Disclaimer: I still do not own TMNT.
Raphael came into the living room of the lair. "Where the shell is Fearless? He was supposed t'be back two hours ago! The idiot must be jumping around up there…" Raph was muttering to himself. In truth, the temperamental turtle just felt like fighting with someone. He was bored and was still grounded from going topside. He would have gone up earlier, but Leo was up there and would probably tattle on him like a good little kiss ass.
Raph moved into the dojo, he began pounding on his punching bag immediately. The chains holding it rattled crazily with the beating he dished out on it. "Raphael, where is Leonardo?" Master Splinter asked, coming into the dojo. "That bum went topside, Sensei." Raph said.
"Raphael, you should treat all of your brothers with the same respect you show me." Master Splinter reprimanded. Raph sighed. "Yeah, I guess so, Sensei. But why does Leo gotta' nag so much? I mean, it'd be normal if it was just maybe once a day. But Leo's on our shells 24/7, Sensei. I mean, it's irritatin'." Raph said.
Master Splinter walked towards his son and placed a hand on Raphael's shoulder. "My son, your brother is only worried for you. Leonardo has placed your lives above his own, despite his instinct for survival. Raphael, he needs you there for him. He has placed the burdens of the world upon his shoulders; you must be there for the day he will be crushed beneath the world's weight." Master Splinter said sagely.
Raph shook his head. "He doesn't need me Master Splinter, he's Fearless. Leo doesn't need any help, he's a trained master." Raph muttered. "Raphael, he is your brother, despite what you would think of him." Master Splinter said.
Raphael sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I know, Sensei." Raph looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he remained silent.
Leonardo awoke in darkness. His wrists were raised high above his head, shackled. Leo tried moving his legs; his left leg was numb and unresponsive.
He assessed that his wounds had been dealt with, otherwise he'd be dead. Leonardo tried to penetrate the dark with is ninja trained eyes.
A blinding light was turned on, the rays hitting his sensitive eyes. Immediately he heard something crank and a burning sensation started in his shoulders. Hun's silhouette became visible in the blinding light. Leo gritted his teeth in anger. He recognized what he was shackled to: it was a rack.
He narrowed his eyes to slits, glaring at the figure of Hun. "I won't give into your tortures. You can't break me. I will not be broken." Leo stated. "You will." Was Hun's reply, and the cranking began.
Leo's arms went rigid, reddening at the joints. Soon his legs were aching as well. Leo ignored the pain and concentrated on his inner sanctum. A loud pop alerted him to his right shoulder dislocating. The pain multiplied instantly. Leo glanced at his shoulder. "I acknowledge this pain, but it does not bother me." He thought, closing his eyes again and focusing on his heartbeat, his breath, and anything in his body that was not in pain.
Then, his knee popped, dislocated from his femur. His left wrist popped along with his left ankle.
Hun glared in disbelief, the turtle should've broken down from the pain by now. Instead, Leonardo seemed even more determined. Hun growled lowly, not pleased by the results. He cranked the rack even faster. Leo focused on an inner flame, slowly growing larger. Loud pops echoed. His arms were dislocated at the elbows and shoulders along with his wrists. Hun stopped cranking it and turned to see Leonardo with his eyes closed, deep in meditation.
Leonardo held his head in his hands on the Astral Plane. His bodily pain was reaching his mind slowly. Leo shook his head, trying to rid himself of the pain.
"Father!" He called. There was no answer. "No, I'm not strong enough!" Leonardo whispered in defeat. He cringed in pain suddenly, returning to his body, leaving the sanctum of the Astral Plane.
Leo gasped, in pain and surprise. He cracked his eyes open to see a foot ninja standing in front of him. The ninja unshackled his wrists and ankles from the rack and Leonardo dropped onto the floor. He hit the ground on his plastron, his arms and legs ached numbly. His eyes fluttered shut as he was turned onto his shell.
The ninja began popping his joints back into place and changed the dressing on Leonardo's bicep and abdomen. Two other ninjas came and picked up the turtle by his arms. They dragged him towards a large sarcophagus depicting an Asian maiden. They stood him up onto his feet.
One of the ninjas backhanded the turtle's face. Leo's eyes flickered open. The two ninjas pushed him into the sarcophagus. Leo immediately threw his arms out and grabbed the sides of the container. He knew this was an Iron Maiden, a torture where spikes were shoved into his body when the door closed. He struggled against the ninjas combined power, but they were too strong for him in his weakened state. He was pushed in and they quickly shut the door, locking it.
The spikes were driven into his abdomen, arms and shell. He breathed with a ragged gargle. The spikes were meant to hurt to an agonizing extent, but they would not kill him. Leonardo had done his own research on different torture methods after Donatello was tortured by the Triceratons. Leonardo had prepared himself for any torture methods their enemies might have used, he was glad he had done so.
Blood dripped from where the spikes had entered his body. He was in complete darkness within the Iron Maiden, he could smell and hear the blood drip from his body. Leo groaned, shifting uncomfortably on the spikes. He leaned his forehead against the metal of the Iron Maiden huffing painfully.
Michelangelo hooted and pumped his fist up in the air from the couch as he beat the high score on a game. "The Turtle Titan does it! Once again!" He hooted jumping up and down on the couch with his controller in hand.
"Mikey, that's like t'five hundredth time ya' beat yer' own high score!" Raph grumbled from the kitchen. "Actually, Raph, it's the four hundred ninety eighth time he's beaten his own high score, but that was pretty close." Donatello corrected from his laptop while he sat next to Mikey on the couch, bouncing slightly from the hyperactive turtle's antics.
"Yo, Donnie, how long's Fearless been out?" Raph asked, coming into the living room with a can of soda in hand.
The brainy turtle checked the clock on his laptop and his eye ridges shot up in surprise. "Guys, Leo's been out for four hours." Don reported. Raph's face hardened. Mikey stopped jumping and stared at Donatello. "That's it; I'm going to go look for him." Raph said, turning to leave the lair.
A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Not alone." Mikey said. "Let me see if I can trace the signature on his shell cell." Don said, pulling out his own. "Call us when you find him." Mikey said, and the two turtles quickly exited the lair.
Raph jumped onto a roof. He searched for any signs of his eldest brother, but found nothing again. He growled in impatience before tapping the ear bud on his head. "Mikey, have ya' found anything?" Raph asked. Static answered him. "Mikey?" Raph asked again, static answered again. Raph's heart skipped a few beats. "Mikey?" He asked.
"I'm here, don't get your shell in a knot." Mikey answered.
Raph growled and fisted his hands. "Look Bonehead, I ain't in the mood fer'-" Raph growled.
"Raph, stop, I think I found something. I'm in an alley by the building that Leo always mopes around." Mikey said. Raph immediately calmed. "Alright, I'm on my way." Raph answered.
Mikey crouched, inspecting deep footprints not much different from his own with a small puddle of blood. Raphael dropped next to him. He noticed the blood and footprints. "Leo usually never leaves footprints…not unless he's been chased." He said, trying to ignore the small puddle of blood. He turned to the silent Michelangelo.
Mikey stood up and jumped onto a fire escape, quickly reaching the roof. Raph followed him silently. They noticed half an arrow on the ground surrounded by blood droplets. Mikey picked it up and studied the direction the droplets hit the ground and turned towards the edge of the roof.
Plenty of blood covered the other rooftop. The two turtles jumped onto the other roof and soon found a blood trail leading towards the edge of the roof. They looked over the edge and both froze in fear. Lying on the ground was Leonardo's katana sheathes. Their eyes were on the katana lying in a pool of blood. "No…" Raph whispered. Mikey dropped into the alley and quickly picked up the items, hugging them to his plastron before he fell on his knees shaking uncontrollably.
"Guys, did you find anything?" Don's voice asked on their communicators. "Don…Leo…he-he's been ambushed. We didn't find him but…we found his swords…" Raph said. Donatello was silent. "Come back to the lair, I found his location…but we'll have to plan how to get him out…if he's still-" Don said.
"Don't you dare say it. Leo's too stubborn to die! He wouldn't break the promise he made!" Mikey snapped with a raspy voice. "Okay, Mikey. Just come back to the lair. We'll get him out." Don said.
"Where is he?" Mikey asked.
"I'm not going to tell you if you're going to go barging into the place. Can you promise me you won't do anything stupid like that?" Don asked.
"Promise." Mikey said, wincing at the word. "He's at Foot Head Quarters." Don said, he sounded like he had something in his throat. "I-I'm going to go tell Master Splinter." He said, and broke off from the COMM link. Raph dropped next to Mikey and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on bro', we gotta get back t'the lair. More of the Foot goons could be hanging aroun'." Raph said, trying to get his baby brother to stand. Mikey nodded sulkily and stood up.
Mournful cries made them look up to see two ravens circling them from high above. The ravens kept up the long mournful cry.
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing, I really hope you like how this turns out. As for you, awesome reviewers, here's something I'd like to say:
To Siren81: Thanks for sticking with my stories, it makes me feel appreciated as a writer. (Even though I only have two fics so far...) And I agree, everything bad has to happen to Leo for some unexplainable reason. Maybe people just like to torture his character to the point of anguish and angst. Don't worry though, Raph's not going to be forgotten, I'll make sure of it. My friend would kill me if I forgot him for one...
To DragonMasterOf10: Thanks, I too love stories with our poor Leo being NEARLY beaten to death. I enjoy your stories, and I hope you're enjoying mine. I'll update every chance I get, and hopefully you'll do the same. And if Leo IS reading this, I hope he doesn't come after me wth that season 4 rage! Yikes!
To Necro13: Thank-you for noting my plot as an interesting idea. I appreciate it, I'm hoping this will be different from most Leo and Shredder fics. I also hope you will continue reading and reviewing.
To Unknown: Anonymous reviewer, thank you for reviewing. I agree that there isn't enough of Shredder in the fics lately. I do like to keep the original enemy in my stories. *rubs head* Ah heh, Shredder and Leo are as bitter as a Raph on a bad day.
To tmnt fan-duh: Muchos gracias, I haven't seen anyone write anything in spanish on here. It reminds me of home. Keep reviewing, por favor, and I'll keep updating.
I'll continue ASAP, so if you're reading still, thanks. ;P