To Death and Back...

[Ch.4]: Moonlight

~

Rain continued to fall on the cold city, unable to quench the angry flames Karai and the Foot had left behind. Firemen and the police had already arrived on the scene, but were unable to get to the source. The flames had spread, and multiple buildings were now engulfed - a few of which had collapsed, blocking access to the one where Mikey was, lying beneath the rumble.

I can't believe I'm still alive, was the thought at the front of his mind - but he could barely be sure. His sight was fuzzy, and what he could make out was all black and red, anyway. Far-off sirens and the rumble of fire were in his ears, and heat scorched his paralyzed body, but the pain was gone...so he was either somehow still alive, for a little while, or he'd been sent to hell on a bullet train.

Right now, though, he figured, it was too hard to tell the difference. His mind fuzzed out, and he closed his squinted eyes.

"Mikey?!" Leo called. He and the other two were racing across the city, tracing small evidence of the Foot coming through. They were headed for a particularly poorly-populated section of the suburbs. His heart pounded in his chest, running as fast as he could and remembering the images on his phone. They had to get there in time....Mikey had to be alright....please let them get there in time!

Donnie hurried along, keeping up with Leo. Thoughts flew through his head, his mind raced with anxiety, confusion and anger, all out of control. What was going on? What was all that about, with Shredder-? He shook his head. Hopefully, they'd get their answers soon. Hopefully, a few of the Foot were still hanging around, so he could give somebody a piece of his mind.

Raph looked at Leo and Donnie, then bitterly ahead, at their course.

Mikey....that stupid Shredder. The minute he got his hands on him, he'd....

Suddenly surprised, Raph grabbed Leo's arm. "Leo!"

"What is it?" Leo asked, looking back.

"There," he said, pointing. They stopped on top of a building, and looked in the direction Raph had indicated. Black smoke billowed up into the sky, filled with orange embers, a ways off - not from one, but multiple buildings. Fire and police sirens sounded from that area, as well.

"That's where he's gotta be," Donnie said, already headed the way. "Come on, let's go! Hurry!"

Raph and Leo looked at each other, worried, and rushed off after Donnie.

They searched desperately for a place that looked like the one from the video call. Avoiding the fireman and police, the guys dodged around on the building tops until they saw a place that had to be it.

"THIS place?" Raph asked, the three of them gazing down into the building debris and flames. "How can you tell?"

"It's the center of the fire," Leo said. "And look. There's remnants of a fight down there."

They jumped down onto the concrete, and looked around. There were cracks in the cement, and someone had smashed into and crushed the corner of a building off to the side. A bent, partially melted, and shattered light pole was smashed up against the wall of a burning building across the road. The jagged base, still in the ground, had one of Mikey's nunchucks lodged in it, broken at the chain. The other piece laid a few feet away, and his other, whole nunchucks were sprawled out on the pavement a few feet from those. Blood puddles, skid marks and splotches were everywhere, and shreds of Foot clothing were lying around, too.

For a moment, the guys gazed at the scene in awe. "Did Mikey do all this?" Raph asked quietly, walking closer.

"He doesn't act like it," Donnie said, stunned. "But the guy knows how to raise a shell."