Authors Note: Welcome back to A New Start, I feel I have relatively gotten this chapter out fast because I am just so happy to be writing again. We are continuing off from where we last left off, Raph walking out of the lair and this time, some things are going to start amping up, hopefully, this chapter is a little more fun. The same things apply this time, the brackets with letters in them, represent the brothers and anything in brackets is again what Raph is thinking. I'll stop now, happy reading, and see you at the end. :)
A New Start Chapter 2
"I'll be back later; I'm done with you".
Raph continues to walk off, leaving Leo behind to stand in the middle of the room, he hears Leo slightly sigh and then walk off. Raph's mind begins to race with thoughts, his mind becomes overloaded, he doesn't know whether to still hold a grudge against Leo or to just forgive him and move on, he doesn't even want to get started on what he should do with Mikey.
(I'm always the bad guy, It's always me that has the problem, why can't someone else for once be the bad guy).
Raph begins to climb up to the man-hole cover, leaving it open as he heads up to the building's roof. He climbs up to the roof, taking a minute to look around, and then just begins running, one leg after another he leaves the lair behind, he leaves his brothers behind and most importantly he leaves his anger behind, or at least he tries to. One after another he crosses buildings, jumping over the gaps like they were nothing. Raph runs and runs, but all it seems to do is just make him angrier, and the angrier he gets, the faster he wants to run, it's as if he's trying to outrun his anger but it's ten times faster than him, keeping a steady pace just behind him.
[Forty minutes later]
"AAAHHHH, SCREW THIS RUNNING"!
Raph skids to a stop in front of a wall, he looks it up and down taking in its texture. He had punched walls before, but not these, this wall was rough and had a pointed texture, however at this moment in time, Raph didn't care. So he went at it, landing one punch after another until his hands started to run with blood, his knuckles starting to become raw and bloody, bits of his skin being removed from the wall's rough surface.
"COME ON YOU BASTARD I CAN TAKE IT".
The pain at first was bad, the bits of pointed concrete jabbed into his skin, but the longer he went at it, the less he felt, his hands going numb with each punch. The pain didn't stop him, he punched the wall over and over again until some of his anger had gone, finally landing one last punch and stopping, realising his mistake. He removes his hands from the wall and examines them, seeing that they are completely soaked in blood and his skin ripped to shreds.
"Ok, maybe that wasn't a good idea".
Raph looks around and lands on a rooftop tap, he walks over to it and turns it on. The cold water comes running out and washes the blood from his hands, they slightly sting at the touch of the water, but it is better than nothing. He washes his hands until all the blood is gone but as soon as he removes his hands they immediately are covered with more blood. He looks around for a piece of cloth and finds a clothesline, snatching a grey shirt from the line and ripping it into sheets of fabric to wrap up tightly around his hand. Raph looks back at the wall, his blood smeared all over it and even dripping down in some sections, he thinks about trying to wash it off but doesn't bother, walking off and realising where he is.
"Isn't this the place with the Krang ship, I wonder if the Krang have collected it yet".
Raph starts to walk in the direction of the Krang ship, as he closes in on the location he hears voices echo out from the side street, to be more specific, robotic voices. He crouches down and slowly approaches the ledge of the roof, grabbing the ledge with his left hand and peering over to look down.
"Has Krang found that which is the book"?
"No, Krang has not found that which is the book".
"Well, maybe Krang should look harder".
"Krang is doing that which you refer to as looking harder".
"God they're even more annoying than I remember, if they're after that book though, then maybe it is a good thing we have it, I have to get back and let the others know".
Raph goes to leave, not realising that by removing his hand from the ledge he was releasing pieces of concrete down into the street. The ledge had already been broken but was still attached, but by Raph adding his weight onto that piece, he had wiggled it free, loosening it up enough to slip out from its spot.
"Shit"!
The concrete falls down into the street and bounces off of the floor, the Krang immediately look up and Raph makes a run for it. He runs as fast as he can go, feeling the Krang slowly close in on him, cm by cm. They start diving at him trying to trip him up, after that doesn't work they resort to throwing weird metal spheres at him, which they keep missing. Raph goes to turn around to face them and one of the spheres hits him, sending an electric shock through his system which makes him fall to his knees. However, this shock doesn't hurt at all, but rather simply paralyses him.
"What the hell, why can't I move".
The droids come to a stop in front of him, standing completely still side by side, Raph waits for them to attack him but they don't, they just stare blankly at him. Eventually, another droid flies down and lands behind them. The droids move to the side and create a sort of corridor, which the other droid starts to walk down. Raph doesn't notice anything different about this droid but the energy it's giving off is putting him on guard, this isn't going to be good.
"Hello, Raphael".
Raph is taken aback by this.
"How in the hell. . .. how in the hell do you know my name".
"I know all your names Raphael. Let's see we have Leonardo, Michelangelo and little Donatello, the Renasant's is a weird choice but unique".
"Why aren't you talking like your idiot friends".
"I wouldn't call them friends Raphael, I would call them work acquaintances and as to why I don't speak like them, that is merely my knowledge and my knowledge alone".
"What the hell do you want with me"?
"I think you already know the answer to that".
"Why don't you intrigue me tin can".
"The book, I want the book you stole from us".
"I don't have your book".
"It's not my book, but I want it back".
"Well if it's not yours then you don't need it".
"I'm guessing you turtles are also the ones to blame for killing my bugs".
Raph says nothing, he simply stares at the droid unable to move.
"Are you going to give me the book or am I going to have to take it myself".
"You could try rust bag".
"Ahh, so you do have the book".
(R) (Shit)
"Hand it over"
"I don't have your stinkin book".
The droid rushes at Raph and grabs his face, squeezing it in his hand. He brings Raph's face down to look at him, its tentacles slightly touching his face, it stares into his eyes intensely.
"I … WANT … THE … BOOK"!
"FUCK YOUR BOOK"!
The Krang's face becomes angry, but he does nothing, just simply looking Raph up and down, examining him.
"There's something about you, what is it"?
The droid continues to look Raph up and down, landing finally on his bandaged arm. The droid slashes the bandage off and reveals the bug bite, which has now turned black and is slowly spreading up his arm through his veins. Raph can only slightly see his arm, the Krang notices this and turns Raph's face so he can look at it. Raph finally see's it clearly and feels disgusted, there's no way that could be his arm. The droid continues to look at the bite and then back at Raph, a smile plastered across his face, replacing his frown. Raph's anxiety jumps to 100.
(What the fuck is he smiling about).
The Krang lets out a little giggle and lets go of Raph's face.
"Let him go".
The droid snaps his fingers and the electric shock stops, the sphere falling off onto the floor. Raph stands to his feet and properly looks at the bite mark again. It has gotten much worse since he bandaged it up, Raph is confused as it was only a few minutes ago that he had discovered it. Raph turns his attention back to the droid; he tries to speak but doesn't know what he wants to say. They stare at each other for a minute, until the droid speaks.
"Your gonna have a shitty weak Raphael, and unfortunately so are your brothers".
"Oh yeah, why's that, fighting you droids will be like fighting a bunch of children".
"Oh I won't have to do any fighting, and I'll get the book soon enough, you can run away now like a coward, run back to your brothers, and tell them all about it".
"I ain't no coward".
"No, you're not and you'll prove that, sooner or later".
Raph doesn't want to stay here another minute, he reaches in for a smoke bomb and smashes it to the floor, fleeing into the smoke and disappearing. Raph runs as fast as he can, jumping again from roof to roof until he finds the still open man-hole cover to go down into. As he climbs down he makes sure to close it behind him as he drops down into the sewers. Raph leans up against the wall and takes a minute to calm himself, he takes in deep breaths and calms his mind, but how can he with all that has just happened?
"What the hell was that droid, it's definitely no ordinary Krang, and it's definitely not general Krang so who the hell was that? Is he working for Shredder, of course, he's working for Shredder, how else would that thing know our names? I gotta tell the others".
As Raph starts to head off, a pain in his arm starts up, at first it's not too noticeable but the longer Raph waits the worse it slowly becomes. Soon the pain intensifies, causing Raph to grab at his arm, but upon grabbing his arm, he hears a hiss, which makes him fling himself back from shock. A crawling sensation radiates through his arm, making Raph's skin come up in goosebumps, there is something in his arm, and the Krang knew.
"WHAT THE HELL"!
Raph can't help but look at the bite, noticing a lump slowly and steadily moving up his arm, his heart rate picks up and he starts into a full-out sprint.
"NO FRIGGIN WAY"!
The entire time he runs, he tries to keep his arm away from him, which is hard to do considering it is attached to him. Raph tries to ignore it but he already knows what's there, he stops a few times on the way to the lair, to catch his breath, the pain starting to amp up.
[Two minutes later]
Finally, Raph sees the lair lights, he frantically jumps over the turnstiles and calls out for his brothers, but no response comes. He looks around but the lair is empty, he frantically checks their bedrooms, the kitchen, and even the dojo but there is no sign of his brothers or even his Sensei. Raph heads back to the entrance and a sticky note catches his eye, he rips it off the wall and reads the note.
"Raph if you get back before us we've gone on patrol, Sensei has come with us to try and teach us some things on teamwork, join us if you want – Leo".
"Shit shit shit, what the hell am I meant to do, there's no way I can find them in time".
Raph looks back down at his arm and notices the lump getting further up, closing in near his face, he begins to panic, looking around frantically and running into Donnie's lab. Raph frantically looks around and sees a pair of forceps and a scalpel on Donnie's workbench, he snatches the chair from Donnie's desk and sits himself down. Raph goes to insert the scalpel when he stops himself.
"I need something to tie around my arm, a wire or belt or bloody something".
Raph looks around when his eyes land on an exercise band, it is hanging randomly on a shelf and is just long enough to work. Raph snatches up the exercise band and tightly ties off the top half of his arm.
"That'll have to do, don't have time".
Raph holds the scalpel and stares down at his arm.
"Now or never Raph".
Raph plunges the scalpel into his arm, allowing the whole blade to go through his skin, a stinging sensation radiates up his arm and adds to the already present pain. He takes a minute to breathe and then begins to drag the knife up his arm.
"ffuuuccc…..".
Raph slowly drags the scalpel up his arm, cutting a hole about 3cm long. He finally stops and removes the scalpel, placing it back on the work counter. Raph looks down and finds his arm oozing with blood, it runs down and completely drenches him, dripping onto the floor beneath him. Raph knows he has to hurry and grabs the forceps, jamming them into his arm, he starts to feel lightheaded, the amount of blood he is losing is making him feel sick, but he presses on. Raph jams the forceps further and further into his arm until he reaches the creature, it hisses at being touched but Raph locks the forceps around it and begins to pull. It tries to resist by holding onto the inside of his arm, but Raph is stronger and bit by bit he pulls it closer to the cut.
"GET OUT"!
Raph finally reaches the opening but it's too small and he can't get it out, he tries but it is just too big to fit through, he needs to cut another 3cm to be able to get it out. The pain is worsening and Raph is on the verge of passing out, he however tries to press on.
"I can do it, just a little more".
He grabs the scalpel and starts to cut another 3cm, he feels the blood rush from his face and slightly passes out but snaps himself back. Blood covers his hand and the scalpel, making it difficult to hold on however, finally, the opening is big enough and he yanks it out, immediately recognising it.
(It's the beetle from the Krang ship, I knew it, Mikey is so dead).
The beetle hisses, shooting mutagen at Raph, barely missing him. Raph dodges just in time and throws the beetle to the floor, he snatches up a metal tray and smashes the beetle over and over again until it is nothing but a paste. Raph then throws the tray across the room, losing his balance as he does. Raph trips backwards and slips on his blood, falling over and hitting his head on the floor. Laying on the floor barely able to move, he slowly loses consciousness, still feeling the blood pour out from his arm and flow around him. Eventually, the tiredness becomes too much and he is overtaken by it, fading to black, but before he does, he hears his brothers call out his name and he knows he is going to be ok.
Raph wakes up in an empty room, surrounded by complete whiteness, with nothing in sight for miles. Raph strains his eyes as he looks around, unsure of where he is. Regardless he just begins walking, walking and walking without ever seeing a single thing, only hearing his footsteps echo around. Raph walks on when suddenly a high-pitched sound screams into Raph's ears, he covers his ears, however, no matter how hard he presses the noise doesn't get any quieter. This lasts for a few seconds and then stops, his ears ringing. He looks around and comes across a lounge chair in the distance and someone sitting on it.
"What the".
Raph walks over to the lounge chair and finds the droid sitting there waiting patiently for him, reading a book and taking no notice of Raph's presence. The droid eventually looks up, smiling and patting the empty spot next to him. Raph remains where he is, not taking his eye off the droid for even a single second.
"Oh come on Raphael, don't you wanna sit down and have a good old chat with me? After all we are going to get to know each other very well".
Raph remains silent, clenching his hands into fists.
"Not in a talking mood I see, well aren't you even going to ask".
"Ask what exactly".
The droid stands up and circles around Raph, opening and closing the book as he does.
"Why you are here, what is this place, why am I here? Aren't you curious"?
"Not even a little bit".
The droid stops next to him and whispers into his ear.
"Well let me enlighten you".
The all-white room then twists into a makeshift prison cell, the walls warping into place and a cell forming around Raph. He looks around confused, his eyes landing on the keys in the droid's hands.
"This Raphael is going to be your new home, maybe not at this moment, but in a few days it will be, and look, you get a front-row view seat to the chaos I am going to cause, well, all the chaos I'm going to use you to cause".
A giant tv then appears in front of his cell, it is completely black and nothing appears on it, but something about it puts Raph on edge.
"What is this, what the hell are you playing at".
"I already told you, your new home. This mind no longer belongs to you Raphael, it's mine, it's going to be mine and you can't stop it. This tv is the only place you get to see into the real world. You'll be mine to use as I please".
"What the hell are you".
"I personally like to see myself as your worst nightmare, but you can call me Kanz".
Raph tries to open the door but it doesn't budge, he starts ramming into the door until it swings open and he falls out onto the floor. The Krang stands above him and shakes his head.
"Soon you'll never be able to get that door open unless I want you to".
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT KRANG".
"You'll find out".
Raph starts charging at the Krang, throwing punches that he simply dodges with minimal effort. The Krang snaps his fingers as Raph goes to throw one last punch and everything goes black. When Raph wakes he flings himself off of a metal bench, backing himself against a wall with his fists up, he struggles to focus his vision but it soon becomes normal and he sees his brothers and Sensei standing around the metal table staring at him, trying to get him to lower his fists. He slowly lowers his arms and notices himself covered in sweat, blood still covering the floor in Donnie's lab.
(L) "Raph you good, just calm down you're in Donnie's lab"?
"Yeah I know where I am, I just … I just … agh I don't know".
Raph walks over to Donnie's sink and washes his face; he places his hands on the sink's edge and looks down at his freshly bandaged hands.
"Thanks, Don".
"Don't mention it Raph, but what the hell happened"?
Raph looks over his shoulder and sees Leo standing right behind him, looking at him concerningly.
(God that face, it's so annoying, looking at me like I'm some defenceless thing).
"Leo you know I hate when you stare at me like that, it pisses me off".
"Yeah well sorry, coming in to find you bleeding on the floor is quite a concerning thing to find don't you think".
"Yeah I know, but you don't have to look at me like that, I'm fine".
"Only because Donnie patched you up".
"Yeah, and I'm thankful for that but I just need some space to think, please god, I have a splitting headache, my arm's killing me and I can't get over how …".
(L) "Over what"?
Raph spins around and locks onto Mikey, he glares him down for a solid minute and then stares back down into the sink gripping the edge. Raph shuts his eyes and tries to calm himself.
(I know it's Mikey's fault but I can't get mad, they already think I'm the bad guy. God, I wanna punch him).
(L) "Raph what the hell happened".
"Ask Mikey, he's the one who caused all this".
(D) "Mikey's been with us all afternoon".
Raph slams his fists into the sink, almost breaking it. He turns around and pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Nah, nah, think back before this, what did he do".
They all remain silent, looking at Mikey.
"Come on Don your supposed to be the genius".
(D) "Well there's kind of a lot to unpack here Raph".
"Here I'll give you all you need to know, that pile of mutagen on the floor over there, ring any bells to you".
Donnie walks over to the mutagen and it finally comes to him.
"THE BUGS".
(R) "The fucking bugs, and you know where it was, in my bloody arm, I had to cut myself open to get it out and all because Mikey thought it would be some cool prank to through me the jar".
(M) "Dude, that's kind of gross".
(R) "Is that all you have to say, you're lucky you don't end up like that bug when I'm done with you".
Mikey steps in behind Sensei, shielding himself from Raph.
"And of course, you run to Sensei, cause I'm the bad guy right".
"My son, no one is claiming you to be the bad guy, you blame your anger issues on the outcome of your actions and presume everyone sees you that way. What you did here could have killed you, I am just glad you did not severely hurt yourself".
(D) "Yeah there's a serious artery that runs up the inside of your arm and if you had cut that, phew we would be in trouble".
"So let me guess, he ain't going to get any punishment for this"?
(L) "Would a punishment get you over this childish argument"?
"Yeah, it would".
"Raphael what would a fitting punishment be for Michelangelo, exactly".
"Well, I know what I would like to do to him".
"Perhaps something a bit more reasonable".
[Twenty minutes later]
(L) "And go".
(M) "Aww come on do I have to".
(R) "I don't wanna see you stop until you reach 120 pushups".
(M) "WHY 120, COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST MADE IT 100, AAAGGHHH".
"Nope, you deserve every bit of this".
(D) "Don't you think this is a bit mean".
"Heh, no, I wish I brought popcorn, plus I could have done worse to him and I could probably do 100 in my sleep".
[Four minutes later]
"CAN I STOP"?
(L) "Come on Mike you're at 86".
"Yeah I said 120, let's go".
As Mikey continues to do his push-ups, Raph swears he can hear a voice in the distance, after a few seconds the voice seems to move inside his head, the voice belonging to the Krang from his dream, or at least he thinks it was a dream.
"Raphael, you know where to find me. Don't make me find you".
(L) "117, 118, 119, 120, good job Mike".
Mikey collapses to the floor, his arms laying out on each side of him.
"I have never … done that many … in my life".
(D) "Come on Mike it wasn't that bad".
"YOU WEREN'T THE ONE DOING THEM".
(L) "Well now Raph should leave you alone, ain't that right Raph".
Leo looks over but Raph is gone.
"Raph"?
The three brothers look around but he is nowhere in sight.
Raph is running down along the street, weaving through side streets to stay out of the view of city goers. He runs for about another 20 minutes until he reaches the spot. He walks around and tries to find the Krang ship but it's gone.
"Ok, Kanz I'm here, where are you … KANZ"!
Raph hears footsteps behind him, he clenches up his fists and gets ready to punch, as he turns around to punch he stops himself about 1cm in front of Leo's face.
(R) "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE"!
(L) "Coming after you, you can't just keep running off, that is how you got yourself into this situation in the first place".
"Yeah I don't know if you saw but I did your stupid pushups".
"NO YOU CAN'T BE HERE, GO"!
(D) "Raph what is happening, and who's Kanz".
"I can't explain you gotta go".
"Oh, but I can".
The Krang drops down from a nearby roof and lands almost directly in front of the brothers, they unsheathe their weapons and stand ready. Raph stands in between them unsure of what to do.
"So these are your brothers, very different to how I imagined them".
"YOU LEAVE THEM OUT OF THIS, YOU HAVE A THING WITH ME NOT THEM".
"Oh silly Raphael, I told you from the beginning that I know all your names. Surely that implied that I had a thing with all of you, and I have been saying that for the last day, have I not, I do speak English don't I".
(L) "Raph what the hell is he talking about"?
(D) "Yeah who is this"?
(M) "Dude, how do you know a Krang"?
"Oh Raphael, have you kept me a secret, that is very hurtful, I thought I would have been something you told them about".
"You're starting to get on my nerves tin can".
Raph unsheathes his sai and stands with his brothers.
"You can try all you like, you won't even get a scratch on me".
(R) "Well see about that, you glorified waffle maker".
The brothers rush at the Krang in formation, attacking one after another but missing as the Krang dodges with no effort whatsoever. As the Krang is dodging he gives off a fake yawn, pissing Raph off even more. Raph manages to sneak in behind the Krang while Leo distracts him, knocking him over with his foot. The krang goes tumbling over, landing on his feet and angrily staring at Raph.
"Sorry, I forgot what you said earlier Krang, not a scratch huh".
"You Raphael are cocky, and my little game hasn't even started yet. Tell me, Raphael".
The krang stands up tall and almost looks down on the brothers.
"Which one is going to die first"?
"None, because you won't touch them".
"Oh I know, but you will".
The krang pulls out a vile of liquid and holds it out for Raph to see.
"Let's hope you're good a dodging".
Suddenly all but one of his brothers are hit with the metal spheres, Donnie and Mikey fall to their knees unable to move, Leo manages to dodge them, running around and continuing to dodge as more are thrown at him from the roof above by other Krang droids. With Leo distracted and his two brothers unable to move the Krang can focus all his attention on Raph.
"This is going to be fun, catch".
The Krang starts throwing vile after vile of liquid at Raph, only just barely missing each time.
"Keep going, I have mounds of this stuff".
Raph flips off of walls and rolls across the ground trying to avoid the vials, this goes on for about a minute and finally, the Krang has had enough. He focuses his attention on Leo and rushes at him, shoving him against a wall where finally a sphere hit's him and renders him unmovable. Raph tries to reach him but the Krang put his tentacles around a knife and places it against Leo's throat, slowly moving him over to join his other brothers.
"I told you, Raphael, I have a temper on me. Now, you remember earlier when I said you were a coward, well you're not that, cause you would have run away, yet here you stand".
"Let them go".
"Or what, you have no grounds to bargain on, except the book".
"Does it look like I have it you asshole"?
"WELL GO GET ME THE BOOK"!
"You ain't having it".
"AND WHAT GROUNDS ARE YOU ON TO MAKE THAT CALL, YOUR BROTHER'S THROAT IS PRESSED UP AGAINST MY KNIFE".
Raph feels hopeless, he has nothing, no plan to get him or his brothers out of this situation.
"Tell you what, let's make a deal".
"I'm listening".
"You get me the book and I'll let your brothers go free, unharmed and in tiptop shape".
"What else".
"Heh, you knew that wasn't all I wanted".
"Of course, it wouldn't have been, you aren't going to make this easy for me".
"you give me the book and your brothers go free, but however, like I said before I also get …".
"Me".
The Krang puts on a big smile and pushes the knife harder onto Leo's throat.
"Yes, I get you, Raphael".
(L) "RAPH DON'T BE STUPID".
"Quiet you, this is Raphael's deal, not yours and I know what choice he's going to make".
The Krang puts Leo down and walks up to Raph, he circles him like a shark and then put's his hand on his shoulder. Raph balls up his fists.
"Look at your brothers, so helpless, they need poor old Raphael to save them, don't be a coward now".
Raph looks over at his brothers and can feel himself grow angry, the krang is purposefully standing just behind him, he could so easily grab him and beat the living shit out of him, but he can't take the risk that his brothers may get hurt and he knows that the Krang knows that he won't take that risk, he's got him right where he wants him. He sucks down all his pride and stares at the floor.
"You have a deal Krang".
(D) "Raph".
(M) "DUDE NO"!
(L) "RAPH DON'T BE A FOOL, YOU IDIOT"!
The Krang giggles into Raph's ears and trots back over to his brothers like a little schoolgirl, he takes a seat behind them and pulls out a book.
"I'll be waiting".
This is the end of chapter two, I hope you enjoyed it, and like I said at the start I feel I got this out relatively quickly. I was going to continue but I thought I would just save it for chapter 3. I wanted to create my own character so as to not be too limited by a character design, someone like Raph has a set personality as do the brothers and I try my best to represent that, however, I do feel that I don't always do that or achieve that. Chapter 3 should be out also relatively quickly, as again I am enjoying to be writing, I honestly don't expect anyone to read these, these are just for my own entertainment, and freedom from school when I'm bored. Happy reading and see you next chapter. :)