Together As Mutants (Book Six)

Chapter 38: Bringing Down the Hammer

Admittedly, Sarina isn't having the best time in the focus department. It takes everything she has to wait for Leonardo's orders while the Mutanimals (plus wolfed-out Destiny) take care of the goons on the street. She wonders if this is how Destiny and Raphael feel a lot of the time—just jonesing to pound something into the ground.

She's never been so eager to punch somebody before, or at least blast them in the face. Whatever she chooses, she wants them to experience at least half the pain she felt when she thought Donatello was dead.

It isn't the first time her own thought processes and emotions have frightened her.

The man with the pompadour and sunglasses has joined the fight, wearing a giant red mech suit that Sarina thinks looks like a cracked-out can opener. It seems sturdy and doesn't encase the wearer, instead creating extensions for his arms and legs along with a missile launcher on his shoulders. Fascinating, indeed.

"Go," Leonardo whispers.

She snaps back to reality just in time to watch Leonardo and Raphael zip-line from their current perch towards the hotel. She shakes her head, takes a deep, soothing breath, and follows.

The three mutants drop in through a window, finding themselves in a simple room. The yellow flowered wallpaper peels with age and the bed seems dusty, like no one has bothered to enter this room in years.

Leonardo pads across the floor and pulls the door open, checking the hallway. There are four masked goons stationed outside one of the doors and Leonardo motions for Raphael and Sarina to follow.

They make it quick. Leonardo knocks one aside and Raphael tackles the second. Sarina hits one square in the chest with a blast from her palms, then sends a finger rocket at the second. It blasts him back and through the door, leaving him groaning on top of a pile of splinters.

"Damn, that looked lethal," Raphael says.

She shrugs. "It could be."

They look inside the busted door. The Fulci twins stand on either side of a single bed, each holding two chef's knives, and Don Vizioso hovers in his giant floating half-moon seat. For a second, all they see is Donatello's shell—not a limb or head in sight—and Mondo Gecko tied to his back.

In hindsight, Sarina should have been a little more insightful. She should have noticed the lack of fresh blood anywhere on the floor or on the twins's blades. She should've reminded herself that turtles can tuck themselves inside their shells as a defence mechanism.

But she was already ready to fight, ready to make someone pay for the agony she felt when she pictured her life without Donatello, and she reacted.

She raises her hands, palms glowing. "You'll pay for this, all of you!"

Donatello's head pops out. "Woah, wait! I'm alive!"

"Dudes, get me out of here! I've gotta pee so bad!" Mondo cries.

Too late, Sarina's already blasting, knocking one of the Fulci twins onto his back. The other shouts as he rushes forward, aiming at her, but Leonardo and Raphael intercept. Vizioso cackles as a mounted gun drops from below his seat and starts firing off mutant-hunter rockets.

"Sarina, just get Donnie and Mondo!" Leonardo shouts.

She stops firing and nods. "Affirmative."

She dodges past the combat as best she can, using the heat from her palms to burn through the ropes and free Donatello and Mondo. Donatello exhales as he's released and Sarina throws her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly.

Alive. Still alive. In an instant, the life she pictured of endless solitude without her soulmate disappears, the moment she gets her arms around him.

"I feared the worst, darling," she whispers.