Out of My Shell

Chapter 6: Metaldroid

--Chapter 6: Metaldroid

"What is wrong with me?!" Raph's head was spinning so fast he honestly thought he might hurl.
What had he done? He wanted to throw himself out a window, quick end it all, reboot life like some kind of video game.
Start over.... Why couldn't he just start over?
"What was I thinkin'?! ...I don't even know where half that stuff came from! Am I insane?!" he wailed, staring wildly over at Fake Spike for some assurance that maybe he wasn't.
But Fake Spike only stared back at him in reply, his glued on button eyes hardly sympathetic to his situation.
"I think I'm goin' nuts!" He sat up in his bed and stared hard at his hands, trying to piece all that had happened together. "...I don't know what came over me... It's like... I was jokin' around with him... and then... I wasn't jokin' around, ya know?"
Still Fake Spike only continued to stare.
....He sure could use the real Spike right now. Fake Spike just wasn't up for this level of crisis.
Fake Spike was just something he had idly put together for himself a little while back. He was forged of an old helmet, some sand filled socks, buttons, glue and a little ingenuity, but Raphael was still proud of his creation nonetheless.
For as little as it was, he had actually grown to appreciate Fake Spike's company and looked forward to the day when his true companion would once again sit at his side.
And right now Fake Spike needed to help him out with this.
......Maybe Donnie thought he was joking. He was kind of joking after all.
"H-Heck what am I worried about? For all I know this whole thing will blow over by tomorrow and Donnie will have totally forgotten about it..."
.....No, Raph wasn't delusional. He massaged his temple, his thoughts running wild again.
"...He's gotta be totally freaked out. And he should be! ...He's probably thinkin' I was comin' on ta him or somethin'! ...I didn't come on ta him though. I DIDN'T!" He pointed at Fake Spike angrily. "Cuz that'd be totally messed up!"
The silence that answered him only brought on another wave of doubt.
".....Ya don't think I came on to him, do ya?"
.....No, that was ridiculous. Completely absurd. "I didn't come on to him," he muttered firmly.
Who would come on to that half-wit nerd of a brother of his?
The room swelled into a terrible quiet and now was not a time to be alone with his thoughts. Raph's green eyes flickered over to the radio on the night stand. He reached over and turned the dial, eager for any kind of distraction.
"...Coming in from 106 FML radio asking everyone: is there someone special on your mind tonight?"
Raph smashed the radio with his fist. It popped and fizzed in a loud, panicked mess and he scrambled with the dials, turning off the noise so the room was quiet again and he shut his eyes.
...What was wrong with him?
He stared hard at his dull brick ceiling, his hands balling up into angry, confused fists. Then he reached down, rummaging for something on the underside of his mattress and after a moment, finally protruded a slightly crumpled magazine. Raph smoothed it over carefully with his large hands and held it high above his head, staring hard at the blue eyes of the cover girl.
.......Donnie had brown eyes.
Raph lethargically dropped the book on his face.
This was going to be one heck of a long night.
--
--
"Morning guys!" Leo announced cheerfully, spinning on his heels, a bright smile on his turtle face. "Who's up for some morning training?!"
"UGH!" his other three brothers groused in response, tired faces all hitting the table at once.
Leonardo raised a brow at every one of them. "You guys all look awful—you should seriously get some more rest."
"Easy for you to say," Raph growled under his breath. He hated Leo's voice right now. He'd been up all night running circles in his head and dying to relieve a dark, unwanted tension. The only time he had ever left his room was once to take a very, very cold shower.
"Ugh, Leo can't we skip it today?" Mikey whined in sleepy distress. "I was up reaaaally late last night trying to build... get this: a sculpture made completely out of leftover ham."
Raphael glanced over at Mikey with heavy eyes. "Why does that not surprise me today?"
His voice sounded hard and worn and it did not go unnoticed by his brother, Leo. It worried him. He was about to inquire Raph on the matter, but his thoughts were interrupted by an especially loud, drawn out yawn that came from Donatello.
"Why are you tired?" Leo wondered.
Donnie was the only one of his brothers besides himself that at least tried to stick to a strict sleeping routine. Unless they had been out late fighting, or there was something pressing to invent, it was exceptionally rare to see him tired or roll out of bed very late.
But today he looked the worse of them all. His head drooped low. Deep bags hung beneath his eyes and there were strange, small burns littering his fingertips.
"I couldn't sleep," he muttered distantly.
"...Couldn't sleep?" Leonardo repeated. That was... new....
Donnie toyed with the edge of his mug of tea uncomfortably; his eyes fixed into a thousand mile stare. "...I made three hundred and seventy two ninja smoke bombs last night," he replied.
His brothers turned to him in shock. "What?!"
"...I also fixed the leak in the Shellraiser... and I think I discovered the cure for small pox."
". . . . . . ."
"...Dude..." Michelangelo decided then and there that his next mission was to find Donnie a hobby. Because that was just sad... not to mention totally crazy and weird.
"There's... already a cure for small pox Donnie," Leonardo said as carefully as he could.
"...I know," he muttered.
Leo and Mikey looked at each other, not noticing the way Raph's fists clenched quietly around his drink.
"O...kay...." Leo turned away awkwardly. "Let's... see what we've got going on for breakfast."
Mikey glanced up. "Is it ham?" he asked sarcastically.
The leader shot him a look and then he noticed something was amiss.
"Um... Donnie, did you do anything with the can opener last night?"
"No...?"
He looked back to the empty space of the counter. "...Are you sure? It isn't here."
Donnie looked over his shoulder from his chair. "Well that doesn't make any sense..."
A cheery tune suddenly cut through the air and they turned their attention to the television. "We interrupt our regular program to give you breaking news as our city is once again under attack."
What they saw next on the news footage was horrible.
A strange, robotic wiry mess of a creature stalked forward in the street, wreaking havoc with every step it took. Long metal tentacles slithered through the air, armed with a thousand jagged blades of all different shapes and sizes. And they cut through everything, and tearing anything that dare stand in its path. The tentacles twisted from its misshapen body and they swooped back, casually cutting through three street lights as though they were merely twigs. The creature then opened its mouth in a terrible hiss, its gaping throat revealing a horrible mess of cogs wire and blood.
And people screamed.
Each turtle's eyes widened in abject horror and without another word, the four warriors rushed out of their seats, all need for sleep abandoned and their eyes set for battle.
--
"When we get there, do not leave the Shellraiser unless I tell you directly. We'll have to lead it into the shadows... We can't afford to be seen by humans in broad daylight," Leo directed.
Donnie's fingers rattled against the keyboard as he turned it on and quickly adjusted his security systems. "What villain attacks during the day?" he wondered.
"Apparently this one."
Donnie's eyes flickered over to Raph. Their eyes met for an instant before immediately turning away.
"Take a third left on Seventh Street," Mikey ordered. "Then you're gonna take a right immediately after that."
"Roger that," Leo replied seeing the turn up ahead, pulling into what shambles were left of the street they had seen on the evening report.
"Arrgh! We missed it!" Raph glanced around. "How did we miss it?!"
Then they felt a hard THUD as if something massive had thrown itself into the side of the Shellraiser with a force that nearly threw them out of their seats.
"I don't think we did!" Leo yelled and suddenly they were sent airborne careening sideways, the entire Shellraiser tumbling two flips before landing upright. Leo rocked in his seat from literal shell-shock and turned back to his brothers.
"Is everyone alright?!"
"Blegh!" Mikey could almost see stars from the shell lash.
"Did it just... throw us?!" Donnie asked, trying to gain his bearings.
"That is so rude," Mikey muttered.
What could possibly be powerful enough to throw the Shellraiser?
A rumble shook beneath their feet and a sinister-sounding hiss answered their thoughts.
"Yeah and it's comin' back!" Raph yelled, his eyes wide.
It was right in front of them. That same metal creature stared down at them, wrapping its many winding tentacles around the Shellraiser's body and lifting it off of the street. It glared an eerie pink glare at the turtles; the strange sound of Kraang tech whirring down at them like a warning. It seemed to grin at them, presenting its many hideous blades to the window. And then they began to spin, making a terrible screech against the armored body of the Shellraiser.
Raphael gritted his teeth. "EAT SOME OF THIS!" he roared. He grabbed the weapon controls in his hands, commanding the garbage ball cannon and opened fire on its face.
But all it did was knock it off balance at best.
Raph stopped and blinked. "...Well, sewer bunnies," he cursed.
"Stick to the plan guys," Leo said, "Lead it towards the shadows."
But it still had the Shellraiser in its tentacle grasp, now rocking them all from side to side.
"Yeah... a little difficult when it's playin' rock the bus!" Raph pointed out.
"Everybody hang on," Leo growled. He gripped the throttle and threw it forward, pushing pedal to the metal towards the creature, knocking it back. Then Leo threw it in reverse, sharply swerving down a large alleyway safely shaded by large overhanging rooftops.
Donnie nearly had a heart attack.
"Leo, are you crazy?!" Raph demanded.
But it had worked. The creature was following in hot pursuit, away from the populated streets.
Michelangelo glanced back and he had an idea. He jumped to the back cannon station and narrowed his eyes into the cross-sight of the scope.
"Booyakasha," he muttered.
And he took fire, shooting manhole covers into what he assumed was stupid thing's face. The aftershock came back at him hard but it was nothing Mikey couldn't handle.
"Take that, Metaldroid!" he shouted.
Raph turned at the idiotic name. "Metaldroid?"
Donnie checked all of the cameras and his eyes widened in horror. "Guys...?"
Leonardo glanced back in the rear view mirror to see the metal being reaching a strange hand out towards them. It curled its fingers and one by one they just dropped, falling off its host, each one becoming their own tiny entity. They became tiny saw blades, scurrying about like spiders on long spindly legs. When creature ran out of fingers the blades simply fell from its body and they began to cover the Shellraiser, trying to saw their way through the ceiling.
Suddenly the name felt extremely insignificant to Leo.
"Metaldroid it is. Raph, take the wheel!" he ordered, leaping from his seat.
Raph abandoned his station and jumped into the driver's seat as Leo kicked out from the emergency exit and climbed up onto the roof.
He drew his swords dangerously from his back and attacked, trying to cut as many of the little monsters as he could despite their numbers. He turned gracefully about the whirring saw blades, but no matter how many he felled, there were always more. Soon they were crawling up his body and were overwhelming the entirety of the Shellraiser.
"What's the plan now?!" Donnie fretted.
Michelangelo's eyes widened on the map. The street they were on was a dead end!
"Guys... we're runnin' out of street!" he warned.
Raphael looked in the rear view mirror, seeing the tiny chainsaw bugs were starting to overpower Leo. There were just too many of them. "Someone get up there and help Leo!" he ordered.
"I'm on it!" Mikey piped in and jumped up after Leo.
"Raph! We're heading for a dead end!" Donnie warned again in a panic.
"Yeah, I know!"
Raph's eyes finally found a place for them to turn when suddenly he felt the grind of something gripping both sides of the Shellraiser.
"Everyone hold on!" And he spun the wheel hard.
Leo and Mikey barely heard it in time and Leo stabbed his katana into the roof, grabbing Mikey tight as they spun out of control and stopped short. The two brothers flopped onto the roof, dizzy and disoriented, unprepared as Metaldroid had turned the corner and was coming up on them fast. Leo was still seeing double as a metal member came rushing through the air towards his skull but Raph jumped out to the rescue just in the nick of time, Donnie right in tow, both of them trying to push the tentacle back.
"You alright?" Raph gritted in weapon lock.
"Yeah." Leo recovered and leapt to his feet, his swords ready and Leo and Mikey both sprang back into attack.
They leapt and twirled, striking from every angle he could, but each shot seemed completely ineffective. They were surrounded by thousands of the whispering blades, each with the potential to tear them all from their shells.
Leo's eyes hardened. This was too dangerous. One mistake and they could all be severely injured.
Or worse.
Michelangelo gripped his nunchucks tight, pushing that place that brought out a blade of his own. The sharp razor edge caught the light of the streets and his long chain rattled down to the floor, Mikey's gaze as sharp as steel.
He threw the blade with deadly precision, the chain wrapping tight around Metaldroid's head, catching it right between its eyes. And he pulled, splitting its metallic skull from front to back. It staggered off balance and the three brothers leaped forth, weapons forward and kicked the creature hard enough to send it crashing to the ground.
And the four let out a cheer at their victory.
But it was short lived. The blades came barreling back towards them, one only narrowly missing Mikey's head had Donnie not come to his rescue, twirling now a spear in his hands and severing the metal limb straight from its body.
Leo and Raph had their own problems. They leapt and dodged, tossing throwing stars into its face to avoid close range combat but it all just seemed no challenge for the villain.
Raph skewered two of the tentacles together, tearing the limbs clean in half with brute force, Leo skillfully slicing down one after another but there were always more coming by the second and soon they were separated.
Then seven of them came to overpower Leonardo. He pushed himself fearlessly forward, but try as he might they again only seemed to be replaced by more. Then a dozen came at him and there was no way he could fight them all at once.
One of the tentacles coiled around him from behind, squeezing him tight and Leo struggled for his life as the spinning blade drove into his skin.
Raph heard his brother scream and jumped on it, stabbing viciously again and again with a wild determination ripping the limb apart from its body.
"Leo!" he ran over and gathered him up from the floor. "Leo, are you okay?!"
No, he wasn't. His arm was bleeding from a terrible gash and Leo bit back the pain so as to not scare him. Then his blue eyes widened.
"Look out!"
A tentacle came down and swiped them both, sending the two boys flying. They rolled skillfully back to their feet, Leonardo gripping his arm painfully. The leader's normally fearless eyes were wide, feeling so helpless as he watched the fight, terrified that he couldn't help his brothers and he screamed out to them to fall back.
Then they heard a wail of pain from Michelangelo.
"Mikey!" Raph turned to Leo in a panic. "We can't fall back! We have to take it down! They've got Mikey!"
"Raph...!"
"You stay right there!" Raph ordered menacingly. He was not going to let Leo endanger his life any more tonight, not with him as injured as bad as he was. And with that final order, Raph left him, running out into the buzzing fray to find his two brothers. They buzzed around his head, swarming like a horde of bees.
Donnie was hard lost in the affray and covered in a million tiny cuts but he was still fighting, violently beating them with his staff the best he could until one of them unknowingly crept its way up the back of Michelangelo's shell.
The silent spinning blade turned to a horrible buzzing sound as it made contact and Mikey cried out in panic. That sound sickened Donnie and he leapt over to his aid, sending it flying as far as he could hit.
And then they were surrounded again.
Mikey backed up, his bright blue eyes wide with terror.
Raphael slowly made his way through the swarm and he glanced back at Leo, who was still fighting despite his injury against another onslaught of razor sharp blades. The air was so thick with them it was making it difficult to see.
Finally he found Michelangelo.
"Mikey!" he called, trying to see against the storm. "Mikey, go help Leo! Now! Get him out of here he's been hit!"
Mikey looked back at him in horror.
Now was not the time to hesitate. He yelled out again. "GO!!!"
Mikey snapped out of his trance and scrambled back heroically towards the direction his brother, his eyes hard with duty.
"BOOYAKASHA!"
And now Raph looked for Donnie.
"Donnie?!" He called out on the top of his lungs. "Donnie!"
Suddenly he felt something bump his shell and there Donnie stood with him, back to back, the two completely surrounded by the buzzing blades.
"What now?!" Donnie asked, scared.
"Don't get hit," he answered and he spun his sai in his hands as Metaldroid himself parted the storm and stalked dangerously towards them.
"Right, I'll get right on that," Donnie returned sarcastically.
Then Raph felt Donnie's stance shift, or more, stagger against him. He glanced back to his brother to find he was barely standing, covered from head to toe with bright red cuts.
His eyes widened. "Donnie!"
Metaldroid towered over them and suddenly raised a massive blade the size of a small car above their heads. It came down hard and the two dove out of the way. Raph rolled to a knee. The blade, however; came after Donnie, striking down as though to cut Donatello in half. It happened so fast, Donnie could only block the attack, raising his staff high above his head and it came down splintering his staff in two.
And Raph saw another one coming up from behind.
"LOOK OUT!" and he dove. They rolled safely out of the way together, tumbling over and over, Raph finally landing over top of him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine I... LOOK OUT!" Donnie grabbed him by the shell and rolled them both out of range again, this time so he was over top. "We've got to get out of here!" he wailed.
"No shit, Sherlock!" he blushed angrily. "And get off of me!"
"What?! YOU..." Donnie started but they would be interrupted as Metaldroid hissed.
"BOOYAKASHAA!!!"
BOOM!
Suddenly the Shellraiser drove into Metaldroid full force, sending it flying and barreling to the ground.
Mikey opened the door. "Quit your kissy facing and let's go!"
"K-Kiss...?!" Donnie stammered, his face hot.
"Kissy face?!" Raph roared, "...We were NOT..."
"Let's GO!!" Leo yelled, opening the door further. They felt the concrete rumble beneath them and another blade landed dangerously close to Raphael's ankles.
Without another moment's hesitation, the two jumped inside and with one last horrible screech of the wheels, the Shellraiser peeled off into the night.