Chapter Text
Sometimes, Donatello believed that the universe just hated his family.
Logically, of course, he knew that wasn't true. Bad things happened to everyone, after all: some people just tended to have better or worse luck than average.
But it was hard not to feel like you were the universe's punching bag when you were ambushed on a rooftop while on a routine supply run.
Donnie grit his teeth as he dodged a tanto, and then did a back flip to avoid a dragon kick. He swung with his staff, then barely managed to block a reverse punch.
This wasn't how the night was supposed to go. Originally, he'd wanted to stay in and work on an update to his computer. But then, of course, he didn't have the parts he needed to upgrade the new processor, meaning he needed to make a supply run. As annoyed as he'd been, Donatello had planned to find some copper wiring in the dump or dumpsters, then go home.
He certainly hadn't planned on being seen by anyone... Or hunted for that matter.
Especially not by someone who seemed to give them nothing but trouble...
"No clever quips, huh?" Karai effortlessly blocked his bo. "At least Michelangelo has flashy moves. Maybe I should go after him next?"
He knew that was bait and didn't fall for it, but he growled all the same.
Donnie blocked her next three attacks and deflected one of her kunai back at her. It landed on the rooftop, missing her by a foot. He wasn't trying to actually kill her; he doubted he'd be able to, she was more skilled than him. But he knew that a quick whack on the head or a good enough distraction would be enough to let him get away.
Unfortunately, she couldn't have attacked him at a worse time. He'd been up all night (again) working on a piece of Kraang tech they'd stolen from TCRI (no progress yet) and upgrading part of the Shellraiser. Then he'd gone through their usual training and stayed up all day on his projects. The lack of sleep usually didn't bug him (Leo always made him go to bed when he realized how exhausted he was). He'd thought he could get away with going hunting for parts and fixing his laptop before finally getting some sleep.
His current slow reaction time and lack of energy proved how stupid of a decision that had been...
Karai thrust her tanto forward, and Donnie moved to block it... Only to realize far too late that it was a ploy.
As he jumped to the side, he felt a sharp pain race up his left forearm.
He jumped back, and risked a quick look at his injured limb. There was a three inch long gash across his arm, which was already oozing blood. No telling yet if it would need stitches, but it would put him at a disadvantage.
Donatello held his staff up again, trying not to wince in pain.
Karai had taken advantage of his momentary distraction, and had aimed a kunai at him. He narrowly dodged it, with the knife making the tiniest cut on is upper right arm.
He thought he'd averted a serious injury... until he saw Karai's smirk.
"If I'd known it'd be that easy to poison you," she drawled, "I would've pulled the old poison blade trick a long time ago."
Poison? He looked around for the offending kunai, only to find that it had already fallen off the roof.
Once again, his distraction cost him; Karai was already coming at him. Now with poison in his system and a wounded forearm, he was even less combat-capable that he'd been before. Even worse, Karai kept distracting him by gloating about what the poison would do to him, and how much time he had left.
After five minutes of combat, she ended the fight by tripping him and gashing the side of his right calf.
The turtle cried out and fell to the ground, pressing a hand against his wounded leg. This gash, he could tell, was deeper than the one on his forearm.
He heard a dark chuckle, and managed to give a stink eye to the one who'd put him in this mess as she grabbed his weapon and plucked his phone from his belt.
"It's sad, really," Karai smirked as she poked his bleeding leg with his own bo staff. "Leonardo at least would have given me a fair fight. For a student of Hamato Yoshi, you went down way too quick... Though I guess getting weakened by poison would throw off anyone's game."
The turtle tried again to stand, but his breathing was becoming labored. The poison, based on what Karai had said during her monologue, primarily attacked the respiratory system. If not treated soon, the poison would make breathing harder and harder until he eventually ran out of time.
She'd said he'd be gone in thirty minutes. He had twenty-five left.
And it was getting more and more clear that Karai intended to let Shredder decide his fate: she'd told him how excited she was to drop him at her father's feet...
Donatello knew that his best shot at rescue was his brothers. But they were all back at the lair, and Karai had his T-Phone in her hand. Even if the device had been in his hands, though, his breathing was growing too labored for him want to risk talking.
Karai was already coming closer, her own phone in her hand as her smirk grew more predatory.
Please, he thought in desperation. She's going to kill me and my family! Someone help! Anyone!
He never, in a million years, expected someone to hear him.
Just as Karai was getting ready to call the Foot Clan, there was an odd sound. It sounded a bit like the noise flour makes when dumped en masse into a bowl.
Out of the corner of Donnie's eye, he saw pink sparkles.
Then, out of nowhere, Karai was tackled to the ground.
"Stay down," a rough male voice growled at her.
There were more people on the roof; at least four. They were all humans, which meant he needed to get out of there. Even if they'd gotten Karai off of him, the last thing he needed was for someone to see him, panic, and call the authorities.
Donnie tried to get up, winced at the pain in his injured limbs, and fell back. His breathing grew more labored... How much time did he have to get a cure?
"Stay down." A human woman was next to him. She spoke with a thick African accent (though he couldn't pin down the specific region). Despite looking like a young adult, she had snow-white hair.
Rather than fear, she was looking at him with concern and kindness.
"It's alright. My name is Storm," she told him, keeping her voice quiet. "I need you to stay calm..."
She got a good look at his injuries (her eyes widened at the bloody gashes) and noticed his heavy breathing. Fear and worry crossed her face, and in seconds another human woman was next to her. This woman had red hair, and was wearing a type of yellow and black bodysuit.
Storm tried to reach out to him, and he jerked back, momentarily letting his fear show on his face.
He managed to inch away from the two of them and trying to look braver/angrier than he felt. Inside, he was freaking out. Where had all of these people come from? And, more importantly, what did they want with him?
"Easy, it's okay," the new woman told him as she got in front of him and got down on her knees. Before he could scoot away again, she put a finger on his temple, a look of curiosity on her face...
He tried to shake her off. He didn't have time for this, he needed to get home! He needed to figure out an antidote to the poison, he didn't need to be stared at like a freak... or worse, kidnapped and locked up somewhere...
"He's been poisoned," the woman suddenly said to Storm, her voice professionally calm.
Donatello paused at that; how had she known?
"Professor?" The redheaded woman looked up, and began talking to the air. "We're bringing back a patient and a prisoner. I'm going to need your help with this one; meet me in the med bay and tell Layla to get a room ready. Everbee, get ready to transport us home."
Donnie didn't like any of what he'd just heard, and knew then more than ever that he HAD to get out of there. With fear driving him, he tried to get up again...
Then, with no warning, the fourth person on the roof (a young human girl with bright pink hair) ran up to him and the redheaded woman.
Suddenly, two sets of human hands were on his shoulders, and pink sparkles filled his vision.
- - - -
"You poisoned him?" Logan growled at the girl.
Storm gave the girl an equally furious look. She, Logan, Scott, Jean, Hank... They'd spent most of their lives being alienated or oppressed for their mutant powers. Every new mutant brought to the school brought a new variant of the same horror stories: being abandoned, beaten, ostracized, ridiculed, exiled...
Still, seeing someone (a teenager, none the less) go after a mutant (albeit one of the stranger-looking ones) was particularly infuriating.
It was taking all of Ororo's control not to summon a tornado; children being attacked or hurt was one evil she would NOT tolerate. Especially with something as underhanded as poison.
"He... That monster attacked me!" The girl lied, looking at the two of them with begging eyes. "I was just trying to get home, and that mutant pulled me onto the roof and tried to kill me! Please, you don't know how dangerous mutants can be..."
She realized that their glares only intensified.
Wolverine gave a growl that sounded more animal than human.
"We saw the whole thing," he replied. "I don't like liars, and I don't like people who attack kids. Don't make me any angrier."
Storm didn't point out that they hadn't actually seen what had happened: the Professor had heard a cry for help, read the victim's mind, and told them what had happened. Still, the bluff worked: the color promptly drained from their captive's face.
Moving with the speed of a trained and ruthless warrior, the girl twisted out of Logan's grip, grabbed a dagger from her belt, then sank it into Wolverine's chest.
Logan stared the girl down as he grabbed the edge of the knife and yanked it out of his chest without flinching. The blood on his uniform disappeared as though it had never been there.
The girl went from confident to terrified in the span of five seconds. She turned from Logan and tried to run back across the roof... only to be startled by a bolt of lightning appearing from no where and striking a lightning rod directly in front of her. A randomly-appearing patch of ice caused the delinquent to slip and fall on her backside. She sprang up, only to see Wolverine in front of her already, giving her a look he usually saved for Sabertooth.
This time, the girl was smart enough to drop her weapons and hold her hands up.
Ororo let out a subtle breathe (evaporating her ice in the process) and knit her brow as she considered the situation.
While she wasn't a genius with several degrees like the Professor, Jean, Beast, or Forge, Storm was a very perceptive woman. She'd helped rescue mutants from human attackers countless times before, and each one had gone a different way.
But somehow... Somehow this felt different.
Why did it feel like this girl knew the human-turtle boy already?
And why did she get the feeling that there was more to said mutant than just his odd appearance?