The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

55 || To The Tower

It wasn't difficult to figure out where Raphael had gone, I just followed the trail of destruction and unconscious Footclan soldiers. And then I heard yelling and my heart stopped when I realized it was Raph.

I ran faster, entering a brightly lit laboratory with desks of computers and equipment scattered around.

"Guys!?" I called, looking around desperately. "Raph!?" My eyes landed on Leo, Donnie and Mikey, who were stripped of their gear and strung up by their wrists in thick, glass-walled cages; their blood being sucked up through huge clear tubes and running through a machine before being deposited into a metal canister.

Oh my god. They looked lifeless with their heads bowed forward and their shoulders rising rapidly with each quick breath. Nobody was around and I couldn't see Raphael and I knew I had to help the turtles before it was too late. Okay, Liv told me that first, blood loss victims would look pale and feel anxious, then they would start breathing faster and feel tired then they would fall unconscious and enter some sort of shock and die. But she'd told me that only a blood transfusion or stopping the blood flow and allowing the person to rest would 'cure' blood loss. And I didn't have the time, knowledge or equipment for that.

There must be another way. They just look tired, all they need is a jump start. I sucked in my breath suddenly. A jump start! I rushed toward the caged turtles and found a control pad beside Donnie's container, searching wildly for a dosage option. There! 

The genius murmured something almost inaudible. "Adrenaline," he breathed urgently. They were running out of time, I could hear it in the weakness of his voice.

"I know, D," I replied, voice shaking. My pulse raced as I amped up the dosage of adrenaline until I couldn't anymore. An overdose warning flashed on the screen and I looked up at the turtles but they still weren't moving.

Why isn't it working!? Why aren't they getting up!? I stared at them hopelessly, tears stinging at the corners of my eyes, wondering what the hell I was going to do and where the hell Raphael was. Then there were arms around me, trapping my arms against my sides as I was dragged backwards, away from my friends. Dread curled around my stomach and I kicked and screamed at them to get up! to do something! But they hung there like dead specimens and I was helplessly trapped and Raphael was gone.

I screamed for Raph and for the brothers to wake up but something sweet-smelling was pressed to my mouth and my nose, making my vision blur and my mind cloud with dizziness. My eyelids turned heavy and everything around me became slow and calm. An ache built in my head. Distantly, I heard something shatter, then there was...loudness. Yelling, I think. Then that smell was gone, and I could breathe. I felt arms around me, strong and warm. I saw blurs of green and I felt so tired. There were voices, too. Saying my name, maybe. Ow. Something pricked my arm. Slowly, my hearing returned and the drowsiness evaporated.

"—okay, right Don?"

Mikey? 

"She's fine, just give it a sec to counteract."

That's definitely Donnie.

"Raiya?"

Leo.

"Raiya, come on. Wake up, we gotta go."

I tried, I really did. But that stupid rag had knocked any adrenaline from my bloodstream and now I had to fight the exhaustion from not sleeping for over twenty-four hours.

"Can I get some adrenaline, too?" I asked hopefully, lifting my eyelids and finding three, anxious green faces in front of me.

"No time," Donnie said, strapping his gear on hurriedly.