*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Author's Note: Here's chapter 6 of 'You're Needed Here Now, Donnie.' Prepare yourself for another cliffhanger ending. Thank you so much for reading my story. I really, really appreciate it. Please let me know if you like it. ;) CJ
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Chapter 6 - Shell-acking
There was a naïve part of Donnie holding out hope that Mikey or even Master Splinter might come crashing through the glass windows at any second, just in the nick of time to save him. There was another desperate part of him still clinging to the chance that Leo or Raph could pull off some kind of miracle and push him out of the way.
But the logical part of Donnie told him that it was too late . . .
Alas, logic prevailed.
"Donnie! No!" Was the last thing that Hamato Donatello heard his older brothers yell before being struck down.
Rahzar backhanded Donnie with such tremendous force, it sent the powerless turtle flying across the loft area, several feet away from where the mutant dog stood. Donnie emitted a high-pitched yelp as he soared through the air, but the yelp was soon cut off by his sudden collision with a brick wall. Upon impact, there came the sickening sound of Donnie slamming head-first into the hard surface, and then, his body awkwardly collapsed to the floor, as though he was boneless. He landed in a heap on the concrete, lying motionless on his side, directly below the windows that he would have gone right through if Rahzar's backhand would have hurled him just a few inches over to the left or the right.
Propelled by pure anger, Leo and Raph both charged at Rahzar, but they were just a few seconds too late. Donnie was already out of commission by the time they got within striking range of Rahzar, but they did manage to save their genius brother from a potential second assault. As Leo and Raph had stormed towards Rahzar, they had seen that the monster had been actually contemplating kicking Donnie while he was down, but a roar from Raph had distracted Rahzar from doing so. Rahzar had spun around just in time to see the hotheaded turtle barrel into his chest like a linebacker.
Raph's objective was to tackle the mutant canine down to the floor and pummel him into oblivion, but just like Donnie's futile attempt to kick Rahzar down only seconds ago, Raph was unable to inflict any actual damage on the larger mutant. He wound up doing more harm to himself than to his intended target. A bit dazed from his crash into Rahzar, Raph gingerly rubbed the top of his now-ringing head and staggered backwards a couple of clumsy steps, nearly knocking Leo over in the process. That moment of ungainliness was just the opening Rahzar needed.
"Oh crud," was all that Raph got out before Rahzar flung his right arm out at him and swiftly knocked the unbalanced red-banded turtle over the loft railing, sending him tumbling down to the lower level. Raph let out a loud yell that was filled with both anger and alarm as he plummeted to the floor. His descent ended with a painful grunt, and then, there was the deafening sound of silence.
"Raph!" Leo shouted and his heart was about to jump out of his chest, it was pounding so hard. Having just witnessed both of his younger brothers go down in less than a minute, Leo was on the threshold of a full-fledged panic attack, but he somehow managed to keep his wits about him. He forced himself to focus his attention on Rahzar. After seeing his brothers' failed attempts to take the beast down with brute force, Leo decided a different line of attack was in order. He found himself wondering 'what would Master Splinter do?' as he oftentimes tended to do in highly stressful situations. It was either that or he would ponder what his all-time favorite television hero, Captain Ryan, would do, but the good captain's rather overdramatic solutions generally didn't apply to real-life situations. After all, Leo was pretty sure there wasn't a disintegrator or a thermal charge anywhere in the immediate vicinity.
Leo's sensible side won out and he once again rejected the idea of vaporizing the enemy, electing to instead go with what he felt Master Splinter would do. Leo swung his leg around and swept the feet right out from under Rahzar.
The old 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall' idiom proved to be true. Rahzar fell backwards and landed hard on his back with a resonating thud that probably felt even worse than it had sounded . . . and it had sounded pretty bad.
With Rahzar momentarily down for the count, Leo's first inclination was to check on his two brothers, but he had to remind himself that he had precious few seconds to gear up for another attack from Shredder's crony. Leo hopped back a couple of feet and scooped up Raph's discarded sais. They were certainly not his weapon of choice, nor was he all that skilled at using them, but Rahzar didn't necessarily know that.
Rahzar was attempting to push himself back up to his feet when Leo marched up to him and pointed his brother's sais down towards the skeletal mutant. For a moment, Rahzar just sat there, clutching his head in one hand, still slightly disoriented. Leo put on his most intimidating face, hoping his eyes would not betray him and reveal the doubt that he was feeling inside. With two brothers already out of action, he wasn't exactly feeling all that confident, but again, Rahzar didn't necessarily know that.
"Give it up, Bradford, or I will make you sorely regret it!" Leo ordered, trying to sound all volatile and deranged like Raph would have, but he just ended up sounding incredibly cheesy. If Raph would have heard what he had just said, he would have surely called him a hopeless dork.
"Give up? I'm just getting started," Rahzar rasped, and then, he audaciously rose into an upright position despite Leo having his weapons directed right at him, as though he was daring the turtle's leader to make a move. Apparently, Leo's efforts to intimidate the bigger mutant had not been the least bit effective, because Rahzar showed no concern whatsoever for the leader's close proximity or the fact that the turtle was now armed.
Still trying to maintain the illusion of control, Leo assumed a fighting stance and glared up at Rahzar, looking him dead in the eyes. Where Leo had hoped there would be fear, there was arrogance, which was the exact opposite of what Leo was feeling right about now.
"I'm warning you, Bradford! Leave now or I'll be forced to finish you off!" Leo ordered, doing a better job at sounding dangerous this time, but Rahzar still wasn't buying it. Leo couldn't blame him. He wouldn't have bought it either.
"Heh! Don't make me laugh! You don't have the guts to finish me," Rahzar goaded and a pompous grin passed his face. He leaned over Leo menacingly, just toying with the turtle.
The sight of Rahzar's vicious-looking teeth made Leo internally flinch and he didn't even realize that he had stiffened his hold around Raph's sais which were presently only inches away from Rahzar's chest.
Leo gulped down his tension, nearly choking on it, as he tried and failed to come up with some kind of decent response.
As it turned out, he didn't have to.
"No . . . but I do," came a low, rumbling voice from behind Leo.
"Raph!" Leo practically sang out. He then backed away from Rahzar, making sure not to step on Donnie, who was still lying on his side next to the wall where he had fallen. Leo tried his best to push back his mounting sense of horror over the fact that Donnie still showed no signs of waking.
Standing over Donnie's prone form protectively, Leo checked to make sure that he was well out of Rahzar's strike zone before he turned to lay eyes on his brother in red. Raph was standing at the top of the stairs, looking none the worse for wear and seriously teed off. While it was par for the course for Raph to look cranky – even on days where he was supposedly in a "good" mood – the current expression scrawled across his face was a poisonous scowl that he only reserved for special occasions and the most-hated of enemies.
Leo had only been the recipient of this particular look a handful of times during his lifetime, but he was quite familiar with the repercussions that usually followed. It only took one time to learn that when Raph gave you this look, you'd better run.
Lucky for Leo, this time, he was not on the receiving end of Raph's infamous death glare. That misfortune was earmarked for Rahzar.
Even though Leo was still disgusted with Raph to no end for things now too numerous to keep track of, he couldn't stop a tight smile from forming on his lips. Of course, that smile may not have been for Raph, but rather for what he was carrying. In Raph's hands were Leo's katanas; their honed blades glistening in the moonlight flickering in through the windows. Leo wasn't sure what he was happier to see: an unscathed Raph or his cherished swords. Either way, he felt a tremendous weight lift off of his chest.
"'Bout time you got up off your lazy shell," Leo carped in a smart-alecky tone.
"You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Raph said with a smirk as he rushed towards Leo. At the same time, Rahzar also rushed towards Leo, lashing out at the turtles' leader with his razor-like talons. He was hoping to filet the blue-clad turtle in one clean swipe so that he could then focus on skewering the mouthy one. There was minimal daylight remaining and he just wanted to get some sleep at this point.
All those years of Ninjutsu training and putting in extra practice in the Dojo definitely paid off. Leo was able to easily elude the attack with nary a scratch. Rahzar's claws scraped against the same section of wall that Donnie had smashed into, producing a sound effect that was equally as spine-tingling as scratching a fork against a glass plate.
Leo involuntarily cringed at the noise, but only for about a half a second, as he couldn't afford to waste any time. Rahzar was now standing over Donnie, with his claws outstretched, just itching to take his frustrations out on whatever got in his way, and, right now, the genius was in his sights.
It was at this moment that Raph once again plowed into the bigger mutant. This time, he slammed his shoulder and the top of his carapace into Rahzar's right side, effectively knocking the canine mutant several turtle's lengths away from Donnie, but not down to the floor as Raph had hoped. Still, all in all, it was much more successful than Raph's previous attempt at bringing down Rahzar.
"Stay away from my brother, you boney mutt!" Raph howled as he watched Rahzar lurch sideways, stumbling to catch his balance. Raph and Leo seized the opportunity to quickly exchange weapons.
"That's more like it," Raph said, twirling his sais in his hands without even looking at them. Raph's eyes were locked on Rahzar, who had already assumed a fighting stance.
Leo looked at his hotheaded brother, then, at Rahzar, and, finally, at Donnie. It was late, they were all exhausted, and Donnie still hadn't moved. Leo really didn't feel like duking it out with Rahzar. He was more concerned about Donnie at this point.
A change of strategy seemed necessary. The ever-preemptive Leo had a plan to end the looming confrontation before it even began.
"Okay, Raph. All we have to do now is hold Bradford off until Master Splinter gets here," Leo said casually, hoping Raph would catch onto his new tactic. Sometimes, Raph was a little slow on the uptake. Not Mikey-slow, but still considerably slower than Donatello or Leonardo. Especially when he was in his combat zone.
"What?" Raph grunted, glancing over his shoulder at Leo, looking at him as though he had worms crawling out of every orifice.
Leo pretended to be exasperated by Raph's ignorance and gave him that same 'duh' look that Michelangelo so often did.
"We know that Master Splinter and Mikey are on their way to the factory. Once they get here, we should have no trouble taking Bradford down . . . permanently," Leo said in an icier tone than normal as he slid his two katana blades together just to yield the distinctive sound of metal on metal that chimed through the musty night air. The turtles' leader then stood taller, proudly displaying his katana out in front of him for show. It was all part of his master plan.
Leo had watched Bradford's undersized eyes expand to the size of golf balls when he had pointed out that Master Splinter was en route to the building, notifying Leo that his plan was indeed working. Just as Leo had suspected, Bradford had nearly frozen up at the mere mention of their Sensei.
Earlier in the evening, when Karai had captured all four turtles in order to use them as bait to coerce Master Splinter to participate in her twisted little game, Master Splinter had single-handedly taken out all of Karai's accomplices, including Rahzar. In fact, the only one of Karai's allies that Master Splinter hadn't totally KOed had been Tiger Claw. Leo knew that Rahzar had seen firsthand that Master Splinter was an impervious force not to be messed with . . . ever.
Leo was going to use Rahzar's fear of Sensei to their advantage. He could see that Rahzar had suddenly gone as stiff as a board, seemingly lost in his thoughts, as if debating on what his next move should be. Leo was guessing that Rahzar was deliberating on whether to fight or flight. Additional doubt needed to be cast.
"They were already on Bleecker when Mikey called, so they should be here any second," Leo said matter-of-factly, acting as though Rahzar wasn't standing right there in front of him, planning out loud for all to hear. Leo kept his fingers crossed that Raph would catch on, but he didn't, complicating matters greatly.
"What are you talking about?" Raph hissed over his shoulder, growing impatient with Leo's continued nonsense. It hardly seemed like the time for Leo to make up a bunch of crap. Sometimes Fearless drove Raph up a wall. This was one of those times. Raph was not a very happy turtle, but, then again, neither was Leo . . .
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, Raph. Mikey said that he and Sensei were on Bleecker Street and they were heading straight to the warehouse to help us take out Bradford. Sensei was looking for a little retribution, remember?" Leo improvised, giving Raph a somber look, trying to visually will his brother to stop and think for once.
Finally, the light bulb clicked on in Raph's head and he was quick to join in on Leo's deception.
"Of course I know that Sensei wanted some payback, but Mikey didn't say anything about Bleecker Street. They were checking out that old warehouse on Hobart Street when we told them to get over here. Don't you ever listen?" Raph snarled cynically, more than happy to play along with Leo's little charade. And, as an added bonus, Raph got to make Leo look stupid in front of the enemy. As far as Raph was concerned, it was the best thing that had happened all night.
Leo flashed Raph a glare before responding. "Either way, they should be here any second," Leo grumbled, trying in vain to disguise his mounting irritation with Raph.
"Yeah, and when they get here, I can't wait to watch Sensei beat the daylights out of old Lassie here," Raph said with a content smirk as he aimed the blade of a sai towards Rahzar with the sole purpose of taunting the bigger mutant.
Rahzar narrowed his eyes on Raph, then on Leo, and then, back on Raph again. His gaze then veered towards the large window to the left of where Donatello was lying. The very same window he had contemplated jumping through earlier.
Growling in disgust, Rahzar took another lengthy look at the turtles before charging at them once again. Leo and Raph's defenses immediately went up and they planted their feet firmly in front of Donnie, ready to protect him at all cost, but they didn't have to. Rahzar took a hard left and crashed, arms first, through the very window he had been eyeing up.
Leo and Raph didn't move a muscle. They just silently watched as Rahzar broke through the glass, leapt over the rusty metal balcony railing along the front of the building, and then, disappeared out of their sight.
They were both totally shell-shocked. Never in a million years did either one of them think that Leo's idiotic plan would actually go off without a hitch the way it just had. Too stunned to move, the two of them could only stand there, mouths ajar, staring out of the now shattered window. The Chris Bradford-sized void in the glass the two turtles were staring at was the end result of the world's stupidest escape.
Just like that, it was over. Or so they had thought . . .
After nearly a minute of wordlessly gazing out of the busted window, Raph was the first to break the silence.
"You're a real dork. You know that, right?" Raph noted, still not moving from the spot he stood as though he still couldn't believe that Bradford was gone.
"What? Why?" Leo asked in a slightly higher voice than normal, not sure what he had done to warrant such an insulting comment. After all, he had just saved their shells.
"Do the words 'give it up, Bradford, or I will make you sorely regret it' ring any bells? Can you not hear how incredibly lame you sound when you say crap like that? It's embarrassing . . . seriously," Raph said in his typical gruff fashion, following with an eye roll and an exasperated sigh.
"Real nice, Raph. Let's just get out of here," Leo groaned, clearly annoyed with Raph's behavior. All Leo wanted to do at this point was head back to the lair and get a little bit of sleep. Morning practice started in a few hours and he highly doubted that Master Splinter would go gentle on them even after all that had occurred. The sooner Leo could collapse onto his bed, the better.
Raph was of the same mindset.
"Okay, you can get up now, Genius. I think you've been milking it long enough. It's time to go home," Raph said, letting his grouchy disposition drench his tone, never one to hide that he was in a foul mood just to keep up appearances. Whereas Leo was into saving face, Raph was into anything but saving face. Mostly, he just liked to pound faces, and, right about now, there was no face that Raph wanted to pound more than Leo's. Needless to say, Raph was one crabby turtle.
The sooner they got Donnie up and got out of there, the less likely that Raph would impale Leo with a sai. Raph really had no desire to suffer the wrath of Master Splinter when the old rat got word that he had shish-kebabbed his older brother. Yes, the best plan was to make a hasty exit before Raph stabbed first and thought later.
The problem with Raph's plan was that Donnie didn't make any motion to get up, even after Raph had told him to. Donnie just laid there.
"Donnie?" Leo said warily, not bothering to disguise the hint of fear blossoming in his voice.
Donnie wasn't moving. In fact, he hadn't moved an inch from where he had fallen after being thrown into the wall by Rahzar.
"Come on, Donnie. Quit goofing around. Break time's over," Raph said with waning confidence as he turned towards his second youngest brother, having heard the apprehension in his older sibling's voice.
Leo was already kneeling beside Donnie with an expression that could only be described as mortified.
"Donnie?" Raph nearly choked on the word as he watched his older brother frantically cut away the ropes that had been securing Donnie's wrists together, and still, Donnie did not move. His arms hung limply behind him in an awkward position that no one would adopt if they were awake.
Using the utmost care, Leo rolled his second youngest brother onto his carapace and Donnie's head lolled to the side with no resistance whatsoever. The way that Donnie's head lifelessly flopped over made Leo's breath catch in his throat and he thought for sure he was going to be sick.
It was then that Raph and Leo saw the ugly, swollen contusion on Donnie's forehead that was just above his right eye. The deep bruising was almost the same color as the genius turtle's purple mask.
Flashbacks of Donnie bashing into the brick wall replayed in both of the older turtles' minds. They could still hear the awful sound that Donnie had made when he smacked headlong into the wall and they could still see their little brother's body crumple to the floor in a flaccid pile, like he was made of wet noodles.
That monster, Rahzar, had thrown Donnie into the wall knowing full well that the brainy turtle couldn't protect himself. What was worse was that Leo and Raph had been forced to watch that monster throw Donnie into the wall knowing full well that they couldn't protect him, either.
"Donnie," Leo gasped, suddenly scared out of his mind. For a long moment, he froze right up, too afraid to touch his little brother. Donnie was so frighteningly still, it was like he was . . .
"Donnie!" Raph interrupted what remained of Leo's morbid thought.
Putting his kneepads to good use, Raph gracelessly dove down to the floor, skidding to a halt at Donnie's side in less than a heartbeat. Upon his rather rough landing, Raph received a mild case of floor burn to both of his shins, but he didn't even feel it, for he was too focused on his little brother.
Raph glanced over at Leo, hoping to find the reassurance that usually resided on the fearless leader's face in times of crisis. Hoping to find that certain look that always promised them that everything was going to be okay, but there was no reassurance to be found in Leo's expression.
That was because everything was far from okay . . .
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To be continued . . .
*Author's Notes: Thank you so much for reading. Please let me know if you are enjoying my story. Feedback is much-appreciated.
*Heads up for the Mikey fans out there! The next chapter will bring the much-anticipated return of the youngest brother!