Liability

Chapter 11

"Shredder's here? Where?" 

"He- I don't know if he saw us, he's in an alley down that way, and Mikey over here was screaming his head off, it would be a miracle if Shredder didn't hear."

"Should we fight or?"

"Let's wait for a little, if he doesn't come, we'll go investigate."

The three younger brothers nodded. They settled down on the roof behind the air vent, Leo keeping watch. 

"What do you think he's planning?" Mikey whispered. 

"I don't know if he's planning anything."

Donnie hushed him. Raph peered over Leo's shoulder, only to be shoved back. 

"He's here."

"Here, as in, here on this roof?" Mikey squeaked.

Leo put a finger to his lips as the sound of clattering metal resonated from behind them.

"Come out turtles."

Leo tensed, grasping the hilt of his sword. 

"Get ready, " he whispered.

The metal clanking came to an abrupt stop and the air was still. 

"Get them!" Shredder's voice sliced through the night fog. 

In an instant, the four brothers were surrounded by foot ninjas and Shredder's goons. 

"Team, attack!" Leo ordered, pointing his sword up into the air as a declaration of war. 

That was when everything erupted into chaos. All the brothers fought off what they could but it wasn't enough. There were too many of them. 

"We have to retreat!" Leo ordered.

Raph scowled. "Retreat? Shell no! I don't run from a fight!"

"Well, would you rather die then?"

Distracted by the conversation, Leo was nearly sliced in half, but lucky for him, Donnie had noticed. 

"Leo's right, Raph, one of us is going to get hurt if the fight keeps going on like this."

Raph growled, reluctantly following his brothers.

"Mikey, come on."

Mikey smirked, throwing down a smoke bomb, and as the thick purple fog clouded the roof, the four turtles dissolved into the shadows. With uttermost stealth, they retreated down the building, eyes white with focus. 

"What do I have here, a couple of puny turtles running away?" A voice startled the four brothers.
Leo whipped his head around but there was no one there.

Maniacal laughter rang through the air, sending chills down the turtle's bodies. 

"Leaving so soon?"

This time Leo was able to identify the voice. "Shredder."

Without warning, something slammed into the four brothers, knocking them down to the rough pavement. 

Raph groaned, pulling himself up but before he could take a step, he felt a prick in his left shoulder. In a haze, he turned, yanking out the dart that had been stuck into his arm. 

"What the shell..." he slurred before his eyes dropped and he fell limply to the ground. 

"Raph!" The three remaining brothers shouted in unison. 

Donnie suddenly grunted, plucking another dart from the back of his neck. 

"Guys..."

"Oh no, not you too Donnie!" Mikey exclaimed.

Leo jumped in front of Mikey.

"Mikey stay behind me!"

He whined. "I'm not a baby Leo!"

Leo gasped before he could respond, glancing down at his thigh where a red dart was now sticking out.

"Mikey, listen to me, get out of here and go get help, but whatever you do, do not let them catch you!"

"But Leo! I can't! I'll screw it up like I always do!" 

"Mikey-" He leaned heavily against the wall. "I believe in you..."

"But-" 

"I said get the hell out of here Mikey!"

His body began to move on its own, obeying the orders of his leader despite the raging protest in his mind. He backed up into an alley and leaped over the tall chain-link fence, knocking over several discarded bottles as he fell to the ground with a wince. He regained his footing quickly, dropping down by the side of a building to hide. There was no way he was just going to let his brothers be taken. He took a deep breath before climbing back up to the rooftops. He scanned his surroundings, quickly pinpointing the abandoned skateboards two buildings down. 

Focus Mikey, focus, you can't mess this up!

Mikey quietly made his way across the rooftops until he reached the one where the fight had happened. Other than a few discarded footbots lying about, there was no one there, so Mikey sprinted to the ledge and peered over, hoping he wasn't too late. There was no sign of them anywhere. His heart sank. They had a 90% chance of ending up in Shredder's lair, where it would be extremely hard to rescue them. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but he still felt a twitch of terror creep up his body. 

What if he couldn't save them? 

His breathing grew erratic and he had to will every fiber in his being not to have a mental breakdown. He looked out over the edge once more, this time, movement caught his eye and he immediately perked up in surprise. Mikey ducked down and grabbed the edge of the rooftop. He tried to get a good view of the footbots but they were too far and all he could make out was a blurry cloud of shadows. He cursed his eyesight from staring at the tv for so long. But then he noticed something else, within the dark colors he spotted a splash of green. It had to be them! With renewed vigor, he bolted across the rooftops, diving across the gaps between structures gracefully, until he had finally matched pace with the bots who had paused to climb up into the safety of the roofs. He was still quicker than they were, he knew that. He instantly jumped down from his vantage point and ran down to the side of the other building just in time to catch the last of the bots. Mikey leaped over them, followed by a loud CRUNCH as their bodies made an impact with the ground. The nearby footbots veered around to see the source of their fallen but Mikey dove out of sight. He kicked an empty tattered soup can before quietly knocking out the rest of the footbots not yet on the roof. 

And all while not getting caught, I'd like to see Raph pull that off!

Mikey continued to follow the footbots and just as he had guessed, they were taking them to Shredder's lair. He had to do something before they got there because he did not want to go in there alone without a plan.

Don't worry, I'm coming bros!

He partly felt bad for not listening to Leo, but to be fair, Leo would probably do the same thing if he was in his shoes. Not that they wore shoes. Cause they didn't.
He closed his baby blue eyes for a second and when he opened them again, his eyes were washed over with white. 

I won't mess this up! I won't!