Raphael spun his sai expertly as he surveyed the carnage in the room with satisfaction. He was tempted to start restraining men, but he was also concerned that more of the warriors could be lurking, and he wanted to find Leonardo. Michelangelo's arm landed on his shoulder, and he glanced over at his youngest brother.
"Not a bad night's work, huh, Bro?" Mike's Cheshire grin was in full force.
"We ain't outta here yet, Mikey. We've gotta take a look around for any others, and we need to figure out where Leo got to with Takashi."
Katherine approached from his right side. "I tried to call Leo just now, and he didn't answer. What's our first move? Scout for more warriors on this floor, or go after your brother?"
"We'll scout for more guys while we're searching for Leo." Raphael put the emphasis on finding the blue-masked turtle. He's got to be okay. Takashi didn't have anything on his shell last time. Just the same, I don't like not knowing where he is.
"All right, let's go," he barked, heading for the door. Raphael cast the bronze-haired woman a begrudging smile as she fell into step behind him, and Mike brought up the rear. "You done good," he told her.
"What'd you expect?" she returned.
"I dunno. You're the one who likes to hide your skills and only save 'em for your brother."
"Raph, if you'd ever asked me to come give you a run for your money, I would have been happy to oblige you."
The red-masked turtle chuckled under his breath. "Maybe we'll just have to do that sometime. I'm always itching for a new challenge." He instantly grew more serious at the sight of five men waiting for them near the dead end of the hallway, and another three on the side closest to the exit door.
"Great – leftovers!" Raphael announced. He launched at the three that appeared ready to run for the stairwell, leaving Michelangelo and Katherine to deal with the others. The red-masked turtle quickly picked up momentum as he strode toward the men, but he was surprised when they backed up without any attempt to engage him.
"What the shell? Are you guys statues or warriors? It's three against one. 'Course, you still don't have a shot in—"He didn't finish the statement as the men retreated from him further into the adjoining room. Raphael's brow furrowed as he pursued them. "There's nowhere to go, scum. You may as well end it like men."
The warriors staggered themselves on the other side of the room, and Raphael shrugged. "I can come get ya if that's what you want." He'd no sooner taken three steps across the space, than he felt goose bumps rising on his neck, with the accompanying sensation that someone was behind him.
Raphael immediately spun to the right, just as small report of pain lit through his shoulder. He barely had time to wonder what had hit him, when he laid eyes on his attacker with a gasp. The fact that a bloodied Yukiko could be standing before him was too impossible for imagination, yet she was there.
"Holy shell, Woman; how many lives do you have?"
She smiled. "One more than you are about to," Yukiko replied calmly.
"If you want another go at it, that's fine with me," he retorted.
"I'd prefer you didn't move at all."
Raphael wasn't sure what she meant by that. He could see that she was carrying her weapon of choice, but she'd yet to draw the naginata. It looked like Yukiko was holding something smaller in her hand, but he couldn't see what it was. He was still standing tensed waiting for her to do something when a current leaped through his body as if it had a life of its own.
The red-masked turtle was leveled by the shock, and discovered that despite the pain of the charge, he couldn't make a sound. The strange sensation ceased long enough for him to question where it had come from, before it flashed through his nerves a second time. Raphael felt his muscles constricting so tightly it almost seemed like they could snap. He hardly felt the pressure of Yukiko's foot as she rolled him off his plastron.
"If my world ends tonight, demon, then my last wish is to take you with me," she said coolly. "It is fitting after all this time that one of us must finally kill the other. We have made so many attempts."
He couldn't track her movement as she walked around him, but he heard the sound of her drawing her weapon.
"It would have been easy to finish you the first time, demon, alone in that house. But I will admit that I have enjoyed the challenge you offer. It is a rare thing that I have failed to kill someone that I intended to. That will no longer haunt me at least, and I will not be forced to see your face in my dreams. I have conquered you, once and for all."
By cheating, you witch! The tingling in his muscles was still so pronounced that they wouldn't cooperate with his mind's urging to release. Keep talking, lady, maybe—
"I would rather savor it, but I fear I have more demon spawn left to kill."
Yukiko's smile was colder than any winter's day he'd ever experienced, but the bang of the door completely wiped it off her face. The woman half-spun, jerking her naginata toward his throat at the same time. The figure at the door was half a beat faster. Before her blade could make contact with his neck, a scythe had been lodged in her temple.
The woman's body convulsed as she landed on Raphael's legs, and he grunted distastefully. The realization that he'd made a sound dawned on him quickly. His muscles still felt tight, but he found that he could move his fingers, and then his whole hand. He concentrated on trying out other limbs while he listened to the sound of the last of the men being dealt with.
As Raphael rolled his right shoulder, his gaze fell on the initial source of the pain. He was puzzled by the metal disc that appeared to be embedded in his skin. His left arm flopped as he lifted it and tried to reach the odd device. At that moment he felt his phone vibrate, but he was helpless to answer it.
"Raph!" Michelangelo was at his side as he managed to get a finger on the disc. "Are you okay?"
"Get the chick off of me," he ordered.
The orange-masked turtle quickly cast the woman aside. "How are you hurt? Can you move?"
"Sorta. I don't know what she did; had to be some kind of stun weapon. Can you get this thing off my arm?"
His youngest brother pried at the disc, but it didn't give easily. He ended up drawing a knife blade from his side. "Hold up, Bro. Lemme try it this way." Mike carefully wedged the tip of the knife under the metal, and slowly worked it further around the side until the disc loosened.
"Shell, that hurt," Raphael muttered, finding that he could stretch his arms more easily. "Must have been short-acting though."
"Your shell probably absorbed some of it too, like with a taser," Mike pointed out. "Do you think you can get up?"
"Maybe."
Michelangelo got to his feet and offered him a hand. Raphael felt like he had massive cramps running through both legs, but stomping in one place provided a little relief.
"I'm all right," he assured Mike.
His brother finally smiled. "Sorry for horning in Yukiko, Raphy. I know you had it under control and all. I just can't stand not being invited to a party."
Raphael rolled his eyes as he hooked an arm around Mike's neck. "Thanks for looking out."
"That's what we do, isn't it?"
Raphael nodded, looking around for a nonexistent Katherine. "Let's try and get moving again." His stride was a little unsteady, but he worked out more of the tightness as he walked across the room. When the woman darted back through the doorway, however, he was still so wound up from the ambush that he jumped.
"We have to get to Leo!" she exclaimed. "His implant is displaying signs of serious trauma!"
The bottom dropped out from Raphael's heart as he forced one foot in front of the other. "What's going on, Kat? How'd you—"
"I just hung up with Donny! He tried to reach you first, but—"
"Where is he?" Raphael was on the verge of exploding.
"Donny said that we need to get higher, Raph; he's not that far away!"
Raphael immediately picked up speed that his legs didn't feel capable of supporting yet, and used the wall to help keep his balance on the way to the exit door.
Mike put an arm around him. "Careful, Raph; we'll get there."
"We don't have time to be careful!" he shot back. "We've gotta get upstairs!"
Michelangelo nodded without another word, but stayed pressed close behind him. Raphael gripped the railing in the stairwell as hard as he could, holding on for all he was worth as he forced himself to climb. C'mon, Leo, be all right. You have to be okay.
He went up two flights using all the effort he felt like he had left, heaving slightly as he turned the corner to begin ascending another set. Raphael stopped with a jolt when he found the blue-masked turtle sprawled at the bottom of the next staircase, surrounded by a lot more blood than he was comfortable seeing.
"Leo, no! No, Leo!" Raphael cried helplessly as he crashed to his knees beside him. Carefully he turned his brother over, praying to find him breathing. As he cradled a hand under Leonardo's head, the older turtle opened dark eyes. His gaze was glassy, but it seemed to be focused on him.
Raphael felt like crying. He'd never been one for breaking down in front of people, but he couldn't stop the tears from welling up either. "Shell, Leo, don't you ever scare me like that."
"Raph, give us some space!" Katherine urged.
He looked back to see that the woman had stripped off her sweatshirt, and Mike was helping her cut it. Raphael swallowed as he looked down at Leonardo's leg, which appeared to be the source of all the blood loss.
"We've got to get him to Doc," Raphael insisted.
"We need to bind it here," Kat replied. "He can't afford to bleed out all the way back downstairs. It looks like his femoral artery was nicked."
"Quikclot," Mike spoke up, holding up two packages from his belt.
Raphael rapidly searched his side and came up with a couple more of applications of the hemostatic agent to add to the pile. "Use the Quikclot first, and then bind strips on top of it," he recited from memory. He allowed Mike and Katherine to deal with Leonardo's leg, and focused on trying to keep his brother awake.
"Bro," Raphael said sharply as something occurred to him. "Where's Takashi?"
"He's dead," Leo said softly.
"Are you sure?"
"Unless he can find some way to live without a head." His voice rose slightly.
"Nah, seriously?"
His brother didn't answer him right away. "He said they caught the others at the Plant."
Raphael swore strongly. "We've gotta get out there, but we need to take you to the docs first."
"Uh huh." Leonardo sounded more dazed as he rested his head completely in Raphael's grasp.
"Hey, you're gonna stay with me, aren't you, Fearless?"
"I'm not going anywhere, Raph," he mumbled.
"Okay. I'm gonna hold you to that."
When Leonardo fell silent, the red-masked turtle reached for his phone to call Greg. He couldn't get through to his friend and cursed again, then tried Tim's phone. It rang three times before the man picked up.
"Make it fast," Timothy whispered.
"What's going on out there?" Raphael demanded.
"Greg and Kelley were taken, but we have a plan. It may involve using the Battleshell to its fullest capacity again."
"Blow those mother brothers away if you have to, Tim!"
"We're still figuring things out. What's happening there?"
"Takashi's dead, Yukiko's dead, and everybody else is down for the most part. We haven't been able to check the whole place. Leo's hurt, so we gotta deal with that first."
"Is it bad?"
"Don't know," Raphael said vaguely. "But he told me he ain't going nowhere, and Leonardo keeps his promises. I'm taking his word for it."