Song: Kids In The Dark - All Time Low

The Footbots don't even have time to react.  Using my ninja stealth, I take down all three of them without being detected.  Once I am sure the coast is clear, I motion for Charlotte to step inside.

   She immediately wanders over to the wall covered in small television-like screens.  Each one is connected to a different camera located in certain parts of the lair.  Just like Charlotte mentioned before, four of them are put up somewhere in Shredder's throne room.  There's even one in the cell area, proving my theory right about us being watched in there.

   Charlotte scans the hundreds of buttons on the table before us.  Her expression droops to a frown and she furrows her eyebrows.  "Got any idea how to turn these things off?" she asks after a minute of puzzled silence.

   I whip out my sai.  "Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea," I say through gritted teeth.

   "Raph, don't-" Charlotte starts to protest, but she's too late.

   I start pounding my sai into the tray of buttons repeatedly.  I instantly regret it, however, when sparks starts to fly off.  The surveillance screens flicker off, yes; but so does the rest of the power in the room as well.  We are left in complete darkness.

   "Good going, genius," Charlotte remarks sarcastically.

   "Hey, you didn't have any better-" I start to snap at her, until I notice her eyes glittering with amusement.  Instead of yelling, I wrinkle my nose and point a sai at her, though it isn't in a threatening way.  "Ha, ha.  Very funny," I sniff.

   Suddenly, the door into the surveillance room opens.  Fishface's shadowy outline looms in the doorframe, his eyes glowing with triumph.

   "I thought I would find you in here." He smirks.  "I knew you were traitors all along.  Now I have something to report to Master Shredder." He sounds more overjoyed than Michelangelo when a new Crognard the Barbarian episode premieres.

   I hold my sais out to my sides and curl my lip dangerously.  "You won't be telling him anything," I growl.

   Before Fishface can escape, I lunge at him and slam him into the floor.  I wrestle him down and raise my fist to punch him.  Just as my hand collides with his temple, he hooks one of his robotic legs under me.  I get twisted and tossed to the side, lost in the effects of gravity until I am lying winded on the floor.

   Fishface smirks deviously and leans over me.  He opens his mouth, surely to make a mocking joke, but I doesn't give him the opportunity.  I leap up, grab one of his arms, and try to flip him.

   Unfortunately, I miscalculate his strength.  I end up being picked up and spun around in circles until I smack into a wall.  I groan in pain as I sink to the floor, rubbing my arm.  A dark bruise is already beginning to form on it.

   Still, I don't give up.  I stand up, making sure Fishface keeps his eyes on me.  I don't want him going after Charlotte.

   "You're going down, ugly sushi platter!" I snarls as I charge at him.  I yell and ram my head into his chest, forcing him into a wall, just as he did to me.  I put my sais back in their sheathes and pin Fishface's arms against the structure, glaring furiously at him.

   "The Shredder is done!" I spit as my mouth nearly foams with rage.  "And so are you!"

   A new voice speaks, sending a chill up my spine.  "Think again, turtle."

   I gasp as claws sink into my shoulders and drag me away from Fishface.  I know before I turn around that it's Tiger Claw.  Horrified, I realize that Rahzar accompanies him.  I am no match for all three of them!

   Wincing at the pain in my shoulders, I reach down to unsheathe my sais.  But I'm not fast enough, and I earn a face full of dog mutant fist.

   I stumble to the side and glare at Rahzar.  My anger is causing me to lose focus, and when I step forward, I instantly regret it.  I'm in the perfect range for Tiger Claw's throwing knife.  I yelp as the blade soars right by my arm, leaving a deep cut.

   I am surrounded by all three mutants.  I look back and forth between them all, my teeth gritted angrily.  I am breathing heavily with rage, and my head spins as I decide what to do.

   Between my whirling mind and my vicious thoughts, I can't settle on an attack fast enough.  Tiger Claw leaps and uses his feet to kick me against a wall.  I cough as the impact knocks the breath out of my body.

   It's Rahzar's turn.  He hooks his long, dangerous claws through my wrist, making me scream in agony.  I get tossed to the floor like a video game controller, moaning as I feel my plastron chip.

   "Raph!" Charlotte shouts in horror.

   Fear strikes me as Tiger Claw turns his attention to Charlotte.  A dark smile appears on his furry lips.  "You're next, cub," he growls, before turning back to me.

   Though every bone in my body says to stay down, I shakily get back to my feet.  My arms hurt too bad to pull my sais out, so I form a low boxing stance and stare at Tiger Claw, ready for another attack.

   But it isn't the tiger who lunges.  It's Fishface.  The fish mutant uses his powerful, robotic legs and kicks me upwards.  I pull my head into my shell as I collide with the ceiling.  I land on my back side, which sends a jolt of agonizing pain through my body.

   I feel myself get kicked around a few more times before I finally come out of my shell.  By then, I am in too much pain to defend myself.  Every inch of my skin is bruised, and my voice seems to have disappeared.

   "You're a disgrace to the Foot," Rahzar growls in his raggedy voice.  He rips my black bandana off, leaving my face bare and vulnerable.  He tears the mask in half and tosses it to the side.  "Now, to finish you off."

   "No!" Charlotte yells as she tries to push through the circle.  "Don't hurt him!"

   "Back off, little girl," Rahzar sneers.  He picks her up by her hair and pins her to a wall, his sharp teeth barely an inch from her throat.  "One move, and you both will have the same fate."

   Through my spinning vision, I see Charlotte glare at the mutant.  Then, she slaps him.

   "Get away, you ugly freak!" she shouts in his face.

   Even though I am suffering internal and external bleeding, I somehow manage to grin.  I vaguely remember when she used to call me that.  It's nice to not be on the receiving end.

   But my amusement is cut short as Rahzar slams his fist into her face.  She slips out of the mutant's grip and collapses on the floor, unconscious.  Her nose is tilted at an awkward angle and blood steadily streams out of it.

   "Char-!" I start to call her name, but my lungs are in too much pain.  I cough and a few drops of red liquid splatter the ground beside me.  That isn't a good sign.

   I try to crawl towards her, but Fishface abruptly kicks me onto my back.  He squashes my plastron with his foot, ignoring my cry of agony.

   Tiger Claw motions for Fishface to get off of me.  "You're both going to Shredder," he purrs and throws me over his shoulder.  "He will enjoy skinning your pelts off."

   As Charlotte and I are carried out of the room, I resist the urge to whimper.  Everything hurts.  Even breathing puts me in a blazing fire of pain.  The only thing that keeps me from passing out is the fear of not waking up again.  I can't leave Earth until I know my team is safe.

   I cough up a few more drops of blood as my back collides with the ground again.  I open my eyes, expecting to be in a cell.  But I'm not in one.  I lay in the middle of the Shredder's throne room.  And towering over me is my eldest brother, Leonardo.  His blue eyes are wide with concern, his mask-less face still foreign to me.

   Looking behind him, I realize he has several others with him.  Slash, Leatherhead, Dr. Rockwell, and Pigeon Pete stand with dignity.  The latter look a lot better than they had last time I saw them.  Casey, April, Elizabetta and my brothers wear determined expressions.  Even Lucy and Lilac look angry, though they hide in the middle of the ranks for protection.  All of them have obviously grown close in the need for survival.  I can't help wishing I was there to witness it.

   By the position they're standing in, the Shredder caught them, despite their best efforts to sneak in.  Footbots encircle all of the exits, preventing any form of retreat.  Our advantage didn't work very well.

   Leonardo's gaze hasn't left me the whole time I've laid in front of him. "Raph..." he whispers softly, his eyes glistening with sadness.

   Despite the torment I am undergoing, I put a strained smile on my face.  No matter what, I can't let Leonardo sink back into depression.  He needs me to stay strong for him, even if I have one foot in the grave.

   "Hey, Leonardo.  What took you so long?" I croak jokingly.

   "Raph, Char! No!" Lucy gasps from within the ranks of the team.  Her gray eyes sparkle with tears, and her face is as white as a sheet.  She looks as if she wants to be beside us, but the fear of getting attacked keeps her away.

   Michelangelo rushes to my side anyway, tears rolling over his plump cheeks.  It might be my imagination, but his freckles don't look near as happy without his orange bandana on.

   "Raph, buddy!" Michelangelo chokes with emotion.  "You're hurt!  And naked!"

   "Yeah," I cough, wondering how he can still joke around while he's so torn up.  "I noticed."

   Donatello bends down on my other side.  His dark, russet eyes are glowing with despair.  He put his hands on the worst of my wounds, attempting to stop the bleeding.  I groan.

   "Sorry," he apologizes, but he doesn't let up the pressure.  "Stay with me, Raph.  Please," he begs desperately.  For a turtle that hardly expresses brotherly emotion, he seems very panicked.

   My vision begins to get blurry and I feel dizzy.  I glance to my side.  Charlotte is lying a few feet away, looking peaceful.  The gentle rise and fall of her chest is the only sign she's still alive.

   I look up at Leonardo again.  His eyes are overflowing.  When he catches my eye, he closes them to hide the tears, though that just makes them trail down his cheeks.

   I can't keep my own eyes open any longer.  I am exhausted; mentally and physically.  I cough a few times, before relaxing my eyelids.

   Immediately, this causes a panic.  "Raph!  No!  Wake up!" Michelangelo sobs and buries his face into my plastron.  I ignore the agony it brings me since I don't have the heart to send him away.

   "I'm sorry I failed you," I whisper.  "You relied on me to get you in without being detected, and my stupid idea of smashing the camera control panel gave us away." It's all my fault.  I messed everything up again.

   My words are meant for Leonardo, but it isn't he who replies.  It's the Shredder.

   "Your mistake in the surveillance room was not what gave you away," he laughs coldly.  "I knew the moment you turned yourself in that it was a set up.  I am not naïve, turtle."

   I knew it.  I knew it wasn't that simple.  But the worst part wasn't my failure to convince him; it was my failure to protect my brothers.  Now, they're all going to die because of me.  And I can't save them.

   Leonardo somehow senses I am blaming myself.  "It doesn't matter if you knew," he growls at the Shredder, his voice deep with defiance.  "We will still take you down.  We've trained all our lives for this, and we're finally ready."

   "The Shredder's shady laugh makes the ground shiver.  "You pathetic creature.  I am the one who took your father away, and I will easily do the same to you."

   The mention of Master Splinter sends a dagger of vexation through my heart.  It's so intense that I whimper at how painful it is.

   "Raph?" Michelangelo gasps softly. His eyes haven't stopped leaking.  "Are you gonna be alright, dude?"

   But Donatello is the one who answers.  "He's lost a lot of blood," he says gently, though his anxiety shows through.

   I can't let the genius turtle break our little brother's heart.  He's too fragile.

   Ignoring the pins and needles in my arm, I touch Michelangelo's shoulder lightly.  "I'll be fine, Mikey," I choke out.

   Michelangelo's crystal-blue eyes sparkle with trust that only siblings can share.  "You swear?"

   "I swear," I promised hoarsely, before my throbbing head becomes too much, and I am pulled into a spinning darkness.