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tori_angeli) wrote2009-02-11 05:54 pm
Endgame chapter 2
Waking up was like dreaming. His eyes were glued shut with drugged sleep, he was paralyzed to his fingertips, and his brain could only try to register his current situation. His mind came to life faster than his body, and he forced his weighted eyelids open, lips parting to take in a quick breath to get his heart moving faster. He was lying face-down on the floor of a thrumming, swaying vehicle that his arms seemed to sink into. Captured. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Undefined shadows and shapes burst into a flurry of motion before his bleary eyes. He heard voices and movement around him, and before he could quite manage to his hands and knees, his face was again smothered with a pungent-smelling washcloth—Oh god, not again—and Michelangelo collapsed into darkness.
“Hello. You have reached the voice mailbox of Leonardo. I am not able to come to the phone at the moment--”
“Hi, you've reached Don. I'm unavailable right now--”
“Sorry, the person you have dialed is out of service, or is no longer avail--”
“Hi, you've reached April's cell phone. I'm not--”
“Casey Jones here, you know what to do.” Beep.
“Casey,” Raph said breathlessly into the phone through his gritted teeth, legs pumping even as he spoke, “You'd better pick up if you're there. Mikey's in trouble. Meet me at Purple Dragon HQ. I think that's where they took him.” He'd left nearly identical messages for Leo, Don, Splinter, and April just seconds ago. The universe must think it's damned funny that everyone I need right now ain't “available at the moment,” his mind growled as he hung up the phone and crammed it into his belt. He was back on the rooftops, scouring the route he was taking for any sign of the conspicuous van that held his brother.
They'd taken Mikey, of all of them. The only good thing about all this is that it didn't happen ta you.
“Whatcha doin', Raphie?
“Nothing. Don't call me Raphie.”
“Is that a Transformer?”
“No.”
“Cool! Can I play with it?”
“No, you'll break it! MIKEY!”
“Please?”
“LET GO!”
“Pleeeease?”
“MIKEY! YOU STUPID IDIOT, LOOK WHAT YOU DID!”
“Well, if you'd just let me--”
“Go away!”
“I'm sorry, okay? I'll fix it!”
“No you won't. GO. AWAY.” God, Mikey, why do you always have to make things worse?
“What is it?”
“Look what I made you.”
“I'm not interested.”
“Look. It transforms into a truck.”
“What?”
“See? I worked on it all afternoon.”
It was made out of paper. A Transformer toy, cleverly folded so it actually transformed. If Raphael had been older, he might have understood the value of such craftsmanship, but as a child, he only knew that it wouldn't replace his broken plastic version. It was paper, and therefore worthless. Paper could be torn, burned, destroyed. He crumpled it in his fists and threw it at his brother.
“Go. Away.”
When Mike woke up again, he didn't move or change his breathing pattern. He listened.
“When did you take him?” rumbled a vaguely familiar voice.
“'Bout a hour ago,” replied a gravelly one.
“He was the only one?”
“Yeah, walkin' down where we seen 'em before. Didja want another one?”
There was a pause. “No. This one will bring the others.”
The drug's tentacles loosened just enough for Mike to place a name to that familiar voice. It was Hun. The leader of the Purple Dragons was gigantic, but not stupid. How long could Mike keep up his act of sleeping before Hun called his bluff? Fortunately, the drugs still weighed him down, eyelids, limbs, and all, so acting was barely required. In fact, he felt himself drifting off again. He couldn't fall asleep, though, while Hun and his minion spoke above his head, their voices doubled in volume by the drug ringing in his ears.
“Did you leave clues?” Hun asked quietly.
“I sent Buzz back ta leave part of a jacket. They'll know where he is, but uh, how do we keep 'em from knowin' it's a trap?”
“They'll know it's a trap. That isn't an issue. As long as we know more than they do, it doesn't matter.”
“What if they don't come?”
“They'll come. Even if they don't, we have one of them already. This one's the easiest to control with fear. If they don't come for him within the hour, we'll kill him, and the others won't know until they arrive.”
“Um.”
“Yes?”
“Why keep him that long, boss? If they don't know the difference--”
“Because that gives my men fifty-six minutes to do whatever they want with him. Just wait till he's awake, and be sure the monitor is on. I want to be able to watch.”
“Whatever they want, like, what House did with the other one?”
“Anything they want. As long as he suffers.”
Suffers... Mike knew he would be able to register just how deep a pile of crap he was in once the drug wore off, but for now, it seemed best to keep pretending.
“And Congo--”
“Yeah?”
Mike could hear the smile in Hun's voice. “Don't worry too much if he dies by 'accident.'”
Hun's footsteps pounded in Mike's ears, fading gradually until silence was left behind. Sleep covered him again, and he willingly fell into it. Whatever was in store for him, he didn't want to be conscious for it.
Raph had had a few bad spells since coming home from his retreat with Casey. This was the worst one so far.
Don grappled with his brother, hooking and locking his arms under his brother's and pulling back as Leo tried to pry his sai from his resisting fingers. There was no coherent thought, no logical line of defense running through his mind, but a mantra of “No no no no no no no” filed through his mind like a video clip on a loop. Raph, for once, wasn't going all out, wasn't lashing out to defend his possession of his weapons, but his knuckles were white, and he spoke through his teeth.
“You don't get it. You—you haven't thought it...Leo, this is the only—STOP! Lemme—This is the only way, you gotta trust me, this'll make it all...”
Somehow, Donatello managed to catch a glimpse of Raphael's face. Later, when Raph was in the hands of their sensei, Don lay in his bed and pondered that face. It hadn't been at all insane or wild, just upset and...enlightened. He had been so earnest when he had pleaded with Leonardo that this was the only way, that this would solve everything, that they needed to trust him. It had been like his brother had believed he was seeing things clearly for the first time.
Leo had a look on his face much too similar to that one.
“Are you okay?” Don ventured tentatively. He knew what Leo would say, and he also knew the real answer. Don's own mind was helplessly flashing forward. He won't be able to fight again, if he has this. He can't get a paper cut. A cold will kill him.
Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I think so. A...warrior is always prepared for his own death.” His tongue darted out to wet his lips, revealing the lie in his bravado. “Except with this, I can't fight, can I?”
“Leo--”
“If I get hurt--”
“Leo, we don't even know if we can contract HIV.”
That look of grim enlightenment didn't vanish, but another light sparked in Leo's eyes. “Oh. Right.” The line of his shoulders eased. “How can we know?”
Don sighed and rubbed his temples. “There's a quick test we can do, but we need the equipment for it. It's an oral fluid test that takes about twenty minutes to give a result.” He'd learned of this during his preparatory research prior to investigating the medical history of Raph's attackers.
“For HIV?”
Don nodded.
“Where-where can we find this thing?”
God, that stutter speaks volumes. Leo, the understated brother, rarely showed such a break in calm. “Hospitals. Or maybe a warehouse somewhere where they keep them stocked. I can probably do some research and find something, and we can go out tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow. Do you think...?
The way Leo was looking at him made Don clack his teeth together. His brother was visibly anxious, which meant he must be going crazy. And he was genuinely asking Don if he wanted to wait. But more than that, Don felt his own heart flutter, his own mouth go dry, all the words in his mind jumbling into a mass he would never sort through until he had something besides speculation. “No. Dammit, Leo, even if you can wait, I sure as hell can't sit still until I know for sure. It'll kill me.”
Leo hesitated. The twin gleams in his eyes diminished and flattened, and he nodded briefly in acknowledgment. “It'll kill one of us.”
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This is good. Poor Mikey, Poor Raph, Poor Leo, Poor Don, Poor Everyone!!!!!
Can't wait for the next chapter!!!!
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