Chapter 24
"At a cost"
With Mathew on her hip and Elizabeth trailing behind, April looked over her unexpected new roommates all exhausted from the night before.
Splinter was curled up in the recliner, Arayah lay stretched out on the couch, Donatello was sleeping at the kitchen table Michelangelo was curled up at April's feet in the entrance to the hall. Leo and Raph must have been on the floor somewhere else in the living room. She couldn't see them from where she was standing.
Carefully she stepped over Michealangelo. His bulky shell making the step a bit of a stretch and little Mathew didn't help April with her balance. She stumbled a bit but managed to get out of the hall without falling or dropping her youngest child and without kicking her friend.
A lot of good it did though since when she turned around to help Elizabeth she found the child already in midair with a huge smile on her face as she body slammed the unsuspecting Michealangelo.
"Ooof." Mikey grunted then peered over the edge of the blanket to smile sleepily at the little girl that was giggling at him. "What you doing, little Beth?"
Elizabeth giggled at her nick name. "Wrestling."
"No." April sat Mathew down so she could lift Elizabeth off of her turtley uncle. "You have school little girl."
April shooed Elizabeth to the kitchen. "Sorry, Mikey."
"No worries." Mikey yawned.
April turned the corner to walk into the kitchen then promptly tripped over a pile of unforgiving duffle bags.
The tumble and crash woke the slumbering ninjas and brought them all leaping to their feet, all but Mikey, armed and ready.
Don, being the closest, noticed April first and hurried to help her back to her feet. "Sorry, April. I'll find a better spot for those and I promise I am working on finding a place so we aren't crowding your space."
April rubbed her bumped elbow as she shook her head at Don. "We go over this every time you guys have to stay here. It is fine and you are welcome for as long as you need to stay."
She smiled and placed a hand on Don's shoulder. "But you do need to find another place for your guys' bags."
Donatello returned the smile and picked up a couple of the bags.
"Sorry April. You ok?" Leo asked as he picked up the last three.
"I'm fine. Sorry I woke you guys." April smiled at her friends as they decided the safest place to put their things then got to work making Elizabeth's breakfast.
After dictating where he thought the bags should go Mikey elbowed Raphael and pointed to Arayah. "She didn't even twitch."
"She's exhausted." Raph shrugged.
"I guess growing babies would be exausting." Mike said as he wondered over to his blanket and scooped it up so that he might find a place to sleep that wasn't so much in the way.
Raph watched his brother for a second than walked back over to his sleeping spot on the floor next to the couch. He laid there for a moment listening to the sounds of his family seeking sleep once again and April helping her kids get food.
"Aww but you never let me eat the good cereal." Elizabeth wined.
"That's because it isn't good for you." April replied.
"Uncle Mikey gives me the good cereal." Elizabeth pouted.
"That's because he is your uncle. And it's probably going to change when the new babies get here."
"Gahhh." Elizabeth dramatized.
Raph couldn't help but smile at the two. Trying to get more comfortable he rolled to his side where he wondered if he would have similar conversations with his children. Probably, considering the many similar conversations Splinter had had with him and his brothers.
Slowly Raph reached up over the couch carefully placing his hand on the swell of Arayah's pregnant belly. Gently he ran his hand over it loving the feel of her skin and reveling in the idea that his children lay with in. Losing himself in thoughts of the future and what it might hold he drifted back to sleep.
That was the simplest things would be in the Jones house hold for at least the next month and a half. Everything beyond that was generally hectic. Though Arayah tried to help April with the kids her belly continued to grow making Arayah more and more uncomfortable and less patient. Mikey made messes in the kitchen left and right. The kitchen table quickly became covered in Donnie's work of trying to find them a safe place to stay that had not already been claimed by the homeless or gangs of New York, not to mention a safe way to get there. Splinter tried to help with keeping the small place organized but honestly he was having a difficult time not stepping in as clan leader for Leo because the turtle couldn't seem to find a peaceful way to reign in Raphael. Leo and Raph fought almost constantly because Raph refused to follow any orders in regards to staying with in the apartment, sneaking out whenever he got the chance. The only peace to be found was when everyone was asleep or Raph had escaped to the garage or to where ever he kept sneaking off to.
"Is there anything you can do to get them to stop fighting?" Arayah asked Don.
"Why are you asking me?" Don gave Arayah a quizzical look over his lap top.
"You're the genius." Arayah griped as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms watching Raph and Leo yell at each other again.
"Why are you so fucking stubborn?!" Leo yelled at Raph.
"Me?! Like you aint. You don't give anyone a fucking inch around here!" Raph bellowed back.
"I am TRYING to keep us safe."
"How's that working out for you?"Raph asked the condescending question as he crossed his arms and frowned at Leo.
Leo could have strangled him in that moment if he hadn't had better control, considering ninety percent of their predicament was because Raph wouldn't stay in the layer in the first place. "You don't exactly help." Leo ground out through gritted teeth.
"Ya well while you're busy sitting here on your ass. There's stuff that this family needs that someone's gotta take care of." Raph shook his finger at Leo.
"Like what? We have everything we need here, Raph. And anything we don't have April can help us get." Leo countered.
Raph's gaze shifted to Arayah for a split second then back to Leo. "Not everything."
"Like what?"
"Don't worry about it! I got it!" Raph said as he adjusted his empty duffle bag across his chest and turned his back on Leo and pulled open the window.
Sick of his shit, Leo grabbed Raph by the arm. "Where the hell do you think you're going? Have you listened to anything I have said?"
"Getting shit done. Now let go of my arm!"
"You're not leaving, Raph."
Raph wasn't listening to anymore, and he was done arguing. So, he balled up his other fist and swung.
Leo managed to get his arms up in time to block the punch but he had to let go of Raph as he did so and the force knocked him back a step. By the time he had brought his arms down Raph was out the window and moving down the fire escape.
"Damn it." Leo cursed.
"Well, at least April isn't here to hear all the language you two are throwing around. You guys would owe her like… a thousand bucks at least."
Leo rubbed his arms as he shot Mike an unappreciative look. Then noted the expectant look Splinter was giving him.
"I'm going." Leo answered Splinter's look then with a sigh he crawled out the window to keep an eye on his brother.
Raph ducked through shadows as helicopters buzzed overhead making his way into the dark dank of the sewers. Silent as a snake slithering through grass he hurried through the dark dankness carefully avoiding the buzzing machines that marched through the sewers. As he came to the rubble entrance of his sewer home he stopped, crouched down, and scanned the layer. Seeing no one and nothing he carefully stepped inside.
He had been down here several times of late. In each trip he had brought something back to the garage. The first thing was Arayah's hell cat with the pieces of the broken rocking chair crammed into the front seat. Next was the truck with the crib pieces in the back. The vehicles had been parked behind Casey's garage where the vehicles that needed work were parked.
This was his last trip for now. He would get Arayah's motorcycle first and then he could come back for his motorcycle when it was safer. Quickly he removed his duffle bag and stepped into the storage closet that had been converted into Arayah's room. The book of nursery rhymes and songs sat on her night stand, which was actually a repurposed crate. Raph scooped it up and stuffed it into the duffle as he turned around. His next destination was the garage area of the layer, but the large form in Arayah's door way stopped him short.
Raph scowled. "Couldn't wait till I got back before you started in on me again?"
"What are you doing, Raph?" Leo asked his arms out in front of him in a pleading fashion. "What could you possibly be coming down here for that is worth the risk? You know what is at risk right?" It wasn't that he thought his brother was stupid, just that he hadn't stopped to think about it.
"Ya I know what's at fucking risk, Leo." Raph snapped as he pushed past his brother and stormed toward the garage.
"Than what are you doing?" Leo followed after the red and green brewing storm.
"I don't gotta explain myself to you." Raph entered the garage and started shoving the meatal rungs he had made into the duffle bag.
Leo shook his head at his brother. He did not understand what was so special about the pieced together bits of meatal that made them worth Raph risking life and family for. And he was too tired of fighting to ask. So he sat down on the floor by where Raph knelt positioning the meatal rungs and trying to get them to fit into the bag that was too small for them. "How am I supposed to do this, Raph?"
Raph spared Leo a glance before going back to trying to stretch the bag over the rungs. "Do what?"
"Talk to you, help you, work with you, anything." Leo's voice raised in exasperation as he spoke.
"Stop." Raph said simply. Giving up on trying to get the rungs to fit he just pulled the zipper as closed as it would go leaving the ends of the rungs sticking out.
"Stop?"
Raph let out a sigh, rubbed his hand over his head then looked at his brother. "Ya, stop. Stop trying to control everything, stop having to know everything about everyone's business, 'spatially mine. Stop trying to fucking talk to me like I'm some fucking kid. You might be leader of this clan Leo but you ain't Splinter."
Leo's Jaw clenched but he worked hard to swallow down his frustration. It wasn't going to help him. "Yet you and the others call me splinter junior and the perfect son and shit. And I am not. No matter how hard I try I won't be Splinter and can't fill his shoes…"
"No," Raph interrupted. "You can't."
He then stood up and started to walk away towards Arayah's Duu.
Leo got to his feet but didn't move any further into the garage. "Is that what this is about? Why you insist on showing me as a failure to Splinter? Because I am the clan leader now and not just the team leader?"
That's what it always seemed to come down to for Leo didn't it? Raph having some vendetta because of his place in the clan. But he didn't want to lead. He had learned long ago that he didn't have the patience for it nor did he have whatever Leo had. That ability to know where to put who with what strengths. Raph just liked to knock the snot out of stuff and call it good. Even though that wasn't always the best plan. He also didn't have what it took to choose who lived and who died, who, other than himself, to sacrifice. Nor did he have the ability to live with the possible outcome and guilt that goes with each choice and possible sacrifice. No, he didn't want to lead. He just wanted to not be told what to do all the time and with everything. He had come to terms with taking orders as a necessity when on mission, call it maturity, but he wasn't giving up his personal freedom and privacy. He never gave it to Splinter, though he was less blatant about it, and he sure the hell wasn't going to give it to Leo.
Raph straddled the Duu and rested his arms on the handle bars as he thought about exactly how much he wanted to tell Leo. Because this, coming back to the layer, had nothing to do with his brother. So that's what he decided to tell him. "It ain't got nothing to do with you."
"What?" Now Leo had no idea what direction to go in. "Than what does it have to do with? The scrap metal you've stuck together?"
"They're rungs." Raph corrected.
"Rungs?"
"Ya, Leo, rungs for the fucking crib."
Aaaannd it clicked. Raph was not giving up on that broken crib. Which Leo didn't fully understand either, given the fact that Raph hadn't been overly excited about the dilapidated thing in the first place. But it was obviously important now, important enough for him to risk a high cost. Couldn't he just make more or make something else work?
Leo shook his head and opened his mouth to say something about Raph's choice of action but promptly closed it. His attention shifting to behind his brother, then he was moving. Before Raph could turn his head Leo threw all his weight into his brother lifting him off the motorcycle and sending it of kilter.
Both brothers were in the air when the grenade hit the bike with a "tink". The Bike crashed down on top of the small explosive, drowning out the sound of Raph's shell hitting the concrete, just before the grenade exploded.
The Duu took the impact and exploded into a flaming mess of twisted metal and shrapnel.
The soldier, who had thrown the grenade, had gotten separated from his squad and then lost in the sewers. He had not expected to walk into the turtle's layer and had definitely not expected to find any of the turtles there. His surprise had lost him precious seconds. But his choice of weapon had left one of the creatures injured and grasping at a badly mangled leg as he rolled off the one he had tried to pull out of harm's way.
"Leo?!" Raphael looked up from his injured brother at the soldier, eyes piercing even as the soldier held his aim and squeezed the trigger.
The first bullet grazed Raph's cheek as he kicked himself up from the ground rolling himself through the air and away from Leo. His feet hit the ground for only a second as he propelled himself forward pulling his sai from his belt he landed just to the left of the soldier.
As the soldier lifted his M16 to try and hit his target, which had come way too close way too quickly, Raph brought his arm down hard forcing the gun's barrel down. He then brought his fist holding the butt of his sai, up into the soldier's nose with a satisfying crunch. The pointed end of Raphael's other sai did the man in.
With a quick jerk Raph pulled the sai from the soldier's temple. Then, not waiting for the body to hit the ground, he hurried back to Leo's side. He didn't like killing people they had a tendency to haunt him in his sleep. But sometimes it just had to be that way, though he didn't share Leo's 'their just doing their job' sentiment.
Leo was desperately trying to stem the blood that flowed from his leg. Both legs were injured and a good sized chunk of meatal was imbedded in his left foot, but his right leg was a meaty mess of mangled muscle and shrapnel.
Blood oozed from between Leo's fingertips as he tried to push down on the torn artery.
Raph didn't know more than basic first aid but he did know that if they didn't stop the blood that pooled around Leo he would be gone, and soon. Without wasting another second Raph yanked his bandana from his head and moved to wrap it around his brother's upper thigh, a couple of inches above the highest wound.
"No. no tourniquet." Leo pushed Raph's hands away. His eyes pleading as he looked up at his brother. "I could lose it."
"If I don't you'll bleed out." Raph pushed Leo's hands back out of the way, then firmly wrapped his bandanna around Leo's leg pulling it tight with all his strength. He should have removed what was left of Leo's jeans but he didn't have the time to waist.
Tears stung Leo's eyes and his head spun as he hissed air through his teeth trying desperately not to cry out and give more cause to the other soldiers he could already hear coming.
After tying off the bandanna Raph looked his brother in the face. "You still with me Leo?"
Leo's head was spinning and he felt as though he might fall over but he was still there. He gave a small nod.
Ignoring his own injuries, Raph lifted his brother into a fire man's carry and moved him to the only vehicle left in the garage.
His motorcycle was lying on its side and had cosmetic damage due to the destruction of Arayah's motorcycle but Raph hooked his free arm under it anyway. If it wasn't too badly damaged it would save them a lot of precious time.
With a growl of exertion he lifted and pushed the motorcycle up right, but not without pained complaint from Leo.
The shouts of soldiers could be heard as they began to rush into the layer. It wasn't many just four. But considering the situation, a tactical retreat was still well in order.
"This ain't gunna feel good." Raph said as he shifted Leo and placed him on the back of the bike.
At first Leo didn't think anything could hurt worse that his leg already did, but he was wrong. The jarring from being placed on the bike made him see stars. The vibration of its rumbling engine shot wave after wave of burning pain through him. He gripped the edges of his brother's carapace till his fingers were white with the strain as the bike spun about and tore from the layer.
Each bump and turn caused Leo to have to force down bile and cling to dizzying consciousness. He didn't know how much longer he could bare it.
It didn't take long for two of the helicopters buzzing over head to catch up with the brothers on the motorcycle. Black SUVs slid into the road forcing Raph to slide a weave as gun fire rained down on them.
The motorcycle's tires screeched as Raph slid into a cross street. To Raph's surprise Leo's weight had gone limp, pulling the motorcycle completely to its side and sending it skidding across the street into a truck's front driver's side tire. Raph and Leo hit the pavement skipping across it like a pair of stones sliding under the truck and through to the other side. Raph extending his arm above his head as he barely missed the spinning wheel of his motorcycle.
Several other vehicles slammed into the back of truck creating a temporary blockade between them and the SUVs. Still needing to lose the helicopters however, Raph rolled over and lifted Leo's limp form onto his shoulders in another fireman's carry and ran for the alley.
He didn't know why his brother was limp and he didn't have time to check for vitals. Raphael was terrified for his brother as he ran, the duffle bag full of rungs bouncing against his lower shell as if reminding him of their possible cost. A price his brother was paying. Raph blinked back tears of guilt and regret. He didn't have time to wrestle with his own emotions. He needed to get home, he needed to get Leo help if it wasn't already too late. So he ignored the pain in his own body, the burning in his lungs, and weight of his brother that lay across his shoulders and he ran for the shadows and the safety they brought to the ninja. He hugged close to them as he leapt through the broken window of an old condemned building. Let their dark fingers envelop him as he ran out and across alleys. Stopping and diving into their depths to wait for those that seek him, with their blinding light, to pass.
By the time he fell through April's window he would barely stand.