Next to the last chapter... and another cliff-hanger. Sorry about that. lol
Ok, no, not really. ; )
Writing Raph in his role of ... persuader, was interesting. Who knew Don had such a dark side?
Once again, warning for language, but still at the T rating.
Happy reading! Please do review! Comments/criticism is welcome. Btw, if you're reading this and it was posted ages ago, it's still fine to review. : )
Chapter 16 -The Fortress-
"You're not goin' without me!" Jeremy stood square, glaring at Leonardo. Leonardo couldn't help but think how much like Raphael the boy sounded.
"It's dangerous, Jeremy. The Foot are trained ninjas. They won't hesitate to kill you."
"I don't care. I'm goin' to help Sylvia."
"You can help Sylvia best by staying here, and staying out of our way!"
"You can't tell me what to do!"
Leonardo sighed. "Don."
Jeremy gasped as Donatello's arms came around his chest, pinning his arms to his side. He was lifted off his feet.
"Hey!" Jeremy yelled, trying to kick, but Donatello wasn't letting him go.
"We can't leave him here. The Foot who took Sylvia might come back," said Leonardo calmly.
"Lemme go! Lemme go!" yelled Jeremy.
"Shut up, Jeremy, or I'll have to gag you again," said Donatello. Jeremy shut up, remembering the foul taste of the elbow pad.
"Why don't we park him with Casey at April's?" asked Michelangelo.
"Sure. Casey's a great baby-sitter." Raphael smiled.
Jeremy swallowed hard. He didn't like the smirk on Raphael's face. "Who's Casey?" he asked, striving to keep the tremble out of his voice. "Another turtle?"
Raphael laughed. "He wishes," he said.
***
Bastards, bastards, bastards, Sylvia kept chanting her newest mantra, keeping time with the throb of her pulse. The doctor was poking, prodding. He hadn't reached for the scalpels yet, but she knew it was merely a matter of time. I'm going to die here, Sylvia thought, despairing. They'll cut me into tiny pieces, and then I'll die. All was pain, a burning, red. The fire surrounded her, smothering her, stealing the oxygen from the room. A needle pierced her thigh, and in the eerie quiet beeping of the monitors, she opened her mouth in a silent scream.
***
"You think she's being held in the main building?" asked Raphael. "So let's get in there."
"And walk right into the Shredder's hands?" snapped Leonardo. "Don's not sure the schematics he uncovered are accurate. You don't think Saki registered his actual floor-plan with the city, do you?"
"Well, what's the plan, den, 'Fearless'?"
"We have to come at this logically," replied Leonardo. "Don, do you think the floor plan you have is accurate?"
"It's as good a map as we've got," replied Donatello. "Look, this area here, it's labeled as "offices", but the electric wiring is rated for much a much higher load than the rest of the building. These rooms have got to be laboratories or something… something which draws more power. I say we concentrate on those rooms."
"What if she's not there?" growled Raphael.
"What we need is inside information," said Leonardo. "I've got a plan. Wait here, guys."
"Wait, what?" Raphael started to rise from his perch on the edge of the building across from Saki's headquarters.
"I've got to go alone, Raph. I'll be right back," said Leonardo. Raphael scowled, but subsided. Leonardo disappeared down the fire escape.
***
Burning… everything was burning… The fire, it was consuming her, burning her breath from her body. Donatello's face swam through her mind, his dark eyes smiling into hers… Sylvia pushed the image away… She couldn't remember why, but she knew she must not allow the turtles to enter her thoughts. She must not think of them, must not think of Jeremy…
"The boy. Master Shredder is impatient, Doctor. We must break her soon… If she won't give them up to save herself, she might give them up to save the boy." A familiar voice, the man who'd grabbed her at the subway station.
"All right, Sixty-two. Fetch the boy. We'll see what we can do. I'm sure she can be… persuaded. There's always a way, if the right lever can found and properly applied."
***
Leonardo dropped to the ground, using the shadows to conceal his movement down the alley. He crouched, blending into the darker space beside the building as a Foot soldier came out of a doorway and slipped down the alley. Leonardo smiled. This would be easier than he'd expected.
Sixty-two didn't hear so much as a rustle. The katana handle thumped into the back of his head, plunging him into instant darkness.
***
Pain… swirling, dark, red-hot burning…
Sylvia was drifting, floating like an ember spinning in an updraft. She was vaguely aware of the man in the white coat approaching, lifting her eyelids. The light pierced her, sharp and white and painful. Vaguely she heard the clink of metal against the tray.
"Get the Petri dishes ready. We'll take the tissue samples while we wait," she heard his voice as if he were speaking through a distant tunnel.
***
"Wakey, wakey." Raphael slapped the man in black roughly. His mask was off. His face was framed by mouse-brown hair curling down around his ears. Raphael slapped him again. Number Sixty-two sat up suddenly as if he'd been touched with a cattle-prod. He stared at the four green faces circling him, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping.
The first thing he was aware of was that his hands were bound quite tightly behind his back. The second was a razor-sharp sai point pressed to his throat. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"I'll tell you nothing," he snarled. The sai point pressed against his chin. The ninja's eyes widened, but he returned Raphael's glare determinedly.
"Now, let's not be too hasty," said the turtle in the purple mask. He knelt down, resting the tip of his bo staff on the roof by his foot. "My brother here, he's not in a very good mood." The man's eyes flicked from the purple-masked one's dark eyes to the eerie golden gaze of the one in red. The sai pressed more firmly against his throat.
The man just kept himself from swallowing, keeping his expression stoic. The amber-golden eyes of the red-masked turtle seemed to stare into his soul, and he had the feeling the turtle didn't like what he saw there.
"I really don't think you want us to let Raphael do what he wants with you. We try to keep him… civilized," explained Donatello calmly. "But sometimes… well, you know, sometimes we have to let him… indulge is darker urges a little. Just a little. Enough to keep him… satisfied."
The man did swallow then. The amber eyes glaring into his narrowed, and the turtle allowed himself the smallest smile. The one in orange shifted, uncomfortable. The blue-masked turtle watched the proceedings standing with his arms crossed across his plastron, unmoving, as if he were carved from stone.
"All we want is to know where the girl is being held." The turtle in purple spoke softly, reasonably. "Just tell us what we want to know, and we'll convince my brother here to let you go with all your parts attached." The ninja saw the red-masked turtle's eyes flicker to a lower part of his anatomy, and he felt his blood turn to ice.
Training and discipline could only take him so far. There were some things no man could face. He licked his dry lips. His eyes flicked from the amber depths to the dark eyes surrounded by the purple mask.
"I think you'd better tell us where they're holding the girl." said the purple-clad turtle softly. "He's getting impatient."
Number Sixty-two felt the point of the sai tremble against his skin, as if the hand holding it were… unstable. "Third floor," he whispered hoarsely. "Second door on the left from the elevator. It's a lab. But you'll never get past the guar…" He never finished speaking. The blunt handle of Raphael's sai met the side of his head resulting in instant unconsciousness.
"T'anks." said the red-masked turtle, standing up. "Let's go."
The four ninjas moved silently through the night, advancing upon the fortress. Donatello made quick work of the alarm system, and Michelangelo slipped through the front door, spying out the room before waving the others in. The lobby was dark and deserted.
"How're we gonna get to the t'ird floor, anyhow?" growled Raphael.
"Well, the guy said it's the second door on the left, from the elevator. So let's take the lift," said Leonardo, a glint in his eye.
"Sounds good ta me," said Raphael, smiling. "Let's go."
***