Second chapter and going strong!

Chapter 2: Into the Inferno

The building was on fire. It was on fire. Engulfed in flames that licked and prodded at the establishments beside it then flung its hot arms up in the air roaring and spewing. It would've been fine – It was just an apartment fire, they happened all the time. The problem was the terrified screams that cut through the flames from the inside.

"There's people in there!" Raphael gasped and whipped around to look at his leader with one foot already on the side of the building, ready to jump.

Leonardo shook his head looking torn. Behind him, Donatello jumped down and landed in a crouch before standing back up. Michelangelo appeared from the shadows a little further back. His eyes were big and blue reflecting the bright flames.

"We can't go in there, it's not safe." Leonardo had his hands bunched fists so hard his knuckles showed an off green, almost yellow color that on a normal person would have been a white knuckled grip.

Raphael growled, "Leo, there are people in tha' building."

Leonardo shouldered his way past his brother to look over the edge to where the front door to the building was. He cursed loudly brining the attention of Michelangelo and Donatello over beside him. They too gasped and cursed.

"Shell," Michelangelo looked at the entrance – or what was left of it. Fire. Bright and orange and thick burned over the entrance. It took up the entire front of the building in a wall of unforgiving flames. Black smoke billowed out thickly into the clear night sky. No one could get through that wall of fire, there was go getting out the front entrance. From deep inside the building screams broke through again. There were only a few people in the street looking up at the burning structure. Most of them were wearing night clothes and robes. Some were covered in black soot and crying.

"I know," Leonardo tried to reason. "But the firefighters will -"

A shriek shredded the night air cutting through the sound of fire crackling and burning. Michelangelo looked from Leonardo to Raphael hopping up and down with his nun chucks in either hand waiting to see what would happen. Leonardo scanned the building rapidly, eyes moving quickly and mind whirling even faster trying to weigh the options. He needed to see every available possibility. The side of the building that was spitting fire out to the street caved slightly as something hard fell through the floor shaking the entire structure. More fire burst through the windows and door of the first story. Another bloody scream broke from someplace higher up in the building making Leonardo fist his hands with bone crushing tightness.

"Leo." Michelangelo begged. In that moment Leonardo made his choice. He hated to do it but he couldn't let those people suffer, he couldn't listen to their screams anymore.

"Right," he called the attention of his brothers. "We can't all go in there -"

"Leo!" warned Raphael.

"No! I'm not risking everyone's life," he yelled back to be heard over the burning fire he was faced away from. He could feel the heat on the back of his head and shell. It was uncomfortable.

"Listen to me." He pleaded. Raphael crossed his arms but nodded. It was a testament to how well all four brothers had grown and matured since Splinter died that none of them just rushed in, Raphael especially. He waited to see what his leader would decide.

Leonardo spoke fast in a commanding voice that the brothers were used to in battle. "Don, I need you to use the ShellCell to call the police, I still don't hear sirens. Raph, there should be a back door on the other side of the building but I don't see anyone coming out of it. If the front of the building is engulfed then everyone trapped should go to the back, you need to see if the door is blocked and if it is make a way for them to get out. Mikey you're on me. You're quick and we gotta go in and be fast. Don, you're also on lookout for Raph for anyone snooping around back there unless they're people trying to get out. We have to at least attempt to stay in the shadows. Everyone know what do to?"

Three turtles nodded with grim faces. Donatello already had his cell in hand.

Just then the side of the building farthest from the turtles blew in a geyser of smoke and ash and debris. None of the turtles flinched but the people in the street screamed.

"Then let's move! Let's go!" Leonardo ordered.

Donatello's voice was background noise as Raphael quickly ascending the building and ran towards the back to help find a way to get the people trapped inside out. Michelangelo and Leonardo took a running start to jump on the roof of the building that was on fire.

"9-1-1? I'd like to report a fire..."

There was at least a ton of wood and debris blocking it but, thank every God anyone had ever prayed to, there was door. And people were pounding on it from the inside. Raphael tore through the bricks and wood that lay between him and the door. He was strong and the sound of begging voices from the other side lit the fire inside of him. He grabbed and threw and spit and chucked trying to get to the door to get the frantic people out. Raphael put his hand up to push away a piece of splintered wood when something hot scorched his hand. He hissed and jerked away grabbing at his wrist. His hand was smoking. The wood and bricks that fell from the building were as hot as the fire still burning inside. Raphael took a deep breath trying to will away the stinging in his hands. It was then he noticed how hot he was. He was surprised when he wiped his brow to find no sweat slicking his skin. The fire was so close and hot making the sweat on his brow disintegrate before it could run down his face. But he couldn't stop. He could see the door, it was so close. He needed to unblock it and get those people out.

The floor was hot, really really hot. Leonardo could feel it burning the bottoms of his feet as he scanned the room Michelangelo and him and bounded into.

"No one in this one," he said before jogging off into the hallway to go into another apartment. They were on the fifth story, they had a lot more burning floors to travel.

It wasn't until they had cleared the fifth story and had kicked in the door to the first apartment on the fourth floor that they heard one of the screaming voices.

"Help! He-elp... Anyone!"

The brothers rushed to the voice through the smoke in the hallway. Michelangelo practically ran over a woman who was on the ground, a burn on the side of her face and in tears. Her arm was bent at such an angle that made Leonardo sick to his stomach. He bent down when he realized she had stopped moving to feel for a pulse.

"Just unconscience, Mike," he reassured his brother who couldn't help bouncing from foot to foot as the bottoms were burned. Leonardo figured the woman had been trampled when the fire had started by people from both the fifth and fourth floor trying desperately to get out.

"Mikey, take her and..." He trailed off looking around a second before deciding to kick down the closed door to the right of the woman. The door broke open in splinters to revel an apartment not on fire. He pointed to the window. "Take her down to the street carefully then come back up here. I'll start clearing this floor."

"Right." He answered. No questions asked. He bent down to pick up the woman who was silent, her eyes were closed clearly passed out. Then Michelangelo was gone and Leonardo was down the significantly more smoky hall than the floor above looking for more people.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" He yelled down the hall and into each apartment he went into.

He found more people. Near the stares was a group pounding on an apartment door. The door was warped on its hinges making it so it was jammed in its frame. He yelled for the people begging for help on the inside to back away from the door then bent down and put his shoulder into it. Running into the door hurt his shoulder but he paid it no mind compartmentalizing his pain to deal with later. Leonardo was careful however, to be backed up and surrounded by smoke before the people could come out and see his green body and shell.

"Go down the hall, keep your heads down. There's an exit in the back of the building," Leonardo ordered knowing Raphael had managed to get a way for the ones downstairs to escape. He didn't need any evidence; he knew his brother would have found a way.

The people choking on smoke ran past his hidden place. There was mother who held her child close against her body and a father with two crying children in his arms. One of the children looked up as they ran down the hall. Leonardo stepped out from the smoky corner he had hid in not being able to hold his breath any longer. The child's eyes grew wide but he put up a small hand to wave at the turtle before disappearing around the corner. Leonardo stood still for only a second longer before deciding he had given them enough time and was off down the same hallway kicking in doors and listening for pleas of help. By the time Leonardo kicked down almost every door on the floor he had to stop. It was hard to breath. All around him was smoke but so far no fire, and that's what scared him. His chest rattled as he coughed hard. He pounded on his chest trying to force air down.

Something rumbled, the building shuttered violently.

Falling. He was falling. Instinct kicked in before Leonardo's head could connect with the side of the wall, he kicked off trying to fall the other way. The building felt like it was moving. Leonardo slammed into something hard knocking the breath out of him. Dazed and confused the blue turtle lay on the ground looking around at the foggy room he was in. Absently he felt his shoulder ache and his head pound in tune to his heart. He tried to make sense of what had happened. The building had shaken knocking him off his feet and into the wall. Was it an explosion? And where was Michelangelo, he should have been back already.

I can't stay here, Leonardo ordered his hot body to do his bidding. As slowly as he could afford he got to his unsteady feet.

"I got her out bro, she'll be fine." Michelangelo suddenly appeared in his dazed line of vision. His brother looked at him with concern. "You good Leo?"

"Fine," he answered automatically. "Come on, we have more floors to cover."

Opening the third floor door was a shock; there was actual fire burning parts of the walls and spitting out from various doors that had been hastily left open from people trying to get out.

"Please, please! Someone, anyone help me. Please!" A horse voice of a woman grabbed Michelangelo's attention when they were half way down the third floor. The woman was trapped under what looked to be the remains of a book shelf. She coughed a few times before yelling again desperately, brokenly. There was fire on the walls and around the apartment but it was sporadic and not a wall of impassable flame. Probably the shelf had come down when the building had shook and buckled.

"I got her dude, you can go down the hall and see if there's anyone else on this floor."

"No," Leonardo said sternly running over to his brother to help the now silent woman. He coughed a few times feeling hot smoke enter his lungs. "We stick together now, no questions."

Together they threw the large shelf away and helped the silent woman up. She looked at the two turtles with big glassy eyes and a shoot covered face. "You-you-"

"It's all a dream," Michelangelo smiled at her. "You're dreaming. We're your guardian angels," he cooed helping her get to the window to go down the fire escape.

Leonardo kicked at the window which shattered completely and led the woman through. "Now go!" He commanded. She nodded and started to make her way shakily down the stairs mumbling to herself, "My guardian angels are turtles..."

The two brothers nodded at each other then took off to find more people. They followed the sounds of pleas and cries until they found men and woman and children. Some were trapped others were just too scared to move.

Michelangelo tripped when they were clearing an apartment that Leonardo swore he heard someone cry in. Leonardo lunged out to grab him but he was already down, hissing as his skin touched the way too hot floor. Fire licked up the walls and smoke choked the air. It was getting harder to breathe as Leonardo swooped down to haul his little brother to his feet. He stopped suddenly as he saw movement. There was something inside the closet across the room. Grunting Leonardo helped Michelangelo up. The young turtle swayed on his feet and coughed as smoke assaulted his eyes and mouth. His bare feet moved up and down quickly, they were burning. The blue banded turtle ran to the closet and threw open the doors trying to see what had moved. He was looking around when the sound of wood splitting cut through the air. The fire that was running up the wall had finally reached the ceiling. The floor above them shuttered once. An eerie silence settled upon the two as they gazed at the ceiling. It cracked again making Michelangelo grab at his older brother.

"It's gonna come down!" He screamed grabbing his brother and pulling with all of his power to get him out of the way.

"No!" Leonardo yelled back. "There's someone in the closet!"

Michelangelo kept pulling his older brother feeling the heat of the flames around him burn his skin. Leonardo fought back trying to get to the thing he'd seen. He knew he saw something, someone.

"We can't," Michelangelo coughed into his hand still tugging. "We gotta go!"

That's when the ceiling came down in a burning inferno of wood and splinters and fire. Michelangelo had just cleared the room but Leonardo wasn't so lucky. He tried to jump towards his little brother but was stopped as a part of the ceiling came down across his shell and over his legs.

"Leo!"

"Mikey!" Leonardo did his best to ignore the burning in his legs and the way his shell felt like it was literally on fire. He felt like he was being stabbed in the back by a burning blade. Tears came to his eyes involuntarily but he didn't try to fight them. His shell had always protected his back, he'd never felt so much pain burn through him. He sucked in a breath and immediately regretted it as smoke assaulted him. Coughing. So much coughing. He couldn't catch his breath.

Michelangelo dropped to his knees hissing as the ground burned his skin. He yelled and grunted trying to free his brother from the burning wreckage. His heart pounding fast, legs and back burning Leonardo let out a small whine as Michelangelo moved a part of the ceiling that trapped him.

The smoke was starting to take hold of Michelangelo's throat, it hurt to move and hurt even more to breath. The ceiling in the hallway cracked a ways down threateningly. Leonardo pawed at the ground trying to find purchase to help get himself up, to help pull himself out of the burning room.

Fire. Everything was on fire. The curtains, the trash cans, the carpet, the walls. Everything. He couldn't breathe. He could hardly see. But he would get his brother out of this even if it killed him. Michelangelo screamed again and heaved using all his might to get the dry wall off of his big brother.

Sweat was nonexistent. It was almost too hot for it. Any energy that his adrenalin could give him was being sucked away by the heat and flames. Leonardo figured to himself absently that this was what Hell felt like as he lay on the burning floor in this inferno.

"Mikey," he said just loud enough to be heard. "You... You need to get out of... here. I'm not gonna let you... You need to-"

"Don't you dare ask me to leave you behind," Michelangelo got close to his older brother's hot, burnt face. "You'd never do the same for me." Then he started on the burning rubble covering his brother. Leonardo nodded putting his head on the ground trying to breathe.

"Come on! Work with me!" Michelangelo screamed as hard as he could while moving the last of the rubble away from his brother. Leonardo felt a weight being lifted from his back and tried to sigh in relief but stopped as smoke filled his lungs.

"See? Piece of cake." Michelangelo lifted his brother and threw his arm over his shoulder to help him stand. Leonardo's head spun but he could walk and that was all that mattered as the building shook and groaned like the inside of a monster. Leonardo stood straight ignoring the pain in his legs and shell. He let go of Michelangelo's shoulder against the younger one's ire and looked around trying to figure out where they were. One thing was for certain though and it was that they had been inside the burning building for too long. Down the hallway where the stairs should be was blocked off by a burning piece of wood. Smoke billowed out from the steps seeping into the already burning hallway. Leonardo put his hand over his mouth to try to filter some air. He took two breaths before he grabbed for Michelangelo's bandana. The younger turtle jumped in surprise but stayed still as Leonardo unfastened it and balled it up in his fist before putting it against his younger brother's mouth.

"Try to breathe through that," he ordered. Michelangelo nodded and Leonardo did the same to his mask putting it over his mouth.

"Leo we have to get out of here," Michelangelo's voice was muffled under the mask but Leonardo heard him loud and clear. He coughed a few times into the mask and looked down the hallway again.

"There's still two more floors," the leader in him knew that he needed to get himself and his brothers out of the area. There would be police and firefighters and other people around soon. But his conscience pleaded with him telling him there were more people in the building. Others who were still trapped. But the need to help his family, to make sure they were safe won out over the leader inside. The orange turtle waited for Leonardo to make a decision.

"Let's go. Now." Michelangelo nodded and both turtles took off as fast as the hot, cramped space would allow. Michelangelo was first getting to the outside the building. He swung himself out and waited for his brother.

Donatello looked up from patching Raphael's swollen, angry red tinted hands. The bandages he wrapped around the red turtle's hands would have to do until they got back to the Lair. He hadn't been planning on this being a rescue mission so he didn't have any of his usual medical supplies. He had thought it was just going to be a run over the roofs and a particularly intense game of ninja tag so he'd packed light in order to ensure that he could run fast, move swiftly and silently.

Looking over to where he could have sworn he heard Michelangelo's voice, Donatello kept his eyes open trying to see around. Raphael also looked up for a moment before jumping to his feet and rushing towards his brothers. Michelangelo and Leonardo seemed to be holding each other up by will power alone. Both were covered in black ash and both were sweating, their skin hot. Raphael noticed that both were mask-less and obviously burned. Donatello ran towards them a second after they appeared on the rooftop only a moment after Raphael had. Gently the smart turtle took a clearly burnt Leonardo out of a clearly less burnt but exhausted Michelangelo's grip and lowered the pliant turtle to the ground. Raphael helped the youngest turtle sit as well trying to use the sides and backs of his hands. Both the orange and blue turtles were breathing hard and coughing up their lungs with wet and dry gasps that sounded awful in all of their ears.

"I have oxygen tanks back at the Lair," said Donatello.

Michelangelo turned his head and leaned away from his family. He made a retching sound as he threw up all he had eaten. Bile burned its way all the way from his stomach and out his mouth making tear tracks appear in the soot on his face. The red turtle gently rubbed his shell as he threw up all over the rooftop.

"Did you..." Leonardo tried to speak but couldn't get words out of his dry mouth. It hurt but he had to ask, he had to know. "Did you get... open door to get-get people out?" He croaked.

Raphael looked over at his older brother who was currently under Donatello's watchful eyes. The smart turtle was prodding at his legs but stopped as Leonardo hissed and cursed violently. Blood seeped sluggishly from a large gash on the back of his muscular calf, he'd have to ask Leonardo about that later. For right now all he could do was a quick field dress and hope it wasn't infected and wouldn't get infected on the run back to through the sewers.

"I got the door open," Raphael nodded. "I counted about thirty to forty people got out down there."

Leonardo moved his head up and down, his eyes smarted as he looked up at the sky in a calculated gaze. Raphael knew his brother was counting, trying to figure out how many him and Michelangelo had managed to get out added to the people already in the street when they arrived. He nodded once then mouthed good without actually speaking. Donatello ran his fingers lightly around the back of Leonardo's legs trying to feel if they were broken. One leg had a bump that protruded strangely from his the rest of his leg and by the way Leonardo held it stiffly he figured it was either broken or just swollen from the burns. Donatello clicked his tongue not for the first time in anger at his own stupidity. He didn't know much about burns, he'd never really had to. He knew the basics, sure. The basics being small finger burns from touching the stove or arm burns from practicing too close to a candle – that was one incident Leonardo wished to never speak of again. He even knew how to treat burns from straightening irons from when April had stayed in the Lair and dropped her iron while doing her hair. She'd tried to catch it mid fall but managed to grab the hot end and burnt her hand. But this, this was so much more than he'd ever seen.

Donatello was not a stupid turtle. He was smart not because he had to be but because he wanted to be. He wasn't the bronze or the brave – though he did have his moments of outstanding bravery in the face of danger and he was no wimp when it came to fighting. It was simply that he preferred the technology, the innovation. The way that everything had a way. Nothing was left to chance when he could decode the situation. It was the same with his self-proclaimed title of the family medic. Medicine was just science and math. The way everything had a way - different diseases had different antidotes and cures. Do one thing another happened, have one thing give them something and you get an end result.

But, this was different. His family, his brothers were covered in burns. Actual honest-to-God if-they-were-human-they'd-be-in-a-hospital burns. Donatello didn't know what to do.

Do what you can for now and figure it all out later, the logic inside of him dictated.

"Okay Leo, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to gently pick you up and roll you to the side because I need to see the other side of your legs."

"His shell is cracked," Michelangelo sat with his head between his knees, his voice a hoarse croak. Raphael looked over at Donatello who now had a pinched and concentrated expression on his face.

"Leo, I have to roll you over."

"It's fine," Leonardo said breathlessly looking up at the smoky sky. "We need to get out of here." The sirens that had been constant background noise now seemed to fill his senses in warning. There were people all around who could see them if they looked up at the building at just the right angle. There were too many people too close and they were too exhausted to fight back or run away very fast if someone saw them.

Leonardo tried to struggle to his feet. "Raph help Mike. Don you're... you're gonna hav' ta help m-me," his words slurred together as Donatello helped him to his feet. It was hard to breathe even though he wasn't inside the burning building anymore. Michelangelo looked up, his face was pale under the black soot. His lips were dry. His chest rumbled when he coughed. If this were any other time he'd make some joke about how badass they were jumping into fires and saving people like Spiderman or the Silver Sentry, but he felt too sick - like he was about to throw up again. He looked around at the too bright fire that now engulfed and entrapped the entire building then at the Fire Engines flashing their lights on the other side of the inferno. He could hear people down on the streets talking and yelling and crying. He could imagine they were the people that he and Leonardo had managed to save down there, eyes still wide with confusion and shock that somehow they had been saved by giant green turtles. Michelangelo was scared, those people could easily blab to anyone about them and that's it. Secrets out. Into the lab they go.

"I agree we hav'ta go," he mumbled in exhaustion. Raphael nodded and used his bandaged hands to pick up his little brother and put his arm around him. Donatello gently brought Leonardo to his feet, secured his arm around his shoulders, and then took a few tentative steps to test out their positions. When Leonardo said and did nothing he figured that this would work. Donatello looked over at the red and orange turtles.

"We can't run or jump with you three in bad shape so let's go down this street using these rooftops and take a left, there's a manhole there in the ally that connects with our sewer. It's more walking but the pros outweigh the cons in this situation, I think."

Raphael nodded trying to ignore the way his hands felt like they were still sizzling every time they touched his younger brother's skin. Michelangelo put a tentative thumbs up while Leonardo stayed quiet at his side.

"Lead the way, Brainiac."Raphael motioned in front of him.

"Don't worry Leo it'll all be better once we get back home."

"I'm fine, just a little burnt," Leonardo muttered. Donatello hummed back at him.

"Mikey if you feel like you're going to throw up again tell Raph first and... Try not to throw up on my shell, I just waxed it," Donatello whispered to his brother then looked back at Michelangelo who would have swayed on his feet if Raphael hadn't wrapped himself around him in order to ensure that the orange turtle didn't fall. Michelangelo puffed out a few breaths keeping his eyes closed to stop the vertigo that bathed his senses.

"Dude," he rasped. "Only girl turtles wax their shells."

"Shut up Mikey," Raphael smirked starting to put one foot in front of the other.

It was dark on the rooftop when the turtles descended tentatively and slowly being mindful of each others injuries. Firefighters were perched on high ladders that connected themselves to the engines fighting the blaze as they left the burning building behind them. It was easy to miss, with all of the noise and chaotic flashes of light around them, the shadows that lingered and morphed as they walked. The shadows moved in unnatural ways, molding to that which had no shadow at night. All four exhausted teenagers went home unaware of the things that lingered just behind them, nipping at their heels.

"Can you see me?" The shadows whispered before the manhole cover was slid back into place and a defending silence covered New York City.

Updates will be sporadic as I am moving into my dorm room this week but as I have said before I never give up on a story so don't worry!