(In the last chapter Raph played bass guitar. This is from the 2003 series. He never played it in an episode but he did have a guitar in his room. I don't know if it was a bass or not, but that's what I imagine he would play. In the new series he has a drum set. Oh and the drone actually exists and they are creepy cool. You should check it out.)
Chapter 20
"The world gets smaller"
"Look, look. See how it climbs over everything? It's like a battle bot….without the battle." Michealangelo said excitedly to his brothers, who were all squished around him watching his video recording, in which the ground drone was making its way over a small mound of debris.
"This was in the sewers?" Raph asked. It was a stupid question considering the fact that the robot was surrounded by the unmistakable brick, piping, and refuse that was customarily in the sewers.
"Ya." Leo answered. "And I'm pretty sure it has Bishop written all over it."
"What exactly is IT?" Raphael asked making a face at the phone screen.
Don quickly gave an explanation as he leaned into the screen. "It's called a Big dog and was originally built by Boston dynamics. It was designed as a pack mule, of sorts, for soldiers traversing terrain that is too difficult for more conventional vehicles."
"That don't sound so bad." Raph crossed his arms showing he wasn't intimidated by the machine.
"Well, the problem isn't so much the machine its self, as it isn't equipped with any kind of weaponry. The problem is that it is being used to scout the sewers just outside our front door. It won't be long till they find the layer." Don explained.
"What about all the security stuff we've been putting up?" Mikey asked.
"It gives us early warning, Mike, But it won't keep anyone out." Leo explained, then added. "We need to lead them away from the layer."
"I don't see why we don't bust them up, call it good." Raph stated with a wave of his hand.
"Because," Don explained to his, hit first ask questions later, brother. "If we go out there and just destroy the things than we end up with a swarm of soldiers just outside our door. Which isn't any better."
"Then we demolish them as well. We did pretty damn good when we went in after Arayah." Raph shrugged.
"Your definition of pretty good and mine are a little different, Raph." Leo argued.
"Hey, we got out didn't we?" Raph snapped.
Leo rolled his eyes. He really didn't care to argue about a mission that could have gone south quickly and easily, and was no longer relevant. "We are going to lead these things away from the layer. That is my final decision, Raph."
Raph waved his brother off, but still followed when Leo led the others into the sewers.
It didn't take them long to find one of the machines. The incessant buzzing gave it away as they marched down the tunnels to the east of layer.
"Not exactly stealthy are they?" Raph commented.
"Which means they will be easy to follow." Leo leaned into the tunnel watching the one machine pass and then scanned the nearby tunnels for the other machine he knew was marching about.
"I thought we were going to lead them away from the layer." Mikey pointed out.
Leo and Raph looked at their smaller brother for a long moment.
"Right." Leo nodded. "It's hard to think with that buzzing."
"You're telling me." Don concerned.
"Ok Don, you and Mikey take this one. Raph and I will find the other. It can't be far." Leo guessed then stepped out into the tunnel.
"Wait." Mikey reached out grabbing Leo's arm and pulling him back into their current tunnel. "What if they are more like terminators than mules?"
The possibility hadn't occurred to any of them previously. So, they looked to Don.
Don shrugged. "It's not how they were designed."
"Be careful." Leo instructed as he looked between his brothers, then turned back to the tunnels and hurried across the junction, Raph following closely behind.
Donatello rounded the corner, and with a deep breath Mikey followed.
As Don got closer to the mechanical wonder that was Big Dog, instinctively becoming more aware of every step he took.
'How close was Don trying to get?' Mike asked himself as he kept pace and tried not to panic about Don's seeming desire to count coup.
This was not about the prestige of a warrior, however, this was about knowing what one is up against. He had researched the mechanical creation that marched along in front of him he could name every part that made the thing move and buzz, but he had never seen it in person. And this was the best opportunity he was going to get to check one out.
Coming up close behind it, Don reached out with his bo and gave the Big dog a hard shove. Setting it off balance, Don marveled at the way the Machine, stumbled, corrected its self, then turned.
Donatello couldn't help but grin as he watched it sway one way and then another as it considered first him and then Michelangelo, who found himself less in awe of the thing and more exposed to it.
"Don I think we should get moving." Mikey found himself feeling squarely under the inspection of the buzzing machine.
"We've got a minute." Don said as he crouched down and reached out toward the machine.
Suddenly the buzzing sound was accented by a whirring.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Mike asked as he began to back away slowly.
Don stood back up and considered the machine. "I'm not sure."
The whirring continued as some compartments on both sides opened up and two mounted assault rifles slid out, loaded and ready.
"Run." Don squeaked before turning into Mikey, who was quickly spinning and gladly moving down the tunnel as the big dog opened fire.
"I hate being right!" Mikey yelped as they ducked, dodged, rolled, and jumped back down the sewer passage.
"What's that noise?" Leo slid to a stop and listened to the sound echoing down the tunnel ahead of him and Raph.
Raphael came to a stop next to his brother and listened. There was that incessant buzzing like a thousand bees accompanied by a repetitive tat! tat! tat! One sound severely obscuring the other. "It didn't make that sound before?"
Leo shook his head. "It sounds different. Like ummm…"
"A gun!" Raph's eyes widened as he jumped at Leo knocking him against the wall, avoiding the first spray of bullets. Then pushing off the wall they took off running, bullets whizzing by as they took off down the tunnel.
It didn't take them long to collide with Mikey and Don in a rather painful crash. Stumbling over one another and pulling each other to their feet the four took off again.
Raph let out a pained shout as a bullet imbedded itself a little too deep into his shell. "We could use a plan fearless leader!" He bellowed as he charged on pushing his brothers infront of him.
"I'm working on it!" Leo shouted back as he searched the approaching tunnels for something to inspire a plan other than running for their lives.
He turned into another tunnel then, faced with another Big dog robot, he did and immediate about face and pushed the others across the tunnel.
Rolling to avoid at least a few of the bullets they headed down the other way three machines firing on them as they ran.
"Our shells can't take much more of this!" Don winced as a bullet burrowed into his shell pushing a previous one deeper the pain tripping him up a little.
Leo saw their salvation in the form of a latter. "Get top side! We don't have time to wait for each other. Two of you take this one. I'm running for the next one."
Leo didn't have to tell Mike twice. He jumped for the ladder and started climbing quickly. Don directly behind him.
Don slipped and let out a yelp when a bullet grazed his leg. But he didn't let it slow him much. Within seconds he and Mike were top side running to the next man hole to pull back the cover for Raph and Leo.
"Move!" Raph shoved Leo out of the man hole rolling out behind him before Mike pushed the man hole cover back into place.
They laid or sat on the asphalt trying to catch their breath.
"Well that sucked." Mikey griped.
"I think I got shot in the ass." Leo groaned as he checked his upper thigh for the wound. "Nope, just got scraped by Raph's shell when he shoved me through the man hole."
Mikey laughed out loud. "Dude that sound s wrong in so many ways."
Leo rolled his eyes but chuckled along with the others.
A black van turned onto the dark street drawing thier attention and sending them diving for the shadows of the alley.
They watched the vehicle pass by.
"Government plates." Donatello pointed out as the vehicle drove up the road.
"Follow it." Leo ordered. And the four took to the roofs.
Jumping off walls, flipping off ledges and other structures they hurried along the buildings keeping the van in view till it came to stop at a spot where the sewer opened up to a small rocky aria and then the river.
Quietly the four hunched down in the shadows of a rickety boat house and watched.
Two men in suits stepped out of the van and walked around to the back. One held a device in his hand that he made some adjustment to then turned to the other agent as he stepped away from the van after opening it.
Raph hunched lower and growled as he recognized the second agent as Bishop. His sai out, he shifted his weight as he plotted the fastest way across the distance between him and the monster. His feet hit the dirt silently as he ran across the shadows like some stealthy boogey man.
"Raph." Leo whispered after his overzealous brother. "Damn it. Stay here." Leo ordered the other two as he took off after Raph. He hated it when Raph did this. Leo liked a well laid out infallible plan. He hated having to think on his feet and "wing it" so to speak. But thanks to Raph, and at times Mikey, he had gotten reasonably good at it. So silent step by silent step he followed after the dynamite that is his brother.
Mikey watched Leo and Raph disappear into the shadows and pouted. "What are we supposed to do?"
Donatello leaned on his bo "Be back up."
"They get to have all the fun." Mikey grumbled.
Raph's toes dug into the ground as he picked up speed emerging from the shadows like, well, a ninja from the shadows. He lashed out at Bishop a solid strike aimed to sink the sai in between the fifth and sixth ribs.
But Bishop was a second faster. He side stepped and turned bringing his foot up catching Raph's shin and snapping a back fist down at the base of Raph's neck tripping him up and setting him of balance and charging into the corner of the van. The other agent quickly engaging the giant turtle with a few well-placed hits to the face before Raph could right himself. Raph threw out a palm strike to the man's chest sending him back a few steps giving himself the opportunity to find his feet.
Leo came in directly behind Raphael bringing his swords down on Bishop. The blades slicing through Bishop's jacket as he jumped back out of their reach.
Leonardo didn't slow his attack, as Bishop spun and ducked with almost super human speed staying just outside of the weapon's reach causing Leo to cause no more damage than sliced clothing and a couple of superficial cuts. It was infuriating, especially when Bishop stepped in on Leo's upswing catching and twisting his wrist and forcing Leo to drop one of his katanna and go down to one knee, his arm being yanked behind him in an arm bar.
Bishop then planted his foot in center of Leo's carapace and pushed up on his arm till it slid from its socket with a pop.
Leo let out an involuntary yelp as white hot pain shot out from his shoulder, drawing the attention of his brothers.
Don and Mikey were already closing the space between themselves and the others.
Raph took his focus off of the other agent to look back at his brother. His eye's widening as Bishop took a pistol from his side and pointed it down at his brother's head.
"Leo!" He shouted before the other agent's fist made contact with his jaw.
Bishop lips slid into a smile relishing both the sound of Raph's panicked call to his brother and the rush of what he was about to do his finger squeezing back on the trigger.
Mikey released a shurikan. The weapon spinning through the air finding its mark in Bishop's gun causing his aim to veer to the side as it went off, the bullet grazing Raphael's arm before embedding itself in the other agent's forehead.
Bishop turned to his attacker in time to catch one of Mikey's lightning fast snap kicks to the chest knocking Bishop back against the van.
Leo was up and landing his left fist against Bishop's face before the agent could get his breath back.
He hit the ground with a thud then rolled beneath the van before Leo could bring his foot down on him.
"He's under the van." Leo informed the others.
As they all started trying to reach the man as he scrambled to stay out of their reach.
"What are we going to do with him when we get him?" Don asked as he attempted to push Bishop into the reach of any of the others.
Bishop retaliated by kicking the weapon back at Donnie earning him a frown from the turtle.
"I'm gunna fucking kill him!" Raph shouted as he slammed himself against the van then hooked his hands under the bumper and lifted. "But not before I…"
Raph's threat was cut short by the heralding buzz of the three Big dog drones.
All four brothers looked to the sewer entrance as the machines came crawling out.
The three big dogs stopped, swayed as their computers processed the scene, then opened fire, the bullets flying through the air in a haphazard manner as they started climbing clumsily over the Rocks in front of the sewer entrance.
"Get cover!" Leo ordered.
"What about ..." Raph started to complain about leaving Bishop, but was forced to duck and drop the back of the van as bullets whizzed by his head. "Damn it." He grumbled as he quickly rounded the van and followed his brothers.
Bishop crawled out from under the van after the drones marched by pushing the mutant turtles to the cover of the boat house. He was not overly concerned with them or the outcome of the battle that would ensue.
He walked up to the dead agent that lay sprawled out on the ground, his dim eyed expression looking up into the New York smog. Bishop leaned down and pulled the control box from the man's cold hand.
After making some adjustments to the controls he watched as one of the drones ceased its march and turned around, quickly making its way back to the van. After the machine climbed into the back Bishop closed the doors and with a grin he wiped the blood from a small cut on his cheek and stepped up into the van. With the other drones keeping the turtles busy he easily disappeared into the night.
"He's getting away, Leo!" Raph complained as he watched Bishop's van disappear from behind the cover of a wooden wall.
"I think that is the least of our worries." Leo answered back and wincing when he ducked from another spray of bullets pelted into and through the wooden boat house walls. His shoulder was killing him, he was sure of it.
Mikey sat with his shell to a boat and wrapped his arm around his head as he bent his head down as low as he could. "Man, I really don't want to get shot at anymore tonight." He informed the room as a hole.
Don had found himself in a nook with a nice little escape window and was trying to figure out if he was going to be able to force his carapace through the window or not.
"This is the plan!" Leo announced. "Mike and Don you are going to get out and go around. Take these things out! Raph and I will draw their fire. Ready, go!"
Donatello found that he had been correct about being able to force himself through the small window, though now without some scathing to his shell.
Mikey made his escape by diving through a larger window and rolling on to the sand on the other side.
Don went left and Mikey went right both stepping carefully through the darkness.
Leonardo and Raphael took turns drawing the fire of the two machines by making noise and jumping about then diving to the ground when the things opened fire.
Whenever he hit the ground, causing his loose shoulder to jolt and renew his pain, Leo gave in to groaning or yelling out.
Mikey got the opportunity to move first, simply because the Big dog drone on his side was more occupied at the moment. As the machine fired on the boat house, Mike rushed from his hidden spot leaping into the air with a graceful double flip and landing with as much force as he could muster sending the thing flailing for balance as it skipped and skidded into the other drone. He then rolled back off the drone he had landed on as the other drone opened fire. The bullets tearing through the aluminum and mettle body at such close range, causing the Big dog drone to sway teeter and fall to the ground.
Don then made his attack and leapt onto the back of the second machine. Working quickly, with a flat head screw driver, one of the tools he carried about in his belt, he took a panel off the back of the machine. Mean wile Mikey ran in a circular pattern around the thing drawing its attention till don pulled the circuit board from it causing to stop function and drop to the ground sending himself rolling across the sand.
Mikey slid to his knees in the sand taking deep breaths. "Everyone still alive?!" he called out.
"Present." Don answered as he took a couple deep breaths before dragging himself to his feet.
"Here." Leo answered as he emerged from the building cradling his sore arm.
He was followed by Raph who answered. "Still kicken'.
As his brothers gathered Don took a moment to appreciate the tech that went into the drone he had removed the circuit board from before deciding to take it with.
"Really Don, you're bringing it with you?" Raph asked as he watched his brother struggle with the machine he was dragging.
"Yes. I can do so much with this." Don huffed excitedly than after a couple of hard tugs scraping the thing across the ground he turned to his brothers. "Could one of you help me?"
"Sorry, Don. My shoulder is out." Leo apologized as he clutched the offending shoulder.
Don looked at his other two brothers with pleading eyes. "Do you have any idea how awesome this thing is?"
No they didn't. As matter of fact the idea of taking something that had just tried to kill them back to the layer didn't sit well. But, when the brainiac got his mind set that was it.
Mike and Raph stared each other down for a moment before Mike stuck his fist out in front of him.
Rolling his eyes and letting out an aggravated sigh as he mimicked his brother's action. Then bobbing their hands up and down they began to count.
"One, two, three."
Mike chose paper simply because Raph always picked rock, and he didn't disappoint.
With a grumble Raph moved to help his brother.
"Thanks, Raph." Don chirped excitedly.
"Whatever." Raph lifted the other side of the robot. "Let's just get the heck out of here."
*scene change*
Arayah sat on her bed staring at her closed door. What, the hell, had she been thinking?! Throwing herself at Raph like that. Things had just gotten to be normal between them… sort of. How was she supposed to talk her way out of this, when she didn't even understand it? Especially since Raph didn't have a history of being overly understanding about this kind of thing. "Damn it."
There was a knock on her door.
Arayah took a deep breath before crossing the room and opening the door. "Yes?"
Splinter looked down at her with a worried expression. "We could use your medical expertise."
"What's wrong?" Arayah asked as she followed Splinter back to the lab.