Midori: Chapter Six
***
The room fell silent.
Taro's footsteps echoed softly as he walked over to the fallen Turtle. His face was reflected in the hundreds of pieces of glass from the shattered mirror as he inspected Midori.
She was motionless on the floor, totally unmoving, a crimson puddle spreading out from under her head. He nudged her once with his foot, then called in the two soldiers waiting outside.
"I want this trash dumped in the sewers."
The two soldiers nodded and picked up the female Turtle.
***
"I can't believe Mike even thought he could get away with that, I mean... Hey, what's that?" Don paused his conversation with Leo when he spotted a large object in front of them that he was sure hadn't been there when they had passed by earlier.
Leo shrugged and they got closer. It looked roughly about the size of a human so Leo thought it might be a bum who'd taken refuge down here. They got those every now and then. When they got closer Leo realized that it wasn't some bum, and it wasn't even human.
He stopped and Don looked back at him with a questioning look.
"It's her."
Don's eyes widened and he approached the body. "What are you doing?" Leo whispered harshly.
"She might be hurt!" But even as concerned as Don was, he still used caution. He kneeled down and turned her over slightly. "Oh, geez..."
Leo didn't like the tone of Don's voice. He exhaled in annoyance and went over to look for himself. It was her all right, and she looked pretty bad. At least half her face was caked with blood, there were cuts covering her arms and legs, and several bruises were forming.
"Shit..." Leo rarely swore, but in this case, it was the only thing he could think of.
Don placed his fingers against her neck. "Leo, she's still alive. Barely."
"What?"
"But she won't be for long, we need to take her back to the lair." Don looked up at Leo, as if asking permission.
Leo wasn't sure what to do. They couldn't just leave her here to die, but it could be dangerous to take her home. What to do...
"Leo, she needs help now!"
Leo jumped at Don's sudden outburst. He put a determined look on his face. "Can we move her safely?"
"No time." Don placed his arms underneath her and picked her up. She was a lot lighter than he thought she'd be. "We'll take her through the tunnel, though, can't risk the ladder."
Leo felt numbed by the sudden change in authority. He looked around and found a backpack lying on the ground nearby. He swung it over his shoulder. "I'll check around to make sure you're not followed."
***
Raphael looked up from his comic book when he heard Don calling. "What does he want now?" he mumbled aloud.
He tossed his book aside and walked out of the car he shared with Mike. It seemed weird to him that Don's voice came from the tunnel, since it was mostly used for bringing in large stuff. He sure wished they had found it back when they first found this place, would of made moving in easier. Eh, maybe Don was lugging home yet another piece of equipment and ran into trouble.
"No way!" he heard Mike exclaim. This piqued his interested. It had to be a pretty cool toy to get a reaction like that out of Mike. He turned around the corner just as Don rushed by. He stopped and blinked, not sure if he had really seen what he thought he saw. "What is she doing here?"
"Dying!" Don yelled as he set her down on the couch. Mike came out of nowhere with the first aid kit under his arm. Leo entered the lair shortly after and made a beeline for the group. Raphael stopped him before he got to the couch.
"Explain."
"Not now, Raph, can't you see we're in the middle of something?"
Raph growled. "Yeah, bringing an enemy home!" Raph's eyes lit up. "Oh, I get it. You ran into her and got into a fight. After you roughed her up you decided to bring her home for questioning. Makes perfect sense."
"We did not!" Leo snapped.
Splinter cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him. Leo looked down and blushed slightly at his outburst. "Perhaps you should tell us what really happened, Leonardo."
Leo glanced at Raph before beginning. His brother looked like he wanted to hear this story, too. "We found her in the sewers coming home from our walk. It was about nine or ten blocks from here. She was...is hurt bad. Don said she would die, Master, we just couldn't leave her there!"
"No, you could not." Splinter stepped between them to the couch. He frowned when he saw the extent of the injuries. Donatello had removed all her gear and was in the middle of cleaning her wounds. "How bad is it?"
Don squinted. "I'm pretty sure this is a bullet wound," he said, looking at a long gash on the side of her head. "Luckily it only grazed her. I'm mostly worried about infection from her being in the sewer water. Her clothes were soaked, who knows how long she was down there."
"Is she gonna make it?" Mike asked. He was beginning to get annoyed with Don's 'neutral' tone as he patched up Midori. He could be so cold sometimes.
"We'll see," was the only thing Don said.
Raph threw his arms into the air. "Am I the only one who realizes how wrong this is?" When he noticed that they were all ignoring him and focused on Midori, he left.
He sloshed through the water, not caring how much noise he made. He was upset, and with good reason, he thought. How could they just bring her in like that? Didn't Leo see that it was some kind of Foot trick? They probably used the girl as bait and followed Leo and Don home. Or she would run back and tell them where they were.
Raphael frowned. She did look pretty beat up. He wondered if those injuries were really as life threatening as Don said they were, or if he was wrong. If they were, how could she have gotten them? She put up a hell of a fight, so no standard street punk, or even a gang, could have touched her. It had to be another ninja, and if it wasn't Leo and Don...
Raph stopped. No, the Foot wouldn't try and kill one of their own members, would they?
***
Midori tried to open her eyes but they remained closed, heavy. She felt a cold weight on her forehead. Where had that come from?
"Okay, let's dump her here."
"Here, you sure?"
"Look, who's in charge here?"
She heard voices...arguing. Then there was movement and she hit a surface, hard. She felt cold water touch her skin. The shock brought her back to full consciousness.
"Hey, I think it's still alive."
"No way, Taro never miss-urk!"
She came up and grabbed the nearest one by the throat. She felt dizzy and couldn't keep her hold on him. He fell back against the arched wall and gasped.
"Don't just stand there, get her!"
She felt something hit her from behind and she fell again. A foul odor invaded her nose and blood seeped into her eyes. She couldn't even see straight. She felt a sharp pain in her arm.
"Well, well, the freak's got some life left in her after all. We'll take care of that."
All she remembered after that was pain.
"Hey, I think she's waking up."
The voice sounded familiar, and sent fear through her for some reason she couldn't quite remember. Midori felt a hand touch hers and she lashed out and grabbed it.
The person cried out in shock and the next thing she knew she was being pinned down.
"Raph, let her up, she didn't mean it!"
"Didn't mean it? Didn't mean it!"
"Raphael, please let her go."
The weight gradually lifted off her and she opened her eyes. The room slowly came into focus, as did a furry face. She really didn't have the strength to fight back so she just hoped they wouldn't hurt her as she faded back into darkness.
Donatello rubbed his sore wrist. "Man, she has a strong grip for someone in her condition."
"She was frightened," Splinter said gently.
"I know," Don sighed as he sat back down next to her. He checked the bandage on the side of her head then had a strange feeling about something. He placed one hand over her plastron and the other hovered over her mouth.
"Sensei, she's stopped breathing!"
***