Jazz wasn't sure what she was doing, but getting off the crazy train had just become her first priority. She could tell the man had only been temporarily stunned by her makeshift weapon, but it provided the opportunity she needed to reach over him to get to the button that controlled the door locks.
Her heart thudded loudly in her ears as she jumped out of the Jeep and made a run for it, sprinting in the direction of the closest civilization. The rain had lapsed momentarily, but the puddles through which she was dashing felt deep enough to drown a small mammal.
Jazz drew up short when she found herself facing down one of the SUVs, though she wasn't shocked to come up cornered. It still felt better to have made some attempt to escape instead of waiting for them to come get her. When she looked back over her shoulder, however, she was pretty disgusted to realize that she was only a few yards away from where she'd started.
Both SUVs moved into position to flank the Jeep. As the doors opened, the young woman was spurred on to run once more, ignoring the voice in her head telling her that she'd never make it. The natural instinct for flight had taken over. Jazz ran about four strides before someone extremely light-footed caught up with her.
She whirled around to face the Asian stranger, cringing as he caught her by the back of the neck. "Let me go! I'm not part of this! I don't even know that crazy freak; let me GO!"
Yelling only had the effect of causing his grip to tighten. The man's face remained impassive as he dragged her back over to the group that was surrounding the Jeep Liberty as if it was some tremendous prize. Jazz scanned the circle with confusion, taking in the overwhelming sight of the hardened men.
Where did all these jokers come from? This feels like the plot of some awful B-movie, not something that happens in real life. The Asian man clutching her by the neck was joined by another on her right side, providing insurance that she truly wasn't going anywhere. Yeah, because one scary guy wasn't enough.
Her attention was drawn as her original "kidnapper" was yanked out of his car, and she winced at the sight of the bleeding gash across his cheek bone. She had a moment to wonder how badly she'd hurt him, before a female voice joined the male-dominated ranks. Jazz cocked her head at the manner with which the men gave way to the woman as she strode through them, stopping and staring hard at Greg.
Jazz couldn't understand whatever she was saying about him, but she suspected that it wasn't anything good. The Asian woman turned then, and verily glided in her direction. The young woman swore she nearly walked on top of the puddles instead of through them. Dark ebony eyes regarded Jazz coolly, with an expression that appeared to be devoid of emotion.
Man, those weird turtles were more human than this chick is. What on earth—A scuffle interrupted her thought, and she realized that her "partner in crime" was a little more lively than she'd originally thought. To her astonishment she realized that Greg had broken away from the man who was balancing him upright, and was now aiming his firearm.
The Asian woman spun with the grace of a dancer. "Put it down, Agent Heffernan," she said crisply.
Jazz was shocked to hear her speak English, but then chided herself for imagining that the woman couldn't.
"No," Greg replied stoically. "Not unless you let her go. This girl has nothing to do with us; she's never even heard of the Shitenno."
The what? Is he speaking English?
"Do you want one of your warriors to die unnecessarily, or can you let her go without a fight?" Greg challenged. "You can have me. I'm the reason you're here."
He's actually trying to get me out of this?
Rather than responding to him, the Asian woman inclined her head toward one of the SUVs, and three more men emerged, who'd been unseen behind tinted glass. Jazz caught her breath when she saw their assault rifles. The nature of the weapons wasn't lost on her; she'd been raised in a military family.
"I am not here to negotiate with you, Agent Heffernan," the strange woman said. "You will do as I say and give up your gun, before we kill this young woman merely to spite you."
Greg held up his handgun in surrender, grimacing as one of the men snatched it from his outstretched hand.
"Very good, Heffernan," the woman said flatly. "I have no real need of the extra baggage. I will do this girl the favor of a quick death."
The proclamation was so cold, Jazz couldn't believe it had come out of the woman's mouth. Grey eyes widened as the speaker whipped back around to face her, and caught her by the chin. The young woman mentally tried to prepare herself to breathe her last breath, and was surprised she didn't feel more disappointed.
The loud engine of an approaching vehicle ruined Jazz's chance to enjoy the oxygen. The arrival of the car signaled the beginning of gunfire, and she was lost as to how to respond to it. She wanted to try and run again, but reason reminded her that she wouldn't make it far.
Jazz settled for hitting the pavement and covering her head with her arms, temporarily lost in the madness of car engines, assault rifles, and loud voices. When she chanced a look over her shoulder, she saw two vehicles. The armored van made her gaze linger for a couple of seconds, before focusing on the Volvo that the gunfire seemed to be targeting.
Between the rifles discharging, she heard smaller guns returning fire, hopelessly outmatched by the larger weapons. Jazz barely had the opportunity to wonder why the Asians were concentrating their efforts on the smaller car, when two shadowy figures lunged into the pack of men. She hadn't even seen them coming while focused on the gunfire, but was instantly concerned that the strangers were about to be murdered in cold blood. When she squinted her eyes, she recognized the form of one of the creatures from the Travel Agency.
The turtles! They're back! And they're about to get killed!
She was confused (but secretly relieved) when the men didn't turn their rifles on the turtles. Other members of the group huddled up around the side of the collection of gunmen, as if to shield them from outside assault. Dread turned into astonishment in a flash as she watched the ferocity with which the creatures attacked the men.
She was so distracted in trying to watch the fight that she didn't notice Greg standing over her until he grabbed her arm. Jazz started to ask him how he'd escaped the men, but shut her mouth as she realized that it wasn't necessary. He'd been forgotten in the same way that she had in the middle of gunfire and blows.
The man gave her a push to get her moving, and caught her around the waist as her shaky legs stumbled. Greg planted himself squarely behind her, guiding her in the direction of the armored van. Jazz expected death to come at any moment, but the unreal scene continued raging without either of them being hit by bullets.
When they were within range of the van, Greg urged her against the protected side, standing in the path of the only direction from which they were still exposed.
"Around the back!" he shouted, as the closer-range handgun fire rang in her ears.
As Jazz slid against the side and peered at the back doors, she caught sight of three figures crouching near the ground, hiding behind the Volvo.
"Inside!" Greg ordered, yanking open one of the doors.
For the first time that evening, she didn't even hesitate.
Raphael was gripping the steering wheel of the van so hard that it felt like it was about to come off in his hands. "Stay in the van," Leo said, "Provide us with a quick getaway." Raphael burned silently in the driver's seat. Getaway nothing. Our friends are about to get shot to pieces out there.
The red-masked turtle knew that the firefight hadn't been going on very long, but the need to move felt urgent nonetheless. A bang on the passenger side door nearly sent him into overdrive, before he saw Greg at the window, and unlocked the car to let him inside.
"Raph, we have to get your brothers out of that!" Greg exclaimed.
"They ain't shooting at Leo and Mikey, they wanna kill the rest of you! We're the only ones they need alive!"
"We're not going to win this fight!" Greg said bluntly. "We've got to get your brothers, and provide some type of distraction so that the others can escape! Kat and Tim don't carry a huge amount of ammo on them, and they're no match for those rifles anyway! Their firepower is a lot greater than ours!"
"The shell it is," Raphael said shortly. "Go around back and yell at them to watch the van. They'll know when to make their move. You probably ought to ride with that girl."
Greg opened the door again without asking any questions, but then he stiffened. "I hear sirens coming, Raph! We've gotta finish this up before the cops do!"
"Do what I said!" the turtle ordered, and reached for his cell phone. Leonardo had put his earpiece in at the last minute so that he'd be able to give him instructions if it was necessary, but now Raphael had an instruction of his own. "Leo, do ya hear me?"
"Make it fast, Raph!"
"Leo, you and Mike gotta fall back from those SUVs! The cops are on their way, and we have to split!"
"Raph, this is our best chance t—"
"Fearless, get yourself away from them SUVs now, or you're putting our friends in worse danger!"
"All right!" Leonardo agreed. "We're heading back around!"
Raphael searched for their forms in the shadows, and was grateful to see two figures bounding away from the action. The red-masked turtle took a deep breath as he reached under the dashboard and depressed two buttons at the same time. To his right a small monitor flickered to life and he angled a joystick to line up the proper target on the screen.
He clutched the stick tightly to prevent his hand from shaking and exhaled once more, then mashed the button in the center of the instrument to deploy a single missile. The turtle felt like he was inside of a dream as he watched the weapon launch and rapidly strike one of the SUVs across from them, with a fiery explosion that lit up the scene.
The shock of what he'd done left Raphael paralyzed for a couple more seconds, before he realigned the screen on the remaining SUV. His hand was steadier on the joystick this time, and the faintest hint of a smirk broke on his features as he deployed a second missile. He was captured once more by the destruction the weapon wrought, so that he barely noticed when Leonardo hopped into the passenger side of the Battleshell.
"Shell, Raph, are you out of your mind? How could you unleash the missiles without even consulting me?"
"Let's talk about that later, Leo!" Raphael barked in return. "Did you see if the others got out of the way?"
"The Volvo is in motion!" Leonardo answered. "Just get us out of here before the police roll in!"
"I hope everybody buckled up," he muttered, whipping the van around in a tight circle.
The red-masked turtle quickly accelerated away from the scene, but couldn't resist looking back in his side mirror. "Wow," he uttered. "Guess they know who's got the real firepower now."
Leo shook his head. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were going to do that!"
"I told you to get away from the cars, didn't I? I had to do something, Leo; our friends coulda been killed out there. Do you get that? I had to do something!" he repeated.
His older brother leaned back in his seat, hiding his eyes momentarily. "That could have gone a lot smoother."
"We got everybody, don't we? Plus one hitchhiker."
Leonardo groaned loudly. "Holy shell, that girl. I'll be surprised if she hasn't had a heart attack already."
"She looked okay when Heff rushed her by."
Leo looked toward the mirror, and Raphael knew that he was staring at the flames shooting up into the sky.
"Don's gonna have a few words for you," Leonardo murmured wearily.
"About what? Distracting a few morons with guns so our friends could get away, and preventing them from following us?"
"He'll probably just be sorry he missed it," Leo said dryly. "So much for a quiet recon operation."