Raphael felt a thrill of excitement as he climbed out of the Avalanche. He gripped the pommel of one of his sai, barely resisting the urge to draw the weapon. Soon…take it easy. They're all going down. He kept an eye on Leonardo as the blue-masked turtle crept around the ghostscraper, suddenly noticing the device in his brother's hand.
Raphael came alongside the oldest turtle for a closer look, and realized Leo was holding an electronic disruptor. "What's that for, Bro? We're not gonna be able to keep in touch with anybody if you use that thing."
"I won't keep it activated the entire time we're in the building; I just want to ensure that we'll make it to the upper levels in silence. I don't want to slip past their sentries. I think we ought to take them out, starting at the ground floor. That could grant them the opportunity to call for help if we don't shut them down. We can't leave one man standing."
"I can go for that." Raphael grinned.
"So I don't want to give anyone the opportunity to sound the alarm early," Leonardo continued. "The disruptor provides us with the built-in hedge to block calls, at least in a narrow range."
"What about Brandon and Jazz?" the red-masked turtle hissed.
Leonardo grunted darkly. "There's nothing we can do about them, Raph. I messaged them to stay out on the fringe with Marcus. Whether or not they'll do it, I couldn't tell you. They picked the wrong time to disobey orders."
Raphael nodded, though he secretly understood Brandon's point of view. Shell, we're lucky they didn't try to follow us here. Bran's not stupid. He can probably keep either of them from being killed, but still…I guess it is awful risky, and they took the van. I'm gonna have a few words for him too. It's probably not as crazy as what we are about to do though.
He looked over his shoulder at Kat, and saw a deadly seriousness in her eyes. He was immediately struck by the differences between her and Brandon. She reminds me a little more of Leo in this sense, at least in the way she's approaching this. It's funny to think that we've known Kat this long, and have never gotten to see her in action up close. That's about to change.
Raphael glanced at Mike bringing up the rear. The orange-masked turtle's jaw was set in a fashion that revealed his own tension, but no real fear.
"One floor at a time, we'll work our way up," Leo said softly. "We're going to be discovered at some point, but let's try to put that off for as long as possible. We'll go in the side of the building like before, and then we can circle around to deal with any watchers. They're bound to have someone keeping an eye out."
Raphael fell back to the end of the group, smirking at the sight of the Jahng Bong that Katherine was carrying. She reminds me of Donny carrying that staff. It kills me that Kat has never wanted to spar with any of us. But if she feels weird about it, we have to respect that.
The distracting thought cut off abruptly as Raphael returned his focus to Leonardo edging along the building, heading for the broken window they'd spied out on the third floor the night before. At least it was bigger than the bathroom window, he remembered ruefully. Leonardo surprised him by motioning Katherine to a different window on the first level, and the woman stepped up with a glass cutter. Well, yeah…we're starting at the very bottom this time, he told himself.
Raphael's smile returned as he watched Leonardo duck inside, and waited for his own turn with growing anticipation. I'm gonna find you, Yukiko, if it's the last thing I ever do. He looked around curiously at the dark room they'd entered. It was full of shelving in various stages of destruction. Michelangelo shot him a secretive smile right before following Leonardo and Katherine out into the hall.
All of his senses were on high alert as he crept through the narrow space, straining to hear the tell-tale sounds of someone nearby. Leonardo kept their pace slow to start with, and anticipation turned into impatience. Dang, let's go already. This thing is gonna take an hour to get started at this rate.
Leonardo led them down the hall closer to the front of the building, and the flash of a small light suddenly caught Raphael's eye. Before he could react to it, he heard a sound like the wind followed by a gasp.
The red-masked turtle surged forward to find his oldest brother cradling the body of a warrior. The man's flashlight was cracked but not broken, casting its beam into open space.
"Akane?" Someone called from nearby. "Akane, are you—"
Raphael never got to hear the rest of what he was going to say, because Kat lunged toward the figure who was barely illuminated by the flashlight beam. He heard a satisfying crack, and trotted up behind the woman to see the results. He chuckled at the sight of her straightening her staff and the bent frame of the man on the floor, even though he was itching for some enemies of his own.
"Nice, Kat," he encouraged the woman.
Katherine leaned down to check her victim as Leonardo took a couple more steps into the open area.
"We need to get rid of the bodies and keep moving," the blue-masked turtle asserted.
Michelangelo chuckled as he lifted the man Katherine had just knocked out. "Where to, Fearless?"
"Let's backtrack down the hall and stow them in the room we came in through. Keep an eye out, Raph, Kat. Mike and I will be right back."
Raphael turned off the warrior's flashlight that was still pointing into thin air, and snuck a glance at his dead phone. Shutting down their communication isn't a bad thing, it's just sad that it has to affect our stuff too.
He walked further into the room to explore a little bit, and spotted the outline of a doorframe. Raphael peered around the door into what appeared to be an empty stairwell. The red-masked turtle went no further, knowing better than to start climbing without his brothers.
The sound of someone clumsily descending caught his attention before voices even joined the footsteps.
"Why are you in such a hurry? It is not your fault Akane didn't answer the radio!"
"You know that Yukiko will not see it that way! The message was meant to be delivered, and I will not give her a reason to punish me."
"You are really scared of that woman, aren't you?"
"You act like you aren't!" the second returned. "You talk tough when she is not around, but you would no sooner disobey her than I would. I know of no one who is not afraid of her."
I could tell you a couple of guys who aren't, Raphael thought ironically, ducking under the staircase as he heard the men coming closer. He started to motion to Katherine, but the woman had already stuck to his side. They crouched low to the floor as footsteps resounded above them.
Raphael watched as the men touched down on the ground, and tensed to spring as they made straight for the door. He had a hard time containing a snort as he tapped both men across their shoulders. The warriors jerked around so fast that he did end up laughing as he grasped a hand around each of their throats.
"Thanks for coming to visit, guys, but it's time you left New York for good."
A strangled cry escaped one of them as Raphael drove him forcefully into the wall. The man's body shuddered, but he didn't make another sound as he collapsed, senseless, to the floor. He pressed the second man's back up against the wall, bracing his hand to prevent the warrior from yelling.
"You scared of Yukiko, Man? You shoulda been scared of us."
The man's hands grappled with Raphael's arm, but he wasn't nearly strong enough to break the turtle's grip.
"Raph," Leo called quietly from the door. "Hurry up – there's no time to mess with them."
Raphael drove his free fist into the man's jaw, and he hefted the warrior over his shoulder. "Just finding something to do while I was waitin' on you, Leo."
The blue-masked turtle shook his head. "We have to get rid of them and keep moving."
The group climbed steadily now, checking every floor for electricity in use to indicate that someone could be present. A complete sweep of the building would have to wait until they'd faced the major portion of the men head-on.
Raphael continued to bring up the rear behind Michelangelo, his adrenaline increasing with every passing minute. I'm so ready for this. We all are. Where are you boneheads hiding? Come out and take your beatings like real men.
Thus far, they'd only seen a couple more men, to whom they'd distributed swift retribution. The higher they climbed, the closer Raphael expected to be getting to the real action. It sure seems like Takashi took a lot for granted. 'Course, we don't know how long he's been in the US. Weeks went by in between him escaping Okinawa, and that first attack on the subway. He must think he's keeping some things from us. It's gonna be fun to prove him wrong.
As they approached the next level, Raphael could see that Leonardo had stopped, and was waiting by the exit door. The light streaming into the stairwell from underneath the door was all the proof of life taht was required.
"Okay," Leo said calmly. "This could be the end of the road for our quiet invasion. Stay together. Watch each other's backs."
Raphael drew both sai in a flash and nodded at Leonardo. "Let's go, fearless leader."
The red-masked turtle crowded in close behind Michelangelo and Katherine, waiting for room to get into the adjoining hallway. Leonardo opened the door silently, but his stride quickened when he reached the other side. Raphael laughed to himself. He's ready to get started too. The shout that went up almost immediately was refreshing to hear. Raphael was dying to explode.
Leonardo dashed to meet four shadows that were congregated in the middle of the hall. Raphael experienced momentary jealousy that his brother had first shot at them from his better position, until he heard a voice that made his blood boil.
"Up, men, NOW! Invaders!"
Michelangelo wisely got out of his way before he would have mowed him down, leaving Raphael to slip past Katherine to get to his main objective. He wasted no time in toying with the insignificant warrior who thought he'd try to block his path, meeting the man with a powerful uppercut to the underside of his chin.
He flipped right past Leonardo, who was easily holding his own against two other men, and focused on the shadowy silhouette of the woman who symbolized the bane of his existence. Raphael dearly wanted to launch at her, but experience had taught him better. Rather than allowing her the chance to intercept his attacks, it was better to slow down and anticipate hers.
Raphael spun his sai with a chuckle when he realized that she didn't have her normal weapon. "What's the matter, huh? Did we catch you off guard or something?"
"I have waited all too long to see you again," she retorted.
Her stance was completely relaxed, and gave him no idea as to her intended method of attack. The narrow hallway wasn't the ideal place for a fight of this magnitude, but that wasn't going to deter Raphael now that she was in sight.
Without warning Yukiko sprang toward him, and he had a mere moment to realize that her leg was coming for his jaw. Raphael dropped low to avoid the strike, and bulled his head toward her unprotected chest. Her reflexes were faster than the speed of light as she snapped up her elbow to catch him in the forehead before he connected with her.
He threw up both fists to defend himself as he staggered backwards a step, and managed to block the blow with which she tried to follow up. Raphael heard the rustle of fabric as she leaped and flipped neatly over him. He spun around, expecting another immediate attack. The turtle looked left and right without seeing her, cursing out loud.
Raphael used the back of his hand to wipe blood from the elbow strike she'd landed, and angrily resumed gripping his sai as he continued his search for the cursed woman. Suddenly she materialized like a ghost, holding a spear in hand.
"Now we will finish it," she proclaimed.
He had to back up swiftly to avoid the longer reach of her weapon. Raphael tried to capture the shaft under the prongs of his sai, but she was too fast for him, swapping the spear from one hand to the other.
Yukiko hefted the sharp edge toward him with a strong thrust, and he maneuvered underneath the blade with a deep breath. Raphael was unintentionally losing ground as the woman forced him to backpedal from the spear's blade. With a growl he threw one of his sai, praying the point would go straight through her heart.
The wretched woman spun so that the blade only landed a glancing blow to her shoulder. Her calm seemed utterly unaffected as she rammed the spear in his direction once more. Raphael considered throwing his other weapon, but decided to wait for a tremendous opening before risking the loss of both sai.
A rapid glance over the shoulder told him that he was running out of room fast. The woman had obviously planned to trap him between the dead end of the window and her spear, with nowhere left to go. It's not gonna be that easy, witch.
Raphael's eyes narrowed as he heeded the way she rotated the spear, bringing it to bear again. He jumped toward her with what must have appeared to be a suicidal lunge, never taking his eyes off the weapon. As she brought the blade into position to strike, he wrapped first one hand and then the other around the shaft, yanking the spear with all of his might.
The ridiculous woman hung on, and he couldn't have cared less. Raphael pulled the spear back over his shoulder, and then turned to one side to avoid the woman who had taken flight with it. Yukiko appeared to fly through the window in slow motion, as glass shattered in an angry frenzy. He had a couple of seconds to breathe before he was instantly accosted by three men from behind.
Raphael rolled his eyes as he leveled the closest warrior with a blow to the ribcage. He jerked out of the path of an oncoming fist, and made good use of his feet to lay the second man flat with an explosive kick to the side of his head.
He snorted as the third swung a scythe blade toward his throat and cracked his hand down on his opponent's arm. When the man's weapon clattered to the floor, Raphael used his weight to throw him off balance, and sent his foe packing with a debilitating thrust to the throat.
The turtle scanned the men to make sure they were down, and retrieved his missing sai from where it had fallen. Then he hurried back to the broken window, and stretched his head outside to look for signs of Yukiko. He couldn't see the woman, no matter how he squinted in the darkness. With a shuddering breath he ducked inside the building, and hurried back into battle.