Deadly Consequences

Pull My Strings

The first thing Leo felt when he opened his eyes, was the horrible pressure tightening around his shoulders. The pressure he felt reminded him of knots being tied around his arms, holding him still, and while the invisible rope cut deep into his skin, he squirmed where he sat on the couch. ''Raph?'' HIs voice was muffled, hearing clear, and despite the pain, the couch felt comfortable underneath him, however from lying there for so long, his muscles were aching. HIs brow furrows at the unfamiliar piece of cloth, tied around his head. The scent of it was different than he remembered. Sweet like honey, but salty like sweat. This wasn't his bandana. The one he'd remembered wearing before all hell broke loose. Then everything around him went black, now, the light seemed to have returned. He pulled a tight breath of fresh oxygen from the air, into his lungs. Pulling the oxygen into his lungs, he tried to say something again. Anything to get his brother's attention. Anything he could do to alert them to his presence. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead, which with his forearm he swept it away, staring at his arm now, where particles of clear sweat stained his emerald skin. His jaw tightens, but turns normal again, at the horrifying sight in front of him. Master Splinter. He was coated with sweat and exhausted, but he wouldn't allow himself to stop until he beat the shell out of whoever had done this. The liar smelled of sweat and dry blood. And while his eyes captured mental images of every bit of his surroundings, he found the same thing, over and over again. The same black ooze they'd seen while saving that woman, while on partroll.

But why was it here now? And what the heck had happened while he was out?

Leo made an attempt to get up from the couch. After a couple of seconds of thinking out his actions, in one swift motion out and up, he managed it. Managing to get to his feet, safely, and remain standing, even after being out for so long, seemed a lot harder than he first thought, but now since he'd done it, he felt much better about it. Though he felt his mind starting to swim, bubbles surrounding his vision from time to time, he could feel the blood flow returning to his legs, and feet, then took slow, wobbly, steps to get the feeling to return. However long this lasted, once the pain vanished, he found he was able to move normally again. As he took steps in front of him, the air circling him was full of silence. There was no one. No sounds, not even the sound of Mikey's video games. He couldn't even hear the tools clanging from Donnie's lab. A strong lingering scent of poison swam over him, the scent only led him closer and closer to the black ooze. There seemed to be no way of avoiding it. The stuff was everywhere and on everything! Everywhere he turned, he just found more black ooze. When his eyes lingered to the front of him, he wasn't at all surprised to see he was also covered in the black ooze. But when a strong sense of danger pulled at his mind, he refrained from touching it.

His hand smelled like metal, like he'd been holding a weapon, the leather sending familiarity pulsing through him. Then the sweat from his palms formed a circle around his head. He smelled terrible, but it wasn't past the point yet, where it wasn't bearable. He steered away from his dry lips, as the smell of the black ooze returned. He felt the tight cloth, around his head, shift slightly. For some strange reason. The bandana he wore felt different when it touched his skin. The fabric was slickly, less soft, and if anger had a scent, it'd be this. Slowly, he brought his hand towards it, running his fingers along the banada, then untwisted the big knot, keeping it in place. Once it was loose, he brought it quickly towards him. ''Raph?'' He whispered. He'd been right about the banada being different, because it was different. The bandana he wore wasn't his own. The bandana he held in his hands was red, not blue.

This was Raph's bandana. On closer inspection, he found Raph's Sai's in the front compartment of his belt, and his katana's nowhere to be found. If he had Raph's sais, and his swords were missing, there was only one clear, convincing, explanation. Raph had taken them. But to explain why he'd taken them? Was still a mystery to him. Leo's eyes motioned behind him, danger spreading through him, as his blood began to boil. His body could sense the danger before his mind did, sending him around, as his tight, sore, shoulders tingled, with a presence. A presence belonging to someone who definitely shouldn't have been there. His theory from before vanished from his thoughts almost instantly, as his hands curled Raph's sai's, bringing them up, into the air, as he shifted his balance quickly, sapphire eyes freezing, till he felt something knock into him from behind,

sending him flying a few feet. WIth a clang from the Sai's as they shot away from him, spurred out, left and right, leaving him defenless, as a cold, musty, breath, hit his cheeks. Heavy weight kept him pinned, arms and legs fighting to get free, as he gasped. Unable to mutter a single word from the soreness gathered in his throat, he had no choice, but to look up. That's when he saw it.

The monster with the violet eyes.

***

The monster weighed on top of him, crushing his lungs, and causing great tightness to plague his organs. From close inspection, the monster's body was covered head to toe in fur. Colored fur that reflected three different dark shades. Brown, Black, and small streaks of white. Whiskers could be seen, poking out each side of its face, and Leo stared hard, into it's violet eyes. Shock pulled his eyes into every single part of the creature's face, familiarity washing over him. The creature resembled his master. Master Splinter. Aside from the black and white paws, and loing, sharp, silver claws, he could've been mistaken for the real thing. As quick as he could move, he began digging inside each and every compartment his belt had, hopeful, eager, to find anything he could use to get the monster away. Seconds passed, as the monster's face grew closer and closer to Leo's, he gasped, and without hesitation, he pulled out a small dagger from a hidden compartment below his knees. He reached for the weapon with shaking hands, squeezing the handle so tight, and hard, it felt like his hands would explode. He aimed the blade upwards, the tip of it coming in contact with the monster's hips,

but the monster stared into him, with an expression he'd seen only so many times, it forced him to pause, weakness pulling his strings, forcing his movements to halt. Master Splinter was the only one who stared at him like that. Leo was forced to cry out, body convulsing under waves of strong, intense pressure, leading enough to push him towards unconsciousness. He felt blow after blow, scratch after scratch. His arms and legs, even his face, were bathed in blood. He felt heavy, thick, scars forming underneath his cheeks, where he was hit. He tried his best to fight against the creature's claws, but with his body pinned, and the monster pushing his shell deeper and deeper down into the cenreate, all he could seem to do was concrete on the heavy amounts of pressure being inflicted on his shell. How much longer did he have till it cracked? How much longer of body strength, of fresh air did he have left, before his lungs collapsed?

He wanted to punch him, to push him, do something! Anything he could to get himself free from this mess. But every single attempt only brought him more pain.....It was only until he heard a low, strong, sounding voice, tell the monster to stop, did his thoughts resurface from darkness. He felt light and only managed to get lighter and lighter, the more he felt the monster push off of him. Once he was completely gone, he lay there, staring at the ceiling for some time, attempting to push away the pain, the torment, gripping at him to just rest. There was no stopping him now.

He slung his weapon, from the floor, back into his hand, and attempted to strike the creature where it stood. But was stopped, as a clang of metal against metal, sent a wave of powerful pressure, rippling through him. He opened his weak eyes, all the way. Standing right in front of him, stood another ooze creature. But this time, the monster didn't resemble his master, no this time, the creature resembles him. A mutant turtle stared back at him, with deathly yellow eyes. He studied him with more interest than fear, however his mind was screaming at him to attack. Something about this creature was off. He seemed so much more advanced than the one he'd seen of Master Splinter. This one seemed more in charge. More of a leader, than a puppet controlled by strings.