DISCLAIMER – Well, gee, how many ways can one say it, other than "I don't own them".
Yes, it's getting more exciting, I hope. I can only hope, because your comments are my only proof to that. Let me know if I need to work on some things. Action stuff is always the hardest to write. :0)
Oh, and many thanks to all who have continued to read and especially to those who took the time to comment!
Be blessed,
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Chapter 40 – Umbrella Man to the Rescue!
"Are you sure?"
"Wha'd'ya take me for, Mikey, an idiot?" Raph growled.
"Look, I know what condition it was in." Mike insisted, glaring up at his brother, "There' isn't any way for those rips to be like that. When we went back to Beth's apartment to get her clothes, you must have looked out the kitchen window."
"Well, I didn't. I only grabbed a glass of wateh an' that's it. I didn't even go over t'the winda."
Laying a gentle, calming hand on his youngest brother's arm, Don suggested, "Mike, maybe you're mistaken? I mean there was a lot going on when we found Leo with Beth."
"I know what the shade looked like, Donnie," Mike declared, feeling more exasperated than he had in a long while. He knew that arguing about it was wasting precious time; Beth could be in danger.
"You're certain of this?" Leo asked.
"Yeah, Leo, I am," Mike snapped, but then he softened, "I mean, when I closed that window before we took you and Beth back to the lair, I memorized the tears in the shade. That's what we're trained to do, to know things like that. There were five rips. Now, a few of 'em are longer than they were, like someone pulled the shade up to look out the window. That's the only way those tears can be worse than what they were – and we both know that no one's been in her apartment 'cept us."
"Well," Don stated the obvious, "seems that's not true, now."
Mike sighed and shook his head, "Yeah, bro, and that's not good."
"Could it be her neighbor, Mrs. Edwards or maybe the super?" Raph asked, looking back towards Beth's building.
"If it was them, then why didn't they call the police?" Mike replied, "Nosey neighbors and landlords are both aware of active tenants. But if Beth is a recluse and stays in her apartment most of the time, there wouldn't have been any reason for someone to get concerned."
"Except," Don declared, almost suddenly, "she had helped Leo and I know it was before we arrived, because when we saw her in the alley with her groceries, she went right to his sword. The way she acted, it was like she knew it was there all along." He looked at his older brother, now, "and, from what Beth told Splinter, you half-walked while she shouldered you on one side. You couldn't have been too quiet for Mrs. Andrews not to hear. Seeing Beth with anyone would make her more than just curious." Don then addressed Mikey, "Especially if Beth is a loner. It could have been her neighbor."
Shaking his head, Mike countered, "An old lady, prying open a locked door? Com'on, Don, you're smarter than that."
Don blushed and looked almost embarrassed, "Yeah…guess I'm just trying to reason this out too much," then he smiled a little, "unless she's a retired ninja!"
Raphael chuckled, grinning just a little, "Don, I'd keep yer day job, 'kay? Crackin' jokes ain't yer style."
"Still, none of this makes any sense," Leo remarked softly, interrupting his brothers' banter as he scanned their general area with worried concern. "Even if the landlord had been in there, he would have called the police by now, given Beth's habits. Her apartment would have been cordoned off. We would have known something was up tonight, even before getting to the fifth floor."
Leo sighed as he looked back towards Beth's apartment. Currently, they were a block away and across the rear alley from her building, deep among the shadows of a large air conditioning unit. Initially, Leo was slightly annoyed with Mike for not mentioning his concerns sooner, before leaving Beth's apartment a moment ago. Then again, if he had, Beth might have become overly worried, so it was probably just as well that Mike told them when he did.
Turning to Raphael, now, Leo remarked, "The last thing I remember before waking up in my room, was fighting a few Foot soldiers on top the building across from Beth's apartment. I can't recall most of what happened, but I do know the battle began there." He narrowed his expression a little, "I injured one of them, a Foot soldier, I remember that well, but he wasn't too quiet about it. A novice, I assumed. He took off but after that, things get kind of blurry for me." Then, Leo asked Raphael, "You know as well as I do the Foot will hang around if they know one of us is injured and hiding. Are you certain that no one saw you leave after you found me? "
Raph grumped indignantly, "Ya think I'd be that careless, Leo?"
"No, I don't," his brother replied tersely, "But you might have been distracted enough trying to get Beth and me back to the lair!" Leo sighed then, "If any of you were injured the way I was, I don't know if I would have been focused enough to know if any Foot were nearby. I would be desperate enough just to get you back home."
Just thinking about the repercussions and imagining Beth under Foot surveillance chilled Leonardo to the bone. If they had seen her take him to her apartment, they could have hung around long enough just to find out if his brothers would come looking for him. For the Foot to discover Beth's affiliation would almost be like a death sentence for her.
"Of course," Leo wondered to himself, "if they had kept watch on Beth's apartment, why didn't the Foot attack us while we were still on her roof?" It would have been the perfect opportunity.
In either event, the last thing Leo wanted was to attract any attention to Beth, just in case some of the Foot had indeed infiltrated her apartment while she was gone. Why they were waiting was the true mystery, of course. Yet, the more he thought about it, the more Leonardo wondered if it was the Foot that had broke into Beth's tenement.
Regardless, he was determined never again to endanger another human. As far as he and his family were concerned, losing April had been too high a price in keeping the lair's location a secret.
Donnie then asked, "Well, do we go back and hide out somewhere so we can keep an eye on the place?"
Leo didn't hesitate to answer, "Yeah, we go back. We've probably already wasted too much time talking about it." He then turned and started running towards Beth's building again, quietly unsheathing his swords as he ran. Leonardo's three brothers followed close behind him, all with weapons at the ready.
As they raced along the line of rooftops, the four turtles kept to the shadows and remained on the opposite side of the alley from where the girl's apartment was. This time, they ran silently, keeping their jokes and comments to themselves. Each one was keenly aware that any mishap, any step into the moon-born light could alert their presence to whoever was watching for their arrival. If any Foot had entered Beth's apartment while she was in the mutant's subterranean home, the soldiers would know if Leo and his brothers had been there. Like the mutants, they could spot the most innocuous scrap of evidence. Considering the Spartan condition of Beth's apartment, even a small piece of scute from their carapace would have been enough to condemn the girl and where Leo had lain injured on the sofa at the time, the chance of that happening was good.
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The soft sound of knocking jerked Beth out of her brief pep talk to keep herself focused. She whipped her head around to stare worriedly at her front door, her breath catching in her throat. Then, as a second rap sounded, she smiled, realizing it was probably Leonardo or even Don. Maybe they had forgotten to tell her something.
"Coming!" she said cheerily, almost giddy. She had enjoyed their company and was already missing them, especially Leo, even though Beth had made up her mind to keep their relationship as platonic as possible.
Unlocking the five deadbolts, but keeping her door-chain intact – if only out of habit, Beth took a measured breath. Then, she smiled, and slowly opened her front door.
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Grinning triumphantly, he knew his patience had paid off. He watched from his vantage point as the four mutant turtles reappeared on the roof again. They raced to the back edge, where they leapt easily over the narrow alley that ran behind the girl's apartment. The man in the shadows watched intently as, one by one, each landed on the opposing roof. Then, all four turned right and race swiftly away from him.
As they disappeared within the evening's shadows, it occurred to the man that they had made friends with this girl, since nearly an hour had gone by since their initial arrival. A memory from his past washed over him and for a moment, he felt his chest tighten. However, he quickly dismissed it, shaking his head and refocusing his determination to the task once more.
As the four brothers disappeared among the shadows of the conjoining brownstones, the man watching them sighed, "Well, bettah get this ovah wit."
After a long moment - and when he felt confident that the turtles would not see him, he slipped quickly out from his hiding place. He then worked his way along the roof of the warehouse he had taken refuge on and headed towards Greenwich. He used satellite dishes, air conditioning units, and circulation vents as cover. There, the shadows were richer with the moon's descent now below the western edge of the New York City skyscrapers.
As he worked his way to the closest fire escape, he knew it was imperative that he make contact with the girl first, before doing anything else. And to do that, he needed the others out of the way, since the last thing he wanted was an interruption. It just amazed him, though, that the two jobs he had that night would end up knowing each other. "One might call it fate, I guess," he mumbled to himself.
Finding a fire escape ladder along the back of one warehouse fronting Seventh Street, he quickly made his way down to the alley. His descent was as silent as a breath of wind, but at around the halfway point, something made him look across the way towards the girl's apartment. A movement along its roofline caused him to glance upwards and it was then he saw it.
It was brief, like a flash, but it was unmistakable to the man. As the figures in black disappeared over the roofline of the brownstone, it was enough evidence to cause his eyes to widen with alarm. He swore under his breath and then muttered, "No, not them, not now!"
In panic, he slid the rest of the way down the ladder, his feet now on the handholds, rather than the steps. His hands guided his fall, but he still nearly dropped like a rock as he hurtled towards the alley floor.
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The instant Beth cracked her door open, someone from the other side muscled their way in. The forceful entry broke the security chain from the door frame, sending tiny links and screws flying in every direction like shrapnel.
Nevertheless, the door's sudden and violent opening threw the girl back into her living room, where she crumpled awkwardly to the floor. As she fell, Beth landed against the side of her sofa and for a moment, she lay there stunned.
Before she could react or comprehend what had happened, though, eight black-clad strangers barreled into Beth's apartment, all wielding weapons that reminded her of her friends. Immediately, two of them grabbed her up and forced her to stand. Then, too quick for her to utter even a squeak, they silenced her with a gag, tying it securely around her mouth. They tied it so tight it hurt, but before she could complain, they had her arms bound behind her with duct tape.
It had all happened so fast that she could do little but let it happen.
With eyes wide with fright, now, and her mind trying desperately to stay conscious, Beth came to her senses and attempted to scream through the gag. It proved ineffective, however. Even with the front door wide open, Mrs. Edward's keen hearing wouldn't have been able to detect the girl's desperate cries.
Then, just as one of the soldiers began to heft the girl over his shoulder, Beth realized they hadn't bound her legs yet. Instantly, she lashed out as hard as she could with her feet, squirming in her assailants arms as she kicked at shins and groins. She only managed a few vain hits, though, before he pushed her away and slapped her across the face. Once again, Beth crumpled towards the floor, cries of pain and fear coming weakly through her gagged mouth, her tears flowing freely as she grimaced and recoiled from the strike.
Then, Beth found herself forced upright a second time, rudely jerked to her feet in one sudden move, but before she could mete out more kicks, someone from behind bound her legs with the duct tape. Helpless, now, she could do little than to gyrate and squirm around, valiantly trying to thwart any further attempts for someone to lift her.
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Racing up the brownstone's front steps and into the foyer, he quickly began climbing the stairs, taking two and sometimes three steps with each leap. He knew exactly where the men in black were going and he knew he didn't have much time.
However, in the moment that he exploded onto the fourth floor from the stairwell, the tenant in apartment 4A opened her front door.
A short-stature woman of seventy, her hair silver gray and cropped in a short curly perm, Mrs. Edwards barely filled the doorway with her petit frame. Dressed in a simple duster and wearing socks that stretched up her legs, with fluffy pink slippers adorning her feet, she looked curiously out her front door. It was obvious that something had piqued her interest enough to come out of her apartment.
However, her wondering expression soon turned to concern when she saw a man barrel up from the stairwell to her floor. Instantly, she brought her hand to her mouth in alarm and cried out. Mrs. Edwards then retreated inside her apartment a little, as her eyes grew wide with trepidation. At first, the woman appeared as if she would faint. Then, she scowled, squared her shoulders, and glared at the man. Reaching over to grab something just inside her doorway, she then narrowed her eyes and rushed him with sudden determination.
The next thing the man knew the old lady was batting at him with an unopened umbrella, the energy behind her strikes harmonized with her determined grunts and declarations.
"You punks can't come racin' up them stairs like that, you 'bout give me a heart attack. You need to learn manners…," she hollered indignantly.
The man ducked and tried to avoid the woman's assault, but her 'weapon' found its mark as she repeatedly pelted the intruder. Finally, he managed to grab the umbrella and easily took it from the woman and, exasperated, the man explained hastily, "Look, lady, I'm not here to cause trouble, 'kay?"
Then, a sudden sound caused both of them to turn their attention towards the other apartments.
With Beth's doorway blocked by several men clad in black, the elderly woman's eyes grew wide with uncertainty, as she breathlessly exclaimed, "Oh, goodnedssgraciousME!"
"You need to get back inside your apartment, ma'am," the man ordered crisply, still grasping her umbrella, "and double lock your door, too."
Without a word, the woman complied eagerly, belying her age as she quickly disappeared inside her apartment. Immediately thereafter, strikers locking into the door jamb announced the fact that she had done as ordered.
Now, the man turned his attention over to Beth's apartment.
With black-clad intruders filling the doorway, he watched as one further in wrestled with getting the girl under control. The man could tell she was making it difficult, too, with the way she writhed and twisted in her assailant's arms, trying to keep him off balance just enough to thwart his efforts.
Then, three who were closest to the front door, heard someone clear their throat. It was then they realized that they had unexpected company. They turned sharply around and the moment they saw the man, the moment they locked eyes with him, they immediately brandished their weapons.
Now, an assortment of katana and nunchukas jutted upwards as if announcing their threat.
Unfathomed by their menacing gesture, in reply the man waved the old woman's unopened umbrella at them. It only caused one of the three ninja to chuckle as if amused. Yet, contrary to what they expected - which was for the man to run the other way - he growled. Then, he charged them, yelling, "Keeya!" running full out, aiming the umbrella in their direction.
In response, the three in the doorway rushed into the central hallway with equal enthusiasm.
Just as the umbrella man and the trio of ninja came together, the umbrella popped open. Its sudden deployment effectively distracted the three attackers. Duck away instinctively and lowering their weapons – which was exactly what the man had wanted and expected – they didn't see what happened next.
Before any of the three knew it, they were horizontal and splayed on the floor, helped along with well-placed kicks and punches from the man. Their coup de gras came when he picked up one of the dropped nunchukas from the floor, and, without pause, used it to send them further in to oblivion.
However, just as he turned to resume his charge into apartment 4B, three additional black-dressed ninja appeared outside Beth's doorway, their weapons drawn.
And, as they squared off, the tenant in 4C opened their door to see what the ruckus was. The moment the woman saw four men and then the three who lay sporadically along the hallway, she slammed her front door shut, with all five deadbolts soon locking into place.
"Well, looks like we have permission t'dance, fellas!" the umbrella man declared cheerily, his previous 'weapon' now upgraded to a nunchukas. He grinned impishly at the trio of ninja, as he casually twirled the wood and chain armament.
Taking one step in their direction, he smirked wider when he saw a sudden change in their confident demeanor. It was almost as if their courage had suddenly failed them in that moment.
"Yeah, t'think I got yer friends with a simple umbrella, eh?" He inclined his head to his now discarded and broken weapon lying at his feet. Then he laughed, "Just imagin' what I can do wit a chuk!"
But, instead of answering his challenge, though, the trio of ninja fell back, almost afraid, with one of them sucking in a nervous breath.
"Hey, respect…that' somethin' I can appreciate, but – fellas – let's not quit now, the party's just start…" However, he noticed that they didn't seem to be looking directly at him, as much as they were looking past him towards the stairs that led to the fifth level.
It was then the man sensed a presence behind him – three to be precise – and even if there should have been one more, he knew who they were.
"Ah, crud…"