As the turtles looked on, up at the sky and the dot of purple continuing upwards, it suddenly disappeared into the darkness. But only for a moment, before a bright sparkle flickered where the missile had vanished. The purple reappeared, spreading out like a round wave to cover across the whole sky, until there was no blackness of the night, only eerie purple. From far away, they watched, mouths open wide, as it continued on, draping down around the city like a giant bubble.
Donatello was the first to speak, voicing everyone's realization.
"We're trapped," he whispered, eyes round. The technology it had taken to create such a thing – a giant cage to hold one of the world's most prominent cities – must be Kraang tech, he knew. No one on earth could be genius enough to build an impenetrable shield. If, and only if, Donnie could ever program it to shut down, it would take days. Weeks, even. This was bad.
"This is bad," blurted Mikey, stating the obvious.
"Narf," Raph muttered under his breath.
But the wall wasn't the worst of it.
Around them, Shredder's soldiers fell and landed. From above, more soldiers dropped in through the force field to the ground across the entire city. No one knew where they came from. Japan, maybe. But they came, and they surrounded, and they struck fear into the hearts of every onlooking citizen.
"Crap," whispered Mikey. "That wasn't the worst of it."
"What is this?!" Raph shouted to their enemy.
Shredder grinned menacingly. "A siege," he replied calmly. "I've tried many times before, and failed. But this time, I will succeed, and you will fall, along with this entire city."
Below them, crowds were running, screaming, limping, dying. There was bloodshed, and there was chaos. The ninjas were ruthless, attacking every citizen they laid eyes on. Bodies everywhere. Doors broken down, and windows smashed to pieces. They dragged families out of homes and spared no one. Every person, great or small, rich or poor, criminal or innocent, was given no mercy.
"How," Casey choked out, "how can we save them all?"
The horrors, the atrocities, were too much to contain. There would be no stopping them this time. The Shredder, after years of learning, knew what he was doing. He knew the outcome before it happened.
And as the turtles and their allies slowly drew their weapons to retaliate, though with a sobering knowledge of their fate, Karai ran to them and stood in front of their frightened, huddled group.
With narrowed, dark eyes, she watched the Shredder. "I will stand with you," she said over her shoulder, "because this is wrong, and if we may slay only one of his men tonight, it will be enough."
They watched her closely, judging her words. And somehow, they came to trust her. Encouraged, they readied themselves for battle, afraid, but together.
Elly was the first to hit the roof, a silent scream frozen to her thin lips. The sword withdrew from her back and she flopped onto Leonardo. She had no last words, only tears. Only pain.
Her brother, Lucas, stood with Karai. Back to back they fought, she with grace and precision, him with choppy strokes. But he was determined, somehow, to avenge these innocent people. And when he saw his dead sister, his face set all the more, and he pressed on.
Many times Karai defended him. His hair, drenched in sweat, fell over his eyes and clouded his vision. He couldn't see the sword aimed for his back. He was surrounded, and Karai was five whole feet away. She spun around just in time to catch it, to watch his eyes widen, and to see him disappear in the midst of his attackers. When they dispersed, she ran to him, more angry at her mentor than ever before. How could he let this happen? Her love was dead.
When she looked at his face, her own softened. War raged around them, but he looked peaceful. She knew, even though she had betrayed him, that he still loved her. She planted a quick, gentle kiss on his lips and stood up. Spinning her katana around in her hand, she stepped away from him and stalked into the fight. She would avenge him. She would kill them all.
When her life would come to an end not fifteen minutes later, she hadn't killed them all. But she would be the last of her friends to stand, and she spent those last moments making sure ten of the black soldiers fell for every one of her allies' deaths.
Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo fell together, one at a time, all within a minute. They died trying to save one another. In a muddled heap, they rested, disappointed, but not discouraged. Their breaths slowed until no more escaped their mouths. And that was the end of the brothers Hamato.
Casey and April died the same way; for each other. Not alone. With love in their hearts, in their eyes, in their souls. After just a few weeks of being reunited, they went down together.
As the Shredder watched their demise, how the bodies fell to the roof one by one, and the terrified screams left their lips, a shadowed figure crept up behind him, knife embedded into his large palm. The shock in the Shredder's eyes did nothing to faze him. He drove the knife into his master's neck and let him gently down to the roof, all while staring deep into his eyes.
"You may have succeeded," he whispered gruffly, "but you just failed."
He tugged the blade out and tossed it to the concrete, where it scraped and slid across, over the edge of the rooftop, and to the ground below, slicing a ninja's arm before hitting the street.
Karai was still standing, and fighting hard. He bent over Elly and Leonardo's bodies and rolled them over. Selecting one of Leo's katanas, he spun it around to get a feel for it and stepped up to join his lifelong peer. The two of them fought together, slicing through the crowd of soldiers as if they were nothing but ripples in a lake to swim though. Karai and Jeff had always argued, competed with one another. But now they worked for each other, until they both drowned in the bloody water.
Every person in that city died that night. But the wall never disappeared, trapping the soldiers inside. Billions of people, slain. A massacre the world had never seen, and never would see, for the wall hid any evidence. No one went in, and no one came out. No one would ever know, except the people inside. And they would never escape.
YOU ARE READING
「ABSENCE」 TMNT 2012
Fanfiction"Come back!" She screamed. But the voices only left her farther behind. For months she's waited, never giving up the thought that they'd come for her. Others had related to her the tales of how they'd come to be. She knew, deep down, that they w...
