Donna woke with a stiff neck, the pungent scent of urine accosting her nose. The few streaks of sunlight that managed to pierce through the dense leaves, told her that it was nearing nightfall. That meant that she hadn’t slept long.
Sitting up, she stretched her neck before getting to work. The first thing she did was give Raph a sponge bath. He slept through it. For that she was grateful. She didn’t think she would have been able to handle another verbal bout with him just yet.
After she was done, she decided to stretch her aching muscles by doing some katas. While she moved, her attention kept shifting to Raph, wondering if she should wake him for breakfast or let him sleep.
She had some crackers with peanut butter along with a granola bar and a bottle of water. She sat next to Raph, watching him as she ate. Reaching out, Donna placed her hand on his chest to feel his breathing. It was shallow. She was starting to worry.
“Raph.” Donna shook him. “Wake up. You need to eat and drink something.”
There was no groan to protest. No twitch in his features to show that his sleep was disturbed. Nothing.
“Raph,” she repeated a little louder, grabbing hold of his shoulder. “Wake up.”
Again, nothing. This was worrisome. Placing her food aside, Donna go up on her knees and moved closer to Raph’s face. “Raph,” she said as she patted his cheek.
When she still got no response, Donna pinched his arm. “WAKE UP!”
Raph gave no indication that she was getting through to him and Donna started to panic. “Raph, please wake up.” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Open your eyes.”
Donna had no idea what to do. She ran her hand over his forehead to test his temperature. He wasn’t warm, if anything he was a little cold.
“Raph,” she tried again, shaking him in a futile attempt to wake him.
She stood and began pacing back and forth. What if the withdraws was killing him? He didn’t want his family to know but she couldn’t sit there and do nothing. This was more than she was expecting to happen and she didn’t know what to do. He needed a doctor.
Her mind raced with possibilities. If this was nothing and she called for help, he would never forgive her. But, if this was serious and she did nothing, he could die. She didn’t want to lose him like that. She would rather him live and never talk to her again.
With shaky hands she dialed Donny on the shell cell and did her best to steady her breathing while she waited for him to pick up.
“Hello?” Donny answered.
“Donny,” Donna sobbed, unable to contain her emotions. “I need your help.”
“What’s wrong,” he asked. “Where are you?”
“It’s a long story,” Donna said with a whimper. “But, Raph’s not doing well and I’m afraid that if he doesn’t get help soon, he’ll die.”
“Turn the phone’s tracker on,” Donny instructed. “We’ll come and get you.”
“Okay,” Donna whispered. “Hurry.”
“We’ll get there as soon as we can,” Donny replied before hanging up.
After untying Raph’s wrists, Donna continued to pace while she waited, frantic with worry. Every so often she would drop to her knees and check to make sure Raph was still breathing. As long as he was still breathing he would be okay, she kept telling herself.
She heard footsteps in the distance, followed by unfamiliar voices. Staying out of sight, she looked out to see who it was. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw a man in a dark suit walking through the abandoned station. “Bishop.”
Though she had never seen him before, she knew it was him. Raph and his brothers had told Donna and her sisters many stories about him. The man standing in the station was exactly how they had described him.
Several more men stepped through the turnstiles and began fanning out.
“Check there,” Bishop said, pointing a group of men in her direction.
Heart pounding in her chest, Donna collected her bo readied herself for a fight. She was vastly outnumbered. All she had to do was hold out long enough for the others to come.
As soon as Bishop’s man stepped into the room, Donna cracked him over the head with her bo. The man fell to the ground in a heap, alerting the others to her presence.
“There,” Bishop called out to his men.
None of them rushed up to fight her. Instead they stood back as Bishop stalked forward. The knowing smirk on his face displayed an air of confidence. Donna knew this was a fight that she was nowhere near ready for but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.
Crying out, Donna attacked, swinging her bow towards Bishop’s midsection. Catching it with one hand, Bishop’s smile widened. “Cute.”
With a jerk of his wrist he pulled her forward. The last thing she knew was the searing pain of a Taser to her arm.
…..
Head throbbing, Donna opened her eyes. A wave of nausea struck her and she closed them again. Covering her head with her arms, she let out a long moan.
“She’s coming too.” Rachael’s voice was too loud. Each word made it feel like her brain was beating against her skull.
Someone touched her shoulder. “Donna,” Leah said softly.
Donna shushed her sister, refusing to move. Sleep was the only thing she wanted to do. She had never experienced a sickness like this in her life and the hardness of the ground was doing nothing to ease the pain. She wondered, for a moment, why she would be on the ground.
The pain induced haze lifted enough for her to remember what had happened. In a state of panic, Donna sat up, “Raph!” and immediately regretted it. The room spun and she soon found herself lying back down on the floor. “Where are we?” she moaned, covering her head again.
“Prisoners of Bishop,” Rachael answered flatly.
“He got you too,” Donna asked meekly, peeking out through her arms. “Did he capture you when you came looking for us?”
“No,” Rachael scoffed. “We had no idea where you were. We never had the chance to even wonder about it. He took us by surprise on our way to Foot Headquarters.”
Donna could think of only one reason they would all head to Foot Headquarters. “Where’s Donny,” Donna asked, her need for answered trumping her desire for quiet. “Is his baby okay?”
“I’m here,” Donny answered. “And, the baby’s fine.”
“We’re all here,” Mikey chimed in. “Well, not physically in this room, but we’ve all been captured.”
Donna took a few deep breaths and tried again to sit up. “Who’s not here?” A wave of nausea threatened to empty her stomach but she managed to focus her mind enough to fight it off.
“Tello was sent back to the lair to get his mutagen,” Leah replied. “Leo was allowed to sit with Raph while we wait.”
Donna sat with her back against the wall and looked around the room. Rachael looked like hell. Donatello was sitting in a wheel chair with the baby bundled in his lap. Leatherhead was standing near Donny, holding Snow.
They must be so worried with their family trapped in such a place. It was hard to imagine what they were going through. It was Donny’s children Bishop had wanted. It was the whole reason he had cloned Donny.
Mikey and Michell were sitting close together. Mikey also looked like he had recently been put through the wringer but didn’t look as bad a Rachael. Leah had been pacing. Something she usually did when she was annoyed and she was gathering her thoughts to confront its source.
Leah knelt down in front of Donna and Donna knew there was a lecture coming. “What were you thinking?”
“Um….” Donna looked around the room and all eyes were on her. “About what?”
“Raph,” Mikey blurted out. “Bishop filled us in with what was going on. Raph could have died.”
“It’s a good thing Bishop found you,” Donny stated with the slightest amount of irritation in his voice. “His blood pressure was dangerously low.”
“You could have warned me Bishop was coming,” Donna said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “It would have spared me a shock to the system. If I had known you were sending Bishop, I wouldn’t have tried to fight him.”
“I had no way of contacting you,” Donny replied. “I’ve been stuck here for… I don’t even know how long.”
“I called you when I realized that I couldn’t wake Raph,” Donna said. “I talked to you.”
Donny shook his head. “Bishop must have my shell cell and simulated my voice. He tricked you.”
The door opened and Leo walked through before it closed again. He glared down at Donna, making Donna wince in shame, before making his way to Rachael. “How are you?”
“Better,” Rachael mumbled. “Any news?”
“Raph’s stable,” Leo said. Turning to Donna, his eyes narrowed. “Care to explain what the hell is going on.”
“He begged me not to tell you,” Donna sobbed, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground. “He was so ashamed. But, I told him if he didn’t quit, I would tell you. He was planning on doing it alone so I went with him. I was just trying to help him. He trusted me with his secret and I didn’t want to betray that trust.”
“Where was he getting his drugs,” Donny demanded.
Donna looked up at him, but she couldn’t see anything, her vision was blurred with tears. “He’s gonna hate me enough as it is.” She shook her head. “I’m not telling you anymore.”
“How could we not know?” Mikey asked no one, staring blankly at the floor.
“He hid it well,” Leo stated and began to pace the room. “Or we were too blind to see it. As the leader, I should have known something was wrong.”
“I should have been following up with him more,” Donny argued. “But, I let myself get distracted.”
“You guys can’t beat yourselves up over it,” Michelle said. “The important thing is that he’s gonna be okay. Right?”
“He’s not gonna like the fact that it’s Bishop saving his life,” Leo said, “but at least he will live. At least, that’s what Bishop tells me.” He scoffed and shook his head. “Bishop had the audacity to offer to clone Raph, give him an undamaged body.”
The room fell into an awkward silence. No one wanted to say that it wasn’t entirely a bad idea. The chance to be whole again was a tempting offer. The question was, would Raph be the type to take it?
“You should have told us,” Leo said to Donna.
“I know,” Donna replied, her voice catching in her throat. “I messed up. I’m sorry.” Unable to look any of them in the eyes, Donna hid her face in her arms and cried. She would much rather be tased again than to see their disappointment in her. They were all mad at her and rightfully so, and it left her stomach in knots. It was the worst feeling.
