Author's Note: Only a few more chapters to go on this one. Donnie POV this time around.
I've already got a sequel and some one-shots in the works if people are at all interested in where things go from here.
Chapter 27
Click, click, click.
I meander through lines of code and skirt the edge of the company's database. I take my time and only receive an increasing glower for my efforts. Her annoyed toe-tap starts to fall in time with my keystrokes. I'm sure I can only keep this up for a little while longer. She isn't patient and the more time that passes the more I start to worry that maybe the cavalry isn't coming. Maybe the tracker didn't work or maybe they got captured by guards. My eyes flicker from the screen over to Raphael and I curse myself for doing so when I realize she saw me do it.
"Focus," she says, slapping me upside the head.
It makes me tremble in anger. It's the kind of hit you reserve for someone you deem beneath you and she smiles when it riles me to anger. Fredrick, the tall blond man is ratting through the bag I brought from the lair. He pulls out the blueprints and schematics, holding them in front of his eyes like a newspaper. He pushes his glasses up his nose with one finger and stares down at me over the top of the frames.
"What were you looking for in the basement?" he asks.
I stare straight ahead at the computer and remain silent. It doesn't endear me to either of them.
"What happened to your arm?" he asks, rustling the papers and setting them aside.
"Shark attack," I say, regretting it the instant the sneered words leave my mouth.
Two guards descend on me with little more than a nod from Fredrick. I manage to land a kick on one in my panic, but my head meeting the concrete puts a stop to any further attempts to fight back. Stars explode behind my eyes and a dull ringing settles on my ears. I still have enough sense to struggle and the new blossom of pain shooting up my arm stabs through the sudden haze over my thoughts. The rough tearing of muslin sets another wave of panic crashing through me and I pull and kick and try to roll away from the hands holding me to the ground.
They're going to cut your hand off! Get away! Fight, you idiot!
"Be still or I will cut your throat," the woman says and the cool touch of a blade against my skin is all the truth I need behind the threat.
She cuts away the rest of the muslin and when the air touches the open wound a groan passes my lips. Someone prods at the skin and I can't hold back a strangle cry. I bit down on my lip. A cold laugh answers my pain and I close my eyes in hopes of holding off any possible tears.
"We lost some of our shipment a few days ago," Fredrick says, pressing down on my wrist. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, little turtle. Would you?"
I cry out again. I can't help it. It's guttural and hoarse and only upholds their taunts against my lack of humanity.
"Because these spots look awfully familiar. Did you touch something you shouldn't have? You know what they say about curiosity…"
"N-no," I croak out the word if only to shut him up. "I didn't…it was an accident. We found the containers…"
"So you thought you'd come here and steal the rest?" the woman asks with a growl. "Thought you could just waltz in here and take what's mine?"
She presses her thumb into my wrist and my vision goes white. I think I'm screaming again, I can't be sure. My entire body goes rigid and I have the uneasy feeling that I might have thrown up.
"Amelia," Fredrick says with a sigh and the pressure releases from my wrist.
They're not holding me down anymore, but they don't need to. I couldn't move if I tried. I manage to pull my hand up against my chest and curl onto my side. They're arguing. I can't focus on the words and I'm afraid I might lose consciousness. I can't do that. Master Splinter and my brothers will be here soon. They have to be. I have to stay awake. I have to. There's a rustle of chains to my left and I think they're going to bind me until I hear a groggy yet familiar groan.
Raph.
"Donnie?" he says and his voice shakes around the edges.
"Well, look who decided to join us," Fredrick says. "I thought that last knock to your head might have done you in for good."
"T-take more than a couple rent a cops to bring me down," Raph says, the tremble to his voice making it hard to believe his boasting.
He laughs and I hear another rattle of chains as he pulls against his bonds. I blink back the tears in my eyes and try to find the bag from the lair. Everything is blurry and too bright and the floor is wet beneath my head.
You're bleeding, genius. Probably have a concussion too. Just close your eyes at this point, you've already screwed things up. Wait for someone to come save you. Pathetic.
No. I got this. I just have to keep going for a few more minutes. So what if it hurts. All I've known for the last few days is pain. I should be used to it by now. I lift my chin and stare out across the tile floor. The movement sends a dizzying pain from my temple down into the base of my skull. I fight back a wave of nausea and try to push up onto my knees. I'll crawl if I have to.
"Oh, look at this, Amelia. Looks like we have a flight risk on our hands."
There's a hand on the hood of my sweatshirt and not for the first time that evening I curse the fact that I'm wearing it. He pulls me up to sitting, the collar of the shirt pressing against my throat and making me gag. Raph yells and rattles his chains. Amelia is kneeling in front of me, her cold, snake eyes even with my own. She snaps and holds up a finger in a perverse imitation of a doctor checking for a head injury.
"Think we might have broken this one," she says, moving her finger slowly from left to right before slapping me across the face. "Maybe I'll keep him anyway. I've always thought a pet would liven up my office waiting room. What do you think, freak? I'll get you a nice tank to live in. Give people something to stare at while they wait."
"Get the hell away from him!" Raph growls.
His demands are answered by a swift kick to the stomach and the air leaves his lungs in a grunting swoosh.
"Not that one though," Amelia says, taking hold of my face and leaning in to whisper. "I'm going to rip him out of his shell and hang it on my wall. Maybe right over your tank."
I want to say something back, but I can't seem to get my tongue to form words. So instead I sway slightly to the left and let my head bob down towards my chest. The laptop is shoved into my hand and the glow of the screen drags me back from the edge of unconsciousness. I have a job to do. I motion weakly in the general direction of where I last saw the bag and I breathe a tiny sigh of relief when Fredrick drops it beside me.
"Show me where the holes are in our security system or I'll let Amelia kill your friend," he says evenly and I believe him.
"Aren't you…going to, to kill him anyway?" I sneer, my common sense leaking out of my head along with the blood on the floor.
He shrugs. "Guess you'll find out."
I search through the bag. Even my left hand is struggling to complete fine motor skills and little stars plague my vision. I try not to let relief wash over my face when my finger brushes up against the flash drive. Amelia is taunting Raph and my brother is doing very little to discourage her. I have to block them out. The small task of sliding the flash drive into the USB port is taking all of my focus to complete and I don't know how much longer my captives will have patience with my slow pace. The drive clicks into place, but the sound is drowned out by something far more worrisome; gunfire.
Sensei.
"Keep working," Fredrick warns, stretching to his full height.
Amelia is already on the phone, threatening whoever is on the other end. I lean forward and type as fast as I can. The virus will do most of the work, but I still have to make sure it is delivered properly. I'll show them where the holes in their security system are. There are plenty. Big, freaking holes big enough to drive a car through. There is more gunfire and the sound of heavy boots running on concreate. I can't pay attention to that. I can't listen for any sign of my brothers or Master Splinter. I have a job to do.
The lights go out. For one frightful moment I think it's my vision failing until the emergency lights flicker to life, low and mournful. Alarms sound and there's an audible pop and hiss when the automatic locks on the doors release. Amelia is screaming now into her phone, pacing in a hurried pattern of clicks across the floor. She leaves the room and her shrill voice echoes down the hallway. I try not to look smug or grin or anything that might give my game away. It doesn't matter. Fredrick sees right through me.
"You," he growls and all pretense of boredom or aloofness are gone with one horrid flare of his nostrils.
I don't have time for anything beyond a pathetic attempt to roll out of his reach. It's futile and ridiculous and ends with a kick to my chest like a wrecking ball. There's a crack and before I can register that it was my plastron he's kicking me again. This time the blow lands just on the edge before the bridge of my shell. The hard surface whines and cracks again and there's pain, brilliant and new and just as unforgiving as the increased agony radiating from my wrist. I can't catch my breath and Fredrick has hold of my shirt again. My head snaps back and I wait for it to meet the ground once more.
There's another round of gunfire and shouting and a metallic clang I can't quite place. Although it sounds familiar, very familiar. The grip on my shirt tightens and the material cuts off the few small breaths I've managed to drag into my lungs. I try to fight back. At least I think I do. Everything is a blur and all I can hear is noise; awful, unrelenting clangs and bangs that pound against my head and make focusing on anything a complete impossibility. The pain is there. That never went away and I almost cling to it for a lifeline in the mess of sound and flashing lights.
He's strangling you, Genius. Don't just lie there! Fight back!
"Get away from my son!"
I know that voice. It's furious. You don't want to hear that voice furious. The pressure on my throat lessens and soon the cool ground meets the side of my face. I sputter and cough and manage a few ragged breaths around my newly bruised larynx. I try to pull myself forward. I don't know why, but a sudden need to flee has gripped my thoughts and won't let go until I at least try to run away. There are hands on me again and I kick out, hitting nothing.
"Hey, hey, easy, man. It's me, it's Mikey!"
Mikey!
I have never, in all my years, been happier to hear my brother's voice than I am in this moment. His arm slides under my own to keep me sitting, even with his support I feel as though I might crumple into a heap at any moment. I try to kick out to get better bearings, but my foot nudges against something solid. The dim emergency lights and the flashing strobe of the alarms is making it all the more difficult to focus my already impaired vision. It doesn't matter. The thing at my feet is a body. Bloody and unmoving with a head of blond hair and a pair of broken glasses lying beside it. I don't know if he is dead. I don't want to know.
"Donatello."
I look up at the sound of my name, not surprised to find my father kneeling before me. He takes hold of my face in his hands and that noise of disapproval rumbles in his throat. I'm a mess. I know it. That doesn't matter. There's a job to do and we'll never do it sitting around here. Shutting down the security system and saving Raphael were only part one. They have to destroy the containers. All of this has to mean something. We have to win this. I need to win this.
"M-Mikey?" I say, coughing around his name.
"Yeah, I'm right here, man," he says, his voice much closer to my ear than I realized.
"You have to…you and Leo…the s-sound canon."
"It doesn't matter," he stops me and the sternness in his voice catches me off guard. "We have to get you and Raph out of here."
"No," I insist and I might have shouted the word because his grip tightens on my arm. "You have to…to destroy them," I cough and try to stand. "We can't…they c-can't get away with this."
"Donatello is right," Master Splinter says and even through the haze I feel a small sense of pride from his words. "You must complete the mission. I will bring your brothers to safety. Go with Leonardo, destroy the containers."
"Hai, Sensei," Michelangelo breathes and I feel cold when he slips out from under my arm.
The cold doesn't last for long. Master Splinter takes his place and heaves me to my feet. I'm afraid I might be sick and I'm of very little help to keep myself standing. Raph is there too. He tries to avoid my injured hand as best he can as he helps Master Splinter drag me out of that room. My head bobs and I rest my chin down on my chest.
Go to sleep. Just close your eyes. It's fine. You got this, remember? Mikey and Leo are taking care of it. Hard part is over.
"Donatello."
I cringe at the sharpness of my name, my head snapping up in an instant. I'm surprised that my surroundings have changed so rapidly.
Weren't we in a room, not a hallway?
"Stay awake, my son," Master Splinter instructs and I whine and groan in response. "You have injured your head. You need to stay awake. You can rest soon, I promise."
I let out another moan, but somewhere, deep down beyond the haze I know he's right. I have to stay awake. The walk seems to take forever. Every new turn or hallway only leads to more of the same. Our escape isn't without confrontation and I lean against the wall and do my best to stay out of the way as Sensei makes quick work of anyone who tries to stop us. I thought I would be happy to reach the outside, but the cold air only makes breathing more of a chore and sends a fresh round of pain up through the new cracks along my plastron.
The Shellraiser.
I can see it. Even through my increasingly blurry vision and the tremble the cold has settle on my body, I can see it lurking in the alleyway like a great, hulking vision of beauty. My baby. It'll be dry and warm inside and I can lie down. All I want to do is lie down. The door slides open with its usual welcoming ding and I can already feel the heat pouring out onto the cold night air. There's something even better inside than central heating; April.
She's on me in a second, tentative, small hands fretting over every new injury and some of the old ones as well. She helps Master Splinter get me inside and I don't even care that lying down hurts, because at least it isn't standing. The lights from the consoles twinkle like stars and I wince at another warning from Sensei that I can't fall asleep.
Why does he keep saying that? You're so tired, just rest your eyes for a moment. It can't hurt.
"Donnie, hey, talk to me," April says and I whimper. "You have to stay awake. Tell me what happened. Did you set off the virus?"
"Y-yeah," I murmur around a swallow that hurts more than a swallow should. "It'll fry the whole system before…before they can stop it."
"Good, that's excellent," she says and I feel a quick press of her lips against my forehead. "You did good."
"Sensei, we're in position," Leo's voice pulls my focus and I try to turn towards the sound of it.
Raphael is blocking my path and I swat half-heartedly at the back of his legs.
"Hiss, pop, boys!" Mikey's overly excited voice shout-whispers in the background.
The radio falls silent again and I think the worst, as I often tend to do. It's an agonizing few minutes before there are any further signs of life and the anxiety is enough to keep me from closing my eyes. I only let myself relax when I hear my brother's calm voice across the communicator.
"Casey?" Leo asks.
"We ready to blow this joint?" Casey answers almost immediately with an added snigger.
"Take it down," Leo replies.
I can't remember how many explosives I rigged. That project seems like a lifetime ago. It must have been a rather obscene amount because the resulting explosion rocks the Shellraiser on its wheels and sets off car alarms for blocks on either side of the warehouse. There are twin, dull thuds as Leo and Mikey land on the roof and Raphael hurries over to let them in.
"All right," Leo says, sliding into the driver seat. "Let's go round up Casey and get out of here."
Home. We can go home now. Where it's warm and safe and this whole mess can be left behind in that burning heap of a building.
Do you really think this is over? They've got your number now. They'll find you and finish the job.
The dark thoughts are waiting just beyond the hopeful ones with sharp claws and persistent teeth. I don't want to listen to them. I can't listen to them. Not now. We won tonight. We completed the mission, that's all that matters right now. I can't listen, so I do what Sensei told me not to, I close my eyes and let the darkness shut out the world.
