Thief in the Night
Ch. 6
Pain Will Come
The whole time Donnie and Mikey were searching, Leo and Raph sat and waited. There were waiting for the Shredder to come in at any moment, since he most likely would. They just sat and looked out the tiny window at the far end of the room.
Not much light could be seen due to them being on the last floor but a few city lights shone through, helping give the two turtles some light to see, even though it was dim.
Raph let out a loud huff, stretching his legs in front of him. His muscles were getting stiff from sitting and he desperately wanted to walk around. But, he knew he wouldn't be able to walk far. So he stayed put. He stared at the dark ceiling, listening to the sound of he and Leo breathing softly.
"What time do you think it is?" Leo asked quietly, keeping his voice low so no one would hear.
"How could I know?" Raph huffed. "Not like I have my T-phone on me. They took it."
"They took mine too." Leo answered. He then stayed quiet for a moment, listening to his brother's chains clink as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position that didn't make him sore. "It's probably in the wee hours of the morning."
"No kidding." Raph replied sarcastically. "How does that help us?"
"Well, maybe since it's so early, no one will be outside. If we can escape-"
"Escape?" Raph interrupted as he let out a dry laugh. "There's no possible way we could do that unless you want to get your sorry shell handed to ya!"
"There just might be a way!" Leo snapped back. "We just need to strategize."
Raph pressed his lips to a thin line and clenched his fists, trying his best not to shout. He rolled his green eyes and let out a groan, looking towards his brother with a look of annoyance.
"And what do you think I've been doing these past however the heck many hours?" Raph answered, narrowing his eyes. "Guards at the door, tiny window, no phones, no weapons, chains on our ankles. We CAN'T get out!"
"I'm sure we-"
Leo's sentence was then interrupted when the turtles heard footsteps in the hall as well as angry shouts and commands. They looked at each other and then back at the door. They knew what was coming. One last angry shout rang out before a click was heard and then a squeak as the door quickly swung open.
Shredder stood at the doorframe, looking at the turtles with pure amusement showing in his posture. He slowly strided over to where they were sitting, staring down at them coldly.
"Turtles." Shredder said. "It is so much better to see two here now instead of just one. It will be a lot more fun now to hear twice the amount of screams."
Raph glared up at the man, which made Shredder laugh. But Raph decided not to say anything for it was best for now. He saw Shredder glance over at Leo before looking to Raph again.
"It will be so much better with that genius brother of yours in my clutches as well."
Raph gritted his teeth and anger rose inside him like fire burning down a forest. Spreading and spreading.
"You leave my brothers alone." Raph snarled. "Or I'll find a way to make sure you end up crying for mercy."
This sentence caused Raph to get a strong blow to the jaw, causing his head to snap back and hit the cement well behind him. His head started to throb again like it had hours earlier and he hated it. He then felt Shredder grab the front of his plastron and roughly pull him to his feet. He then felt cold metal touch his throat as the Shredder took out his gauntlet.
"I believe you are wrong." Shredder answered, his eyes narrowing. He struck Raph in the face, making sure to cut his cheek. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was enough for it to bleed.
Leo cringed as he saw the blade swipe across Raph's cheek. He quickly jumped to his feet to try to stop what Shredder was doing but was instantly punched by Tigerclaw, who was standing by Shredder. Leo fell back on the ground, already feeling a bruise form where the mutant tiger had punched him.
Raph turned his head back to Shredder, his anger at the danger level. If he could punch this sick man right in the face, he would. But one, Shredder was wearing his signature mask and would feel no pain by it and two, Raph would get a punishment much worse than a punch to the face. So all he could do was shoot daggers with his angry glare.
"Or maybe that orange one." Shredder said, trying to get Raph even angrier. "I wonder how long it'll take him to finally break."
"Leave him out of this." Raph growled through gritted teeth.
Leo was becoming angry too at the fact that Shredder was taunting them by saying how he was going to capture their other two brothers. His fists clenched tightly and he looked up at the man with pure disgust.
"You may have gotten Raph and I but I will make sure you do not capture the rest!" Leo shouted, surprised what was coming out of his own mouth. He thought he sounded just like his hot-headed brother which startled him. "Your plan will FAIL!"
Shredder whacked Leo strongly on his face, the same spot Tigerclaw had hit him. The move was so fast, so sudden, that Leo wasn't even able to predict it. His head flew back and his body hit the ground as he let out a grunt of pain. Shredder sped-walked over to where he lay, raising his fist to take another blow at the leader.
"Hey!" Raph shouted as he jumped to his feet, just like Leo had done earlier. He raced forward only to be stopped by Tigerclaw. The tiger kicked him in the gut, sending him down on his back. Raph felt the air go out of him as his shell hit the floor, and he gasped as he tried to get a deep breath. Tigerclaw then kicked him in the side for good measure and then went back to where Shredder stood.
Shredder stepped away from Leo, who still looked the same, other than a few new bruises he had. He looked to Raph and then Leo, smiling behind his metal mask.
"I am being generous." Shredder said, watching the two turtles get themselves back into a sitting position. "In a few hours you will see what real pain will be like."
Uneasiness crept inside the two turtles to replace the bubbling anger they had felt earlier. They knew Shredder was planning on hurting them badly. But, they knew as soon as they captured Donnie, he would see them beaten and they didn't want that to be the first sight Donnie saw.
"Be prepared, turtles." Shredder then said, heading towards the door once again. Tigerclaw cast one last glance over his shoulder before he opened the door, holding it open for Shredder to walk through. Then, Tigerclaw left and the door was shut.
As soon as Tigerclaw left, Raph let out a grunt of anger, slamming his fist into the cement ground once. Leo looked over in concern, but knew his hotheaded brother just needed to let off some steam. It was then silent, and Raph just sat staring at the ground and holding his fist with his other hand.
Leo let out a soft sigh, listening to Raph's angry breathing. "You okay?" he asked.
Raph rolled his eyes, turning his head away from his brother. "It's just a scratch." he mumbled. "It'll heal."
Leo knew he was talking about his face and not his hand, which probably had a scratch on it from punching the ground. Leo knew very well that the wound would heal, but it would take time. But he also knew nothing he would say would calm Raph down. His brother would have to calm down himself.
Raph rested his head against the wall, letting his breathing go back to normal. He then let out a soft exhale, removing his fist from his hand.
"What're we going to do about this?" Raph asked. "If we're too injured, how will we ever have a chance to escape?"
Leo echoed the soft exhale, wringing his hands. He opened his mouth to speak, but Raph wasn't finished.
"And how in the world could we ever get Mikey and Donnie to stay out of this? Like you said earlier, we can't do ANYTHING!"
Leo pressed his lips together, stretching his legs in front of him. "I...I know." he softly answered. "We can't do anything. I'm suppose to be the leader, Raph. I'm suppose to protect my family. But I'm not!"
"You can't do anything about it, Leo." Raph replied.
"I know I can't." Leo sighed. "And that makes it worse."
They then fell silent, Leo's last sentence leaving a thick tension in the room. Dread weighed over them as the thoughts of Shredder's plans of getting their genius brother next played in their minds. They couldn't let this happen. But, at the same time, it had to.
They couldn't do anything to fix it.
Donnie and Mikey slowly made their way down the ladder into the sewer tunnel. Their shoulders had fallen, they shuffled their feet. They were very upset with not finding any clues at all tonight. But, they still had some hope since they'd be searching again tomorrow.
They were both exhausted from little sleep the night before due to Leo's disappearance. They knew they had to get some rest in order to continue their search, but, they also knew the worry and stress would make it very difficult.
Donnie looked over to Mikey as they trudged through the murky sewer water, noticing that his usually happy-go-lucky brother was down in the dumps.
"Hey, don't be sad." Donnie said, forcing a small grin on his face. "Everything will turn up in the end! I'm sure of it!"
"I'm just worried about them…" Mikey replied, keeping his gaze on the water.
"Trust me, I am too." Donnie answered. "But, we do have some idea of where they are."
"Oh?"
"Yeah! The Foot soldiers took Leo so they most likely took Raph too, which most likely means that Shredded has them. And knowing the Shredder, he isn't going to move his location just yet since he wants Splinter to come to him."
"We can't let him get Splinter!" Mikey gasped, looking over to Donnie.
"Exactly, which is why you and I would go with him, possibly even the Mutanimals if we can reach them."
"But...what if we can't?"
"We'll have to fight to the best of our ability then, I guess."
The two stayed quiet the rest of the way home, except from the occasional whimper from Mikey. They finally reached the Lair, tired and upset. What made them feel worse was that they saw Splinter sitting in the Pit, awaiting their return.
As soon as he heard them come in, he stood up from his seat, looking at the turtles with a look that said he hoped they had good news.
"Did you find anything?" Splinter asked them, hiding the anxiousness in his voice.
Donnie let out a soft sigh, shaking his head. "No, Sensei…" he replied, looking at the ground. "We didn't find anything."
Splinter's face instantly went from neutral to upset in just a matter of a few seconds. He looked at the ground himself for a minute or so before looking back up, seeing his sons were just as saddened as he was.
"Do not fret, my sons." Splinter said after the moment of silence. "We shall make a plan and find your brothers."
"We have a plan." Donnie answered. "Mikey and I are planning on going out tomorrow right at dusk to see if there is anything we missed."
Splinter nodded his head in response, sitting himself back down.
"Then I wish you the best of luck in finding something." He looked up at them, determination replacing his sad expression. "But until then, we must make a plan on how to free them. We simply can not just rush in not thinking."
"Donnie said we should try to get the Mutanimals to help." Mikey added in.
"The more people we have on our side the better." Splinter answered with a dip of his head.
"We do know that the Foot most likely have them which means Shredded has them." Donnie said. "Though he could've hid them somewhere specific, somewhere different."
"Knowing the Shredder, he is staying right where he is in order to get me to go to him. This is an obvious trap, my sons, with your brothers involved." Splinter's eyes narrowed. "You two must be cautious tomorrow night."
"Understood." Donnie replied as he and Mikey nodded.
"Good." Splinter sighed. "Now, get some rest. You both will need energy to continue on tomorrow."
"Hai, Sensei." Donnie and Mikey answered in unison.
And with that, the two headed up the stairs near the Pit to go into their rooms. They turned their heads briefly as they walked, seeing their Sensei go into the dojo to get some rest of his own.
"How can I rest when Leo and Raph are with the Shredder right now?" Mikey asked. "Why can't we just...barge in and…"
"You know we can't do that." Donnie muttered. "Even though we know where they are, we don't know what location in the building they're in and along with that, just simply bathing inside will get us in trouble and we can't have that with Leo and Raph in trouble."
"I know…" Mikey signed. "I can't rest though."
"You'll have to try. We can't save our brothers if we're exhausted, right?"
"Y-yeah…"
Donnie gave his brother a reassuring pat on the shell and then turned to his door and Mikey did the same. But Donnie paused before he grabbed his doorknob and Mikey sensed his brother wanted to say something else, so he paused too, waiting for Donnie to speak.
"Just stay strong Mikey." Donnie said quietly. "Stay strong for Leo and Raph."
"Okay, D." Mikey answered, looking behind his shoulder at him. "I'll try."
He then turned his doorknob and stepped inside his room, closing his door silently behind him.
Donnie let out a muffled sigh, staring at his reflection in his doorknob. He was telling Mikey to stay strong but he was having a hard time staying strong himself. He was scared of what could be happening to his brothers and he didn't know what to do. He had to let it slide now. He was the planner, and he couldn't plan if all his mind thought about was worries.
He didn't know how much longer his mind would be strong for him.
It was past four am. Leo and Raph had managed to close their eyes and get themselves into a state where they were almost asleep, but they could never get fully asleep.
Leo slowed his breathing, trying to get himself into a sleeping state. Raph, however, wasn't. His anger wasn't allowing him to. Leo opened one eye, glancing over at Raph, sensing his frustration.
"Can't sleep?" he asked.
"Can't see how you're even trying." Raph huffed.
Leo shrugged his shoulders, leaning his head back. "Better to try than do nothing, right?"
Raph shifted his position. "Yeah, cause when you're angry, having a nice, peaceful sleep is amazing."
"Have an attitude like that and you'll never get sleep." Leo replied.
"Getting sleep is the least of my worries." Raph growled.
"I know…"
"Just because we get rest and are energized doesn't mean we can warn our brothers! We're still in the same situation! We'll just be more awake for when Shredder beats us to a pulp!"
"Raph-"
"And don't tell me you're not worried, Leo! Who knows what he'll do?! He could easily-"
"I AM worried! I KNOW what Shredder can do!" Leo snapped. "Shredder WILL take this chance to hurt us very badly so-"
At that moment, they both heard the door start to open. Their hearts sank inside their chests, their breath stopping in worry. This was it.
Shredder opened the door and stepped inside with two Foot ninjas beside him. He looked over at the turtles, smirking behind his mask.
"The time has come." he said. "Time for you turtles to feel real pain!"
He then unleashed his gauntlet.
Author's Note: Sorry again for me uploading so late again! Things are finally starting to calm down a little bit so I at least have a tiny bit more time to write. Anyway, enjoy!