Hello again! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter! I'm going to warn you ahead of time, that this following chapter may contain details that some might find disturbing. *shrugs* I mean, I think it's fine, but if it isn't please let me know so I can rate this story accordingly. Thank you, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I seriously have to do this every chapter? I don't own the turtles!

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Chapter 4

All his life he was taught to protect. Protect his brothers, protect his home, and protect the people of New York, even if it included his enemies. So his reaction was purely instinctive.

Without thinking, he broke into an all out sprint, not taking the chance of going too slow, and ran into Karai, shoving her out of the way. She was knocked a good three feet away before hitting the concrete with a heavy thud, all of his momentum used in getting her to a safe distance.

Leo barely had enough time to fall back when the stream of mutagen collided into him, knocking him to the ground. He cried out in pain when he landed on his wounded arm, tearing at the gash. Tentatively he got to his knees, trying to relieve the sharp pain in his arm.

At first, the green alien liquid was rather soothing. It was colder than the smoky, hot air surrounding him and relieved Leonardo's skin from the fire's relentless heat waves.

But it wasn't long before it began to burn in another kind of way, like hot acid eating through his skin and shell. He tried to tell himself that it wasn't really doing that, but his screaming nerve endings were demanding otherwise.

He doubled over groaning in pain.

It was rather random but he became suddenly grateful that he and his brothers were too young to remember being mutated, because this was terrible.

The mutagen seeped slowly into his numerous cuts and scrapes from the battle, making them sting.

His body began to shake uncontrollably and his breathing became quick and hard.

He could feel the mutagen begin to course through his veins, and it felt like his blood was boiling. His heart pounded harder and faster in his chest from adrenaline, helping to thoroughly circulate the mutagen through his body. His head swam and his bones began to ache.

Taking ragged breaths he tried to calm his mind enough to try and block out some of the pain only to find it getting worse, especially in his sides and spine.

He thought he heard someone calling his name, but his ears were still ringing from the explosion.

The pain that whipped through his body only became worse. His heart pounded faster, his ragged breaths came quicker and tears began to roll down his face. The agonizing pressure in his sides felt boiling hot, like the lava of an angry volcano that was denied the ability to erupt.

He braced his bloody hands against the cement, more glass driving into his palms, as his arms shook, his body screaming in pain.

There was a terrible 'crack!' which Leo had felt more than heard, and he gasped at the lightning bolt of searing pain that rocketed through his spine and into his limbs. He couldn't feel anything other than pain. Not the the rough cement, not the shards of glass digging into his hands, not the ever increasing heat of the fire or even the hot coals falling from the rafters and burning his skin.

But through all of the unbearable, mind ripping pain, he could just barely hear a voice calling out to him.

"Leo!"

Karai?

Was it really? Or was his mind just trying to cope with the pain.

"Leo!"

The voice was faded and slow, but there was no doubt in his mind that it was most definitely Karai.

Fighting back as much of the pain as he could, he turned his head just enough to look at her.

She seemed so far away, so distant.

Rahzar was trying to hold the her back, blood dripping down his furry black face.

Karai stared back at Leo, her eyes wide with fury mixing into terror as she kicked and struggled to break free from Rahzar's hold. Once she saw that she'd got his attention, she pointed and waved frantically at the rafters above Leo's head.

"Run!" she screamed, her voice still sounding distant.

Leo looked back down as another wave of pain crashed into him, his body left trembling in its wake. He closed his eyes with a rasping groan that gritted through his clenched teeth. It hurt to move in just the smallest way, but he couldn't ignore Karai's desperate cries.

Clenching his left fist, and letting out a strangled grunt, he tried to stand. But his body had become stiff, and it felt far heavier than before, his trembling muscles refusing to budge. Trying to fight his own strength, he slowly began to move. Though there was no way he'd be able to stand, let alone walk away with his own limbs fighting against him like that.

He unclenched his fist with much effort, groaning at the tension in his arms and legs.

It felt like he was on fire from the inside out, a burning sensation clawing from the pit of his stomach into his chest and the rest of his trembling body.

He heard Karai's faded voice scream something out to him, but her words were indiscernible.

There was a thunderous crashing sound from the rafters overhead, which resounded in his ears without difficulty, making his skull throb. The next thing Leonardo saw was a shower of scalding hot sparks falling around him and then everything went black.

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Cliffhanger! Mwahaha! Yeah a bit intense back there.. Please tell me what you think!