Gray Area
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After the brothers parted ways, Leo and Donnie made their way to the front of building keeping close to the shadows avoiding the street lights. With quick movements, Donatello worked his magic and bypassed the original security codes on the front door and made their way inside. Leo followed behind, shutting the door behind him with the uttermost silence.
Light on their feet, they made their way across the main floor passing the security check in and in the back to the abandoned office rooms only to find nothing. Leonardo pushed another door open to find nothing but an empty conference room collecting dust and bugs.
"Nothing." He said. Donnie nodded in agreement before reaching up to connect his communicator.
"Me and Leo are in." He said. "Mainframe was not on the 1st floor. Going to the second now." He looked around and felt the strange emptiness of the building. "Strange, the building isn't schedule to go till Tuesday so why isn't one here?"
"Lets not stick around to meet up with any late attendees." Leo said, closing the door. "Raph, you and Mikey go up to the 3rd floor no higher. Let's keep it close." He said before leading the way to the nearby stairs to make it up to the 2nd floor.
"Roger that." Raph said on the communicator leaving a bad taste in Leo's mouth.
Leonardo and Donatello made their way to the second floor after getting through the elaborate security code on the fire escape stairwell.
"Odd." Donnie murmured as he cracked its code and opened the door.
"The lock or its location?" Leo asked, slowly opening the door.
"Both." Donnie said following the eldest into the next hallway.
The second floor was drastically different from the first, and for obvious reasons. The floor itself was almost like a main communication on a space station. Only, the space station was on vacation.
Leo broke out his flashlight and shined around the room and noticed a strange looking monitor in the middle of the room.
"Think I found your main frame Donnie." Leo said. Donnie walked over to it and brushed off the collecting dust. The purple banded turtle looked over to the side to see the pillars blinking red and in that moment picked up the sound of the youngest.
"Hey Don." He said in the communicator. "What are these blinking light things on the walls?"
"Those would be the bombs for the Demo." Don said. "Don't touch them Mikey." multitasking by turning on the computer.
"Trust me if I felt like losing a limb I would steal some of Raph's porno." A slight slap could be heard from the communicator.
"Knock it off. Keep focus." Leo reminded them before clicking off, keeping attentive to their surroundings.
Donnie turned the computer on and got to work but immediately froze.
"Damn." He said under his breath.
"What's the problem?" Leo asked, leaning over the look at the screen and Donnie's fingers working at hyperspeed.
"It's all encrypted. Probably data they weren't able to move and needed to be destroyed. This will take time." He said.
"How much time?" he asked.
"Hard to say, this is pretty intense. It's going to need some outside equipment." Donnie explained.
"Should we just put it on a USB and drop it off at the police station?" Leo asked.
"If we did they would just toss it. They can't determine with their technology. This looks oddly familiar but I can't put my finger on it." Donnie said pulling out a small disk before inserting it to the mouth of the CPU. "I'll take what I can and try to decipher it." He explained watching as the information begin to upload.
Leo couldn't help but to watch over his shoulder.
"Why would they leave out so much stuff in an abandoned building?" Leo said in a low tone. "Clearly the first floor was a decoy. I wonder what they were doing here."
"Whatever it was it most certainly wasn't for the public eye." Donnie said. Leo clicked at his communicator to turn it on but was greeted with static.
"Mikey, Raph come in?" He only received silence as a response.
""Raph, Mikey, respond!" Leo called out.
"Hey were here." Mikey said. Leo felt his heart settle hearing Mikey's voice.
"Where did you guys go?" He asked.
"Dead zone?" Mikey said, he was slightly breaking up. "But hey you guys might wanna come meet us where we're at, some science stuff Donnie might appreciate." That peaked Donnie's interest
"What floor?" Donnie asked.
They immediately felt a tremor under their feet and knew it wasn't a good sign.
"Donnie?" Leo asked, immediately tensing. Donnie switched over the screens on the computer and took an intake of breath.
"Shit." He took the disk quickly out of the computer. "Bombs were remotely activated!" Another thundering boom flooded the building.
"What the hell was that?" Raph yelled through the com.
"Shit." Donnie said, grabbing the disk and putting it in his pouch. "The bombs are going off throughout the building! They're not on schedule and they're not going off at once."
"That's a good thing though right?" Mikey asked, still breaking up on the other end.
"No that means there's chances of fires. We gotta get out of here now!" Donnie said running towards the fire escape.
"Alright regroup back at the roof. Move now!" As he said that, one of the bombs on the second floor went off, causing Leo to immediately shield Donnie and push him through the door.
"You guys gonna be okay getting out?" Raph called in concern.
"Heading out now! Hurry!" Leo called back. Another bomb went off right above them, causing the foundation to start to crumble. Leo and Donnie were swift at dodging the debris coming down . Suddenly, the ceiling of the door came down in front of them, stopping their exit.
"Raph, Mikey we're blocked in looking for another way!" Leo said turning back up to the second floor. He received nothing but static.
Donnie took his boe-staff and blocked some falling material as they made it back up the stairs to the same room they were trying to escape.
"Respond!" Leo yelled, blocking his face as another bomb went off flinging concrete at his face, nicked his bicep.
"Leo you alright?" Donnie asked, catching his balance as the very foundation they stood on was beginning to unravel.
"Respond!" Leo yelled again, ignoring his brothers concern, his main focus was hearing the other end.
"Leo." Mikeys voice came in barely through the static.
"Mikey where are you guys!" He yelled, looking around for an exit.
"St-...co….buddy…" And with that the communicator went dead and a sinking feeling fell in Leo's pit. This wasn't good and only hoped his gut was wrong.
"Leo!" Donnie called out pointing at the blown out window barely blocked by the falling ceiling. Leo settled himself. There was no time to panic right now. He and Donnie needed to get out.
With that, he and Donnie made their way out of the falling building and headed back to the roof and waited for the two brothers to come out. He only prayed Michelangelo would come back to him like he promised.
The fire burned around them, crackling and sharding the entire room in black and smoke. Raph sat there on the ground, looking up at his baby brother grasping at their greatest enemy. His ragged breathing blending with the flaming background, becoming that of the orange screen.
The Shredder didn't move where he stood, he amused the idea of the little turtle holding him back from attacking the injured brother but was growing bored.
"Heh." The Shredder groaned, pushing his blade farther up into Mikey's gut, causing the turtle to grunt, a steady stream of blood coming from his mouth.
"Mikey!" Raph tried to stand but his body failed him, making him fall face forward. Mikey was trying to stay calm to the best of his ability. But this was a pain he had never experienced. He felt gut wrenched, literally. His body trembled trying to keep the blade from going any further.
"Pathetic turtles." The Shredder commented body once again twisting so strangely, paying no attention to the beams falling around them, as if he didn't have a mind in the world that the building was coming down on top of their heads. "To think you were ever a threat. What a feeble attempt to save your own lives."
"Dude.." Mikey croaked out trying to crack a smile at the dark armored man. "Y-you really need to stop talking." His grip suddenly changed on the Shredder's upper arm. "You really should keep an eye on your enemies." With that the Shredder heard a weird popping noise and looked down to see smoke cracklers placed all across his arms ready to go off.
"Gah!" The Shredder immediately pulled away, making Mikey gag as the blades were removed. The bombs went off across the Shredders arm, cutting through the armor and slicing the flesh underneath.
The Shredder backed up, the floor underneath his steps giving out making him trip and fall into a burning pillar.
"Gah-ah!" He hollered as his body disappeared within the flames.
Mikey stood for a moment, trying to feel accomplished of getting the Shredder away even if it was temporary. But, within the moment the adrenaline left his body, he fell to his knees, grasping his middle instantly.
"Mike!" Raph hollered, almost like he had forgotten he had been poisoned he attempted to stand and reach his brother. His leg immediately gave out the second he stood and landed back on his shoulder. He grunted and pushed himself up and crawled over to look and see Mikey was leaning forward, one hand on the ground and the second grasping his middle and dragging for breath. But what Raphael paid attention to was the pooled blood and it staining the green skin of his youngest brother.
"Shit, Shit Mikey!" Raph Rambled looking over the wound. It was one he had never seen before. Never have they had the issue of some breaking their plastron, especially to this extent. That was always their advantage. But now, Raphael didn't know what to do.
Mikey felt the searing pain and torn flesh and looked down at his palm and tried hard not to panic.
"Raph that's a lot of blood." He said, voice almost too high pitched. "W-why so much blood." He could feel his body starting to panic, limbs going numb and vision crossing. He felt like he was dying.
It might be because he was.
"Fuck!" Raphael yelled. He immediately went to his communicator and felt he didn't have it. "Okay, okay shit okay!" He rambled to himself. With every fiber of his being, he ignored the smoke flooding his vision and tried to control his breathing to preserve the last bit of the oxygen as he forced his leg down and balance on the basically useless limb.
"Come on bro I'm gonna get ya out of this!" He yelled reaching down and grabbing Mikey's arm and forcing him up.
"Ah! Stop, Stop!" Mikey yelled, trying to curl himself up, feeling the thin lining under his plastron beginning to tear.
"Can't we gotta move!" Raphael argued, finally getting Mikey's arm over his shoulder and prepping him on his side.
"Come on Mikey we gotta go!" Raphael said, leading the two out towards the broken window which Raphael was aiming at in the first place.
Mikey tried his best to walk at his brothers pace but found he was losing control of his leg work and was tripping over his own feel. This wasn't looking good.
"Raph-" He croaked trying to crack a smile. "Guess I know what it-it feels like to be a turtle without their s-shell." He groaned.
"Shut up Mikey." Raphael growled, dodging some following debris. "Ain't no time for jokes.
"Ah come on Raph, I think I'm allowed to be melodramatic." His chest suddenly tightened, forcing him to cough up more blood, making Raph rustle a little faster. Right before they made it to the window, Mikey felt parts of his body give in, becoming almost like dead weight and throwing Raph off tremendously. It almost caused him to fall over which wouldn't end well for either of them. Raphael was able to use every piece of strength he had to keep him and Mikey up to make it to the end of the opening.
It wasn't the out they were hoping for.
Raph completely blanked on the fact they were almost 10 stories high, which would have been a piece of cake for both of them in decent health. But with Raph's legs out of commission and Mikey bleeding out, this could be the equivalence of climbing Mount Everest.
"Shit!" Raph seered, looking around in hopes maybe Leo and Donnie were in sight but he wasn't able to see a thing with all the smoke and flame.
Another tremble was a reminder that this building was meant to come down any minute and fast acting thinking was needed which was no either of the brothers strong suits.
"Alright, alright! We got this Mikey we'll figure this out! Maybe if it breaks off at an angle we can just and hopefully land in a trash can or maybe use our shells to break the fall." Raph grumbled out, feeling Mikey's body getting heavier and heavier. He had to think.
Think!
Mikey wasn't hearing anymore. He started to see portions of his surroundings in blurs. He could sense Raph was talking. Probably trying to come up with a plan to save them with the least amount of damage.
His heart of hurting because he knew they weren't going to make it out of here unscaved. All he could think about was Leo. His smile, his laugh, his heart and soul. All he could imagine was behind held once more by his mate. Just once more. But it was just an imagination. But that was okay.
That was his peace.
That was enough.
"Raph." Mikey said calmly.
"Yeah? What bro what is it?" Raph said almost hysterically in hopes maybe Mikey had thought of plan.
"Do me a favor would ya?" He asked, straightening out enough for Raph to release his hold slightly.
"Yeah bro anything what do ya need?" Raph responded, still under the impression Mikey had a plan to save them.
Mikey looked up at him, his orange tails swaying along with the breeze as he offered his brother a soft smile as if the world around them was paused for this very moment.
"Tell Leo I'm sorry." He said. Raph was thrown back by that comment, confused as to what he meant.
"What why-"
Without much warning, Mikey used whatever last bit of energy he had and rammed Raph's body off the side. With the forced used to knock his brother, he fell to the ground and watch as Raphael fell off the building.
Raphael couldn't speak, he couldn't think because he was so baffled and shocked. It all moved in slow motion, as if a camera was catching every single moment as he fell off this burning building and Michelangelo watching over him like an angel.
Michelangelo saved his life.
And all Raph could do was see that smile one last time before it disappeared behind the flames.