felt like eons before a voice broke the drone on the line.
"I need a favor."