Chapter 25: The Blood in my Veins
Dark...
Everything was so dark...
Warm, familiar arms wrapped around me, and I exhaled in relief and snuggled down further into the embrace. I was a child again, seeking safety and reassurance in my father's strong arms.
"I... I'm scared, sensei." I said hoarsely into the familiar chest, my childish voice was barely more then a whisper.
The arms tightened around me protectively. "Oh, my precious little turtle, I know... I know." A gentle, furred hand brushed over my head. "But, Leonardo, you are not alone. You are never alone..."
The arms loosened a little as a new presence moved towards us, and I peeked out over the worn, burgundy cloth of the sleeve, blue eyes widening when I saw an familiar tall, dark haired human man approach us through the mists of the darkness. Clutching tightly to his robes were three human children, watching us almost shyly as their father gently ushered them along.
They stopped just in front of us, and as the three children peeked out from behind him, watching us the great Hamato Yoshi, tucked his hands into his voluminous robe sleeves and give a respectful bow.
Master Splinter gave them a warm smile and nodded. He looked down at me, his small turtle child clinging tightly to his robes, and gave me a tight hug, before straightening up, and gently pushing me forward.
At his urging, I hesitantly slid off his lap and took a few shuffling steps forward, rubbing my arms awkwardly as I looked at the humans.
The three brothers looked up at their father questioningly, and, at his nod, it was like all restraint was lifted, and the young Donnie, Raph, and Mikey all bolted forward to throw their arms around me, all three of them clinging tightly to me. I hugged them back desperately.
"Hang on, Leo. Please." Donnie pleaded with me hoarsely. "We're coming for you. I promise."
I closed my eyes tightly and nodded. "Then I'll wait forever if I can."
"You'd better." Raph growled into the hug, emotion in his voice.
But suddenly, a sharp rapping noise on glass broke through the darkness, the noise echoing like ripples through a sea of ink, and suddenly any warm comfort I felt from the world of dreams instantly evaporated.
I became aware that my head was lulled forward with my chin resting on my plastron, and everything ached. My eyes fluttered open and blinked until they focused again, and the sight of metal restraints around my ankles and a cold steel floor under my feet greeting me and reminding me once more of where I was.
I was trapped inside a tall cube shaped cage with a glass front, left standing limply in an upright position and held up only by my arms, which were stretched out and securely shackled by metal bars and steel bands to the walls on either side. Multiple needles had been inserted in the thinnest places in my scaled skin of my extended arms, each of which were attached to thin plastic tubing that wound its way through tiny openings in my cage to disappear into blinking medical machines waiting just outside.
They had even taken the precaution to muzzle me, thick straps of leather bound so tightly around my snout that I couldn't even crack open my mouth enough to run my tongue across my dry lips.
Annoyed by the continuous tapping noise that had awakened me, I narrowed my eyes and slowly lifted up my muzzled head to glare at the human scientist who had been tapping loudly on the thick glass panel that separated us, my nostrils flaring and my jaw tightened when I saw him.
Dr. Erik Sacks. In the few days since I had been handed over to his 'care', I had quickly learned to loathe the head scientist. There was something unsettling about him. His skin appeared almost too tight for his face, with sharp cheekbones and a large forehead, and he exuded an almost eerie aura of subdued, nervous energy.
He noticed my gaze and he stopped tapping on the glass that separated us and instead opened his hand to rest against the surface as he examined me. "You are awake then... Wonderful." He absently licked his lips, watching me with an almost hungry fascination.
I didn't like his eyes. They made my skin crawl with their intensity. He was always watching me with those unblinking eyes, no matter where he moved, like he didn't want to miss a moment of my pain and discomfort. Like my misery was something tangible and exquisite and he desperately longed to taste it for himself.
"Dr Sacks." a female assistant in a white lab coat looked up from one of the monitoring screens. "The mutant seems to have fully recovered from the last blood draw, and his vitals show as stable. Once Agent Bishop arrives, we can begin another blood harvest if you wish."
"Perfect." Dr Sacks never looked away for an instant, his intense eyes still locked on me. "Contact Agent Bishop at once and tell him we're ready. I'm eager to continue with this project."
"Yes sir." the assistant began typing at the computer.
Unable to move or speak, I could do little more then clench my fists tightly and glare at him.
Dr Sacks noticed this, and laughed, amused. "Still defiant, are we?" He smirked. "Don't fear, mutant, we won't drain every drop of your blood. Not yet, anyways." He gave a snort. "Such a move would be stupid and short sighted. We want to keep you alive. You are our provisional 'goose that lays the golden eggs', after all. A constant, replenishing source of mutant blood... possibly maybe even of mutagen itself... to harvest at our leisure for years to come if we're careful."
I couldn't help the cold shudder that ran up my spine at his words, and, unable to help myself, my eyes darted to glance at the tall glass tube half assembled in the corner of the room... a glass and metal containment unit perfectly sized to house the body of a mutant turtle...
It would only be a few more days until it was complete... and then...
I closed my eyes, willing myself to ignore that corner of the room, and the future it implicated.
There was another sharp, somewhat annoyed tap on the glass, and, despite myself, I opened my eyes again to glare at the doctor once more. Dr Sacks, satisfied that he had my attention once more, tilted his head thoughtfully, eyes still trained on me. "You really are an amazing creature, you know that? Through you, the world could be ours... We could have all the wealth and power we desire..."
He paused, studying me, then hesitantly reached up to stroke the glass wall of my temporary cage, as if he longed to reach out and pet me. "Just imagine..." He whispered, talking almost more to himself then anything. "If mutagen could take something as insignificant and pathetic as a mere common turtle and turn it into such a dangerous mutant, then what could it do if we used animals that were actually worth something? Mutant tiger soldiers on the ground, agile and powerful hawks to dominate the air, vicious sharks hidden the sea..." He exhaled slowly and stepped back, eyes gleaming. "We could rule the world with such an army... If we could only just unlock the secrets hidden in the blood flowing through your veins..."
Jaw clenched under the muzzle, I could do little more then glare darkly at him from my restrained position.
He noticed my expression, and laughed at my obvious helpless position.
Until a massive explosion off in another part of the building shook the very foundations of the building. That wiped the amused look off his face really quickly.
Lights flickered, glass beakers and vials wobbled and clanked against one another loudly, and dust rained down from the ceiling as Dr Sacks and his few assistants grabbed on to whatever they could to steady themselves.
"What the hell was that?!" Dr Sacks whirled around to demand of his assistants as they leapt up from chairs, clearly panicking.
"I don't know, sir!" one of the lab assistants had lunged forward to begin furiously typing on a laptop. "Maybe there was an accident in one of the chemical storage units..."
"Get Agent Bishop on the line, now!" Dr Sacks snarled.
"I've been trying to get a hold of him!" the first female assistant informed him, her voice stressed. "He hasn't been answering!"
Another loud explosion on the floor just above us sent another shudder through the room, interrupting him, followed quickly by a smaller third one. Light fixtures crashed down, and debris started raining down around the scientists as the ceiling started bowing and sagging ominously.
"Look out!" The assistants quickly scattered in horror. "The ceiling is caving in!"
Then there was a moment of pure chaos as the ceiling gave way, collapsing inwards in an avalanche of concrete, tiles, and debris. There was screaming and yelling, most of the humans rushing for cover or the exit. Several important looking machines were smashed or destroyed, and dust rolled out in billowing waves in all directions.
And, there, in the center of this catastrophe, fell two very familiar humans.
Or, I should probably amend, one very familiar red masked human and one rather stunned-looking EPF android, who was looking particularly disheveled as Raphael crouched atop his chest, using his body as a cushion to soften the landing of the fall.
I couldn't help but grin. My brothers had apparently arrived on the scene.
Raph apparently wasn't feeling the least bit generous towards the EPF agent, I quickly noticed. He had at one point in their fight ripped one of Agent Bishop's arms completely off, and wires and metal sparked from the android agent's empty arm socket as Raph snarled, pressing the missing arm down across the pinned agent's throat menacingly.
"Where. Is. He?!" Raph harshly demanded as he pressed down harder on the dislocated arm. "Where is..." He then apparently caught sight of me in the corner of his eye, and he immediately straightened up, his voice trailing off into a hoarse whisper as he saw me there, muzzled, shackled and caged with needles and tubes in my arm. "...Leo?!"
Agent Bishop took advantage of this momentary distraction to slam his remaining fist into Raph's face, the force of it sending him tumbling backwards.
Raph flew back, but quickly rolled back up into a crouch, a trickle of blood trailing down from the corner of his mouth. He exhaled slowly, reached up and wiped the blood away with the back of his gloved hand, and gave Agent Bishop a dangerous smirk. "Wrong move, tincan." Then he lunged forward and charged Bishop, his sais spinning dangerously in his hands as he called out, "Yo! He's down here!"
"Raph! You mean Leo? You found him?!" Mikey's head poked inquisitively down through the giant hole in the ceiling, then his blue eyes widened behind his orange mask as he saw me. "Ohmahgosh, Leo!" He quickly rolled forward and dropped down, landing lightly on a particularly large chunk of cement.
"Where?!" Donnie demanded as he quickly and lightly landed next to him, and he sucked in his breath when he noticed me locked and shackled in the glass box. He quickly scrambled over the debris, Mikey close beside him. "Leo, there you are! Are you all right?"
Relieved beyond measure to see them, I managed to give him a small, weary smile from under the muzzle.
"Leo! Dude! We're here to rescue you!" Mikey pressed up against the glass, looking at me with obvious worry and distress at the situation I was in. "We even snuck in using the vents, just like you showed us!"
"I've got Bishop!" Raph ducked under a punch and twisted to try a kick, which Bishop blocked with a growl. "Get Leo out of there!"
"Right." Donnie breathed, and reached up to touch an earpiece nestled just below his purple mask with one hand while running the other hand over the glass cage, obviously trying to figure out any weak points. "Donnie here." He was obviously talking into the earpiece. "We found Leo on the second floor of the main compound. He's alive and conscious, but he seems to be trapped in a cage of some sort. I want the troops to start disengaging, and instead work on clearing a path for a full withdrawal for our escape once we get him out." He paused at the electronic lock on the door, then released the earpiece as he knelt down, pulling tools off his belt and turning his attention back to me. "Don't worry, Leo. Everything's going to be okay now, we're here. We'll have you free in a second."
I nodded, watching him work with Mikey hovering worriedly over his shoulder. Then movement off in the rubble caught my attention, and I glanced up just in time to see Dr Sacks standing behind an overturned desk behind them, raising a small pistol and aiming it at the back of Mikey's head.
"Mmph!" My eyes widened, and I tugged at my shackles futilely.
But before he could fire, Mikey turned, almost casually flipped up an overturned desk chair with his foot as he did so, caught it, and whipped it through the air at the scientist, who cursed and ducked under the flying chair.
"I got this, bro." Mikey informed Donnie, tossing his nunchucks up out of his belt and expertly catching them, sending them spinning. "Keep concentrating on Leo."
"Thanks, Mikey." Donnie said distractedly, concentrating on the lock.
"I'm warning you, keep away from me!" There was a hint of panic in Dr. Sacks's voice as he scrambled back, hastily trying to bring up his pistol again.
Mikey lightly leapt off a desk, spinning in what almost could be a playful gesture, if it weren't for the deadly accuracy with which his weapons cracked across Dr Sack's gun, sending it flying. "You touched my big bro, dude." He landed, then twisted about, his foot catching the scientist right behind the knee, forcing it to buckle and sending the scientist tumbling with a yelp to faceplant into the edge of a desk. "Just thank your lucky stars that it's me you get to deal with, and not our little Waffie."
"I thought I told ya not to call me that!" Raph snarled, obviously working on trying to rip off Bishop's other arm. Before he could do so, though, Bishop swung up a leg with snarl and caught Raph in the stomach with his knee, before headbutting him. Raph cursed a little, the armor of his battlegear absorbing the brunt of the blow, but still, it caused him to lose his grip on the agent's arm.
"Guys! Focus, please!" Donnie reminded them without turning back to look.
And then everybody was distracted as lights began to flash and alarms began to blare as automated sprinkles flared to life, the foamy droplets spattering against the outside of my glass cage like raindrops and running down in foamy streaks, soaking everybody else in the room. After only a second or two, though, the spray ebbed away to just a dribble, before tapering off completely.
"The heck?!" Raph sputtered, shaking his head and sending foamy mist flying in all directions.
"A fire must have broken out somewhere in the building!" Donnie realized, glancing up from where he was crouched by the cage. "It must've triggered the automated sprinklers, but they should've run longer then that. I think they failed."
"Oh, another piece of defective EPF hardware." Raph turned back to Bishop tauntingly. "Why does that sound familiar?!"
"Shut up." Bishop snarled, obviously unsteady on his feet but still defiant. "You haven't won yet."
"Yeah, yeah, gimme a moment." Raph adjusted the spin of his sai slightly, and lunged forward once more.
Donnie quickly peeled off his foam soaked gloves and turned back to trying to hack the electronic lock, and I could now see a hint of panic in his movements. "That fire could get out of control quickly, and I noticed enough careless storage of chemicals when infiltrating this place to know that we have to get Leo out of here, NOW!"
Almost as if on cue, to punctuate his words, smoke began to curl and waft through the doorway and vents of the far wall.
Shaking foam from his hair, Mikey skipped backwards a few steps, closer to Donnie. "Dee, what can I do to help?!"
Donnie gritted his teeth as he pulled several wires from the lock and hooked them up to his phone. "This lock has some highly advanced security features in it, it's going to take me a bit to crack through them. Just keep the EPF off my back so I can..."
An automated female voice speaking over the blaring alarms interrupted him, her calm voice causing everybody to freeze.
"Blood draw protocols initiated. Warning, safety parameters have been overridden."
My heart felt like it stopped as I felt a familiar click of a nearby motor. Desperately, I tugged and pulled at my restraints, already knowing that it was in vain, already realizing that there was nothing I could do to stop this.
No... not now... Please, not now! Not when my brothers were here! They were so close to rescuing me!
"What does she mean by...?" Donnie was startled by the automated message, and glanced around. Then his eyes widened, and confused concern instantly turned into horror as he noticed that the plastic tubing attached to the needles in my arms was starting to draw velvet red liquid from my veins. He leapt to his feet and slammed his hands against the thick glass in desperation. "No! Leo!"
Dr Sacks had apparently used the cover of the fire system activation to crawl away across the room while Mikey was looking away, and was now standing over one of the few working consoles left in the room. He grabbed a metal sealed container with biohazard stickers on the side, and, clutching it tightly, began to rush towards the open door, where ever-thickening smoke continued to billow in. "Agent Bishop! That should distract the Hamatos for now! I have the mutant's blood samples, let's get away with what we can!"
Agent Bishop glanced at him, then nodded and quickly turned and blocked a sai blow from Raph, before quickly leaping back, kicking a desk in Raph's path as he clung to the stump of his severed limb and limped back a few steps. "Choose, Raphael. You can either keep fighting me and waste precious time, or you can go back and try the help save your pathetic mutant."
"Don't you fucking DARE!" Raph roared in rage, his green eyes flashing as he moved for the agent.
"Warning. Safety Parameters have been overridden. Specimen is in danger of termination."
"Raph!" Donnie yelled at him, both he and Mikey desperately trying to break the glass that separated us, "I won't be able to break through the lock in time! We have to break Leo out before too much of his blood is drained!"
Raph skidded to a halt, cursing under his breath and obviously fighting his intense desire to not let Bishop escape. But he settled for flipping the agent the bird as he turned on his heels and, with a snarl, held out his sai and charged the glass wall of my cage, slamming into it with such force that it shuddered, a few cracks appearing in the outer layers of the glass.
A cursory glance, however, showed the cracks to be merely superficial. My prison otherwise held firm.
My blue eyes were almost apologetic as I met theirs. Oh, how I wished I could do something, anything to stop this! My tugs on my shackles grew weaker, and I started feeling light headed as the needles in my arms continued to funnel my life blood from my veins, feeding it into tubes that carried the precious red liquid away.
"Leo!" Raph's voice was desperate as he tried slamming into the glass again, this time with the help of Donnie and Mikey.
"This isn't working!" Mikey coughed through the smoke that was starting to filter into the room.
Donnie was on the verge of panic as he scrambled over the debris to the console where Dr Sacks had started the harvest process. "Dammit, this is encrypted as well! This will take me too long to hack!" He looked up in desperation. "I can't stop the program!"
"Agent Bishop, come on!" Dr Sacks shifted the metal canister in his arms and grabbed the heavily damaged android's single remaining arm. "We have to get out of here!"
Agent Bishop nodded, and looked back over at me as they escaped out through the door into the hallway. "Very well. If we can't have the mutant... then nobody will..."
But Dr Sacks was no longer looking in the room. He was, instead, staring down the hallway with an expression of horror and shock. "Wait. What the...?!".
Then there was the unmistakably loud, thundering 'Cha-CHOOM' of an Utrom War Laser firing.
A charged flash of deadly hot light shot past the door in a flash of raw energy, the massive beam fully engulfing both Agent Bishop and Dr Sacks as it sped down the hallway.
We didn't even have time to really process what had happened. One second, Agent Bishop and Dr Sacks had been standing in the hallway, and the next, all that was left was charred floor tiles, scorched walls, and destroyed light fixtures hanging from the wall.
"Uh... What was that?" Raph glanced at his brothers with wide eyes.
"Whoa! I think you actually got them!" a familiar Brooklyn voice called out, obvious impressed.
"Told you I could! Like shooting fish in a barrel." a satisfied female voice sounded pleased with herself. "An impressive shot too, if I may say so myself. The projectile shot hardly scorched the walls at all!"
"Guys! There you are!" April peeked around the smoldering doorway and noticed my brothers. She quickly raced into the room, followed by Casey, Angel, and Irma.
"Bosses! The whole building's on fire! You gotta get out of here!" Angel panted. "The mech is parked just at the end of the hall there, we can..." She trailed off when she saw me. "Oh, crap."
"Oh, shit! Leo!" Casey's eyes widened when he saw me. "Is he okay?!"
Blood continued to drain through the tubes, and it was getting hard to hold up my head.
"Warning. Safety Parameters have been overridden. Specimen's vital readings are dropping below recommended levels."
"No! Leo's running out of time!" Donnie turned to them, desperation in his eyes. "Help us, guys!"
"We can't break it!" Raph pounded the glass in frustration with his sai, the sharp noises sending waves through my brain. "The glass is too thick!"
"Here, try this!" Casey skidded to a stop next to a heavy looking cement slab.
All the humans rushed for the slab, working together to hoist it up and, lifting it over their heads, on the count of three, slammed it into the surface of the glass. It cracked the glass more, but didn't break it, merely bounced off.
"No! Dammit! Leo!"
I was so cold. My body was slumping, and everything was growing so hazy and far away. My head lolled forward.
"Leo, hang on!" Mikey begged, throwing his shoulder up against the glass.
I was trying to... Oh, how I wanted to...
But the blood was continuing to drain out of my body through those needles.
My rapid but weak heartbeat felt like a little frightened sparrow fluttering its wings against my ribcage. Darkness threatened the edges of my vision, and the voices around me started sounding like they were coming from underwater, thick through the fog surrounding me and difficult to understand.
"Over here! What if we push this server over?"
"That... that might just work!"
"Come on! We need to tip it over!"
"Hurry guys!"
"Warning. Safety Parameters have been overridden. Specimen termination is eminent."
I fought against it with all my will, but it was too much. The cold darkness finally crept over all my senses, the frantic cries of my brothers and our friends fading away like wisps of smoke.
"Leo!"
I was sinking... down... down... The inky blackness was like a sea of nothingness, drowning me in the cold void.
I fought, but I couldn't breath... I couldn't get out...
I'm sorry, my brothers... I can't stay...
I'm not strong enough.
I couldn't do anything but sink further away from them.
Floating down into the cold, inky black...
Suddenly, unexpectedly, warm hands plunged down through the dark depths, searching and grasping. They quickly found me and, grabbing me by the shell, began pulling me up, as if hoisting me from the depths of a deep lake.
My head broke the surface of the muddy abyss, and I coughed and gasped. I was still in some sort of foggy void, caught weakly somewhere in what felt like limbo. But those strong hands still had me, and I quickly found myself hugged tightly and cradled tightly against a warm chest, as small as if I were a child once more.
I blinked in confusion for a second, shivering, but slowly exhaled and relaxed, melting into the embrace of the spirit of Hamato Yoshi, pressing into his warm chest and feeling relieved and safe in his arms.
"Shh... It's okay, Leonardo." the voice murmured as the spirit held me close, stroking my head comfortingly. "I have you. Please... hold on just a little longer, my son."
I gave a slight nod against the warm fabric of his thick kimono. Needing the support, I shakily, weakly, lifted up one hand to cling at the soft fabric.
Yoshi gave a low exhale, resting his cheek on the top of my head, and I could almost feel energy transferring over to me, like a warm spark. A small rat with grey whiskers climbed up onto his shoulder.
"Thank you, my brother..." Yoshi whispered to the rat gratefully. "Thank you for leading me to him."
The rat spirit glanced at him, his grey whiskers shimmering like sliver, then he carefully slipped down his arm, and moved to curl up by my head, nuzzling me worriedly.
I couldn't stay here forever. I already knew that.
But I felt their strength, both of them, flowing into me, supporting me, and giving me the chance to hold on just a little longer.
Then the peacefulness was broken with the sound of shattering glass, and I was pulled out of the spirit world and my fathers embraces, and jolted back into a world of pain and noise.
"Leonardo! Leo, come on, bro! Please! Come back to us!"
Somebody was frantically patting my cheeks, voice cracking with fear and panic.
Pulled out of the darkness completely now, my heavy eyelids blinked open, and I found myself back the EPF laboratory, now filled with thick smoke and blaring alarms. I was still shackled, but the glass wall of my cage was destroyed, and the needles in my arms pulled out.
Donatello's terrified, soot-smudged face was peering closely at mine, his hands cradling my face as his mahogany red eyes searched my face worriedly. "Leo?"
Under my muzzle, I gave him a weak smile, and tilted my head slightly to press into the palm of his hand, reveling in the feeling of my brother's hands after those of so many strangers.
"Oh, Leo, thank goodness." He almost sobbed in relief, pressing his forehead against mine. "For a minute, I was so afraid that..." He cleared his throat and moved back, gesturing for Raph to take his place, his voice growing more authoritative. "Raph, hold Leo up while we cut him free. Irma, do you still carry that portable torch?"
"Yes, of course!" Irma flailed about, patting desperately for the right pocket. "Oh! I also have a hacksaw that we can use too, if that helps."
"Why does your supply kit always sound like something straight out of a crime show?" Angel took one of the box cutters and looked it over.
"Hey, they've come in useful so far!" Irma handed Donnie the requested items. "I don't have to explain my hobbies to you!"
"Give it to Mikey." Donnie's tongue stuck out slightly as he pulled his goggles down over his mask and began trying to light the wielding torch. "He can work on the restraints holding Leo's ankles. Hopefully we can-"
He was interrupted as another large explosion rocked the building, causing more debris to shake loose all around us and throwing everybody off balance.
Smoke billowed in, thicker then ever, and, even worse, now orange tongues of flame could be seen curling through the vents of the far wall.
"Dammit." Angel cursed, looking around. "The building is growing unstable, and there's still caches of explosive chemicals in here! We're running on a timer here, guys!"
Donnie turned back to lighting the wielding torch. "You guys get out while you can. Make sure that all the troops are a safe distance away!"
"What?! Nu-uh, no way!" Casey argued hotly. "We're not leaving you behind!"
"We'll get out as soon as Leo's free." Donnie snapped at him, annoyed. He finally got the torch to light up, and quickly began trying to cut through the steel bonds that held my arms stretched. "But you four can't do much right now. I need to get out while you can."
"Donnie, if you think for one moment-" April's fists clenched.
Casey, Angel, Get April and Irma out of here, NOW!" Donnie interrupted her harshly.
Casey and Angel paused and looked at one another, obviously torn.
"That's an order!"
"Ngh... You'd better not make me regret this, Dee!" Casey snarled, obviously unhappy as he moved to obey.
"No, no! I won't leave him!" April argued, backing away.
"I'm sorry, April, we gotta go..." Casey had to physically pick her up and carry her towards the door.
"Donnie! No!" April struggled, panic in her face.
"You guys had better not die! Any of you!" Irma yelled as she was scooped up and tossed over Angel's shoulder. She leaned forward to point a finger accusingly at us, determined to get the last word just before she disappeared around the corner. "I swear, I have an Ouija board back in the office, and I am not afraid to use it!"
Donnie exhaled in relief a little as they left, and concentrated on his work. "Don't worry, guys. It's going to be okay. This should only take a few minutes."
"I don't know if we got a few minutes, Dee." Raph eyed the growing flames, coughing a little.
"Almost... got... it..." Donnie was concentrating as he worked on the thick bars attached to my wrist shackles. Then there was a snap, and I whimpered as the metal gave way and my arm, suddenly free, dropped a little, the movement painful after so long. Raph caught me as I slumped forward, too weak to hold myself up with the loss of support.
"Easy, Leo. I got ya." He murmured gently, reaching up to cradle my face gently with one hand.
"One down, one to go." Donnie quickly moved to start cutting at the shackle on my other arm. Mikey was on his hands and knees, kept diligently working on the chains holding my feet down.
Raph lifted a hand to experimentally run it across my head, tugging a little at the muzzle. "Shit, this is on ya tight."
"We'll get it off once we're safe and outside." Donnie's jaw was tight, and it was obvious that he was stressed. "Right now, we just need to concentrate on getting out!"
"Right." Raph nodded, his hands going back to holding my shell and supporting my weight.
The flames were quickly spreading across the fall wall of the room, crackling and popping ominously, and it was getting hard to breath with the ever thickening cloud of smoke.
I could feel a faint tremor under my feet, the building groaning and protesting in its dying throes. It wouldn't be long until...
... And I suddenly realized that they wouldn't make it in time...
Slowly, trembling, I lifted my hand and pressed weakly against Raph's chest.
"Hm?" Raph glanced at me. "Leo?"
Unable to talk with the muzzle firmly wrapped around my snout, I looked up at him, my eyes silently pleading with him as I feebly pushed at his chest.
He looked confused for a second, then realized what I was trying to say, and his jaw clenched angrily and he clung to me tighter. "No, you idiot, we're not going to leave you behind!"
I closed my eyes, resting my forehead against his shoulder, and then, with all the strength I could muster, I tried to shove him away.
It wasn't very effective, I'll admit. At this point, I was a weak as a kitten.
Raph grabbed at my hand, and glared at me, his green eyes glinting fiercely under his red mask. "Leo, you're our brother." he hissed. "And we don't ever leave family behind! Ever! So quit asking!"
And then everybody froze as there was loud, earthshaking groan, which morphed into a deafening roar as the building began to collapse.
"Everybody hold on!" Donnie's voice could barely be heard over the sound of the screeching metal and cement chunks raining down around us.
Mikey was clinging to my leg and yelling something, but I couldn't understand him, and Raph grabbed my head, trying to protect it as sparks and debris rained down around us.
It only lasted a few terrifying seconds, and it almost became impossible to see with the smoke and dust so thick all around us. We were pelted by falling ceiling tiles, and one particularly heavy light fixture smashed into the ground just behind Donnie, but, somehow and thankfully, most of the cave in seemed to be on the other side of the room, where the flames had been at their worst.
Donnie coughed, looking around through the thick smoke and dust. "Everybody... *cough* everybody okay?"
"Dudes..." Mikey panted as he clung to my leg tightly. "That was close!"
"We're all alive for the moment." Raph shook his head, sending soot and dust flying out of his hair. "That's all that matters." He glanced behind us, and noticed that the doorway that lead out to the hall was now just a pile of debis. "Shit. We're trapped!"
"We'll find another way out." Donnie quickly relit the wielding torch and went back to work.
It was only a minute or two later when Mikey, who had kept himself wrapped himself around my leg, finally gave a triumphant cry among the sound of falling chains. "Got it!" he hurriedly pulled the chain free. "Leo's lower half is free!"
And then, almost as if on signal, there was another clunk as the metal bar attached to my shackle gave way under Donnie's torch, and, now completely freed, I stumbled forward. Raph was there, quickly catching me and now bearing my full weight.
"We did it!" Donnie raised the safety goggles, looking relieved.
Mikey coughed, the smoke growing almost unbearable now, and he looked around at the climbing flames, the heat growing in intensity. "Almost, anyways. We still have the little matter of actually getting out of here, bros!"
Raph ducked under my arm and, with Donnie's help, tucked his arms under my knees, hoisting me up on his back. "Don't you worry, Leo, I got you."
It felt strange, being carried like this by a human, but Raph was strong, and my weight didn't seem to bother him too much.
"This way!" Mikey gestured, already scrambling over fallen debris. "I'm pretty sure I saw a door over here!"
Coughing and wheezing through the smoke and heat, sparks floating in the air all around us, my brothers rushed forward, through what looked like a break room, and down another hallway. Desperately, through the blaring alarms and thick veil of smoke, they looked for some way out.
"Over here!" Mikey gestured from up ahead, coughing as he held a door open. "I see light!"
There was indeed light filtering in through the haze of black smoke, and, peering ahead, it seemed to be coming from a large window in an office.
We rushed towards the light, the rooms around us filled with smoke and sheets of orange flames. Mikey grabbed a wheeled office chair as he ran ahead and shoved it forward, leaping up to ride it as it rolled rapidly over the hard tiled floor across the room, then, at the last moment, he leapt off and flipped it up with a kick, before sending it crashing through the glass panes of the window. He hurriedly shoved some of the larger shards of glass remaining out, and leaned out to look down.
"Guys!" He turned back, beckoning us forward. "It's a bit of a drop, but there's water down below! A pond or something!"
"Probably a retention basin." Donnie noted, and made a face. "I'm sure they haven't been following environmental codes, I hate to imagine what pollutants they've dumped in there..."
"No time to be picky!" Raph pushed him forward. He glanced out the window, then quickly slid me off his back. "Hang on, Leo. We're going for a bit of a swim." Before I could even really comprehend what was going on, he had wrapped his arms around me,and leapt out, making sure to twist so he would shield me as much as he could from the impact.
I wanted to tell him that was completely unnecessary. In as weakened a state as I currently was, I was still a turtle, and, if anything, my shell should be shielding him! But, as we fell, I suddenly found myself distracted by how warm and green it was outside.
Huh. This definitely wasn't the area around New York, which was in the middle of winter. It almost looked like we were in the tropics? Perhaps I had made it down to South America after all?
And then my dazed, foggy thoughts were interrupted by a splash, and suddenly we were both sinking under cloudy green water. Thankfully, as far as I could tell, it didn't seem too chemically saturated, but it was still extremely muddy and filled with algae. For a moment, I panicked, realizing I didn't have the strength to swim and wondering if Raph would sink under my weight. Before I could worry too much, though, there were two more splashes, and thick trails of bubbles in the water traced the path of two more brothers. They swam over, and all three of them grabbed me, pulling me up to the surface through the warm, algae filled water.
There was gasping and sputtering as we all broke the surface and bobbed there for a moment, firelight from the building above dancing on the water's surface.
"We..." Donnie stopped and coughed as a wave hit him directly in the face, then shook his head and tried again, yelling over the roar of the flames. "We... we need to get out of here! That building is... *cough*... is going to explode!"
"Of course it fucking is!" Raph snarled, grabbing me by the shell and making for the far shore. "Can't anything... *cough*... ever be easy?!"
We made it across the pond, crawled up to dry land, and my brothers grabbed me and lunged for a rocky outcropping.
And just in time too, because then it like a bomb went off.
When Donnie said that the building was going to explode, he hadn't been exaggerating.
I was pressed into the mud as all three of my brothers piled onto me, trying desperately to shield me as the ground violently shook underneath us, and massive roars and fireballs filled the air, as if the fire was a living thing racing up from the pits of hell itself. Trees were flattened all around us as the shockwave passed by over us, diverted only by the shelter of the rocky ledge we were hiding behind. Several spitting, hissing flaming projectiles arced like missiles from the massive plume of fire that rose up into the air.
And then, just as quickly, the intense heat seemed to fall into itself, and disappeared once more, leaving a few fires burning in the grass and foliage around us.
After a few minutes, when nothing more then the crackling fire of the destroyed building could be heard, I felt Mikey shift above me.
"Hm... Hey, guys? I... I think we're still alive?"
Donnie sputtered and pushed himself up, wiping some of the mud off his face, blinking. "We are?"
Mikey sat up and peeked over the singed grass of the rocky ledge, before throwing up his hands in victory. "We totally are! Whoo! We rock!"
Raph grunted and pushed himself up into a sitting position, grabbing me and pulling me up. "Leo! You okay, bro?"
I winced at the movement, but gave a weak nod.
"Oh gosh! Leo!" Donnie quickly moved over, hovering over me worriedly for a moment. "Uh, here..." He grabbed a knife from his belt and reached up to began carefully trying to work out the latches on the straps of the muzzle.
To my relief, I felt it loosen, and then slip off complete as Donnie slid it off, quickly tossing it off to the side. My tongue licked my lips, and I winced as I worked my jaw a few times, the muscles and joints stiff from disuse.
"Leo! Can you still talk? Are you okay?" Mikey moved up to my side, taking my hand worriedly.
I breathed out weakly, leaning into Raph's chest, my voice little more then a weak whisper as a small smile graced my face. "I dunno, guys... Are you certain... that was... dramatic enough?"
All three of my brothers almost melted in relief as they snickered.
Mikey wrapped his arms around my arm, snuggling into my side. "Sorry, bro. I wanted a giant tiger that Raph could wrestle bare-handed, but Donnie said no."
"You have NO idea how difficult it is to find and transport a tiger, not to mention the public image that would put forward." Donnie shook his head balefully, playing along as he quickly examined me. "I'm afraid I just had to veto it."
"Spoilsport." I chuckled weakly.
"Woulda kicked that tiger's ass too." Raph sniffed imperiously as he pressed his forehead against my cheek, squeezing his eyes tightly shut with obvious relief.
I tilted my head to nuzzle him gently, then glanced up at them, sobering up a little. "Master Yoshi?" I weakly asked, worried.
"Dad's safe and sound back at the compound." Donnie reassured me. "If he was able to walk, he'd be wearing out the carpets pacing with worry over you."
"We've all been freaking out with worry." Mikey agreed, reaching up to trace the scales on my face. "I'm so glad we found you in time."
"I knew you would come." I whispered as I closed my eyes, leaning into my brothers, exhausted. "Never doubted it."
"Oh thank goodness. They're over here!" A voice called out loudly, and we looked up to see four humans racing over the grass towards us.
"You're alive!" Casey waved at us.
April rushed over, tackled Donnie, and smacked him on the head. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"
"Sorry." Donnie rubbed his head ruefully, then he looked around. "Did everyone make it out okay?"
Angel nodded. "All troops are accounted for, plus a ton of EPF staff."
Irma leaned over to look at my face with concern. "Leo, you are alright, aren't you?"
"I'm... fine." I gave them a small, reassuring smile as I nodded, then sighed. "Just... really tired..."
"I'm sure. With the amount of blood loss you suffered, I'm really worried about hypovolemic shock." Donnie was obviously concerned. "We need to get you somewhere where I can monitor your vitals." He glanced at the others. "Irma, can you bring the mech around?"
"Can do!" She saluted.
"Yeah, just to warn you guys..." I breathed, eyes still closed. "I'm probably going to pass out again here soon."
"Sleep if you need to, Leo. We got things from here." Mikey informed me as he and Donnie lifted me up, hoisting me onto Raph's back once more. He patted my shell. "The next disk of the Space Heroes is waiting in the blue ray player for you when you wake up, bro."
As Raph carried me, and I felt the steadying hands of Donnie and Mikey on my shell on either side, I couldn't help sighing with a smile on my face as the world began to fade away around me once more. This time, I knew it was okay to let go, just for a little bit anyways.
I may be a turtle, able to carry the weight of the world on my shell...
... But it was nice to know that there were hands waiting to catch me when I couldn't.
Where... where was I?
I couldn't remember.
"So... Do you have any two's?"
A familiar voice drifted in through the darkness, along with the sound of a small but familiar waterfall. I instinctively knew that some time had passed, though I wasn't quite sure how long. But I felt like I didn't need to be in too much of a hurry to wake up. I was fairly comfortable where I was, and I knew I was safe.
An older male voice answered the query. "Alas, my son, I must tell you to go fish."
"Dammit." Raph grumbled under his breath.
Hm... There seemed to be a familiar soft lump tucked under my arm. Wait... was it? Oh, it was. Huh. They must've found the teddy bear and my other treasures where I had stashed them on a rooftop. That would explain the soft music playing in the background as well, probably the music cube.
"Raphael, language." the older voice chided gently.
"Oh. Uh, sorry dad."
As the card game casually went on in the background, a weight pressed down on my shell as somebody leaned on me. There was a hopeful whisper, "Leo? Bro? You awake?"
Something gently tickled my nose, and I detected the scent of high fructose corn syrup and artificial fruit flavorings.
I wrinkled my nose at the tickle, then, unable to hide the amusement that tugged at the corner of my mouth, I quickly snapped at the dangling gummy worm playfully, pulling it in and chewing on it contentedly.
I swallowed the treat, then my eyes fluttered opened.
Mikey's beaming face filled my vision as he rested on my shell. Close by, watching me with eager and warm expressions, sat Donnie, Raph, and, supported by a bunch of pillows, a smiling Master Yoshi.
"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty." Raph raised an eyebrow at me, smirking.
Donnie exhaled, obviously relieved, and he gave me a crooked, gap-toothed grin. "Welcome home, big brother."
And, looking at the faces of those four humans, I felt a warmness spread through my chest. I knew in that instant, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was finally where I belonged.
I was home.