Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 Fanfiction
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the TMNT franchise in any way, shape, or form. No money is being made. This is just a labor of love for the series. Please don't sue me, Viacom!
Alternate Universe fic.
Warning: Violence and very mature themes are ahead! If you aren't comfortable with the idea of reading such things, please do not continue past the line below!
A/N: (peers out from her hiding place) You...you came back? (breaths a sigh) I was worried that I'd chased you off with the last chapter. Or that you'd want to lynch me for what happened to Donnie. Thank you so much for coming back and for trusting me with your time. :) Just to give you a heads up, this chapter's a long one. Longer than the last one. It had been even longer, but I decided to split it into two so it wouldn't be such a big thing to read at once. ^^; Btw, I'm not sure if I've said this before, but please tell me if you catch a grammatical mistake in my writing. I know I'm not perfect, but I do want you guys to have as enjoyable a reading experience as possible. To me, part of that is making sure that you don't have to correct my bad grammar to read what I'm trying to say.
As always, thank you all for reading and an extra special thank you to anyone who left a review, left a favorited, and/or decided to follow me. I love you guys. I really do. Now, onto the story!
Chapter 11
The silence that fills the lair is enough to make you think that time has stopped. My sibling and I stare for a moment before we look at each other, each of us wordlessly asking the same question of the others. "D-did Mom just confess…what I think he did?" It's not that we didn't understand the words Mom used. Somehow he'd managed to walk the fine line between being perfectly clear and being too detailed about what happened to him. It's just that it's…it's too appalling for us to accept. I look at Mom. His eyes are focused on the floor while he takes a break from telling the story. I can tell that he's trying to keep from being overwhelmed by the memories and emotions that have been stirred up after all this time.
I quickly look at each of the adults in turn. Hoping that one of them will tell us that we actually ARE misunderstanding what Mom said. Uncle Raph, who is still leaning his carapace against Mom's right side, has his mouth set in a deep frown and his eyes are tightly closed. His hands are gripping his biceps so forcefully that he's starting to leave little crescent-shaped marks where his fingernails are. Auntie April, on Mom's left side, has been looking more and more miserable as Mom continues his narration and now tears are silently sliding down her face.
She should be miserable! I resist the urge to scowl at her. Mom may be able to be the bigger turtle and say that his getting caught wasn't Auntie's fault, but I'm not so sure that I can do the same. It sure seems like it was all her fault. She should have known better. When working as a squad, always, always, ALWAYS let the rest of the squad know when you want to break off to check something! I'm only eight and I know that!
I manage to pull my gaze away from Auntie April to glance behind us. Sensei looks like he always does, quietly impassive. However, as I watch him longer, I pick up on how firmly he is gripping his cane and the sorrow in his eyes. Uncle Leo is leaning forward so that he can rest his elbows on his knees. His fingers have knit together in front of him and his eyes are turned to the floor like Mom's. He looks just as miserable as Auntie only he has managed to keep tears at bay. As long as I've been alive, Uncle Leo has been passionate about protecting the family. Mom is constantly scolding him about how he risks himself too much. I suspect that this…horror…is one of the reasons why Uncle Leo does what he does.
Uncle Mikey is the one that finally makes Mom's words sink in for me. I've never seen anything get Uncle Mikey down. Nothing makes that joyful smile of his falter. However, this time, when I look at him I see the same anguish that everyone else has etched into his face. The optimistic smile isn't anywhere to be found as he presses the side of his face further into the pillow he is clutching. He looks like he'd rather be clutching Mom. The same tears that have begun to track their way down my face shimmer in his eyes.
It becomes painfully clear to me that we haven't misunderstood anything. Our beloved mother suffered through the vilest of assaults. He had been raped by the very person that my siblings and I were so eager to know about. Our father. It had to be him. How many horse mutants could Mom have encountered in his lifetime? My stomach turns as I recall the romanticized fairytales that my siblings and I would make up when Mom wasn't around to hear us. My personal favorite was that our mom and dad had been part of some forbidden love. Tch. We couldn't have been farther from the truth if we'd tried.
I hear my sister whimper and I look at her in concern. She has her hands over her mouth and her eyes squeezed closed as tears make trails down her face. I'm shocked to see her like this. Logical Kaiya is the rock of our little triad. Her tendency to stay levelheaded is why Mom always puts her in charge when we are left to our own devices. I'm too excitable and Lewis is too laidback to be trusted with that responsibility. Tears are not Kaiya's normal response to upsetting news. That's me. As much as I hate to cry, I'm usually the one that ends up an emotional train wreck. Even with news as distressing as this, I never expected Kaiya to fall apart. Sadly accept it? Sure. Want to hug Mom and never let him go? Most definitely. She's rational, not an unfeeling monster. There is something else going on. What has she realized that I haven't yet?
While I watch her try to keep her crying quiet, comprehension hits me like a metric ton of bricks. Of the three of us, Kaiya is the one that looks the least like a turtle. The only clear sign of her turtle heritage is her color but replace her olive green fur with brown and her forest green mane, tail, and leg featherings with black and she would have the same coloration as a bay horse. I can almost hear her wondering how Mom can look at her without being reminded of his assault. My tears begin to flow faster as I start to wonder the same thing. I may look the most like a turtle, but I know that the horizontal rectangles I have for pupils are nothing a reptile would normally have. Lewis meanwhile is such an obvious blending of turtle and skewbald horse that no one would ever be convinced that he could be from one or the other. A sudden sniffle from Lewis tells me that he's come to the same conclusion as Kaiya and I. I think back to last night and remember my worry that Mom didn't really want us. That concern has been replaced with a new, more painful question. How can Mom even bear to have constant reminders like us around?
"Shhhh," a soft voice tries to console us. I look up at Mom as he tenderly caresses the backs of his fingers against my cheek. He's eased himself out from between Uncle Raph and Auntie April so that he can kneel in front of us. Somehow, despite the obvious stress in his eyes, he is giving us his 'everything will be alright' smile while delicately touching each of us in turn. I sob at this. How can he smile right now? It's not alright. It will never be alright again! "I know what you three are thinking. And I want you to stop. Especially you, Kaiya-chan," he says as he wipes at Kaiya's tear lines. "When I look at the three of you, what I just told you about is the farthest thing from my mind. You are precious to me. Nothing has happened or ever will happen to change that," he says while he gently tries to reassure us.
Kaiya watches him through all of this before her face becomes pinched with grief and she throws herself against his plastron. He grunts as she pushes him even more onto his heels than he already was. She falls to her own knees between his legs and outright weeps against him. Mom hugs Kaiya to him, comfortingly kisses the top of her head, and then shifts his position so that he is sitting cross-legged with Kaiya in his lap. His eye ridges furrow and I can tell that he's worrying. I can see the second and third guessing race through his mind even as he tries to soothe Kaiya.
He doesn't have a chance to start fourth guessing before Lewis crawls into his lap to join our sister. The tears in Lewis' eyes speak volumes about how upset he is. However, it seems that Mom's words have reassured him a little better than they did Kaiya. He nestles closer to Kaiya and Mom so that he can try to help calm our big sister. Mom's eye ridges go up at this before they relax. He smiles dotingly and runs a hand through Lewis' mane.
I watch my siblings cuddle our mother while trying to digest what we've been told. A very large part of me wants to join them but I don't feel right about being comforted. It feels wrong to simply accept what happened. It doesn't matter that it happened years ago and that accepting it is about all we can do at this point. I want to cry, scream, hit something; I want to do ANYTHING but simply accept this awful knowledge. A hand gently strokes down my face and I jerk in surprise. The hand retreats at my reaction. I look at Mom to see him watching me with concern. My eyes well up with a new batch of tears at his worry and I turn my head away from him. He's the one that's suffered and yet he's worrying about me? I'm the one that forced him into reliving this horrific time! A sense of shame washes over me and suddenly I better understand why I don't feel right about being comforted.
"Hikaru?" I flinch when Mom speaks. His voice sounds pained, as though he's on the edge of tears. "Hikaru-chan…please…please look at me." I slowly do as he asks and feel myself choke up at the relieved smile that spreads on his face. "Come here, sweet pea. This is not something you should deal with on your own," he says, offering his hand to me. I shake my head and his smile vanishes instantly. "Y-you don't want to?" I nodded in answer to his question and he looks as though I just grabbed his heart, ripped it out of his plastron, and stomped all over it. His eyes close tightly before he turns his head away from me and swallows hard. He takes a shuddering breath before swallowing again. "W-w-why not?" he haltingly asks while looking for all the world like he's expecting my next words to be a death knell.
"Because I don't deserve to be comforted," I whimper.
Mom makes a sharp gasp and immediately looks back at me. He's eyes are huge, tear-filled, and bewildered. "W-what?" he says in a hushed manner.
"I DON'T DESERVE TO BE COMFORTED!" I repeat myself with a shout. "I've made you go through all that suffering again! Not only that. The whole family is in pain because of me! I shouldn't have been so stubborn. I should have just accepted your decision to wait and let it go," I sob out.
He watches me blubber for a few moments in stunned silence. Then he makes an almost hysterical half-laugh, half sob sound and covers his mouth as he smiles again. I feel the weight of his hand settle on top of my head, making me look back up to him. "Oh baby girl, since when have you 'just accepted' something?" he asks me with a choked-up sounding chuckle. "I haven't raised you three to 'just accept' anything. What is the motto that I have always followed and encouraged you to do the same?"
"Question everything," my siblings and I recite.
"That's right. And that's exactly what you did. YOU aren't making anyone suffer by insisting that we talk about what happened. This wouldn't have been any easier for us if I'd waited five, ten, twenty, a hundred years to tell you. So, don't go blaming yourself for how hard this is. OK?" I sniffle and nod while rubbing at my eyes. Mom's hand moves down to my cheek to wipe away a tear before cupping it. "Also, no matter what happens in life or what you do…you'll always deserve to be comforted." My eye ridges knit together as I feel the need to start another bout of tears. Instead, I charge at Mom, wrap my arms around his neck, and tightly hug him. I feel him sigh as though a crushing weight has been lifted from him while he brings an arm up to return my hug.
After a few moments a voice that is somehow both strange and familiar pipes up, "Um, Donnie?" Mom and I look towards the voice. I'm surprised to see that Uncle Mikey has come over and is kneeling just in front of Mom. I hadn't recognized his voice because the hesitant tone he used is so alien that it sounded like a completely different person. "C-can I get in on the hugging too?" he asks unsurely. His question surprises me even more. Uncle Mikey's not one to ASK if he can hug you. He just does it…with much enthusiasm.
Mom blinks several times at his little brother. Clearly, he's just as surprised by the question as I am. Suddenly Mom gets this impish little half-smile, tilts his head downward, and looks up at Uncle Mikey with just his eyes. If Mom wore glasses, he'd be peering over the tops of the frames. "I don't know, Mikey. Can you?" A smile creeps its way onto my face. Like mother, like daughter.
Uncle Mikey stares at Mom for a bit in disbelief. It doesn't take him long to recover, though. "DONNIE! COME ON!" he whines loudly making Mom's half-smile become a full one. "I'M BEING SERIOUS HERE!" Before he can complain more, Mom snags him by the back of the neck and pulls him into an enthusiastic hug. Uncle Mikey freezes for a heartbeat before he clutches at Mom wholeheartedly.
"I know, Mikey. I'm sorry," Mom says quietly. "I couldn't resist teasing you. I don't get to do that much anymore," he continues once Uncle Mikey lets him go.
"Dude. You made everything on my T-phone come up in Russian just last week!"
"Well…I was trying to encourage you to…broaden your horizons," Mom counters while putting a hand behind his head and offering Uncle Mikey a sheepish grin.
Uncle Mikey looks annoyed for a couple of seconds but soon sighs and looks sad again. "Why didn't you ever tell any of this to us before now?" he asks as he gestures to our other uncles, Sensei, and Auntie April. "You didn't have to hold it all in. We would have listened."
Mom's eye ridges go up a bit. Then he looks downward and his smile fades to a much more subdued expression. "You guys were upset enough when you found out. I…I didn't think you wanted or needed ANY of the details," Mom says weakly as his head lowers. "I-I'm sorry."
Uncle Mikey looks sadder at Mom's apology. He pulls Mom's head back up so that they can be face to face again and gives Mom a gentler version of his boisterous smile. "Hey, don't be sorry, Donnie. If you didn't want to, you didn't want to. I just wanted to make sure you knew that you could talk to us. Or not talk to us. Whatever you need; just know that we're here for you. No matter what. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Sorry about that." He suddenly leans forward and kisses Mom right between the eyes, making Mom jerk out of his grasp in surprise. Mom's thunderstruck expression is priceless. Uncle Mikey seems to think so too because his smile broadens enormously. Once Mom recovers his eyes narrow and he gives Uncle Mikey a dirty look. "That's more like it, bro!" Uncle Mikey chuckles while he heartily claps his hands on Mom's shoulders and gives him a slight shake. Mom just lifts his eyes to the ceiling with a long-suffering sigh.
I take a quick look at my siblings and smile in relief when I see that Kaiya has managed to regain her self-control. However, I can tell that she's still troubled because she seems perfectly content to stay in Mom's lap. So does Lewis for that matter. I suddenly feel left out. Before any of the adults can interrupt him again, Mom returns his eyes to us so he can check on how we're holding up. He notices how I'm fidgeting and smiles a bit. Then he gently nudges Kaiya and Lewis. "Make room for your sister please," he requests and they start to shift around.
Unfortunately, I'm not always the most patient child. I only manage to wait for a couple of seconds before I try to join my family. Mom starts to protest but ends up grunting in pain when a foot accidentally gets planted in a bad spot. "Sorry," Kaiya says feebly with a wince, admitting that she's the one that nailed him.
Mom groans as he leans back onto his left hand so he can shift his right leg out and up. We end up settling on the floor between his legs and using his left leg and plastron as a backrest. He rests his free hand on Kaiya's head, patting it in acknowledgment of her apology. "I forget that you guys are getting too big for this," he says with a wistful sigh. Before Mom can do anything else, Uncle Raph comes up behind him, grabs the tails of his mask, and forcefully yanks on them, pulling a startled cry from him. "Raph! You jerk! What the heck was that for!?" Mom demands loudly while he tries to loosen his now over-tightened mask with one hand.
"Like you said, I'm a jerk. What other reason do I need?" Uncle Raph responses with a wry smile while he settles back against Mom's right side. "Besides, I still owed you one for Mythsmashers." Mom grumbles something under his breath that makes our eyes go big and Uncle Raph grin more. "Someone needs to put a marble in the swear jar. And for once it isn't me!"
Mom stares agape at Uncle Raph for a moment before his jaw clicks closed and he growls while still trying to loosen his mask with his only available hand. He's just about to give up and shift positions so that he can have both hands again when Auntie April rests one of her hands on top of his. "Hold still, Donnie," she tells him as she sits down on his left side again and adjusts his mask for him. He breathes a sigh of intense relief once the excessive pressure is gone. Then he turns to thank Auntie, but the bright smile on his face disappears the moment he sees the tear lines on her face. His eyes fill with concern as he brushes his fingers against one of the trails. Auntie April smiles sadly and she grabs his hand with both of hers. "I'll be alright, Donnie," she tries to reassure him. Mom doesn't get to press the issue because Uncle Leo clears his throat, trying to bring the family back to focus.
"Shall I get the ball rolling again, Donnie?" Uncle Leo asks gently. A smile pulls at the corners of his mouth when Uncle Mikey joins the pile of people surrounding Mom by lying on his carapace in front of Mom and using Mom's right foot as a pillow.
Mom tears his gaze away from Auntie to look at his eldest brother and seems to consider the question for a few moments. Then he runs his hand soothingly down each of our heads. "Are you three up to continuing?"
We look at each other unsurely. "O-only if you are, 'Kaasan," Lewis replies tentatively. Kaiya and I nod in agreement. Our innate curiosity doesn't really want to stop…despite our newfound uncertainty and the turn the story's taken. However, now, none of us are willing to pressure Mom into resuming if he really isn't up to it.
"Hmm," Mom hums quietly. "I do hate leaving anything unfinished."
"I'D hate for them to think that we never got you out of there," Uncle Leo says earnestly.
"That makes two of us," Mom replies softly. "Well…we haven't even gotten to the part where they were able to be conceived so…"
"What?!" my siblings exclaim as they look up at him in shock.
Mom grins at their staggered expressions. "What?" he echoes them amusedly. "You thought that's when I got pregnant with you three?" He chuckles softly. "Now I know who's not paying enough attention in biology." I smirk smugly while they look embarrassed at being caught. "Don't get too full of yourself, Hikaru. I don't remember my trigonometry book having sketches of puppies and kittens in the margins," he says with a smirk of his own. I can feel my cheeks warm up at being called out on the same sin as my brother and sister. They, of course, take a moment to snicker at me before Mom continues. "Anyway, as I've said in class, I may be a mutant, but even my physiology's not THAT freaky."
Uncle Leo smiles a bit more at this before he takes a bolstering breath. The three of us turn to look at Uncle Leo, waiting patiently for him to resume where Mom left off. When he does, his voice holds so much regret that it makes my eyes tear up again. "Thirty-one days. That's how long Donnie had been captured before we finally got the break we needed."
"BOOYAKASHA!" Michelangelo shouted as he pounced on a pair of Foot soldiers. One went flying from a well-placed kick. The other crumpled after taking a nunchuck to his side then his head. The soldiers' companions wheeled on Mikey. He squeaked when they opened fire on him with…laser rifles!? "When did they get those!?" Mikey hollered as he ducked and weaved between the blasts. It didn't take long for Raphael and Leonardo to come to Mikey's aid. Despite their extra firepower, the entire company of Foot soldiers was soon lying on the roof, groaning in pain. The only casualty for the turtle brothers: their nerves.
One of ninja tried to struggle to his feet only to be elbowed in the back of his head and sent back down. Raphael growled irritably at the ninja before stepping over him to approach where Leonardo stood, picking the remnants of a blaster from his sword. "Since when does the Foot carry around blasters?" he asked while catching his breath. When they'd spotted the troupe, they hadn't even considered that the enemy would be armed with anything more serious than traditional ninja weapons. It had been quite unsettling to suddenly find out that their foes were just as well armed as a bunch of Kraang droids.
"They must have stolen them from the Kraang," Leo responded while glaring at their downed opponents. "The Shredder did have them stealing mutagen before. Why not move to stealing weapons?"
Mikey watched his brothers talk for a moment before becoming bored and milling about the unconscious ninjas. That was just about to get boring too when Mikey spotted something sticking out of one of the Foot soldiers' uniforms. He bent down and plucked up the plastic card. It was grayish in color with six pink stop sign shaped spots in a circle at the center. "Hey, bros!" Mikey called to the others. "What do you think this is?" he asked while holding the card up so his brothers could see it.
Raph looked before growling lowly. "It's what you always pick up! Trash!" he snapped.
Leo took one look at what Mikey was holding and his eyes immediately widened. "Let me see that!" he said as he hurried over to his little brother. Mikey easily handed the card over to Leo. "That's the same symbol that's on TCRI!" Leo said once he'd gotten an up close look. He turned the card over in his hands. Elation started rising in his heart when he realized what this piece of plastic could mean. "Where did you find it?"
"On him," Mikey answered while gesturing at the ninja.
Leo knelt down beside the soldier and pulled off his mask. The ninja was still holding on to awareness. Apparently, he was hoping to escape further injury by laying low. The ninja yelped in surprise when Leonardo grabbed him by the front of his uniform, pulled him up so that they were face to face, and shoved the card in front of his eyes. "What is this?" Leo demanded. He needed to confirm his suspicions before he got too excited.
"It's an access card!" the ninja hurriedly answered. The expression on the blue masked turtle's face was unreadable, but the red masked one's promised much pain if he didn't answer. Getting his butt kicked by giant turtles was not what he signed up for when he joined Chris Bradford's dojo.
"What does it access?"
"Kraang facilities all across the city. I-I-I think that the only one it doesn't have access to is TCRI!"
Leonardo felt his eye ridges go up in surprise. "Exactly, where did you come by this?" Leo pressed, taking full advantage of the soldier's fear of them.
"Bradford-sensei's head pupil gave it to me! What is her name? Umm…Karai! Lady Karai!"
Leo resisted the urge to scoff at this. No way was Karai Bradford's student, but it was a good cover to keep the Bradford fan-boys signing up even though their sensei was never seen anymore. "Why would the Foot have card keys for Kraang facilities?" Leo questioned, more asking himself than the ninja. "Maybe they stole them?" He was surprised when the ninja shook his head at his mostly rhetorical questions. Raph cracking his knuckles just behind Leo scared the ninja enough that he'd answer anything.
"This weird guy in a suit gave her a box of them. Along with the laser guns she told us to use."
Raph suddenly held his T-phone up in front of the ninja. A picture of a Kraang droid in disguise was on it. "This the guy you're talking about?" Raph asked. Their snitch nodded vigorously.
Mikey looked at his older brothers in alarm. Raph looked just as worried as he did. Leo seemed thoughtful for a couple of seconds before he suddenly gave the ninja a powerful left hook, knocking him out instantly. "You dudes' thinking what I am?" Mikey nervously asked.
"The Kraang and the Shredder working together. That is not what I would call good news," Raph replied somberly.
"We need to get back to the lair," Leonardo announced while he marched towards the edge of the building.
"What? Why?" Raphael questioned. "We haven't even patrolled half the city yet. Splinter can wait until we're done to hear the bad news."
Leo turned around while brandishing the key card. "Raph, we just scored the golden ticket to saving Donnie! Do you really want to finish patrolling the city?" Both Raph and Mikey's eyes went wide with surprise as they realized what Leo was thinking. "We need to get back to the lair so we can make a plan to get him out TONIGHT. Before they realize that we have this card and change the coding. Let's go!"
April sighed as she walked out of the bathroom. There was nothing like a hot shower after a vigorous training session. It worked all the kinks out of her sore muscles. Now she was ready to try and study so she didn't fall too far behind in her classes. She paused when she walked past the hallway to the dojo and kitchen.
She could have sworn that she heard voices talking excitedly from the kitchen. It sounded like the turtles but they weren't due to be back from patrol for a few more hours. April cautiously approached with her tessen drawn, just in case the lair's location had been compromised. She sighed in relief when she recognized Mikey's excited laugh followed by Raph growling at him, demanding that he quiet down.
"Alright then. Let's get geared up and head out. And remember…don't tell April," Leo whispered to his brothers.
"Don't tell me what?" she asked as she stepped into the doorway. Leo and Raph looked at her like a pair of deer caught in the headlights of a semi.
"We're bringing Donnie home tonight for sure because this time we can actually get in!" Mikey said with an enthusiastic grin. April stared at the orange clad turtle completely speechless.
"MIKEY!" Raph snapped. Leo face palmed and just sat there shaking his head.
"And…I wasn't supposed to tell you that. My bad," Mikey continued sheepishly while taping his forefingers together.
"You only had to keep your trap shut, Mikey! Couldn't even do that!" Raph growled angrily, making poor Mikey flinch.
"That's great! When do we leave?" April gleefully declared once she'd found her voice again. Usually, the turtles made a go of it while they were already out on patrol. They would never tell her before they left that they were going to try to save Donnie. She always found out afterward, though. They couldn't hide their disappointment and injuries from her.
"You're not coming, April," Leo proclaimed, his voice stern. "We'll handle it."
"I'm not letting you leave me behind again. I want to help! I HAVE to help!" she pleaded with him. It was her fault that Donnie was in there and she needed to help get him out!
"No, April! We should have never risked bringing you last time. If there is one thing this has taught me it's that we were too cocky. We underestimated the Kraang and Donatello is paying for our arrogance. I won't allow that to happen again. It was too dangerous then and it's too dangerous now!" Leo stated, refusing to budge.
April's expression became defiant. "I'm going!" she insisted. "Whether you take me with you or not!" Leo looked shocked at the threat. "Tell me, Leo. Which is the greater risk: me going with you guys…or going out there completely by myself?"
"You need to stay behind, April. It's for your own good!" Raph said as he sided with Leo, trying to help his brother convince her to listen to reason. "Don't make us lock you up."
"Go ahead!" she challenged him. "Donnie was teaching me how to pick locks before he got caught and I've been practicing ever since." Raph growled hostilely and was just about snarl out something when Leo held up his hand to stop him.
Leo sighed exasperatedly before giving April a hard look. "Fine, you can come. But you have to promise me that you will stick to us like glue. You don't go ANYWHERE without at least one of us at your side. Understood?"
April swallowed at this and nodded. "Believe me, Leo. I have no intention of letting Donnie's sacrifice be in vain."
He made an agonized moan as he felt the extra weight finally lift off of him. All he wanted to do was curl in as tight a ball as he could, but he knew it would do him no good. So he stayed where he was, panting…waiting for the hell to continue. Just when he was about to dare to hope that it was done for the day, he was grabbed by the back of his neck and pulled onto his side. He whimpered in dread yet he still fought against the grip. The hold tightened, slowly stifling his feeble struggles to a halt.
"Stop making everything so difficult, my little colt," Horse quietly chastised Donatello once the smaller mutant stopped resisting him. He raised his other hand and almost seemed depressed when Donnie tried to shy away from it. His grip tightened again, forcing Donnie to stay still while he rested his hand on the turtle's forehead. A seemingly concerned frown pulled at Horse's face. He let go of Donnie, but his captive didn't move away. Donnie knew better than to chance it until he was certain that Horse was finished with him. "I must speak with Kraang," Horse announced as he got up to leave.
Once the cell door hissed closed, Donnie dragged himself to his hands and knees. He sat back on his heels and shivered even though he was drenched in sweat. A new round of tears welled up in his eyes. He pushed them back, fighting the urge to completely break down. "There'll be time later," he told himself. "Right now I need to clean my injuries or I'm going to get sick." He pulled himself to his unsteady legs only to have a wave of wooziness nearly knock him right back to the floor. "Sicker," he corrected before forcing himself to power through the vertigo so he could stumble over to the sink.
Leonardo silently observed their target: four Kraang droids diligently guarding the back entrance of the facility. "That's five less than a week ago," he quietly reflected. "They're either expecting us or they're getting overconfident." He swallowed when a third option occurred to him. "Or they moved Donnie somewhere else." The chances of them ever seeing Donatello again were slim if the Kraang relocated him. Leo pushed the worry aside. It wasn't putting him in the right frame of mind.
He lifted his hand up in a fist as he heard the rest of the squad move in beside him. The resolve radiating off each of them was palpable. Mikey hadn't cracked a single joke since they'd left the Shellraiser. It was parked three blocks away in an effort to make sure the Kraang wouldn't see them coming. Leo could only hope that it was still close enough for them to make a quick getaway. After all, they had no idea what condition Donnie would be in when they found him. Would he be able to fight with them or would he be literal dead weight? Again Leo shoved the anxiety as far away as he could.
A few gestures and silently his brothers broke off to flank the droids. His swords made a soft shing as he pulled them into position. A reciprocating metallic ring told him that April had her tessen at the ready. He didn't even need to look where at Raph and Mikey were hiding to know they were set. A quick gesture and they sprung upon the enemy. Raph tore into two of the droids as though they had personally affronted him. Mikey swiftly knocked out both Kraang before they could even evacuate their damaged bodies. The other two droids turned to face Mikey and Raph allowing Leo and April to waylay them from behind. Two quick slashes and Leo's droid fell to pieces. Another flash and the Kraang the machine held was knocked out cold by the flat of Leo's blade. April lashed out with her tessen, slicing her droid's head clean off. Then she snapped the war fan closed and slapped the Kraang inside across the face with it, sending the alien to slumber-land along with its companions.
Leo quickly looked around for any signs of a counter ambush. When none could be found, he rushed over to the door. His brothers and April followed and huddled around him. He took the key card out of his belt and looked at it nervously. If the Foot soldier had lied to them, the Kraang would be all over them within seconds. He looked at the panel. Could he really risk everything on the word of a Foot soldier? "If it means making my family whole again, yes!" he unswervingly thought before pressing the card against the panel.
The lights on the panel flickered wildly while everyone watched in a mix of anticipation and trepidation. Leonardo was just getting ready to sound the retreat when the all lights abruptly turned green. "That which is known as access is granted," announced a feminine voice. The doors before them swished open. Leo's face lit up in a jubilant smile while his brothers and April cheered.
"Let's go!" he told them as he hurried into the hall that stretched out in front of them. They followed quickly behind. He was about to hurry around a corner when his instincts told him to stop. After making sure that the others fell into step behind him, he used one of his swords as a mirror so he could safely peer around the corner. A quiet curse passed his lips. "There's a camera up ahead," he informed the others. Apparently more droids weren't the only things the Kraang had done to improve the building's security.
"So? Let's bust it up!" Raph declared, brandishing his sai gleefully.
"If we do that, the Kraang will know that we're here," Leo told Raph, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice. "We need to stay under the radar for as long as possible. At least until we find Donnie."
Raphael grumbled quietly while sheathing his sai and cross his arms. "So what do we do now, Chief?"
Leo looked thoughtful for a moment before he spotted something just behind and above Michelangelo. A pleased smile briefly spread on his face. "We'll use the ventilation system to get around. Raph, you and April check out the upper levels. Mikey, you're with me. We'll search this level and the lower ones. Remember! Updates every thirty minutes. Beyond that, maintain radio silence unless you find Donnie or are in trouble. Got it?" Everyone nodded in confirmation. Leo suddenly put his fist out in front of him. His brothers and April smiled at this before their fists joined his in the center of their little circle. His smile returned only this time it was colored with grim determination. "Let's bring Donnie home."
"HAI!" the troupe barked their whole-hearted agreement. Leo quickly went down on his knees just under the vent and motioned to April. She clambered up him to stand on his shoulders with Raph and Mikey holding her steady. He gripped her feet as he carefully stood back up, putting April within easy reach of the vent. It only took a few seconds for her to unlatch the vent so that it swung open. Then April pulled herself up into the shaft. Leo looked at Raph, who nodded once and move to stand in front of him while pointing at Mikey. Once Raph created a stirrup with his hands, Mikey used it so he could climb Leo like a ladder and join April in the ventilation system. Afterwards, Leo gave Raph a boost up into the vents. Once he was up, Raph and Mikey stretched a hand down to Leo so that they could pull their brother up with the rest of them. They closed the vent behind them so that there wouldn't be any evidence of where they had gone.
They separated at the first junction they came across. Once Raph and April made it to the second level, Raph had April take the lead. "Let's check that room you told us about first. The one with all the tubes," he suggested.
April felt the color drain from her face. "Why? Y-you don't think Donnie's there, do you?" she asked, her voice trembling. That room had haunted her dreams nearly every night since Donnie's capture. She really didn't want to walk in there and have her nightmares confirmed.
Raph rested a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly. "I don't know about you, but I sure would feel a whole lot better about this if we made sure he wasn't first. 'Cause then we'll know for sure that he's alive. Alright?" April took a shuddering breath before she swallowed and nodded in agreement. Raph gave her a lopsided smile, patted her shoulder, and encouraged her to move on. "Lead the way."
Michelangelo sighed in relief and smiled for the first time since they'd started this mission as he listened to Raphael reporting to Leonardo. It was great to hear that Donatello wasn't in that horrible tube room. Mikey didn't know what he'd do if they had found Donnie dead but he pretty sure it wouldn't have been good. While Leo and Raph continued to exchange what they had found so far, Mikey shifted farther down the shaft he and Leo were in and winced when the metal boomed under his weight. He hated how much the metal clattered whenever he moved. It sounded so loud that he kept thinking he'd just given them away. He didn't want to go too far from Leo; it made his brother antsy whenever he'd get out of sight. So Mikey stopped at a vent cover to wait for Leo.
He heard the sounds of Kraang droids approaching and backed away from the vent some so that he could watch the droids without them seeing him. The two droids stopped just in front of a door. They were talking about something that was being done on one of the other levels. Mikey didn't really care about what they were saying. His interest had been snagged by something else. One of the droids had approached the door, making it slide open for it. Much like humans, the two droids continued to talk while the door stayed open. Soft bluish-gray light poured out the doorway, causing Mikey to become curious about what was making it. He risked moving closer so that he could get a clearer view of what was inside. His interest grew when we saw that the light was coming from what looked like TVs. Lots of them. "Leo!" he hissed down the shaft. "You've gotta check this out. Hurry!" Mikey grimaced when the shaft banged with Leo's approach. "SHHH! Not so loud! Kraang bots, six…no twelve…" Mikey looked confused for a moment as Leo slowed his approach to minimize the racket. "Ummm…how do you say 'right under us' with the o'clock stuff?"
"Mikey! Get down! They'll see you!" Leo whispered in alarm.
"Trust me, bro! I'm good. But you need to see this," he replied while pointing down the vent and shifting so that Leo could get a clear look.
Leo didn't look like he was too sure Mikey actually had something, but he humored his little brother. His eyes widened once it processed what he was looking at. "You found the surveillance room! Nice, Mikey!" he praised, making his brother beam. Surely that room would help them narrow down where to look for Donnie. At the very least, shutting it down would allow them to wander through the halls instead of crawling through the cramped ventilation system.
He narrowed his eyes at the two droids. Chances were high that there was at least one more droid already in the room. They needed to catch the Kraang off guard if they were going to get in and make as little noise as possible while doing it. Leo looked around the ventilation shaft and smiled when he saw that just a little past Mikey was another shaft splitting off from their current one. He pointed it out to Mikey who looked, nodded, and then quietly began to follow it. After moving several feet from where they started, they encountered another vent. One look down verified what Leo had hoped. They were now just above the surveillance room. Beneath them two more Kraang worked, keying in information while images from other areas of the facility flashed up. Leo had to swallow down an emotional lump when one of the screens that flicked by showed what looked like a turtle.
It didn't take Leo long to come up with a plan. They patiently waited for the Kraang who was just outside to finish its conversation, come into the room, and take its station. Once things had settled in the room and the door was closed, Leo nodded at Mikey. His brother pulled three eggs from his belt and got into position. Leo carefully lined up his fist before striking the vent cover with enough force to send it flying down to the floor. All three droids whirled around to look at what fell. Before they could look up, Mikey flung the bombs into the room, instantly filling it with smoke. Mikey and Leo leapt into the room and ripped into the Kraang. By the time the smoke cleared, all three of the droids were busted up and their respective Kraang were unconscious.
Leo approached the monitor screens while Mikey did a quick search of the room. His eyes closed and he tried to recall the sequence that he'd watched one the Kraang enter to get the screens to cycle through the cameras. He had just managed it when Mikey waved at him to get his attention. Resisting the urge to sigh, he set the computer to continue cycling through the images, only at a much slower rate than before. "Check out what I found," Mikey said rather seriously, an unusual tone for him.
Leonardo's eyes filled with sorrow when he looked inside the locker Michelangelo was holding open. He reached in and pulled out what looked like a charred turtle shell. "Donnie's T-phone," Leo said softly as he turned the broken communicator over in his hands.
"Surprised they kept it. It's fried."
"They were probably hoping to get something out of it," Leo commented in response to Mikey while he peered more into the locker. A wry smile crossed his face as he reached inside again. "April called it," he said drily while he pulled out the digital lock-pick he'd been so desperate to find more than a week ago. There were several more items within the locker: a couple of small screwdrivers, wire cutters, a math compass, a small wrench, pliers…all of them Donnie's. "This must be where they decided to store everything they thought would be too dangerous to leave on him."
"Well, that's a good call. All that stuff would be bad news for them if Donnie ever got ahold of it," Mikey stated with a laugh while pocketing all of the tools Leo handed him. They both knew that Donnie would want them back.
Leo managed a chuckle. Mikey was right. Donnie could have made the Kraang's lives miserable with even one of those tools. "I wonder where his staff is," he questioned as he looked around the room. It would be great if they could retrieve it. Then Donnie would have a weapon while they made their escape and wouldn't have to worry about crafting a new one when they got home.
Mikey shoved his face deep into the locker, making Leo's eyes roll. There was no way a six-foot bo staff could fit in that tiny thing. "Um…" Mikey started as he pulled back, removing a two-foot cylindrical piece of wood from the depths of the locker at the same time. "…I don't think it made it. ACK!" he squawked and dropped what was left of the bo when the naginata blade shot out from its hiding place.
"Donnie definitely went down fighting," Leo said quietly with a hint of pride while bending down to pick up the blade and inspect the damage. Despite how often it seemed to happen lately, Leo knew that it took a lot of power to break one of Donnie's staffs. Especially the ones that weren't for sparring. The only thing that should have been able to damage this oaken staff was a blaster but there were no signs of burns. He pushed the blade back into the shaft and shoved it into his belt. At least it would be one less piece Donatello would have to make. He turned back to the monitors just in time to see the image of a familiar form flick away.
Leo raced over to the displays with Mikey right behind him and frantically began hitting buttons, trying to make the computer go back. He knew he'd managed it when he heard Mikey breathe out a choked sounding, "Donnie!" Michelangelo's eyes shimmered in the light from the screens even though a joyful smile was on his face.
"Raph, April! We've found him!" Leonardo said into his T-phone as he made the computer freeze on the camera feed of his missing brother. He didn't even try to hide the excitement in his voice.
"Sweet! Where?!" came Raphael's enthusiastic reply.
"Level three, south corridor," Leo relayed after squinting at the screen to find which camera the image was coming from. "Room 332."
"We're one level down," said April's voice. "How'd you guys get ahead of us?"
"We didn't. Mikey found the camera room so we hijacked it," Leo said with a smirk while Mikey grinned proudly. "We're on sub-level one. You two head on. We'll join you after we've trashed this place."
"Great! I was getting a crick from these dang tunnels," Raph said, his aggressive grin coming through in his voice. There was a pause before Raph continued more gingerly, "How does he look?"
Leo swallowed a bit at the question. "The feed's not that great. All I can tell from here is that he's unconscious." The silence on the other end lasted long enough to make
Leo nervous. "Raph? April? You copy?"
"We got it, Leo. Thanks. Just have to go see for ourselves!" April answered. She too couldn't suppress the anticipation in her voice. "See you soon!"
"Roger." Leo tucked away his T-phone and turned to Mikey. His brother grinned eagerly while he twirled his nunchucks into position. Leo mirrored the smile as he pulled his swords. "Let's get to it!"
A/N: And so ends chapter 11. I hope you guys enjoyed it and are as excited about reading the next as I am about showing it. It's gonna be an intense one! :D Thank you all so much for sticking with me. If you've enjoyed the journey so far, please let me know with a favorite, a follow, and/or a review. It helps me know that I'm doing a good job and really lifts my spirits. :D See you next time!