Hello there! Thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows and favs so far! Here is the second chapter. Once again, constructive criticism is always welcome!
CHAPTER TWO
The phone rang once again, and Donatello shook his thoughts from his head. This was his brother calling. He had saved him twice from death-although, come to think of it, how Raph had known about those events still seemed impossible.
Donnie flipped open the phone to answer it.
"Geez, give me a heart attack, will ya Donnie!" said Raph on the other end, "Thought I lost you there for a second."
"I'm fine," said Donnie, "Where are you?"
"Sorry I can't welcome ya there, bro, but we need to keep moving," said Raph, "Bishop won't be fooled for long."
"Right," said Don, "Listen, how'd you know about the car and the building?"
"That isn't important right now," said Raph, "You need to get outta the city without leaving any trail. You're going tuh have to take the bus."
"Wait, bus?" said Donnie, "The kind with people on it? That doesn't seem very safe."
"You're thinking of the wrong bus, Donnie," said Raph with a smile in his voice, "Trust me on this."
"Alright," said Donnie, "But Raph, where's Leo?"
There was a small silence on the other end of the phone, before Raph reluctantly answered.
"They got him," he said.
Donnie's world suddenly tilted, and he found himself sitting on the floor.
"Bishop?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Raph sadly.
"Then we need to go in after him," Donnie's will hardened.
"No! Not yet," said Raph.
Donnie paused in mid-motion as he was reaching for the window.
"What?" he asked. This wasn't like his brother at all.
"As much as I want to go in after him too, it ain't time," said Raph, "Bishop has started a giant manhunt for ya. He wants to complete the set. We can get them out, but we have to get away from Bishop first."
"Okay, okay," said Donnie, letting his intellect take control over him instead of his emotions, "Wait. Did you just say them?"
"Yeah," said Raph, sounding really sad, "Bishop got Mikey too."
"No," said Donnie unbelievingly. If they caught Leo that was one thing. But if they caught Mikey…the very image of his happy-go-lucky, ridiculous younger brother in a prison was enough to break his heart.
"Donnie," Raph commanded, "Donatello!"
"Huh, what?" Don came out of his reverie.
"Escape?" said Raph, "Listen. If you leave the building and exit by the front door on my signal, you can just miss Bishop's squad that's searching for ya. Then head to the old elementary school. They're taking some of their buses out tonight for inspection. Just take one of 'em and drive it behind the others until you're out of the city. You got that?"
"Uh, front door, avoid squad, old elementary, bus. Got it," said Donnie, "Where do I meet up with you?"
"I'll call you when it's safe," said Raphael, "Good luck bro."
As soon as he tucked away the shellcell safely into his belt, Donnie moved quietly out of the room and out of the apartment. He probably didn't need to be so quiet; as the demolition of the next building proved, no one was in the house. Bishop probably had enough time to evacuate the civilians before demolishing the building-probably citing structural failure as an imminent problem, then the building mysteriously proved his words by falling, blah blah blah.
Donnie made his way to the front door and cautiously opened it, and when the coast was clear he ran across the street. With the full moon shining he had to use every stealth method he knew to keep in the shadows. He slowly but surely made his way to the old elementary school, snuck into one of the buses and hotwired it since he didn't have the keys. Everything was just as Raph had said.
Funny, he never thought that Raph would be the one to do the research that came with reconnaissance.
Donnie slowly followed a trail of other buses in the school parking lot, and to his immense satisfaction, some other buses began to follow him. That meant that he was no longer the last bus in the line.
All the buses slowly made their way out of the city.
His shellcell rang, and he answered it.
"Hey Raph, nearly to the bridge," he said, steering with one hand and talking into the phone with the other.
"Unpleasant surprise, coming up," said his brother, "Bishop must have used some lame excuse to convince the city to close up. They're checking the buses as they leave the city, so hide your staff somewhere safe. Or you could just chuck it out the window, but knowing you that ain't an option."
"Shell," said Donnie, "How badly does Bishop want to find us anyway?"
"Like I said, he wants the full set of Ninja Turtles," Raph contributed, "Just hide your staff, okay?"
"Okay, okay," said Donnie, looking at his bo staff as he hung up the shellcell. How was he going to hide a staff?
A smile came over his face. He would hide it in plain sight.
The line to the bridge took forever, and Donnie knew that it was because they were checking each and every bus before they allowed them on the bridge. That gave him plenty of time to 'decorate' his staff and find an extra outfit on the bus to disguise himself in. Finally, it was his turn. He opened up the door, and two policemen entered.
"Alright," said one, "There's been an escaped fugitive, and we think he's going to try to get out of the city. We're going to search your bus from top to bottom, 'kay?"
Don only nodded, trying to keep his head down and his face out of sight.
"Great," said the policemen, "John, you take the outside and I'll take the inside. Don't forget to check under the bus as well as on the roof."
"Got it," the second policeman said.
The first, meanwhile, stayed inside and walked up and down the entire length of the bus, checking under every seat. It didn't take him too long.
"Inside is clear," the policeman said to the driver, "Sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll probably be on your way shortly. We just have to finish checking the outside."
Donnie nodded.
"Hey, what's this? A weapon?" the policeman asked, picking up Donnie's staff.
"I'm old, sonny," Donnie said, faking an elderly voice, "Hard time walking these days."
"A cane, huh?" said the policeman, "Kinda long, but maybe that's the point."
Donnie nodded, careful to hide his face.
"You know," said the policeman, careful not to wrinkle the brown paper Donnie had hurriedly placed over the staff, "My great uncle had one just like this, back when he lived in Austria. Would use it to climb mountains."
The policeman smiled as he thought of pleasant memories, then carefully set the staff down.
"I'll go check on John's progress," he said, "But you should be ready to go, mister. They're going to shut down the city to look for this convict fellow, but I'll make sure that your bus gets across before that happens."
Donnie mumbled a small "thank you, son."
With a smile, the policeman exited the bus and called his partner over. Within seconds he gestured to Donnie to head over the bridge.
Don pressed the accelerator and slowly drove forward. Tires soon hit bridge, and then began the long route over. The bridge was eerily empty, with only the backlights of the bus in front of him, a bus which by now was very far away.
The bus behind him began honking fervently and fluently, so he turned his eyes to look in the rear-view mirror. The driver behind him was yelling at the policemen, because they were placing a make-shift barrier to prevent anyone else from leaving the city.
Donatello had made it over just in time.
He answered his shellcell almost before it began to ring.
"Shell, Donnie, how do you do that?" Raph asked, "It's like you're psychic or somethin'!"
"Years of practice," Donnie smiled, "I'm on the bridge, heading over. Barely made it out of the city, they closed the bridge behind me. What now?"
"Good work, Donnie." said Raph, "As soon as you can, ditch the bus. There's an abandoned trailer somewhere on the road, should have enough gas to get you to Casey's grandma's place. Bishop doesn't know about that, so it should be safe."
"Is that where I'll meet you?" Donnie asked.
"Not exactly," said Raph.
"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" Don asked.
"Um, Donnie, does that bus have a radio?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Turn it on," said Raph.
Donatello turned on the radio, and news floated through the schoolbus as he continued to drive down the road.
"…And what do the people think of this mandatory shutdown, Mister Mayor?" a reporter asked.
"Well," said the Mayor, "They're obviously a little concerned, but they don't want such a dangerous convict running to the next town, I mean, you know what I mean? They don't want him escaping."
"But they're fine with him running rampant through New York," the reporter said.
"As long as they stay at home, everyone will be fine," said the Mayor, "He's more likely to hide than attack anyone, but Police should have him recaptured by daybreak. Especially since all avenues out of the city have been cut off. Even the sewers are being watched!"
"And what about his companions? Didn't he have help?" the reporter asked.
"As far as we know, his accomplices have all been recaptured," said the Mayor, "They are said to be his brothers. The three prisoners are now in the custody of Government Agent John Bishop."
"Thank you Mister Mayor," said the Reporter, "The Police are advising that no one help the convict, who is incredibly dangerous, and apparently dressed in a ridiculous turtle costume. This is channel nine news, On the Streets and Bringing You News. Back to you, Kevin."
Donnie switched off the radio.
"Raph," he said, speaking into the still-open shellcell, "What's going on? They mentioned Bishop has three prisoners."
There was a short silence, and Donnie could hear Raph take a deep breath.
"Donnie, I'm really sorry," said Raphael, "But I've been captured too."