An hour later Leo, Mike, Raph and Splinter had taken showers and Splinter was using medical supplies April and Casey had bought at a local pharmacy to treat his son's wounds properly. Raph's arm wasn't broken, but to keep him from moving it any further and possibly breaking it for sure; Splinter wrapped it in tight bandages and put it in a sling.
Thankfully Mike did not have a concussion, but the wound was deep enough to require disinfection and stitches which didn't go over too well with Mike. He protested briefly but Splinter threatened to have Raph and Leo hold him down, and he finally gave in and let his father stitch the wound. Splinter wrapped his orange masked son's head in bandages and took care of Leo's minor face gash before Leo insisted that his Sensei see to his own wounds before doing anything else.
While Casey and Leo got Don out of his Dark Turtle costume and got him tucked under a blanket on the couch April helped Splinter treat his own leg wound and bandage it. April gave them all a hot cup of tea and insisted they rest, which they did gratefully. April and Casey hovered over them like two concerned parents, tucking them into warm pallets of blankets and pillows; then the two humans retreated to the kitchen, turning off the lights so the exhausted mutants could rest.
Soon almost everyone was asleep, leaving only Leo awake.
As tired as he was he was still unwilling to sleep; and he soon got up out of his pallet taking only a blanket with him to wrap around his shoulders. He went to the window and stood with his arms crossed across his plastron, watching the morning sun rising across the city. His eyes saw beauty of the colors sweeping across the skyline as the sun rose, but his mind never even registered that it was there. Every once in awhile he would turn and look to the couch where Donatello lay still and unmoving in the darkness of the living room.
Would they ever truly be a team again?
When Donatello woke, would he be their Donatello? Or would he be the Dark Turtle, the strange new personality they had all come to know and dislike?
And would he even wake again?
If even their Sensei, their father had no idea whether or not Donatello would live..did that mean that he would die? Would they be forced to live out the rest of their live without their beloved brother?
No, Leo shook his head, he couldn't think like that…he wouldn't. He would have faith that his brother would be all right, and he would accept that no matter who he was when he woke up..be he their beloved brother or his arrogant alter personality..he was still Donatello and he would at least be alive.
A shadow moved from the direction of the kitchen and April walked into the light cast by the window. She looked up at Leonardo, a soft smile on her face as if she had read his every thought. She placed a hand on Leo's shoulder.
"Don will be fine Leo. He made it through once, he can do it again. I have faith in him."
"I hope so April, I really hope so." Leonardo tried to smile but he couldn't work up enough energy to even do that.
"You're tired Leo, stop thinking and just go to sleep." April took Leonardo's arm and led him back to his pallet where she made him lay back down. As she tucked him in he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder warmly. " Thank you April, thank you."
April smiled and patted Leo's arm. " You don't have to thank me Leo, you guys are my family. I'd do anything for you, you know that."
" Thank you anyway." Leo said softly, his eyelids drooping shut in exhaustion. Finally he lost his battle with wakefulness and his eyes closed, his head dropped to the side and he fell to sleep.
April pulled the blanket up around his neck and tucked it in gently. She checked on Raph, Mike, and Splinter before finally going to the couch where Don lay still silent, and unmoving, barely breathing. She put a hand to his forehead checking for fever, and checked his pulse again. It seemed stronger now and she allowed herself a small smile of relief.
"Come back to us Don, we miss you." She whispered softly, and re-adjusting the blanket around his body she stood and returned to the kitchen.
"Are they gonna be okay?" Casey asked handing her a cup of coffee.
She sighed and sat down taking a sip.
"I don't know, Casey, I really don't know."
"Hey, Leo…Leooo…psst..hey bro, up an at um."
Raph's voice gradually broke through Leo's slumber. He opened his eyes to find his red masked brother kneeling above him.
"Wha.." Leo asked, still half asleep and slightly disoriented.
"It's dinner time bro, April ordered some pizza, didn't think you'd wanna miss that." Raph grinned jerking his head towards the kitchen.
Leo rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. The hands told him it was six thirty and since Raph had just spoken about dinner Leo assumed it was six P.M.
Leo sat up, wide awake now. "Dinner? Did you guys let me sleep all day?"
" Relax bro, we all pretty much slept the whole day. You were dead to the world anyway so we just let ya sleep."
"Well I guess I do feel better..how is everyone..how's Donnie."
Raph's grin faded, he turned his head to look over at the couch where Donatello lay, still unconscious. Leo followed his gaze.
"Everybody's fine..Donnie's still..he's still out." Raph sounded angry as he said it, he turned back to Leo abruptly.
"Come on, let's get to the kitchen before Mike and Casey hog all the pizza."
Leo nodded and Raph helped his brother stand. They went to the kitchen to eat.
Jin watched in silence as his brother downed two whole pizzas, and a hamburger for good measure. Wick had his mask off and Jin could see his brother's face in the sparse light afforded by the living room. The skin of his face was gaunt, like he was the victim of some sort of famine. The kitchen in which he ate was dark, Wick had grown sensitive to light, he even refused to step into a room where the light was on.His skin was pale, his breathing was slow and labored and he had developed manic mood swings. One minute he was ecstatically joyful, the next dark and brooding, and then dangerously paranoid.
They had beaten their longtime enemies the turtles, something even the Shredder himself had repeatedly failed to do, yet Wick cared only for eating his next meal and longed only for the next moment he could activate the gauntlet and wear the metal suit.
Though the strongest drug Jin had ever taken was a couple of beers too many, (not for any noble reason of course; he just liked the effect his looks had on women and being a druggy wasn't exactly great way to get laid) he had nevertheless seen the effect addictive drugs could have on a man and he was seeing the exact same thing in his brother now. Jin couldn't stand by and watch his best friend and half- brother kill himself, Wick was all Jin had.
They had parents of course, it wasn't like they were alone in the world; both had been raised more by their nannies than their parents however, simply because their wealthy mother and father hadn't felt it nessisary to spend any time with their two sons. As a result neither brother had really cared for their mother and father and so had left home at an early age; they liked to joke that their parent's proably hadn't even noticed that they weren't there.
Wicked and Jingo (aka Walter and Jimmy Gibson) had become inseparable friends as well as half- brothers, they had joined the Foot together just a few months before. Jin felt he owed it to his older brother to look out for him which was why he decided that now was the time to speak up before things went too far.
He didn't realize that things had already gone too far and even though he had seen the effects addictive drugs could have on a person's mind he still never thought his brother would ever hurt him.
They were buds, they were brothers, an unstoppable duo.
He was wrong.
Jingo looked over at his brother. "Wick, I'm worried about you."
Wicked looked up from where he had been staring at the remains of his dinner, lost in his own mind. "What?"
"Wick that thing..I hate to say this..but it's killing you. Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?"
Wick's eyes flashed. "No, it helps me, it gives me power unimaginable. I destroyed the turtles with this suit..it has made me even stronger than the Shredder himself."
"It's turning you into a corpse Wick, sure you've got some neat powers out of the deal but can't you see what's happening? You eat all the time now, you're always tired, you've got some really freaky exorcist mood swings, you look like a ghost of a ghost turned into a zombie..man I'm telling you…it's gonna kill you. You have to take it off."
As soon as he said it he knew he shouldn't have.
"And then what brother you'll take it? Is this some ploy to take it away from me? To take the power for yourself?" Wick hissed standing up slowly. One look in his eyes told Jin that his brother was in the middle of one of his paranoid moods.
"No way man you couldn't give me that thing. I just want you to take it off for a day or two until you can get your strength back.." Jin said shaking his head, acutely aware that his words fell on deaf ears.
"Yes a day or two where I would be helpless, then you would sneak up to me in my sleep and murder me..you would take it from me." Wick advanced on his brother.
Jin got up from his chair and began to back away. "No bro, I would never. Man I helped you! I've had your back this entire time!"
"Yes biding your time, waiting until I was weak..You can't have it..it's mine!" Madness swimming in his eyes Wicked launched himself at his brother. Immediatey the gauntlet activated and the metal suit slid over Wicked's body, flowing like liquid silver.
Now fully armored Wicked grasped his brother by the throat and held him up in the air.
"Betrayer! Thief! You will never have it!"
"Wick..noo." Gasped out Jin flailing desperately at his brother's gauntleted arm.
"It's mine." The green flashed once more in his eyes, and his gauntleted arm closed tighter around his brother's neck…there was a slight cracking sound of everything in Jin's neck being crushed and the soft sound of a man chocking to death.. then nothing.
A body fell to the floor with a thump…
Wicked went back to the table, sat down and went back to staring at his plate. He rocked back and forth slightly in place.
"It's mine." He whispered to himself.
Two hours later a howl of agony issued from the forth floor of the building, waking all the tenants and sending shivers of fear up their spines. The madness had passed, and now he realized exactly what he had done.