A/N: Okay so I apologize in advance if this chapter uhhh sucks. Hahaha, it's sooo hard for me to put into words battle and fights scenes that I see in my head. Like, it's super epic up in my mind, but when I try to write it down, my brain just goes "HAHAHAHA! Nope!" It makes me look mediocre on purpose! So...I did my best. Thanks for the reviews! I love them! Keep em coming, Duckies!
NOTICE: THIS STORY HAS OC CHARACTERS. IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT ANY OF THEM LOOK LIKE, PLEASE CHECK THE LINKS ON MY PROFILE FOR YOUR VISUAL AID.
Leo's eyes snapped open. He'd heard Shiho again, heard her calling out to him with her soul. His hands trembled and his lips quivered. Donnie took notice in the change in Leo and signaled for Raphael to come and help since he was piloting. The red masked ninja moved forward in the cabin and crouched beside his leader. His expression was etched with shock and disbelief but he said nothing.
"Leo? Leo what's the matter?" The sisters and Mikey gathered.
"It's Shiho. I can hear her…she's okay. Aanika is okay."
The family breathed a sigh of relief, all except for Donnie and Raphael.
"It sounds like there's a 'but' in that statement, Leo. What else did you hear?" Donnie said, keeping the steering steady.
"Shiho's pregnant."
"Pregnant?!" Chorused the entire family. The helicopter pitched downward when Donnie let go of the controls to gawk at Leo and sent them all off their balance with a collective yell. The genius hurriedly regained control of the chopper with a heavy sigh of relief. Leo collapsed into the co-pilot's seat beside his brother with an expression that was unreadable. No one could tell what was going through his mind; hell he didn't even know what to think. Raphael found his balance once again and stood between the two seats, his attention on his leader.
"What do you mean 'pregnant?' How on Earth could she be pregnant?! How do you even know?!" It didn't make sense how he just suddenly knew when they weren't even with Shiho. Raphael could have sworn his brother was insane.
"She just…told me. I heard her say it, heard her in my head…" Leo muttered. He scrambled his mind to try and remember just how it was possible for him to hear Shiho, he knew it when they set out for Arizona two days ago but he was suddenly forgetting.
"You mean, Shiho found that spirit link. That Master Splinter was always telling us about. We tried it when we were kids but we never got the hang of it," Donnie said. Collectively, the rest of his brothers hummed in agreement, remembering.
Mikey chuckled. "Dudes, I still have the bump on my head from when Splinter smacked us all for not getting it."
"I think we're all sort of ignoring the pressing matter here. Who cares about how she told you, it's what she told you, Leo. Aren't you the least bit concerned?" Saundra growled, getting out of her seat. Leo snapped his attention back at the gecko with a furious glare that made her freeze where she stood.
"Of course I'm concerned; my mate is in the hands of that lunatic and Maddened asshole. And she's pregnant, how could you think I wouldn't be worried? You aren't helping, Saundra. Sit down and be quiet while I try to think, the situation just became dire…" Leo fell silent and Saundra sat back down.
"What did she even say, Leo?" Donnie said.
Leo palmed his face and leaned his head back against the seat with a sigh. Tilting his amber gaze out the window, he swallowed thickly.
"She just said that she needs me. That Aanika needs me. And then she said that my babies need me," he said quietly. The brothers sputtered as the hybrid sisters glanced nervously at each other.
"Woah, babies?! As in…the pluralized form of baby?"
"Yes, Donnie! She's having more than one. Can we please just focus on getting there?! We'll worry about the babies when she's safe," Leo snapped. Donnie flinched and gave his brother an apologetic smile. Leo couldn't blame Donnie for being the least bit surprised, he was still trying to wrap his brain around Shiho being stolen let alone being pregnant. There was just so much to focus on at once that Leo was afraid that he'd get lost. He didn't want to talk about the babies now, not until Shiho was safe in his arms and finally free of danger. Anything could happen between now and getting to her that could get his hopes up and destroy them. Like losing Shiho, Aanika, and the babies…
"Sorry Leo…we're almost there. See that building just ahead?" Donnie pointed out the windshield to a small white building in front of the chopper. Leo's heart rate picked up as he grew closer to his fox, he'd do just about anything to get her back. He could imagine how afraid his girls were, Aanika had to be cowering and clinging to Shiho for dear life. Imagining his sweet, little Aanika with the look of fear on her face boiled Leo's blood.
"According to the girls and the research I've done, Marcus is a big wig in biological experimentation. Has a string of his own laboratories and everything, Silver Inc. His biggest success was the girls and was apparently humiliated when Shiho started showing signs of defiance," Donnie said, trying to revert the conversation elsewhere. The sisters sat back and nodded solemnly. They remembered all too well how utterly rebellious Shiho used to be when she hit her teenage years. They also remembered the harsh whippings she received in consequence.
Saundra scoffed. "I'll say. I can't even remember how many times Shiho was put in the confinement for biting Marcus. Look up rebel in the dictionary and all you'll see is a picture of Shiho."
"That was around the time we showed up with The Shredder, he hired Marcus to amp her up to be able to take us down. But of course, we sent that little slug into oblivion and Marcus lost all of his funding and his eventual big pay check. Which is why he's so hell bent on getting back at us."
"But what role does Karai play in this? I mean, wasn't she like…honorable and junk?" Mikey said, kneeling on the floor between Saundra and Fiona.
Leo snorted. "There was never anything honorable about her. She was using us. She knew that if she fed us information we'd trust her and be unprepared for a sudden attack after telling us Marcus would come at a set time. She's out for revenge again. I'll make her learn that you dig two graves when you seek revenge…"
All of the brothers and hybrids picked up Leo's change in energy, empowering them to get this done no matter what the cost. Both Donnie and Raph felt a change in their protective nature towards their mates, it amplified tenfold. They'd never felt such a strong urge to keep someone safe as they did now, Saundra and Fiona weren't exactly defenseless anymore but they still lacked the power and focus of their sister and the turtles. They'd need the boys more now than ever.
Closer they approached and the tiny white building expanded into an enormous structure, twice the size of the warehouse Shiho had stumbled out of. With hardly any windows and doors, it was going to be difficult to get inside. The perimeter was guarded heavily by Foot ninja and yet another electric fence, Karai was leading them right into the lion's den for her vengeance. On the top right corner in larger, silver lettering was printed for the world to see, Silver Inc. It left Leo to wonder how many other creatures Marcus made and destroyed before Shiho.
Raph sighed and palmed his face. "Ya gotta be kiddin' me…Leo, what do we do?"
Leo's face remained stoic but inside, he was ablaze with anger and disappointment. "We're going in the front door."
They were all surprised, none more than Raphael. But that didn't mean he didn't agree.
"Yeah, I think it's time we stopped sneakin' around and just storm the place to get back what's rightfully ours. Make a statement that lasts, no one takes our girls," His thick arm slipped around Saundra's waist and pulled her close. Saundra wasn't going to hide the fact that she was afraid and nuzzled under her turtle's chin.
"You guys do what you have to, but leave Karai to me. She knew I'd come after Shiho. If it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get."
White walls. Four white walls and a single door that led to freedom. But Shiho couldn't escape. No door knob or latch left her stuck inside a room similar to the one she'd grown all too familiar with when she was growing up. She felt like a trapped animal inside a cage with 20 foot walls and that stupid observatory that Marcus always had to have. She wondered where Leo was, if he was here. Thinking about her turtle only made the ache in her chest expand and the lump in her throat rise, she missed him so much she felt like dying. She'd give anything to see him again.
The door swung open with Marcus, Micah, and Magdalena in tow. Marcus chuckled at the sight of Shiho curled up in the corner with her arms shielding Aanika. It would seem that her maternal instincts were kicked into overdrive. "Why the long face?"
Shiho growled. "What do you want, Marcus?"
The scientist said nothing and indicated with his head for Maggie to move. The blonde giggled and skipped her way over to her host. The closer she came, the louder Shiho's growls grew and clutched Aanika closer. And when she reached out, the violet vixen snarled and woke her sleeping little one. Aanika quivered when Magdalena reached out and snatched her by the wrist, yanking her out of Shiho's arms before she could think.
"Mama!"
"WAIT! Don't take her! Marcus, please!" Shiho stood to run after her clone as she made a dash out the door with a screaming Aanika. She was stopped short by a sobered Micah, his arm wrapping around her and slamming her back against the wall. Outside the door and going down the hall, Shiho's ears picked up the screams and wails coming out of Aanika in her terror. "Micah! Please, please let me go. Aanika!"
"Hold still, you troublesome child. We're just waiting for your little…'family' to get here and come to your rescue much like they did before," Marcus chuckled. Shiho struggled against Micah's hold but now that he was a puppet of The Madness, his strength more than doubled.
"And when they get here? Stop it!" She shrieked as the male fox traced his tongue up the length of her neck. His hand closed around her throat while the other pinned her shoulders to the wall. Those emerald eyes glittered with ill-intentions that struck fear into her heart. He was consumed by a lust he'd never had before, the lingering effects of The Madness turned him into a lecherous fox, hell bent on touching her wherever he could. "Give me back Aanika! Bring her back to me!"
"Easy. Leo's little ninja friend will be there to greet them. You remember Karai don't you?" Marcus chuckled shortly and clasped his hands together behind his back. He just observed Micah grope and squeeze the vixen that should have been his all along. The tears that poured down her beautiful face certainly entertained his sick mind. "Alright Micah, that's enough. She's not going anywhere."
Obediently, the male released Shiho and slithered his way beside Marcus.
"That's right, Micah. Obey your master like the dog you are," Shiho snapped. Micah in turn flipped her his middle finger without anything to come back with. "What do you plan on doing with my sisters once you've gotten rid of me?"
The scientist led his newest crony to the door and quickly locked him outside. He and Shiho were alone; creator and creation. His presence made her skin crawl and her stomach churn with bile.
"Take them apart, of course. You've all been failed experiments and I'm just going to start again. Regain that title that you stole from me all those years ago with your defiance," That crooked grin played his lips and Shiho felt her stomach squirm. He thought he was so handsome when he smiled like that, it made her sick.
"What about Micah and Magdalena?"
Marcus scoffed and folded his arms as he looked down upon his creation. Shiho didn't cower and instead stood as tall as she could, she already knew what he was about to say and reached up to her left ear and pretended to scratch it. Marcus thought nothing of it as she silently turned on her earpiece to record.
"Oh Shiho, you think I'm going to just finish with you and your sisters? No, once all of you are out of the way and those disgusting reptiles are disposed of, Maggie and Micah will no longer be a nuisance. I'll take care of Micah and then end the night with Maggie, taking her apart piece by piece." He grinned. "You wouldn't believe how annoying she is, I can't stand the girl. Always calling me 'Daddy', but she's much more obedient than you ever were. She's come to the end of her usefulness."
"You're a monster, Marcus."
"You always say that, it hurts my feelings, Shiho. You should really take better care in how you speak to me; you never know when I might send your sister in here to have her fun. We wouldn't want to harm those disgusting little mistakes inside you now would we?" Shiho hissed and protectively covered her belly with her arms. Marcus was toying with her to make her react. Shiho wasn't going to play into his hands.
"How did you manage it? I would have thought being a mutant's whore you'd have been knocked up months ago," Shiho spat in his face when he came closer. Marcus' face fell and became devoid of any emotion as he wiped his cheek with the back of his wrist. The beeping of his watch communicator grabbed his attention and he pulled back the sleeve of his lab coat to answer.
"What is it? I'm busy." Magdalena's face appeared in a sketchy, small hologram on his wrist. Shiho rolled her eyes in disgust.
"Daddy, the turtles are here! Should I take care of them?" Marcus chuckled when Shiho gasped. Leo was here, at last. Already, she could feel his presence coming closer to her.
Hurry, Leo…Hurry… She chanted in her head with her eyes closed, trying her best to focus her energy the way Splinter had her taught her.
"No, no. Let Karai take care of them, she's been dying to get her hands on that Leonardo. We should let her have her fun."
"On it, Daddy!" Magdalena was so trusting, Shiho couldn't understand. Marcus fed her lie after lie since the day she was born that he loved her when all he was going to do now was slaughter her. The man had no shame, no guilt, no heart or soul. It amazed the fox how he was able to look at himself in the mirror and not wretch, she certainly wanted to at just the sight of him. She flinched when he reached out to touch her cheek that had been sliced open.
"My, my. Looks like Micah got a little carried away. You're all cut up." She was sliced all over her body.
"No thanks to you. Where's Aanika?" She demanded, yanking her face away from his hand with a snarl.
"Just merely seperating you. Honestly Shiho, what were you thinking? Letting a mutant turtle take the role of being a father. Was this some sort of fantasy where you were a happy little family?"
"I was thinking I'm doing the best I can for her. Leo loves her like a daughter and she adores him. For the first time, she has a family that loves her. She was just starting to forget about you and the things you did to her and it's all thanks to Leo and her uncles." Even as she spoke, Shiho was still crying out for Leo. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep her Madness at bay; she had no way of knowing what it would do to her babies inside.
"Why does it matter to you, you never gave two shits about us, Marcus. And now, Maggie is going to know what you intend to do with her," Shiho smirked and caught Marcus off guard. He had no way of knowing that she had the earpiece recording, he couldn't see it under all the fur inside the shell. As they were, Donnie's cell was being streamed the recording.
"You're going to die today, Marcus. Make no mistake about it."
The turtles were neck deep in combat with dozens of Foot ninja, they just kept coming out of the woodwork and stealing all their valuable time. Raphael and Saundra were more than enjoying themselves, Leo had said once they landed that it didn't matter if any of them walked away or not. He was more than fed up with Karai and he was going to make damn sure that he made it clear that he was coming for her. Killing her little workers was one sure way to setting her off and bringing her out of wherever she was hiding.
"Man, these guys just keep comin'! HAAH!" Raph grunted as three ninjas piled onto the back of his shell. In response he jumped backwards and landed on top of them with all of his weight, crushing them between his carapace and the concrete floor. His dark eyes rolled when two more came sprinting towards him. Crouching down with his sais clutched in his hands, the red masked ninja chuckled as they came closer.
"Come on…come on!" He chanted and dashed forward. With a leap he sank both of his weapons into the center of his assailant's chests and launched backwards using them as a springboard. When the hired guns collapsed, Raph couldn't help but spin his sais and laugh. "Cheap…"
"Heads up, Raph!" Mikey yelled, body slamming another ninja that attempted to sneak up on his brother and conked him hard on the skull with the end of one nunchaku. "Bad ninja! Take a nap!"
"Guys! We need to get up the floors and find Shiho and Aanika!" Leo shouted, his katanas clashed together with another sword wielding Foot. His teeth clenched together against his opponent's strength trying to put him on his back. With a growing growl, Leo forcibly shoved the ninja back and sent him stumbling. Leo didn't give him time to recover as he sprung forward and slashed him open in the belly, bringing him to his knees in a crumpled pile.
Saundra and Fiona were back to back and surrounded by six ninjas. They closed the circle with their hands held up as if to grab the girls but they had something in store for them. Fiona grinned and let them get a little closer….a little closer.
"Ready? On three Sandy…" The gecko nodded and kept turning around with her sister. The circle was almost closed around them now. "THREE!"
Fiona jumped from a low crouch as Saundra got down and spun around, knocking all six ninjas on their backs with her thick tail. She landed on the chest of one hard enough to break his breast bone and cause him to scream. Irritated, she slapped him across the cheek. Donnie grinned from where he was fending off his opponents, watching Fiona defend herself.
"That's my girl!" Beamed the genius, spinning his bo and whacking skulls. The fox wiggled her tail excitedly hearing her mate, winking at him as she moved with her sister towards the stairs. There was no elevator in this building; they had to climb five stories on just the stairs. The task seemed daunting when there were ninjas coming out of every nook and cranny.
The brothers ran to join the sisters on the stairs and surrounded them, keeping them in the center. The boys growled at the approaching ninjas but were blindsided by a downpour of smoke pellets. It wasn't steam, so they couldn't see a thing but through the smoke they could hear Saundra and Fiona begin to cry out when they were suddenly cut off. Raphael and Donatello tensed and searched the smoke with their hands out in front of them.
"Fiona!" Donnie cried. "Fiona where are you?!"
Raphael snarled. "Saundra! Dammit, Saundra!"
The turtles choked and coughed from the thick air and dashed up the stairs to escape the cloud. Up two flights of stairs they sprinted, fending off chasing ninjas to their best efforts as their lungs burned and their eyes stung from the overwhelming smoke. Anxiously, Raph and Donnie searched the stairs and stared at the smoke cloud waiting for any sign of their mates. Panic surged through the both of them when they realized the girls weren't there, they had been taken. Just like Shiho.
"No! NO! Saundra! Answer me!" Raph bellowed, hoping that she'd yell at him to shut his trap. When he was answered with only silence, the hot headed turtle shoved his sai through the plastered wall with a loud grunt. "Dammit!"
"My, my Raphael. You sure do know how to destroy a place from its foundation. My sister certainly picked a wild one." Said a light voice from up the stairs. All four heads snapped around and their eyes landed on Karai, Magdalena, and Micah.
"Donnie…we'll take care of these three, you have the tracking device. Find Shiho…" Leo whispered to his brother. Silently, the genius nodded and readied his bo staff. Karai stood on the last flight of stairs, they were almost there! Her arms folded across her chest with her green eyes staring heavily onto Leonardo. The gaze made his blood boil and a veil of red to mask his vision. Karai was the reason Shiho was stolen, she betrayed them all.
"You don't look so happy to see me, Leonardo. Could it be perhaps that you are angry with yourself for not protecting your mate?" Karai was egging him on, she could tell by the way he stalked up the stairs with his katanas gripped tightly in his fists. Micah chuckled and looked at Raphael, winking at him in a way that caused the turtle to chuck a bladed star aimed between his pale emerald eyes. Without batting an eyelash, the male fox dodged to the side and laughed in Raphael's face.
"Karai…you aren't walking out of here today. You will fight me and we will end this once and for all," Leo rumbled, slicing his swords together and cutting the air as he made a running leap up the stairs. The blades made contact with Karai's own katana. Her small lips smirked and their battle begun. She'd been waiting years for this, the chance to finally put an end to the one who ruined Oroku Saki. But Leo was not having any of it today. His anger and his determination fueled him and propelled him forward sending kicks and blows.
"Aww…I get to play with the cute orange one? That's no fair, Micah trade me!" Magdalena cried. Mikey didn't want to fight her, he always found it difficult fighting a girl from the morals hammered into him by Splinter. Never hit a girl. But…this was Magdalena, the evil little twitch that was Shiho's sworn enemy. The girl who tried to take their vixen apart. From his battle with Raphael, the male fox hissed.
"Uhhh…so does that mean I'm off the hook?" Mikey said with a lazy smile. "You know I never got your number, Sweetheart."
Flirtatiously, Magdalena giggled. Must have been a fox thing because now she found herself deviously attracted to Michelangelo, despite her utter distaste towards her host.
"Shut up, Blondie! I'm busy!" Micah sent his foot into Raphael's plastron and sent him flying down the steps, crashing his carapace into the wall. The contact left an enormous dent in the wall's plaster when Raphael fell to the steps with a loud groan. Channeling that dark place in his mind, Micah called upon the Madness, trying to awaken the beast from its slumber.
"Alright, Tough Guy…let's dance…" Raph sneered, waving his sai in a motion that said 'Bring it on'.
"Guys! Come on!" Leo grunted as he slashed and deflected blows with Karai. She was fighting with everything she had today and wasn't going to stop until he collapsed from exhaustion. Then, she'd have his head. But Leo wasn't about to give up, he could still hear Shiho crying and calling for him and that alone kept him motivated enough to stay on his feet. "Look at yourself, Karai! You're fighting a battle that isn't your own for revenge. This has to stop!"
The female ninja swung for a roundhouse kick to Leo's face but he ducked and knocked her feet out from underneath her. She almost fell onto her back but caught herself with her hands and sprung forward with a battle cry, her katana raised above her head. Leo gasped and barely dodged in time but managed to grab her by the wrists and slam her back into the wall. From there, she fell onto the steps and spat, wiping her mouth with her hand.
"I will never stop! Not until every single one of you is destroyed and my father's vengeance is had. You must pay for what you've done, Leonardo!" She wailed, slicing her blade against Leo's bicep. The turtle groaned and hissed when his skin opened to the fresh wound and stumbled. Karai took her chance and took a swing at his other arm and cut him there too.
"I will start my vengeance with slicing those monster children that grow in your beloved's womb and hold them before your eyes. You will know what real suffering is when I at last cut her down. Then, Leonardo, I will finish with you."
The mention of his unborn children ignited a strange fire in Leonardo that he'd never felt before as he clenched his teeth and ran at the ninja swinging. He came at her like a ravenous animal with a thirst for only blood, slicing and hacking at her arms and legs. Cuts of all sizes sprung through her dark clothing and grew moist from her blood. Truly, Karai was afraid as Leo bellowed a cry she hadn't heard out of him in the years she's known him.
"You will not harm Shiho! I'll have you begging for your life if you so much as go near her," He growled, rushing her and pinning her against the wall with the sharp side of one of his blades held to her throat. Karai could see the flames in his amber eyes as he sneered and pressed the blade down onto her flesh.
Leo snorted. "Donnie! Go!"
Donnie saw his opportunity and pushed his way past the pinned Karai and the foxes and took off down the hallway through the stairwell door. He ran following the signal that Shiho's beacon was emitting all the while searching for his mate and the other two sisters. The hallway was long and wide, well lit with a row of solid doors on the left side. All marked with numbers. The Shell Cell beeped with Shiho's signal as he went along, looking in through the windows on the doors to see if he could find the other three.
"Shiho!" Donnie cried when he found the door she was behind. He could see her huddled in the corner, holding herself. Deep cuts in her arms and legs, and even that three clawed slash in her cheek made him wince. He couldn't imagine how painful it was. When he pounded his fist on the door, tall ears perked up and her head rose. Instantly, an elated and relieved grin came across her face.
"Donnie?" She rushed the door and clawed at it desperately. "DONNIE!"
"Stand back, I'm going to blow the lock!" He called, his voice muffled through the door but she could still hear him. Jumping back into the room, Shiho waited as Donnie stuck a small explosive over the lock of the door and let it detonate. Slowly, the thick door swung open and Shiho flung herself into the turtle.
"Donnie! Oh Donnie, you came!" Shiho buried her face against his neck and hugged him tight, she'd never been happier to see the genius. Relief washed over him when he realized she was essentially unharmed with no trace of The Madness. In his arms, she trembled with barely contained sobs trying her best to keep it together.
"Of course we came, we couldn't just leave you here. Are you alright?" He took her delicate face into his hands and examined that deep slash on her cheek. It looked harsh enough to leave a scar but with some of the oils ad creams back home, he could fix it.
"No I'm not okay, he's got Aanika somewhere. He isn't just after me anymore, Donnie. He's not stopping with me. He's going to take everyone out, Maggie included. We've gotta get outta here!"
"Okay, okay. You need to calm down, getting yourself this upset is not a good thing for the babies."
Shiho gasped and covered her mouth. "You know? H-how? I haven't told anyone yet."
"You told Leo. He heard you in his mind, I'll explain later but you need to stay calm, okay?" Shiho took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Donnie clutched her close with a sigh of relief. That was one sister, three to go.
"Where's Saundra and Fiona?" A look of disdain crossed Donnie's face.
"Your sisters were taken in a smoke screen before Raph and I could grab them. Do you have any idea where they might be?" Shiho clutched Donnie's arms and knit her brows together in thought. She tried desperately to remember where Marcus would take them in the old lab. From the stairwell, she could hear the rest of her brothers fighting and wondered just how they were fairing against Micah and Magdalena.
"The experimentation chamber. Come on I have an idea where it's at. Are the guys coming?" She asked, already out the door. She froze. "Where's Leo?"
As if on cue, from the stairwell, Shiho could hear Karai screaming and the stair door fly open. The female ninja came out first with a blade held to her throat and her head yanked back by the hair. She was being lead by Leo and writhed and struggled in his grasp, clenching her teeth and snarling angrily with each step she took. Leo really had the advantage this time, he wasn't about to let her go.
"Leo!" Shiho started towards him.
"Stop Shiho! Where are they Karai?" Leo hardly even acknowledged Shiho. His focus was on Karai who snarled at the sight of Shiho and kicked her legs and snarled like an animal. If Donnie hadn't grabbed Shiho's wrist, she would have acted and crushed Karai's spine in seconds.
Leo's grip on Karai's hair tightened. "Answer me when I'm talking to you! Where's my daughter, dammit!"
"D-…Door number five. Now let me go! I told you where she is!" Shiho's eyes widened when she noticed Leo's wrist twitch.
"I never said I was going to let you go. Now," Karai let out half a scream before being silenced by the blade of Leo's katana slicing through her larynx and cutting her delicate throat wide open.
"Say hello to your father for me."
Shiho almost screamed herself and hid herself away against Donnie's plastron. Never before had she seen the fine silver blade stained with blood. It was over in a matter of seconds, her nightmare with Karai. But…was it really a fair defeat?
No. Shiho couldn't think like that. Karai had betrayed all of them and practically handed her over to Marcus. She deserved to die. Years of pain and anguish dealt out by the hand of Karai and the Shredder were at last put to rest with the end of her. No longer would any of them have to look over their shoulders in case of a Foot Ninja ambush and no more would they be pursued by a vengeance seeking lunatic. But…Leo. Shiho had never believed he was capable of actually taking someone else's life. Then again, Leo had never felt more driven to protect anything more than Shiho.
With the flick of his blade, the silver was flung clean of any essence of Karai. Her blood would forever stain the weapon, he knew that. But as long as he didn't have to see it, he didn't have to acknowledge it. Returning the weapon into its sheath on his carapace, Leo panted heavily and stared at Karai intensely. Now she was just an empty shell of someone who was the cause of so much grief.
"Leo…" Shiho croaked from Donnie's embrace. At last, Leo came out of the dark place he was in and looked up to his mate. Donnie's arms dropped as Leo stepped over Karai's body with his own arms outstretched. Shiho hesitated for a moment. This must have been what Leo felt when he witnessed her consumed by the Madness when she made a meal out of that Purple Dragon. Fear.
"Shiho. It's me…" Was it? That fire in his amber eyes extinguished as he stood still, waiting for her to come to him. It pained him to see her beautiful skin torn open by so many cuts…her gorgeous face slashed in the cheek. When his arms slowly began to drop is when Shiho sprinted towards him and threw her arms around his neck, crashing into his plastron. She was afraid he'd disappear if she didn't hold him.
"Leo!" Instantly, his arms found their place around her waist and picked her up under her thighs, holding her high above him. Barely contained sobs came through smiling lips, tear filled eyes met his in bliss. Shiho leaned down and pressed a much overdue kiss against his lips, whimpering as she did so. It might have been the situation they were in but Shiho felt it was the best kiss they'd ever shared.
"Oh thank goodness…Oh Baby…are you alright? All of you?" Leo said, setting her down onto her feet. Donnie moved past them to look for door five, explosive ready. The blue masked turtle leaned down and touched foreheads with his mate, his hand resting against her tummy's bump. How did he not notice it before? There was definitely a prominant swell in her abdomen and it should have been so obvious, but they were so convinced that it was impossible they never considered it as a possibility.
Shiho nodded, laying her hand on top of his. "We're fine."
Leo shut his eyes and swallowed, his hand making small circular caresses through her shirt. He wondered if the little ones inside could feel him, if they knew how much he loved them already. "I can't believe you're—"
"Found her!" Donnie called, setting off his small explosive and blowing the door open. Both Leo and Shiho gasped when he was launched backwards by a tiny blur and a squeal. Childlike sobs and cries came from against Donnie's plastron as in his arms cowered Aanika. Both Leo and Shiho hurried to their brother's side where Aanika threw herself onto Leo.
Aanika squirmed until he held her tight and buried her face against his neck. "Daddy came!"
Leo smiled. "Yeah, sweetheart. Daddy came for you."
A/N: Okay, so perhaps I have the slightest chip on my shoulder when it comes to Karai...okay I give. I hate the bitch. She had to die! It wasn't as climactic as I wanted it to be but I just seriously didn't know what else to do. I kind of came up with almost nothing for this chapter e-e I'm running out of juice here! Almost done!