Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fan Fiction ❯ Bad Places ❯ 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Part 5

Waiting for an attack wouldn't let him sleep. April was right, better to get it over with. He'd finished his book several times over and none of the books left behind by his master and brothers looked interesting, so he pushed the futons against the wall and began practicing. As much as he hated the nameless things, they were the only things he could fight against. Imagined human enemies moved too slow, had no claws, couldn't see in the dark. All they had were guns and cunning, but the things were cunning, too, and came from all directions. Anything less moved too slow.

Halfway through a roundhouse kick, he felt it. He tried a few more punches, a sweep kick, but he was off. What had come so effortlessly the past few nights now refused to come at all. The air dragged on his arms, gravity pulled at his legs. Right now it wasn't much, but it was starting. Despite all the practice he'd done, nothing but practice, he couldn't stop it from happening.

"I'm slowing down."

Throwing his mind back in time to some of their hardest fighting, he cleared corridors of monsters, dodging teeth, ducking claws, leaping over something on four legs with shoulders as big as a bull's. Everything was as real in his mind as during those months, he slipped on blood, breathed air so cold his breath misted, shuddered when he thought he touched one of the little things, but it didn't help. He landed back in April's basement, kneeling with his head down, hot and frustrated, breathing hard.

"Now I know why samurai used to train against other samurai," Leo whispered. "There's no point in training if it's not to the death. It's not real."

With a tired sigh, he crossed the room and leaned against the bookcase, hoping he'd missed a comic book or history text. One by one he scanned each title, Donatello's new chemistry books, Mike's cookbooks, Raph's...hm. Nothing there.

"Hey there!"

He'd thrown a book before he realized he'd grabbed it and turned. It was out of his hand by the time he saw Casey in the doorway, dodging the thick book before it slammed into the wall behind him. Leo's shoulders slumped as he relaxed again. "Damn it, don't do that."

"You're telling me?" Casey bent and picked up the book, reading the title. "Heh, Practical Aerodynamics. Raph said you'd gotten faster. Boy, he wasn't kidding." He grinned and put the book back on the shelf as an excuse to come inside. "You know, I think that's the first time I've ever snuck up on you."

"Don't get used to it," Leo said, forcing a smile. Even if he was slowing down, his reflexes were still wound tight. If they'd been in the kitchen, if that had been a knife and not a heavy, slow book... "I'm just distracted right now."

"Yeah...'bout that..." Casey scratched the back of his head, wondering how to phrase it. "Listen, you've probably heard what I started saying an'--"

"Casey, it's not--"

"Yeah, it is. I shouldn't of said you weren't coming back. 'Cause, like, obviously ya did and all."

"Actually, I wish you'd managed to keep them home."

"Huh?"

Leonardo shrugged and shook his head. "They wouldn't have found me anyway. And they would have been safer. Master Splinter said Mike got seen."

"Nah, that was just Raph being paranoid."

"Raphael?" Leonardo blinked. "Paranoid?"

"Go figure. The moment we knew you were gone, he turned worse than you." Casey laughed and leaned against the wall, folding his arms. "Man, you shoulda' seen him. Assigning parts of the city, keeping schedule, pulling double shifts to keep this place safe. It was like you two switched masks."

Odd to think that hurt more than Splinter scolding him. "Figures he'd do it when I'm gone," he said, more to himself than Casey. "Then none of them got hurt?"

"Well, Mike didn't get much sleep with all his running around and Donny nearly electrocuted himself working on something for April. But they were all fine. Except for being worried sick, I mean."

"Mm." Leo heard the unasked question. Where have you been and it better be a good reason you couldn't get back. For all their concern and support, that demand lay at the bottom of every happy welcoming and smile. Why didn't you come back for so long? He opened his mouth to ask if Raph had enjoyed his new responsibilities, but he stopped himself. He tilted his head slightly, listening. There it was again, louder this time.

"What?" Casey stood straight, instantly alert. "What do you hear?"

"They're coming now," Leo said, heading for the door with Casey right behind him. "I can hear their chains."

The shop lights were already off when they came up, and April stood beside the main window watching the street. Leo wasn't sure if it was the same night or the next night, just that the street was dark and only one streetlamp lit the block. Even the moon and stars were covered by thick clouds. "Both of you, stay inside in case I miss any of 'em. Don't come out, no matter what."

Before they could argue, he went upstairs and out a rear second story window, climbing up to the roof. No one would spot him there and he could get a good look at his enemies. Some extra wiring and dark shapes lined the roof, Donatello's work no doubt, and he ignored it as he leaned over the ledge. The air smelled of impending rain and he hoped the storm would hold off until the fight finished.

Twenty or thirty of them gathered in front of the shop, some of them dragging chains on the pavement to let everyone know they were there. A few of them carried knives or baseball bats. Most of them had guns of some type, from the girls carrying light automatics to the men carrying heavy handguns and one shotgun in particular. All of them wore a white dragon's claw patch on their shoulder. If they'd taken over most of this neighborhood, no doubt they knew how to fight in close quarters with all those firearms. Speed and deception would be vital.

Slowly he unsheathed his swords, breathing in as the metal hissed. All the aches and pain left his body in a rush, replaced by trembling anticipation. He wasn't scared, far from it. Adrenaline surged through him and overwhelmed him, winding him tight. He'd come with two smoke bombs ready and he took one of them out now, holding both it and one sword in his hand.

Each side stood tense, waiting for the first move.

A gun was cocked, the click echoing down the street. The bomb exploded in their midst, sending thick black smoke over the ground and up around them. Several of them coughed it out of their lungs and fell back. Most of them cocked their weapons and started for the shop, thinking it had come from there.

The few who looked up into the night sky would swear later that a demon had leaped amongst them, claws as long as swords ripping indiscriminately into them. Instead of hiding in the smoke, Leonardo moved through it and back into the shadows, letting them fire at the swirling shapes. Human shrieks filled the air as they shot themselves and riddled the walls and cars parked nearby full of bullets. Their heat passed close to his face and he slid farther away from the blind firefight, intent on the handful who hadn't panicked.

"Quit shooting, you idiots!" one of them yelled. "It ain't in there!"

The wind blew the last wisps of smoke away, leaving only five or six claws still standing and the rest on the ground amidst splatters of blood. The lucky ones groaned and clutched at their wounds, trying to stop the bleeding before shock set in. The few who could still move got on their hands and knees and crawled towards safety.

The calm veterans pulled back out of the light, using his own tactics. A shotgun blast drowned every other noise for an instant and cleared one part of the street. A second blast came right after that, a little to right, and then another shot as fast as he could reload, trying to drive Leonardo one way and into the light, where a few with bats and chains waited. Angered by his trick, they stood in a circle around the light, a living net for their own trap.

An old car, more bullet-riddled rust and shattered glass than metal, stood between their killing ground and the light. It was his only real cover and he hated kneeling behind it. So far he'd been playing by their rules, by Splinter's rules, and it left him stilted and awkward. He hadn't killed any of them. He shook his head.

He finally had a real fight to the death against modern samurai. He would not waste it.

First things first. His throwing star sailed true into the lamp, shattered plastic and glass and showered the claws below as the lamp flashed and went dark. He used the car hood as a spring board to leap over their blind shots, sinking one sword into a shoulder and jerking it free. Blood arced into the air, a red ribbon in the dim light. The scream this time was higher pitched, wild with shock, and he followed with a deep cut to his enemy's abdomen. As he darted left for his next victim, someone fired at where he'd been a second before, hitting whoever he'd just cut apart. The screaming stopped.

Inside the store, April knelt on the floor, peeking out over the bottom of the window, somehow still intact after the firefight. "Can you see him?"

"Not a bit," Casey whispered back. "Sounds real bad out there."

"We've got to get the lights back up," she said.

"I think Leo's the one who hit the lamp," he said. "If we get 'em on now--"

"He might be hurt out there and we wouldn't know," she said, already crawling towards the light panel behind the counter. "Don helped me put in floodlights on the front. Help me turn 'em on."

"But if you turn them on while he's fighting--"

"Casey!" She looked over her shoulder and glared. "He's not invincible and God knows what he went through for three months. Now help me get these lights on."

He grumbled and put his useless hockey stick back in its case. "Fine, fine. Pushy dame..."

Out on the street, the fight continued. A slice across the back sent the enemy spinning just like in the samurai movies he occasionally watched with Raphael. A cut down the face and throat stopped them in their tracks and usually drove them to the ground. He couldn't see the blood anymore but he could hear it when they weren't shooting or swinging a chain at his head. A shotgun blast carved into the crowd, and only because several had been between him and the blast did he avoid the shot.

This was what he'd been missing, this was the brutality that would drive him faster. The air no longer dragged but flowed with him. Gravity gave his spin kicks a driving force that shattered bones. The darkness could not blind him, the noise could not deafen him. His blood sang with his rhythm, cut, kick, dodge, slice, turn, stab.

And then he noticed that someone else knew the song, followed his rhythm and matched him perfectly. Was everyone else dead or gone? Had to be, the street had gone silent save for their breathing. The knife user, he realized, the one Splinter had warned him about. Too big to be female, too fast to be normal. Steel passed close to his face as he bent backwards, using a backflip to kick at his opponent. It didn't connect as his enemy backed up and then came forward, slashing with perfect aim at his throat. Neither had to see the other to fight.

He backflipped several times, followed close by that knife. It was long, he could sense that much, with a wicked serrated edge flashing in the dim light. Straight out of a backflip he crouched on all fours and swept his enemy's feet out from under him. The knife user fell backwards, out of the range of his swords, but he could still knock the blade out of his hands. He caught the metal edge and sent it flying, clattering in the dark.

Metal slid across the pavement, and he realized the knife user had scooped up a fallen gun. A single shot flew by his shoulder as he spun to one side, then spun again as the second shot came, lucky his enemy hadn't picked up an automatic. One more shot came so close he fell to his side, dropping one sword so he could push himself out of the way of the next shot.

End it now, he thought, before he does. Sacrificing defense in a suicide leap, he closed the distance between them and fell to one knee, narrowly dodging a shot that burned his shoulder. He whipped his sword up to drive it into his enemy's throat, and at the same time felt the heat of the barrel directly in front of his face. The hammer cocked. He breathed deep and started the thrust.

Light suddenly flooded the street, and they both stared at each other, eyes growing wide. Leonardo looked around the gun at the dark black face framed by dreadlocks and the frayed army fatigues.

"Felix?"

"Leo?"

Stunned, they held still for several seconds, both one step from killing the other. Around them, several bodies lined the street, most of them shot and some still moving. Blood painted the concrete and sparkled in the light. Leo swallowed reflexively.

"Do we still have to kill each other?" he asked, suddenly sounding as young as he really was.

In the harsh light, Felix's face and hands betrayed his age, lines and faint scars showing he had to be in his late thirties at least. For his part, the human stared at Leonardo, confirming his suspicions about what he'd seen in brief flashes as they guarded each other's back.

"Be kinda stupid to do you in after all that." Slowly he turned the barrel away from Leonardo's face toward the street, releasing the hammer. Leo drew his sword back and slipped it into its sheathe. Both of them were covered in blood, and the clouds finally let down the rain. Red water ran down their bodies and mixed on the street.

"Damn..." Felix said, slowly grinning. "I thought I was hallucinating down there. I couldn't believe you were a freakin' turtle."

Leonardo bent and retrieved his dropped sword, sheathing it. "And you kept complaining you couldn't keep up with me."

"Heh, yeah. That is kind of ironic."

Their half-hearted laugh turned into a chuckle, then louder, until soon they were laughing uncontrollably. Both revved up on adrenaline and too exhausted to move anymore, they sank to the ground, as April and Casey watched them laugh amongst the dead and the dying, shivering in the cold rain. She pressed herself against Casey's side as she took in the carnage and wondered if this was where she wanted her sword practice to take her.

TBC...