Race. [TMNT 2012]

059. Drop; Raphael

I rapidly find myself drowning in a riptide of hatred. I want to drag my sais through my arch-nemesis' head; I want to make him pay for all that he had done, even if it won't help me feel better. I just need to know that he can bleed.

Suddenly, a scream from Michelangelo jerks me out of my sideways thoughts. I blink and the figure on the rooftop dissolves into the atmosphere, leaving me confused.

Just over the heads of the zombants, I can make out my three brothers getting closed in. They have no escape route, no way to grapple to a rooftop with the creatures towering over them. They are going to turn if I don't do something.

I let my gaze wander back to where I had seen the strange figure. I could have sworn it was real, but there's no way it could disappear that fast and be human.

Remembering Charlotte's words of letting go, I take a deep breath to help myself recover. This is the moment she prepared me for. I have to accept that Charlotte is gone, and no amount of anger is going to change that. I have to save my brothers before they end up dead as well.

"Guard Lucy," I tell Casey briskly.  Without giving him a chance to protest, I squeeze passed Casey and start to clear a path to my brothers.  Slowly but surely, the groaning zombants move out of my way and allow me to reach my brothers, who are desperately trying to keep themselves alive.

I reach over and stab a zombant just before it manages to attack Donatello.  I twirl around and swat another creature away from Leonardo, giving him enough leverage to fight for himself.  Then I shove Michelangelo out of the way just before vicious claws sink into his face.

"Thanks, Raph!" Michelangelo breathes, while my other brothers shoot me grateful glances.

It's good to be appreciated, but they're speaking too soon.  "We're not out of this yet," I remind them, casting a glance upwards.  "Think we can get up there now?" I ask Leonardo, panting from my exertion.

"Yeah.  Cover me," the blue-clad turtle orders, aiming his grappling hook and shooting it.  It hooks itself on the edge of the roof, making it sturdy enough to lift up any turtle.  "Now, first we need to get Lucy-"

Just as he speaks her name, I hear her let out a shrilly scream.  I turn sharply to see that Casey and April aren't doing a very good job protecting her.  They let the zombant mob overpower them, and they are beginning to get closed in as well.

"Go," I tell my brothers.  "Get to safety.  I'll help them."

Leonardo nods to Donatello and Michelangelo.  "You heard him.  Get your tails up there."

I don't stick around to see if they obey.  Instead I start slaying my way through the crowd, slicing and dicing any creature that comes between my friends and me.  I reach them a lot faster than I expect, throwing Lucy over my shoulder as soon as I am close enough.  Then Casey and April take up positions to cover me as we head back to my brothers.

By the time we return, Leonardo is the only one still there.  It's good that we show up when we do, because the blue-clad turtle isn't defending himself very well. These creatures are too strong for our own good.

"Here, take these." Leonardo puts grappling hooks into the hands of Casey and April.  "Donnie and Mikey said you could use them.  But they want them back once you're up there," he adds, as if it is a very important detail.

"Sweet!" April says happily, knocking a zombant to the side before she uses the grappling hook.  She pulls herself upwards with ease and climbs to safety.

"Alright! I've always wanted to use one of these," Casey exclaims, aiming the grappling hook around as if it's a gun.  "Where should I go with this baby first?"