Donatello's Strength Chapter 6

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 fan fiction

Alternate Universe fic

Cover Art by my beautiful friend, CJtheStoryteller!  

Warnings: Mild violence.  Please see the warning in the prologue for the full list of warnings.  

I hope you enjoy!  


The children looked stunned at Donatello’s revelation but it was Hikaru who recovered and spoke first.  “Really?  No fooling?  You’re going to tell us?  Right now?” she questioned in disbelief as she looked around at her uncles, auntie, and grandfather.  Somehow she’d always envisioned this moment to be more private.  

Donnie smiled at her confusion.  “Your uncles have offered to fill in details that I wasn’t there for,” he explained.  “We talked and felt that it would be better to do this as a family.  A-are you three OK with that?  I don’t want you to feel…overwhelmed.”

“Considering how hesitant you were about telling us, I suspect that we are going to be a little overwhelmed regardless of how many people are in the room,” Kaiya confessed.  “You know best, Mother.  We trust your judgment.”  That brought a little more light to Donatello’s smile.

“Then…shall we begin?”

“WAIT!” Michelangelo shouted.  Everyone looked at him and blinked blankly.  Mikey grabbed a pillow off the couch, flopped onto his plastron, and rested his elbows on top of the pillow.  “READY!” he announced while grinning and resting his head in his hands.  

Leo and Raph both rolled their eyes at the youngest of the four brothers but Donnie couldn’t help a chuckle.  He had needed a moment of lightheartedness.   Donnie suspected that was exactly why Mikey had done it.  Donatello looked at the children who were patiently waiting for him and made once last cleansing intake of breath.  “Most stories are best told from the beginning.  So, this one starts about nine years ago…”

***

Donatello growled in exasperation.  Nothing.  Again, all he found was nothing.  Nothing about the Kraang’s plans, nothing about why they wanted April, and nothing about where they were keeping Mr. O’Neil.  “Maybe if I…” he thought as his fingers flew over the keyboard.  He and April flinched and covered their ears as a loud klaxon sounded.  “SEWER APPLES!”

“What happened?” Leonardo demanded as he and the others ducked into the chamber.  

“I tried to hack further into the system and it triggered an alarm,” Donnie answered irritably.

“Not me!  It wasn’t me again!” Michelangelo celebrated his brother’s failing earning him a nasty scowl from Donnie.  Mikey didn’t notice.  He was just happy it hadn’t been him getting them in trouble lately.  “OUCH!” he squawked as he got smacked in the head by Raphael.  “What was that for?!”

“You can rub it in Donnie’s face AFTER we’re out of here!” Raph growled as he and Leo both turned to run for it.

“Oh!  Right,” Mikey exclaimed as he ran after his brothers with April and Donnie quickly bringing up the rear.  

Donnie felt miserable as they moved through the Kraang facility.  It was upsetting that he’d gotten them discovered again.  The Kraang had stepped up their computer security making it harder for him to get to the information they cared about.  However, that was a moot point.  He’d figure it out eventually.  What really troubled him was that this time he’d triggered the alarm while April was with them.  He’d already been stressing out about bring her to a Kraang base.  Now he may as well have gotten on the intercom and shouted ‘SHE’S HERE!  COME AND GET HER!’

So far they’d managed to avoid the Kraang droids.  It gave him hope that they’d get out without being found.  They reached a junction and stopped to hide against the wall.  “Donnie!  Which way?” Leo hoarsely whispered to him.  

Donatello crept past the others so that he could get a better look at the intersection.  He closed his eyes as he recalled the schematic that he’d found on the Kraang storage device.  “That way,” Donnie said as he pointed down the right passage.  Leo nodded and motioned for the others to follow him.  Donnie stood to the side, allowing his brothers past so that he could walk with April.  He was determined to make sure that she got out of there fine.  His eyes widened in panic when he realized that April was gone.  He looked down the hall they had just come from before he looked after the others.  

Every instinct screamed at him to call his brothers back so they could find April together.  “She can’t have gotten far,” he convinced himself.  She’d been right beside him only a moment ago after all.  “April!” he half called, half whispered as he ran down the hallway.  He found her working on the lock to a room.  “April, what are you doing?  We’ve got to get out of here.”

April stubbornly kept picking the lock.  “We said we’d check this room before we left.  I want to get a look.”

“I’m sorry, April.  We don’t have time anymore.  We can try again later.”

“But…what if my father is in here?  They’ll move him before we have a chance to come back!”  April looked up at him, imploringly.  “Please, Donnie.  Just a quick look?”  Donatello swallowed hard.  He was caught between listening to his head or his heart.  After a moment, Donnie pulled his bo and took up a sentry stance behind her.  His devotion to April had won out.  He couldn’t deny her.  Not when she looked at him like that.  “Thanks, Donnie,” April said with an appreciative smile as she resumed her work.  

“Please, just make it quick.  We were running out of time five minutes ago,” he replied nervously while he looked up and down the hallway.  No sign of the Kraang yet, but that was guaranteed to change.  Donnie was about to grab April and deal with her wrath later when the door opened with a soft hiss.  April walked in with Donatello walking backwards behind her.  It was only when they were inside the room and the doors hissed closed that Donnie dared turn around to see where they were.  

The dimly lit area definitely wasn’t a cell block but to say that it wasn’t for holding beings against their will would be wrong.  The room was occupied with work stations, tables with restraints, and tall fluid-filled cylindrical tubes.  A few of the tubes had occupants that were so mutilated that Donnie couldn’t even venture a guess.  A chill worked its way down his shell.  “This place reminds me of the nightmares I had when I was six and reading The Island of Dr. Moreau,” Donnie said in a hushed tone, not daring to talk any louder.

April was just as disturbed as Donatello as the two wandered around the room.  She came up to one of the tubes and rested a hand on the glass.  The creature inside looked like it MAY have been human…or maybe some animal that had been transmuted with a human.   “Poor things,” she said sympathetically.  “You think any of them are still alive?” she asked while she turned to look at Donatello.

Donnie looked to her briefly before he turned his attention to the tube.  It had a data panel on it so he carefully keyed a few buttons.  “No.  According to this all of them are dead.  They’re here waiting on…further dissection.”  Donatello gulped and shook his head.  “I guess Leatherhead and Pigeon Pete were the lucky ones,” he weakly commented as April moved to hug his arm to her.

The door suddenly swished opened snapping them both out of their thoughts.  “Hide!” Donnie and April whispered at each other.  They darted away from the tube to find cover.   He concealed himself behind another tube while April ducked under a work station.  Donatello mentally cursed when the lights in the room brighten.  

“So much for that advantage,” he thought drily.

--------

The three remaining brothers had run into a snag of their own.  A small unit of Kraang droids stood between them and the air shaft they intended to use as their escape route.  Raph grinned excitedly as he stormed them, dodging laser blasts as he went.  Leo ducked and weaved along with his red clad brother while Mikey followed with his customary battle cry.  The three of them rained destruction on the droids.  Soon the path was clear without any of them suffering injury.  As Mikey did a victory dance, Leo knocked the vent cover down with his sword so Raph could shoot a grappling hook up the shaft.  From where they were they could see the night sky.  “Good call, Donnie,” Leo stated with a smile as he turned to the purple masked turtle.  His smile vanished.  “Uh, Donnie?  April?” he asked as he looked around the immediate area.  Raph looked around too, his expression becoming just as concerned as Leo’s.  “Mikey?  Where are Donnie and April?”

Mikey stopped his dance to blink in surprise.  He looked around before he gestured emphatically behind himself.  “They WERE right here.  Maybe they stopped to check something?  I’ll go find them!” Mikey said as he turned to go the way they came.  He froze when he heard the sounds of several more Kraang droids advancing on them.  

Raph growled as he returned his sais to battle position.  Before he could join Mikey, who had also gone battle ready, Leo rested a hand on his shoulder.  “It’s too risky for us to stand our ground here.  We’ll be boxed in.  Let’s move this to the roof.  With any luck, those droids will follow us and clear a path for April and Donnie.”

“What if they’re in trouble?  We need to get to them and make sure they’re alright,” Raph insisted.

“Donnie can handle himself and he won’t let anything happen to April.  They’ll catch up but if we don’t keep the Kraang distracted, then they are going to have problems.  Let’s go!” Leo insisted.  Raphael didn’t look too happy about it, but he complied with Leonardo’s decision.  Leo held the rope steady while the other two made the climb.  He looked down the hall for any sign of his missing brother and friend.  Despite what he told Raph, Leo worried about them.  “They’ll be fine.  Have faith in them,” he told himself.  His thoughts were interrupted when the first of the new Kraang droids came around the corner.  “Bet you can’t catch us, tin cans!” he baited as he stuck his tongue out at them.  They immediately started shooting.  He laughed mockingly and fled up the rope.    

--------

He could hear that someone had come into the room, but the person didn’t have the mechanical sounds of a Kraang droid.  Their heavy, clip-clopping footsteps meant it couldn’t be one of those mini hovercrafts either.  “So not Kraang.  Maybe one of the scientists the Kraang kidnapped?”  Regardless, whoever they were, they had size on their side…or at least were not light on their feet.  “Well, that narrows it down to either a football player or a woman in clogs,” Donatello mentally grumbled.  However, if they were a scientist, then he and April could help them escape.  April wouldn’t be exposed to the enemy and they may actually get some information out of this trip!  

Donatello peeked around the edge of the tube to get a look at their potential ally.  His eyes widened.  “Well, that is not what I expected,” he thought.  The person that had joined them was clearly a mutant; a mutated horse to be precise.  Donnie had been right about the creature having size on his side.  The mutant was easily two feet taller than Donnie and built like a draft horse.  His feet were still hooves but they were nearly hidden by white knee-high feathering.  Luckily for the creature, the mutation had graced him with hands; three fingers and a thumb like Splinter.  “What is a mutant doing here?  Is he working for the Kraang?  Or is he fighting them like us?” Donnie contemplated while he watched the brown and white mottled being move around the room.  

The mutant was carrying something that looked unnervingly like a body bag.  He dropped it onto a table, keyed something on one of the empty tubes, and was about to leave when he stopped.  It seemed like he’d noticed something.  Donnie ducked back behind his tube and quietly prayed that the mutant would just resume his business.  Those prayers went unanswered when he heard April yelp.  “You do not have the authorization of Kraang to be here,” the horse man stated, his baritone confirming that Donnie had been using the proper pronoun.  “Come with me.”  He reached out to seize her.  

April slashed at him with her tessen.  The horse man cried out and grasped his arm for a moment.  He frowned at her before he struck out, knocking her weapon from her grasp.  Then he pulled her out from her hiding place as she kicked and punched at him.  Once he’d gotten her out, he took a good look at her.  His head cocked to one side.  “You are The One, are you not?  The one known as April O’Neil?”

“Sewer apples!” Donnie murmured to himself for the second time that night as he surged out of his hiding spot to rush the mutant.  The horse man never saw him coming until he let out a shout and swung his staff, striking the mutant hard in the side.  He dropped April as he went crashing into several of the tubes.  Donatello helped April to her feet.  “Let’s blow this creep show.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more!” April said as she snatched up her tessen and made a break for the door.  

Donnie was fast on her heels.  He heard the horse man groan and start shifting among the rubble.  “I didn’t think it’d be that easy.  No time to be leisurely, April!  We’re going to have company if we are,” he warned.  

“Right!”  She broke into a full-fledged run.  “Donnie, I’m so sorry!  I should have listened to you.  I almost got us caught.”

“But we didn’t and that’s what matters,” Donnie reassured as he easily kept pace with her.  “Of course, if you feel THAT bad about it you can make it up to me with some gyoza later,” he teased with a wink.  She managed enough breath to laugh and he smiled.  His smile lessened when he heard a sound reminiscent of rolling thunder.  When he looked over his shoulder all the mirth left of his expression.  The horse man was right behind them and gaining rapidly.   “He’s a horse.  No kidding he’s catching up!” he scolded himself for being dense.

He glanced in front of them and spotted his brothers’ escape route.  It was too far ahead for them to make it without a diversion.  “April, go for the rope.  I’ll deal with this guy.”

April had been looking at the horse man with obvious dread.  Donnie’s words snapped her attention back to him.  “WHAT!  No way!  I’m not leaving you!”

“I’ll be fine!  I promise!  Just go!”  He skidded as he made the direction change.  “See you at Murakami-san’s!”

April watched as her friend charged the horse man.  “Be careful, Donnie!” was all she could say as she reluctantly did as he demanded of her.  

The gap between Donatello and the horse man closed quickly.  When they were almost on top of each other Donnie realized that the mutant intended to ignore him and go for April.  His eyes narrowed.  “So that’s how it’s gonna to be.  Fine then.  I’ll MAKE you pay attention to me!”  Just before they passed each other, Donnie tossed a smoke bomb at the mutant’s face.  

The horse man made a spooked sound and came to a stop as he was blinded by the explosion of smoke.  He grunted in pain when something hit him in the stomach and then his back.  The smoke screen wouldn’t be up for much longer and Donnie was going to take full advantage of it.  He attacked the mutant with his staff spinning, intending to knock him in the head.  The horse man swung out blindly, backhanding Donnie across the face.
 
Donatello slid back a few feet but managed to stay upright.  “That hurt much more than it should have,” he thought while rubbing his cheek.  As the smoke cleared, Donnie realized why.  The backs of the mutant’s hands had plates of keratin running from his wrists to his fingertips.  It was as though each hand was wearing a natural armor gauntlet.  Donnie groaned to himself.  “And here I thought all I had to watch for was his feet.”  

He glanced at the escape rope and smiled.  April had made it out.  It was high time that he followed suit.  Donatello started to make a break for it but he didn’t even get two feet before he was blocked by his pursuer.  “Blasted turtle,” the horse man rumbled as he stalked towards Donnie, his teeth bared and his ears flattened to his head.  Donnie spun his staff into a defensive stance.  If he wanted out, he was going to have to fight his way out.

--------

April started to pull herself out the top of the vent but quickly ducked back in to avoid getting shot.  Before trying again, she peered over the edge of the vent to make sure it was safe.  It was chaos on the roof.  Kraang droids were everywhere she looked.  Her companions were fighting hard.  So far they were holding their own, but only just.  She pulled herself out of the vent and barely kept herself from unceremoniously falling over the edge.

“Yo April!” Michelangelo cheerily hollered as he dashed by.  “Glad you could make it to the party!”  He made a surprised shout and dodged several laser blasts before taking out the droid that had fired at him.

“Where’s Donnie?” Raphael asked.  

“He’s still inside.  We were being chased by a mutant.  Donnie held him off so I could make the climb but we’ve got to help him!  There’s no way he can handle that guy by himself for long!” April said urgently to the three brothers.  

Leonardo looked horrified.  It was his worst nightmare come true.  If he gave the order to go and help Donatello, he would be endangering his other brothers.  Even worse, he’d risk the Kraang getting their hands on April and dooming the rest of the planet.  However if he gave the order to retreat, he’d be forsaking Donnie to whatever fate the Kraang chose for him.

He had to make a decision and fast.  More Kraang droids swarmed onto the roof like fire ants from a kicked mound.  By now all the entrances and exits, save for their escape vent, were sure to be sealed.  They were guaranteed to be trapped if they tried to go back.  He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.  “I’m sorry, Donnie.  The stakes are too high,” he lamented to himself.  “RETREAT!” he ordered.

“But what about Donnie!?” Mikey protested.

“We’ll come back for him,” Leo said, trying to keep emotion out of his voice.  Now was not the time.

“No way!  I’m not abandoning him!” Raph snarled heatedly.  He ran over to the air vent; determined to save his little brother no matter what Leo said.  

Leo growled in irritation and ran after Raph.  He got to Raph just in time to pull the temperamental turtle down, helping him avoid a laser blast aimed at his head.  The blast nailed the air vent instead, sealing it shut.  “This is the perfect storm of screwed,” Leo thought bitterly as he and Raph stared at the vent for a moment.  “Raph, we don’t have a choice.  We’ve got to get out of here.”

“What about Donnie?  They’ll kill him!” Raph demanded frantically.

“If we can keep April away from them, they would be fools to,” Leo responded, trying to remain calm and unemotional despite the turmoil roiling inside.  “He’s their best chance to find her.  If they can get him to talk that is.”  Leonardo hated himself for gambling Donatello’s life like this, but what choice did he have?  If he didn’t talk sense into Raphael, he’d lose two brothers tonight.  “If they get April, they’ll have no reason to keep ANY of us alive.  Plus they’ll be able to go through with their plans to take over the Earth.  Do you think Donnie would want that?”

Raph looked frustrated.  Leo had a point.  No matter how much it sickened him to leave Donnie behind, it really was their only option.  They could bust him out later when the base had calmed down.  Leo was forcing him to look at the bigger picture; just as he had done for Donnie when his brother was freaking out about April being attacked by Karai.  “Alright, Leo.  We’ll retreat for now,” he conceded as he smacked away a droid.  “Besides, I really don’t want to meet Donnie in the afterlife and have to tell him that we let the Kraang get April.  He’ll kick us around the place forever.”

Leo was thankful that Raph had backed down.  “Let’s go!” he called to the team as he and Raph moved to retreat.  Mikey looked reluctant, but he trusted Leo’s judgment.

April was a different story.  “NO!” she shouted as she slashed the droid she was fighting.  “I am NOT leaving without him!”  It was her fault that Donnie was in trouble and she couldn’t just desert him.  She turned to run and find a way into the building, dodging Kraang droids as she went.  If she could get back in, maybe she could help Donnie out flank the mutant.  She shrieked as something snagged her by the back of her shirt.  It was Leonardo.  The next thing she knew he had flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and was carrying her away from the battle.  She pounded her fists as hard as she could against his shell, trying to get him to drop her.  However, he resolutely ignored her until they were underground and had put as much distance as they could from the Kraang base.
 
“I’m sorry, April.  It’s too important that we keep you out of the Kraangs’ hands,” Leo said sympathetically once they were safe, his voice finally giving away some of his distress.  He pulled her off his shoulder so that he was holding her bridal style.  “Donnie would agree.  I know he would.”  He yelped as April hauled off and slapped him across the face.  Leonardo almost dropped her from the shock of being struck.  As it was, she didn’t get put down smoothly.

April looked at Leo in outrage.  “How could you?!” she roared, angry tears building in her eyes.  “You left Donnie high and dry!  We could have gotten him out!  I know we could have!”

Leo closed his eyes, still trying to keep his emotions in check.  He was angry too; angry that they couldn’t help Donnie and angry that April thought he would just dump his little brother without considering every option first.  “We were being overrun on that rooftop, April.  Sure, maybe we could have gotten in.  But there was no way we were getting back out.  We would have been trapped in there and the Kraang would have you.  There is too much at stake for us to risk that happening!”

Michelangelo stepped between the two of them to try and keep things from getting worse.  “Did Donnie say anything about meeting you somewhere?” he asked April hopefully.  She glared at Mikey but managed to not redirect her anger at him.  “He’s a ninja.  He can get himself out of this,” Mikey said with a confident grin.  “It would suck if he got out and no one showed up to meet him.”  

April took a deep breath to calm down.  Mikey was right.  If anyone was smart enough to get himself out of that situation, it was Donnie.  “He, um, he said that he would meet me at Murakami’s noodle shop,” she said with an emotional tremble.  

Mikey’s grin widened at this.  “That’s perfect!  I bet we’ll walk in and he’ll already be there chowing down on pizza gyoza and asking what took US so long!” he laughed.  That brought an encouraged smile to April’s face.  

Then Mikey looked at Leo expectantly.  So did Raph.  Leo didn’t even have to think twice.  Just the hope of seeing Donnie safe and sound at the noodle shop was enough to raise his spirits.  “Then that’s where we are going.  To Murakami-san’s!”