*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Special Note: Kudos to my awesome friend, CorolineThePheonix, for creating the freaky great artwork for this chapter. It's so amazing!
*Author's Note: Chapter 4 is here and Donnie is in big trouble!
I hope you enjoy this chapter. If you like my story, please let me know. I would love the feedback. Thank you! CJ
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Chapter 4 – The Ex-Factory
Donnie's closed eyelids felt like they were weighted down by dozens of lead sinkers and his weary eyes flat-out refused to do what he wanted them to. After several failed attempts at prying his heavy eyelids apart, he temporarily gave up on that endeavor so that he could instead focus what little energy he had on lifting his arms up in hopes of clamping his hands around his aching head to dull the throbbing. He thought his head had hurt before, but it now felt as though someone was relentlessly drumming on his skull with a pair of tonfa.
The problem was Donnie's eyes weren't the only parts of his body that were refusing to cooperate. His arms didn't seem to want to respond to his simple commands, either. He soon discovered that his arms' lack of compliance wasn't due to physical exhaustion like his eyes had been. As he made another feeble attempt to lift his arms, he could feel that his wrists were pinned behind him somehow and every attempt to move them caused him a great deal of pain. It almost felt like he was . . .
Tied up . . .
This revelation caused Donnie's formerly defiant eyes to suddenly shoot wide open with a start. After a moment or two of blinking the blurriness away from his eyesight, he squinted to further focus his vision and to adjust to the scant lighting of his surroundings. He found himself lying plastron down on a concrete floor, and, just as he had suspected, his arms appeared to be bound behind him. He couldn't exactly see them from his current position, but he could feel the unremitting ropes that were wrapped far too tightly around his wrists rubbing the skin raw. He attempted to wriggle free from the ties that bound him, but it didn't take long for him to figure out that his knees and ankles were bound together as well. That would explain the numbness and tingling in his lower legs. Here he had thought that they were just still sleeping.
This is not good, Donnie thought grimly.
With a great deal of discomfort and effort, he managed to lift up his head, but only for a few seconds. That was all the time he needed to assess where he was. Laying his head back down against the cold, harsh concrete beneath him, he clumsily flailed about until he succeeded in flopping and twisting himself up onto his side. This gave him a better vantage point to evaluate his situation.
Unfortunately, it also alerted his captor that he was conscious.
"Well, well . . . Look who's finally awake," Came a crusty, snarly voice that made Donnie shudder in his shell.
Filled with indescribable dread, Donnie nervously peered up from his somewhat prone position on the floor to see that Rahzar was seated only a few feet away from him on a small wooden chair that looked as though it was barely able to support the mutant dog's weight.
Shifting his gaze down to the floor, Donnie could only lie there as Rahzar stood up and started to approach him. With his arms and legs tied, Donnie was basically defenseless.
Rahzar stood over Donnie and leered at him in what was obviously an intimidation tactic. This went on for what was possibly the longest minute in history . . . or, at least it seemed like it was to Donnie. Rahzar then bent down and roughly rolled Donnie onto his shell. Once Donnie was lying on his carapace, Rahzar slammed his big, boney foot down into the center of Donnie's plastron, which caused Donnie to make an "oomph" sound. Donnie then started gasping for the air that had been stomped out of him. Amused by the turtle's reaction, Rahzar leaned over the now panting turtle so he could get a closer view of the terrapin's suffering.
Donnie cringed at the sight of Rahzar now hovering directly above him and the frightened turtle tried his best to stifle a snivel of fear that was dead set on escaping the confines of his throat. He just stared blankly up at the revolting beast looming over him, not knowing what else to do. It was then that Donnie's sometimes easily distracted and always overactive mind was sidetracked by something he saw behind Rahzar's skeletal figure. Donnie's eyes roamed up to the yellowed window panes of the building and the cogs in his head started spinning. Through a cracked sheet of glass, Donnie could see that it was still dark outside, which meant one of two things. It either meant that he hadn't been out cold for very long and it was still the same horrible night, or, it meant that he had been passed out for longer than he had thought and it was the next evening.
Donnie's analytical brain first began to sift through the vast excess of knowledge that he already possessed prior to this ordeal. His brain then took that information and processed it with the new details that his attentive eyes had gathered from his current surroundings. After evaluating his findings, he promptly concluded that he had been unconscious for no more than an hour. He based his theory on numerous factors, including the local weather forecast (the long-term forecast had called for an eighty-five percent or better chance of rain the next few days, but he could see the moonlight shining through the window), the fact that he still had some feeling in his securely tethered limbs (indicating that he still had some circulation to his fingers and toes which he most likely would not have had if he had been hogtied like he was for more than a few hours), and, of course, there was the knowledge that Chris Bradford would never have had the perseverance to sit and wait a full day without trying to shake or beat Donnie into consciousness at some point (patience was most definitely not one of Bradford's strong suits).
If it was indeed the same night that Donnie last remembered being lucid, it meant that there was still a chance that his brothers would find the message he had left for them and they would come to his rescue . . . eventually. Provided they understood what he had written. He just hoped that his assumption that it was the same night was correct, because if it was the next day – or several days later – that meant that his brothers hadn't seen his message and that meant they didn't have a clue where to find him.
Of course, either way, the bottom line was that Donnie was in a whole lot of trouble right now and his brothers were nowhere to be seen. If they didn't get here soon . . .
"So what are you going to do with me, Bradford?" Donnie asked with way more audacity than he had expected to come out of his mouth considering his current predicament. After all, he was supposed to be the quiet and timid turtle, not the brash and disrespectful one (aka Raphael). Donnie had certainly not planned on coming off as so insolent. It just sort of slipped out.
Rahzar's peculiarly heart-shaped nostrils flared with intense anger.
"You will address me as master from now on," Rahzar raucously snarled, moving his face closer to Donnie's and baring his teeth so that the pinned down turtle could get a nice, close-up view of his ferocious pearly whites.
The mutant dog wants me to call him 'master?' No doubt that stems from some sort of canine superiority complex, Donnie quickly surmised, trying his best to stay calm and somehow ignore the long, pointy fangs now hanging unnervingly close to his face.
"Listen, I know what you want me to do, but I already told you, I can't just change you back. That's not how it works. I can't just whip up a batch of retro mutagen, even if I wanted to," Donnie tried to reason with Bradford, but he could see that his words were falling on deaf ears, despite Bradford's keen sense of hearing.
"I don't care whether you want to or not. You will fix me if you want to live!" Rahzar demanded, poking a hard, osseous finger into Donnie's plastron.
The humor in the mutant dog saying 'fix me' did not escape Donnie, but the turtle chose to keep his laughter to himself. Especially since that mutant dog had followed the words 'fix me' with the ill-omened words 'if you want to live.' That sort of put things all into perspective, letting Donnie know that one flippant remark could easily spell disaster for him. He had to choose his words carefully or suffer the wrath of Rahzar.
"Please, try to understand! If it were that simple, do you think that my master would still be a giant rat?" Donnie shrieked, keeping his fingers crossed that Bradford would follow his logic.
No such luck.
Instead, Rahzar's eyes blazed over with anger as he reached his huge hand down and forcefully wrapped his left-hand claws all the way around Donnie's torso and shell, hoisting the helpless turtle up so that his bound legs were suspended more than a foot above the ground.
"I told you, I am your master now! And if you want to keep all of your limbs in working order, I suggest you cooperate and start on that retro mutagen! Make me human again, turtle, and I just might let you live . . . with most of your body parts still attached!" Rahzar roared, brutally shaking Donnie as though he was a floppy ragdoll. This made Donnie's already pulsating head thump even harder inside of his skull and he unwittingly let a small, sputtered whimper sneak out.
Rahzar laughed at Donnie's pain, but, on the bright side, he stopped trying to shake the poor turtle out of his shell. Rahzar pulled the turtle's recoiling figure closer to him so that their faces were only inches apart. Donnie's eyes crossed at the nearness of Rahzar's teeth and he could feel the mutant dog's moist, disgusting, hot breath against his skin. Whether it was on account of the horror of the situation, the hard blow to his head in the alley, the all-encompassing exhaustion, and/or the unknown illness growing inside of him, Donnie was not sure, but something was making him increasingly dizzy and it seemed like it was a challenge just to keep his eyes in focus. Donnie batted his heavy eyelids in an attempt to clear his cloudy vision. That was when he saw Rahzar lift his free hand up and suddenly swing it downward towards him.
Certain that Rahzar was about to slice him open like a fish, Donnie sealed his eyes tightly shut and braced himself for the incoming pain, but it did not come. Instead, Donnie felt the binds around his knees and ankles fall away from his legs, apparently cut loose by Rahzar's razor-sharp claws. Shocked beyond words, Donatello opened his eyes and stared down at his newly freed limbs that were mostly unscathed. Sure, there was some bruising from being shackled and zapped earlier in the evening and some noticeable ligature marks from being tied up too tight, but Rahzar had somehow cut right through the ropes without slashing through any of his flesh. There was no question that the feat was quite impressive. As Donnie gaped down at the now-severed ropes lying on the floor beneath him, he felt overwhelmed by a strange mixture of admiration, appreciation, and even a bit of terror over his enemy's astonishingly accurate aim.
Lifting his head slowly, Donatello peered up at Rahzar and narrowed his eyes in confusion, not quite sure why the bigger mutant had removed the ropes.
"You can't very well get to work on turning me human with your legs tied, can you?" Bradford noted, seeing the perplexed look on the turtle's face.
Donnie shook his head to indicate 'no,' and he soon found himself wishing that he hadn't. The movement only reminded him that his head was killing him.
Then, without warning, Rahzar tightened his already rigid grip around the turtle and Donnie's thoughts were conveniently diverted away from his headache. Much to his chagrin, he was experiencing an entirely different feeling of discomfort as Rahzar squeezed him hard enough to leave additional bruises.
"But let me remind you, turtle, I will not hesitate to kill you if you decide to try anything stupid. If you so much as look at me the wrong way, there will be excruciating consequences," Bradford rasped with an evil grin and there was pure malice burning his every word like acid.
Well, that makes a whole lot of sense. You need me to make you human again, but then, you turn around and tell me you won't hesitate to kill me . . . Wouldn't that essentially be like shooting yourself in the foot? Donnie thought sardonically.
"If you want me to help you, I'm not going to be able to do much of anything with my hands tied behind my back," Donnie pointed out, futilely squirming in Rahzar's iron grip to emphasize his point.
Upon hearing the turtle's request, Rahzar tapered his scary eyes into nothing more than infuriated slits.
"Oh, now you want to help me! Do you think I'm some kind of idiot? You're just trying to get me to set you free so you can try to get away!" Rahzar growled, starting to shake Donnie once again.
Enough with the shaking already, Donatello mentally groaned as his head started to pound once more. He now knew what a maraca felt like.
"Now, now . . . Let's be sensible about this, Bradford. I had no intention of tricking you! If I tried to get away . . . well, that would only make me an idiot, too," Donnie said in what was supposed to be an attempt to appease his adversary and perhaps save his shell, but he had succeeded in doing just the opposite. Even though rumor had it that Donnie was the smartest of the turtles, he had just managed to forget all about Bradford's whole 'address me as master' thing, and, as if that wasn't dooming enough, he had just made the grave mistake of verifying that he thought Bradford was an idiot. Donnie's eyes widened to the size of saucers when it dawned on him what he had just said.
'That would make me an idiot, too?' Really? Why the shell would you go and say a fool thing like that? You may just as well have told him, 'Yes, Bradford, I do think you're some kind of idiot. Now, please be gentle when you tear me limb from limb,' Donnie condemned himself as he nervously looked straight ahead and saw just how livid Rahzar was.
"Heh, heh, heh . . . " Donnie let out an almost imperceptible little chuckle that faded into nothingness by end of the third 'heh.'
"Why you little . . . " Bradford seethed, squeezing Donnie so hard, he could hardly breathe in the crushing grip he was enclosed in. A painful wheezing sound emitted from the now compressed turtle who just dangled there in Bradford's unrelenting hold. It hurt . . . a lot. So much so, Donnie found himself clinging to his last vestiges of consciousness.
"I think it's time for one of those excruciating consequences that I warned you about," Bradford rasped, and then, he curled his free hand into what Donnie could only assume was meant to be a fist. It was difficult to tell for sure with those gangly, boney fingers of Bradford's. However, when Bradford drew his balled up right-hand claws backwards, it became painfully clear to Donnie that it was indeed intended to be a fist and that fist was about to strike him right in the face.
As Rahzar's closed fist came swinging forward at him, Donnie had no possible means of getting out of the way or defending himself. For the second time in the past five minutes, the only thing Donnie could do was close his eyes and brace himself for the impending blow.
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Though not as proficient at picking locks as his genius brother was, Leonardo had developed somewhat of a knack for breaking and entering from the numerous times he had previously had to fill in whenever Donnie wasn't around to do it. Leo was currently attempting to work his unlawful entry magic on the rear entrance of the abandoned factory that used to manufacture the product known as Killer Fortune Cookies.
This was not the turtles' first visit to the deserted fortune cookie factory, nor was this the turtles' first time breaking in through the back door of the building. Although, this was Leo's first time doing so. The last time they had broken in from the rear of the property, Donnie had been the criminal mastermind behind getting them inside of the building and things had gone much, much more efficiently when the genius had been overseeing the operation. It was taking Leo so long, he was surprised that impatient Raph hadn't shoved him aside and done his usual bust the lock open with his sais method. It wasn't uncommon practice for Raph to carelessly stab random objects with his weapon(s) when things weren't going fast enough for his liking. This violent tendency was a personal pet peeve of Donnie's, because he was the turtle who usually had to repair the damage done by Raph's carelessness.
As Leo fumbled with the lock he was feebly attempting to open, he started to think about their history with the building. Their previous visits to the derelict factory included special guest appearances by the Purple Dragons, Xever Montes (aka Fishface), Chris Bradford (aka Rahzar aka Dogpound), Baxter Stockman's Mousers, and, most recently, some evil, ancient Chinese sorcerer that went by the name of 'Ho Chan.'
"So . . . are you planning on opening that door anytime soon, or am I going to have to kick it in? Not that I don't enjoy watching you make a fool out of yourself, because I do . . . I just don't feel like standing out here all week," Raph growled, confirming to Leo that Raph was beyond his tolerance level.
Leo was about to grumble something unpleasant in retort when he heard the familiar click that he had been waiting for, and, just like that, they were in. Leo's angry reply was instantly forgotten.
Without further ado, the two oldest turtles switched into ninja stealth mode, silently slipping in through the now-open back entrance and commencing their covert search of the building.
It didn't take long for them to locate their missing brother. They heard his voice from the opposite side of the factory, pleading with Rahzar.
"Listen, I know what you want me to do, but I already told you, I can't just change you back. That's not how it works. I can't just whip up a batch of retro mutagen, even if I wanted to."
"There he is," Raph hissed as quietly as he could, given his rage. Raph couldn't see Donnie all that well from their current position, but he had no problem seeing Rahzar standing on the loft area in the front of the building. The elevated space was suspended just above the three conveyor lines that stretched out nearly the entire expanse of the warehouse's lower level where Raph and Leo were standing.
From his viewpoint, Raph could see that Rahzar was towering over his brother with his foot pinning Donnie down to the floor. The sight both infuriated and panicked Raph. He couldn't see if his little brother was injured or not, but he could hear the fear in Donnie's voice and it made Raph want to scream. Then, he heard the giant mutant dog threaten his genius brother and he nearly went ballistic.
"I don't care whether you want to or not. You will fix me if you want to live!"
Driven by sheer, unadulterated hatred for Rahzar, Raph was about to sprint towards the mutant looming over Donnie when Leo caught the red-banded turtle firmly by the back of the arm. Leo tugged Raph backwards behind the cover of a stack of boxes that were filled with what could only be assumed were extremely stale fortune cookies.
If looks could kill, Leo would have keeled over dead, right there and then, and the obituary would have read 'he died of Raphael causes.'
"What the heck, Leo?" Raph mouthed irately, trying to wrench his arm free from Leo's hold.
Even though Raph had always been the strongest brother, Leo's staunch grip did not falter.
"We can't just go charging up there, Raph. He might hurt Donnie," Leo said, keeping his voice below even a whisper, knowing that it was critical for them to remain undetected until he could come up with some sort of plan to rescue Donnie. The challenge was that it was always difficult to remain undetected with Rahzar in the picture due to his heightened senses. That was why Leo was whispering as low as possible and that was why he wasn't allowing Raph to take another step further. Leo needed to assure that they kept out of earshot and make sure that they stayed far enough away so that Rahzar wouldn't pick up on their scent.
They heard Donnie's shaky voice again and the two eldest turtles peered around the boxes concealing them from Rahzar's sight. They could hear the desperation in their brother's tone as he attempted to reason with the psychotic mutant.
"Please, try to understand! If it were that simple, do you think that my master would still be a giant rat?"
Leo and Raph watched in horror as Rahzar wrapped his nasty claws around Donnie's body and raised their little brother up in the air, shaking him violently. They could see that Donatello's arms and legs were tied and that there was nothing he could do to protect himself. The atrocious sight rendered them temporarily paralyzed with a sense of dread that was beyond words.
"I told you, I am your master now! And if you want to keep all of your limbs in working order, I suggest you cooperate and start on that retro mutagen! Make me human again, turtle, and I just might let you live . . . with most of your body parts still attached!"
Then, Rahzar lifted his free set of razor-sharp claws in the air, and, before petrified Raph and Leo could even register a reaction, Rahzar slashed his arm downwards at Donnie. A scream caught in Leo and Raph's throats and both of their hearts nearly jumped out of their chests as they powerlessly watched Rahzar swing his claws towards Donnie. Thankfully, it appeared as though Rahzar had just cut the ropes, not Donnie. From what they could see, Donnie looked to be okay. For now . . .
Feeling Raph's muscles tense in his grip, Leo did not let up on Raph's arm in the slightest, afraid that a hasty attack would put Donnie at additional risk. In this type of situation, one wrong move could set Rahzar off and result in Donnie getting seriously hurt. Leo was still waiting for a better opportunity to present itself, but having just witnessed Rahzar swipe his deadly claws towards his bound little brother made it almost impossible to wait, not to mention almost impossible to breathe. Leo could see and hear that Raph was in even worse shape over what had just transpired than he was. Leo didn't know how much longer he could hold Raph back. Leo wasn't even sure how he was holding himself back at this point, knowing that instead of cutting the ropes just seconds ago, Rahzar could have easily killed Donnie and neither Leo or Raph would have been able to do a thing to stop it.
"You can't very well get to work on turning me human with your legs tied, can you? But let me remind you, turtle, I will not hesitate to kill you if you decide to try anything stupid. If you so much as look at me the wrong way, there will be excruciating consequences."
Raph's jaw tightened and his hands balled into tight fists as he listened to Rahzar terrorizing his younger brother. Raph wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. How could Leo expect him to just hang back and listen to Rahzar threaten to kill their peaceful brother? Out of the four turtles, Donnie was by far and away the most gentle and mild-mannered, and, even though he was a trained ninja like the rest of his brothers, he was passive by nature and he avoided violence if at all possible. That was why it was so difficult for Raph to do nothing while that coldhearted creep tormented and scared the shell out of his nonaggressive little brother.
"What are we waiting for, Leo? We have to get Donnie away from that monster," Raph breathed out and it was obvious to Leo that Raph was struggling to keep his self-control in check. Leo could see how badly Raph wanted to protect Donnie, but Leo needed to make Raph understand that he wanted the same thing. The two of them just had differing opinions on what was the best way to go about protecting their little brother at this moment. Raph wanted to throw caution to the wind and launch a full-frontal attack while Leo wanted to think things through and figure out a way to prevent Donnie from becoming collateral damage.
"I know, Raph, but we can't make our move while he's so close to Donnie. We'd be putting Donnie in danger," Leo whispered under his breath.
"He's already in danger," Raph irritably puffed out and looked daggers at his older brother, frustrated with the leader's hands-off strategy.
"If you want me to help you, I'm not going to be able to do much of anything with my hands tied behind my back."
"Oh, now you want to help me! Do you think I'm some kind of idiot? You're just trying to get me to set you free so you can try to get away!"
Hearing the fury building in the mutant dog's voice, Leo and Raph turned their attention from one another back towards Rahzar to see that he was once again shaking Donnie in his claws. Only this time, it looked as though the larger mutant was trying to literally shake Donnie right out his shell.
"Now, now . . . Let's be sensible about this, Bradford. I had no intention of tricking you! If I tried to get away . . . well, that would only make me an idiot, too."
Leonardo and Raphael's jaws dropped in astonishment, both equally stunned that their bashful, genius brother had just had the guts to call Rahzar an idiot right to his face. While Raph appreciated a good insult as much as anyone else, even he knew that Donnie had not picked an opportune time to go offending the practically rabid dog who was shaking him like he was a snow globe. It was just plain reckless, and Raph would know, since he was the expert when it came to reckless behavior. As Raph anxiously watched Donnie tick off Rahzar, he found that he had gained a newfound understanding of how his brothers felt when he let his foul mouth run wild in the heat of the moment. Raph almost felt guilty for having subjected them to the same anxiety all of these years. Almost . . .
"Heh, heh, heh . . . "
"Why you little . . . "
Things were definitely spiraling out of control faster than Leo could have anticipated and the normally level-headed turtle felt a wave of panic wash over him, unable to process things clearly amidst the chaos unfolding before his very eyes. There was no question that Donnie had just pushed Rahzar past the limits of his patience and it appeared as though the bigger mutant was now trying to crack Donnie's shell open with his bare claws. What made matters even worse was hearing Donnie start to emanate an awful wheezing sound that indicated he was in a great deal of pain. At a complete loss as to what to do, Leo went into a state of shock. It was almost as if he was temporarily froze solid with dread as he gazed up at his second youngest brother who could barely hold his head up anymore.
It was at that point, when Leonardo was feeling as though he was at his weakest, Raph's adrenaline began to rapidly pump through him at unprecedented levels and the volatile turtle soon felt as though he was at his strongest. Raph's chest started to heave and his body went rigid in Leo's grip.
Raph was an atomic bomb about to detonate and heaven help anyone who got in his path.
"I think it's time for one of those excruciating consequences that I warned you about."
With that said, Rahzar pulled his arm back and the two oldest turtles could see that the larger mutant was going to strike their unarmed brother.
That was it. That was the straw that broke the turtle's back. The proverbial pin in Raph's grenade had just been pulled and he exploded with white-hot rage.
"That's it! I'm not going to stand here and watch him beat our little brother senseless!"
"Raph – " Leo muttered, but Raph was now an unstoppable force.
With raw, brute strength coursing through him, Raph tore himself away from Leo's clutches and made a crazed bolt for the front of the factory, moving at breakneck speed.
"Let my brother go, you overgrown Chihuahua!" Raph roared as he rushed towards the steps that led up to platform where Rahzar was holding Donnie prisoner.
Upon hearing Raph's demand, Rahzar dropped his fist down to his side so he could turn and look at the approaching turtle. Raph's sais were out and ready to run the mutant dog through.
"Raph!" Donnie shrieked, having never been so relieved to see his hotheaded brother in all of his life.
Raph was about to start his ascent up the stairs when he heard Donnie let out a strangled cry of pain that caused Raph's blood to run cold. Raph looked up at his little brother only to see that Rahzar had wrapped his free claws around Donnie's neck, bending Donnie's head back uncomfortably.
"Take one more step and I'll snap your precious brother's neck just like it's that stupid stick he calls a weapon!" Rahzar yelled at Raph, holding Donnie up higher to make sure the red-clad turtle could see how easily he could make good on his threat.
This was not the first time Raph had seen Rahzar seize Donnie by throat, but that didn't make the sight any less disturbing. Struck by a horrible sense of déjà vu, Raph stopped his forward momentum altogether, not willing to risk his brother's life by calling Rahzar's bluff.
"Get your claws off of him, Bradford!" Came Leo's most commanding tone as he came up beside Raph, briefly garnering him Bradford's exclusive attention, but soon, Bradford's tawny eyes were anxiously volleying back and forth between the two oldest turtles. It was obvious that Bradford suffered from serious trust issues.
When Leo had heard Rahzar's warning that he was going to hurt Donnie if Raph kept moving, the eldest turtle had also stopped in his tracks, figuring the same warning would apply to him as well. Leo had made it just as far as Raph, halting his approach just short of the bottom step of the set of stairs next to where Raph was stationed at. Leo kept his steely, sapphire-colored eyes fixed on Rahzar, watching the misshapen dog's every movement with the utmost scrutiny. Leo had one of his katanas extended out in front of him, pointing towards Rahzar to show the mutant dog he meant business. Leo's other sword was held off to his side, opposite of Raph, ready for a quick strike if necessary. Although Leo may have looked and sounded the part of the confident leader, what he was feeling on the inside was quite the contrary. His current strategy didn't go beyond making sure that he and Raph had the flight of stairs covered so that Rahzar had no means of escape and so that they could head him off at the top of the loft area once Donnie was out of harm's way. The vital missing element of Leo's mediocre at best plan was how to get Donnie out of harm's way. Hence, the reason Leo wasn't feeling all that sure of himself.
"Leo!" Donnie hoarsely cried out, suddenly overcome with emotion upon seeing that his oldest brother had also arrived and was closing in on where he was being held captive. Regardless of all of the hurtful things that had been said and done between the brothers that evening, Leo was still a sight for Donnie's sore and fatigued eyes. Here, Donnie had been convinced that his oldest brother didn't care about him anymore and that he had thought he was nothing but a useless failure, but yet there Leo was, once again coming to rescue Donnie's sorry shell. Good old Leo was as true blue as the mask he donned.
Seeing Leonardo gave Donnie a glimmer of hope that everything was going to be okay, and somehow, just Leo being there made Donnie feel safer. Well, a little bit safer. Okay, not really. Actually, safe was probably not the best word to describe what Donnie was feeling inside at this exact moment. Panicked would have been a far more accurate term to depict his current mind-set. Or perhaps . . . terrified. Especially since Rahzar's claws were still tightly encircled around his neck . . . again.
Unsettling trend . . . This might be even worse than when Leatherhead used to grab me by the face like my head was one of those stress balls. Why me? Donnie thought scornfully.
Still, in spite of everything that had occurred to lead up to this very moment, and, in spite of just how much danger Donnie was currently in – which was a lot – the genius turtle took solace in his oldest brother's presence, just as he always had whenever he was feeling scared, lost or alone. Ever since Donnie could remember, Leo had always been there for him when he was in peril, slaying Donnie's demons, so to speak. That was why Donnie had long looked up to his oldest brother as that superlative heroic figure that everyone wished they could be like, and, that was why he had always idolized his oldest brother and sought to impress him, no matter what. It was also the reason why Leo's unkind words earlier in the evening had more or less broken Donnie's heart into thousands of tiny pieces. To hear Leo say those things had hurt . . . a lot. But, as heartbroken as Donnie felt inside, right now, all he really wanted was for his big brother to comfort him and protect him from Rahzar. As embarrassing as it was, the reality remained that Donnie was scared and in big trouble and he needed Leonardo to defend him and look after him once again. He needed his big brother. Even if Leo thought he was weak and nothing but a disappointment. Even if Leo didn't need or want him around anymore because all he ever did was screw everything up. Donnie needed Leo, more than Leo would ever know.
I wish I wasn't always letting you down, Leo. I wish I was a better brother . . .
Unbeknownst to Donatello, he wasn't the only turtle being plagued by thoughts along that line.
"Are you okay, Donnie?" Leo asked, pulling Donnie out of the gloom filling his head. Donnie peered down at Leo to the best of his abilities. Rahzar's grip wasn't allowing him much freedom of movement from the neck up.
"I've been better," Donnie moaned in a faint voice that was subdued by the claws pressing against his windpipe.
"Donnie, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have let you leave the lair earlier," Leo started on an apology of sorts, earning a looks of disbelief from the other three individuals in the factory.
"Um, Leo . . . Not the best time," Donnie rasped, telling someone that their timing was not ideal for the second time that night. The first time he had said it, it had been to the fake April, or, more accurately, it had been said to Karai. She had been using the voice replicating microphone that Baxter Stockman had invented for her, making her sound just like April in order to entice Donnie into her deadly trap. Karai and Stockman had somehow managed to hack into the turtles' T-phone signals and Karai had called Donnie's phone right in the middle of the brothers' heated argument back at the lair, incidentally diverting Donatello away from the disagreement. Hence, the reason that Donnie had pointed out to April/Karai that it was not a good time. Blowing off what Donatello had said, Karai had gone ahead with her deception, pretending to be April with the intent of using the purple-banded turtle's weakness for the O'Neil girl to lure him away from his brothers. She had successfully and intentionally detained the smartest turtle first, knowing he would have been the one most likely to figure out her plan and potentially foil it.
Now, that very same turtle was detained again. Only this time, it wasn't Karai holding the cards. It was a merciless mutant dog holding his neck. As if on cue, that very same merciless mutant dog tightened his grip around Donnie's throat and Donnie made a sickening choking sound that hurt his brothers to listen to. They could see Donnie's body starting to droop in Rahzar's grasp due to the minimal oxygen he was being allowed to take in.
"Let him go, you ugly fleabag!" Raph hollered, instinctively taking a few steps forward, but he stopped when Rahzar turned his eyes towards him. Raph's own piercing eyes never left Rahzar's gruesome form. Not even to see Leonardo's reaction to what he had just said, which Raph assumed would be a dirty look.
It was.
"Oh, I'll let him go, all right," Rahzar growled as he effortlessly tossed Donnie up in the air and seized him by one of his ankles so that he could dangle the genius turtle over the edge of the loft. "Come any closer and I'll drop him. How do you think your brother will fare if he lands on his head? Do you think he'd still be the smartest one?"
While Donnie welcomed the reprieve on his neck, he realized that his predicament hadn't improved all that much in hindsight. Sure, he was no longer being strangled to death, but that didn't mean that he was able to breathe easily again. For all intents and purposes, he had just gone out of the frying pan into the fire.
Both Raph and Leo froze in fear, seeing their brother hanging over what was more than a fifteen foot drop. Although it was not uncommon for the four turtles to jump, be thrown, or even fall from such heights without injury or a second thought, this was an entirely different situation. Donnie's arms were tied behind him. He would have no way to safely break his fall if Bradford were to drop him from that elevation.
"Whoa . . . Let's just think this through. We're going to stay right where we're at. Please . . . just don't hurt Donnie," Leonardo said, shifting gears and getting into his negotiator mode.
"Throw down your weapons or I'll throw down your brother," Rahzar ordered, jiggling Donnie in front of him as though the turtle was a set of keys. Donnie couldn't summon up the courage to repress a small whimper as he stared nervously at the concrete floor below him. From his current view, the floor seemed much further away than it had mere seconds before. Though not normally afraid of heights, Donnie felt a sudden onset of acrophobia kicking in, no doubt brought on by the rather disconcerting angle he was being draped at. If Rahzar dropped him, Donnie's best hope was that he would land on his shell, rather than on his head.
Oh, now there's a real comforting thought . . . Best case scenario here is a broken shell or back. Kind of makes a turtle feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Donnie thought bleakly, getting lost in his distress once again until the clang of two katana blades hitting the floor shifted his focus onto Leo.
Upon hearing Rahzar's demand, Leo had cast his weapons aside without question, not about to take a chance on Rahzar dropping Donnie. Leo knew there was no way he could get to Donnie in time to catch him.
On the other hand, upon hearing Rahzar's demand, Raph had adhered to his sais as though they were an extension of his arms, acting as if it was physically impossible for him to heed the command. Raph squared his shoulders and narrowed his gaze at Rahzar. Leo immediately recognized the nonverbal gesture for what it was.
Raph was about to do something stupid.
Really, really stupid.
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To be continued . . .
*Chapter 5 is coming soon.
*Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading. Please let me know if you liked it. CJ ;)