Started: 11-21-12 Finished:

Words:

I know I'm getting kind of out of character, just bear with me a bit. And if you see any glaring errors in anything, please please please tell me. I have a bit of a bad record for forgetting about that one crucially important detail.

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT

Watch, Turn, Spies all Around

Michelangelo

We creep around the corner, now much more comfortable in the increasing shadows. There is still no sign of an intruder; my brothers and I are relaxing from the false alarm. I put my chucks back into my belt and ask Leo, "What did you hear anyway?"

He relaxed his stance and turned to us, saying, "Some kind of shuffling woke me up, and I have a feeling that it was not just my imagination."

Don leaned on his staff and crisply stated, "Well, considering where we are in the city, it would not surprise me in the least if there were homeless people that lived around here. If that were the case, we should be careful about when we attack, and make sure we don't assume that everything that moves is an enemy." He looks at the three of us pointedly, pausing for a second on Raphael. He would be the first to attack and go all berserker. Dons' face fell, however he spoke with confidence, making him an odd sight, "The batteries on the robot should last for about another 15 to 20 hours," Raph, Leo, and I focus our gazes on Don, "Then it will freeze and be unable to move… I am about halfway finished with its memory banks; however, it does know what to do to charge itself. While it is charging, it cannot move, so that is the time we should strike. If we catch it while it is charging, it would be aware of us, but it would not be able to attack. Then I would be able to shut it down. We just have to catch it while it's charging."

For Don to have said so much when not distracted by something goes to show how much he is affected by all of this. Whenever he is not working on something, he generally does not speak in such long phrases, however when he is distracted (such as by a project) he will talk mindlessly, half the time not remembering what he said (whenever it is unimportant for our greater good). *He must be feeling really guilty if he's getting so out of character…* I smirk at him and playfully say, "Well then, I guess we'll just have to turn it to scrap metal while it takes its little nap."

There is no further sign of life, so we come out of the shadows and into the open, which is now bathed in cool darkness and the glow from distant streetlights. A cool breeze washes over us, rustling the tails of our masks, causing their ends to flutter in the slight wind.

Raph's head perks up slightly, probably having heard something in the distance. "Sounds like a rape. Their hands will neva' be used again after tonight," Raph growled and ran off. Leo looks after him as if he is crazy, but follows him anyway, with Don and I close behind.

A few seconds after we start running, I hear what Raph must have heard—the screams of a girl followed by the maniacal laughter of several men. As we neared, the screams intensified in both volume and desperation, until it stopped all of a sudden. I look to Raph, whose speed had just taken a drastic increase. I could no longer keep up with them; the pain in my leg would be even more unbearable than it already is. Raph disappears between two buildings, the sound of metal on flesh following shortly. Leo and Don leap down between the buildings; I am forced to climb down due to the pain from my leg. The alley is gruesome.

There were three men about 30, and there is a young girl about 16. The men are dead, mauled by the slashing of twin sais. The girl is unconscious and covered by a trench coat. The girl has pale skin and dark hair, the exact color unable to be discerned in the darkness. Her breathing is slow and even. A pool of blood is gathering beneath the pile of men, small splatters on the wall behind them, crimson turning nearly black in the night. Raph was standing next to the girl protectively.

Out of all crimes, rape is the one that Raphael hates the most. It, more than anything else, sets him off and causes him to be the most ruthless. I the case of these men, Raph was unusually quick. He generally takes much longer with his kills of these type of perpetrators. Leo, Don, and I only hasten his torture when we are about to be discovered, people who would do such things deserve what Raph has in store for them. We acutely feel the pain of those who are put in these situations much more than others.

From what I see during our excursions, I create my pictures. What we do is often full of gore, and it has imprinted on my mind to an irrevocable degree. I can imagine ways to murder someone using intensively painful and bloody methods. I know that if I keep all this in my head, I will go crazy and start killing in this way, so I draw it instead.

Leo approaches Raph and sadly asked, "Was she hurt?"

Raphael meets Leonardo's eyes and tersely replies, "She has severe bruising to her arms and legs. She was knocked out when I got here, and those three were 'preparing' themselves," he growled the last part furiously and looked down at the girl, "I covered her with one of their coats after I killed them."

Don steps forward and cautiously asks, "May I check her for injuries? We may have to bring her to the hospital." Raph nods and steps back from her, although staying close in case something goes wrong.

Donatello removes the trench coat from her legs, respecting her privacy as he lightly feels for broken bones. He stops at her ankle, feeling more carefully. He replaces the coat and moves to her arms, replacing the coat. He looks at Raph awkwardly and asks, "can you get me something to cover her please, I'm sure she wouldn't want anyone else seeing her against her will, even if it is to help her." Raph nods and takes the cleanest of the men's shirts to Don. The four of us close our eyes. I hear shuffling as he puts the shirt on her. *If he can put together a shell cell in near darkness, I'm sure he can put a shirt on someone without looking.* Once the shuffling stops, we open our eyes and see Don gently prodding her ribs. He stops again at one of them and replaces the coat over her once again. He stands up and says, "It feels like she has a broken ankle and rib. I cannot tell of she has any internal injuries without a further inspection, preferably when she is conscious. If I were to guess, she will be waking up about—"the girl shuffles a bit under the coat, "about now." Leo dashes forward and pushes a pressure point, causing her to slump.

Leo looks to us and states, "She will be knocked out for about 5 minutes. We will take her to the hospital. Then we will go to Aprils and Don will talk to her about when we can strike while we het patched up." Raph does not look happy in the least about having to follow orders, however he concedes, probably only because we have limited time. Raph picks up the girl, being the least injured out of the four of us, and goes to the rooftops to take her to the hospital. The three of us remaining turn to go to April's house.

My leg has gone from feeling as if it was being stabbed by needles to feeling like it is being hacked at with a dull knife. I can barely suppress a moan of pain as we leap across the rooftops. In an attempt to dull the pain through some humor, I joke, "And Turtle Titan takes to the skies once more!" switching now to an announcer voice, "The Titan and his two loyal sidekicks race from rooftop to rooftop, protecting the city from lawbreakers all!" Now in a better mood a huge, teeth bearing smile is molded onto my face. Joking dulls the pain. We land on Aprils rooftop and climb onto the fire escape. Leo peers into the room through the curtains and knocks gently on the window. I hear shuffling from one of the rooms, and April emerges shortly. Her face is free of makeup and she is wearing a t-shirt and shorts, we had probably interrupted her trying to go to sleep.

She opens the window and sleepily inquires, "What the hell are you guys doing here? And where's Raph?" she steps aside, allowing us inside.

I enthusiastically reply before Don or Leo even takes a breath, "A big robot went all AHHHH! And we were all like Ow! Then we were all Run Away! Run Away! Then we went to this big scary building… It was creepy!... Then we came here." I purposely left out the bit about the girl because of Aprils general aversion to those stories. Everybody is looking at me strangely. *Good. Get their minds off of the bad stuff and let them go into it with a bit of a better mood from my amazing crazy.*

"What in the world are you talking about Mikey?"April asked in an exasperated tone.

Leo clarified, "Dons robot went haywire; we fought it and got hurt so we ran away from the lair. We then went to an abandoned apartment building until it got dark. Then we came here." April nodded at actually being able to understand what he said.

April gave us another look, "But where's Raph?"

Leo didn't miss a beat, "He's just going to finish up patrolling around here. He'll be back any minute." She didn't look convinced, but did not voice her suspicion.

After a bit more mindless chatter, Raph appeared in the window, causing everyone to let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding. None spoke of what he had been doing, however they all knew that they were going to speak about it later.

I don't like meetings and group chats very much. Most of the time whenever we need to have one, something is not right, and we never get together just to talk. Afterwards we are almost always unhappy. My primary goal in life is to make others happy (right behind making sure that they are safe of course, but do I really need to say that?) and to watch as the happiness of my brothers deteriorates is painful to my soul.

Don patched everybody up about an hour ago, and now I'm walking around in a light cast and Leo now has a white arm and is on pain meds every few hours. I've been flipping through channels, Leo has been meditating, Raph is sitting next to me, and Don and April have been discussing strategy for the robot or something. April is about to go to bed, we did keep her from going to sleep, and we bid her quiet farewell. After she shuts her door, we wait until we can hear steady breathing indicating that she is asleep. I turn off the tv and go over to the small dining table, joining my brothers.

Leo starts the generally unpleasant ordeal in a quiet voice, "Where did you put her, and were you seen by any of the cameras?"

Raph takes a deep breath and replies in an equally soft tone, "I put her right outside the viewing range of any of the cameras. No, they did not see me."

TBC on Raphs POV!