Fractured

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT

It had all been going great.

Obviously, nothing ever goes well if it seems too good to be true. There had only been a few of them at first but they must have called for backup because it seemed like they would never end. Waves upon waves of them appeared and went down, not before getting their lucky shots in though. Some of them were luckier than others.

The four brothers became exhausted. They hadn't expected those numbers – they hadn't even expected to fight that night. Leo wanted to retreat. They needed to retreat somehow. He had been thinking up a plan when Raph broke off from the team and disappeared.

Mikey looked around, confused. They'd been fighting as a kind of team until that point. Raph had been taking out any of Mikey's stragglers and Mikey had been taking down any of Raph's stragglers. They both had each other's backs. Then he was on his own. He could handle that, he just wished Raph would have given him the head's up.

Raph had spotted the hole that those cockroaches were spilling out of – the ally below. He'd made it down to the second level on the fire escape when he realised just how many of them there were. Their tactics seemed to be 'they can't go on forever.' Their numbers were way too great. Even if most of them were amateurs.

Nevertheless, Raph fought hard as usual. He'd gotten himself into the mess and he was going to get himself out of it if it was the last thing he did. He managed to fight his way down into the masses before they had the chance to take him on. He preferred to be the initiator in the fight and that night was the same.

The flow of ninja had been mostly cut off by Raph and Mikey found himself without any attackers. He glanced over at Leo and Don who were caught up in their own fights. There weren't many ninja left on the roof so he made his way over to the fire escape. Looking down, he nearly cried out. Raph was surrounded by so many of them he wondered how his brother was still alive.

"Mikey! Go back!" Raph warned. Mikey snorted. As if. He wasn't going to let Raph have all the glory this time. Raph's shouting alerted Leo.

"Mikey! Get back here right now!" he sounded desperate. Mikey didn't see the harm in it. They were going to have to get Raph out of it somehow. He hopped down and landed next to him, swinging his 'chucks and grinning like a maniac. His favourite style of fighting was as a team. Nothing like a good old night of bonding with your big brother.

Raph growled. Mikey shouldn't have joined in.

"Augh!"

Mikey swivelled around. Raph had dropped his sai and he was holding his left leg with a grimace on his face. That was the last thing he knew.

Donnie watched as one of the foot ninja managed to injure Raph's leg. He sank to the ground and fell on his side, blood pooling around him. Mikey turned to see what had happened. It happened in slow motion. One brother down, then another. Another ninja swung a Bo right on to Mikey's head and he crumpled on to the concrete. The remaining ninja vanished on command. Their mission complete.

"No!" Leo cried. When they reached Raph he was mumbling and his eyes were unfocused. The blood around him had spread over to Mikey. The wound in Raph's leg pumped out more and more of it uncontrollably as Leo tied his bandana around it tightly. Donnie checked Mikey. He was unconscious. Still breathing, still in one piece. He picked him up.

"I need Raph in the lab. Right now."

Leo had never heard his brother so serious.