*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Author's Notes: Here's chapter 2 of 'Lost in the Fight.' This chapter is rather short, so I will be posting two chapters this week. This is sort of a 'bonus' chapter. ;)
I would like to thank everyone who has already taken the time to read and vote on the first chapter of 'Lost in the Fight.' I'm really glad that you are enjoying this story so far. As always, thank you very much for reading. Please let me know if you are enjoying this story. ;) CJ
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Chapter 2 - A Little Rusty
Trying to make as little noise as possible, Donatello carefully dropped down onto the horizontal platform of the fire escape, which was affixed to the side of the building that he had been just been standing on top of. Fortunately for him, the wrestling match taking place between his two oldest brothers was helping to cover up any miniscule noises that he may have been unintentionally making as he moved along the fire escape.
He warily scaled down the first set of stairs, glancing through the open steel grates underneath him, in search of any sign of movement below. The alleyway that he was overlooking was unusually dark and cast in heavy shadows, making him wonder how he could have possibly seen anything down there earlier.
The two apartment buildings on each side of the alley that he was currently inspecting were abandoned and most likely condemned, so there were no lights coming from either of the complexes to aid in his search. The only illumination in the narrow passageway was coming from a clouded over quarter moon and the faint glow of the streetlights filtering in from outside of the alleyway, again making him wonder just how accurate his eyesight had been.
I was probably just seeing things, Donatello thought to himself as he continued to observe nothing. He hadn't noticed or heard any kind of movement since he had begun his descent down the fire escape.
He was starting to feel kind of silly about this whole thing. Odds were that this was just another classic case of him overreacting and letting his paranoia get the better of him. What he had seen was most likely just a combination of his tired eyes and the shadows playing tricks on him. After all, he hadn't exactly been getting a whole lot of sleep as of late. Between having to put in extended patrol shifts and trying to get caught up on his ever-mounting workload, he was averaging a couple hours of sleep a night, tops. It was no wonder he felt as though he was practically dragging himself along at this point.
He internalized an exasperated sigh as he forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand rather than getting lost in his thoughts yet again.
With far less covertness than before, he continued to make his way down the fire escape stairs and platforms.
When he got down to what he figured must have been about the seventh story of the building, he started to seriously contemplate turning back. He was pretty sure that he was just wasting his time and energy chasing down what was probably going to turn out to be nothing more than a stray cat. And if it was indeed a cat, then his baby brother would adamantly insist on taking it home. That was the last thing that they needed right now. Especially considering what Mikey had done to the previous cat that they had 'taken in.' Donnie still shuddered every time that he opened the freezer door to find a mutant feline ice cream blob that had once been April's cat.
Donnie was about to shake his head in disgust over the infamous 'Ice Cream Kitty' incident when a loud, unexpected noise made him nearly jump right out of his shell.
He instantly stopped his forward momentum, holding his breath while he visually scanned the area and listened for the strange noise to repeat itself. When no sound followed, he allowed himself to breathe again, but he remained standing stock still. Not necessarily because he was too scared to move, but because he needed a few more seconds for his heart rate to slow back down to normal levels.
He was about to start moving again when another loud creak howled through the cold night air, causing his heart to start racing once more.
Swallowing thickly, he apprehensively looked down at the rusty railing that he was holding fast to. The building was so old and decrepit, it was a wonder that the fire escape wasn't making more noise than it was. Actually, the building was so old and decrepit, it was a wonder that the fire escape was still standing at all.
Based off of his observations, Donnie quickly surmised that the creaking noise was simply the result of the fierce winds lashing against the loose railing of the dilapidated platform that he was presently standing on. With that mystery solved, he decided to continue on with his investigation, although he proceeded with far more caution than before. He now had major doubts about the stability of the structure that he was on.
As he continued further down the fire escape, he could hear the sounds of his two older brothers still sparring above him, seemingly not missing a beat in his absence. They probably hadn't even noticed that he was missing yet. They were too caught up in their ridiculous superiority contest.
He rolled his eyes for about the fiftieth that night.
Leo and Raph were acting like a couple of meatheads. The enemy could have easily been surrounding them the whole time that they had been fighting up there and they would have been completely oblivious to it.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the future of Ninjutsu, Donnie sarcastically groaned in his head.
His brothers' lowbrow behavior was totally embarrassing. In fact, it was so embarrassing that if the enemy were to show up right now, Donnie was sure that the first thing that he would do would be to apologize to them for his brothers' immature conduct.
Then, Donnie cringed over the very real possibility that their enemies could show up at any moment. If he had been right in his assumption that his brothers were making enough noise to lead the enemy right to them, then his older brothers would be killed by their own stupidity.
He decided that it was time to climb back up to the rooftop.
Someone had to stop his brothers from getting themselves killed . . .
Donnie spun back around to make his ascent up the fire escape stairs just in time to see something come swooping down at him from the platform above.
With minimal time to react, he instinctively swung his bo-staff up just in time to deflect what would have been a swift kick to the head. The surprise attack and awkward position that he had been in caused him to slightly lose his balance and he just about fell over the side of the platform railing. He quickly recovered from the close call, but it was still not fast enough to avoid getting slashed across the forearm by a naginata blade held by the Foot Soldier that was now only a couple of steps in front of him.
Donnie yelped out in both shock and pain as the curved blade sunk deep into the flesh of his arm, but his small yelp was drowned out by the sound of his brothers' ongoing confrontation on the rooftop.
Looking down at his arm, the medical part of Donnie's brain instantly told him that it would to take multiple stitches to patch up the gash, and if there was deep tissue damage, it was going to take forever to heal. But that really should have been the least of Donnie's worries right about now . . .
While the supposedly most intelligent turtle was standing there mentally assessing the severity of his injury, his assailant that had caused it was already preparing to take another stab at him.
Pay attention, Genius!
Ignoring the pain and the blood now free-flowing from his wounded arm, Donatello was able to narrowly avoid another strike from his enemy by jumping over the next set of steps, down onto the platform below. He was thankful when the corroded platform didn't collapse beneath him. That would have been disastrous . . .
Donnie whirled around and shifted into a defensive fighting stance, but the railing around the platform that he was standing on didn't give him adequate space to fight effectively with his bo-staff. Using his long weapon in a confined area was going to make things much more challenging.
When his opponent was about halfway down the set of stairs that had been separating the two of them, the turtle in purple choked up on his bo-staff and launched a side strike. He connected, but not with the full force that he had been hoping for. He was only able to make a quarter of a swing. The glancing blow that he had delivered to his attacker's head had only succeeded in stunning him for a moment or two.
Aw, sewer apples!
The Foot Soldier then jumped down onto the same platform that Donnie was on. Again, the genius turtle thanked his lucky stars that the platform didn't collapse beneath him.
Lifting his bo-staff up over his head, being careful to avoid the stair treads above, Donnie swung again, but to no avail. His opponent responded quickly enough to avoid the blow, blocking it with the pole arm of his naginata, and then, he used his weapon to pin Donnie's bo against the platform railing beside them.
With his bo-staff trapped, Donnie growled in frustration and aimed a closed fist at his attacker. He managed to land a solid punch to the Foot Soldier's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him. Taking advantage of his enemy's temporary incapacitation, Donnie leaned over and was able to pull his weapon free, but his bo-staff couldn't save him from what happened next . . .
In a bad bout of turtle luck, his opponent blindly swung out the pole arm of his weapon and inadvertently managed to crack Donnie in the side of the head with the wooden shaft end of his naginata. The blow to the head dazed Donatello just enough that he dropped his bo-staff and stumbled back a few feet, giving the Foot Soldier the exact opening that he needed.
Once he somewhat regained his bearings, Donnie looked back up at his opponent just in time to see him launch his next assault. The turtle's mahogany-colored eyes widened in fear as he helplessly watched a powerful kick slam into his upper plastron.
The force of the kick delivered straight into Donnie's chest sent him hurtling backwards into the thin, weakened railing of the fire escape and the metal barrier that he crashed into failed to stop his incoming weight. Without any warning, the railing gave way and Donnie suddenly found himself freefalling from a disturbing height.
In a panic, Donnie screamed out as he plummeted towards the ground below, but it was a little too late to cry for help now. His brothers were on the roof and he was about to hit the pavement.
Well, this day just keeps getting better and better, he thought grimly, knowing that his chances of survival were not good. All he could do was brace himself for impact.
Fortunately, a conveniently placed garbage dumpster broke his fall. Not so fortunately, that garbage dumpster's metal lid was closed. He landed shell first with a sickening thud, leaving a turtle-sized dent in the now unusable lid, and then, all went black.
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To be continued . . .
Author's Notes: Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know if you did. I would love to know if you like 'LITF' so far. ;)