Raphael's cry was all it took to spur Leonardo back to his feet from leaning over Brandon. The blue-masked turtle was only slightly ahead of Donatello, who was also running in that direction. Leonardo nearly stopped in his tracks when he saw the size of the broken concrete that was pinning his brother's shell to the ground. Kelley was anxiously circling Raphael, like there was some chance he'd be able to free him on his own.
Leonardo hit the ground beside his red-masked brother, but quickly backed up to make room for Donny.
"Raph! Talk to me!" Donatello demanded.
He only made a strangled sound in reply, and the purple-masked turtle swore.
"He can't breathe under this thing, Leo, we have to get it off!"
"How much do you think it weighs?"
"A lot!" Donatello went around the other side, scanning for the best position to take on the concrete.
Greg appeared around the shadowed corner to see what was going on. "Oh, God!" In a matter of seconds he was beside Leonardo.
"Maybe if we could raise it just a few inches..." Leonardo murmured.
"Then I could try and pull him out," Kelley offered, heading around front.
"It might be better if you grabbed him by the legs," Don told him.
The man shook his head. "No. They took the first impact of this thing before it crashed onto his..."
"Shell," Donatello filled in anxiously.
"Let's get this done quickly before he has more injuries to deal with. Greg, lift with your legs, this is going to be difficult." Leonardo exhaled as he jammed his shoulder under the slab. "On my count, guys."
The blue-masked turtle counted to three, before calling upon the hidden reserves of strength that most people never even realized they possessed inside themselves. He heard Greg's pained grunt, and immediately pushed harder to take more of the strain off the human. Kelley was already on the earth, scrambling to reach Raphael. Leonardo couldn't see what he was doing, but he heard the shuddering breath his brother released, and the scraping sound that accompanied Kelley dragging him.
"We're out!" Kelley's voice boomed.
"Okay," Leonardo said with clenched teeth. "On my count one more time, we're going to let go. Three. Two. One."
They simultaneously released the slab, and Leonardo had barely taken a chance to breathe before Donatello darted to Raphael, who was still face-down on the ground. Leo made sure that Greg was okay, and hurried to join his younger brother.
"Raph, are you breathing? Can you say something?" Donatello was bent near the red-masked turtle's head.
"Yeah," he answered under duress. "It's...uh...I can't feel my leg. That's bad, right?"
Leonardo looked down for the first time, and his mouth dropped. Raphael's right leg was bent at an unnatural angle, but it was far from the worst part. His left leg almost looked deformed. "Donny, did you..."
Donatello glanced over at him and nodded gravely. "We're out of the building, Raph, that's the important thing. We're all alive, and we're going to get you to help."
Leonardo came up on his prone brother's other side, and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "We're here, Raph. Everything will be all right."
The blue-masked turtle noticed that Kelley appeared to be transfixed by the sight of an injured Raphael. "Director, you need to get off your feet. Heff, would you help him?"
As Greg led a reluctant looking Kelley away, Leo turned back to Donatello and motioned toward his brother's backpack. Don nodded as if he knew exactly what Leonardo was suggesting.
"Raph, I think moving is going to be extremely painful, and then the trip home..." Donatello hesitated.
"What are you asking, Don?" Raphael was already sweating heavily.
"Would you mind if I sedated you?"
"Would I mind? Are you crazy? What are you waiting for?"
There was no further deliberation on the purple-masked turtle's part as he smoothly injected Raphael. "Let's wait a couple of minutes before we try and do anything with him, Leo. I want to make sure he's completely out first."
"What do you think we should do?" Leo asked tightly. "His legs don't look good."
"The right one definitely suffered a clean break, but the left..." Donatello didn't finish whatever he was thinking. "We've got to reach Marc. He's the expert."
"Marcus is around the corner." Greg turned back up behind them. "I just talked to him, and told him how to find us."
Leonardo was grateful and surprised in nearly equal proportions. "How did he know we needed help?"
"Mike called him and told him what we were up to. He'll be here soon."
"God bless him," Donny murmured, still staring at Raphael.
"Do we want to try and move him?" Leo asked.
"Let's just get a bit further away from the building. I don't want to take any more chances with the possibility of debris."
After Leonardo helped his brother move the red-masked turtle as carefully as possible, Don began to examine the rest of Raphael in the meantime, scanning for injuries that weren't as obvious.
Leonardo swallowed sharply, trying to settle down his racing pulse. Their complicated situation had just been jacked up to a new level of difficulty.
What are we going to do? Raphael needs serious medical intervention, and we've got nowhere to do this! Leonardo cast another glance over at the ruined building that wasn't going to last the night. He shivered as he considered the risk they were still taking in lingering closeby destruction. Leo edged closer to Donatello. "Are you finding anything else, Don?"
"It's hard to tell until we can get him off his chest. From the way he was talking, it seems like the pressure of the concrete was the only thing keeping his diaphragm from contracting. It'd be nice if he didn't have a sternal fracture to go along with everything else. I don't see any real head trauma, which is a plus."
"We have to take what we can get," Leo said morosely.
"I'm surprised he didn't pass out from the pain alone, judging from his left leg. There must have been some nerve damage involved, or his agony could have been at an all-time high."
Leonardo didn't bother asking if they should be grateful for that. About six more minutes passed before he heard Greg's voice ringing out to meet someone, and the blue-masked turtle leaped to his feet. The appearance of Marcus was like the coming of an angel.
"Are you and Donny okay?" Marc didn't mince words with a greeting.
"We're fine - it's Raph who needs you!" Leonardo returned.
Even as Marcus dropped to the ground, Greg appeared around the corner of the brick again.
"Hey, that soldier you left on the oxi isn't doing well," he said urgently. "I don't think he's breathing, Don!"
The purple-masked turtle stood torn for a couple of seconds, before following Greg to help with the burn victim he'd carried out of the building. Leo approached Marc's side tentatively. The man was maintaining a stoic expression for the turtle, but he could sense the anxiety rolling off Marcus in waves.
"Has Raphael been aware of anything?" Marc asked.
"He was awake up until a few minutes ago. Don sedated him."
"That's for the best I'm sure."
"Marc...about his leg..."
"The left one?" he asked quietly. "I don't have a good feeling about it. It's probably going to need serious reconstruction."
"How, Marc? What are we going to do, invade the basement of a hospital?"
The man shook his head. "Luke has an idea...I talked to him a few minutes ago. Everyone is going to be converging on the apartment tonight. We need a solution quickly, especially now."
"I thought Doc was still in Triage."
"I'm going to bust him out, once all of you are settled in back at my place." Marcus cast a longing look at Raphael. "First we have to get his legs immobilized so that we can safely move him."
Leonardo caught the almost imperceptible tremor in the man's shoulders.
"There are so many things we need to do, and they all feel like they need to happen at once," Marcus lamented.
Leo shook his head. "We can only face one task at a time, Marc. Let's just work on getting Raph home first, okay?"
Kelley didn't think that he was capable of being further shocked by the turtles, but the purple-masked one was proving him wrong. Donatello had rushed back along with Greg to see to the soldier, and had gotten right to work on him. He made an adjustment on part of the mask that was supposed to be helping the victim breathe, so he could help force oxygen into the man's lungs with his own breath.
The turtle started CPR with a vengeance, and Kelley watched the scene bleakly for several minutes as the soldier didn't respond. The only time he glanced away was when the new doctor and Leonardo shuffled toward the waiting vehicle with the hurt turtle. Matthew cringed inwardly as Greg raced to help them.
He probably saved my life by getting me out of the path of that concrete. He seemed more concerned about me than he did himself. I'd hate to think that he might not make it, after going through all of that. As further guilt surfaced, Matthew looked down at the ground. He...they don't even know me, and they did everything in their power to save me.
Kelley looked over at Donatello's fight to rescue what was clearly a lost cause. That soldier could have represented a major threat, and yet he's still compelled to save his life. Who are these creatures, and why do they care this much?
The newcomer slowly walked toward the purple-masked turtle, and reached for Donatello's shoulder. "Don. It's over," the man said gently.
"There's still a chance-"
"Donny, he's gone, and you know it. I'm sorry. You're not going to bring him back."
"But if we..."
The man crouched down closer to the earth beside him. "You can't save everyone. People die - it happens every day. His burns were too severe, Don. You did everything you could."
Donatello slumped over in his kneeling position, leaning further over the ground as the doctor got to his feet and headed in the direction of the vehicle.
Leonardo silently went over to join his brother. "Don?"
"I didn't do him any good," the turtle said weakly. "I think I only made him suffer more."
The blue-masked turtle reached for his arm, and pulled the other to his feet. "You did an honorable thing. You tried to save his life, Donny. Just because he died, doesn't mean you did anything wrong."
"All I could think was to get him out of that building...That he'd have a real shot. I feel so stupid."
"You're not stupid, bro," Leonardo said sternly. "Look at me. It's not the first time you've seen someone die, and it won't be the last. But you can still lay your head down at night without regret, knowing you did everything in your power to save him."
"Sometimes, it's not enough." The purple-masked turtle stifled a sob against his brother's shoulder.
Kelley felt like he was intruding, but he couldn't turn away from the two turtles. It's so interesting how they work together. Donatello took a clear lead inside, and with all the medical needs...but observing Leonardo, he feels more like the true center of the group. Seeing them this way, they really do look like brothers. This is all so unreal. They're too fantastic to exist, and yet they're standing a few feet away from me.
Leonardo held his brother for several seconds, while Marcus returned to cover the dead soldier with a blanket.
"We have to get going, Don," Leo said. "We need to get Raph out of here."
Donatello looked slightly dazed. "I don't know what we're going to do, Leo. We don't have anywhere to treat him properly."
"We'll figure it out," he replied determinedly. "But we also have to figure out what we're doing with Brandon."
"He needs a hospital, doesn't he?" Kelley spoke up.
"It's hard to get into one," Marcus replied. "They're pretty much full. We're probably going to have to settle for a Triage."
"I know a different place," Kelley answered. "I should be able to get him in."
"That would be helpful," the doctor said slowly. "Would you be able to make sure this gentleman gets recovered too?" He motioned to soldier on the ground.
Kelley nodded. "It's the least I can do, after all that the rest of you have done."
"Then I'm going to stick with you for now," Greg announced from behind him. "I want to make sure Bran gets taken care of, and you too, Director. I'm afraid my Jeep is about two miles from here."
"Well, we've come this far," Kelley replied.
"I don't mean for you to walk that distance, Sir, just to stay with Brandon while I get the car. I want the rest of the guys to clear out of here now, before Raphael starts waking up."
Kelley cast a swift glance at the turtles. "I don't understand any of this, or why...but thank you. I'm sorry your brother got hurt helping me. He didn't deserve that. I'm not going to be able to get that picture of him out of my head any time soon."
"It wasn't your fault," Leonardo told him. "The only thing we ask in return is that you keep our secret."
"I don't know anything about you, except that you exist." And who would believe that? he added silently. "My lips are sealed. I can guarantee I won't be telling anyone that mutant turtles rescued me from the Javits building. All I really want to do is go home to my wife and daughter. I'm not interested in ruining your way of life, whatever that might be."
"We appreciate that." The blue-masked turtle drew an arm around Donatello's back as he moved toward the car. "Heff, are you sure you'll be all right?"
"Positive, Leo. Get yourselves out of here, okay? I'll talk to you later, when I have real information about Brandon. Keep me updated on Raph too."
Kelley watched the strange figures disappear into the shadows surrounding the Avalanche, and then looked at Greg.
"Yes," Greg replied. "You just met the Mission Impossible crew."