"Here, Leo, cauterize this for me, will you?" Don asked, not looking up but pointing to a nasty gash in the man's muscle. Leonardo frowned but complied, taking a deep breath and blowing a fine stream of fire onto the wound. The man writhed and Leo coughed, cutting off the stream.
"Holy &!" a man breathed, jumping away as Leo straightened again, coughing slightly from the fumes in his mouth.
"I'm good from here, Leo. Can you ask Raph and Mikey how it's goin'?" Don asked, in a voice that carried to let the humans know that there were two more of them. "And tell them not to touch any wires! This plane's still active, and it could zap 'em something fierce."
"Will do," Leo promised, standing up and focusing on Raph's mind. It was calm and cool, and when he pushed a query to him, Raph responded that they were good there. The fire was out and they just needed Don to rewire it and the pilots should be able to fly it for a short distance.
"Don," Leo said quietly, not wanting to interrupt the working turtle. "The fire's out and they're heading inside. We just need you to rewire it and then the pilots can fly this sucker to the nearest landing strip."
"The pilots are dead," a flat voice said. The teenager who had stood up to Leo before stepped forward. "When our wing caught fire, so did the cockpit. Their bodies couldn't be found."
"Oh shell," Leo cursed as Raph and Mikey came in the door.
"Hey, Leo cursed!" Mikey laughed. "That can't be good."
"What's up, O Winged One?" Raph asked, coming to stand next to his brother and looking at the teenager. "Don't try anything, bucko."
"Raph, calm down. This is apparently their leader. The pilots are dead, or at least missing. Mike, see if you can get up front and figure out what happened. Raph, check the cargo hold. See if there's something in there we can use to contact April or Casey. I'll get Master Splinter on the Shell Cell."
Mikey grinned and walked through the crowd, who shrunk back from the turtle with suspicious glances at all four brothers.
"Alright, Leo," Raph grumbled, heading for the back of the plane. He kicked down the door to the cargo hold beneath and disappeared. Leo flipped open his Shell Cell and dialed Master Spinter's number.
It rang once and then Master Splinter's face appeared. "What button do I press to answer this call?" the rat wondered to himself, though by flipping it open he had already. Leo smiled and looked with favor at his Sensei.
"You already have, Master Splinter," he said holding the cell out so he was sure Master Splinter would see his surroundings.
"Ah, yes. You are still on the plane?"
"Hai, Sensei." Leo answered. The humans were looking at him oddly. "The pilots are apparently dead. Don's helping a man regain use of his right arm, Raph's looking for a radio or something in the cargo hold, and Mikey's searching for clues about what happened here."
"Very good."
"I called to let you know we'll be back probably at dawn. I'll call you if anything new happens." Leo bowed his head slightly.
"Good. Thank you for helping these humans, Leonardo. Are there many injured?"
"Not too many, and we've been able to fix them all but one who nearly lost his arm. Donnie's working on him."
"Very well. I shall see you four at dawn."
"Hai, Sensei," Leo murmured, closing the Shell Cell and turning to Don. "Master Splinter says "good work"."
"I heard," Donnie chuckled, keeping his eyes on the needle he was using to suture the man. Mikey could be heard whistling as he moved about in the cabin and a curse from downstairs followed by rapid thumping announced that Raph had found a bug.
"Alright, humans, we're trying to get someone on the radio who can help you. Until then, please sit tight." Leo said, gesturing to the seats still intact. "Don, I'm going to run a quick scan on the wing. Can I borrow your scanner?"
"Sure thing." Don flipped him the device and Leo strapped it to his chest. It was designed to be operated from the shell or plastron, since they didn't often have both hands free, especially Donnie. "Just be sure to return it."
"Sure thing," Leo smiled, walking over to the hole in the wall and jumping out to the gasps of many of the humans. He saw many young children heads peeking at him through the windows as he landed on the wings and tucked his wings in, knowing that a stray current could rip him right from the plane and push him farther away than he wanted to be.
He turned the scanned on and looked around, letting the thing look for broken wires or malfunctions. It was Donnie's latest invention, and Leo was glad he had it. It was very high-tech, but Don had made it simple to use, really.
He got a plan of the wing etched onto the screen and then turned back towards the main body of the place and attached his climbing hooks to his hands and crawled over to the doorway. The winds ripped at his wings, but he kept them closed and soon swung into the mostly-silent interior. He noticed that Don was shivering slightly and only then realized that it was really cold in here; the humans were all wearing heavy coats.
Leo knelt by down and wrapped his right wing around his brother to warm him. Donnie glanced up in thanks as his hands stilled and he continued sewing. From below came another crash followed by a bellow of surprise. Probably a spider, Leo chuckled to himself. Raphael didn't admit it, but he was terrified of any and all bugs and arachnids. Nothing was worse than being teased about it, though, so Leo kept Mikey out of the secret.
"Leo, we got a radio up here!" Mikey called from the cockpit. "I think you should talk to the humans."
Leo reached over and grabbed a light blanket from the upended chair next to him, draping it over Don in his wing's place. Then he stood up and moved carefully through the crowd towards the cockpit.
Mikey was holding out a set of headphones and mike to him as Leo walked in through the destroyed door. It was a mess inside, but not too bloody. If the pilots had been killed, they'd been sucked out before much blood got over everything.
Leo put on the headphones and stepped over to the console, twisting the dial until he found the frequency of the nearest air port. He gave a thumbs-up to Mikey, who flipped the switch indicating that they had a live feed to a personnel at the air port.
"Plane Z83N12 from Denver, Colorado, you are far off course," a feminine voice admonished. "Are you in trouble?"
"Yes," Leo answered. "I am a civilian. Our pilots have been killed. They are not in the cockpit. Our wing caught fire but it was put out. We have several injured."
"Is there anyone among your crew who can fly?" she asked, amazingly calm. Leo admired her; how many humans would or could be so still at a time like this?
"No," Leo said flatly. He didn't want to bring Don into this, and besides, they'd have to bail before the plane landed. "But the entire passenger section has suffered trauma, and some are unconscious, so I'm not entirely sure. Let me get someone who can help you. I've got a badly bleeding arm. Can you talk him through landing the plane?"
"Only if the cockpit is in reasonable working condition," the woman warned. "Otherwise, we'll send out a couple of planes who can rope you and set you down."
"It's workable, I think. The wing's busted, though."
"That's okay," she assured him. "Fetch this man and I'll take him through it." She sounded like she'd done this before. Leo wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but he gave the headphones to Mikey and warned him to stay off of them until he got back. Then he went into the passenger compartment.
"Is there anyone here willing to try to land this behemoth?" Leo asked. "A woman will talk you through it."
"I will try," a flight attendant offered. "I've worked around planes to know a lot about the cockpit, even if I've never flown one." She shrugged, but gasped when Leo grabbed her arm gently and brought her into the cockpit. Mikey smiled and gave her the headphones, holding the back of the main pilot's seat like he would pull out the chair for her.
She pulled the set on and started speaking to the woman. Leo quickly gave the signal to Mike that they should leave silently, and both trooped back into the passenger cabin as Raph came up from the bowels of the ship, cursing like he'd stepped in something sour.
"Raphael!" Leo barked, cutting the string of cussing short as Raph looked up suddenly, not realized he was talking out loud. "What've you found? We're almost ready to get out of here."
"A radio, but I'm not sure it works," he said quickly, handing Leo a receiver. "I don't know if we can get April and Casey but it might be worth the try."
"Okay. I'll see if Don's done. Otherwise, I'll do it." Leo lumbered off towards Donatello, who was cleaning his hands with some sanitizer and packing his things away.
"Done?"
"Almost, Leo," Don answered without looking up. "We're leaving soon, I take it?"
"Yes." There was another crash in the background as Raph jumped at Mikey, who was probably teasing him about the thumps and crashes they'd all heard. Squeals came from Mikey as they tumbled into the cargo cabin.
"Let me guess. You've got a radio and you're wondering if I can get it tuned to April and Casey's Shell Cell?"
"Yep," Leo chuckled. "I can do it, too, if you want."
"Please. I'm still seeing cross-eyed from that stitching. Just let me put this back on you."
Leo nodded and knelt so Don could easily put his pack back between his wings and Leo connected the radio – which had a greater range than their Shell Cells – to his Shell Cell. Then he tuned them until he found a ringing sound.
"April here. What's up, Leo?" a grinning red-head asked. However, she screamed in fright. Leo had forgotten to turn off the visual.
A/N: Please review! I love criticism. This is my first story, and I though I might add a little incentive to review. How's it going so far? Cliffhanger, I know. But I just typed five chapters in one night and really didn't feel like going on. Is it getting too long? I can end it now, but I've got another plan coming up. Please review, again!