Don and Mike anxiously waited for Leo to come back home. Though they never spoke of it, they both knew of each other's worries. Mike tried to lighten things with with his usual banter. It helped to soften the tension but they both still felt uncomfortable. Even though they were best friends that could talk to each other about anything, they just could not talk about this.
"You know, Donnie, if you really want me to I can change the movie."
"Mikey, I don't care about the movie but thanks anyway.
After sitting there for a few minutes, Don broke the silence.
"I have a bad feeling that Leo was right."
Mike couldn't breathe. He was afraid Don was going to say that. He knew that Don didn't care about the movie anymore. Mike just didn't want to face up to his fears that something was really wrong. He just didn't want to think about it anymore. If he didn't say or think that anything bad was going to happen then it won't happen.
Don knew that Mikey had a hard time thinking about things like this but it was just too much for him to think about alone. Why was this such a big deal anyway? All Leo said was that he had a bad feeling and that it involved Raph. Raph always gets into trouble. Leo was like their big brother. He was always worried about them. It was just Leo's nature to be over protective of them. Leo didn't even feel that it was necessary for them to come. Even these thoughts didn't comfort Don. They didn't explain the bad feeling that he had.
"Man, I don't remember you being this heavy, Raph." Leo mumbled to himself.
Leo was slowly making his way back to the lair. He was worried about Raph. Raph has gotten into fixes like this before but this one was different. He could not recall a time when Raph has ever been beaten unconscious by a bunch of thugs. He has been seriously injured by the Foot but never by such amateurs. Either this group was not one to toy with or something was definitely up with Raph. Leo sighed from the exhaustion that these thoughts were giving him and also carrying Raph back to the lair was a lot of work.
Leo placed Raph down to rest and to make sure that Raph was all right.
Raph was looking worse. What appeared to be a stab wound continued to bleed on Raph's left thigh. His skin was a pale green and his whole body was battered with bruises.
"Hang in there Raph. Please don't die on me." Leo softly whispered as he began to cry to himself. He tightened the blood soaked bandana on Raph's thigh. He felt for his pulse. It was a slow and weak pulse. Raph continued to breathe with slow, short breaths.
"At least he's still breathing and has a pulse. We've had a lot closer calls than that." Leo remembered when Raph was beaten by the Foot on the roof of April's apartment building. He remembered the pain that he felt when he saw a barely alive Raph fall through the sun roof. He felt that it was his fault for what happened to Raph. He and Raph had an argument just before Raph left. It was his fault that he let Raph go. Since he got Raph angry, he wasn't careful. He was vulnerable to the Foot.
Another memory came to mind. He waited for days for Raph to wake up at April's farmhouse. One day Raph woke up. He hugged him and told him that he loved him. Looking at Raph's beaten body made him wish that they could share another moment like that.
"Donnie?" Mike was ready to talk now. He just couldn't keep his feelings inside of him any longer.
"Yeah, Mikey." Don turned from his computer to look at Mike. He could see that Mike was very worried. He knew that Mike was ready to open up to him now.
"I'm worried about Raph and Leo. They have been gone too long." A tear rolled down his face.
"Don't worry, Mike, I'm sure Raph and Leo are fine." Don said quickly to calm down Mike. Don was not comforted by his own words.
Mike knew that Don was trying to make him feel better. It helped just to hear that everything was all right but it wasn't enough to stop the stream of tears. Don grabbed Mike and hugged him as he cried into his shoulder.
After doing this for a few minutes, they let go. They sat there for a few minutes just glad to be in each other's company.
The silence was interrupted by Leo's arrival home.
"Mike, Don, Splinter, are you there? I need you." Leo called out in desperation.
Don and Mike quickly gave worried glances and rushed to see what the emergency was. The scene that they saw was not a good one. Leo was gently placing a badly injured Raph on the couch. Leo and Raph were both covered with blood.
"Oh my God, what happened Leo?"
"Raph was beaten up by a gang. Don't worry, Raph is still alive." Don quickly came over to Raph to see what damage had been done to him.
"Mike could you get me my first aid kit please?" Mike quickly left to get the first aid kit along with a few towels. He almost nearly ran into Splinter.
Splinter could see that something was wrong. Michaelangalo was more careless than usual and he could sense that one of his sons was badly injured.
"What is wrong Michaelangalo?"
"Raph is hurt, Master Splinter. He was stabbed." Splinter followed his son into the lair where Raph laid, still unconscious.
Don hovered over Raph as he checked his pulse and examined his wound. Mike quietly handed the first aid kit and the towels to Don. The wound on Raph's thigh was bleeding fast. Don began to stitch up Raph's thigh.
Mike handed a towel to Leo so he could wipe off the blood.
Splinter looked at Raphael. Raphael got in trouble more than his other sons. It was always painful for him to see any of his sons seriously injured.
Mike quietly watched his brother work frantically to save Raph. He was too in shock to cry. Leo saw Mike's distress and put a hand on his shoulder to support him.
After successfully stitching up Raphael, Don bandaged up the wound and continually checked Raph's vitals. Don wiped his hands on a towel and knew what the next task was.
"Raph has lost a lot of blood. Leo, since you and Raph have the same blood type, I'm going to have to draw some blood from you."
"Okay, Don." Leo said without any hesitation. He was used to giving blood for Raphael. Don left the room to wash his hand and get what he needed for the blood transfusion.
"All right, which arm do you want me to use." Leo extended his left arm to answer his question. Don inserted the needle into a vein in his arm and began drawing blood.
After the bag was full, he inserted a needle into Raph and began giving him blood. Raph's color was still a pale green but he seemed to be improving slightly. Don did everything that he could do for Raph. It was now time to wait for Raph to wake up.
"Donatello, perhaps it is time for you to rest now." Splinter was concerned for Donatello. He had been working hard on Raphael for several hours and didn't really have much rest.
"Don't worry Master, I'll be all right." Splinter gave him a stern look. Don knew that he couldn't argue with him and left the room to get some rest.
"Leo, you have given a lot of blood today. I want you to get something to eat and then rest." Leo seeing that Splinter was not one to disagree with, went to the kitchen.
Splinter looked sadly towards Raphael. Even though the scene looked grim, he knew that Raphael was going to be all right.
Mike walked into the kitchen to check on Leo. Leo was sitting at the table drinking some coffee.
"Hey, Leo weren't you supposed to get something to eat?"
"Yeah, but I'm not really hungry."
"Well, I'm going to have to fix that." Mike got up from the table and stood there for second. He was trying to think of something to give Leo. He walked over to the cookie jar and pulled out a cookie. Then he went to the fridge and pulled out some apple juice. He pored Leo a glass.
"There Leo, that's what people usually get when they donate blood." Mike said with a smile on his face. It was good to finally see Mike smile again.
"Uhh, thanks Mikey." Leo took the cookie and juice from Mike and managed to take a small bite. He couldn't help but to smile back at Mike.
They sat there for a few minutes as Leo finished his meal.
"How are you feeling now, Leo?"
"Better." Mike noticed how tired Leo was. He certainly had been through a lot today.
"I think you better get some rest Leo cause you look tired."
"I suppose I should." Leo slowly got up and left the kitchen.
Mike sat in the kitchen by himself for a few minutes. He was still trying to get over the events that occurred that day.
"How could an ordinary day turn into this?"
Leo walked into the Den from the kitchen and checked on Raph. Splinter was sitting by Raphael.
"How is he?"
"Stable. I'm sure he'll be all right, Leonardo. Now I think it's best if you rest now."
"All right, Master." Leo wanted to discuss his concerns about Raphael but decided it could wait. He got up and left the room.
Splinter laid a hand on Raphael's forehead. A tear rolled down his cheek.
Raphael was in a laboratory. He was restrained on what looked to be an operating table. Raph struggled to get out of the restraints but couldn't get loose. After awhile he gave up and laid there trying to think of a way to escape. There was nobody in the room. He could here the light buzz of machinery.
"Well, you have finally awaken, experiment # 231."
"Who are you and what do you want from me?"
"I'm a scientist that works here in this lab. We captured you so we could study you. You are quite an interesting specimen."
"Well, I don't want to be studied." Raphael struggled to get out of his restraints again.
"It's no use, you will never be able to break free." The scientist was looking at some papers on a clip board and began writing some notes. He frowned as he looked at one of the papers.
"This his not good." he said shaking his head.
"What's not good?"
"Your test results. It appears that you don't have much time to live."
"WHAT?! What are you talking about?"
"It appears that you are very sick."
"Sick? I feel just fine."
"Well, you may feel all right but you are sick. You don't have much time left to live. Damn. That isn't enough time to study and conduct tests on you. Just when we finally catch a humanoid turtle, he has to be sick." Raphael began to struggle again.
"Well, I better give you something to calm down now since you just can't relax." He took a needle in injected something into Raphael's arm. This caused Raphael to struggle more.
"What in the fuck did you just inject me with?"
"Oh, it's just something to let you sleep for awhile." the scientist said calmly.
Raphael began to feel the effects of the serum. The room went black.
At that moment he woke up. Sweat was poring down his face. He sat up in his bed breathing hard.
"It was just a dream." Raph mumbled to himself.
He got out of bed and decided to take a shower. He did not want to think about that strange dream anymore. What did it mean?
Raph walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked terrible. It seemed like the more he looked at himself the worse his appearance got. His image was morphing. His skin got pale and he began looking weaker. Raphael let out a scream as he smashed the mirror with his fist. The glass shattered to the floor. He must of got cut by one of the shards of glass because his thigh began to hurt. He looked down at it as it bled.
End of Chapter 2.