Get Out Alive (Open for Group)

Notes: All Turtles are needed.


March 5th, 2016.
New York City.
It started on a street corner at the lower East side of Manhattan, a middle aged by stander on his way home from work claimed it was a freak accident; the bird just flew out of nowhere and hit the windshield of a black box truck, causing the driver to swerve into the street. The truck missed oncoming traffic but couldn’t avoid tipping, and crashed into the nearest building. A few people were badly injured, but none were reported dead. This included the truck driver, who remains unknown due to fleeing after the scene.
The trucks haul spilled onto the street- a gooey and vibrant red powder. After later investigation, the shipping company claimed that the truck, which was being used to deliver a supply of energy drinks, was reported stolen just a few weeks before.  The city ordered a cleanup, but the mystery substance still managed to make its way into the local water supply.

It starts with a rash that turns your skin into an unhealthy looking pink color. Within days, dark spots form, giving your body patches of irritation and itching. The immune system breaks down days later, and you’re left to vomit crimson acid while your body slowly decays from the inside out. Hundreds had died in less than half a month. The city was quarantined while the remaining survivors fled to the underground.
By then they were forced to leave their home. The sewers were no longer safe, nor was New York. It was Splinters idea to leave through the tunnels, to retreat to North Hampton where the turtles could find sanctuary at the Jones’s family farm. It was supposed to be quiet; a safe route they found abandoned years ago- they were supposed to all get out together, but they couldn’t anticipate the danger already waiting.

The turtles were ambushed, outnumbered and caught off guard. It wasn’t the Foot waiting for them, or the Purple Dragons or EPF. This enemy was a group dressed in dark-black body suits, strapped with gas masks and various weapons mostly consisting of swords. They have never battled this enemy before.  
The fight was a real challenge but the turtles fought hard, gaining injuries along the way but nothing to life threatening. They managed to out run and lose the enemy near the water, which was barely a short length from the tunnels end. Leonardo had seen the light of the exit and urged his brothers and friends to run towards it. They were finally going to make it out of the sewers.
Splinter was in the back while Leonardo naturally ran up front. The oldest of his pupils had cleared a path for the rest to run through, then waited for Splinter near the exit. Despite protests from the rat, the blue banded turtle had his mind set on being the first one into battle and the last one out. Had it been the other way around, Leo may not have made it out and Splinter would be with them today.
------

April 20th, 2016.
North Hampton Farm.
3:00 a.m.
Leonardo tried not to groan while his tired eyes scanned the sheets of paper for, what seemed like the thousandth time today. Donnie’s scribbles of numbers and charts made little to no sense to him, it was the maps he was focused on. No matter how many times he played the dreaded scene over and over again his head, he couldn’t figure out and come to terms with how the agents in black (named by Mikey) were able to disappear with Splinter.
He knew those tunnels- spent his whole life in them. How was it possible to get a van over that bridge? It just wasn’t! Donatello confirmed it, April- who had her own way of smart thinking, said nothing of that size could travel down there, let alone cross the narrow bridge built years ago. So Leo must be confused, or traumatized. The leader heard the whispers when they thought he wasn’t around to hear. Splinter must still be in the sewers, if he was even alive at all.
Leo knew that wasn’t true.
Sensei made it out of the city- he must have! Splinter was alive and in the hands of those people; somewhere. And he was going to bring him back. He would bring Father back home.

“Damn.” He rarely cursed, but it when it felt like your eyes were going to bulge out of your own head from exhaustion- that would be the perfect exception to do so. For hours Leo sat at the old writing desk, drawing out his own plans and tactics. His muscles started to hurt from the constant shifting of positions. He really should sleep. He had promised to do so three hours ago when the others had left for bed, but Leo didn’t think he could. Every time he closed his damn eyes, Splinters face would appear, stunned, helpless and hurt. They beat him down to his knees and hauled the body into the van. Leo saw it all before Raph came back for him, but by then Splinter was already gone.
He didn’t tell his brothers what he had witnessed back there, how could he?. How could anyone describe a nightmare-ish scene such as that? If the words were to leave his mouth, it would sound like he was describing Splinters death, and then everyone would lose hope.
…He couldn’t be dead…he couldn’t.
Father was alive... he had to be.

---

Even the smartest of brainiacs couldn't wrap their head around certain problems. This was the case of Donatello. The situation with the people in new York was a catastrophic disaster! It was an apocalypse. A true, cold blooded apocalypse. Donnie was the only one that could be tasked with finding a cure for the plague. If he could cure April's father, then he could cure NY, right?

His brain was scattered everywhere. There was always something to distract the tall one. There was a leak in the bathroom, spider in my room, there's no more electricity, there's no more air conditioning, Donnie fix this, Donny fix that! Don't they understand he needed to work!?... He had to admit he couldn't blame them, they were just as scared and angry as he was. The loss of their father and the absence of their leader was hard enough, but having to be driven out of your own home because of something you couldn't stop was even worse.

What where they anyway?...
They weren't heroes..
A hero would have stopped this horrible ordeal from ever occoring...

Donatello sighed and rubbed his tired eyes another experiment failed before him. He groaned . he felt useless. Glancing at the clock he noticed the time. He needed to check on the others. Mostly Leonardo. He wasn't acting like himself. On the contrary he was acting a little crazy. Going over the maps of the sewers. Looking over his work. Mutting to himself now and then.

Making his way upstairs, Donatello knocked on the door. Carrying a tray of food Mikey had prepared.

"Hey, Leo. You still up? Mikey said you didn't come down to eat. I didn't either but I have some leftovers for you. " he said with a raspy, tired voice.

Never did he think he'd be so sick of the color of his own mask.
The strange red substance that contaminated the city's water supply -- that's what started it all. It was all over the news; with people panicking once the contamination started claiming lives, like a disease or something.

It was hopeless. Pathetic. They couldn't do anything but flee. He still had no clue who those freaks were that attacked them out of nowhere.
Damn it all.
He should have fought harder. He could have stopped those goons. Then Splinter would be with them right now...

Week after week and they're still out at the farm. With every day that goes by, Raphael was losing more of his patience. For the past few days, he was rarely at the house, going out to who knows where and back late at night. Whenever he was around, he's more than likely to snap and lash out at the smallest of matters, unwittingly bringing morales down. He was just tired, anxious, and upset. They all were.

The brawny terrapin had not been in bed.
Pushing open the front door, he sluggishly entered the house and made his way towards the kitchen, not appearing as though he cared about the time... or anything and anyone around him for that matter. The others should be asleep; besides Donnie who's been going nowhere in coming up with a solution to the plague, and Leo who's probably glued to that stupid desk, believing that there may still be a way... that there was still hope.

And what did Raph think? It's been a while since they fled. What's left of the city now? What was those black-clad agents' deal? How sure were they that Splinter was still alive?

Why even bother?

Man, the whole situation sucked!  Mikey wasn't taking being away from home and without their father any better than the rest of his brothers.  But what was even worse, was Mikey was constantly bored!  He had to leave everything behind.  His comic books, his video games, his movies...all of them were back home.  Was there even a home anymore?  It bummed the orange-clad turtle out so much because there was no way of knowing if they even had a home to go back to.

Mikey was currently lounging on the couch, but his mind was a million miles away.  He kept constantly thinking about his family, his friends, his home...and what the heck they were supposed to do next.  Leo wasn't telling anyone anything.  It frustrated him to no end with how lost his whole family was.  The normally cheerful turtle wasn't in the mood to even crack the slightest joke to lighten things up.  He just stared at the darkened television screen, occasionally wiping away a stray tear that wanted to fall.  He had cried so much in the beginning.  This tear was certainly not the first and definitely not the last.

The unusually quiet turtle thought he should try sleeping, but he didn't want to go into a room alone.  He really wanted to be close to his family.  He wondered if someone would want to put up with him for a while if he visited.  It seemed like Leo needed the company the most since Raph wasn't around.  Pushing himself up from the couch, he headed upstairs in the direction Donnie had gone, hoping Leo would be answering the door.  He really needed to see his eldest brother.

Leonardo ran a hand over his tired eyes while slouching in his chair. He’d never had this kind of pressure on his shoulders before, and it was starting to tear him up inside. Sure there was always the possibility of danger for them being who they are, but so far he’d managed to always get the team through every obstacle. So how was it that he was able to mess so up badly this time? What did he miss? There was obviously something more going on regarding Splinters disappearance, he just had to figure it out.

The light knock on the door interrupted the turtle’s thoughts. By the second knock, Leo had abandoned his place in the corner to answer. The leader’s tired eyes met Donatello’s, and he remembered his promise to join them for dinner, which Leo obviously broke. Donnie wasn’t looking any better than he felt, and a wave of concern fluttered through him. He pushed the door open further and gestured for the genius to come inside.
“I’m sorry, I…I was caught up in something.”

He noticed Mikey lingering by the top of the steps and did his best to offer him a gentle smile. Leo was deep in other matters that he’d forgotten about his brothers. Splinter would have scolded him for something like this; your brothers are alive and with you, focus on their well being.

Donatello anxiously awaited for the elder to open his door. He knew the other was in much stress at this time, he felt that he could do it alone. That he had to be the one to solve all the problems. If only they could just sit down and just talk to each other, the tall one thought to himself. Maybe then things would be different.

Politely, he knocked again, thankfully he heard the russeling from the other side. He instantly showed his signature gap tooth smile as Leo opened it.

"Man, he looks rough.." He thought.

"I brought you some food." He said out loud holding up the trey for the leader to take. He didn't want to Intrude and anger the brother. Just as he was contemplating weather to go on in or not he heard the soft taping of a nervous Mikey whom lingered on the top steps. He turned slightly to see him. Mikey didn't look so good either. And the fact that he was not his usual jokster self had the taller worried for him.

As the elder motioned Donnie inside, he gestured Mikey to follow with a casual smile . A hand extended for the youngest to take.

As he entered the kitchen, he could tell someone was in the living area, most probably Mikey. He didn't even need to look; by simple method of elimination, it was clearly none other than the youngest of the brothers sitting on the couch staring at the four walls that surround him. Raph couldn't do that. He wouldn't be able to bear just sitting around with the past events playing in his mind. It's mild torture. Then again, what else could he do really?

The red-masked mutant went for the fridge and grabbed a can of soda, then sat at the table and took a few gulps of the cool fizzy beverage. Unlike the other turtles, he didn't mind the solitude; in fact, he preferred it. He was not in the mood for company at the moment, particularly his brothers. But that's not to say he would be chipper if April or Casey decided to invade his personal space.

He's a mess, he knew. He should be there for his family. But really, all he'd do is make things worse than it already was.

Mikey gave a Leo a small smile then took the offered hand from Donnie.  He entered the room after him and noticed how frail Leo looked.  He was one of the strongest people he knew.  After all, Leo had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.  But it still pained Mikey to see him so beat down.

Heck, it sucked that all of them felt that way, but with Leo who was the team's rock, it hurt. Mikey wanted to take away all of Leo's worries with some fun, but he wasn't sure how to break Leo out of his current funk. And that was dragging everyone else down, too. 

"Dude, we miss you, bro," Mikey said as he carefully wrapped his arms around his eldest brother. "You gonna be okay?"

Leonardo stiffened. He glanced down at Mikey as if he didn’t recognize his freckled face brother, then slowly and awkwardly returned the hug with a weak embrace. The leader’s arms were always well muscled, but he didn’t grasp Mikey’s shell like he usually would. He acted differently, as though Leo was afraid of crushing the other mutant. Without answering his brothers’ question, he turned his head towards Donnie and eyed the hot food. Leo hadn’t realized how hungry he was until his brother brought in the tray. “Thank you.”

He pulled away from Mikey with caution, and took the food to set it down on the desk. Leo would eat soon, but the shuffling and sounds from downstairs caught his attention. “Where’s Raphael?”

He hadn’t seen much of the red ninja since arriving here. Leo hasn’t seen much of anyone in fact, but if he were to stop and think about it, the leader would say Raph was avoiding him in particular. He was aware of Raph’s acts of rebellion; his brother would sneak out at night when he thought they wouldn’t notice, and returned early later next day. Normally Leo would be on him like a hawk, but for the time being he was in favor of allowing Raph to have his space. They were alone out here anyway.
“Did he miss dinner too?” 

Donnie had a smiling expression on his face. He knew if he tried to stay positive then perhaps he could somehow get his brothers to smile again. Although it was just a silly theory, Donnie was determined to pretend he had hope. When asked about Raphael, Donnie shrugged and placed his hands behind his back.

"I haven't paid my attention towards Raph. He is probably just being his usual self and 'rebelling' again, missing dinner to get under our skin. Guess the joke is on him because none of us really went to eat together anyway..so.."

The Bo weilder huffed a bit and shuffled his feet awkwardly. He wasn't a real good conversationalist when it came to stuff like this. Looking around the badly lit room, his eyes once more landed on the blue clad and the smile resumed.

"Is there something else I can help you with, Leo?"

The now empty can was crushed in his hand, before simply being tossed aside. With that, Raph rose to his feet and begrudgingly climbed up the stairs. He could hear his brothers in Leo's room. It figures the leader was still huddled in there, so much that he was getting visitors like a patient in a med bay.
He lingered by the door, just in time to hear Donnie's question.

"Ya can help by draggin' Fearless outta that damn room before he starts growin' moss in there."
His words were coarse, saying his piece while passing by to get to his room.

Even by Leo's hug, Mikey knew something was wrong. He really wanted to press for an answer, but decided not to. He knew Leo would talk when he was ready. It was hard to accept, but that's how his brother rolled. Especially his two oldest brothers. He just accepted the hug Leo gave him and in return kept holding onto him until Leo pulled away.

"Haven't seen him," Mikey answered with a heavy sigh. He hated this. He hated all the tension he felt in the house and he hated seeing brothers at odds with each other. Although it wasn't exactly like Leo and Raph were at each other's throats like usual. Things were just too quiet. The uncomfortable silence between Raph and Leo was almost as suffocating as it would be if they were fighting.

Some noise from downstairs told him that Raph was around and soon his voice was heard outside Leo's door. "Raph!" This caused Mikey to grin as he moved for the door, opening it, and practically launched himself at the moody turtle, enveloping him in a tight hug. "Missed you so much, bro." He gave Raph a hug almost as tightly as he did Leo a few moments earlier. He had missed this kind of contact so much.

Donatello was slightly surprised to hear Raph's voice from behind the door. What he said made him sigh in annoyance, he was about to reply a smarass comment but was interrupted by the smaller turtle brother rush over to his brother to give him a hug. Don sighed and rubbed his face unsure what to do at this point. He looked back at Leo then to the side crossing his skinny arms. What a rare sight it was to have all four of the turtles in one area now a days. The one in purple didn't do anything and stayed silent to let Mikey have contact with Raph, and he made a face to the other in red basically telling him he'd better hug his little brother back or risk having a bad time later.

He didn’t appreciate Raph’s attitude. If Mikey hadn’t ran into the red clad's arms like he did, Leo would have demanded that Raphael explain himself further. Instead, he sighed in vexation, and grabbed the half-filled glass of water sitting on the night stand. Leo gulped down the rest of the liquid to refresh his dried throat, then set the cup back down before turning to pick at his food. He didn’t have time to argue with Raphael now, it was too late and Leonardo was too tired. They all were.

“We need to go out into the woods tomorrow and regain our strength,” Leo stated to no one in particular, however Donnie was the only one there. “Exercising out here is essential for our survival, which you all should know by now.” His last few words sounded bitter coming from his mouth, but it was really frustration he was feeling. “Raph has the right idea, though you know I hate admitting it. Sulking around the house isn’t going to get us anywhere.”

Leo took a bite of food-- which was nearly cold by now. To him it tasted alright considering how empty his stomach felt. Donnie didn’t seem like he was in the best shape either, so the blue terrapin finished chewing and lowered his fork.

“Are you alright?”
The concern in his voice was evident.

Raph stiffened at the sudden embrace, just staring dumbfoundedly at the orange-clad turtle. He wasn't counting on that; then again, he should expect this from Mikey. Somehow he's always able to melt away the chilly tension in the air, or at least divert everyone's attention from the intensity.
He nearly wanted to simply brush him off. Nearly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Donatello, and knew the face he was making. Great-- was he just put on the spot here?

The brawny ninja made a noise under his breath, not quite a grunt, before bringing an arm up around his little brother and patted the back of his shell. "Not like I was away on a life-changin' journey..." He mumbled rather dryly.

Then he looked back up at the door to Leo's room, catching a few words. Did he hear right? Their leader was finally coming to his senses?