WOLFJADE28, 5seedapple, Xahraxs, rebecca2200 and HunnyBunny95
Thank you for reviewing and following this story! You guys are the best!
Just a heads up! From this chapter on, I will no longer be following the tv series. I will mention a couple of more episodes but it will only be to move the story along! Kind of like this chapter!
Anywho thank you for waiting patiently!
I don't proofread my chapters! Lol I just dish them out as I write them cause I'm too lazy to do it!
Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. But I do own my OCs!
Enjoy!
It had been an eventful week for them. They had spotted Karai but they quickly lost her when she dived into the ocean. On top of that Slash and Rockwell had been brained washed by Shredder. While they were in his control they had manage to disable them and kidnapped Raph in the process much to Skyler's horror. They had retrieved him safely with Slash and Rockwell now free of the mind control worms.
Now they sat in the safety of their lair except for Casey and Nia they had volunteered to grab the pizza and soft drinks. Cat reading a book while Donatello fiddled with the toaster again a few feet away from her. Mikey and Kayla playing video games while Leo waited next to the arcade console to play winner. April was in the kitchen whipping up a couple snacks before they all gathered by the tv to start movie night. Every now and again Cat would glance up from her book at Raph and Skyler as they laid on the couch together. There wasn't much they could do but they still had to keep an eye on them since their need to complete the bond was strongest with them.
Raph laid on the couch his head propped up on the armrest while Skyler was draped over him. Her head tucked into the crook of his neck as she slept peacefully in his arms. His eyes soften as her studied her face. She was tried and so was he. This link…this bond that they had was making it uncomfortable for the both of them. They had gotten so use to sleeping together at the farm house that now here at the city the could not. They were not allow to sleep over and the distance between them was straining. At least that was what she told him when he explained to her what he was feeling.
They would talk until she fell asleep and he would join her until they were both woken up by Nia usually when it was time for her to leave. However the past few days he had not been able to do so. All because of him. He frowned as his thumb lightly caressed the small scar on her cheek. It was hardly visible now unless you were focusing really hard on it but to him it stood out like day and night. No matter how many time she tried to assure him that it wasn't his fault. He knew it was.
Leo had told him what had happen when he got taken by Slash. How she refused to stay and went after him. He wished his brothers tried harder and made her stay, instead of bringing her along with them.
"Is everyone alright?" Leo called out as they all slowly recovered from Slash's and Rockwell's attack.
"W-where is Raphael?" Skyler immediately questioned not spotting him anywhere in the lair. Panic shot through her. They didn't need to tell because she already knew. She could feel it in her link, stretching and pulling. He was taken and they seem to be getting far away.
"Don't worry Skyler, we'll bring him back" Mikey promised.
"I'm g-going with y-you"
Their eyes widen at her claim, watching as she grabbed her small backpack she always carried around from the couch and put it on.
"Sky I don't think that's a good idea-"
"I'm g-going, I-I have to" Skyler cut Catherine off. It was low and quiet but it left no room for argument.
"Sky, I know you want to help but this is The Shredder we are talking about, we have years of training and still have trouble fighting him and his goons, he won't think twice about going easy on you" Donnie stated.
"And i-if he gets h-hurt-"
"That won't happen, we'll get there before he can do anything to Raph" Leo cut her off.
"S-Shredder, he's d-dangerous right" she questioned receiving a small nod from Leo "If h-he wouldn't go easy o-on me, someone he d-doesn't know, w-what is going to stop h-him from h-hurting Raphael, his e-enemy"
Leo opened and closed his mouth. he wanted to say something but he couldn't. Everything she said was true. Nothing would stop shredder from hurting Raph.
"I-I can heal h-him, p-please" she pleaded.
It wasn't a good idea to take her but she did have a point. She could heal Raph the fastest if something did go wrong. "…but you can't fight" Leo frowned.
"Nia and I can go to prove protection for her, we'll stay away from the battle but close enough if you need us" Kayla spoke up. She could tell that from Skyler's face that she was worried about Raph he had been getting injuries a lot lately and it's been making Skyler worry about him.
"Skyler has no training except for her healing and that will make her an easy target, stay in the shadows keep her hidden, we'll take them on, don't join in unless we absolutely need it" Leo stated firmly.
"Deal" Nia nodded.
"Leo are you sure this is a good idea?" April asked unsure.
"No" he shook his head "But Sky does raise good points, Shredder won't hesitate to hurt Raph, we need to move we're wasting time"
They followed his lead to get back their friends and brother from Shredder. As soon as they got to the Foot Clan's lair they silently made their way down the maze like hallways. Kayla carefully shifted the air around them to distort their scents as they got closer.
They boys charged into battle and became shocked when Raph attacked them with his own set of hand blades similar to Shredder own. It didn't matter what Leo and his brothers shouted at him to snap him out of his trance. Nothing seem to work and he continued to fight them.
Leo was desperate and the only thing he could think of was to make Raph more angry so that his form became sloppy and he could take him down.
"Ah! I think I get it. You can't feel emotion because you're Shredder's puppet. As a matter of fact, I'll bet you like doing whatever Shredder tells you. You probably love it." Leo taunted. Raph snarled launched towards Leo again blades aimed directly at him.
"Raphael stop!" Skyler cried as she ran out of her hiding spot. Her arms spread out wide and shielding Leo from the attack.
"Sky get back here!" Kayla shouted at her only to be ignored.
Blades stopped mere inches away from her face. His growling increased in volume and his arm shook as if he was fighting himself for control.
"T-this isn't y-you" she softly touch his cheek. His eyes narrowed at her and his growling didn't stop growing louder with each second that passed by.
"Finish them!" Shredder commanded.
"Please Raphael" Skyler pleaded with him taking a step towards him. He stumbled away letting out a roar. His arm swing back to grip his head in pain. The quick movement caught Skyler off guard and on of the blades on his hand sliced through her cheek. She let out a pained yelp and grasped her cheek, her hand and fingers quickly becoming soaked by her own blood.
"Skyler!" Leo grabbed her and shielded her behind him as Raph continued to thrash around with himself.
"I'm f-fine" she quickly healed the wound.
They watched Raph drop to his hands and knees and began to cough until he spat out a worm.
"Leo you're a genius!" Donnie shouted as he seem to figure something out about the mind-worms.
He should have tried harder to fight against Shredder's mind control. But he couldn't and because of it, he had hurt her. He had hurt her again. It made him wonder if he was really her match like she said he was.
"I'm sorry Sky, I just keep hurting you" he muttered quietly and held her tighter. He felt her shift in his hold. He loosing his grip to let her get comfortable against him again.
"You'd never h-hurt me" he flinched when she muttered those words against his neck.
"I thought you where sleeping" he sighed.
"I'm s-sleep talking" she whispered.
"No you're not" he poked her forehead making her laugh softly. He smiled at the sound then quickly frowned.
"What's w-wrong?" Skyler asked noticing his quick change of mood.
"Sky, are you sure we're meant to be?" Raph questioned unsure "I mean, don't get me wrong, I really like you…but I just keep hurting you" he trailed off.
"Raphael that w-wasn't you're f-fault. It w-was Shredder" she leaned away to look him in the eyes.
"Yeah but I should have tried harder to resist-"
"You d-did" she protest "That's why you w-were able to s-stop in time, give yourself a-a bit more credit" she continued.
"You still got hurt!" He growled.
"It c-could have been w-worst, but you f-fought back" she replied back and he stayed silent. Because she was right. Had he not come to his senses, he would have slice through her. He cringed at the thought.
"Because of you" he answered honestly and kissed her gently. Her scent and voice, he remembered that clearly. That's was what really stopped him and he couldn't be more thankful.
"Leo help!" Nia shouted as she came into the lair half dragging Casey.
"What happened! Mikey go get Master Splinter!" He ran to help her with him, while Mikey ran to go get their father. Raph and Skyler quickly got off the couch so they can place Casey on it.
"I don't know" she shook her head "We split up, he went to get the pizza and I went to the store to buy the soda. We were suppose to meet at the park and make our way back here together but I found him in an alley"
"He w-was poisoned" Skyler stated as her hands quickly scanned him.
"Will he be alright? Sky, can you heal him?" April asked.
"I've n-never seen this t-type of p-poison before, I don't even know w-where to begin t-to make a-an antidote" Skyler stated as she continued to scan him "It's l-like mutated"
"Karai!" Raph growled.
"And it looks like she back working with Shredder again" Donnie said drawing a blood sample from Casey.
"Karai? That's Master Splinter's daughter right?" Cat tilted her head. They had mentioned it to them a few times to them but only a few seconds. The girls knew by the frowns on the guys faces it was a touchy subject for them so they never asked about it.
"Yeah" Leo nodded.
"Why is she doing this?" Kayla asked.
"Maybe Shredder found her and planted one of those brain worms" Mikey said coming back with Splinter.
"Step aside my son" Splinter said getting a closer look at Casey. His skin was pale but burning with a high fever and his breathing was shallow. He closed his eyes and began to focus, chanting and forming a different hand sign with each new word. Skyler watched him closely tilting her head at the slightly familiar sounding words. Splinter gently placed his hands upon Casey's chest. Slowly his color began to return and his breathing became steadier.
"What was that?" Leo said in awe.
"An ancient poison-draining mantra" Splinter answered him "He's will be fine, he just needs to rest"
"C-Chakra" Skyler blinked surprised at Master Splinter. He raised a brow and gave a small nod confirming her suspicion. Not many humans knew that they had life energy or even knew that they could use it to heal to a certain extent. It was rare but not completely uncommon and the ones that did know how to wield it were more accepting of Aeonians.
"I'll see if I can make an antidote from Casey's poisoned blood sample in case Karai decides to poison one of us again" Donnie walking to his lab.
"I'll h-help you" Skyler shrugged off her small pack and follow after him.
It had only been thirty minutes that they had been studying the venom within Casey's blood. Skyler had already made to batches with no success. Donnie had been watching it from under a microscope as it reacted with the test antidote only to look up with a shake of his head letting her know this batch was another fail.
"Donnie" Leo called as he opened his lab doors "We're heading out"
"Coming! We'll continue when I get back Sky" he ran after Leo grabbing his bo staff from the doorway.
"Any luck?" Cat said as she sat on the desk.
"No" Skyler sighed "I can't c-create one t-that's strong enough t-to fight it off"
"What do you mean?" Nia said join in the conversation.
"It's like i-it fighting b-back"
"Wait a minute, Karai is mutated so maybe her venom also has mutagen? Maybe we can mix your antidote samples with some mutagen to make it stronger and fight back?" Cat stated.
"Cat you're a-a genius" Sky eyes widen.
"I know" she grinned.
"But we're would we even get mutagen? Isn't it hard to come by for the guys?" Kayla asked.
Cat bit her lip "Well…Don has a small stash somewhere in here"
"Then what are we waiting for lets start looking" Nia said.
"Wait! I think we should wait until they get back! Don says that stuff is dangerous and has to be handled carefully" Cat replied back.
"She's r-right let's just w-wait until they c-come back" Skyler agreed with Cat. She also didn't feel right searching around Donnie's stuff and using his things without his permission.
By the time the guys and April came back they were half carrying Leo. Karai had managed to poison him too but he had learned Master Splinter's poison-draining mantra to a certain extent. Though the technique helped him in his battle the venom still coursed through his veins just not as potent as before.
Skyler quickly explained Cat's suggestion to use a bit of the mutagen on her samples to Donnie. He had quickly agreed to help.
"You think it will work?" Cat said doubting her idea.
"It worth a shot, a little bit of mutagen should increase the healing properties of Sky's antidote samples" Donnie stated adding a drop of mutagen into the remedy and watched it under a microscope seeing it fight off the venom "It's worked!" he smiled at her.
Cat eyes lite up "Sky it worked! Make some more so we can give it to Leo and Casey!" She shouted as she ran to get her friend and pulled her back into the lab. Skyler quickly set to work and made more of her antidote and gave it to him and he carefully added mutagen.
"Skyler tell the others to bring Leo and Casey in here, while I set up some IV's for them, it'll go in their bodies faster" Donnie instructed.
"Right!" Skyler nodded and when to tell the rest of the group.
"I'm so glad it worked!" Cat sighed in relief as she sat in her usual spot. His desk. He smiled softly and walked to her settling himself between her legs and leaning his forehead against hers.
"Catherine…thank you"
"For what? I didn't do anything"
"For giving Sky the idea of mixing in mutagen with her antidote"
"I'm sure you would have thought of it eventually"
He shook his head "No I wouldn't, not after what happened back at the farm house with the Creep" he said recalling the medicine he made Leo.
"You're giving me too much credit" Cat scrunched her face in denial.
"And you're not giving yourself enough" he cupped her face in his hands "They'll heal faster thanks to you and Sky" he smiled at her. She blushed and her heart skipped a beat at his kind and adoring stare.
"Are we interrupting?" Mikey teased as he and Nia helped Leo onto a free cot.
"As a matter of fact yes, Donatello was about to ravish me" Cat purred leaning back on the desk and tugged Donnie by his strap, pulling him down with her. He flushed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smothered his face to her breasts.
"C-cat!" Skyler covered her eyes slightly embarrassed at their position.
"Woah Donnie didn't know you had it in you" Casey grinned as April and Raph helped him to the other cot.
"T-that isn't t-true" he manage to sputter out quickly untangling himself from Catharine.
"God your unbelievable you know that!" April glared at Cat.
Cat laughed "What he likes it, he just won't admit it out aloud yet" she shrugged and grinned at Donatello making him resemble a tomato.
"Can we just get this over with, Dad wants us home before 9pm today and I want to make sure Leo and Casey are ok before we leave" Kayla sighed at her friend's antics.
Donnie set to work and hooked both Leo and Casey to the IV's he set up and turned to Catherine and turning away with a chuckle.
"What's funny?" Leo asked him as Donnie checked the IV.
"Nothing" he shook his head.
He would never admit it to his brothers and friends but…he did like it.
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