Out of My Shell

Chapter 18: The Race

Chapter 18: The Race

Leo's fingers ran trembling circles through his father's fur, his weight heavy in his lap, caught beneath the filtered light of the looming grate and the crooked branches of the tree that he so loved.
He tried to remain calm. Be cool, strong, calculated... everything he had ever taught him to be. He needed to be all those things in order to help, but nothing was working. And he was so scared.
"What's going on?!" Donnie burst into the room with those words hot on his heels, falling to his knees at his side with Mikey and Raph in tow.
"He just collapsed! I... I think he has a fever!!"
"Give me some space." Donnie took out his stethoscope, pushing the surface along his chest, listening for something, anything.... a breath, a pulse.... holding his own until he heard....
.........He was breathing. He was still breathing. Barely, but... oh, thank Tesla!
"I tried to do the healing hands a number of times," Leo rushed. "It helped for a few minutes but then it's like... his fever got worse!"
Donnie's eyes widened, listening carefully to the wet, rattling sounds in his ribcage.
He was shivering so weakly beneath him, gasping and burning hot. And then a small cough suddenly wrenched him hard, threatening to steal the last of his breath away.
This was beyond serious! If the healing hands weren't working...
Something was seriously wrong. Sensei had only gotten sick one other time in their lives at best...
He visibly wilted. There was no strength anymore, his wise, gentle brown eyes far away and glazed with sick.
And then Donnie remembered. There was an injury there on his collar from the previous events with the flood and he quickly moved the fabric aside to check it.
"--Oh no..."
"...Donnie?"
The wound looked... infected. And those wet sounds in his chest all pointed to something bacterial...
It looked like pneumonia! And... and with that infection.... The flood and the wound must have...!
That's why he was so quiet! Why hadn't they noticed sooner?!
"Mikey, I need you to go to my lab. On the second shelf is a bottle with a semi-synthetic cephalosporin powder. Got that?"
He nodded briskly and took off.
"Leo, my medical equipment. I need several rolls of gauze, hot water and a scalpel."
"On it."
Raph took over easing his father's head as Leo got up and bolted away.
"Raph, I need you to help me get him out to the couch."
He moved without a word, gently hoisting him up from under his arm, his weight draping awkward and heavy around their shoulders.
"Easy, easy..." Donnie coaxed. "We'll get you well, Sensei, I promise."
".....Thank... you...... my... sons."
The sound stung Raph's heart. He'd never heard him sound so fragile.
"Shhhhh, don't force yourself." And he urged their steps once more.
Sensei's body shook. He had barely the strength to stand, but somehow they managed together, step by step out to the futon, easing him down to another fit of coughs and chopped, shuddering breath.
"...I... did not realize... how fierce... this illness... would become...... I was...... sure... it would pass... on its own."
"....It's alright, Sensei," Raph hushed gently. "...What now, Don?"
"Water. And an ice pack," he ordered. "Do you think you can drink, Sensei?"
With the ghost of a nod, Raph went off to find them as Master Splinter lied on his back and he closed his eyes.
He was meditating... trying to heal. He had probably been doing that by himself the whole time. Donnie hesitated, making sure he was alright alone and quickly retrieved a pen and paper, just as Leo and Mikey came running back with all the things he had asked for.
"Hot water, scalpel... and here are your medical supplies," Leo said, laying them all dutifully in front of him.
"And I've got the syphilis-y spore-um powder!" Mikey raced forward and put it in his hand.
Donatello studied the container carefully. "Cephalosporin," he corrected absently, his mind calculating. Even with all this, he probably didn't have enough for the severity of Sensei's situation, nor the final necessary agents. He set all of the things carefully down on the floor by his side, scribbling out something else on his paper and tore it, giving it to Leo. "I need you to get all these items. Hit up Mr. O'Neil using the emergency signal. Tell him Sensei is extremely sick. It looks upper respiratory... possibly bacterial pneumonia combined with an open wound infection. Anything he can offer will help. Money is no object. I will personally reimburse him myself, double if need be."
The urgency in his voice left no room for error and his blue eyes steeled. "No problem," he affirmed.
"Take the stealth bike."
"Will do." And Leo turned hard, already sprinting out towards the turnstiles.
". . .We have bread like that?" Mikey wondered aloud, stuck on the money.
"Mikey," he ordered, tearing the paper once more. "I need you to go to the nearest drug store. Deactivate all of the cameras and get these. They should be easy enough for you to read." He dug around and handed him a small fistful of money from his belt pocket. "This is all I have until the end of the week... but it'll have to do. Now go."
Mikey's wet eyes set. "On it, D.... BOOYAKASHA!!" And he took off, barreling over the threshold at top speed, the mission hot on his heart.
"IF YOU CAN'T DO THAT, FIND DR. ROCKWELL!" Don called and then he turned back to his vials, reorganizing, pouring... hands quick, everything precise--just as Raph raced back in with the glass of water, bringing it to his father's lips, easy against his weaker hands.
"Small sips, easy, Sensei.... Don't you worry about anything," he promised and tossed the ice pack over. "What's my next mission, Don?"
Donnie led the compress back over to Sensei's brow with hard eyes until Raph understood and took over.
"Keep giving him water until I'm done with this. He needs to stay hydrated and we have to break his fever." And he returned to his task, not wanting to miss a beat.
Raph obeyed, though he only succeeded in small swallows, leaving him to worry at those chopped, shallow gasps.
He glanced over his shoulder, watching Donnie work, realizing now just how much the flood had probably taken of his supply. But still Donnie's hands moved, and in no time he had finished with some sort of makeshift IV, running some kind of scan over Sensei's body with a sort of device he could not discern.
"Just as I thought... and it's bad... okay..." he muttered, rummaging again.
"...W-What does all of this mean?" Raph wondered. "...Like, pneumonia? What does it do?"
"Well... in layman's terms: the infected bacteria from his wound has spread to his lungs, causing them to become inflamed and filling them with pus and fluid so he can't breathe... If we don't do something soon..."
Raph's eyes widened, knowing the terrible end to that sentence.
Don met them seriously. "Water."
"Yeah. Yeah." He shook his head, tipping the glass again to his lips, now with purpose.
"He needs antibiotics. Some I can help with but..." he swallowed. "...Leo and Mikey need to grab everything on those lists." He leaned in, examining the wound closer once more. "It looks like something disrupted the healing process at some point... like... like a knife or..."
He stopped.
Raph studied his face and his voice fell instantly knell. "--Don't you dare say a chainsaw."
Donnie was quiet. "...T-The skin looks serrated."
His fists clenched. A wet, murderous rage surged behind Raphael's eyes and he whipped to his feet, a sudden whirlwind of fury, fear and sadness, blurring with nowhere to go except for a small stack of video games Mikey had abandoned. In an instant they were hurled across the room, some breaking, rolling, shattering to pieces.
And it didn't calm him. Nothing did. Just bitterness. And panic. He hated himself.
He could die. Master Splinter could die because of that monster!
And he was suffering so much.
His hand ran through his mask, kicking the futon. "...I'll kill that thing. When I find it, I'll rip it apart! To shreds! YOU HEAR THAT, CAN!?!?" He whirled around the room. "I'LL TAKE YA OUT!!! PIECE BY PIECE... 'TIL THERE'S NOTHIN' LEFT BUT YOUR SORRY HALF METAL ENTRAILS!!!" He roared until his voice cracked.
"Raph...!"
"JUST COME AT ME!! ...FIGHT!!"
"Raphael!" Donnie reached for his arm, only to have him wrench from his touch.
Raph turned on him now, crazed... but then he paused just long enough, seeing all of it mirrored just a little more fragile in his brother's features... and how close he had been to spilling his chemicals.
"--Raph, this isn't something I usually ever say but I need you right now."
His words were tall, even. And ones he never took lightly.
Finally Raph's eyes softened, finding his ground... just enough. "...What do ya need me to do?"
"I need you to hold him still so I can remove some of that infected skin and tissue and clean it before it gets worse."
His stare hardened. It was well-known that he among all of them didn't quite have the stomach for something like that... particularly when it came to the suffering of their father.
But he took a deep breath. Donnie needed him. And above all, it could save Sensei's life.
"Let's do this."
-
The boulevard bowed silent here—airbrushed yellow in funny smog and broken lights, threatening night's end within the hour.
He wrinkled his nose to the alleys, reeking of gasoline, cheap booze and burnt rubber; the waning streetlight flickering and groaning across the small corner pharmacy.
Mikey rarely ever traveled this part of Langdale, but he remembered this place. It stood almost a beacon among the surrounding places boarded and barred and christened in graffiti tags.
He waited on the next uneasing flicker of light, and, eyes hard, leapt up the side to peer over the window's eve.
The first camera was fixed up on the far left wall... with two more stationed in the corners. His best bet was probably to sneak in from a vent or ceiling, so he climbed up the brick to the roof's vent system, wedging his way inside.
He hit the floor with three shuriken clenched in his hand. And his throw was precise.
Mikey smiled a little to himself, proud of his skill and general ninja awesomeness, even though his brothers weren't around to appreciate it.
Donnie had sent him on this mission! Probably the most important mission of them all and he wasn't about to mess it up! Master Splinter was counting on him!
He glanced suspiciously around and unfurled the crumpled note from his belt pocket, squinting at the handwriting. It was hard to make out.
"Leva... Levo...um..." He tried again. "Leva... floxa... no bleh-bleh?"
Man, Donnie's handwriting really sucked today! It looked like some two year old, half-eaten zombie wrote it! Or worse!
He gasped aloud at the thought. Maybe the Donnie at home was a zombie! And some evil undead overlord had taken the real Donnie hostage, ready to eat his brains and entrails... holding him at a ransom of 10,000 yen~!
"..."
Nonono! Focus! He internally chastised himself. He'd have to investigate that later. Right now he had a mission: to find the Livo-floxen hablablaba!
The flash of a passing car rolled outside the window, pouring light into the room and he ducked low, clutching the note tightly to his shell as it passed... and then his thoughts drew back together.
He could do this! He had to!
He glanced around once more. Through the dim lighting, were standard rows of over-the-counter remedies... little white bottles for simple things like headaches and allergies beside a modest red counter table that guarded a large glass window to another room with shelves of other medicines.
Whatever Donnie wanted, it was probably in there.
He hauled shell over the counter side and stood frowning at the tall, dark glass and once again attempted to decode the smudged ink. But it quickly grew frustrating and he turned around, glancing again to the many other medicine rows behind him.
It all seemed like an ominous labyrinth staring him down.
...
". . .Ummmm~"
--
The ringtone toodled from the floor and Donnie snatched it up with difficulty into the crook of his shoulder. "Talk to me."
Mikey paused awkwardly, ~"Sooo what does the list say again?"
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
~"Dude, your handwriting looks like butt when you're freakin' out. I can barely make out any of it."
"MY—!" Donnie sighed impatiently. He didn't have time for this! Sensei was in an excruciating amount of pain and this was extremely delicate work! How had he possibly screwed up already?! What did he do?! Lose the note?!
Master Splinter cringed stiffly in the pain, struggling now for a true breath. Donnie shook his head, trying to train his thought to the list, but it was hard to move and the phone was slipping from his shoulder.
~"...What?" Mikey wondered.
"Uh... ummmmm..."
Raph snatched the phone from across him, still restraining his weak hands from moving and brought it up to his ear. "...What does it start with? ...The medicine."
~"Uhhh... L."
"Medicine that starts with L!"
"Hold him still," Donnie ordered. And Raph went back and restrained his father's arms, shooting the phone on speaker and tried not to look at the wound or the twist in the scalpel or the terrible way his father yelled.
Donnie rethought. "Uhhhh Levofloxacin... o-or... amoxicillin... vancomycin... Antibiotics will be behind the glass..."
~"I knew it!" Mikey piped. ~"Uhh.... can you text that?"
Raph's eye twitched in rage.
"Quick, text it out," Donnie commanded. "L-e-v-o..."
But the phone rang again, interrupting him.
"Ugh. Now Leo's callin'!"
"Switch the call," Donnie replied, steadying his hand and Raph obeyed.
"What's the word?"
~"Hey. April and Mr. O'Neil don't have much but they've got some first aid... and a few things for pain and swelling. Kirby also says he has a few things he can put together for a makeshift numbing agent."
"That's perfect. Grab it and hurry."
The phone chirped again. "Mikey?! Again?!" Raph huffed.
"He must have hung up.... Hello?"
~"Dude. Letters. Pronto."
Raph growled. And as Master Splinter's breath grew more labored and shallow, Donnie's heart began to race. His vitals began to slip.
"L.e.v.o.f.l.o.x.a.c.i.n," he finished quickly, grabbing the phone. "Amoxacillin or vancomycin... if you can't do that... just... go find some fever reducer!" He hung up. "His vitals are dropping... We're losing him!"
-/
"Ohh... ohhh man~" Mikey fretted, spinning around the room in confusion. "Uhhh fever reducer! T-That's an easy one, right? Ummmmm..."
He looked to the signs above, turning quickly down one of the rows, reading the labels of all the little white bottles. "Fever reducer..."
There was a whole section for them, but which one should he choose? He didn't know anything about this stuff!
Master Splinter...
He didn't have time to mess this up! Sensei was in trouble! He bit the inside of his cheek and grabbed a fistful of all of them, throwing them into his knapsack and ran over to the tall glass. It was locked down tight. There was even a keypad on the door. He needed a five digit passcode thingy to get in.
Five digits....
What would Donnie do? What would Donnie do?! He glared firmly and went with the one on his heart. It had to be it!
0... 0... 000.
WERG! WERG! WERG! WERG! WERG! WERG!!
Alarms peeled a security breach and it was nearly loud enough to deafen. Lights were going off, ringing chaos, the room spinning red!
"Oh no, oh no~" He yanked desperately at the door with all his weight, even pushing off with his foot...
He blew it! The police were probably on their way and he still couldn't get into the room with Master Splinter's medicine!
"Gahhhh!" He had to think faster! He took out his kama blade, trying to desperately to hack through the keypad and lock.
He just had to get in.... He just had too!
Maybe if he could just get through the glass...
And then from outside he heard the daunting swell of New York sirens through the twilight, even through the ringing alarms.
Mikey's blood chilled.
He took out his small hidden hand blade he kept close and went to war with the glass. But it was too thick. "Ummm~ m-mm..." He looked around, panicked now for a blunt object to help.
The sirens were getting louder. Closer.
Louder.
His only find was the fire extinguisher mounted on the south wall. And he took it to the glass, crudely smashing into it over, and over, and over...
A small, hairline fracture lit up the surface, the sound of the sirens bearing down just as deafening as the alarms.
They were just around the corner. He was sure of it!
CRACK!
He managed a small break, barely enough to painful weasel his hand inside of the door to unlock....
He couldn't hear himself think. The whole room rang, his heart racing to the lights as they blurred inside. Red. Blue. Purple...
And what was worse: the glass was digging into his arm. He was stuck!!
"THIS IS THE POLICE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
"GYAHH!! O-Oh man~" he struggled, but it didn't help. "...This is, like, a thousand times worse than getting your hand caught in the cookie jar~"
Mikey saw the oncoming resistance, the fire extinguisher still clenched in his fist. He flicked the pin and one-handed launched a mess of white foam out into the room. It was just enough so they couldn't see. He could buy just a fraction of time.
The air filled with coughing, muffled yelling, the clatter of police boots. He quickly tore his arm painfully from the glass and grabbed up his satchel and with a smoke bomb, sealed his disappearance in a cloud of violet smoke.
.
The flashing lights stood just beyond him now, the blurring colors seeming to mar all of Langdale. Even with the same despondent police reports and shuffling and sounds, it was unimportant here, just a reminder that New York never slept.
Then the yellow sky opened... just a twinkling, smattering musically to the pavement like none of it mattered. Mikey grabbed his arm silently in pain, just a glowing pair of eyes in a forgotten alley.
And vanished without a trace.
-
-
~Do-Do Do-Do do-didoodoo~
*Click* "Hey. What's the report?"
"Uh... kinda got busted, dude. Cops got all up in my grill! I didn't get much of the medicine. But I did get some, like, fever reducer and bandages and stuff..."
"It's fine. That sounds like exactly what Donnie needs the most of right now... I'm on my way to another pharmacy anyway. You get that stuff over to Rockwell."
"Rockwell?"
You're closer to the Mutanimals there. If you can get it there, Rockwell can beam it over quicker," he reasoned. "I'll go track down the other stuff."
"...Okay. Roger that."
"Roger."
Leo returned his phone to his belt pocket, parkour leaping low through the shadows and queer light, that expectant rain rumbling somewhere behind on his heels.
He sure hoped this place had what he needed. His hands ran the surface of the cold brick, vaulting upwards to the roof, but there weren't any solid vents at all, none large enough for him to fit. Instead he found a jetted plane of glass, leading down into a small greenhouse.
He would have to cut his way through and, soundless and precise, he dropped in without a hitch.
He looked around; different potted plants lined in rows... some he recognized, others he didn't.
Kampo herbs... teasel root... other common herbs used in Chinese and Japanese medicine. Leo understood now why Sensei had seemed fond of this shop. It had a lot and was more than just common over the counter and prescription medicines.
Leo readjusted his eyes to the room, ready to take out any cameras.
But he didn't find any. And he couldn't waste time. Donnie's instructions were very specific. He needed to move.
The main part of the shop was in the next room, down five small steps just beyond the cloth Noren divider. And he was about to pass through....
When he heard a low creak in the floorboards.
Leonardo whirled around, but the air was hollow... all except for a small stalked plant, scritching at a nearby the vent.
And the room was still. Like held breath.
He continued his trek.
Abandoned plants. Emptier shadows. The creaking sound of his own steps filled his ears as he passed cloth divider into the shop; as the first drops of rain pattered the glass.
It was fancier than he thought. The shelves were neat, crisp, tall, along the walls, the greenhouse glass carried the half-lit rain, scattering patterns across the floor.
But it was the long display cabinet in the center of the rooms caught his eye, his footsteps ever louder.
There were all kinds of medicines behind the glass... boxes of teas... silk pouches...
And one purple pouch with the exact medicine that Donnie needed.
And then he heard a sound. It was unmistakable, a presence that made the scales stand on the back of his neck. Someone was behind him. He saw the shadow.
But he wouldn't know who. Leo was thrown into the glass.