His step was surprisingly light for his hulking frame and bulky shell. An act as simple as walking became a lesson in the easy roll of primed muscle. His posture became a statement of a keen awareness of the world around him.
Moonlight streaked through the dusty room. Long lines of luminescence reflected off of the motes of dust whirling in his wake. A sai echoed their swirling dance in his hand as the fiery mutant moved through the stillness filled chamber. White teeth grit behind tense lips as he pressed his shell to the wall and approached the door. When it didn't burst open on its own, he eased open it with the tip of his weapon. The subtle rasp of laborious breath awaited just beyond the entry.
Silently, he slipped around the corner. The carnage which greeted him evoked a low, disgusted growl.
Bodies littered the room - misshapen figures of humanity, lost in the final agonized throes before their meetings with eternity. Clothing stained varying shades of red lay draped over the emaciated figures in a grotesque mockery of modesty. The sickly sweet scent of senseless death hardened the muscle in his jaw.
To die in battle was one thing, but what these people had endured was something else entirely. This was something far beyond the sin of murder.
Raphael knelt briefly to close the eyes of the twisted man lying at his feet and looked up when the rasp of a gurgled gasp drifted through the sickening silence. Slowly, the inhuman ninja stood and looked around for the source of the tortured breathing.
There, in the corner lay a woman. Her left arm was missing, and he could barely make out the bandages peeking out from the lower hem of her scrubs top. She bled freely from a wound carved into her ribs, and her legs bent at grotesque angles. A coating of crimson obscured the right side of her face and matted the dark hair to her skull. Frowning, he made his way over to her and knelt at her side.
Blind grey eyes attempted to focus on him from the shelter of sunken sockets, as a shaking, purpled hand reached for him.
"'Ey," he sheathed the pronged weapons in his belt and shifted the woman as gently as he could into a sitting position, allowing her to lean against a brawny green shoulder. "What 'appened?"
"Escape," she gurgled. "Almost…escaped…" The woman succumbed to a fit of painful coughing.
Raphael held her quietly as the fit ran its course and tried to keep the blaze pumping through his veins from forcing him to drop the woman and charging from the room. "Escaped from what…? Who did this t' ya?"
Her head weakly drooped to rest against his neck and the wetness of her fading life stained his skin.
"Him…down there…free." Bruised fingers explored a trembling path up the scarred plastron and rough skin of his jaw. "Wh…what…are…"
The turtle caught her hand before it moved any further. Gently, he lowered it to her stomach. "…a…friend. Who did this t' you? Are there others?"
"Yes…others…" The tortured grey irises vanished by pale lids. "…turning…into…"
Raphael leaned closer to catch the last whispered word.
"…monsters…"
His powerful grip intensified as the woman took her last, rattling breath.
Yeah, pretty short, I know...