"Which way?" Raphael yelled.
There were three possible paths before them, only one would lead to their brother and the creature that had taken him. A few seconds before they came to the fork in the tunnel they had heard a noise - a scream of pain. Now they were at the junction and knew that one way would bring them to their brother and two others would lead them farther away, perhaps to the point that they would be unable to reach Mike in time. Leonardo looked down one way and then another, finally turning towards the last tunnel and gripping his swords tightly.
"I don't know."
"Should we split up?" Don asked.
Leo's face flew back up and he looked the other in the eye. "No! I'm not going to risk us getting picked off one by one."
Raph pushed into Leonardo's view. "Then what do you propose we do?" he asked angrily. "We can't..." he stopped and looked up the tunnel to the left, taking a step. "This way," he told them.
Don looked at Leo, who nodded and began to follow. Perhaps Raph's instincts would lead them to Mike as it had warned them of the creature's presence in the first place. Leo hoped his faith in Raphael's animalism was not misplaced. He discovered with glaring horror that it was not when the still form of their brother came into view, lying face-down in the thick water.
Raphael fell to Michaelangelo's side and rolled him onto his shell, patting him on a lacerated cheek and trying to revive him. Leo and Don stared down the darkened tunnel, looking for the creature.
"Its not here!" Raph yelled. "It left! Now get over here, Mike isn't breathing!"
Don kneeled and tilted Mike forward, picking him up into his arms and carrying him to the ledge, where he laid him down as gently as he could. He pressed a finger to his throat and waited, holding his breath as he felt for a pulse. There was a heartbeat - slow and unsteady but there. Donatello rolled his brother onto his side and let the water run from his mouth then shifted him back to his shell and cupped his hands over Mike's mouth. He left a gap between his fingers and breathed into it, forcing air into the motionless ninja's lungs. He took a breath and did it again, blowing harder.
Leo and Raph stood by, watching and praying, unable to do much else to aid in their brother's rescue. Don looked up at them as he went down for another breath.
"C'mon, kid," he whispered before pressing his mouth to the gap. He came up for another breath and yelled, "Breathe, dammit!"
Almost obediently, Mike coughed and muddy water poured from his mouth as Don rolled him to his side. The turtles were all half-smiling and on the verge of tears, still praying that he would be okay, wondering what the creature had done to him. Mike was breathing on his own, but that was all. He still wasn't moving, his eyes still tightly closed and his mouth hanging open. His breaths were shallow and reluctant.
"Jesus," Don whispered, supporting his brother's head with one hand and touching the top of it with the other. "Look at this," he pointed at the three raising welts on Mike's forehead and the broken skin at the center. "That thing hit him real hard," he said. "Hard enough to do this - it might have done some damage to his brain."
"What do you mean?" Raph demanded.
"Or fractured his skull," Don continued. "We have to get him back to the den right now!"
The others agreed without a word. Right now their priority was Michaelangelo, they didn't have time to go out looking for the thing that had nearly killed him. That mission would be completed in time, Leo only hoped that it would not play out as a vengeance run for a fallen brother.
Mark sat on the couch and stared at the huge rat that was staring back at him. It smiled slightly and stood, walking towards the boy with the aid of a wooden cane. He pushed himself deeper into the sofa's cushions and forced a faux smile.
"Tell me, child," Splinter said, sitting down beside him, "What brought you and your friends into the sewer this evening?"
Mark slid as far away from the rat as he could, mashing his hip against the sofa's arm. "I... uh, we..." he swallowed and pursed his lips together.
Splinter put a furry hand on the teen's own and tilted his head. "Do I frighten you?"
"Yes," he replied, being sure not to pull his hand away for fear of the reaction the rat would take to such a movement. "I am."
"I understand," the ninja master said. "There were times, at the beginning, when I was frightened by myself. By my reflection in the mirror."
"You mean... you weren't always like this?"
"No. I used to be a man, a human."
Mark relaxed his posture. "What happened?"
Splinter sighed and folded his hands on his lap. "Many, many things..." he said. "And the story of our origin is best left for another time."
"The, uh... the turtle guys, were they people, too?"
"They are people. However, they were never human."
"Oh..."
"If you do not wish to tell me what caused you to be down here in the sewers I will not ask again. I fear human curiosity is still great within me, even after all these years."
"No... it's okay. I mean, I should tell you. It's kinda' like we were barging in on your place and all."
"Only if you are comfortable with the telling," Splinter told him softly.
Mark looked at his hands. "Ronnie and Neal, they're in a club. I wanted to be in, so they told me to come down and, you know... get something. A box. But there wasn't a box, it was a trick, a joke - a good one, really. They scared the hell out of me."
Splinter nodded. "And Neal escaped?"
"I hope so," Mark said, letting out a breath.
The sound of the door being thrown open attracted their attention and they looked up, both jumping to their feet when they saw three turtles walking in, and another being cradled in Raphael's arms.
"Michaelangelo?" Splinter said, running to his sons without the support of his cane.
Raph continued walking, bringing his unconscious brother into the lab and laying him down on the examination bed. He reached onto a nearby tray and picked up a scalpel, cutting through the orange fabric of Mike's mask and pulling it off.
"He was attacked," Don said, unfastening his brother's belt. He pointed at a nearby medicine chest. "Leo, get out the alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. Gauze, tape..."
Leonardo pulled the chest off the wall and brought it to Mike's bedside. "Here," he said.
Donatello cleared his throat. "Good idea."
As Raph and Don went to work on Mike, Leo stepped out of the way, joining his master and their human guest at the far side of the room. Splinter had a concerned look on his face, reflected slightly diluted on Mark's own. Leonardo put a hand on Splinter's shoulder and guided him into a chair, which the human teen leaned against from behind.
"We found the creature," Leo said. "It found us."
"What was it?" Mark asked, gripping the back of Splinter's kimono.
"We don't know. It was... quiet, dark. Master, we didn't hear it, we could barely see it, it didn't even have a smell. What kind of beast could this be?"
"I do not know, my son," the rat admitted.
Leo sighed. "The only one who could even tell when it was near was Raph, and he just kind of felt it. He just knew when it was near."
Mark suddenly realized how tightly he was holding to Splinter's garment and let it loose. "What about Ronnie?"
Leo looked down and shook his head. "I'm sorry."
The teen crumpled to the floor, folding his legs and holding onto his head as he rocked back and forth. Splinter turned and put a hand on the back of his head, patting gently and trying to calm the boy. Mark did calm and looked up, tears rolling from his eyes.
"Can I please go home..?"
Leo took a deep breath. "I'm afraid not. None of us are going to leave the den tonight, that thing is too close by. In the morning we'll take you to the surface, but we will need your solemn word not to mention what you know of us and our home."
"You have my word," Mark sobbed. "What... I mean, how is he doing? Is he going to be okay?" he pointed towards Mike as the two ninjas tended his wounds.
"We don't know yet. Don't worry, Don is good. Really. He'll do the best he can."
Mark looked into Leo's frightened eyes. "He's your brother, right?"
Leo nodded.
"I'm sorry I... if I hadn't run into you guys in the first place this wouldn't have happened. I mean, Ronnie was a friend, but nowhere near... he wasn't my brother. He's dead... Jesus... he's dead. 'Cause of me... and now Mike might die because of me..."
"Don't let yourself believe that," Leo said. "This thing was close to our home to begin with, if you hadn't come by we might not have known until later, maybe not at all - until it came upon us in the dead of night. Now we know its there and we can arm ourselves against it, prepare for it."
"But..."
"No. Don't let yourself say that word. Not now, not in this instance. I also don't believe that you were responsible for your friend's death, so don't drag yourself down into that pit of guilt. There is only one guilty party, and right now it is out there and we are in here - safe, protected."
Mark closed his eyes. "I don't feel so safe," he said.
Neither do I, Leonardo thought.
"Leo, come over here," Don called out.
"What is it?" Leonardo joined the others at the bed and looked down at Michaelangelo, who was in a deeper state than sleep. "Is he going to be okay?"
"I think so," Don said. "It doesn't seem like his skull was fractured, but I really can't tell without better equipment. There's still the possibility of a brain hemorrhage or..." he let his voice fade. "All we can really do right now is hope he makes it through till tomorrow. That'll be half the fight."
Leo touched the large white bandage on the unconscious turtle's arm. "What happened here?" Don and Raph shared a look and the former pulled back the tape, revealing two rows of teeth marks. The teeth had broken the skin and they seemed to have been both large and sharp, though not pointed. Like flat razorblades lined up one after another along the gums of the creature's large mouth.
"I'm not going to ask, because I know you don't know..." Leo said.
"If you mean what caused this, you're right," Don said, taping the gauze back down. "I mean, we know it was the creature, but that still doesn't clear anything up. Whatever kind of animal this was, it wasn't anything I'm familiar with. Then there's this," he pointed at the two slash marks on Mike's cheek. "Definitely claws, definitely sharp. Other than that I haven't got a clue."
Leo nodded and looked at Raphael. "Do you need Raph right now?" he asked Donatello.
"No, I think I can handle it from here."
"Okay, but I'm gonna' send the kid over," Leo told him. "Keep him busy, keep him calm. Maybe helping will rest his nerves, anyway."
"Okay. No problem."
Leo motioned with his head for Raph to walk with him to Splinter, an order which was followed grudgingly.
"Mark, would you go over and help Don out for a few minutes?" Leonardo asked the human. "I need to talk to Master Splinter and Raphael alone."
Mark nodded and stepped away, joining the studious turtle at Mike's side. Leonardo watched him for a few seconds, then turned back to the others.
"Raph, will you tell Sensei what you felt?"
"Felt?" Raph asked, a little confused. "Oh. Well, there isn't much to tell. I mean, I just kinda' sensed the thing, you know?"
"Go on," Splinter said.
Raph's face turned somber as he thought back. "I was alone in the tunnel," he said slowly, retracing each detail in his mind. "It was like something touched me in the center of my head, like... ugh! I don't know how to explain it!"
"Then do not explain it," Splinter said. "Just feel it. Feel it again, as you did at the time." Raph calmed himself and closed his eyes, imagining he was back in the tunnel, alone and crouching, waiting for a sign.
"It's dark," he said. "I can't hear anything. There's no breathing, no sloshing water, no..." he stopped. "Wait... there is something. But I don't hear it... it... it's like an emotion. Like a part of myself whispering that something is there. I've felt it before, it's like when you're alone in a room and you swear there is someone there with you, or you just know someone is looking at you..."
"Like an instinct?" Leo asked.
"Exactly," Raphael opened his eyes. "Like a force, a mental signal."
Splinter nodded. "You have always been more connected with your animal instincts than have your brothers," he said. "It is possible that this creature is much more animal in nature than any of you had considered."
"But Mark said it spoke," Leo said. "Doesn't that indicate intelligence?"
"A parrot may speak, may repeat words that it has heard," Splinter said. "Apes use tools, as the weapon the creature used against Mark's friend. Because an animal can do these things, it does not necessarily follow that it is sentient."
"I understand that, Master, but this thing - its actions seemed more than just instincts, like it was planning the attack."
"Animals also do that," Raph said. "Wolves, lions... all sorts of things."
Leo looked at him and folded his arms. "And how would you know?"
"Like Splinter said about me being closer to my animal side than the rest of you. Especially you, Leo. You're about as tame as they get."
"So," Leonardo said, turning back to their master. "How do you suggest we handle this threat, Sensei?"
"Without more information it is difficult to divine a solution," the rat said. "However, the safest course may be to remain together this evening. None of us will leave the other's sight."
"Seems a little defeatist to me," Raph said, immediately regretting the choice of words. "I mean no disrespect, Master... but shouldn't we go out looking for this thing? It almost killed Mikey, for God's sake."
"We will remain together," Splinter repeated. "Mark is an innocent, Michaelangelo is incapable of helping you or himself - these two alone are handicaps in this battle you plan so hastily, my son."
"And self-preservation is the first law of nature," Leo said. "It won't come at us if it thinks it'll lose."
"What makes you think it will come near the den at all?" Raphael asked.
Leo looked back at Michaelangelo and the two that were tending him. "Same thing that led it to us in the first place. Remember, you were the one that noticed it in the sewer - on Mike."
"Blood. The smell of blood," Raph said, looking down at the drying red fluid on his arms. "We should all wash up."
"That will not remove the threat," Splinter said. "But it may diminish it."
"Let's send the kid to the showers first, he's got the most on him," Raph said and waited for a response from the rat.
Splinter nodded and Raph turned on his heel, walking to the teen who stood by Mike's bed, staring down at his expressionless face. Mark was feeling definite guilt, almost as much as Raph was for letting the thing get its ugly clawed hands on his brother. He doubled his fist and released it, trying to ease back his mind, relieved, at least, that Mike was alive and breathing.
"Mark?"
The boy's face shot up and looked at the turtle. "Yeah?
"You should take a shower, wash off that blood."
Mark looked down at himself and the blood spattered across his shirt and arms. "Yeah... I guess so."
"C'mon, it's this way," Raph led him out of the lab, to a door off the living room that led to the bathroom. "There's soap and towels and stuff," he said, pointing in. "I'll keep an eye on the door, if you need anything just yell."
The human sighed and nodded, walking in and shutting the door. Raph pulled up a wooden chair and sat down, leaning back far enough against the wall so the chair's front legs lifted and his own legs dangled in the air, his toes ten centimeters off the floor. He heard the shower sputter to life and the curtain being drawn aside, then slid back into position. Raph felt bad for the kid; he'd seen his friend murdered right in front of him and now he felt responsible for what had happened to Mikey. But he wasn't responsible - Splinter was right, this thing was an animal.
That was the only true answer, the only possible explanation for why it reacted the way it had. They had invaded its territory and it was not going to sit around and wait for them to return and do it again. Most likely it would follow the scent back to the den - perhaps it already had, perhaps it was stalking outside their door at that moment, waiting for a chance to get in...
Don doubted that the double watch would mean much, considering the ease in which the thing had first attacked them. In his logical mind he still couldn't place it, couldn't understand why they had fallen prey so easily. Leonardo had explained to him what Splinter said about the thing being an animal and acting as such, but that didn't explain their own lacking. Regardless as to how quiet an animal might be, there are always indications of its presence. A scent, a footprint, a fleeting image in the peripheral vision. But there was nothing that told them when this thing came near - nothing, save Raphael's nascent sixth sense that at this moment was sleeping with him at Michaelangelo's bedside.
Leonardo walked in the door to the infirmary and slid his sword into its sheath, stretching and yawning as he got to Don's side.
"Still quiet out there," he said, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Don stretched out his own legs and leaned back against the wall. "Nothing in here, either."
"Didn't figure there'd be."
They shifted into silence and stared pointlessly towards the door as the dim light of an oil lamp flickered, casting alternating shadows on the people and objects in the room. It gave the space an eerie sense that was not lost to either of the turtles, but which each tried to ignore with vehement resolution. This was not a time to be frightened of shadows, it was a time to be strong against the very real danger that lurked so close to their home and family. Donatello stood and walked to the lamp, turning the knob that gave it more oil. The flame grew and the flickers subsided, the new illumination reaching past the open door, into the living room beyond.
"I'm gonna' go check the front door," Don said, turning and making his way out of the room. "Keep an ear out for me." Leonardo redrew his sword and laid it across his legs, placing a palm on the blade and another wrapped tightly around the handle. "Don't be too long," he said, trying to make it sound like a request rather than an order.
Don nodded without turning back and grabbed his bo from its resting place by the wall before stepping full out of the infirmary. Leonardo straightened his posture and looked at the sleeping people around him. They were trusting him and Don to keep them safe while they rested, they were running on faith in the midst of a nightmare.
His eyes flew to the floor as a rat scurried past. He held out his hand to it and clicked with his tongue, rubbing his fingers together and attracting it to him. He knew this rat, it was something of a family pet. Once in a while it would slide out of its hiding place to seek out leftovers or just to let the turtles know that it was still there - Mike had named it Rosco, for reasons known only to him.
Rosco stopped and sniffed the air before turning and pattering to Leo's fingers. It licked them and he picked it up, patting it between the ears and smiling as it diligently cleaned its front paws. Suddenly the rat stopped and sat full upright upon its back paws, its whiskers twitching as it found a new scent. Rosco's ears rotated forward and he let out a little squeak, then jumped out of the turtle's hands and ran to a large chest on the other side of the room, hiding beneath it. Leo watched him go and wrapped his hand around the handle of his sword again, gripping it even tighter.
He heard a mumble and looked up at Raphael, who's head was rolling back and forth, his thoughts evident through his dreams to the physical world.
"...Neikan," Raph whispered, his fingers curling to a fist beneath his face.
Leonardo stood and walked to Raph, putting a hand on the back of his shell. The sleeping turtle calmed and Leo turned his attentions to the living room.
Don shouldn't be taking so long checking the door, he thought, walking out of the infirmary.
"Donny?" he called out softly.
He heard no reply, but looked instinctively towards the front door. Past the darkness he could see his brother standing there, his bo gripped tightly in his hand and held out to his right, his shell towards Leo as he looked out the door into the sewer beyond. He wasn't moving, perhaps he had seen something. He rested the bo against the wall and motioned to the other ninja without turning around. Leonardo stepped up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"What is it?" he asked.
Don turned, there was a red streak down the center of his face, between his eyes. Leo's mouth fell open and he reached up, touching the blood.
"What happened?" he asked, concerned. "Did it come here? Is it out there?"
Don looked back out the door. "I don't know... don't worry, it isn't my blood."
"Then what..?"
"I thought I heard something outside and I opened the door," he pointed at the floor and another dead rat that lay there. "It was propped up over the door, fell on my head."
Leo gritted his teeth as he backed a step away from the door and put a hand on Don's elbow, pulling him. He heard a noise and shifted back around, looking towards his brothers face. Don's eyes were wide and his mouth open, a choking came from somewhere in his throat and Leo felt a shiver travel up his own body.
"Donny?"
Suddenly Donatello was wrenched out of Leo's view, pulled into the sewer beyond the den. Leonardo bounded forward, jumping through the door after his brother; he found him being held up by his throat by the creature, which still confined itself to the darkest corner of the wall. Don's feet were kicking the air while his fingers fought fruitlessly to free the grip that was blocking out his air. Leo jumped ahead, his sword aimed at the shadowed thing's chest. He swung and contacted with nothing, though there was no way for it to have moved away so quickly.
The turtle looked behind him in time to see a hand, clawed and covered with blood, as it came at his face. He dodged and ducked, rolling out past the thing's reach. The roll was not far enough, however, and the creature kicked him squarely in the plastron. Leo flew back, his sword flying from his grip; he hit the wall with his shell and fell forward, landing on his hands and knees. He looked around him, his sword was too far away to reach in time - but he still had another strapped to his back. He reached his arm up and felt a sharp pain travel up his spine - an aftereffect from the impact with the wall.
The pain kept him from following through and he saw the foot coming at him again, this time aimed at his face. He tried to move from its way, but managed only to bring himself out of its direct path, not entirely away from the threat. The muddy foot hit him on the side of the head and he spun, landing on his carapace and sending an even sharper pain up his back. He looked over at Donatello, who had stopped resisting and was now hanging limp in the creature's grip. Leo tried to roll but felt a gust of air as it was displaced by the thing's leg being swung up for another kick. The foot came down again, impacting him in the face.
Leonardo turned his head weakly and watched as the thing dragged Donatello down the tunnel, away from the den. He opened his mouth and tried to yell to his brother but felt a strange lightness in his mind. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the sting in his back and ribs.
...Neikan... he thought, then thought nothing more.