the lazarus job - tmnt (2)

six

CHAPTER 6

VENOM

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THEY WERE ALL FALLING. 

Nadia looked up and watched as the four portal spheres each were speeding towards her. She spun around so that she was falling on her back and grasped each sphere before placing them in the satchel on her side and turning back on her stomach. 

With her arms and legs sprawled out and bent to her sides, she looked down and noticed the jungle floor coming closer and closer. Thankfully, they were falling towards a lake which, by the looks of it, was deep enough to cause no harm. 

Nadia looked up and watched with an amused smile as the turtles each fell by her side. Raph looked concentrated and hovered down while Leo's arms and legs were glued to his side, causing him to fall down like a bullet. 

Florence and Donatello were both falling side by side; Florence with a look of complete terror while Donatello with a look of concern as he faced his pale-faced girlfriend. 

Mikey, on the other hand, was spiraling around and flailing like a piece of paper; screaming in glee as he fell a few hundred feet towards the lake. 

When the jungle trees were close to her, she curled her knees into her chest and dove into the water, the turtles following suit. Each of them broke through the water as gasps of air left their lips. Nadia was last to put her head up through the water and when she did, it was slow. Her hands trailed back over her scalp, pushing the wet strands of hair out of her face. 

She turned to the bank of the lake and swam towards it; her breaths short and irregular from the fall causing her to swim a bit slower than usual. She walked out of the water, the rainfall coming from her clothes as she walked over the sandy shore and faced the forest. 

Her lips pursed as she peered into the forest, her eyes never leaving the trees until the sound of footsteps caused her to look over. Leonardo was watching the forest with a hard gaze before he craned his neck to Nadia and asked, "Do you know where we are?" 

Nadia nodded her head and pointed to the trees. "Lukra. It's a small province run by a tribe called the Lukras. They aren't friendly so we need to get to the next passageway as quick as possible." 

"Passageway?" Questioned Florence as she rang out the water from her clothes. "I thought you can open up a portal anywhere." 

Nadia laughed and looked over her shoulder, purely amused at the sudden question. She shook her head side to side and answered, "No. Earth is different. In other dimensions, there are certain-" she paused to find a word, "-energy specific areas. Portal Spheres like mine are outdated so I need to go to that certain energy field in order to have enough juice to bounce into the next dimension."

"How far to the next juice station?" Raph asked as he shrugged off some algae from his shoulder. 

Nadia pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek and looked off into the forest. The green view wasn't something that she was anticipating, but as she thought back to her last travel, she began to make slow calculations of the distance. 

"Most likely twenty miles," she said shortly with a humph. "There's one next to the Lukra village by the main river, but the natives are. . ." she paused and pursed her lips. ". . .weird." 

"We better start now then," Leo said with a firm nod. "Save some daylight while we can." 

Nadia looked over her shoulder, her gaze growing dark as she nod her head once. Her lips felt dry considering that she had water still lingering on her face. Her brown eyes fazed out for a few seconds before she slowly craned her head back towards the forest and sighed.