Crash and Burn
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Chapter Three: Rescue
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Splinter watched Donatello stand up from the couch and grab his coat. They'd both been watching the clock, and the door, waiting for the others to return.
"They've been gone too long," Don told Splinter. "I'm getting worried."
Splinter nodded from his place in his armchair. "Be careful."
"Aren't I always?" Don grinned. He turned his attention from his sensei to the sound of footsteps running towards them down the tunnel. Could that be them? Why would they be running? And why hadn't they heard the door open?
Don jumped back in surprise as Kali ran into the room. "How'd you get in here?" he sputtered.
Kali turned and grabbed his arms. "They've got them! We gotta hurry! Come on!"
She tried to pull him back down the tunnel but he broke her hold and grabbed her shoulders. "Kali, calm down! What happened?"
Kali took a deep breath to calm herself down. "The Foot. They were attacking Leo and Mike, we saw it from my apartment."
"We?"
"Raph and I. He joined in, then they all disappeared."
Don sat Kali down on the couch. "Wait here." He ran into the back tunnel and returned less than a minute later with his bo and a backpack. He tossed something to Splinter before turning back to Kali. "Did you see where they went?"
Kali shook her head as she stood. "No, but if we go back to the fight scene, I can find them."
"How?" Don asked, pulling on his coat.
"We're wasting time!" Kali yelled before sprinting out of the lair.
***
Leonardo was awakened by a sharp slap in the face. He opened his eyes and looked up at Raphael.
"Rise and shine."
"Jerk."
Raphael helped him into a sitting position and Leo got a good look at his surroundings for the first time. It was a cell, that much was obvious. The last thing he remembered was fighting the Foot in some alley. "I take it we didn't win."
"Gee, how'd you guess?"
Leo chose to ignore Raph's sarcasm for the moment. "Where's Mike?"
Raph nodded his head over to the corner to where Mike was sleeping, curled up into a ball. "He was awake awhile ago, but he seemed out of it."
"Let him sleep." Leo looked over at Mike. He thought to himself that if Mike hadn't left the lair, they wouldn't be here, but it seemed wrong to blame him for this. It was the Foot's fault, and they should be more worried about how to get out than how they got in.
"At least it's warmer in here," Raphael commented, getting up and moving around the cramped space.
"Yeah." Warm was good. He was surprised that the Foot didn't freeze them, they had to realize how the cold effected them, unless they really were as stupid as they looked.
Leo was looking over the ceiling, sadly noticing the small size of the vents, when the cell door opened.
He heard Raphael yell an obscenity, several in fact, then his brother was thrown against the back wall before Leo could even see who was at the door. He gasped.
"No, it can't be," he whispered. "You're dead!"
Shredder glared down at the Turtle from behind his metal facemask. "Correction, I was."
***
Don followed Kali over the city's rooftops and through the alleys. He couldn't figure out how she knew which way to go, but he didn't question her. He didn't have any other leads.
Kali suddenly stopped at the edge of a building and ducked down out of sight. Don joined her. "What is it?"
They both peeked over the edge of the roof. "I think this is the place."
"Looks that way," Don commented, noticing the number of Foot patrolling, invisible to the street. He pulled Kali back down. "Go back home."
"Excuse me?!?" Kali hissed. "I did not come all this way just to-"
"These are dangerous men, and you aren't trained to fight them."
"I can fight."
Don shook his head. "Not at this level."
Kali sat back and crossed her arms, pouting. Don patted her arm. "Besides, Raph would kill me if anything happened to you."
"Whatever." She stood up and walked away.
***
Raphael wiped the blood from his mouth. "What brought you back from the dead this time, Shred-head?"
Shredder turned to Raphael. "It should only matter to you that I have risen. And that I still want you freaks dead."
That was the moment Mike chose to wake up. He opened his eyes slowly, and gasped at the sight of Shredder standing before him. Leo moved between Mike and Shredder, protecting his brother should Shredder try and attack.
"Do not worry, he is safe. For now." Shredder turned and slammed the cell door behind him as he left. Raphael yelled out the tiny window until one of the guards bashed him in the face.
"Leo?"
Leo turned and knelt next to Mike. "You okay, Mikey?"
"Was that really him?"
Leo sighed. "Yeah, Mike, it was." There was no mistaking it. Leo knew, instinctively, that this was the enemy who had haunted them for as long as they could remember.
"But- but you killed him. We all saw the body. We saw it burn, Leo."
"I know, I know Mike. I don't know how, but he's back." Something else was bothering Leo, in the back of his mind. It was the energy that radiated from Shredder; he'd felt it before. From Raphael's friend Kali. He didn't know what the connection was but he swore he would find it.
***
Don was having a hard time making his way through the building unnoticed. He knew the others were being held somewhere, but he didn't know where. He was very sure they were still alive, though.
Don bit his lip. "Maybe I should have brought Kali, she could have continued to track them."
He didn't have a good feeling about this. The fact that his brothers were attacked just outside Kali's apartment, and that she happened to be able to follow them to the correct location, even when Don found no trail, seemed suspicious. He had the horrible feeling that he would be comforting Raphael if they got through this alive.
He was sneaking through an empty corridor when the floor suddenly fell out from under him. Luckily, Don's shell took most of the impact, but his relieved feeling vanished at the sight of two spiked leg guards. His gaze traveled up, or rather down, since he was on his back, to the face of his most hated enemy.
"Shredder!" It was a cry of both surprise and hatred. Don quickly got to his feet, ready to fight.
"Good to see you here," Shredder said. "It saves me the time of hunting you down."
"Where are my brothers?" Don demanded.
"Oh, you'll be joining them soon enough."
***
As soon as Kali was out of sight of Don she had doubled back around. Like hell she was going to stay out here while everyone else was inside. She knew that she was no match for their skill as ninjas, but all things considered, all of them put together were no match for her.
She frowned as she stared into the shadow cast against the building wall. There was no turning back after this, they'd know. But she couldn't just let them die, not when she could help. Before she could change her mind, she walked forward and into the shadow.
Two guards passed by the wall not five seconds later, noticing nothing out of the ordinary.
Once inside, Kali inhaled Raphael's scent. He was below her. Wait. There was something else there. She could easily recognize the type of power, and knew what she was up against. He would be trouble.
"Hey, you there!"
Kali spun her head around at the two black-clad men running towards her. Some "silent ninja" they were, alerting their prey. Stupid humans. She launched herself at the nearest one, knocking him to the floor. His head made a sharp cracking sound as it hit concrete. The other wasn't phased and raised his weapon to strike at Kali.
A mere inch from her body, Kali stopped the sword, catching it in her fist. The solider stared at her hand in complete disbelief. Kali wrapped her other hand around his throat, pulling the sword from his grasp. The soldier stared in horror into her solid black eyes as she pushed him against the wall.
"Where are the Turtles?" she hissed, her voice echoing throughout the room. When the soldier didn't reply, she squeezed tighter, digging her nails into his neck. The soldier gasped for air, or tried to. Kali stared into his eyes, letting her power flow between them. Images flashed through her mind until she came across the right one.
"Two levels down," she said before letting the soldier drop to the floor unconscious.
***
Don knew he wouldn't be able to carry on like this for much longer. It seemed like every soldier in the building stood in his way, and their numbers never decreased. He also had the suspicion that he was being herded somewhere.
Don felt his shell hit a metal door. A dead-end... great.
"Don?"
Don looked over his shoulder and saw Leonardo's face looking through a small barred window. "Leo! Are Mike and Raph with you?"
"Yeah, get us out of here!"
"I'm a little busy here." The soldiers didn't let up, and he doubted asking "Hey, guys, can you wait a minute while I get my brothers out?" would get him anywhere.
But just then, it seemed like the Foot gave up. They all backed away, forming a semicircle around Don and the door. The sea of black parted and allowed a tall figure to emerged.
Don stood his ground. "We defeated you before, Shredder, we can do it again."
Shredder smiled behind his mask. "Ah, but can you do it alone, Turtle? You are not the most skilled of your brothers." He locked gazes with Don and the Turtle felt his entire body lock up. He couldn't move a muscle, not even to scream as Shredder approached him.
***
Oops, wrong turn.
Kali walked into a room filled with Foot soldiers. One spotted her immediately and alerted the others. Soon she was up against at least twenty of them, all armed and prepared to kill.
But so was she.
They didn't know what they were up against until she threw the first ninja across the room with such force that he left an indentation in the wall.
"Well, who's next?"
Three charged at once, swords raised. She let one sword slip under her arm and brought her knee up, hitting her attacker in the stomach. He dropped like a stone as the other two slashed at her. She grabbed one by the arm and turned him to use as a shield against the other. The soldier couldn't pull back in time to avoid stabbing his clan-mate in the chest.
Kali threw her shield towards the soldier and they both fell to the ground. Several of the ninja stepped back. They could sense her power, and they were afraid. She screeched at them, revealing her fangs. Half of them ran, three passed out, and at least one wet his pants.
She threw herself at the single soldier who stood his ground and pinned him to the ground.
"Please don't kill me," he begged when he realized he couldn't throw her off. "I've done nothing!"
Kali narrowed her eyes, linking herself to the boy's soul. "Nothing, huh? What about kidnapping and trying to kill my friends?"
"That was Shredder's doing! Oh, God, please don't kill me!"
"You should know better," she chastised before biting down on his throat.
She suddenly stopped and looked up. That person she sensed before, he was using his powers, close by. Just... Ah ha! She wiped the blood off her mouth with her sweater sleeve and ran from the room, now more certain as to where she could find Raphael and the others.
***
Leo watched from the window in horror as Shredder raised his spiked gauntlet, preparing to strike Don down. But he never got a chance to finish the move. The wall beside him exploded inward, throwing him against the opposite wall and knocking him out.
Don blinked as he was released from the trance. He was frozen again, this time in shock as Kali walked through the gaping hole, pausing a second to look at Shredder before turning to him. Don pressed himself against the wall. He's only met her once, but he was sure her eyes hadn't always been that uniform black color.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Don nodded numbly as he stared at the sharp fangs in her mouth. Kali frowned, then pointed towards the prison door. Don jumped as the lock exploded and the door swung open. All three Turtles jumped out from the cell, ready to fight, only to find all their enemies defeated.
"What the hell just happened?" Raphael asked.
"Come on," Kali told the group as she turned back into the hole she had made. Leo narrowed his eyes at Kali's retreating form. Something was very wrong about this. He felt Mike pull his arm and followed after his brothers, still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Before long, they came to a fork in the halls. "This way," Leo said, moving towards the left.
"Leo, no!" Kali ran forward to stop him before he looked into the first room off the hall.
Too late. Leo stared numbly at the carnage before him. Bodies were lying on the ground, some unconscious; some he was sure were dead. A human sized imprint was on the back wall, and one man on the floor looked like he'd been torn open.
Kali pulled Leo away from the room. He gave her a horrified look. "Did you...?"
Kali lowered her eyes. "The exit's this way." She turned and passed the others, moving down the right hall.
***
Once they were safely out of the building, Kali allowed her power levels to start dropping. She pulled Raph and Leo's weapons out of what seemed to be thin air and handed them over without a word. She knew what would be coming; it always came, so she wasn't surprised to find Leo's katana at her throat just seconds after she had returned it.
"Leo!" Raph yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"
Leo ignored his brother, keeping his gaze on Kali's face, a face that seemed so different now than it had been when he'd first seen her. Her black eyes stared back at him, the tips of her fangs protruding over her bottom lip, curled up in a smile. "What are you?"
"Does it matter?" Kali replied.
Leo tensed his grip. "I knew there was something wrong about you. Something evil. What are you, a vampire?"
Mike stepped forward, but didn't get as close as Raph dared to. "Listen to yourself, Leo. She just saved all our lives, how can she be evil?"
"Good people don't butcher a room full of men!"
Raph looked at Kali, who had her head bowed. "Tell him. Tell him he's wrong!"
"No, he's right," she finally said. "What he said was true. I killed those men. I am evil, a monster."
Raph pulled her away from Leo's sword and shook her by the shoulders. "You are not evil!"
She looked up at her with those same black eyes. "Don't make this any harder, Raph." She stepped away from Raph and looked towards Leo, waiting for her "sentence".
Leo looked towards his brothers. Don seemed to be the only other one who looked like he was afraid of her. Leo looked at Kali, feeling that same dark energy radiate from her, only much more intense than back at the lair.
"She saved us, Leo."
Leo looked to Mike, who pleaded with his eyes. Mike knew what he was planning to do, kill her right there and then, to save countless more lives, save those she may hurt later. But Mike was right; it would be dishonorable to kill someone you owed your life to.
He lowered his sword. "We are thankful for your help, we might have died if not for you." He took a deep breath. "That is why I am sparing you."
"Leo," Kali started to say.
"Go. Before I change my mind."
Raph looked panicked as Kali just nodded in submission. "Wait, that's it? No fight? Kali, you can't go along with this!"
Kali turned to Raphael. He spotted her necklace resting against her chest, catching some of the moonlight. "It was nice while it lasted, anyway. I knew it wouldn't last forever."
"Kali..."
"Don't, Raph. This is the way things are. You think I'd be used to it by now." She turned and just walked away.
Raphael stood there, waiting. He waited for her to turn and run back to him. He waited for his own legs to move him forward. But none of that happened. Where the hell was a happy ending when you needed it?
***