I do not own the TMNT

Chapter Eight; Victims and Brothers

The other vehicles dropped off of Nightwatcher's tail as soon as they were convinced they'd chased him off. For his part, Nightwatcher gunned it, pushing the speed up as high as it would go without losing control, sometimes faster.

He hated the time it took to regain traction after a sharp turn when normally he thrilled in it. In his mind he kept hearing that grunt after the gunshot. Mikey just wasn't the grunting type. Something was wrong. And if that stupid knuckle-head went and got himself hurt or-

Instead of finishing that last thought Nightwatcher pushed his bike to go faster.

...

The Turtle Titan was in over his shell. The place was swarming with Dragons and Initiates; several of which sported guns.

Mikey hated those things. They required no training, no work and no brains to be operated, in short; pulling a gun in a fight ought to be considered cheating! To make matters worse they hurt! Not the sharp, clean pain from a blade or the dull throb of a hit, but a tearing, burning pain that was nearly impossible to think through. In this lady's bathroom Mikey swore to himself never to watch another one of those stupid movies where the good guy got shot and kept going like it was an annoyance.

"You're bleeding!" The woman in front of him stated the obvious.

"Yes ma'am, t'ain't nothing but a scratch!" Turtle Titan bluffed. Okay, maybe he wouldn't have to give up those films. Mikey fished a couple throwing knives out of his belt and jammed them under the window. Using the knives, he managed to pry the swollen wooden frame open wide enough to get his fingers into the gap then tried to get the stupid thing to open the rest of the way.

"Come on you costumed freak! Let the lady out and we'll leave you alone!" Somebody taunted from the other side of the door. The window slid open a few more inches before finally giving up and sliding the rest of the way.

There was no fire escape outside the bathroom. Turtle Titan climbed out first and attached his grappling hook to the window sill. "Hurry!" He urged. Nora nodded and carefully climbed out. As she did so she slipped and started to fall, but the Titan caught her. If Michelangelo hadn't undergone hours of endurance training from his earliest youth Turtle Titan would never have been able to climb down the side of that building with the woman clutching one arm and a gunshot wound tearing at the shoulder of his other arm.

Once they were on the ground Turtle Titan gave the rope a sharp tug and freed the grappling hook. His reflexes were off and the thing landed solidly on his head, fortunately not doing damage to anything but his pride.

"Not up to your usual standards now, are you?" One of the four punks in the entrance to the alley sneered.

"Hey now, we all have our off days!" Turtle Titan replied. He gave a little shrug that sent the alley whirling from the pain before jumping behind a dumpster, pulling the woman with him. Two bullets ricocheted off the concrete where they had been standing.

"Look at the speedy turtle. Now where could the speedy turtle be hiding?" One of the Gangsters cackled. They started coming closer. Turtle Titan pushed the woman behind him and crouched, prepared to leap. He would tackle the men as they came around the corner and regain the offensive. If he was fast enough he wouldn't even have to see them clearly. The alley had given up whirling in favor of rolling like the deck of a boat. To make matters just slightly worse there was a buzzing in Mikey's head. He couldn't remember a buzzing like this any of the other times he had gotten seriously hurt. It wasn't a buzzing as much as a-

Nightwatcher's bike took out three of the men as he jumped clear. The forth man pulled his gun up to shoot just before he was greeted with a gloved rock shaped like a fist. As the guy hit the ground Nightwatcher came over to check on Turtle Titan and the woman.

Turtle Titan's skin was pale under his mask and blood stained one side of his costume, but he was still conscious. Raphael felt a chill run down his shell and almost reached for his shell cell out of habit. "Hey, dude, we've got to get this lady to the police department." Titan jerked a thumb over his shoulder where the mother crouched.

"Right." Nightwatcher muttered so softly that it barely carried through his helmet. Though the bulk of this current mess was aimed at the woman, Raph still wanted to get Mikey to safety immediately, but that wasn't possible at the moment. He helped Turtle Titan to his feet. Speaking louder, Nightwatcher ordered "You get to safety, now. I'll take the lady." He wanted to drag Mikey back to the lair and get Donnie to patch him up and Leo to give him a huge lecture on safety and avoiding guns, but innocent victims took priority. Only one passenger could fit on the Nightwatcher's bike and the woman was incapable of defending herself against her enemies.

"Great, see ya later." Nightwatcher almost reconsidered his course of action when he heard the faint slur to Turtle Titan's voice. Instead he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a gauze pad. After pressing it to his costumed brother's shoulder he grabbed the Titan's wrist directed him to put pressure on the wound.

"Okay, now hide!" He ordered. Turtle Titan nodded and ran from the alley. Once his cape flapped out of sight Nightwatcher grabbed his bike and righted it again. "Okay lady, I'm taking you to the police station and when we get there you will stay with an officer at all times until your little boy and husband are back, capeesh?"

"The police, yes!" Nora confirmed as she climbed on behind Nightwatcher.

"Good, hang on!"

As he tore out of the alley Nightwatcher tried to catch a glimpse of his brother but in true ninja fashion there wasn't a sign or a shadow of him.

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