literature

Zapped - Chapter 7

Deviation Actions

CelandineGranger's avatar
Published:
6.8K Views

Literature Text

The night was dark and the city smog hid a crescent moon as the four ninjas climbed the fire escape, gaining access to their usual road – the rooftops. As they leaped onto the top of the apartment building, Raphael stopped, and said, arms crossed, “Remind me again why we're trying to find the Kraang and their Blue Goo?”

“Dude, because we need the Blue Goo to stay human, of course!” stated Mikey emphatically.

Raph frowned. “OK, then remind me again why I'm helping you find the Goo?”

Mikey looked hurt, but Leo cut in, “We don't just need the Goo to maintain our mutation, IF we decide to do that. We also need to find out what the Kraang are up to – why they are tracking us.”

“Well, we already know THAT,” put in Donnie, flippantly. His brothers all stared at him and he glanced back at each in turn, surprised that they hadn't all figured it out already. “They want to capture us so they can finish their experiment,” he said in an I-thought-this-was-obvious tone of voice.

“But when we went to their headquarters last night we didn't find any experiment they were working on,” said Mikey, sounding confused.

“No, don't you get it?” Donnie seemed slightly annoyed. “The Blue Goo was the experiment. It's a new kind of mutagen the Kraang have created that can – well, actually, I'm not sure precisely what it does yet, because I haven't finished my research – but the point is, they needed mutants to test it on, so they lured us to that garage so we could be their test subjects.”

“Great. 'Cause I've always wanted to be the Kraang's guinea pig!” said Raph bitterly.

“Now they're tracking us,” continued Donnie, “because they need to bring us to their facility and monitor us to see if the new mutagen worked.”

“OK,” said Raph, still skeptical. “So, what the Kraang really want is for us to come to their facility so they can run tests on us, and we are going to just walk right in there? Wouldn't it make more sense to wait until we changed back into turtles? Then the Kraang's experiment would be ruined, they would stop tracking us, and we could go back to trashing them like we usually do.”

“Except that we are not the Kraang's main plan,” said Leo calmly. “We were only the test subjects in their initial experiment. I'm sure they have a much bigger plan for this Blue Goo once they figure out if it works. We need to get in there, find out what that plan is, and stop it. We have to either get this new mutagen away from the Kraang, or else destroy it so they can't use it again.”

“I still don't see why we can't wait until we turn back into turtles to do that,” said Raph, determined to be the voice of division.

“Maybe because not all of us want to change back,” said Donnie quietly, not looking at Raph.

“And anyway,” said Leo quickly, “If we wait that long, the Kraang will start looking for someone else to try out their experimental mutagen on. Other people's lives could be at stake. We do this tonight, and that's final. Are you with us, Raph?”

Raphael noted the challenge in the leader's eyes and at last mumbled, “Fine. But if we do get some of that Goo, I make no promises about using it!”

Satisfied, Leonardo led his three brothers swiftly and silently along the rooftop, leaping easily to the next building as he came to the edge. At the end of the block, an alleyway cut in front of them, creating a wider gap between buildings, but Leo, unconcerned, did not slow his pace. They had traversed this street dozens of times and he knew he could easily jump all the gaps. As he reached the edge of the brick structure at the end of the block, he crouched low, mid-stride, and flung himself into the air, aiming for the rooftop across the alley.

As soon as his feet left the ledge, however, Leo knew something was wrong. He had used all his strength, but he had not projected himself high enough or fast enough. His descent began too soon. He wasn't going to make it! As he found himself falling into the alley three stories below, his first panicked instinct was to retract into his shell. That being impossible, he curled himself up and prepared for impact.

Luckily, several empty cardboard boxes piled near a dumpster against the far wall broke Leo's fall, though he still landed forcefully on his back on the concrete ground, smacking his head on the brick wall hard enough to cause him to see stars. The pain of a bruised back was a new and unpleasant sensation for Leo, who had been accustomed to his hard carapace protecting him from blows from behind.

“Leo! Leo, are you alright?” came three concerned voices from the rooftop above him.

Leo moaned, and a moment later his brothers had swung themselves down the fire escape and were looming over him, checking his condition.

“Leo, are you hurt? Is anything broken?”

Leo waved them aside and attempted to sit up, assuring them with a groan that he was fine, just a bit bruised. Donatello insisted on checking for a concussion before he would allow Leo to rise to his feet, which he eventually did, though a bit stiffly.

“Well, what have we here?” came a strange voice from the entrance to the alley.

The four ninjas turned around and saw six rough-looking men eyeing them greedily, some armed with knives, some with makeshift weapons such as pipes or baseball bats. The long tattoos coiled up each of their arms identified the gang to which they belonged.

“Purple Dragons!” cried Raph, cheering up at the sight of them and drawing his sai. The others also swiftly drew their weapons and assumed a battle stance. The Dragons hesitated for a moment. Clearly they had been anticipating an easy mugging and were somewhat taken aback by the arms displayed before them.

“Who do you kids think you are, walking around with weapons like that?” sneered the leader, a tall, wiry man with a scar over one eye. He appeared fairly certain that these teenagers were in over their heads and would not be capable of wielding the weapons they so confidently bore.

“Why don't you come a little closer and find out?” quipped Raph, eager for the fight.

This challenge angered the gang leader, and with a snarl, he drew a long dagger and charged the four boys.  His companions followed, though somewhat more hesitantly.

Leo quickly engaged a large man armed with a crude, homemade weapon consisting of a heavy stick laced with rusty nails. He had to duck several times as the much taller man swung the weapon at his head with his powerful arms.

Far to the right, Mikey was fighting off two at once and succeeded in cracking one Dragon in the skull with his nunchaku.

Meanwhile, the remaining three charged Raph and Donnie in the middle. While Donnie was engaged in close combat with one of the thugs, another was racing up behind him, swinging a metal bat. Raphael noticed this attacker and without thinking, dodged in front of Donnie, turning his back to the weapon in an effort to protect his brother.

Leo, out of the corner of his eye, saw what his red-banded brother was doing and cried out, “Raph, watch your back!” But it was too late. The bat came down with a crack between Raph's shoulder blades and he let out an involuntary cry at the shock of pain from his usually armored spine.

Pain did not cripple Raphael, however, but rather fueled his fury, and with a roar he spun around and lunged at his attacker with his sai, slicing at the man's arms until he ran, cut and bleeding, from the scene. Seeing his companion thus defeated infuriated a large, powerfully built thug, who pulled his fist back for a punch, aiming for Raph's face.

Raphael attempted to raise his right arm to block the blow, but suddenly found the limb was not responding to his will. His sai fell from his numb and lifeless fingers and clattered onto the concrete. “What the heck??” he growled, just as the thug's fist connected with his face, and for the second time that day, Raph's nose spouted blood.

Enraged, Raph retaliated with two kicks to the man's gut followed by several jabs with his remaining sai, which sent the gang member rushing after his friend.

Meanwhile, Leo and Donnie had managed to dispatch three of the remaining criminals, though they, too, did not escape without cuts and bruises. Mikey was still fighting the leader of the gang, who was trying to stab him with his knife, but, thanks to Mikey's swirling nunchuks, couldn't get close to the boy.

Swiftly, Mikey leaped into the air, with the intention of grasping the railing of the fire escape above him, then swinging both feet in front of him, giving the thug a double kick to the face. However, he overestimated his jumping capabilities, and missed the railing by an inch or two. His legs having swung forward in preparation for the kick, he landed abruptly and painfully on his rear end with a surprised, “Ow!”

The Purple Dragon whose face had been the intended target paused momentarily to laugh at Mikey's amusing failure. That moment was all Donnie needed to take the man down with a powerful swing from his bo.

As the last of the gang members fled the scene, Donatello pulled some gauze from his pocket and handed a wad of it to Raph to stem the flow of blood from his nose. He then began smearing antiseptic on a nasty cut Leo had obtained on his bicep while Raph helped Mikey to his feet.

“Man,” the freckled ninja said despondently, rubbing his bruised hind quarters. “That was messed up.”

“No kidding,” said Raph, tilting his head back to help stop the bleeding. “Six Purple Dragons, and we look like we went up against the Shredder!”

“Well, actually, after we fought the Shredder we looked a lot worse,” corrected Donnie, who had a large purple bruise over one eye.

“Fine, Dogpound and FishFace, then,” said Raph, irritably. “The point is, we've never been beaten up this badly by the Dragons! And you still want to go after the Kraang tonight?” This question was directed at Leo.

“Yes, Raph. We'll be fine. We just need a few adjustments to our fighting style. Our moves are just as effective as they always were. We just have to remember that our backs are vulnerable now, and also not to try to jump as high or as far as we normally do.”

“That, and hope our arms and legs don't randomly go numb in the middle of a fight,” said Raph bitterly, tossing aside the bloody gauze as the flow from his nose had finally ceased. Leo did not respond to this, so Raph continued. “And another thing. How are you planning on getting us there? We can't take the rooftop route, as you so gracefully demonstrated for us.”

“We'll take the streets, of course,” said Leo shortly.

“The streets? There's people on the streets, Leo. We'll be seen.”

“Does that really matter?” put in Donnie. “We're not mutant freaks anymore.”

“It matters if you're carrying swords!” said Raph. “Remember what Master Splinter said? We don't want anyone calling the police on us.”

“No one's going to call the police, Raph,” said Leo, getting exasperated. “We're ninjas. We know how to keep to the shadows and not be seen.”  

“Or, we could take a cab,” suggested Donnie, as one of the yellow cars drove obligingly by.

“Oooh, that's my vote!” cried Mikey excitedly. “It's on my list!”

“That's not exactly very ninja, Donnie,” said Leo.

“Yeah, nothing screams 'stealth mission' like driving up to the Kraang's front door in a bright yellow taxi,” scoffed Raph.

“It was just a suggestion!” cried Donnie defensively.

“Look, guys, enough arguing!” shouted Leo. “I'm making this decision, and I say we're walking. Now let's go!”

Some time later, the four boys, having successfully traversed the city without being seen, arrived at the abandoned garage they had visited the night before. Using Donnie's lock pick, they gained entry by the back door and began looking around for any clue as to the nature of the Kraang's plans.

The entire building was completely empty. Apart from the disturbed dust on the floor, there was nothing to show a battle had taken place there only twenty-four hours ago. All traces of the Kraang's presence had been removed. After combing the area and finding nothing useful, the four boys gathered in the center of the garage.

“What do we do now?” asked Mikey. It seemed they had reached a dead end.
TMNT 2k12 universe.
Rating: This chapter, T, for violence.
Whole fic, T, for violence and angst.
Disclaimer: Nickelodeon still owns TMNT.

*******

Bit of Purple Dragon action! 
Next time: Mikey rides a school bus and we finally get to see Leo's POV on the whole humans vs. turtles debate! So stay tuned!

Prev. -->Chapter 6
Next --> Chapter 8

Beginning -->Chapter 1
© 2015 - 2024 CelandineGranger
Comments38
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH