Nirvana
AN: Thanks to Scribe of Turesa and Eskimo-Otter for reviewing the past two chapters. The story is slowly picking up momentum, I think, and I like it! Scribe of Turesa is sort of in the ballpark with the tracker but there's more to it :).
Twelve days passed without so much as a hint of Jezebelle. Leo was more worried now than ever. Don's test on her blood, the splatter he knew intuitively had to be hers, confirmed his fear three days ago. Now they were fighting time, and it made Leo uneasy. The McDonald's she'd gone to the first day shut down; the tiger sightings had scared off customers as it seemed to be closing in on the west side of Manhattan.
That tiger was one thing keeping Leo in limbo about the prolonged search; on the one hand they could search the city at night and risk running into the massive tiger, or they could wait and be sure he moved to a different sector. Leo's anxiety was through the roof! The things that could happen if they decided to scope alongside their furry hunting enemy…the possibility of that male tiger being wired, just like Orion, to hurt his brothers or his one sister, was holding him back. Donatello, by using the images of claw marks on the building in the first news report and small craters in various buildings as the news traced the tiger daily, was able to estimate the creature to be at least four hundred pounds with the jaw strength able to exert into the nine hundred pound range, if not the maximum believed strength of tigers, one thousand pounds by means of a digital schematic program. It scared Leo that the one thousand pound possibility came from a normal tiger (according to Donnie and TV documentaries), but this was a substantially larger tiger, one that could kill him and his brothers without even blinking.
One that could kill her with even less effort. Despite extra steel-laced padding inserted into the clothes Leo and the others had used to vanquish Bishop's mutagen mishap they could hardly be prepared for everything this tiger could bring. Four of the twelve nights Leo could hear the shallow, grumbling hiss of something much larger, or could feel the deep thump of something landing on the same roof and rushed his brothers away to safety – his family couldn't be risked, not while they were still pulling a plan together. The eldest highly considered bringing Leatherhead along but decided to wait and figure out if the animal had a pattern, if he'd indeed found anything. So far the tiger hadn't seemed to have caught anything; reports of shredded clothes and multiple fabric scraps came from all sides of the city, but no bodies or missing persons' reports.
It made his head spin. Michelangelo had sworn she'd be in the west side of the city, but with food shops pulling out and locking up left and right, none of them were sure anymore. Would she run somewhere else? The news followed the signs left behind by the large tiger, but little else. Leo felt hopeless; no camera had actually caught the beast, and his trail was never the same because of the clothes.
Don was maybe just as frustrated as him. His machines were going full blast, mapping software trying to make a link between all the sights in Manhattan having proof of a large, roaming tiger. A small cry of frustration escaped his little brother and Leo peeked in on him; the sight of bleach-white strings intermeshed and looking somewhat like crazy silly string caught his attention and he frowned. The markers must be so sporadic that no real trail existed. Beeping echoed from the room in a rapid four-four tempo, and Donnie jabbed a finger at the machine as if to make it stop.
Raph checked in on Don, shouldering past Leo to lean on the left side of the doorframe; he'd been calling Casey, April, Angel, anyone he could think of to warn them, tell them to get out of town. Angel, even though she swore off any ties to the Purple Dragons, was still some help. Said she had her doubts about the upper ring near the new boss Shadow; she also mentioned Hun had gone missing over a year ago but didn't know why, and thought it strange. Logically it lined up with the events that unfolded last year in Saki's tower; Hun has been knocked unconscious. Who's to say Hun hadn't gotten out, woken up and ran, or had truly been killed in the collapse?
He was a big guy, he could've survived, or so Leo thought. "You okay bro?" Raph asked the genius.
"No!" he hissed, "I'm this close to taking that thing apart!" pointing to the source of the beeping Don pinched two of his three green fingers together and glowered at it.
"What is that?" Leo asked. He didn't know what half of this stuff did but knew it saved their shells more than once when they needed it. Donatello was forever making new things, though, and Leo could never be sure of what was in his little brother's room.
"It notes the strength of foreign interference. I've checked the security cameras and the computer, and nothing's out of the ordinary."
"Maybe it's a glitch." Raph suggested. A glitch? In his work? Likely, but Don didn't think it was that simple; a glitch wouldn't have gone on for twelve straight days.
"It's not a glitch," insisted Donatello; peeking at the machine again. "The signal's stronger this time, and the rate is faster. I don't understand…" Leo and Raphael dared to enter his room, maybe to see if they could point out a lose wire or spill stain that could've hindered the instrument (unlikely with Donatello's meticulous nature) but their entrance caused the machine to cry louder. "It's one of you! I knew I wasn't crazy! Raph, you, out, I need to test something!" his first thought jumped to Leo and his once wounded arm. If his theory about Orion was right—a bit of a far shot, even for a theory—it might help them. Experimentally he poked Leo's hand and wrist on the right arm, the arm that had been attacked, and paused at a small raised knot.
It was the area where Orion had bitten him, and looked to be swollen still despite medical attention. Gliding a fingertip softly over the raised site Don stopped the finger over the bump. Whatever it was, it was hard, and caused Leo to flinch. He held the bump close to the machine and the noise intensified. "This might seem a little disturbing, Leo," Don said as he motioned for Leo to sit in his swivel chair, "but you are the foreign interference and I think it's this right here." his little brother pressed the bump to make a point.
Leo winced at the prodding. "We're going to have to remove it." his blood turned to ice.
"What?"
"Someone could be looking for this chip Leo, they could be trying to find us!" of course they could, but Don's tech was probably providing as much interference as theirs, if not more. The eldest sighed. "Feel free to call Raph so you two can have a pressure war." Don offered as helpfully as possible, scalpel glinting and reflecting light from the various machines behind him. Collecting a rag and a pair of tweezers Donatello looked apprehensively to his big brother before getting the signal; Leo wrapped his left arm around the arm of the chair and nodded. Twitching was an automatic reaction and Don would pause every few seconds after the seven centimeter incision had been made to let his brother's arm spasm before continuing to fish the chip out.
At last he had it, and the bloody chip gleamed like a thin ruby in the light of his room. Meticulous with the undoubtedly fragile piece Don patted and blotted the blood away, turning the chip over. It was roughly the size of a digital camera SD card so he could plug it in to the computer with little complication. Donatello hoped this could do a little bit more than help find Jezebelle; the night she had a flashback to Misellus Corp he's searched avidly for anything on the corporation and found nothing. This would be just as hard as trying to get the blood experiment details without constant help from Rilien one year ago, but they'd done it.
It was harder with her, though, because they had no one on the inside willing to help them. No leverage. Behind him Donnie could hear the gentle drag of fabrics and the squeak of his chair as Leonardo moved; Leonardo was bandaging himself, and Donnie could smell the disinfectant. The genius' heart thrummed as he plugged the SD card into the computer. Windows upon windows sprang up at once, giving him the feeling of sensory overload and Donnie had to look away for a brief second so the sensation of a migraine would pass.
One window contained nothing but coding, and Donatello put that window in the background; others, like a live map that was much more composed and cleaner than his feeble attempt at pinning a location, were at the forefront. The map was a one panel bird's eye view of the west side of Manhattan and Don clicked on it, enlarging the surface to see an area closer to the dormant red spot. Street and sign names had been the white lines running rampant along the map when he'd zoomed in; a cool chill of relief swept over him. Coordinates flashes in the upper left hand corner for chip two. "Leo," Donatello felt light headed, "Leo I found her. I found her, I found her!" his little brother shook as he jumped up and followed with his brown eyes the mouse Donatello used to point to the coordinates.
"Let's go. We need to go get her!" she was so close! They knew without a doubt, now, that she was okay. She'd survived the hunting apparently undetected. It filled Leo with hope. Everything was going to be okay…
"It's not dark enough yet," Donatello protested. Leo was fixing to go against everything he'd enforced, everything that Splinter had drilled into them since they were children. He never thought he'd see the day.
"Donnie," Leonardo's eyes hardened like amber rocks, "this isn't about us this is about her. She's been gone for twelve days with who knows how adequate of a food supply and possibly no medical attention, do we really need to wait a few hours so we won't be seen?" Donatello knew he shouldn't answer Leonardo; the gnashing retort was enough to see how he felt but there was a choice to be made. Rescue a female mutant in distress or attract massive media attention that could put them and the people they knew in danger. "Do you think I'd leave you out in the cold, alone, and scared if I knew there was a chance I could save you and bring you home?" he faltered at that. No, no he wouldn't wait…Donnie knew that. He'd come rushing in and save him, just like he did Mikey whenever they used to act out the fairytale storybooks when they were kids.
"Give me a minute to think of something," relenting at last Donatello rubbed his bald head fiercely. There had to be something he could do. Maybe there was something in one of the windows. Bypassing the map and the coding he found another window, the hidden window. The red dot was present again, and tentatively he clicked on it. Vital signs were lined neatly in rows, and apparently managing from the inside due to the high and accurate temperature it reported for her body heat; just beneath the temperature reading a vial blinked.
Taking that to mean the condition of her blood Donnie clicked on it. Abbreviated hormones came up in a chart, each blood cell group and hormone had a small, different colored line dipping low and rising high like a million rollercoasters. Frankly it looked like Raph and his ability to draw at age three. "Oh no…"
"Oh no what?" Leo's breath skirted across his cheek as he leaned in with his good arm atop the chair. Donatello had never even been aware that he'd claimed his chair again but took a screenshot of the chart (who knew how long this would last, anyways? Enemies could've put a time trigger on it…) and poked a green finger at a particular line of hormones.
"She's got increased levels of hormones here, indicating she may be experiencing estrus."
"Estrus?" Leo echoed curiously. Did that hurt? Was it making her go crazy? Could it be some chemical that company put in her?
"She's in heat, Leo." he felt as if Raphael had just punched him. If she was in heat that meant she was sending pheromones into the air. How long was the range when it came to feline pheromones? If that tiger was anywhere near her he could pick that up and she'd be dead very soon, with little to do but hide and pray. That thing was huge; it could kill her just trying to fulfill baser instincts!
"Donnie…find a way to make it dark. Fast. Now." Leo was already running for his gear, and demanding Michelangelo do the same as he went. Don bolted into the sewers to check his favorite street-side grate. The clouds were dark and bloated; it looked like it could snow very soon, maybe within the hour. Good, thought Don, now we won't need to worry about the sun. "Raph! Raph let's go we got a fix on her location." by the time Don got back Leo was fully dressed, as was Mikey, and Maeleyn came out in the steel-based corset she'd asked for; arms covered in accessorizing long black sleeves to match her legs done up by the same black cloth.
Raph stumbled into the rest of his uniform as Don took two minutes to download the mapping software into the tracker; that way if she moved, if she was already anticipating he was coming, they could be there to help her. First he had to make Manhattan dark. He could hear Leo and the others shooting out the front door into the sewers, and Donnie hacked his way into central power to kill the electricity. A satisfying sound of everything mechanical dying with one whir left the lair lightless and Don met up with his brothers before another idea caught him. "I'll meet up with you," Don promised.
"What? Why?" Leo stopped short as he pierced his brother with a foul glare. At a time like this? What was he going to do?
"Need something from Casey's. Trust me, it'll be worth it. Go!" the brainy turtle broke off from the bunch and Leo motioned to the rest. Donnie was smart; in that crazy brain of his he had to know what he was doing.
"No, no, this can't be happening! Not now!" Jezebelle wanted to curl up and cry. The dark spotting on the crotch of her pants told her it was true, regardless of what she wanted to think. Like it or not she was going into heat, and the vaginal bleeding was a true symptom of it, one she couldn't deny. Though she felt jittery there was a certain sense of arousal, of anticipation running through her; and she could smell her big cat lurking somewhere. She could smell him on the wind, and was sure he could smell her, too.
That part filled her with fear. She didn't want him; he'd probably kill her! The first time was painful enough, and it still amazed her she'd gotten through it! Jezebelle was too afraid to run out with clothes and leave them around the different parts of the city like she had been; she didn't want to be too far from the only shelter she had in case he caught her earlier than she expected. Tears slipped out of her eyes and she let one little moan out, a moan that was a cross between human anguish and feline calling.
Orion was safe in the clothes she'd kept, and licking at the leftover cheese caught in the wrapper from Burger King, last night's dinner. He meowed to her, blinking his eyes. Could he tell she was in distress? She found that stepping out of her protective clothes lessened the pain; the swelling of her sex wasn't restricted and the fabric wouldn't cut into her whenever she lay; it was the first time she'd been fully naked in a while. Ten minutes of curled-up pressure relief was cut short; the door to her haven started rattling wildly.
Tigger, it was Tigger! Her heart leapt into her throat and she scuttled to the back wall. Try to open it you son of a bitch, try! she'd go at him head first, with everything she had! The pounding persisted and she growled as menacingly as she could; hoping they growls wouldn't come out provocative or weak because she was in heat. Something metallic and shimmering bit through the door, a whine following the trail as it cut a jagged, primitive doorway.
"Jezebelle? Jezebelle, are you okay? Listen to me; I need you to open the door okay? Then we can—are you bleeding?" though his face was pressed hard to the concrete Jezebelle had never been happier to see the unmistakable features of the eldest turtle. Most of all the compassionate brown eyes of his that were always for his brothers. She'd missed them all terribly! Their consideration, their couch, the food, the clothes…the sense of family and happiness. The hole he'd cut let him, at best, put an arm up to the shoulder through, and maybe part of the shoulder if he angled it right.
"Leo, hi Leo! How'd you find me? I'm happy to see you!" it was comforting to know they'd tried to look for her, that they weren't mad for her running away. She purred happily and licked the tips of his fingers to show her glee and he squeezed her hand.
"Listen to me; we need to get you out of here. Now, you're not safe!"
"I can't!" Jezebelle didn't know why it was making her blush but the thought of her being in heat around males was never pleasing. It made her nervous. But…he wasn't the same species or would it matter? He did have the nose of an animal, like her, and would be able to smell the scents better than a human. Plus the calling might get on his nerves…their nerves.
"I…" she flushed, "I'm in heat."
"That doesn't matter! Would you rather be in heat and vulnerable or in heat and safe?" now that was a word nearly foreign. She hadn't been truly "safe" in a while. In fact, they probably wouldn't be helping her, protecting her now, if she wasn't a mutant. Jezebelle hoped that wasn't the only thing driving Leo to protect her. She'd been alone so long that she was half hoping…but that couldn't work, could it?
The look in his eyes when they shared a house together was always tuned towards family. Safety, practice. He didn't look to be the type that had time for romance, or women. Besides, they were two different species, what was the likelihood he'd go for something outside of his clan? Very slim, she thought.
"Open the door or I'll make a door," Leo swore. He jabbed the katana into the door again and Jezebelle backed up a bit. The katana dragged through the material of the door, both of Leo's hands on the one katana to make an even cut, "I'm getting you one way or another."
A large, bone-shaking roar caused him to lose his grip on the katana in the door completely. Leo felt more surprise than fear as the large tiger landed on the roof, eyeing him like wounded pray. On all fours the animal could've still topped five-seven, he bet, so standing he could be around six foot, maybe a couple of inches over. Well above him, at least. The beast growled again, a noise Leo's internal animal, the one he suppressed by using his cultured intellect, could recognize as a threat and a challenge for the mate.
Before he could even blink the animal was charging at him; a few running steps followed by a large jump and the big cat was in the air. Allegedly four hundred pounds were fixing to land on him, or try to. Screeching like a banshee Jezebelle tore out of the small shack, causing the door to fling open and create a barricade between Leonardo and the descending Tigger. Using the diversion, Leo got to his feet, Jezebelle skidding to a stop in the center of the roof. Tigger was unable to stop himself and collided with the door; the door snapped straight off the shack and took Leo with it, but the fact he had a shell, and that the hilt of his katana was facing him kept the door from totally smashing him under the weight of the tiger.
Ironically his katana had caused the door to make a triangle shape with the ground and cradle Leo in it. He could hear Tigger sniffing, trying to figure out where he was. Kicking the door off of him, and ripping the katana out in one fluid motion he jumped back, watching the tiger put a paw up to his face, as if holding the source of pain. Another loud, angry growl came from the animal. Jezebelle responded, just as angry, and used Leonardo's shell as a springboard to put her before the large tiger mutant.
"I'm not sure how well you can understand human speech when it isn't a command but we have to make a deal here," Jezebelle was very aware of Tigger circling her, and of responding in kind as to not be caught off guard. "You know you're out here due to your baser instinct. Me, you want me. They happen to be in the way." her eyes and head nodded briefly behind her where the others had actually ceased what battle-related movement they intended to carry out so they could listen, "Saying that I see it's a bit narcissistic of me…I don't know if you have a secondary command but I promise you this," Jezebelle stood on her hind legs, adopting the stature of an angry, resilient person, "you will touch this family one time, that one time is today, the last time. Am I clear?" for a moment Tigger just stared with his brown eyes. Maybe he could understand more than she imagined him to. She thought he comprehended but it was evident he didn't as he raised his right arm and swung. There was little she could do to avoid the blow at such close range and let her body roll towards the shack, attempting to shake the blow off.
Dizziness, spots…she blinked and rolled to her side, using her back legs to push her up; it was utter chaos before her! Tigger was unpredictable, and she wasn't sure who he'd go for. Any moving target had an equal chance of being preyed upon. Almost as soon as Tigger had swung at her had the others jumped back into action with one missing; Donatello had yet to make it to the roof. To Jezebelle it seemed Maeleyn and Mikey were having enough of a time dodging and deflecting Orion without having to deal with Tigger on top of that.
Tigger, himself, seemed to be focusing on the other two. He had his neck turned just so. Jezebelle took off across the roof and lunged at him, her claws visible as she latched on to his neck and bit down hard. A cry escaped the tiger and he veered away from Raphael, gripping the ground ferociously as he ran around trying to disengage her. Jezebelle's tenacious cries were muffled by his fur as she dislodged her sharp teeth from the fur of his neck to his ears. Ears were the core of balance, and if she hurt them he couldn't function.
Leo felt angry that he was at a loss. The enemy wouldn't stand, and how was he supposed to accurately handle an enemy that was nothing more than a livid animal? It wouldn't stand on two feet or expose it's softer under parts, so how was he supposed to attack it? Its claws were sharp, and teeth even worse so no matter what angle he tried there was risk for backlash. Tigger finally threw Jezebelle off and she was able to dismount gracefully with a backflip, something that surprised Leonardo, at least.
Wasn't she supposed to be an ill-to-fight defenseless mother? Apparently not. But then again, in a sense, she'd fought him before. Leonardo doubted anything with an animal this big was consensual. "Get off me you little-!" kicking her leg into the air Maeleyn effectively drew Tigger's attention as his son went skyward.
He charged towards her in the same fashion he had Leonardo, and Raphael was quick to respond. Raph dug his sai deep into the male's back near his tail. The turtle half-hoped it would paralyze him, but it didn't look to do that. Tigger responded by bucking and attempting to fling him off, but Raphael embedded the sai deeper into the flesh, refusing to let go. It wasn't until Tigger decide to roll over onto his back to get the latest nuisance off of him that Leo had his first real chance.
Using the front wall of the shack Leonardo leapt off of it and angled his katana to stab into the belly of the beast. He would've landed correctly had Tigger not swerved sharply, thrown Raph almost entirely off the building, and attempted to follow the airborne turtle to make sure he didn't get back onto the building. Leo staked his katana into the back left foot of the tiger and pushed it down as far as it would go; undoubtedly making some sort of impression in the concrete, but it was for his brother. His heart eased back into place when he heard the pissy growl of his little brother who jumped back up onto the roof. "We can't hurt this thing!" Raph complained, his sharp teeth evident with his sneer, "We're just ticklin' him! What are we gonna do?"
"We need Donnie," Leo breathed. What was the tiger going to do next? His eyes drifted to the tiger that had landed atop Mikey's head, biting and scratching him relentlessly. He felt like his feet couldn't move fast enough. Tigger was going to close that gap before he was. "Mikey, move!" Leonardo wasn't completely sure where she'd come from but Jezebelle had gotten there before Tigger and tackled his little brother so that he'd slide back on his shell from the impact, effectively creating enough distance between the two.
Tigger recoiled instantly, and Leonardo had no idea as to why until he saw Donatello leaning barely over the edge of the roof to the shack with an empty bucket of water and his trick bag. Orion lay beneath Tigger's vicious paws, and the body of his son was sparking. Sparking like a…like a machine. The whole battlefield paused, even the father, as he sniffed the curiosity, a small jolt of electricity arcing off the metallic carcass to touch the wet nose. "O-Orion? Orion!" unwisely, Jezebelle put herself right up next to Tigger as she analyzed her son, daring to swivel the head.
She was shocked, like Tigger, but ignored the small burn site as she eyed the piece of shining silver that was his neck behind the severed flaps of real tiger skin. So he and Donnie were right…there really had been something wrong with him. "Jezebelle…I…I'm s—" the tiger father was upon him before he could finish. Tigger pinned him to the rooftop, front paws on either of his shoulder, until one slid to the center of his plastron. Leo sucked in a breath; he felt like he couldn't breathe!
Would he kill him because he was mad? Leo wouldn't put it past him. Jezebelle screamed like tires stuck in a spinout going one hundred miles an hour and snatched a katana from Leonardo's sheath since he couldn't raise his arm and stabbed Tigger in his shoulder. Anything to make him let go! She couldn't lose anyone else!
Apparently the pain did little to deter him. Blood pooled from his shoulder, discoloring his fur and she stabbed him again, trying the other shoulder. He's really pissed! Jezebelle began to worry, she could see Leo's throat straining with the effort to breathe. Even with Raphael making more stabs into Tigger's back the tiger wouldn't relent; Michelangelo hitting him did little to help, either. His erection caught her eye and Jezebelle swallowed nervously, feeling nauseous.
That would get him off. She wedged herself under his body, squeezing through the trapezoid-shaped space Tigger made bearing down on Leo and closed her eyes, biting down as hard as she could. Tigger stumbled back, completely climbing off the terrapin, pacing in pain and hunkering low, snapping his teeth at her. The sudden rush of air filled his lungs and Leonardo gasped, coughing, as Raphael helped him stand. Blood spots dotted the building top and Leo felt for his missing katana.
Jezebelle clamped her teeth around it, running to them, but Tigger retaliated faster than she thought, his senses probably dulled by now, or he was so crazy that he didn't care (she wasn't sure which) and tackled her before she could make it. She spit the katana out the minute she hit the ground, and it swirled in scraping circles across the rooftop. Tigger sank his teeth into her rear, claws grabbing at her sides. "AHHHHH!" Leo would never forget that scream. Blood bubbled down her backside and he could see it in Tigger's mouth, spilling over.
"Get off her!" Leonardo picked up the abandoned katana and ran at him. He sent the katana through Tigger's nose and the other through the skull closest to his ear, basically removing the right ear. Tigger let go, and Don dragged Jezebelle out of the way.
"I'll lop the damn thing off!" Maeleyn ran at the belly-up tiger and Leo stopped her, bloodied katana the only thing between her and the panting, growling tiger. She'd only seen him like this once, and it scared her. He'd only looked so determined, so lethal, one year ago when they were all fighting for their lives in the Shredder's stronghold. His face was taut, head pointed down like he was watching something escape him, something that had no chance of living so he just let it crawl, and his eyes spoke of murder in iridescent brown pools. The second Tigger moved, for what reason Leo didn't want to know, he sent the already bloody katanas into the tiger's chest cavity.
A flake of snow touched his nose, and he could see the following one better on the blood of the tiger growling beneath him. He had an amazing tolerance for pain. Kill him! the animal side of the leader screamed. Leo probably would, anyways. Look at her, look at what he did to her! Mikey and Raphael had yet to move but Maeleyn was over there with Donnie, and by the looks of their faces what damage she had sustained wasn't good.
Closer to the heart the second katana pushed past the fur and Leo watched the head loll back, grumbling breaths creating bursts of fog in the chilling air stopped. A growl escaped Leonardo, a soft one, and he withdrew the katanas. He won the challenge. "Leo, Leo we have to go." Donnie jogged over to him, a look of alarm on his face. "The temperatures dropping and she's lost a lot of blood. His bite didn't penetrate as deep as it could have because you stopped it but he seems to have dislocated her right leg, and she does have extreme blood flow from the sides and the buttocks."
"Go do whatever it was that you needed something from Casey's to do." Leonardo was taking off his coat to give her some warmth. She was shivering, and snow was beginning to fall faster than ever, as if in time with Leo's distress, and Jezebelle looked at him, looked at Mikey who was crouching next to her.
"You're going to be okay, alright? Just sit tight…" Mikey shed his jacket and placed it over Leo's.
"M-my baby. M-my baby…" Donnie barely quit shaving the face of the tiger and looked at her. The perseverance of a mother…a parent…never ceased to amaze him. Despite her dislocated leg she was limping, making her way to the carcass of her child.
"Look at me, look at me." Donnie crouched next to her. Reflexes fading fast. Probably hypothermia. "We have to get you to the lair. Come on, come with me."
"No, no don't lift me!" Jezebelle was close to tears, despite wanting to admit it to herself. A dislocated leg actually hurt. "I-it hurts!" She hadn't remembered physical pain like that since…Iago.
His large fists beat down on her shoulders, around the nape of her neck to drop her to the floor and went down with her. He sat on her back, immobilizing her with his sheer weight and structure (she wasn't built for power, but for speed and fitting into odd places like a good operative, though she had no deadly operative initiative). Jezebelle struggled to turn around, to buck him off, and her bare feet, also possessing three blanched almond toes (like the digits of her hand) scraped deep and hard against the floor in a squirming effort, leaving behind scrape marks. She bit down on his fingers again; the outer skin of his pointer finger nearest her lips but it did nothing.
Iago had been desensitized to the pain. His hands continued to squeeze around her throat, his thumb occasionally rubbing soft circles on her furry skin…
"Put my leg bag in, and then lift me."
"You need to—"
"You will not lift me if my leg is not in place."
"Alright…hold your breath." if she could survive mating with Tigger, or even the surgeries that made her bones more cat-like than human, she could survive Donatello putting her leg back in the socket, especially since it was dislocated at the hip and not both places. "One, two, three." he grabbed the dislocated piece and pushed it in. He'd had to put Raph's arm back many times and sometimes Mikey's shoulder. Instead of screaming she bit down on her lip, hard. Jezebelle had promised herself not to scream anymore; she was free, and there was no need to scream anymore. Misellus Corp was a thing of the past. "Leo and Mikey are going to carry you, okay?"
"Take my baby. I wa-want answers. Why is his skin on that metal t-thing? What's that m-metal thing?"
"I will, I will," Don hushed her as Leo and Mikey approached, curiously, and gave Donnie fleeting looks regarding how to pick her up. "You grab here and you, here." the two brothers were basically making a cradle by interlacing their fingers and picked her up.
"Go Mikey, go." Maeleyn wasn't far behind them, Raph staying behind to watch Don begin to pick up the metallic carcass of her child.
"Guess we know where Hun's been for a year." Raph grumbled as he jabbed a thumb to the shaved face of the dead tiger. Even mutation couldn't hide scarred flesh, and three stripes that could've passed for real tiger marks were on the right side of his face.
"Yep," Don acknowledged in a whisper, nodding his head. Hun had been one of the people in the epic brawl last year. How many others survived? he wondered. There was a possibility Stockman would've, but it was slim. Collecting the fake shell that was Orion Donatello motioned Raphael to follow him.
"You're going to be okay…" Leo whispered soothingly to her, looking over her as if she were a wounded Mikey instead of a wounded Jezebelle. "Donnie's going to look you over and we'll get you patched up." he pinched her hand and she winced. "Sorry." looking over her Leo wondered just how bad she'd gotten hurt. You're some hellcat, Leo thought with a proud, yet sad smile.
And what had he done?
Stood there and looked stupid because he realized he didn't know how to fight something that didn't fight on two legs. He felt like an idiot! "It's okay," she smiled despite her bloody lip. Leo felt conflicted. In his heart he felt that he'd done very little to help the mutant woman in her fear, and that she had done more than he, but why did her smile make what he felt irrelevant?
All that mattered was she smiled.
"Bad news boss." Devin held the cell phone between his ear and shoulder. "Our dot has disappeared…both of them have."
"Someone's trying to use them," noted Shadow from the other side of the phone, "as soon as the chip goes through anything twice it wipes itself clean."
"So we're good on that then? No one can trace it?"
"Highly unlikely, but what do you mean 'on that'?"
"Well," admitted Devin with great hesitance. This was in no way his field but it was his duty as a tech analyst to let him know what the media would soon find. "That big tiger thing is dead. I'm already seeing media coverage. Something stabbed it a couple of times. There's damage to the wang so maybe you have another bun in the oven for your kitty."
"Possibly but there's a chance it won't take, especially if she's in heat it could just slip out like a miscarriage. Was the recording unit on the roof?"
Devin frowned. "No, it was lifted." he regretted to report. He was shocked to hear Shadow laugh.
"Looks like they're getting the pieces. I love fun, elaborate game play. I'll let the co-owner know as that was their property. Keep an eye on the coverage for me."
"What if they find the tattoo?" Devin inquired, locking his eyes on the live streaming video from Channel Five covering the carcass of the large tiger.
"They won't know what it means. The original records were destroyed last year, we had to start from scratch so there's little to trace. If they do find it they can't link it to much. Most of our experiments can't talk…if those green freaks do what I think they will she won't have much time left to talk, either." the cell phone went dead, Shadow had hung up on him. A chill made Devin shiver. What original records? The sense that there was more to Shadow than he thought was turning out to be right. But how could he prove it?
Maybe I should just let it go, he thought, I don't want to get iced. Who'd believe him, anyways? He was so deep in mobster life, even at his age; people could catch him for ratting before he opened his door. Devin rubbed his chin; the fact that he didn't know the full story would irritate him. Seeing as how the news had caught this fiasco he could meet the co-owner. The co-owner would know just as much as Shadow. "I'll talk to him about it later," he decided aloud, "he seems to be in a good mood."
Leo clasped his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees as he sat in Don's swivel chair, watching her. According to Donatello she was under heavy but tolerable sedative to cope with the pain. He slouched, watching over her like he had any of his brothers when they were with fever or colds. "You are absolutely amazing, I have to admit," why he was talking he didn't know. Don said it was common though, and they'd talked to him after Shredder beat him so bad he was unconscious for almost a week.
"You fought…you were great. I didn't think you'd fight as hard as you did, for us, considering I made you leave." that one was hard to put out; he almost hurt his throat saying it. While he could admit he could've been more sensitive on the subject it was his stubborn personality that persisted into the driving, hawk-like attention to her son and the suspected abnormality. "I can't tell you how grateful I am that you saved Mikey. I thought…I thought he was gone. Don said the impact could've shattered his ribs from the inside and killed him due to all the internal bleeding." catching the blood coming from her cracked, dried lips he dabbed at them again. They'd cleaned her up but she'd bitten her lip so hard when Don put her leg back into place that the punctures wouldn't heal for days. Their turtle doctor said blood might very well come up with talking and smiling, but Leo figured that suffering was minute compared to what that animal could've done to her.
"I'm honored that you did what you did for me. I can't imagine how that must've felt…how you felt, but I promise it won't go forgotten. I don't care who hunts you, they won't get past me." he felt a bit more settled after that. Even if she was asleep she needed to know. Or maybe he just needed to tell her so he'd know she'd know…as he wasn't the best with openly conveying things. To a woman mutant. One who needed comfort and a home now more than ever.
"And I'm sorry you lost your son…" there was no way he could make up for that. Consoling would probably just open the wound, but she was asleep. Leo figured someone should grieve with her. Maybe she thought she was alone, at least in the lair; she hadn't been told Maeleyn lost a child. "We're here though; if you need us…I'm here if you need me." he kissed her forehead, like Splinter used to do them when they were having a nightmare, or waking up in a sweat to fight off a fever.
She opened her tired yellow eyes and smiled. Immediately he flushed and cursed himself; just because Don said she was under a sedative didn't mean she was asleep! Leo wiped the blood from her lip with his thumb. "Stay here." Jezebelle whispered. He nodded; finding it slightly amusing she looked so dreamy and yet so tired she could be dead and possibly thirty years older at the same time
"I'll stay here. Right here."