It's been way to long since I've updated. I shall try to become better about that.
I had some trouble with this chapter. But Once I took the time to write it out inspiration came to me easy enough.
It helps that the turtles are nothing but a bunch of troublemakers one their best days. ;)
Day Twenty five: Girls and Drugs! Not as Good as it Sounds
Normal P.O.V.
"Raph slow down, this pace isn't accomplishing anything!" Leo yells at Raph who was starting to feel a little bad for Donatello who was falling further and further behind as the miles passed them.
Honestly he was enjoying the elongated sprint. Because at this point that's what this has become, a marathon styled sprint.
In fact Leo was enjoying this enough that not even a twinge of jealousy passed through him as Mikey not only kept up with his pace, but decided to add flips and unnecessary handsprings as he raced.
After some information gathered by Casey from some anonymous 'duchebag,'Raph has been scouring the streets of New York City even more than usual, which eventually brought the others out as well.
Raph didn't stop at Leo's words, not that Leo expected him to. So taking one last forlorn glance behind him, where poor out-of-shape-but-not-really Donatello was starting to visibly pant from the excursion, Leo put on an extra spurt of speed and caught up with Raph after adding a lounger leap to the next building hop.
"Raph, we've been at this for hours, we should slow down," Leo reasoned.
Raph, still pumped on his fully developed runners high, let out a hearty fake laugh. "LEO BRO! Don't be such a pansy, can't take the miles? Got somethin' better to do?"
Leo's eyes narrows angrily. Leo may love Don, but slowing the pace was his brotherly deed towards the genius for the day. Looking weak in front of Raph was not.
"Raph," Leo waits a moment for Raph to finally turn his head towards him, and then he jerks his head behind them flicking his eyes with his head to make it extra obvious what he wanted.
Raph turns his head around noting a thrilled Mikey sliding across the rooftop on his shell creating an ear splitting *ssccccccccccrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaapppppp*
Then he noticed Don.
Raph looks back to Leo with a bored expression, while he tries to force back his instinct to open his mouth and take deep breaths during his sprint. Instead Raph takes smaller quicker breaths through his nose, making the insinuation that he isn't even a little bit tired very believable. "Looks like he could use all the running he can get," Raph replies heartlessly.
Leo sighs not even bothering to hide the fact that he was breathing through his mouth. He may care about Raph's opinion. But not enough to change such small details, he has more confidence in himself than that.
"You're missing the point Raph. It's not fair to him; he has a reason for not working out as much as us. The poor guy has already been through some rough training today with Master Splinter. There really is no reason to push him like this."
Raph gives Leo his own glare before replying sharply, "I see what you're saying Leo, I'm not an idiot. I know what that dork does for us, no need to point it out, but thanks. And thanks for ruining a great run."
Raph starts to slow his pace.
Mikey immediately passes his two older bros flipping through the air in front of Leo declaring things like 'can't take the heat,' and 'I feel the need for speed.'
Raph clenches his fists in detained annoyance.
He'd just wait long enough for Don to catch up. Then he was going to tackle Mikey off the roof.
Satisfied with his plan, Raph waits patiently for a panting Don to catch up. Don evens out with them, taking his place in the open spot to Raph's left, arms pumping; sweat gleaming as he kept pace. Don turns his head towards Raph looking tired, and embarrassed. "S-sor-sorry," Don sputters before turning his attention back to the rooftops.
Raph's resolve for first degree murder disappears. Instead he gives Donnie an encouraging smile before turning his head to face Leo whispering "I'm takin' the geek out running more."
Leo laughs out loud. Don frowns at the two. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that he was the butt of the joke. The assumed insult motivates him to run straighter, faster, with better form. But it also shows him that he better find a way to end this random race, and fast. He can still run for a while longer, but soon he will have to slow down even more.
Don takes a few deep breaths before getting Raph's attention, "Raph, W-where are we *haah* going?"
Raph smiles back at him deviantly, "Why Don, we're just on a friendly run." Raph takes a moment to take in more oxygen then continues, "Though eventually we're goin' to a dealer's house. This one is good Donnie-Boy. He lives in some piece of shit apartment, but he sells the shit in damn bushels."
Leo, overhearing the conversation, studies Raph suspiciously. "Another drug dealer? What's your problem lately Raph that's the ninth one this month."
"Yeah," Mikey joins in abandoning his short lived dream of accomplishing eight front flips before touching his feet to the ground. "You're on some sort of drug dealer kick bro. It's like your drug."
"It's not my fault. Well not entirely," replies Raph casually, "Drug dealers have just been active lately, Makes em' easier to find. Besides what are you complaining about fearless? You love busten' dealers?"
"Well, yes I do, it's just….. I didn't even know there were nine drug dealers in the city. Never less finding out there's even more than that."
The three turtles just stare at their apparently unreceptive leader. Even Don, who'd managed to gain some of his breath back, couldn't help but give Leo his own shocked expression.
"… Dude how could you not know that?" Mikey questions.
"Leo, that is just sad," Raph joins in.
In the background Don gratefully takes big gulps of air as the other's conversing naturally slows the pace.
In the foreground Leo squares his shoulders indignantly putting on an angry pouty expression, "It's not my fault. We were homeschooled!?"
"That is no excuse," Mikey shot back.
Much to Don's dismay, Leo starting running faster in his anger "Fine, how did you guys know then?"
"Comic books."
"Casey."
"In-internet."
"….. You know what; I don't even feel bad that I didn't know how many drug dealers are in New York. It's probably normal not to know that!" Leo counters.
Mikey huffs, "No it's not."
"Fine, then let's ask April just how normal that is."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"FINE!"
"MIKEY!"
"Alright I'll stop."
But none of them ever made it to Aprils.
Don who was the only one keeping his head down as they ran saw her first.
On a darkened walkway, right outside a second-hand clothing store. Was a still feminine form, lying prone in the middle of a dirty sidewalk, right next to a pile of abandoned garbage.
But what really made Don stop, was that she looked clean, relatively speaking.
With his inhuman night vision Don, could see that her dark hair was long and straight. Obviously made so by a straightener. Full healthy lips stood out prominently on her smooth young face, most likely only catching Don's attention due to an overuse of bright lipstick. She wore nicely fitted jeans with a simple black long sleeve shirt. Even her shoes were plain black flats, something fashionable yet comfortable.
And Don didn't see even a pint of dirt on her body.
The hair, the makeup, the clean clothes, this girl was not homeless.
Which means she had no business lying alone sprawled out in the middle of the sidewalk next to the garbage.
Which also meant that Don had to stop.
"Guys wait," Don says putting a hand carefully onto Raph's plastron to end his movement.
The brothers stop. Normally if Don had something to point out it was either hopelessly nerdy, or extremely important. If the former, it was usually something that they either couldn't acquire safely, or would have to resort to stealing.
Instead of voicing his findings Don simply stars at the girl, waiting patiently for his brothers to join him.
Shockingly, Mikey spoke first "Whoah, what a cutie!"
"She is pretty hot," Raph agrees crouching down onto the balls of his feet.
"Guys!" Leo scolds, "Stop making jokes, she clearly needs help, and no one else is around. We need to go down there and make sure she's ok."
Mikey shrugs nonchalantly, "Ok," with that Mikey takes a few steps back getting ready to pounce off of the roof.
"MIKEY NO!" Leo yells putting his body in front of the hyper turtle.
"I'll get the spray bottle," says Raph standing up and pretending to walk away.
"Oh wait Raph I threw out the spray bottle. It didn't seem to be having a lot of effect on Mikey so I upgraded to a Nerf Super Soaker," Don informs his brother.
"You know maybe I should just act like a real dog and bite you guys."
"FOCUS!" Leo shouts getting ready to rip his nonexistent hair out.
Don calmly walks over and grips Leo's shoulder, using his best comforting tone he says, "I know your right Leo. She needs help. But I can see her chest moving up and down at regular intervals from here. That doesn't mean she's completely alright, but it's a good sign. Let's just head down there and check her out?"
Leo sighs, allowing Don's plan and his initial assessment of the girl calm him down. "Ok good idea Don. Raph and Mikey stay here for a minute. And at least try to throw some shurikins after Donnie and I get ambushed."
"Ok normally I would totally agree with your plan dude!" Mikey says taking another slow step towards the roofs edge. "But did you see that girl? An ambush would be worth it, I'm so going."
"Yeah, besides Leo look around. There is clearly no ambush. We're would they hid? It's out in the open." Raph reasoned passing Mikey and making his way down.
Leo would've been more angered by this but Raph did have a point.
In all honesty there was probably no reason for the four of them to be cautious when approaching a young, passed out, defenseless girl on some street. But you don't stay alive with multiple arguably evil organizations after your green asses without being paranoid.
Raph and Don hit the ground first. Don walked quickly up to the girl, with Raph hovering protectively behind him. Keeping an eye out for any movement both from their surroundings and from the girl herself.
A couple long breaths later, then Leo and Mikey joined the two, landing silently beside the girl.
Leo positions himself near the girl's feet looking out into the darkness.
Mikey was crouches near the girls head, closest to Don. The streetlight for this area was closest to him, which was good since it allowed Mikey better visibility, and bad since it would make his own shadowed form partially visible to onlookers.
Raph steps away from the girl now that Mikey and Leo had joined them. Allowing himself to walk out into the street studying the Sushi shop across from them for any sign of movement.
The end result of all of this was a sort of diamond formation, with the side wall acting as there absent fourth member, a sort of protective barrier for Don. Their positioning was automatic to them at this point. Each brother had their own side of the room. There could be no help from anyone else, you were in charge of your section, and if the enemy broke through, they would all die.
The turtles have had to shuffle awkwardly through stories of enemy territory in this formation in the past. It looked silly, and made progress slow. But it also showed trust, and when Don had to keep his smart little head down, it provided protection.
Don checks the girl over
Heartbeat- faster than normal
Eyes- dilated pupils even in sleep
Status of skin health- normal but sweaty
Gums coloration- whitened an indication of prolonged dry mouth.
Donnie began to mutter as he checked her over
"Strange …This is just like…but no, there's no puncture marks,…Then why?...I mean I know not all of them need puncture…but what are the chances that she's never….. In this state."
"Donnie you're mumbling," Leo says.
"I think it's more of a grumble," suggests Mikey.
"So what? am I supposed to say rumble?" asks Raph.
Leo narrows his eyes at Raph, not even bothering with Mikey "Guys shut up, this is serious."
Donnie lightly slaps the girl's cheek a few times as his brothers either laugh or glare at each other.
She moans softly and twitches her struck cheek.
Not wanting her to wake up, even if the chance of that didn't look too high, Don massages her neck, lowering the blood pressure to her head, keeping her unconscious.
To his best guesstimate, the girl wasn't in life threatening danger. But between her look of young well feed innocence and the secret Leo inside him that sometimes wants to get everyone in trouble just so they can 'learn their lesson,' Don wanted to take her to the hospital. Besides the wind was blowing so it was a bit nippy out and this is not a nice part of town. Leaving her here would be immoral.
"Ww-well Leo you're partially right, it's sort of serious," Donnie finally says. "In a nutshell it looks like we just found ourselves another overdoes victim. Um, she's not in a good state, but it's nothing life threatening. We've all seen worse. I would still recommend a hospital. It's hard to tell with these things sometimes."
Raph groans losing all hope that they would get to continue their previous run.
Leo just sighs tiredly. He hated having to make maneuvers to the hospital, especially the hospital closest to their location. It's not that the whole procedure of getting the patient to the hospital's front door is difficult. But it sure is a pain in the ass.
"Alright guys let's get her to a hospital, no more wasting time," Leo says taking a step towards the downed girl.
Mikey steps towards Leo gently placing his arm in front of Leo's path, "Now hold on this raises a very important question," says Mikey.
"What?" Leo asks questioningly.
"Who gets to carry her? Because I think you were about to just take that honor," Mikey tells Leo in complete seriousness.
Raph perks up at this. "Hey yeah, who gets to carry her?" Raph looks around Leo studying the girl more closely with his eyes. "I think I just might volunteer for that."
"We don't have time for this! I'm carrying her!" shouts Donnie in his not ninja voice. And before anyone can protest further he has her scooped up and held in his arms princess style.
"You little bitch-"Raph gasps.
"You little genius-" Mikey breathes.
"Don I can't believe you," Leo stats wide eyed.
Don smiles broadly at his brothers making a show of curling his hand around the girl's upper arm tauntingly close to a breast. "Oh don't give me that Leo, we all know that you were going to volunteer me to carry her as a compromise after the two of them started fighting. I'm just speeding up the inevitable process."
"Doooonnniiieee," whines Mikey, "the fight was the fun! When you cut my fun short, I'll need to find other things to entertain myself."
"…. Hmmmmm, duly noted Mikey. Leo Raph, please continue this argument while I run as far as I can from here towards the hospital."
Raph snorts derisively, "With the way you run, we could have this argument and still catch up with you before you get to the damn hospital."
"You're comments are not appreciated Raph," Don says already turning and jogging off. The others following close behind.
The brothers don't make it far on the sidewalk before Leo makes a big enough fuss that the five of them have to take this emergency jog to the roofs.
But even on the roofs Leo still couldn't shake his unease. It certainly didn't help Leo's nerves that Mikey wouldn't stop making that *WEEEEEEE,EEEEERRRRRR* *WEEEEEEEE,EEEEERRRRRRR* sound. Or that Donnie kept spouting the possible consequences drugs could have on your brain.
"When this is over I'm meditating for at least four uninterrupted hours. Heck it's been a long day, I'll spoil myself a little. Let's make it four and a half hours," Leo thought to himself, calming down with the possibility.
They made it to the hospital in decent time.
It was actually a very large hospital. With its brown bricking and many, many windows the whole thing didn't look exactly modern. The hospital curved itself around a fairly wide parking lot. Which was even more uncommon, considering that this was New York City, and almost no establishment could provide decent parking.
But that parking lot is what made this hospital such a pain in Leo's shell. Whenever the four of them brought someone here Donnie insisted that they had to bring the person directly to the front entrance so that they could be found and treated as fast as possible. But the parking lot was almost always busy, and well lit. Not a good combination for a couple of mutant turtles.
Leo led everyone to the closest rooftop to the hospital and thought out his battle plan. "Alright only two of us need to do this. Donnie hand the girl to Mikey. Mikey and I will take her and sneak through the lot. Raph and Don will stay on this rooftop with Don's gun and…" Leo froze, confused by the lack of noise from his rowdy siblings behind him. It's like they weren't even breathing.
Leo turns, and standing behind him alone sitting on an air conditioning system with his legs crossed and his mouth smirking was Michelangelo, just Michelangelo.
"Oh no please Leo don't let me stop you," Mikey says eyes shining with humor.
"Mikey," Leo says softly, "where are Don and Raph."
"Taking the hottie to the hospital."
"ALONE! What, WHY!" Leo shouts grabbing his head with his hand in exasperation.
Mikey hops off the air conditioning system and wraps one arm around his leaders shoulders, "Don't worry about it bro, just watch. This is gonna be good."
*BBBBBRRROOONNGGGG*
Raph spun around at the noise. They were only inches away from the hotel's parking lot. And loud noises were not wanted right now.
"What the fuck was that?" Raph asks after his spin only revealed Donnie looking sheepish still holding the girl in his arms.
"Sorry," Don apologizes, "I accidentally hit her ankle against the sign post."
"Nice one genius," Raph huffs turning back towards the parking lot.
"Not my fault her legs are so long," Don grumbles imitating Raph's movements as they made their way around the first set of cars.
"So which one do you want?" Raph asks scanning the cars as they snuck around.
"Hmmmmmmmmm," Don thought studying the vehicles. "OHHH, look at that a Maserati GranTurismo sports car!"
Raph looks first at the car Don indicated then back at him in disgust. "Are you kidding me Don. That car is slow as hell. And puny, how the hell are we going to fit all our big shells in there."
"But it's a sports car."
"No sports cars. Every time we go out and do this you always want a sports car. What is it with you and those things?" Raph says shaking his head, "That's it I'm deciding we need. Uhhhhhhh, THAT ONE! Ah yeah it's perfect."
"The 2004 Dodge Ram?"
"The 2004 Dodge Ram."
"It's a little big."
"Yeah it is."
"It's a little noticeable."
"Yeah it is."
"And its red, Cops are more likely to pull over red cars."
"You got a problem with red?"
"No, no! No problem, let's go with that one. Here take the girl; I'm going to need my hands free."
"What are they doing down there?" asks Leo still on the same rooftop as before, watching his brothers just crouch there in the parking lot with the poor girl not doing anything.
Mikey peers over studying the scene below him. "It looks like they're arguing."
"Arguing? About what?"
"I don't know dude, I don't know anything about cars." Mikey enjoying Leo's reaction at his seemingly lack of care in the matter.
"Cars, what about car-…..Oh no, they wouldn't."
Mikey laughs loud in glee as Leo's eyes widened in understanding. Leo watches in horror as Don hands the girl to Raph and makes his way to a large red car, making quick work in opening the car's front door with a few expert flicks of the wrist with his lock pick.
Donnie hops into the driver's seat no longer in Leo's view as Raph opens the door to the back seat and throws himself and the girl, now tucked safely in his arms, inside the vehicle.
"You want to kill me? You all want to kill me?" Leo guesses logically.
"Well Shredder didn't seem to do a very good job," Mikey chokes between chuckles.
The red car's light flares to life, and the roar of the engine could be heard even from here.
Leo flinches at the noise and face palms, his eyes scrunching up in irritation.
The red car moves forward then abruptly stops, hard. Don must've slammed on the breaks.
"Uop, looks like Raph is insisting that he drives," Mikey says from personal experience.
"No," Leo whispers in continued horror.
Suddenly the red car surges forward again. The vehicle races around the lot at least twice as fast as it should be going in any parking lot. The thing finally comes to a skidding, screeching halt at the hospital's front entrance.
Leo feels his eye twitch as Donnie opens the passenger side door facing away from the hospital and gently deposits the girl onto the street before retreating back inside the vehicle. Before Don even manages to get his door completely closed the car starts off again barely missing an already parked ambulance as it zooms around the first corner out of the lot.
The hospital staff, alerted by the noise, was running out of the hospital searching for signs of something amiss. The girl was found easily enough.
"RAMPAGING CAR!" Mikey shouts pointing to the vehicle now out of the parking lot and racing away from them down the street dodging traffic way faster than the speed limit would permit.
"After it!" Leo shouts through clenched teeth.
Leo and Mikey start to run, while Leo takes out his phone and calls the only turtle he knows will answer his phone even if he knows he shouldn't.
"Hello," answers Donnie.
"Having fun?" asks Leo.
"Raph, its Leo," Don says pulling the phone away from his ear.
"What the- DON hang up the phone!?" Leo hears Raph shout in the background.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Donnie mumbles still holding the phone a good arm length from him.
Leo hears a growl from Raph, "Just give it here, I'll hang up."
Which apparently was good enough morally for Don because Leo heard the beeping notifying him that the line was dead a moment later.
"Mikey those two are dead."
"You're just jealous that they didn't take you with them."
"Oh, and you're not?"
Mikey thinks about this a moment before nodding, "You're right Leo I am one very jealous turtle. Get your lecture face on bro, and let's get them!"
Eventually, deciding that neither one of them were going to catch their speeding brothers on foot Mikey and Leo headed home. After all, they know where their brother's sleep.
I swear Don and Raph returned the car undamaged! With nothing but a mild inconvenience to it's owner.
If you want to know how the two of them got that idea. Raph convinced Donnie that it would look less conspicuous if they looked like some punch teenagers ditching a friend.
Raphie is a bad influence!
Next Time Day Twenty Six: Admit Your Mistakes