The Nightwatcher's sidekick
Chapter 4: Old habbits
Raphael smirked as he scrutinized the old building. He had been there before with his brothers. It wasn't exactly the Purple Dragons' headquarters, but they still used it, mostly for initiations and cage fights. He knew that they also stored some of their stuff there. He remembered his friend, Casey, being held there a few years back, when he was captured by the Dragons.
He left his hiding place and silently moved towards the building. He still remembered a few easy ways in. There was a bit of movement around: about half a dozen men were outside, hanging out, by the looks of it. He moved to the side of the building, looking for a particular window that he knew would lead to blind spot in their surveillance system.
"Old Donnie can find the best ways in" the turtle thought, skillfully climbing to the third floor. He quickly took back that compliment to his brother after their recent fight came back to mind. "Stupid…" he thought as he climbed in the window. He flinched when the windowsill creaked. He took a quick look around, finding he was alone in the room.
He was in an old office that looked like no one had been into for a very long time. He cautiously moved to the door, his steps bringing up small clouds of dust. He pressed his ear to the door and listened. There was someone outside. He could hear talking, though he couldn't make out the words. This was usually the time when Don would be taking out some helpful gadget from his bag of tricks. Raphael shoved that thought at the back of his mind.
"I don't need 'am" he told himself. The voices were moving further from the door. He listened to a coarse laugh and retreating footsteps. His large hand reached for the dusty doorknob, gripping it when he could no longer hear anyone. He turned the knob slowly, grimacing at the rusty sound it caused. He scowled at it, knowing that the door would be just as bad.
Only a short sound could be heard as the turtle's body quickly passed through the old door. "Man, I love bein' a ninja" he thought and smirked. He made his way across the corridor in the direction that the voices had disappeared. As he reached the end he tensed. He could hear people approaching.
Two men bearing Purple Dragons tattoos appeared. They were laughing loudly about something. They didn't turn in Raph's direction and instead continued walking forward. One of them, with blue dyed hair, said something about watching the cage matches and the other agreed.
Raphael waited for about a minute when he could no longer hear their voices. Then he moved down the corridor, careful to avoid any of the building's usual residents.
It did not take him long to reach a large room that his mind immediately labeled as the 'computer room'. It was Donatello's favorite place and his least favorite. He groaned, knowing that whatever the Purple Dragons were up to was probably stashed away in one of these machines and he had no idea how to gain access to it. He found himself cursing his brother's stubbornness once more.
His eyes wondered to a few large monitors that he identified as surveillance screens. There were a few showing the cage fights he had heard about, some of the outside of the building and many more that showed empty corridors and closed doors. However, very few of these resembled the part of the building that he had come from. These seemed to have been recently renovated and though they did not stray much from the original architecture, the turtle could tell the security in the area was way above what he had seen so far.
"Heh… wonder what's cookin' there…" Raphael smirked, knowing that was where he had to go. All he needed now was an exact location.
"Good one t'night" a gruff voice echoed in the hallway, making Raph's head snap towards its source. He could not yet see the owner of the voice.
"Yeah! Da' boss got that green freak good" another voice answered the first one. A third released a guttural laugh.
Safely hidden behind a large, buzzing rack packed with some kind of computers, the ninja turtle growled at the name and flexed his injured arm. It still hurt, despite what he had told Saima. His hand reached for his weapons as he observed three men walk into the room.
The one still laughing was the biggest of them. He had a big belly and strong, buff arms. There was a pinkish hue to his otherwise pale cheeks, signaling that the alcohol from the almost empty bottle in his large hand was taking its tool. A lean, black man was walking beside him, playing with a pocket knife. The third kept adjusting a pair of huge, dirty goggles on his forehead. They kept falling off, allowing the red, messy mop on his head to fall forward and tickle his square face. Raphael recognized them form earlier at the docks and smirked, thinking how easy it would be to take the three clowns out. The red headed one had a black eye that the turtle knew he had caused.
"Hey, when d'ya' think we'll make another hit?" the large one spoke, his voice heavy with all the alcohol he had ingested. "I likesd the shinnies" he laughed, leaning on a wall and raising his bottle. The other two grinned at their drunk friend.
"Yeah… you gotta' love the rocks" the black one said, juggling with his small weapon.
"As soon as the genius in da' basement's ready, we'll go out huntin' again" the red head smirked, his right fist punching his left palm.
"Always the basement" the Raphael thought, his body moving in a better angle, ready to pounce on his enemies.
"'Till then, we can always bag ourselves some more turtles" the black guy laughed, stabbing the air with his knife.
"Yeah… l'ts make some *hic* turtle soup" the large one said right before releasing a loud belch. The other two laughed and the big one slapped his belly, the sound showing just how bloated he was.
"How 'bout a knuckle sandwich first?" Raphael's voice boomed in the large room. A moment later the red head's body hit the ground, a few feet away from where he was previously standing with blood trickling out of his nose and mouth. "It's on the house." The turtle smirked, his fist still clenched and a sai in his other hand. His brown eyes dared the other men to make a move against him.
The black guy took a step back and raised his knife in front of him in what he hoped was a threatening manner. The large one took a few drunken steps forward, eyeing the ninja with hate and confusion.
Raphael chucked at the pathetic display and charged for the black man. His enemy tried to strike him but the turtle was quicker, catching his wrist in an iron grip and twisting it until the guy dropped his weapon while screaming in pain. The turtle smirked and shoved the black guy into his still standing friend, making them both tumble to the ground.
The two men struggled to get back to their feet, both swearing and tripping on each other's limbs. The ninja crossed his arms, looking amused at the wiggling pile of flesh in front of him.
"Get off Tuck!" the big guy screamed at his friend, swinging the arm that was still holding the bottle. With a low thud the hard object connected to the black man's head and he fell limp over the other one's gut. The unintentional aggressor blinked a few times, confusion written all over his face. A loud laugh made his head turn and his eyes landed on the laughing turtle. His mouth opened and closed a few times, the alcohol still clouding his head. A lopsided grin spread on his face while his brain tried to figure out what was so funny. The ninja wasn't laughing anymore, but his expression still showed his amusement.
"Nightie night!" Raphael chuckled before swiftly delivering a powerful punch to his jaw, effectively knocking him out. He shook his head, his grin still firmly placed on his face. "Idiot" he mumbled, his eyes scanning for a quick way to his new destination: the basement.
His brown eyes spotted a pair of metal doors that resembled an elevator. He sprinted towards it, prying them open. He swore under his breath as the pain in his injured arm flared. His eyes looked down the hollow space behind the doors, satisfied that he had found what he was looking for. He rubbed his sore arm and inspected the elevator. Its car seemed to be a few floors up, which made it easy for him to reach his destination.
Flexing his arm again, to make sure that it was ok for effort, he jumped, grabbing the cable and sliding down towards the basement. In a matter of seconds, his feet hit the concrete surface with a thud.
He used his sais to pry the doors open. These seemed a bit heavier than the ones upstairs. He groaned at the pain in his arm, but didn't stop. When there was finally enough space for him to pass through he quickly stepped into the well illuminated hallway. His brain registered his new, clean surroundings: the walls were painted white and aside from a few metal bumps that he figured were the cameras, the place was completely empty.
"Aah shell…" he swore as a familiar sound filled his ears. He jumped away right before the beam that he heard loading hit the spot where he had been standing. It left fine layer of ice formed on the ground and on the bottom of the elevator doors. His eyes scanned the walls, trying to determine where the shot came from, but he had to move again as another ice-beam came his way.
"I hate defensive systems" he grumbled as he ran in zigzag across the hallway, avoiding the ice attacks. The tuned a corner and felt one hit right behind him. The ground froze and he slipped, his body hitting a glass surface. He tuned his head to see a room behind the glass, with what looked like a control panel behind the window.
He didn't have time to observe, however as another beam sped his way, freezing part of the glass in his place. Figuring that he'd be able to shut down the defenses from the room, he hit the glass with his weapons, trying to break it.
"Damn" he swore, when the glass resisted his attack and he had to move again to avoid getting iced. He steadied himself and then charged for the frozen part of the glass. But before he could reach his target an ice beam hit right in front of him, freezing the ground and making him slip. He caught himself before he hit the ground, yet his eyes still widened in panic when the sound of a loading blast hit his ears without giving him any clue regarding where it was coming from.
But the blast never came. In its place a defusing sound filled his ears and he raised his head to see a small person at the control panel, waving at him. It looked like it was a girl, dressed completely in black, with a black cloth mask on her face. She reached down and the window moved upwards, allowing him access into the room. He jumped inside, cautiously eyeing the girl.
"Hey… Raph" she greeted him shyly, reaching for a black backpack on the floor.
"Saima?" he said, shocked to hear the girl's voice.
"Yeah" she answered.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, still shocked that she had probably saved his shell earlier.
"I came to help you." She stated. "I wasn't going to let you go running around in some thug base with that bad arm." He opened him moth to say something but she quickly grabbed said arm and probing it. He flinched when her fingers put pressure on certain spots.
"You've strained it" she told him, giving him an accusing look. Raphael suddenly found himself between being annoyed and embarrassed and all he could bring himself to do was to look away. Her disapproval weighted over him just like Master Splinter's upset looks would.
"How d'you even get in?" he asked, looking around the room.
"The kennels" she answered simply, fishing a tube out of her bag and squishing part of its contents on his arm. It felt cold and the turtle shuddered.
"Kennels …?" Raphael asked, confused, while she spread the cream all over his injured arm. "This place has dogs?" he didn't remember that.
"Yep" she told him, taking out a roll of gauze and starting to wrap his arm. He looked at her like she had just grown an extra arm. His mouth opened and closed, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that a skinny runt who was shaking like a leaf in front of a few Purple Dragons only a three days ago, had now broken into one of their hideouts. Not only that, but she seemed to have done it a lot more efficiently than he had.
"Um… Raph?" her soft voice broke him out of his thoughts and he noticed that he was waving her hand in front of his eyes. "You ok?"
"Wha- ? No… no!" he said, looking from her masked face to his bandaged arm and then back. "How d'you get here without beein' seen?" he asked, deciding that was more important than why she was wearing an old T-shirt with holes on her head. It looked like a sad attempt at his old childhood mask.
"I told you, I snuck in through the kennels" she said. "Fighting dogs only attack other animals, not humans" she explained, before he could ask his question. "Then I found an air vent, climbed through and I came out in the first empty room I could find" she smiled and him. His eyes instantly darted to a decent sized hole in the wall and he noticed the white grid that had been covering it lying discarded on the floor. It would have been a tight squeeze for him, but Saima's lithe frame was perfect to go through.
"Aah… shell!" he cursed, his eyes instantly picking up the soft, blinking light on the side of the exposed air vent: it was a silent alarm. "Come on! We have to move!" he said, grabbing her arm and dragging her to what looked like a door.
"Ouch! Hey, what gives?" she squealed, limping behind him, almost tripping over her own feet.
"There's an alarm" he said, without turning to her. Only when she half crashed into his side did he look at his companion. "What's up with you?" he asked, giving her a confused look as she rubbed her back.
"That air vent wasn't a walk in the park, you know" she answered, stretching her back and then rubbing the side of her leg. Those words immediately translated as: "I stumbled and fell my entire way here and it was pure luck that I crashed into this particular room" to Raphael. A quick look at the place where the white grid was discarded and he was pretty sure that was what happened. Suddenly, his entrance in the building didn't seem half bad. He smirked, but the girl was too busy rubbing her sore spots to notice.
"There sure is… look, there's ice!" the two heard fait voices coming towards them. Thinking quickly, Raphael realized that he wouldn't be able to fight the guards with an injured Saima around. He gritted his teeth, cursing his luck.
His eyes scanned the room for anything remotely useful. He was rewarded with the sight of a door with a 'Keep Out' sign on it. It would make a good hiding place for his new friend, while he dispatched whatever security was coming their way.
"In here!" the turtle said, kicking the door open and ushering Saima inside. The girls almost tripped over her own feet as he closed the door and turned to the entrance. Not two seconds later, a tall man appeared in front of him. He was wearing what looked like a high-tech, bullet-proof vest. He had a gun in his hands which reminded Raphael of the one the guy at the docks used to freeze his arm.
"Wha-?" the man opened his large mouth, obviously confused by his green opponent. A moment later another guy, holding the same type of weaponry came into view. He was bulkier than the first and his bald head displayed a purple dragon tattoo.
"It's one of those turtle freaks!" the second guy yelled, pointing his gun at Raph.
"Time to dance, guys!" the turtle smirked, drawing his sais and jumping out of the way of the first shot. He charged his assailant, slamming his foot into his chest full force. The bald man hit the wall and a freeze blast that had just missed Raph immobilized his arm. He was out cold.
"Nice one" the red clad turtle smirked, turning his head to the source of the blast. There were three more thugs running towards him. "Piece of cake" he thought, dodging a few shots.
"Get him!" an Asian looking guy shouted.
"Get the defenses!" shouted a man with a ponytail.
"Oh, no you don't!" the turtle muttered, grabbing one of the thugs by the collar and throwing him towards the guy who was going for the control panel. He didn't have time to see if he had hit his target, because he was forced to avoid a few more blasts from the Purple Dragons.
"He He! Nice try, shell for brains!" he said, punching a blue haired goon in the face. "Heh" he smirked, satisfied with himself. But his victory was short-lived, because only a few seconds later a high pitched sound filled his ears. His head instantly turned to the control panel, where a pretty skinny guy stood, grinning at the ninja turtle.
"Aaah shell… " he cursed, avoiding a blast from an unidentified source and nearly losing his footing when the floor froze under his feet.
"Ouch!" Saima grunted, extending her arm forwards, hoping to catch something before she collided with the ground. Fortunately for her, she did find something solid enough to sustain her.
"Phew" she sighed, pulling herself together. A loud humming sound filled her ears and she could see a lot of expensive looking machinery stacked all over the room. It was pretty dark, the only light coming from a few of the machines. Even over the monotone sound, she could still hear the fighting outside.
She took a few steps inside, probing whatever she found with her hands. "Generators…" she thought, squinting in the dim light at the contraptions in front of her. "At least that's how it looks…" she whispered, staring at something that looked like blue lightning in a glass container.
Suddenly her attention was caught by a window at the far side of the room. She headed towards it, momentarily forgetting about her surroundings. She instantly regretted it as her feet tripped over some wires and she fell on some thick cables.
"Oooow" she grunted. "Ow Ow Ow ow" she muttered, dragging herself to her feet. "I don't like this place… Ouch" she complained using the humming generator as support to guide herself to the window. Once there, she leaned on the glass, looking through it.
"Uh-oh…" she thought, peering in a large room littered with computers and what looked like miniature versions of the machines in the room she was in. A man in a white lab coat was hunched over a table, but she couldn't see what he was doing.
She strained her eyes, pressing her forehead and nose to the glass.
"Yikes!" she squealed when the man abruptly stood from his table. She pushed herself from the window just in time to avoid being seen. She stood next to the window, her hands firmly pressed over her mouth. For a while, all she could hear was her own heart beating in her ears. Gradually she became aware of the monotone humming of the generator and the faint fighting sounds from the next room.
She looked through the window again. The man was now standing at the far side of his large room, facing a solid looking block of metal. He had what looked like a gun and her mind instantly wondered to Raphael's story about the ray gun. He pointed his weapon at the block and fired. A moment later, the block looked completely frozen. The man brought his hand through his dirty blonde hair and then grabbed the goggles that rested on his forehead. He swung his arm and threw his improvised projectile at the frozen block.
Saima gulped when she saw the block crack when the goggles hit it. His expression became extremely satisfied. A large grin spread over his features and his lips moved. The girl couldn't hear him, however. A moment later he burst into what looked like maniacal laughter.
"Uh-oh… I think I just found the mad scientist" Saima whispered, backing away from the window. "Raphael…?" she said, hoping that the turtle could just appear with a solution. She was starting to seriously doubt her decision to follow her new friend to this shady place.
"Now what?" she asked no one in particular, biting her lip. She could still hear fighting outside. She felt completely helpless in the dimly lit room.
"Wait a bit…" she spoke, "… I'm in the generator room" she said, touching one of the humming machines. She smiled.
"Who said that comic books and cartoons don't teach you anything?" she giggled, searching for the cables she had fallen over earlier. She quickly spotted them and she moved closer to them. "Now… where's the power plug for this thing?" she grinned, following the cables with her hands.
"Ugh!" Raph grunted, as he almost slipped on the icy floor. He was not having fun. He had managed to take out two more of the guys, but there were still two left: the Asian guy and a short, buff man whose hair was shaved on half of his head.
But the two were far from Raph's biggest problem. The automatic defenses were shooting freeze rays at him from all sides and he could hardly locate the sources. So far, he had only been able to find one of them and take it out.
"Damn!" he cursed, when a blast stopped him mid charge. He had been only a few feet away from taking out the guy with the funny hair.
"Give it up, you green freak!" shouted the Asian guy. "You don't got a chance!" he said, firing his gun from behind the control panel.
"I'll show ya' chance, ya' bastard" Raph shouted back and did a backflip to avoid his blast.
"CRASH" the loud sound drew everyone's attention. It came from behind the door with the 'Keep Out' sign.
"Saima!" the turtle thought, feeling as though ice cold fingers gripped his stomach. He suddenly remembered that he didn't like running around with people who couldn't handle themselves in a fight.
"BOOM!" the control panel exploded, sending the Asian guy flying backwards. He crashed into the door Raph had knocked open earlier.
"BOOM! BANG! BOOM!" more explosions shook the walls. The defensive mechanisms seemed to be all blowing up. But Raphael wasted no time with the unexpected show. He punched the remaining goon in the face, ignoring the faint pain in his arm, and then leapt over the flames that were consuming the control panel.
"Saima!" he yelled, kicking the door with the 'Keep Out' sign. "Hey, where are you!?" he yelled again, his eyes scanning all the strange equipment in the room.
"Here!" the girl's voice answered. A few seconds later, she came into his view. She walked with a slight limp. "I don't think that was the power plug…" she said, rubbing her backside. Raphael gave her a confused look and he was about to question her when a mechanical voice blared through some speakers in the walls. He hadn't even noticed them before.
"Warning! System overload. Freezing sequence activated. Recommended course of action: evacuate. Warning! …" the voice continued to repeat its pre-programed message.
"Definitely not the power plug" Saima said, more to herself than to anybody else.
"I don't wanna' to know" grunted the ninja. "Come on, we need ta' get outta' here!" he told her. She nodded and tried to move forward, but her injured body made her lose her balance.
"Ouch!" she whispered, gritting her teeth. He rolled his eyes and before she could even register what was happening, he scooped her up on his back.
"Um… what are you doing?" she asked, her head spinning a little bit from the abrupt change of position.
"What does it look like I'm doin'?" He said, heading towards the corridor. "Savin' your skinny butt." He finished and he could swear that he heard her huff.
He made his way through the white hallways with the mechanical voice blaring in his ears. He was lucky enough to find the exit to the upper levels quite easily and from there he knew his way. There were no alarms on the upper levels.
They only encountered Purple Dragons once and Raphael quickly dispatched them, almost forgetting about the passenger he had on his shell.
"You don't have seatbelts, you know!?" she had shouted at him, but he had only chuckled. In a matter of minutes they were exiting through a back door that was usually left unguarded. Luckily for them, it was still so.
Once they reached the road, he let her off his back. She was obviously dizzy and barely standing on her own feet.
"Uuh… I remembered piggy-back rides being a lot more fun…." She grumbled, rubbing her sore body.
Before he could say anything, the now familiar sound of loading ray-gun filled their ears and Raph instantly jumped into attack position. But there was no threat in sight. Instead, they saw a bright light coming from the basement-level windows of the building. Moments later the sound stopped and a white vapor rushed out. It covered the area around the Purple Dragons' hideout and once it was gone, it left small patches of snow behind.
"Wow… weird" the girl said, eyeing the snow on the ground.
"Look who's talkin'" Raphael muttered, giving her a half annoyed, half amused look.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him.
"You're wearing a t-shirt on your head…" he said, eyeing the makeshift mask. It was almost falling off her face, not that it had been particularly secure to begin with.
"Hey! I went into a criminal base, after you!" she said, pointing her finger at him. "Plus, don't want them knowing who I am and where I live. They might come after Nola!" at that, the ninja was conflicted between a face-palm or laughing. He settled for a chuckle.
"And all black?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. At that, she looked away.
"Works for Batman…" she grumbled, crossing her arms.
Just as he was about to poke a bit more fun at her, a series of rapid flashes caught their attention. Raphael quickly spun around to see a man in a biker suit putting away a camera. Before he could react, the guy was already staring his motorcycle. He sped off, leaving the ninja behind, shouting profanities at him.
"Come back here, ya' good for nothin' piece of shit!" the warrior yelled, but the biker paid him no mind.
"Ah, shell…", Raphael cursed again.