I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. You guys are cracking me up! I can't believe how excited you have become about something that I wrote! Of course, all the real credit goes to Nickelodeon, Viacom, Laird, Eastman, et al. for creating these fantastic characters and story setting, but I will happily take credit for all of the torment that I have put them through since.
I especially want to thank LuLloyd, who gave me the idea to have somebody step on Donnie. I totally had been planning for no harm to come to Donnie—since, you know, I've tortured him enough already in this story—but thanks to LuLloyd, I've now decided that Shredder is going to stomp Donnie under his big, evil, ninja cleats, thereby converting Donnie into squashed turtle soup. He will then season this soup with April's tears, and eat it with a spoon fashioned from her bones.
Enjoy the story, y'all!
Blow after blow, Leonardo held off the advancing Footbots. He craned his neck trying to see down the hall, praying that neither Raph nor Mikey had been driven back. He could still hear Raph's shouts and Mikey's whooping, but it unnerved him that he couldn't see them.
Come on, Sensei, he thought, as he drove back another wave. How many prison chambers were there in this wing of the compound? He turned to look behind him for any sign of Splinter.
Raph's voice echoed down the corridor. "Leo! We can't hold them! Heads up!"
Whirling around, Leo saw a mass of Footbots, led by Dogpound, charging down the hall
Bracing himself, Leo prepared to meet the attack. There were simply too many of them, even if Raph and Mikey were attacking from the other side.
Splinter emerged from one of the cells. "Leonardo!" He sped back up the hall, his jade staff in one hand, his favorite katana in the other. With a shout, he leapt into the fray. He took down at least half a dozen Footbots with one kata. An upward thrust of his staff caught Dogpound squarely in the chest, flinging him back, while his katana sliced through three more Footbots in one swing.
"You idiots," Dogpound gasped, pushing himself up from the ground. "You're not even in the right wing of the compound."
A chain whirled through the air and wrapped around Bradford; he collapsed the ground. Mikey was on top of him in a second.
Raphael burst through the fray and placed the spire of his sai directly between Dogpound's eyes."Where is she, you mangy dog?"
Leo and Splinter continued to slice through Footbots, but more were closing in on their position. Mikey and Raph needed to focus—they were about to be swarmed by dozens of the Footbots. With a shout, Splinter did an acrobatic flip over the heads of several 'bots, landing between the newcomers and his two other sons.
"She's in the north wing," hissed Dogpound.
"Let's go, Leo!" shouted Raph.
Leo almost followed Raphael, but then he hesitated. "No! There's no way he'd give that up so easily. He's bluffing."
"What if he isn't?"
Dogpound laughed—until a very angry Michelangelo smacked nunchucks directly into his forehead.
Leo glanced over his shoulder. There was one completely solid door at the end of the hall. "Sensei!" he shouted, pointing. "Check the end of the hall! I'll hold them off!"
Like a deadly shadow, Splinter forced his way through the crowd of assailants and burst through to the other side, sprinting down the hall. With a shout, he kicked the door in and disappeared inside.
"All right, guys," Leo shouted. "Let's do this!"
It seemed like hours until he emerged again. Leo, Raph and Mikey couldn't hold their defensive ground; the 'bots were driving them back. There were so many of them—it seemed like for every one destroyed, two more took its place.
Suddenly, Splinter burst into the hall, carrying Mei.
"Guys!" Leo ordered. "Let's cut a swath through this field of Footbots!"
"Lame!" Raph yelled.
"All right!" shouted Mikey. He and Raph forced their way through the ranks like a whirling, stabbing, green scythe.
As soon as Splinter was by his side, Leo readied his katanas to run through the re-closing Footbot ranks. That was when he saw Aunt Mei's face. She looked like Shredder had done all but put her through a meat grinder. And if that was how bad her face looked..."Obasan!" cried Leonardo. "Oh, no..."
"Leo! Sensei! Come on!" shouted Raphael.
Forcing himself into the moment, Leo sliced through Footbots on both sides; Splinter followed closely behind him. Once they had cut through the bulk of the enemies, Splinter was out of breath from the effort.
"Leonardo!" Splinter gasped. "Shredder is on his way to the lair. The three of you, go! I will follow as fast as I can."
Leo shook his head in disbelief. You can't possibly hold them all off! he wanted to say.
Splinter's eyes narrowed. I can and will, they replied.
Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he left Splinter and Mei behind, Leo ran after his brothers. "Raph! Mikey! Let's move out!"
"What about Sensei?" Mikey asked, as they ran back up the hall.
The components of what could have been as many as ten Footbots went flying.
"I think he's got it, Mikey," Raph quipped. "Let's go shred the Shredder!"
Once they had escaped the compound, only a few Footbots were stupid enough to follow them. Once clear of all enemies, Leo, Raph, and Mikey flew across the rooftops. Leo felt as though he had never run this fast before. His lungs and side were burning from the effort. They had to stop Shredder from getting to the lair.
Like a blur of shadows, they slipped down into the sewer system. They were almost there—
The sound of gunfire echoed through the tunnel.
"Mr. O'Neil!" Mikey shouted. "Oh, no!"
They bolted into the lair. Footbots were agilely evading the gunfire while Shredder stood to the side. They were forcing Kirby to blow through all of his ammunition.
"Booyakasha!" shouted Mikey, running into the fray—and the line of fire.
"Mr. O'Neil!" Leonardo yelled. "Stop shooting! Friendly fire!"
The gunfire ceased, but then one of the Footbots charged into the lab, dragging Kirby out.
Everything was chaos. Shredder unsheathed his blades and dove for Mikey—Raph leapt in and deflected the blow with his sai. Leonardo hurried to dispatch as many of the Footbots as he could—there were less than twenty of them. Why would Shredder bring such a small number with him? Was he that over-confident?
"You know, Shredder," Leonardo taunted, "Splinter is always telling us that being cocky is a pretty good way to get one's butt kicked!"
Shredder snarled and threw a fistful of throwing blades at Leonardo. Leo just barely dodged them in time.
With Shredder distracted, Mikey and Raph ran to aid Kirby. However, they weren't fast enough; Shredder shouted an order to the Footbots. Leo watched in horror as one of the robots flung Kirby across the room like a rag doll. He landed about five yards from the turnstiles and fell completely unconscious.
"Where is your rodent master?" Shredder said.
Raphael smashed through two Footbots. "The better question is, why would you think that twenty of these jokers would be enough to stop us and Splinter?"
"Trust me," Shredder hissed. "You are all outmatched."
There were only five of the Footbots left, but it seemed like Shredder could be everywhere at one. He grabbed Mikey and flung him right through the pinball machine; glass went flying everywhere. Shredder grabbed a shard and launched it at Leonardo. Dropping to his knees and leaning back, Leo just barely evaded it. Meanwhile, Raphael continued to decimate Footbots.
"All right, Shredder," Raphael snarled. "It's just you against us now."
"A small challenge, indeed," Shredder replied. "Where is your fourth member? Is he as cowardly as your pathetic master, that he could not be troubled to come fight?"
With a snarl of rage Raph launched himself at the Shredder.
Shredder pushed back the attack with ease; Raph went flying several feet. Shredder laughed. "Besides, do you fools really think that I came alone?"
At that moment, Leonardo thought he heard the sound of shouting from the dojo. "April!"
"Go, Leo!" Mikey said. "We'll hold him off."
"This will be over quickly, you fools," Shredder said.
"You got that right!" Raphael countered, pushing himself off the floor.
His heart racing, Leo bolted across the lair and into the dojo.