Chapter Nine: Players and Pawns

{Leo}

I can't breathe. My eyes are stinging furiously from the blinding powder, but still, I run. I don't know where I'm going—I can't see ten feet in front of me—but the panic and adrenaline coursing through my body prevent me from stopping. I should've known this would be a bad idea. I should've seen it in her to shift so quickly. I faltered…and she took advantage of it. She knew I would trust her enough to let my guard down.

I can't even focus on the pain in my chest at the realization. My legs burn and my mind is racing and my eyes hurt so bad—

"You're getting slow, Leo!" she calls behind me. My breath hitches and I pick up the speed. I don't know what she'll do when she catches me, and I don't want to find out. I know that at the moment, she is a threat, and I must either devise a tactical retreat or find an area to engage in combat. Preferably one with several escape routes.

I veer right, sliding into a narrow alleyway, my eyes locked on the fire escape on the side of the building. The muscles in my legs coil and I spring from the concrete, snatching the metal rungs and hauling myself up and over. I climb the steps, leaping past entire sections, scrambling, thumping, tripping. I have to blink continuously to try and relieve the burning in my eyes. My senses have shot into overload. The rush of blood through my skull drowns out all other sound but the pounding of my heart and my ragged draws of breath. I leap onto the roof, frantically scouring my surroundings for any opportunity to hide and initiate a stealth attack.

But the notion quickly dissipates as a shuriken slices through the air an inch from my face and sticks into the AC unit in front of me. I skid to a halt, panting, and whirl around to face Karai. We stand at opposite ends of the rooftop, and even through my blurred vision, I can see the cruel gleam in her fiery eyes. I swallow, uneasy, and reach for my katanas. I can't get out of this without a fight—that much is obvious. I'm just trying to understand why she suddenly seems so much more hostile than usual. It's like she wants to hurt me.

Keeping the realization at the forefront of my mind, I steady myself. Control. That's all this really is. If she wants to fight, then I'll give her a fight. And I won't let her take advantage of me again.

Her lips twist up into a knowing grin as she readies her blade and charges at me with a war cry. I let her get close before rolling out of the way and swiping with my katanas. She ducks, as expected, and pulls her body into an air kick. Her foot hits the flat edge of my blade, not with enough force to knock it from my hand, but enough to strain my wrist. I hiss at the sudden twinge of sharp pain and instinctively lash out, catching her leg before she can complete her spin and yanking her to the ground. She's more dangerous with her weapon, but if I can just subdue her and get her into another hold, she won't stand a chance.

She anticipates this—again, expected—and slips a hidden dagger from behind the armored plate on her thigh and stabs upward. I manage to move out of the way in time to avoid getting a knife in my face, but it slices my upper shoulder and I immediately sense the warmth seeping from the wound. I can't hold back the shock; she's cut me before, probably worse than this, but the motive seems different. The other times were simply because she expected me to get out of the way—I'd dare to go as far as calling them accidents, though she would never admit to that. But this felt deliberate.

I frown and snatch her wrist in that instant. I don't have it in me to hurt her on purpose. I could never be towards her what she is towards me, and she knows that. She thrives off of it, in fact. But the look in her eyes is making it clear to me now that I'm going to have to be a little more aggressive in order to withstand her attacks. I have to figure out a way to stand my ground without putting her in any real danger.

I slam her to the ground. Our eyes meet, fierce and sharp, and I can hear the air being torn from her lungs at the force of my attack. I twist her wrist enough to cause pain, and she drops the slim knife, her breath hitching at the sting. But it's when I think I have her that I realize I really don't, and I never will.

She arches and twists her body out from under mine with such speed and fluidity that I can't resist being impressed—well, until her knee connects with my jaw and sends me reeling back. I stifle a cry of pain and it turns to a guttural snarl forced between my teeth. My eyes land on her, furious, seething. There's a little bubble of emotions growing in my gut. I can't place them, but they burn, and I know it'll pop before long.

I taste blood in my mouth. She twirls her sword across her fingers and charges me again, throwing herself into the air with stunning agility. I can't dodge this one, so I wield my katanas up into a blocking stance and catch her momentum between the two blades. The clang of weapons sends a jolt running down my bones and I slip back a few inches.

"What's wrong, Leo?" she taunts, the city lights glinting across the fire in her eyes. "Can't handle the heat?"

I snarl and jerk my upper torso forth with enough strength to knock her back. She stumbles, but catches herself before she can lose any real ground, and I lunge at her, katanas raised in an arch with every intention to strike—

And then an arrow pierces the back of my leg.

~T~

{Mikey}

My eyes peel open and a groan escapes my lips. Man, my head feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it…

I smack my tongue lazily and grimace at the nasty taste of stale breath. I glance around. The TV's still on, but the tape stop playing hours ago, so the screen is just a dim, blank, flickering image of static speckles. The rest of the lab is dark, save for a faint light in the corner of my eye. I stretch my neck and twist enough to see Donnie slumped over his laptop, snoring softly. I smile and shake my head. I wonder if he'll fall asleep during training. That's always funny.

I turn my gaze to an empty couch beside me, and my smile drops. Raph was here when I fell asleep. Did he go back to his room? Glancing back at Donnie to make sure he's really asleep, I hesitate for a moment before deciding to go ahead and get up. And the entire process is overwhelmed by my arguing thoughts.

He said not to move.

He's always been paranoid.

But you're still recovering—he said that, right?

But I really feel fine. My burns don't even hurt.

What about your headache? And all the pain in your body?

I'm just…sore. But I'm fine. I can walk for a few minutes and get back to sleep, and he'll never know.

I ignore the rest of my brain and slide off the cool table, hugging my blanket around me. My feet touch the ground and I test the feeling of weight on my legs, mindful of the bandages. My head reels slightly at the movement, so I lean back and clutch the table's edge to steady myself. Close my eyes. Breathe. Open. Move forward.

It catches me off guard at how something as simple as walking drains me so fast. I guess Donnie's medicine was meant to repair my damaged skin—not everything else. I remember him going off about shock and exhaustion and something about my body temperature…but like usual, I think I tuned him out five seconds into the lecture. I really gotta stop doing that.

I make my way out of the lab, as slow as a turtle—the non-mutated ones—and hobble for the hallway connecting all of our rooms. I have to hurry; if Donnie catches me up, I'll be in huge trouble.

I reach my room first, and I pause. Frowning, I push open the door and stare at my comfy-looking bed. I really wanna jump into the blankets and pillows, curl up, and fall asleep. Maybe I can ask Donnie to move me in the morning… It'd sure beat that stupid examination table.

I have to shake off the urge to wobble in there and play with my action figures, who are looking particularly left out, and I make towards Raph's room. I nudge open the door and peek inside, but there's nothing but darkness and an empty bed. My frown deepens. If he's not in the lab and he's not in his room, then where'd he go?

I check Leo's room too, and also find the bed to be an empty mess of tangled sheets. They're both gone?

Maybe they went topside, I think. I don't remember anyone saying anything about a mission, but maybe they just didn't want me feeling left out. I sigh and slowly head back for the lab. I really do mean to go back to bed, but Donnie's laptop catches my eye, and my curiosity, once again, gets the best of me.

Everyone keeps saying that's a bad thing, something about it killing a cat, but I'm a turtle, so I really don't see why that should apply to anyone who isn't a cat. But, thinking back…I guess it was my curiosity that got me into that fight with the dementor/robot, and every other mess I've ever been in.

But I just shake off the thoughts and tip-toe over to Donnie's desk area. There are papers and notebooks scattered all across the table. None of the writing makes any sense to me, so I skirt around behind Donnie, making sure to be extra quiet. I stretch over his shoulder to get a look at the computer screen, but it's just a bunch of diagrams and stuff. Technobabble. I almost give up and head back to the other side of the lab when I notice a notebook under Donnie's arm. I chew on my lip in thought before carefully sliding the book out from under him. I wait for him to wake up, to jump and scream at me for touching his stuff and snatch the notebook away, but he doesn't. He just keeps snoring. I smile mischievously to myself and start flipping through the pages. Most of it's nonsense, but there's a page labeled "Project X" that looks interesting. I skim through the notes—most of it's about retromutagen—and then there's drawings. I don't know what any of it means, but a weird feeling is starting in my tummy—like someone's tying knots with my intestines. I grimace and flip to another page. I know Donnie wanted to find out how to make retromutagen to un-mutate things, but this seems…different. Like something's wrong. And it doesn't help when my eyes land on the sketch of what looks like a human with a question mark for a face, along with a whole bunch of margin notes about "molecular conversions" and "mutation." I shudder and keep flipping pages, but this Project X continues for almost twenty pages in the notebook, with more drawings and more equations. The word "human" keeps showing up, over and over and over, and so does the word "anthropomorphize." That one's a little less familiar.

Why is he putting so much work into his idea for retromutagen? Did we need some? Is that why we've been gathering mutagen canisters?

But I don't remember him saying anything about this, and while usually me not remembering something isn't a big deal, it is when it comes to Donnie and his inventions. Whenever he's working on something, he blabs about it for days and days, trying to get us as excited as he is. I think we all kinda tune him out, but I'd remember all of this stuff for sure. He's never said a word about any of it.

That feeling in my gut is getting worse. I finally can't stand it anymore, so I snap the book shut and slide it back under his arm before hurrying over to my side of the lab.

I turn off the flickering TV and curl up on the couch instead of the examination table, tugging the blankets over me. I have to be mindful of my position—something that's really annoying—so I don't mess up any of the bandages. The skin beneath feels too tight and I have to lie still on my back. My nostrils flare with my breath and I stare up at the stone ceiling, hoping the sleep will come fast, and morning faster. I can't wait to be out of these wrappings and back into training and messing around with the guys. I swear, after this, I'll never take it for granted again.

Sleep doesn't come easy, and now my mind is buzzing with all of the stuff I saw in Donnie's notebook. It probably doesn't mean anything, but I just have this weird feeling that I can't shake. I chew on my lip and stare at the stones above me, idly wiggling my toes as I try to hum myself to sleep.

I close my eyes, but the picture of the faceless human keeps popping up and it's creeping me out. Why didn't it have a face? Why is Donnie drawing stuff about humans and mutagen?

I sigh and thump my head into the pillows to knock the thoughts loose. It doesn't matter. I can just ask him in the morning. Besides, Donnie's always doing crazy things—they're a lot of fun and they usually work out in the end.

I'm sure this will be no different.

~T~

{Leo}

The shock hits before the pain does. I gasp and stumble back, my hand instinctively shooting for the arrow sticking out of the back of my lower thigh. I have to stop myself from ripping it out.

My eyes dart up in the direction of the shot, and my heart skips at the sight of a dozen or more Foot soldiers lining the roof of the building next to us. My gaze flickers to Karai, my lip curling above my teeth in defensive accusation. I can see a sliver of surprise swim across her dark orbs, but it vanishes in a split second, and she resumes attacking me, as if I didn't just get shot.

I manage to stumble out of the way as her blade flashes across my vision and smacks into the concrete. I grimace at the stinging pain shooting up from my leg, and against my better judgment, I snatch it and tear it from my skin.

Pain. Sharp, momentarily unbearable pain. I shove it down, crushing it between my teeth, and I toss the broken shaft aside, my grip tightening on my katanas. Karai stares me down, a message glinting in her eyes.

Play the game.

I block another one of her attacks and deflect two more arrows. Enemies from both sides. And knowing Karai, she won't help me. She has eyes on her—spies for Shredder, reporting her every move. She has to attack me with everything she has, or she'll be in just as much trouble.

Play the game.

Because if I don't, we both die at the hands of Shredder…or one another. And to be honest, I'm scared to find which will come first.

I slide to the ground, ducking under the quick, gleaming arch of her blade, and I take off across the rooftop. The sound of arrows clanking against the concrete and ventilation systems behind me quickens by pace, and I launch myself from the roof. Airborne one second—

Two seconds—

Hit the wall, snatch the pipes, climb, climb, climb—

Swing right, dodge an arrow. Ignore the pain thrumming beneath the beads of rising blood. Up, up, up—

Onto the roof. Running, sliding, twisting and spinning on the back of my shell to knock another string of arrows and shruikens from the air.

My muscles are burning. My lungs are aching from the rapid rate of breath. My mind has lost itself in that familiar and terrifying realm of survival instinct, and everything else fades into the black.

Go, move, run!

I leap over the AC units, slide across the solar panels, jaw clenched, heart pounding. I move for the fire escape, remembering a sewer entrance located in the alleyway beside this building. Though my brothers, mainly Raphael, would beg to differ, I hate retreating. Especially from Karai. But I'm outnumbered and in no condition to take all these guys on at once. I have no other choice—

A second arrow hits me, this time on the upper part of my shoulder blade. The piercing sensation ripples across my body and I cry out, clutching at the wound. I reach back and tear the arrow head free and my stomach turns at the immediate spurt of blood. I drop the arrow and it clatters to the ground. My fingers tighten around the wound, squeezing more blood from it. My hand becomes sticky with crimson, and my vision sways. My heart flutters and skips oddly, but I try desperately to shake it off and forge ahead.

I have to keep moving… I have to…escape…

The world tips. I manage to catch myself against a wall, but everything has turned sideways, and all of the colors are beginning to melt together.

…What?

The roar of blood rushing through my skull is deafening. I must've…been hit…with something…

A groan escapes me as I stagger forth, pressed on reaching the alleyway. My vision continues to twirl and expand, and my stomach recoils as a dizzy rush overtakes me. I can't tell if I'm on the verge of fainting or puking when something crashes into my shell.

BAM!

I'm slammed into the ground from behind. The rough cement scrapes the skin from my jaw and sends a stinging wave across my body. I grit my teeth against the pain and realize Karai's got me pinned.

"Sorry, Leonardo," she says coldly. "Running's not an option."

The chilled steel of her blade sends a shiver down my spine. The ground rumbles under the running steps of the Foot soldiers closing in behind me. Karai bends down over me, pressing my face into the ground as she leans in close.

"The arrow was dipped in a tranquilizing solution," she whispers lowly. "You only have few minutes before you pass out at best. Fight me for a moment, and then drop off the edge into the alleyway. There's a manhole cover below."

Her words sound thick and distant, but I understand, more or less. I manage to nod and force my body to fight the poison running through me. I jerk my arm back, knocking Karai off of me. I pull myself from the ground, gripping the hilt of my katanas so tight, my knuckles are almost white. Everything's still spinning, and when she jumps at me, I suddenly see four of her. I groan and manage to block her attack, but that's about all I can do. She jabs and slices, and I duck and stumble back, my world warping and swaying all around me. I seriously think I'm going to throw up—

"Come on, Leo," Karai hisses. She becomes a blurry mesh of dark color as she scolds me. I stagger back against the roof edge, holding down the urge to vomit. She glances back at the approaching Foot soldiers and snarls, pressed. She lunges at me, her sword against my throat, and pins me against the edge of the roof.

"You're supposed to be convincing—"

But then someone screams—my name, I think—and a blur of motion rips past me and slams into Karai. A yelp of pain escapes her and the two forms go tumbling back. The sudden force of it is enough to throw me off balance, and in a horrifying moment, I realize I don't have a grip on the edge, and the roof disappears from under me—

And I fall.

~T~

{Karai}

Leo's been reduced to a stumbling drunk under the influence of the tranquilizer. If the situation weren't so impossible, I'd find it amusing. But with Father's soldiers breathing down my neck and no doubt reporting everything I do, I can't let them see me falter. I have to fight Leo like I'm bent on killing him. And it's funny, because I had no trouble with that five minutes ago. But when that arrow was shot into him, an awful fear tore through my insides. The sight of his blood shook that haze of anger from me.

But now, it's too late. He's been hit twice, and if he doesn't get it together enough to make a believable escape, we're both going to face my father's fury. I snarl and lunge at him, now motivated by an anger that's frantic and fearful.

"Come on, Leo," I hiss. "You're supposed to be convincing—"

"LEO!"

A familiar voice screams for the wounded soul in front of me, but before I can even react, a fist catches me upside the jaw and a body slams into me. A cry of pain is forced from my lungs as the force of the hit sends a shockwave through my skull. We both go flying back, and I'm crushed into the cold, hard ground, pinned and aching. Blood rushes into my mouth and I realize I've bitten a hole through my tongue.

"You!" My vision flickers and blurs, but after a moment, everything clears, and the piercing green gaze of Raphael is boring into me. He raises his sai above my head, but that's not what catches my attention. My eyes are locked on Leo, a few yards away from me, stumbling, unable to gather his sense of balance, and then—

No.

He slips and tumbles off the edge of the roof with a strangled cry, vanishing from my sight.

"Leo!" I shout, immediately cursing myself for using such a desperate tone. Raphael stops his attack and looks back to see what I'm screaming about, when he sees the empty spot where his brother was just standing. He's off of me in a second, crying out for his brother and running to the roof's end.

I pull myself to my feet in a daze and lift a hand to my split lips. Blood soaks from my mouth into my gloved hand and I grimace. I'll have to get him back for that.

"Leo!" Raph yells. He whirls around and looks at me with all the fires of hell burning in his eyes, but he knows he has to get to his brother's aid. He has to choose to fight…or to run. And I can tell he hates it.

"I'll get you for this," he spits. He looks over at the Foot soldiers and then back to me, his scowl as mean and ruthless as ever, and he snarls as he pulls a smoke bomb from his belt and smashes it into the ground.

His vanishes beneath a thick plume of purple smoke, and I breathe a sigh of relief at the quick sound of him leaping down the fire escape and pulling Leo into the sewers below.

"They've escaped," one of the soldiers growls. His eyes shoot to me, but I've got enough blood dripping from my mouth to look convincingly defeated.

"I didn't think the other would show up," I mutter, wiping the slick red from my lips. My whole face is still buzzing from the punch that I know I'll be feeling for a week. Well, at least one of them has the guts to do it right.

"What do we do now?" the soldier inquires.

"Fall back. Try it again in a few nights." I slip my mask back on and sheathe my sword.

"We're just going to let them escape?"

I scoff. "Well, if you want to go after them in a dark, wet, underground maze that runs through the entire city, risk an inevitable ambush, and be completely out of your element, be my guest."

No one says anything to that. I smile to myself and start walking off for Father's. I've noticed lately how the loyalty of my soldiers has shifted. They must've seen me favor the turtles on several occasions, or maybe someone's spreading rumors. Either way, something's off. They've been questioning me a lot more, and I'm sure Father is having them spy on me. Enemies. Enemies everywhere.

I straighten my shoulders and listen to the sounds of their footsteps behind me. My mind wanders back to Leo, but I have to shake it off. He'll be alright—he always is. He has to be, after all.

But even still, I can't get the image of him slipping over the edge out of my mind. How high up are we? What, seven, eight stories? No, no—shut up. Don't think of it. He's fine…he's fine…

I shut down the rest of my thoughts and focus on the cold hardness in my chest. It shuts out the rest of my emotions, until there's nothing but the apathy. And with half my being closed off and my heart cloaked in ice, I head home, mentally preparing myself for the consequences of my foolishness.

~T~

{Raph}

Karai screams his name. I look back just in time to catch a glimpse of him tumbling over the roof's edge, and my heart drops to the bottom of my gut. His name rips up my throat as I push off of Karai and stumble for the empty spot where he was just standing.

I clutch the brick lining the end of the rooftop and stare down at his distant, crumpled form.

"Leo!"

My chest constricts and the anger flares up to consume the pain. I whirl around to face the lying, venomous snake. She has a welt forming along her lower jaw and cheek where I punched her, and blood is dripping from her lips. It isn't enough. The urge to march over there and rip her to pieces overtakes me. My hands are shaking, clutching my sais with a burning hatred. Leo's hurt—I have to get to him—

But it's her fault!

My gaze is like fire, searing hot and brimming with the stinging threat of tears. I glare at her, wishing that looks could kill, but the Foot soldiers are almost right on top of us and I have to get to Leo—

"I'll get you for this," I spit. And then I snatch a smoke bomb from my belt and chuck it at the ground. The world is enveloped in the thick purple cloud, and I fling myself down the fire escape, skipping entire flights in my haste, and hit the ground hard. The shock shoots up my ankles and knees, but I hardly register the pain. I run to him, grabbing him by the shell and hauling him over my shoulder and making a beeline for the sewers.

The darkness covers us as I slip down the ladder. I grunt, landing on my shoulder in the shallow waters, a dull ache moving up my side. I keep my hold on him and pull myself up, stumbling forth, splashing through the sewage in desperation as I head for home.

Too many times. There's just too many times I'm hauling one of their bodies back. The thought makes my stomach clench and I bite down the aching hurt, letting the anger warm me.

He's such an idiot! How many times is it going to take for him to understand that Karai is bad news? Why is he so stupid?!

My teeth clench as I run, my eyes burning, and I realize I haven't checked to see how bad off he is. I skid to a stop and set him down on the walkway along the sides of the sewer. My hands are trembling as I pull out my T-phone. The light comes on and illuminates the whole section of the tunnel, and my thoughts are reduced to stifled bursts of rage in-between the concern.

His left arm is swollen, and his wrist looks broken, and one of his legs is bent at an unnatural angle.

Leo, you're so stupid—

A scrape along the underside of his jaw is crusted over in dried blood, and there's wounds on his shoulder blade and the back of his thigh, like something stabbed him.

I can't believe you were sneaking out to see her—

The skin's torn and agitated, and blood is still oozing from the injuries. The side of his shell has fracture lines running through it—he must've landed on it—but he's still breathing, and there's no signs of injury on his head.

When you wake up, I'm going to smack you upside the head for being so stupid, for scaring me half to death, you stupid idiot—

He probably hit the fire escape on the way down and broke his wrist and his leg, and then landed on the side of his shell. All thing's considered, a cracked shell is certainly better than a cracked skull.

I bury my face in my hand, groaning. "Leo, you idiot... You freaking idiot…"

He's alive. That's all that matters. I just have to get him home, where he'll be safe…

I pick him up and gently shift his body over my shoulder, trying to calm myself. He's not dead, he's not dead, he's not dead…

But oh, he's going to wish he was when I'm through with him.