I know, I'm way too late with this chapter. I hope you've waited for it :). Again we'll continue where we left off.

As for Splinter.. I know, I keep him away from the important stuff. It's just that I have no/little place for him, since I like to write about the Turtles themselves. So, I'm very sorry Splinter isn't there much in the action. I'm gonna work on it :).

Well, you've waited too long already, so hereby the next chapter.

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Protection

"This will be the end for you meddling turtles," Bishop suddenly spoke. He turned to his agents. "Remember what I have instructed. I want them alive." He turned his back towards the brothers. "In every sense of the word..."

Raph angily clenched his sai. "Yer gonna regret burstin' in here, Bishop! Cuz unlike what yer sayin', you ain't comin' out here alive!" With a roar he jumped towards the middle of the agents, who were waiting for orders from their leader. Even before they realised what was happening, Raph had taken out two and was already setting his vision on the next one.

Registering the fight fast, Don took a few steps back towards the infirmary. "Raph! Take out the guys with the projectile firearms first!" he yelled. Raph grunted. "Wha'?" he asked, as his sai sliced through a muscled arm.

"The big black guns with the open grip! Take 'em out first!" Don elaborated. Seeing Raph did what he told him to, Don dared to turn away from the fight. Reaching the door of the infirmary, he sneaked a look inside, his heart growing heavy of the scene in front of him. Both of his brothers were out of commission and by the looks of it, it wasn't good. Leo was still struggling to breath and had started to shiver, which caused Don to worry even more. The poison was working fast and at this moment all of Leo's muscles had to be infected. Don was glad it was just a small tremble for now, but he also knew that in time the muscles could start spasming, which was practically the end of the line. Leo was already fighting so hard to stay alive, there was no way his body could go through more.

His eyes shifted to Mikey and he quickly analyzed the extent of the damage on his head as good as he could. He could not see the entire wound, since his brother was laying partly on top of it, but the blood on the floor and the purple bruising around the injury, were telling enough. Along with the fact that the youngest wasn't conscious and he was caught up in an explosion, Don concluded Mikey had to have a concussion at the least, not to mention other injuries Don couldn't see at the moment. Problem was, he could not estimate how severe it was from his position. The doctor and older brother in Don told him to go to the youngest, to take care of him, but he couldn't with the fight going on in the background. All he could do right now was to protect them by holding off the government agents and send April to the lab to work on the cure and to take care of both his brothers once she got here.

"So, Donatello. How is Leonardo doing?" the mocking voice of Bishop suddenly sounded not too far from him. Immediately Don grabbed the door handle and shut the door close, so his injured brothers wouldn't be directly in harm's way. Irked he turned to face his enemy, who regained his straight posture. When Don didn't answered, he continued. "I bet my little mixture works pretty well by the looks of it." His eyes shifted quickly at the closed door before fixing themselves on the turtle again. Angry Don gritted his teeth together. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing he didn't deserve," Bishop said matter-of-factly. "If it wasn't for your meddling brother, I would have executed my procedures as planned." His face twisted into an angry scowl. "And now I'm set back eight months! All my hard work, right down the drain because of that blasted katana-wielder!"

Don gave a proud grin. "Heh, that's Leo for you."

Bishop took a calming breath. "But not for long. He's fading fast, isn't he?" He took a little step back to avoid one of his falling agents whose nose seemed broken in several places. Without looking he reached out, and grabbed the unused laser gun out of the hands of the now unconscious agent. Indifferently he continued as he prepared the gun. "Did you find a cure yet?"

Don narrowed his eyes, holding his bo staff so tight his knuckles turned white. He wasn't the one who got angry quickly, but this man was seriously pushing him to his limit. Smirking Bishop aimed. "I thought so. I know you are missing one constituent. And that's not something you can get your hands on pretty quickly." His finger went to the trigger, knowing that if Donatello moved, the laser would cut right through the door of the infirmary. "You are mine, freak," Bishop sniggered as he pulled the trigger. Instead of a fire hot beam coming out of the barrel, nothing happened. Surprised Bishop looked down at the weapon and pulled the trigger a few more times. "What's this? Why isn't this working?"

In turn Don gave Bishop a smirk of his own. "You're on my turf now, Bishop. You really think I didn't have any precautions? All I had to do was to amplify my EMP-biodrivers to dismiss the energy-based weapons. You don't stand a chance barging in here with technology."

Bishop dropped the gun. "Clever," he commented in all honesty, then got an evil grin on his face. "Too bad your technical skills are insufficient to keep your brother alive."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. With a roar Don charged at Bishop with all speed he possessed. Striking in blind fury, he felt how his staff missed the temple he was aiming at. Quickly he turned his body, only to see Bishop stepping away from him with great carelessness. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hit a sensitive subject?" he said with a wicked grin. At that moment a hard fist collided with his jaw, making him stumble to the side.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I hit yer head?" Raph roared, not even trying to bring some humor to his sentence. Quickly he turned to his brother. "Come on, Donnie! It's great yer keepin' Four-Eyes here busy, but I need some help!" He rubbed the back of his hand over his cheek to wipe away some blood coming from a nasty cut. Don nodded. "I know! But I've got to protect the infirmary and the lab too."

Raph quickly glanced over to the closed doors, before ducking to avoid a kick to the head. "Yeah, yeah. I know. When's Case gonna be here?"

"I don't know, Raph. I just called April like forty minutes ago, but with a little less urgency since I did not know we would be under attack. I expect them any minute now!" Don answered as he twirled his bo over his head to create some distance between him and some agents who followed Raph to his location. He heard his brother grunt. "What about Splinter?"

"You know he's in another dimension, Raph! I can't possibly reach him!" Don said a little frustrated as he swept his staff over the floor, making an enemy lose his footing. He quickly glanced over to the door of the infirmary, which was still shut tight. Although the agents didn't barged in yet, this was still taking too long. Don needed to know how his other brothers were doing. They both needed him by their side - He had to take care of them.

"Shell! Since when does he leave us so much alone?" Raph yelled as he jammed his sai forward, missing the agent he was aiming at. Don gave an amused snort, focussing on the fight again. "Since we're old enough to take care of ourselves."

The moment Raph wanted to answer, strong hand grasped his wrist tightly. "I think your rat has made a big mistake," Bishop grinned as he twisted Raph's hand violently. Immediately Raph let out a painful scream while the hold forced him on one knee to prevent his elbow from bending the wrong way.

"Raph!" Don yelled as he tried to make his way through the agents, who've set their eyes on him now Raph was in Bishop's hold. He thrust his bo forward to make some room, as he used his elbow to block a strike from the side. Swinging his staff back in a circular motion, Don lifted it up over his head while crouching down a bit so the ends were at head height. Noticing his enemies were slightly pulling back, he took his chance and jumped up, preparing to hit Bishop with full force. Just too late he realised Bishop's knowing grin and he knew they were going to regret this. In one motion the government agent gave a last firm jerk on Raph's arm as a soft crack and scream resonated through the living room, while twisting his body to give a perfectly executed roundhouse kick to take his incoming enemy down. With a crash Don landed right on his shell, as flares of pain radiated from his side where Bishop's heel had collided with his body. Winded he scrambled for his bo, since he didn't have the luxury to recover properly. Regaining his breath a bit, he opened his eyes, only to see several agents hovering over him, menacing looks on their faces.

"Capture them," Bishop instructed. "I'll see if the other two could still prove useful for me." With firm steps he walked over to the door of the infirmary.

"No! Get tha shell away from there!" Raph yelled angrily, trying to squirm out of a vicious hold of several agents. His face had turned into a painful grimace since his arm hurt like shell.

"They're already down, Bishop! Back off! You've got us already!" Don tried while being forced on his knees as his arms were twisted behind his back. "Bishop!" He watched how the agent ignored him by laying his hand on the door handle and pushed down, only to discover the door was locked. Bishop jiggled the handle a bit, trying to unjam the door. When it didn't work, he slammed his fist on the hard wood. "This place keeps disappointing me," he mumbled while taking two steps back, preparing himself to kick down the door, even with his injured foot.

"Bishop!" Raph yelled angrily. "I promise I'll make ya pay fer everythin'!" He used all of his strenght to get out of the grasp of the eight agents holding him down. He had to get up, he had to get Bishop away from his defenceless brothers.

There was a loud crack as Bishop's foot collided with the wood. At the second attempt the door finally slammed open, revealing the two brothers who were still out cold.

Quickly both Raph as Don glanced inside, slightly relieved Leo was still breathing, but very concerned about the state he was in. The sight of an unconscious Mikey who had not moved in the past time did not make the situation any better.

"Well, well, well. What a beautiful sight," Bishop grinned, looking from Leo on the cot, to Mikey on the floor. "That's how I like my mutants: Hurt and right for the taking." He stepped into the room.

"No! No, get away from them!" Don yelled in panic, twisting and turning violently. "Leave them alone!"

Raph gave a frustrated roar. "I'll friggin' kill ya!"

Ignoring his now captured enemies, Bishop first walked over to the cot where the battered and bruised form of Leo laid down. "You stupid mutant," he started so softly only Leo could hear it. "If it wasn't for you, my device would have intercepted the most important conference call with all of the world leaders. I would have used that information to create a war only I could solve, making me indispensable in the world government. And now you've ruined my chance." He gave a small calming sigh and looked the oldest over. "At least I've returned the favor." Silently Bishop analyzed the damaged done by his poison. Leo's deep, ragged breathing pattern didn't seem to faze him. Instead he put two fingers in Leo's neck to feel the racing heartbeat. "Still proud of yourself for disrupting my activities, Leonardo?" Still not taking notice of the yells and threats from the living room, he withdrew his hand and gave a pleased nod. "Next time you should listen to me in the first place and just walk away." Slowly he took a few steps to the right, where he looked down to the other unconscious turtle. "And you do realise you've ruined my stealthy entrance by opening that door and just keep standing there?" He slid his foot underneath Mikey's plastron and with some effort he kicked him half on his back, revealing the large bloody gash and the dark purple bruising on the side of the youngest' head. Mikey didn't even stir.

"If it was to take the first hit to protect your brothers, you've failed, Michelangelo." He knelt down next to Mikey's head. "They're all mine now." He reached out, but stopped immediately when he felt something relatively sharp and wooden against his throat.

"Don't ya freakin' touch 'im, creap," a deep, cold voice told him. "Ya betta step away right now!"

Curiously Bishop turned his head down to see with what weapon he was threatened with. The moment he did, a strong hand grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him back a few feet. With expert agility Bishop landed on his feet and he looked up to see whom he had the pleasure with. A tall and muscled man stared him down menacingly. "I hope ya can dance, Mister Fancy Pants," the man said with a confident grin as he tapped a hockey stick in his hand. "Cuz Casey Jones has joined tha party!"

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Oops, still not the end of this story. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. I hope you guys don't mind.

Please tell me your thoughts in a review! You know I love them ;-).