*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Author's Notes: Here's chapter 13 of 'Lost in the Fight' and it's loaded with all kinds of angst. This one gets pretty emotional, but there's a little bit of humor mixed in as well. XD
A huge thanks to all of you who have taken the time to read, vote on, and comment on this story. Everyone has been so kind and I truly appreciate it. Also, thanks once again to my followers. You are awesome! =}
As always, if you are enjoying 'Lost in the Fight,' please continue to read/vote on/comment on the story. It means a lot to me. Thank you for reading. ;) CJ
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Chapter 13 - Finding Donnie
It came as no great surprise to any of them that the GPS coordinates had led their search straight to an abandoned warehouse. The dilapidated building was surrounded by several vacant lots and commercial real estate properties that appeared to be long forsaken just like the warehouse.
It also came as no great surprise that the area was enshrouded by heavy shadows due to a shortage of sufficient lighting. The only illumination in the vicinity was coming from the beams of the last quarter moon above, the glare of a handful of streetlights that had not been broken by vandals yet, and the glow of the city skyline reflecting off of the glassy surface of the lake the warehouse stood next to.
This place had 'bad guy hideout' written all over it.
Leonardo sighed to himself, knowing that if Donnie was with them right now, he would have no doubt been making fun of whomever or whatever they were after for their genuine lack of originality and cerebral prowess. In the back of the oldest turtle's mind, he could hear Donnie sarcastically complaining in that distinct voice that the genius turtle always used whenever he was irritated with something. Hearing that voice inside of his head made Leo miss his brainy little brother all the more.
Presently, a stack of decomposing crates and broken slabs of cement piled outside of the warehouse was serving as a temporary hiding place for the three turtles, although, for the life of him, Raphael could not understand why the heck a handful of highly trained ninjas needed to hide. Especially when it was the middle of the night and the lighting outside of the warehouse was scant at best. There were shadows all around the building that they could have easily cloaked themselves with.
Raph grunted in discontent for at least the eighth time since they had arrived at the warehouse just a few minutes ago. The turtle in red had already expressed his disapproval of crouching behind some heap of smelly old wood and concrete, but Leo had insisted that they find a safe spot to scope out the building and immediate area before making a move. The only reason that the hotheaded turtle had gone along with the whole 'hide and peek' thing was because he really didn't think it was a good idea to get into yet another argument with Leo right now. With what little remained of Raph's patience, he was afraid that he might flip out and strangle his overbearing older brother, or even worse, he might stick him in the eye with one of his sais.
Imagine explaining that one to Master Splinter, Raph thought to himself, cringing over the mental picture of his bossy big brother coming home with a sai projecting out of his head.
Raph turned and looked over at Leo for a moment, almost feeling a need to apologize for having such morbid thoughts, but when he saw that contemplative crease in his excessively analytical brother's brow, he quickly thought better of apologizing. No doubt Leonardo was absorbed in coming up with some sort of dramatic, elaborate, over-thought-out rescue plan that Raphael would hate.
Maybe sticking old Fearless Leader with a sai wasn't such a bad idea . . .
Craning his neck to peer around the pile of crates and cement slabs that they were taking refuge behind, Leonardo studied the warehouse with careful scrutiny, taking every observation he made into account. Just as Raph had suspected, the oldest turtle was completely lost in the planning process. He was currently sifting through the various ideas materializing in his head, categorizing and ranking the feasible ones accordingly, while at the same time, mentally eliminating those that had the highest likelihood of failure or were too dangerous to even consider attempting.
Though Leo was trying to focus all of his concentration on sorting through and weighing their options, his attention was suddenly captured by the windows of the warehouse and he felt a pang of worry seep into his thoughts. One of the first things that he had noticed about the building was that a majority of the glass window panes lined up near the roofline of the warehouse had been busted out. Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo were only about twenty feet away from the building at this point and there were barely any windows left intact to act as a sound barrier, but yet, they hadn't heard any noise come from the warehouse. If Donnie was inside of the building with whoever had taken him, why hadn't they heard anything?
Unless they knew we were coming . . .
The silence was unnerving. Much like the uneasy silence that had come from Master Splinter just after Leo had been forced to tell his father why he had gotten that unusual text message from Donatello.
The memory of his father's reaction to the news made Leonardo cringe in his shell.
Shortly after the three brothers had left the junkyard to track down Donnie, Leo had received a call from Master Splinter, who had been looking for an explanation for the mysterious message that he had received from his missing son. Once Leo had gotten over his initial shock that his father had actually had his T-phone on and had figured out how to read the text message, he then had to inform Sensei what the message had meant and what they had found in Donatello's duffle bag. Telling Master Splinter what they had discovered at the junkyard had been almost as hard as having to tell his father that he had hit Donnie. Leo could still hear the tragic way that Master Splinter had gasped out the words 'my son' just after he had told him about the piece of carapace that had been left for them to find, but what had been even worse to hear was the prolonged sound of silence that had followed his father's gasp. At least a full minute had passed before either of them could speak again and when Master Splinter's voice did return to him, it had been unusually quiet as he had spoken his last words of their brief conversation.
"Please . . . bring your brother home, Leonardo."
The oldest turtle had heard the desperation and fearfulness in his father's voice as he had made his heartfelt plea. Leonardo could have also sworn that he had heard disappointment coming through in his father's words. Whether that disappointment that Master Splinter had been feeling was in himself for not being there to help rescue Donatello or if it had been in Leonardo for what he had done to cause all of this, the turtle in blue was not sure. Not that it really mattered. Either way, Leonardo still felt nothing but shame.
The oldest turtle shook his head from side to side when he thought of the last words that he had said to his father before abruptly ending the phone exchange.
"I swear on my honor, I will find him, father. I will not return home until I do."
The vow had been made with as much passion and conviction as Leonardo could call upon, but it still did not feel as though it had been enough. After all of the hurt that Leo had caused Donnie, the eldest son worried that his father might think that his words were nothing more than an empty promise, spoken out of guilt. And how could Leo blame Master Splinter for thinking the worst of him when he had failed his father and brothers so badly?
I'm the reason for all of this . . .
Another annoyed grunt from Raphael snapped Leo out of his moment of self-pity, and for the first time ever, the oldest turtle was thankful for his immediate younger brother being so rude. It helped the leader to refocus on what was truly important, and that was finding Donnie.
"So, what's the plan, Fearless?" Raphael asked in a strained whisper as he glanced up at the rundown building where their T-phones had indicated their genius brother was located. The hotheaded turtle's fists were tightly clamped around the leather wrapped handles of his pronged weapons while he impatiently waited for Leo's instructions.
With Donnie missing, that meant that Leonardo was the only sensible planner left on the team. The problem was, with Donnie missing, Leo was having an extremely difficult time just trying to think straight. What the leader in blue could have really used right about now was his most logical and intelligent brother's advice, because Mikey and Raph had never been all that much help when it came to strategizing. While Mikey on very rare occasions would surprise them by coming up with a good idea, for the most part, the youngest turtle's plans were unrealistic and on the verge of ridiculous. Many of them stemmed from something that he had read straight out of a comic book or had seen on some TV program. And then there was Raph . . . Raph's idea of a plan would be to run into the building half-cocked and just start busting heads. With Donnie's life possibly on the line, Leo wasn't about to go along with letting the hothead do his usual act first, think later line of attack.
"I'm thinking we should go in from the roof." Leo first held his hands out in front of him, with his palms parallel to each other, and then, he pointed a forefinger towards the top of the building. Raph and Mikey nodded to demonstrate that they were listening and stared intently at their oldest brother while they waited for him to elaborate further on his plan. They had mistakenly assumed that Leo would go right into the specifics, including how they were going to scale up the building, what they were going to do once they got up there, who would be responsible for what, et cetera. These were the types of step-by-step details that they had come to expect from their oftentimes long-winded brother in blue, but no additional information came. Instead, Leo just knelt there, staring at them.
Apparently, going in from the roof was the extent of their oldest brother's plan . . .
"That's it? That's your grand plan? We've been sitting out here freezing our shells off so you could come up with that?" Raph asked through gnashed teeth, trying to keep his voice hushed, but it was pretty hard for him to stay quiet when he was so incredibly irritated.
"Our options are kind of limited here, Raph," Leo muttered under his breath while he scowled at his red-clad brother.
"So the best thing you can come up with to save Donnie is to climb up on the roof of a building that looks like it's about to freakin' cave in? And then what? We fall to our deaths? No! Wait! Maybe we'll just get horrifically injured, and then, we could just bleed all over whoever or whatever took Donnie. You know, ruin their favorite pants or sweater or something. Now that would be a real impressive entrance." It was not even remotely possible for someone to be more sarcastic than Raph had just been. He then let out a low-pitched groan before bitterly adding, "Three words, Leo. Worst plan ever."
"What would you rather have us do, Raph? Waltz through the front door, weapons drawn, and just start attacking everything in sight?" Leo flung his arm out to the side, using the somewhat theatric gesture to emphasize the frustration that he was feeling. His eyes then narrowed into angry slits as he watched Raph's reaction.
"Uh, yeah, Leo. I would." The look on Raph's face implied a 'duh,' as if the answer to his older brother's question was excruciatingly obvious. The temperamental turtle then got to his feet and his chest heaved with fury as he fiercely stared down at the blue-masked ninja.
"Then, by all means, Raph, go ahead and just strut in there without any kind of plan or backup. But don't come crying to me when you realize that getting fatally wounded sucks," Leo grumbled and he, too, rose to his feet. Once he was standing before his shorter, hotheaded brother, the oldest turtle folded his arms across the upper scutes of his plastron and slouched back nonchalantly as if he was leaning against an invisible wall. He was trying his best to look indifferent while he waited for Raph's response to what he had said.
"Oh, now you're accusing me of being incapable of holding my own in a fight? It wasn't enough that you did it to Donnie?" If the snarl in Raph's voice hadn't made his indignation blatantly clear, the homicidal glare that he had zeroed in on his older brother certainly had.
Once again, Leo shook his head, only this time, in disbelief. He sealed his lips tightly shut to suppress a silent scream of exasperation. He hadn't been trying to accuse Raph of anything, but leave it to his hot-tempered brother to bend and twist his words into something they were not meant to be and turn them into yet another reason for an argument. The oldest turtle was not about to indulge in Raph's appetite for destruction. Especially since all Leo had been trying to do was avoid a fight. He had just wanted to get his volatile brother to stop and use his head for once.
"I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm just saying that, at this point, we don't even know who or what we're up against. As leader, it's my responsibility to protect all of you, and if we just go charging in there like you want, I can't guarantee our safety. That kind of carelessness could get us all killed and it would be my fault. Is that what you want, Raph?" Leonardo looked at his red-masked brother with a deceptively somber expression, determined not to reveal the many conflicted emotions racking his insides. All three of his brothers were depending on him so he needed to be the one who remained vigilant and clearheaded. Regardless of his troubled thoughts and his overwhelming fear for Donnie, Leo knew that, above all else, he had to stay strong and confident for his brothers.
Raph snorted in response and turned his face away in self-reproach, fixing his intense gaze on the ground below. The storm raging inside of him had let up long enough to momentarily clear his clouded mind and that newfound clarity brought the conversation to an awkward halt.
It was at this point that Mikey gruffly cleared his throat, as if to announce that he was, in fact, still there. The youngest turtle was crouched behind the stack of crates and cement, just as he had been the whole time that Leo and Raph had been 'discussing' the plan. Michelangelo had had no interest in getting involved in what he had assumed would turn into yet another inappropriate argument between his siblings, but now that his brothers had stopped talking and their tempers appeared to have died down slightly, Mikey saw a golden opportunity to put his two cents in. He slowly stood up and looked at his two oldest brothers. His eyes widened to the size of saucers and his heavy tears glistened in the moonlight. The happiness and enthusiasm that everyone expected from the baby of the family was gone. There was only sorrow in his once bright eyes.
Now that he had his big brothers' attention, Mikey reached down for his belt and pulled out the shell fragment that Leonardo had found inside of Donnie's duffle bag. The youngest turtle had taken the fragment from Leo just before they had left the junkyard. That had been because his oldest brother had looked as though he didn't know what to do with it, almost like he had been terrified of it. Raph, on the other hand, had just wanted to get 'it' as far away from him as possible. Mikey hadn't thought that it would be right to just leave it behind. As disturbing as the broken off piece of their genius brother's shell was, it was a part of Donnie and Mikey couldn't bring himself to throw it away. And now, he couldn't stop himself from using it to remind Leo and Raph of why they were there.
The youngest sibling held the jagged and bloodstained piece of his missing brother's carapace in his open hand as he spoke.
"I just want Donnie home, safe and sound. He's hurt and he's sick . . . and he's sad and all alone. He needs us, guys. He needs us to save him. I don't care whether we go in through the roof . . . or whether we go in through the front door . . . We could even bust through the walls like that Kool-Aid dude . . . It doesn't matter. The only thing that totally matters right now is getting our brother back." Mikey's bottom lip quivered while he darted his big, waterlogged blue eyes back and forth between his brothers. When he saw from their frowns that he had gotten his point across, he quickly tucked the piece of his brainy brother's shell back inside of his belt. Looking at it only made his heart hurt.
"Mikey's right," Raph groaned, hating the sound of his own voice.
The youngest brother's eyes instantly lit up like he was an excited child who had just gotten a long-awaited puppy for his birthday. The new expression that had manifested itself was a far cry from the cheerless, deplorable look that had elongated Mikey's face just a few seconds before. It was quite an amazing transformation, to say the least, but not an unexpected one. Raph had known as soon as he had said the words 'Mikey's right' that his little brother would react this way.
"I'm sorry. What was that?" Mikey asked, cupping his hand behind his ear slit and leaning closer to Raph as though he was suddenly hard of hearing.
"You heard me, nitwit!" A sneer curled one corner of Raph's mouth up as he watched Mikey get all hyper and antsy, like he had to pee or something. The hotheaded turtle couldn't help but to roll his eyes skyward over his baby brother's behavior.
"I know. I know . . . But it's not very often you say I'm right. I just really, really wanted to hear you say the words again. It would mean so much to me, bro." Pressing the palms of his hands together in mock prayer, Mikey's innocent eyes practically begged Raph to fulfill his request.
"Can it, knucklehead. I'm not saying it again." The words had come out in a hissed growl and while Raph had spoken them, he had kept his jaw locked shut in order to keep his voice down to a minimal level so as not to be detected by anyone who may have been inside of the building.
When Mikey didn't take the obvious hint and opened his mouth to repeat his request, Raph gave him an intimidating glare that he normally only reserved to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies.
Mikey grimaced and lowered his head partway inside of his shell.
"Knock it off, you two," Leo interjected, both amazed and annoyed at how easily his brothers could get so distracted. Just a few moments ago, they were all gung-ho about rescuing their missing sibling, and now, this? In a matter of seconds, they had completely forgotten why they were there and they didn't even seem to be aware that Leo was still standing right next to them. They were too caught up in their bantering to notice him.
The blue-masked ninja cringed when he realized that this was probably how Donnie felt when he was subjected to listening to his two older brothers constantly quarrelling. It felt like being –
Invisible . . .
Oh, Donnie . . . I'm so sorry for everything . . . Leo thought with the heaviest of hearts, but he refused to allow himself to be crushed underneath the tremendous weight of his guilt. He once again had to tell himself that his brothers were in need of his discipline and guidance. Donnie's life depended on his ability to control the situation.
A wise old rat had once told Leonardo that one of the best qualities of a strong and true leader is knowing when to make decisions and when to act upon them. In his mind, the oldest turtle had already made his decision, but he was not as confident in this decision as he would have liked. He was, however, confident that now was definitely the time to act upon it. He would not put his genius brother at further risk because of his uncertainty. Leo had already failed him enough as it was . . .
"Donnie needs us to work together as a team. Now, let's go in there and get our brother back." The leader did not let his voice falter in the slightest as he took charge of the situation and reminded his brothers of the task at hand. The importance of the mission was painfully clear to all of them. They loved their brother and the three of them would stop at nothing to save him.
"Now that's more like it. So what entrance are we using?" Raph asked, now willingly offering his full support. He could see the resolute glint in his older brother's eyes, and even as stubborn as the hotheaded turtle was, he knew better than to question Leonardo when he got that glint.
"We're going in through the front door." Without even bothering to wait and see how his brothers would respond to his order, Leo unsheathed his katanas with a whoosh sound that signaled it was go time.
"All right! We're right behind you, bro. Let's do this," Mikey chimed in, grabbing his nunchuks from his belt and twirling them about if only just to release some of his nervous energy.
Narrowing his eyes to show his determination, Leo nodded at his brothers. While the leader in blue didn't much like the idea of just strolling straight into the warehouse, he had to admit, there was some merit to the plan. At least that way, they could see right off the bat what they were walking into.
Slipping into stealth mode, the three ninjas silently made their way to the front of the warehouse, using the darkness to hide their movements. The whites of their eyes were the only things that could be seen as they cautiously crept towards the entrance of the building.
At one point, the front door of the warehouse appeared to have been deep red in color, but now, there were only a few visible flecks of crimson paint still obstinately clinging to the rusted metal surface. Time had clearly taken its toll on the door and Leo could see that it was only being held up by one corroded hinge at this point. The door was hanging rather cockeyed and didn't operate as originally intended. The turtle in blue had to practically lift the door up off of the lone hinge in order to force it open far enough for them to slip through. It was not a silent procedure by any means and it drew far more attention to their arrival than Leo had hoped to attract. It certainly was not the undetectable, ninja-like entrance that he had foreseen in his head. Granted, it wasn't quite a bumbling, Three Stooges-type of entrance, but much to the perfectionist turtle's dissatisfaction, it had been closer to that clumsy-end of the spectrum than it had been to the much-preferred ninja-end of the scale.
Trying to push the mediocre entrance out of his mind and not let it discourage him into second-guessing himself, as he tended to do in the face of setbacks, Leo crept inside of the building with Raph on his tail and Mikey bringing up the rear. All three turtles' weapons were drawn and ready.
The first thing that Leo noticed upon setting foot inside of the warehouse was the stench of mold and decay as well as the sickening smell that something had recently been burnt. The oldest turtle did his best to disregard the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as the potent charred scent lingering in the warehouse air permeated his nostrils. He knew from past experiences what burnt flesh smelled like and the familiar odor made breathing a lot more challenging. He was trying rather unsuccessfully to convince himself that his olfactory senses were mistaken and that that wasn't what he was smelling.
Squinting to fine-tune his night vision, Leo concentrated on his sense of sight instead of his sense of smell, which was already working to unnerve him.
Although Leonardo had initially worried that the darkness would swallow the inside of the building whole, there was surprisingly enough faint light illuminating through the broken windows and skylights of the warehouse for him to make out most of the surroundings without the aid of a flashlight. The ten-foot high catwalks that stretched along the lengths of the two side walls of the warehouse were mostly obscured in shadows as were sizeable portions of the walls beneath the narrow, elevated walkways, but the middle, open part of the warehouse was reasonably easy to see, drenched in the soft glow of moonlight.
Once his eyes fully adjusted to the lighting inside of the building, Leo quickly scanned the structure for any immediate signs of movement, danger, or his missing brother.
What he saw made his whole body go rigid and he stopped his forward momentum, suddenly overcome by a rapid onset of temporary paralysis. Even his lungs quit cooperating. All he could do was just stand there, breathlessly staring straight ahead. His limbs and internal organs refused to respond to any of his commands. It was like every part of him had just simultaneously quit functioning.
Raph then came up beside Leo and he, too, ceased all movement. The air was sucked right out of him and every muscle in his body stiffened as he was inundated by a combination of fear and indescribable rage. His green eyes widened in horror when his gaze landed upon the same thing that had frozen his older brother in his tracks. The temperamental turtle's hands began to tremble uncontrollably, even as he tightened his grip on his sais.
From behind them, they heard Mikey try and fail to stifle a gasp. The youngest turtle then cowered behind the shelter of his big brothers' shells, too afraid to look at what was before them.
Upon hearing Mikey's choked off gasp, Leo forced himself to somehow find his center again, knowing how critical it was that he stay focused. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and drew in a deep, purifying breath. After only a few seconds, he regained his ability to move again.
Unfortunately, so did Raph.
Without any regard for his own safety, Raphael immediately made a mad dash for the thin form that he could see dangling from the shadows towards the back of the cavernous space. Always the most irrational one, the turtle in red ran like a lightening bolt right down the middle of the warehouse, making no attempt to conceal his movements from any looming enemies. He had not concerned himself with the possibility that they could have been walking – or in Raph's case running - straight into a trap. For all they knew, they could have been surrounded by dozens of enemies , but Raph didn't care.
If he somehow manages to live through this whole ordeal, I'm gonna kill him as soon as we get home, Leo thought while he glowered at his red-clad brother.
"Leo!" Raph then yelled with a startling amount of terror lacing his voice.
The frustration that the oldest brother had just been feeling over Raph's reckless behavior instantly faded away, making way for the overwhelming sense of panic slowly starting to consume him.
Raph never yells like that, Leo thought, unable to rein in his growing horror. The leader shuddered to think what could have possibly gotten his thick-skinned brother that rattled.
Unless –
Oh, no! No, no, no . . .
Then, Leo heard Raph let out a thunderous roar that echoed throughout the warehouse and seemed to shake the entire building in its wake.
Leonardo's heart began to beat wildly inside of his chest as he watched Raph's head and shoulders drop down in obvious despair.
No! Please! No!
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To be continued . . .
*Author's Notes: /(O.O)\
I hope that you liked this chapter. Once again, if you are enjoying 'Lost in the Fight,' please continue to read/vote/comment. Thank you so much for reading. ;) CJ