"All these years, I've been trying to recreate the mutagen. And you... You just handed it to me."
Even his voice made her shudder. Ming knew they wouldn't be able to sneak past Shredder without being seen or caught. Luckily, they were crouched next to Leo's bedroom, and Ming silently ushered April to hide behind the curtain.
"You will not lay a hand on my sons." Ming heard Splinter growl, slowly removing his sandals and grabbing Leo's katana that had been lying on the ground beside him.
Ming shuddered again as she heard Shredder give a low and sinister chuckle. "Your sons?" Hidden blades in each hand of the suit shot out. "You think you're their father?!" Shredder growled as more hidden blades appeared.
Ming tried to swallow the bile in her throat as she watched Shredder lunge at Splinter, but let out a slow breath as Splinter expertly blocked each of Shredder's attacks and knocked him back.
"Very good, rat." Shredder spat, before attacking again.
Ming couldn't watch. She had to do something.
She jumped as she heard a loud crash, and her eyes turned to the fan room, which was just between where she and April hid in Leo's room and the fight between Splinter and Shredder.
"RAPH!"
She didn't know what had happened, but the ceiling in that old room had collapsed, taking with it several soldiers, and Raphael.
Ming ran from her hiding spot towards the rubble her brother was now trapped underneath. "No, no, no, Raph! Hold on!" Her voice broke as she cried out for him, grabbing rocks and throwing them aside, trying with all her might to pull the heavier cinder blocks off of him. The pounding in her ears was louder than ever, blocking out the sound of the fight behind her as she worked, desperate tears streaking her face.
Until she heard Leo shout, "SENSEI!"
Ming turned to look back at the scene before her.
Leo had been jumped trying to run and help Splinter, and was being shocked by four different soldiers at once. "DONNIE!"
Donnie and Mikey were halfway across the room, both distracted fighting off soldiers. "Hang on Leo! Be right there!"
Splinter had been hit hard by Shredder, and was trying to get back on his feet as Shredder ran towards him and kicked him hard in the face, sending him flying back a few feet, before grabbing him and throwing him around like a rag doll.
"Dad!" Ming gasped, looking around desperately for something- anything- that could help. She glanced down at her hand, and noticed lying next to it, partly covered by rubble, was one of Raphael's sai.
That would help.
She grabbed it, and as Shredder was raising a clawed hand to strike Master Splinter, Ming ran forward and stabbed the sai right into the back of the suit, in one of the robotic parts.
Shredder turned slowly, seeming barely affected by the strike but definitely distracted from Splinter.
"You stupid little girl!"
"Ming!"
Splinter jumped up, wrapping his tail tightly around Ming's waist and throwing her away from Shredder, getting himself between his daughter and the angry, threatening man.
Ming gasped on the floor in pain. Sure, Splinter had meant to protect her, not hurt her, but being thrown onto a concrete floor like that still knocked the breath out of her.
She watched helplessly as Shredder threw Splinter across the room again, where he landed in the doorway of the dojo.
"SENSEI!" Leo shouted, running to try to help.
"No, my son, stay back!" Splinter grunted in pain, pulling the emergency handle that released the chains for the heavy gate-like door that separated the dojo from the rest of the lair.
Ming heard her brothers shout for Sensei and ran to the heavy door, trying to pull it open.
"Sensei! Dad! Dad, what are you doing?!" Leo gasped.
"Hide!" Splinter commanded, as Shredder moved towards him. "Save yourselves!"
"NO! NO!" Leo screamed as Shredder grabbed the scruff of Splinter's neck and continued throwing him around.
Ming felt a hand grab her arm, and looked up to see April grab her other arm as well and drag her limp and sore body behind some rubble to hide. Not that Shredder was paying them any attention.
She moved her aching body to be able to peek out again from the hiding spot. Ming watched as Donnie, Leo and Mikey somehow pulled the gate up and open just enough for Donnie to get his bo staff underneath and use it to pry the door up the rest of the way.
Shredder held Splinter up by the back of his shirt. Soldiers were surrounding him, their guns pointed straight at the three turtles who held their weapons tensely.
"Children. Drop your weapons. Or your... father will die."
Mikey and Donnie looked towards their big brother. Leo had a look of pure hatred on his face as he glared at Shredder, but threw his swords to the floor. The other two followed, knowing they really didn't have any other choices.
As soon as they did, Shredder struck Splinter one last time, throwing him to the ground.
Their screams filled Ming's ears, echoing off the lair walls in anguish, then in pain as soldiers started zapping them again with the electric batons and firing tranq darts repeatedly into their skin, finally overpowering them.
She wanted to get up and help, she needed to, but as Ming tried, April grabbed her and held her down in their hiding spot, shaking her head with tears in her eyes.
Fake tears. Ming thought bitterly. But April was right. If Ming had been no real help before, what could she do now that would tip the scales of this fight? It wasn't really a fight anymore, she realized, watching the soldiers drag her brothers from the lair, leaving Splinter there to die.
"Where's the fourth?" Ming heard Shredder ask one of his soldiers.
"He's dead." The soldier replied. Ming glanced at the fan room and tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
"Destroy this place."
There were several explosions that followed that chilling order. The deafening noise made Ming's ears ring, and she felt the ground shake with each loud blast. Chunks of rubble and debris flew around them, a couple pieces striking Ming in the head.
When it finally stopped, and the dust had settled, Ming realized April was gone.
Her entire body still ached. Splinter throwing her must have done more damage than she'd thought. Ming coughed, forcing her arms to move and push herself up into a sitting position.
When she looked up and surveyed the damage of the lair, she felt her stomach twist and turn. The lair was covered in rubble, walls were destroyed and pillars made of concrete and steel had collapsed. The entire place, her home for her entire life, it was ruined.
April ran past her towards Splinter. Where had April even been?
Ming shook her head, which was still throbbing, and slowly stood, staggering a little, as her legs felt like jelly.
"Dad!" She squeaked, moving towards where April was trying to pull chunks of concrete and debris off Splinter, who had been half-buried when the explosions went off.
Ming grabbed hold of the large concrete slab that April was also pulling at. Together, putting their combined weight into it, they both managed to get the heavy slab off Splinter, but there was still plenty more, especially one that was almost as big as Ming herself. She had no idea how they were going to be able to move that.
A movement caught the corner of her eye, and Ming leapt up, grabbing a piece of rebar and gripping it like her bamboo stick, ready to defend Splinter (and she supposed April too) with her life.
A wave of relief washed over her as Raphael emerged from the shadows, brushing himself off. Ming dropped her makeshift weapon and turned back to helping April.
The clatter of metal made Raph look up. April and Ming were crouched over a pile of rocks and concrete slabs, pulling at a particularly large one, under which...
Was Splinter.
He ran over, leaping down the steps and pushing Ming out of the way, grabbing and throwing the huge chunks aside like they were nothing. "Let's get him to the needle room." Raph grunted as he gently lifted Splinter in his arms. Their master was barely conscious and bleeding heavily.
Ming followed dutifully, grabbing the first aid kit from the shelf before Raph had a chance to tell her. April had followed too, but stood back and out of the way as the two siblings that never once got along worked to stop his bleeding and bandage his wounds.
"R- Raphael-" Splinter choked out.
"I'm here." Raph assured, holding Splinter's hand.
"You must save your brothers. Stop Shredder." Splinter was gasping in pain.
"Sensei?" Ming squeaked as Splinter's eyes slowly closed.
He whimpered quietly. "Ming- protect him-"
Suddenly, another alarm started blaring from Donnie's computers. April ran over and shoved some hanging wires out of the way to see. "It's some kind of tracker."
"Donnie." Ming nodded, slightly impressed. Of course he'd have a tracker on himself in case of emergencies. Clever.
"Go." Splinter urged, squeezing Raphael's hand before going limp.
Raph glanced up at the girls. April was watching silently. Ming was staring at him with wide, teary eyes. Both of them were looking to him about what to do.
He nodded firmly to Ming. "Let's go save our brothers."
I couldn't figure out how to write the entire Shredder/Splinter fight scene without making it feel clunky and sound not as impressive as it is in the movie, so I went with a different approach.