Lost in the Fight

Chapter 2 - A Little Rusty

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: Here's chapter 2 of 'Lost in the Fight.' This chapter is rather short, so I will be posting two chapters this week. This is sort of a 'bonus' chapter. ;)

I would like to thank everyone who has already taken the time to read and vote on the first chapter of 'Lost in the Fight.' I'm really glad that you are enjoying this story so far. As always, thank you very much for reading. Please let me know if you are enjoying this story. ;) CJ

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Chapter 2 - A Little Rusty 

Trying to make as little noise as possible, Donatello carefully dropped down onto the horizontal platform of the fire escape, which was affixed to the side of the building that he had been just been standing on top of. Fortunately for him, the wrestling match taking place between his two oldest brothers was helping to cover up any miniscule noises that he may have been unintentionally making as he moved along the fire escape.

He warily scaled down the first set of stairs, glancing through the open steel grates underneath him, in search of any sign of movement below. The alleyway that he was overlooking was unusually dark and cast in heavy shadows, making him wonder how he could have possibly seen anything down there earlier.

The two apartment buildings on each side of the alley that he was currently inspecting were abandoned and most likely condemned, so there were no lights coming from either of the complexes to aid in his search. The only illumination in the narrow passageway was coming from a clouded over quarter moon and the faint glow of the streetlights filtering in from outside of the alleyway, again making him wonder just how accurate his eyesight had been.

I was probably just seeing things, Donatello thought to himself as he continued to observe nothing. He hadn't noticed or heard any kind of movement since he had begun his descent down the fire escape.

He was starting to feel kind of silly about this whole thing. Odds were that this was just another classic case of him overreacting and letting his paranoia get the better of him. What he had seen was most likely just a combination of his tired eyes and the shadows playing tricks on him. After all, he hadn't exactly been getting a whole lot of sleep as of late. Between having to put in extended patrol shifts and trying to get caught up on his ever-mounting workload, he was averaging a couple hours of sleep a night, tops. It was no wonder he felt as though he was practically dragging himself along at this point.

He internalized an exasperated sigh as he forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand rather than getting lost in his thoughts yet again.

With far less covertness than before, he continued to make his way down the fire escape stairs and platforms.

When he got down to what he figured must have been about the seventh story of the building, he started to seriously contemplate turning back. He was pretty sure that he was just wasting his time and energy chasing down what was probably going to turn out to be nothing more than a stray cat. And if it was indeed a cat, then his baby brother would adamantly insist on taking it home. That was the last thing that they needed right now. Especially considering what Mikey had done to the previous cat that they had 'taken in.' Donnie still shuddered every time that he opened the freezer door to find a mutant feline ice cream blob that had once been April's cat.

Donnie was about to shake his head in disgust over the infamous 'Ice Cream Kitty' incident when a loud, unexpected noise made him nearly jump right out of his shell.

He instantly stopped his forward momentum, holding his breath while he visually scanned the area and listened for the strange noise to repeat itself. When no sound followed, he allowed himself to breathe again, but he remained standing stock still. Not necessarily because he was too scared to move, but because he needed a few more seconds for his heart rate to slow back down to normal levels.