Hey, guys. Sorry for the huge wait. My wonderful grandfather just passed away, so I really haven't had much time for fanfiction. I also had a pretty bad case of writer's block, but now I'm back on track. This is the last part of Abducted, excluding the epilogue.

P.S I use the word "couch" in this chapter sometimes. By this I mean the stone ledge lining the pit in the lair. Does anyone know the correct word for that?

Abducted Pt. 9

Ara

Ara grasped her sword, which Leo had just produced from behind his back, and tried to slow her heart rate. She ran her thumb over the familiar carvings in the handle. Closing her eyes, Ara took a few deep breaths. Relax, breathe, it's just another fight. No biggy. She knew she was lying to herself, but it helped. If she just ignored the fact that she was about to go up against an army of ninjas, a vicious mutant, a line of deadly robots, and a man who had more ninjutsu skills than all of her teammates and herself put together, maybe she could actually keep her head and fight well. She opened her eyes. Okay. Let's do this.

She saw Shredder nod from the corner of her eye, and the opposing army came to life. Ara kicked away a foot, raising her sword to meet Dogpound's slashing arm at the same time. She swerved to the side, narrowly escaping a flying spear.

As she fought, Ara could feel herself slipping into "ninja mode." She was aware of every single move Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey made. They weren't five different ninjas anymore. They were one. The rest of the world fell away, and all that remained were them and their adversaries. When she was like this, every move she made, every counter, every attack, every dodge and defense was as natural and unthought of as breathing, maybe more so. Her limbs just moved for her, applying the moves she had practiced thousands of times with seamless perfection.

Ara slowly realized that Leo was gradually leading them towards the edge of the building, which made sense. With the steady stream of foots pouring out of the building, going over the side of the building was their only hope for escape. She peered over the edge when they came to it, her heart sinking to her toes as she took in the concrete hundreds of feet below. So much for that idea.

"So… what's the plan?" Ara nudged Leo as she struggled to find a weak spot in the robot she was facing.

Leo scanned skies as if expecting a helicopter to swoop down and pick them up. "I'm working on it, I'm working on it." Ara turned back to the robot, her eyes widening as its stomach slid away to reveal a huge canon.

She dove to the side. "Watch out!"

The other ninjas immediately heeded her warning—except one. Mikey was too busy battling several foots to pay much attention. He turned in confusion at Ara's shout. "Wha…?"

The moment's hesitation was all the robot needed. A huge missal shot from its middle toward the muddled turtle. Mikey gasped, leaping to the side just in time. Stunned and panicked, he didn't take time to consider which side to dive to, and he tumbled over the edge of the building. "Mikey!" Raph leapt over the side after his brother, Leo and Donnie right behind him. Ara lunged forward and grabbed Donnie's ankles just before they disappeared over the edge, but the moment of relief was short-lived. The weight of all four turtles yanked her down, and before she knew it, she was tumbling head-first over the side.

She fell through space, clutching desperately to Donnie's ankles. Her feet clawed at the building, searching for some kind of foothold. They found none. Ara looked in terror at the ground coming up to meet her. Faster… faster… then the world screeched to a stop. Ara's feet had found something to latch onto, and they did. Hard. Pain shot from Ara's feet and coursed through her body. Ara let out a pained gasp and squeezed her eyes shut, just barely managing to hold herself back from crying out. Her feet… they felt like they were slowly being pulled apart bit by bit. The agony was mind-numbing; she had never felt a pain so bad in her entire life.

There was a shaky sigh of relief directly below her. "That was way too close." Ara managed to open one eye a crack and noted with relief that all the turtles were there, dangling below her.

"Mikey, I am so going to kill you."

Mikey glanced warily up at Raph, who was glaring down at him. "This isn't my fault."

"You wanna bet?"

"That robot shot a missile at me!"

"So you jumped right off the skyscraper. Genius."

Leo groaned. "Cut it out, you two!"

Donnie twisted his head towards Ara. "How are you even holding all of us up?"

Ara re-shut her eye. "With a certain amount of difficulty," she grunted out painfully, trying hard to keep her mind off the ever-growing pain in her feet.

"Mikey." The one barked order from Leo was all the turtle needed, and Mikey quickly climbed the ladder of ninjas, hopping onto whatever it was Ara had latched her feet onto. Ara bit her lip as he climbed and jostled her feet, getting a taste of salty blood when did so. Raph, Leo, and finally Donnie hurriedly followed suit, and then Ara pulled herself onto the foothold, which turned out to be the bridge of the letter H in the giant words PASSOCHE INC. fastened to the building. Her feet had jammed themselves in the gap between the letter and the building, and she had to gingerly tug them from the bent-up metal.

Leo scanned his team. "Everyone okay?"

Ara nodded. "For the most part, but I think I sprained my feet."

Leo looked at her in concern. "Do you think you can walk?"

"Maybe, but I'm going to wait until we're on solid ground to try."

Leo nodded, then eyed the cement below them. "We can make that jump, easy."

Raph nodded in agreement. "We're almost to the bottom. Piece of cake." He leaped from the H and landed on the ground about twenty feet below. "C'mon guys! Before the freaks on the roof make it down the building, or it starts to…" A loud clap of thunder sounded above them. There was a moment of stillness, then a torrent of water crashed down from the heavens. Ara looked down at Raph just in time to see him slap his forehead. "Rain." Chuckling, the rest of the team made the jump, Ara landing in a roll instead of on her feet. She knelt on the sidewalk, debating whether or not she should attempt standing.

Before she could make up her mind, Leo turned to her. "Okay, now we're going to help you home."

Ara rolled her eyes. "No, you're not. I can walk fine on my own." She attempted to stand and let out a pained gasp as sharp jabs of pain engulfed her feet and shot up her legs.

She sank to the ground, but Leo was there before she hit the cement. "Yes, we are." His voice was gentle but firm. Ara sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue. And he was right; she couldn't even stand properly. Leo slung her arm across his shoulder with one hand and put a firm hand underneath her knee with the other, Raph doing the same on the other side.

The rain was coming down in sheets now, and it soaked every inch of Ara the others. Ara felt her teeth begin to chatter as it squeezed every last reserve of warmth from her tired body. Ara wondered how it was possible that the freezing February rain remained in liquid form, it was so frigid. They made it home in record time despite the fact that she was unable to walk, the rain pushing them on.

Master Splinter looked up in relief as they all filed into the welcoming lair, and Ara saw his head nod slightly as he made a head count. He sighed happily when he was sure that they were all there, then snapped into sensei mode. "Ara, are you alright? What happened?"

Ara smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, sensei. I just hurt my feet a little."

Raph snorted as he and Leo set her down on the couch in the den. "A little? You took one step and dropped like a rock."

Donnie nodded. "I want to have a look at them. They're probably broken."

Ara shook her head. "No way. You guys are making a mountain out of a molehill. I'm fine."

Raph raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Stand up."

Ara paled. "Umm…"

Raph nodded. "See my point? Let Donnie have a look."

Ara scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine." Ara didn't know why she was being so stubborn. Maybe it was because she was embarrassed that she had gotten herself captured in the first place and was now trying to act as capable as possible. Or at least, that was what she told herself. Ara guessed the real reason was that she was afraid of how much it would hurt if Donnie prodded her feet. The sharp pain she'd first felt had been replaced with a dull throbbing, but whenever she moved her feet in the slightest direction, the sharp jabs returned.

Donnie sat down and gently unwrapped the bandages that surrounded her ankles. Ara squeezed her eyes shut and tensed, preparing for the pain that lay before her. Instead, she only felt a relatively painless pressure. Ara opened one eye. Donnie was carefully running his hands over her left foot and ankle, brow furrowed and tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. He'd obviously done this before. There was a sharp jab of pain in her foot. "Oops. Sorry 'bout that," Donnie murmured, switching over to the other foot. After a bit of injury-prodding, there were several more painful jabs. Donnie shook his head as he began to re-wrap her feet. "Well, that's not good."

"What's not good?"

"Still, it's no more than I expected."

"What do you mean?"

Donnie obviously wasn't paying any attention. "But it's too bad. Both of them!"

"Donnie! What?! What's wrong with my feet?!"

"She's not going to like this…"

"DONATELLO!"

Donnie jumped at Ara's roar. He glared at her, rubbing his ear. "Blow my ear out, will you? What is it?"

Ara groaned. "That's what I've been asking you for the past ten minutes. What's wrong with my feet?"

"Oh." Donnie stood up and took a few steps back. "Umm… they're both broken in several places."

Ara stared at him. "Broken?"

"Yeah. It's no wonder; they suffered a huge impact when we all came to a stop. You were also holding all of us up, and we aren't very light with our shells and everything. You're going to have to stay off your feet for awhile."

"How long is awhile?"

"Five weeks, give or take."

Ara felt her jaw drop. "Five weeks!?" she sputtered out. "I have to sit here and do nothing for five WEEKS?!"

Donnie winced. "Maybe… four?"

Ara flipped onto her stomach and covered her head with her arms in frustration. Her next words were muffled. "Do I need casts?"

"No. The normal bandages will do fine as long as you don't try to walk."

Mikey sympathetically walked up and patted Ara's shell. "Ahh, don't worry about it, Ara. Five weeks will be up before you know it. And in the meantime, I'll make you some soup!"

He trotted off to the kitchen. A little groan rose in Ara's throat. "Oh, goodie. I must be the luckiest turtle in the world."

There was a chuckle in Raph's general area. "Better you than me."

Ara lifted her head just long enough to glare at him. "Ha. Ha." The room cleared, everyone probably assuming it was best to let her sort through her feelings in peace. She had a lot of them, and none were particularly good. Today she had been knocked out, tied to a cold crate for half the morning, mocked and hit by the man she discovered had killed her father, had a nice chat with his daughter, gotten her feet broken, and was now completely drenched from rain. Not exactly on her 'top 10 best days' list.

Half an hour later, Mikey bounded into the room, not spilling a drop of the soup he was carrying in the process. "It's finished!" Ara sat up and felt her nose twitch…in a good way. This was a first. Mikey triumphantly placed a tray on her lap. "Ta-da! Eat up!"

Ara slowly took a bite, her eyes widening as she chewed. "Mikey, this is really good! How'd you make it?"

"I would have made you one of my original specials, but I found this recipe in an old cookbook in the back of a closet. It's called 'Perk-up Soup.' I thought you needed some perking up."

Ara eagerly ate the soup. "This is the best thing I've ever eaten! You're amazing, Mikey!"

Mikey grinned. "I know." He contentedly watched her eat for a few moments, then snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot! Finish up, I'll be back in a jiffy." Just like that, he was gone. Ara took a few more bites, then slurped down the rich broth, letting a contented sigh escape from somewhere deep inside her as it warmed every inch of her rain-chilled body. Mikey appeared moments later, loaded down with pillows and blankets. "Get up."

Ara sighed. "I can't, remember?"

"Just do a headstand or something." Ara complied, and the world turned upside down as she lowered herself from her perch. Mikey put two layers of thick blankets over the hard stone ledge, then fluffed up a few pillows and propped them to one side. "Okay, go back now."

Ara rolled her eyes in mock-exasperation. "Yes, sir." She got back onto the ledge with only a bit of difficulty, settling down and letting her head fall back on the cool pillows.

Mikey tugged a warm, fluffy blanket over her, tucked it under her chin, then dusted off his hands happily. "There. Now you're all nice and cozy."

Ara nodded groggily, suddenly very sleepy. "Yeah. Thanks, Mikey."

"Wait. You need one more thing." Mikey handed her a well-worn teddy bear. "He's good at keeping the scary things away at night. You can borrow him." Ara hugged the bear to herself, the warm cocoon of blankets lulling her to sleep. She shut her heavy eyes and murmured out her thanks to Mikey. Ara had only one thought before she surrendered to sleep entirely: she really was the luckiest turtle in the world.