SPLASH!
Donatello was woken by something ice cold spattering his face.
When he pitched his eyes open a painful groan escaped his throat. He felt as if he was run over by the Shellraiser itself...
"Finally." The turtle jumped on the inside. There was this voice again!
But this time he actually saw the person speaking - well, covered like this he didn't see anything but dark cloth, but it was better than talking to air. "And I thought I accidentally killed you. ...Not that I didn't want to, believe me."
"Y-you...! Who are you?! Where are my brothers?"
He wanted to wipe the water off his face, but noticed his arms were tied up. Great.
"What does thi-" "SHUT UP! I'M asking the questions here, you filthy scum!"
He stared at the figure speechless about this sudden outburst, followed by a smack in his face. "OUCH! What was THAT for!?"
A small finger pushed painfully into his chest. Donatello shuddered when he got a glimpse of the eyes which were staring at him furiously. They were so hateful he nearly could see a dark aura around this person. Who the hell was he?
"You know pretty darn well what THAT was for! I'm just glad you were so damn stupid and returned for your phone."
The turtle blinked in confusion. What was he talking about...?
"I'm going to ask you some questions now. Just to make sure: The longer you don't talk, the painfuller it'll get for you. Got that?" Obviously leaving him no choice, he nodded. Maybe he could find out what was going on here.
He was grabbed by the top part of his belt and junked forward, making his arms ache even more by the pulling as they already were. Only now he noticed his staff wasn't with him, either. Of course, he would have disarmed a 'prisoner', too.
"Who do you work for and why did you kill him?!"
These words were spoken quietly, but that didn't make them sounding less dangerous.
Still he didn't understand what this was all about. "S-sorry, I don't know-" "ANSWER ME!" Again he was slapped, making his cheek burn bright.
"Who are you even talking about?"
A bitterly laugh escaped the stranger's covered mouth. "Playing stupid, aren't you? HE WAS MY FATHER YOU DIPSHIT!" This was followed by sharp pain in his stomach, caused by a forcefully slammed fist and making him cough.
Donatello's mind raced, trying to understand this whole situation. There was a person, waiting for them in Murakami-san's apartment to pick up the broken T-phone - which he had no clue about how it got there - and taking him hostage for cross-examining him about something he didn't even know.
He sighed in frustration. "Listen, if you just could explain to me what's going on here I would tell you everything I know about this case, even if I think you got the wrong person."
Now it was the stranger's turn to sigh. He turned around - whether to think or for something else, he didn't know - and faced him again, coming closer until his covered face was only inches from the turtle's.
"Maybe..." The person's voice was shaking, so were his fists. "Just maybe... you weren't involved. But someone of your gang was. So don't you dare tell me you know nothing! Tell me..." It was merely more than a whisper, but enough to hear. Donatello gasped as he looked straight into the other's eyes - was that a tear?
"...Why did you kill Mr. Murakami?"
xxx
Splinter and April were already awaiting the brothers when they came back home.
Seeing there were only three of them, their Master's expression immediately turned worried. "My sons, the sun is already rising. Why is Donatello not with you?", he asked with furrowed brows. Obviously something wasn't right.
"This SON OF A BITCH!" Raph summed it up pretty well by hitting the wall, screaming his anger out. "It was a fuckin' TRAP!"
April raised her eyebrows. "A trap in Mr. Murakami's apartment? What happened to Donnie?"
Michelangelo threw himself on the sofa, head in his hands and sobbed quietly. Leonardo sighed and threw his swords to the ground, frustrated. "There was a Ninja out of nowhere. He blinded us and took him. And we have no idea where to, we have been searchin' until now."
Silence fell over the lair.
"Sensei, what should we do?", Mikey asked quietly from the sofa. He didn't get any response for a while since nobody knew the answer to that.
Splinter clenched his teeth, thinking. "...We will think our next steps through as soon as you have regained your strength, my sons. I will now discuss our options with April while you get some rest."
With that he turned away and gestured April to follow him. She quickly swallowed her tears and did so, with a last glance at the devastated turtles.
They silently went into the dojo and after closing the door behind them she knelt down, still having a lump in her throat from losing one of the guys who felt to her like brothers. If she hadn't asked them for checking up on Mr. Murakami...
"My daughter, I know this is a time of sorrow for all of us; but we must not bow to the suffering, or else we will never see my dear son again. We now have to try and think of a way to find Donatello."
April nodded; he was right.
xxx
"I WHAT!?", said turtle squeaked, staring at what seemed to be Mr. Murakami's son. He didn't even know he had one, at least he had never mentioned it.
"Murakami-san's dead?!"
That question was followed by another strike. "Don't you DARE PLAY STUPID AGAIN! It was your phone I found with his dead body!", the stranger spat out, choking lightly from holding back tears.
Donatello freezed - now it hit him. Someone killed their friend and left their T-phone at the crime scene on purpose to lead a false track to them.
"Listen, we would never do that to him, we were his friends! We were in his place to search for clues to where he might be cause he's gone missing! I don't know how our phone ended up there!"
His only hope was to make this person believe him - or else who knows what he would do with him.
"Yeah, exactly what I would say, too, fucker. DON'T LIE TO ME!" Another slap. Ouch. The turtle's head started to feel dizzy from all the hitting.
"Please, just listen to what I have to say, okay? I don't know if your father ever told you about us, but most likely he didn't cause of... well, you see what we actually look like."
He sighed in frustration, thinking of how to persuade someone who thought you murdered his father you were innocent - besides of his own friend being dead.
A Kama was suddenly held to his face. "Deal. I'll listen. Try to convince me. If you fail, I'll chop your head off just like you did with my father's. And the other one's will follow, believe me."
Donatello shuddered, trying not to image the horrible scene of someone finding his father in this condition.
"I have no choice, do I? Well... we live underground so we don't cause panic in the city ...me and my brothers met your Dad when a friend wanted to take us out to dinner. Since he was blind we didn't have to fear showing ourselves. That night we saved him from the Purple Dragons and since then he became our friend - he even found out about us being giant mutant turtles and didn't sweat it."
Silence followed, but since his head was still on his shoulders he continued speaking whatever went through his panicked mind at this moment.
"Since then he always made us the Pizza Gyoza he invented for us and...p-please... please don't make my brothers find out about his death like this... don't make April do so..."
Tears built up inside him when he thought of never seeing his family again.
The cloth-covered figure stared at him. Disbelief struck his eyes for a moment before regaining words again as he pressed the blade of his Kama closer to the turtle's throat.
"Tell me your name", he demanded. A small light of hope gleamed up in Donatello's mind, hearing how the voice had become less furious.
"I-I'm Donatello. My brothers are Leonardo, Raphael and-" "...Michelangelo." It was only a frail whisper, but still the brainiac could hear what was just said. "Yes, how did you know?"
The figure lowered the blade and hung his head, breathing shakily. Was he sobbing?
"F-...father told me about you. He just never mentioned his new friends were giant mutant turtles."
Donatello felt his arms and legs were suddenly free. He rubbed the aching wrists as his capturer moved away. "Wait, where-" "Take this and leave. And...sorry."
Out of reflex he caught what was thrown in his direction. It was his staff. "Thanks, then...?"
The next look he shot at the doorway of this room he was held in showed him that he was already left alone.
xxx
Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo couldn't even think of sleeping right now with their brother captured, but since it was their master's order they had at least tried for several hours.
Now they were sitting around the coffee table, discussing what to do.
April had the idea of tracking Donnie's T-phone, but they didn't manage to get into his laptop which could have done that.
"If we're ever gonna see 'im again I'mma spank his dickhead til he spats the password. Can't be robohead's the only one who can track us", Raphael groaned and slammed his fist onto the table. The others didn't say anything about his rant, knowing he was just as frustrated as they were and hiding it behind insults.
Leonardo sighed. "I guess the only thing we can do is keep patrolling until we find something. NYC's big, so we should split up this time. I mean, a human fleeing with a heavy unconcious mutant on his back... he had to leave a trace somewhere!"