Need For Speed

Ranger Ani · Need For Speed

A/N: Yeah, this idea came from something that happened to me. I think I was this close from crashing. I thought that had I just drove fast enough, I would have gotten in front of that car without trouble. . . . DOH! Stupid me. Oh well.

So I thought this up. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: TMNT? I don't own 'em, dangit! Y'all should know that!

And in case anyone would like to leave a review *nudgenudge* here is the link to my story at ff.net:
http://www.fanfiction.net/secure/live_preview.php?storyid=3398290

Need For Speed

Prologue
All my life I’ve had this need for speed. When I drove, I thought the faster I drove the quicker I’d get to where I was going. Obviously, right?

When I was embarrassed, I thought the faster I laughed with others the faster they’d forget it was me they were laughing at.

When I was angry, I thought the faster and longer I smiled the quicker the anger would die down.

When I was sad, I thought the faster I drank the faster my sorrows would drain away.

When I was confused, I thought the faster I talked the faster things would figure themselves out.

When I was scared, I thought the faster I ran from my troubles the faster they’d fade away into nothingness.

I thought I could run from my life. I thought I could start things and leave them unfinished, then run as fast as I could and let someone else take care of them. I thought that if I ran away fast enough, the longer I stayed away, things would settle down.

So when things began to get messed up back home I ran. I ran as fast as I could out the door and to my car. Then I drove as fast as I could to the airport. I got the first ticket to the place farthest from home. I jumped into the plane, buried my face in my hands and never looked out the window. I never looked back. I figured things would sort themselves out.

For me, the plane just didn’t go fast enough. I chewed on my nails till I bet my flesh and made myself bleed. I rocked back and forth till I got a headache, ignoring the frightened looks the person sitting next to me gave me. I read a novel twice, cover to cover, then tore a few pages out and started to make paper cranes out of them. I ate bags and bags of peanuts till I spent an eternity in the restroom letting them out, cursing myself for eating more than I could stomach.

When the plane finally touched ground, I leaped out of it and raced out of the airport. I then stood in the pouring rain with only the clothes on my back. It hit me then: I had neglected to bring any luggage with me in my haste to escape my troubles. I had only fifty dollars in my pocket (two fives, one ten and thirty ones). I knew no one in New York City, knew nowhere where I could stay.

And so my need for speed had gotten me into trouble yet again.

I sat on the curb and buried my face in my trembling hands. I thought of home and my troubles there, I thought of NYC and my troubles there.

Hasty thinking found me in a cab, soaking wet, telling the driver to take me to the cheapest hotel he knew. The man nodded. He drove off.

I sat quietly, twiddling my thumbs, biting my lower lip. I tried to think of a song to get stuck in my head to drown out my thoughts of how badly I had screwed up this time. I wanted to pick at my nails, only I had none left to pick at.

“So what’s your story, kid?”

I looked up quickly. I could see the cab driver’s light brown eyes staring at me in his rear view mirror questioningly. I asked what he meant and he answered back patiently, “What’s your story, lady? Ya look like ya’ve been t’rough some rough times.”

“Nothing.” I answered, averting my eyes out the window. “Nothing important.”

The man didn’t say anything after that. We drove in silence until he turned on the radio to some rock station. I listened quite contentedly to some Fallout Boy song, tapping my foot, while I looked at the sights of NYC. For a while, my troubles left me. The bright lights and fast paced action filled my eyes, clouded my brain, drowned out my troubles. . . .

“Here we are, kid.”

I sighed. We had arrived at a hotel. I wasn’t exactly a five star hotel, but it wasn’t bad looking either. I paid the man the fare (“Take care of yerself, kiddo. I hope yer problems get all worked out. Ya look too nice ter be worrying da way ya are.” “Yeah. Thanks, buddy.”) and went in the hotel. I got myself a room, but I didn’t stay long. I didn’t want to be confined to a bed just yet.

So I left. Not knowing where I was going, I walked along the street. It was already very dark, but I didn’t know the time. I really couldn’t care less. I walked quickly, my hands stuffed in my pockets, thoughts racing through my head.

I was so stuck in my head that I didn’t notice the three men following me. I heard their whispers, but they went in one ear and out the other. So it was a complete surprise when two came up on either side of me and dragged me off into a dark alley way. I was so frozen with shock that I didn’t get to yell out. I let them tie my hands behind my back and bind my feet together, let them stick tape over my mouth. Tears ran down my cheeks, pathetic whimpers were barely muffled by the tape, but they didn’t pay attention. They just laughed and whispered to each other, eyeing me maliciously.

A lump caught in my throat, I struggled. One of them, a huge muscular guy, picked me up and tucked me under one arm, ignoring my wriggling and sobbing.

What was I to do? I felt like a kitten in the hands of an ignorant child, being handled with no regard to my well being. What were they going to do to me?

As I began to ask God to help me in anyway He could, the men began to walk away. I struggled harder, cried harder, prayed faster. I thought that maybe if I had walked faster I would never be in this position.

And then. . . .

TWAP!

The man holding me staggered forward, almost dropping me. The other two whipped around, each holding a knife in their hands.

One of the men gasped and backed away, eyes wide open in terror. “What the fu-“

WHACK!

Something long came down hard on his head; he fell in a heap to the ground.

I was suddenly on the cold, wet ground. The man had dropped me to help his comrades. I flipped around onto my back and stared at the bizarre sight before me.

Someone was hidden in the shadows, whirling this long stick thing above his head. He advanced on the last two of my captives, eyes gleaming threateningly in the dark.

The man who had been holding me growled and made a move to the mystery man. Seconds later that stick thing whacked him on the head, right in-between his beady eyes. His eyes rolled up in their sockets as he collapsed.

The last man stared, aghast, at my rescuer. Mr. Knight In Shining Armor simply twirled his weapon above his head and slowly advanced on the bad guy. Without another moment’s hesitation, the man turned tail and ran.

I was crying again, but this time it was tears of joy. I had been rescued! I was saved! Oh, thank you God!

Just as I was about to thank that Man up there in the clouds once more, Mr. Knight In Shining Armor came out of the shadows. My eyes went as wide as saucers, my heart stopped, my body went rigid with shock. . . and then I fainted dead away.
_____________________________~*~____________________________
I had left the lair to get a little fresh air (not to mention to get away from Leo and Raph’s squabbling). Mikey had come with me, but his ever demanding stomach led him to a pizza parlor and left me out in the night of NYC. Mikey had taken his trench coat and fedora and had his turtle com, so I didn’t really worry that he’d get in trouble. If he did I’d be right there next to him in the blink of an eye, because I didn’t stray too far away from the parlor.

I wasn’t really expecting anything to happen that night (other than my wallet getting lighter due to a certain younger brother asking for some money to help pay for three –count ‘em, three!—large pizzas) so when I saw those three men take that poor woman into the alley way, I was caught by surprise. . . just a bit.

I leaped off the rooftop I had been lounging on, bo staff in hand, and after dodging a crazy driver in the street, sprinted to the dark alley way. Just in time, too. They were just about to make off with her. She was in the crook of the arm of the big guy, kicking her tied feet and wiggling her hips to get loose (to no avail).

Without hesitation I brought the end of my staff down on the big guy’s head. He staggered forward, grabbing at his head, as the two other guys turned to fight.

One of them was able to get a good look at me. He backed away in fright, almost tripping over his own feet. “What the fu-“

I knocked him out before he could get Raph’s favorite word out of his mouth. The big guy dropped the woman with a splash, turned to me and leaped at my throat with a growl. I hit him smack dab in-between his eyes without flinching (not that I’m bragging, though, simply telling the truth) and turned to the last man as Big Guy fell to the ground.

I didn’t even have to attack him; I just did your basic twirl with my staff above my head and he ran like the coward he was. Hah! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle One, bad guys nothing!

A weird noise reached my ears. I looked down curiously to see the woman crying. She looked up at the night sky then back to me, her eyes crinkled in a smile, then back to the sky with something of a hysterical laugh.

I slowly came out of the shadows so I wouldn’t startle her with any quick movements, but my looks did the trick. She stopped crying and looked me up and down, eyes slowly growing bigger, and bigger, and even bigger. . . .

Her body went rigid, and she fainted dead away.

Great going genius boy, I scolded myself, smacking my forehead with my three fingered hand. You should have known this would happen; should have remembered what April did!

“Well,” I said to no one, “At least she didn’t scream.”

Ranger Ani

*clears throat* Hem-hem! Gather 'round, all ye Turtle fan girls and boys! Here be chapter two to Need For Speed. AND here be the link to ff.net incase anyone wants to leave a review *nudgenudge* http://www.fanfiction.net/secure/live_preview.php?storyid=3398290

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Chapter One
Donatello
I kneeled by the woman and turned her over onto her back. Her face was wet from the puddle of rain she had fallen in; beads of the dirty water slid off her tanned face quickly, dribbling down to her neck. I wiped her face dry as best I could with only my hand, and as I did I went over my options of what to do next: I could take her to a hospital, or a police station, and leave her there in good hands. Or I could wake her up, ask her if she lived anywhere near, and take her home. Or perhaps I could take her to the lair, as we had done with April.

Then I went over the problems: I would most likely be seen if I took her to a hospital or police station; I had no disguises at hand, and the police and hospital employees would most likely stop me to as questions of how I had come by her. Not good. If I tried to wake her up, she would either faint once more or scream and run off, fear making her disorientated enough to get her into more trouble. Also, not good. If I took her to the lair, the guys and Master Splinter would also have questions, and when she woke up she would have questions. What’s more, there was the chance that she would reveal us to the world once she learnt of us.

That last part would probably not happen (who would believe her?) but still, I was wary of that option. As I continued to contemplate, a sudden noise from the end of the alley made me look up. The man who had run when I attacked was back, and he had friends with him.

“There!” he sputtered, pointing at me. “See? I told you! He attacked us!”

Six men stood behind him, glaring at me. I should have hid then, but I couldn’t just leave the unconscious woman there. I got to my feet and backed away, pulling the woman with me. I would have to fight them off; there was no question about that. They were closing in on me, and I could hear others moving behind me. I was surrounded.

Clouds drifted across the moon and made the shadows dance across the alley as the men closed in on me, cracking their knuckles and sneering. They all wore dingy clothing, had tattoos all over their exposed skin, and grimy hair. They looked like regular street thugs—except for the one the coward was speaking to. That one was huge; he made the others look like children next to him. Beneath whitish-blonde eyebrows stared icy blue eyes, small and beady. His skin had a pinkish tinge to it that made him seem like he was covered in a large rash. But the thing that made me tense up angrily were the two purple dragons winding their way up his sleeveless arms. Their mouths were wide-open, sprouting blood stained fangs on his shoulders. There was no doubt to what gang he belonged to.

“Well, well, well.” He said in a low, growling voice. “Lookie what we got here. One of the ninja freaks the Master has been lookin’ for.”

I started. His master? The Purple Dragons had only one master, but we had gotten rid of that guy a long time ago. He had to be lying or something. . . .

“I’ve been looking for you freaks for a long time, now.” He said. He slowly came forward, his men spreading out behind him to block any escape paths. “Who’d have thought you’d come to me?”

My shell scraped against bricks; I had backed all the way to the alley wall. I pulled the girl behind me and planted myself in front of her protectively. She groaned softly and twitched; I looked away from her as she began to murmur feverishly. I would have to worry about her later. The group of six men had grown to more than ten, each with a baseball bat or metal pipe in their hands; more from either end of the alley were joining them. Where the shell had they all come from?

My hand went to my belt for my shell cell, but it wasn’t there. My eyes ran wildly over the ground and came to an agonizing stop as I spotted the communicator on the ground. The big guy’s foot crunched down on it, smashing it to bits. I winced. I had worked hard to make those!

“My Master wishes to see you freaks,” the leader continued, pounding his fist into his palm, “He’s been looking forward to meeting with you again for a long time, Donatello.”

“How do you know my name?” I asked to stall the moment when they would attack. I ran my eyes over the group; there were now over sixteen. I could probably have taken a few out and escaped with only a few bruises by myself, but with the girl, it would be almost impossible. There was no way I could protect her and fight them all off at the same time, then escape. Oh boy, was I in for a rumble.

“First, I’m gonna take you down,” he ignored my question, “then, I’m gonna make you tell me where the others are, and I’m gonna have fun doin’ it. Then, I’m gonna take all of you to my Master and let him finish the job.”

I frowned. He couldn’t be talking about who I thought he was talking about. Inconceivable! “What do you want with the girl?”

He laughed raucously. “Nothin’ special. My boys just like to have a late night treat.” They all laughed, eyes glowing in the dark. The leader signaled them to attack, sneering. “Don’t bang him up too much, boys. Leave some for the Master.”

My bo staff whirled in my hands as I blocked the first attack. I ducked a swing from a metal pipe and tripped one of the men up with my bo, bringing my leg around to sweep another’s feet off the ground. Something struck me in the temple; I almost blacked out. As I brought my bo around for another attack, white hot pain erupted on my shoulder. I cried out and faltered, grabbing at my injury. My skin was hot underneath my hand; blood seeped out between my fingers.

I began to get dizzy; my sight grew hazy. Fuzzy images were the men attacking me, smears of black their weapons as they whirled through the chill air towards me. I parried a few, but one hard blow to my shell threw me forward. I collapsed, my knees hitting the cold gravel. My head was spinning; I could barely think. My bo was whisked out of my hands. I grabbed at it, but my fingers were numb; it slipped from my grasp. I began to loose all feeling. Only the dull throb of pain on my injured shoulder swam past the numbness; the hits I took were painless to my unfeeling body. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I would feel them well enough later.

Will there be a later? Was my last thought before I blacked out.

____________________~*~______________________

Michaelangelo
“Don? Don, come on bro! Answer!”

The only answer I got was annoying static. Huffing, I took another bite of my pepperoni pizza. Why wasn’t Donny answering me? I had been trying to call him on the shell cell for over, like, three minutes. I hoped he wasn’t ignoring me; he usually did that when he was working on some project of his. But all he was doing, to my knowledge (which I have very much of, despite of what Raph might say, thank you very much) was sitting on a building top a few blocks away.

“I’ll be on a building top a few blocks away, Mikey.” He had told me before I pulled my trench coat on to walk into Mia’s Pizzas for a snack. “So I’ll be near by if you need anything. Just call me on the shell cell, ok?”

“Like more money?” I had asked hopefully. He hadn’t answered; he had just rolled his eyes and disappeared into the shadows.

So about half an hour later, when I was calling him, he wasn’t answering. Curses!

“Don’t make me go looking for you, young turtle.” I threatened playfully into the shell cell. I listened silently for a few seconds for a reply, which I didn’t get. “Awwww, come on Donny! I wanna go home! It’s getting cold out here.” As if to justify my words, a strong gust of wind jerked at my coat and chilled me to the bone. I pulled my jacket closer, grumbling.

The moon was high up in the sky, full and glowing. Misty clouds drifted across it spookily, like in some horror movie. I stared up at it from the front of Mia’s Pizzas, munching thoughtfully on a crust of pizza slice. People walked in and out of the restaurant, none of them sparing me a glance. Well, actually, one did. It was a little girl, about five years old, with pretty, curly brown hair. She looked up and saw under my fedora; her brown eyes grew wide. Her hand tightened on her mother’s as they walked through the door.

“Momma!” I heard her squeal, “Momma! There was a giant froggy outside! Can we go talk to him?”

“Turtle,” I corrected as the door closed behind the girl and her mom. “I’m a giant turtle.”

Three pizza boxes were tucked smugly under my arm, two of them empty. The third was half-full. As I opened that one to get another slice, the unmistakable sounds of battle reached my ears. Warm pizza slice hanging out of my mouth, I looked towards a building a few blocks away. I couldn’t see anything over there, but I could still hear shuffling. Then someone yelled.

My heart skipped a beat. I knew that yell! All my bros have their own way of yelling when they’re hurt, and that was Don’s.

I didn’t even notice the pizza boxes drop to the ground as I sprinted forward. My coat spread out as I ran, the ends of my ninja mask whipping out behind me under my fedora. With only a few more blocks to go, I got my shell cell and called Leo.

“What?” was his brisk reply. I guessed he was still pissed at Raph.

“Leo, Don’s in trouble!” I replied. “I think he’s hurt!”

“What? Where are you guys?”

“Near Mia’s Pizzas. I’m on my way to help him—“

“We’ll be right there.” He hung up.

Skidding to a halt at the entrance of the alley, I gasped as Don was slung over some big dude’s shoulder. Seriously, this guy was huge! He made the others around him looks like Smurfs.

“Let’s get out of here,” he laughed, hefting my bro like a bag of comic books. “I wanna interrogate this freak as soon as he wakes up. Can’t wait to hear him beg for mercy while I tickle him with those new pinchers we got yesterday.”

Hot blood rushed to my cheeks as the men laughed. Anger welling up in my chest, I grabbed my nun chucks and whirled them in the air by my sides. There were about seven men between me and the big guy and I was gonna take ‘em all out!

“Excuse me,” I growled. They all turned, surprised. “But I believe that’s my brother you got there.”

The thug nearest to me opened his mouth to yell; my chucks whacked him in the middle of his forehead, and again on his temples before he could even get out one note. His eyes rolled up in his head as he crumpled to the ground. I turned immediately to the next guy and knocked him out easily. A metal pipe flashed before my eyes; I caught it in the chains of my chucks. I grinned at the guy holding the pipe; his face paled. The pipe flew out of his hands as I twisted the chucks and jammed my padded knee into his midriff. He made a sound like “Wwwhoooooorrf!” as the air left him. He collapsed; I leaped over his body and right into another thug.

“Looks like Lady Luck is with us tonight, boys!” the big guy with Donny laughed. He was at the end of the alley now, watching contentedly as his men fought me. “We got two of ‘em now!”

“In a few minutes you won’t have any!” I snapped, jumping back from a vicious kick.

The guy just smiled. From his pocket he took out a small gun, aiming for me; it reminded me of the little gun Jay had in Men In Black. As I blocked an attack, he pulled the trigger. A little white blur whizzed through the air and right at my arm. I yelled and jumped out of the way; instead of sticking in me, whatever it was he shot grazed my arm.

Searing pain radiated from the graze. I moaned and glanced down at it; the cut wasn’t deep, but some weird looking, bright white ooze was seeping into it. I could actually see it sinking into the wound. The pain got worse as the last of the ooze sank in; it felt like someone was sticking burning matches into my flesh! Before I could gape at it, a wooden baseball bat swung for my head.

“Whoa!” I yelled, knocking it away. “Dude, get some glasses! My head isn’t a baseball! Actually, it ooks more like a football—“

A wave of dizziness swept over me. I staggered back into some guy’s arms; the arms wrapped around my plastron, squeezing. I struggled, but I felt too weak to get out of his grasp. I growled as my chucks were taken away from me. My wound throbbed painfully. Was it just my imagination, or could I actually feel the ooze pumping throughout my whole body?

I struggled to keep my eyes open as the giant holding Don stepped up in front of me. He grabbed my chin with a huge pale hand and squeezed my cheeks, cold blue eyes gleaming with amusement in the moon’s light. “Well well, boys, we’ve bagged two freaks in one night! I’ve been lookin’ for ‘em for months, and now two of ‘em drop in on us out of nowhere!” he laughed obnoxiously. My ears stung with the volume. “Today must be my lucky day!”

“What about this chick?” asked one of the men. The big guy let go of my chin, allowing me to look at what the other was talking about. A woman, somewhere in her twenties, lay on the ground by the wall. She was bound hand and foot, her mouth taped over. She twitched constantly, her eyeballs roving restlessly beneath her eyelids.

“Have your way with her.” The big guy answered with a shrug. “Make sure to get rid of her properly afterwards, though. We don’t need her reporting us to the cops. We’re keeping a low profile, remember.” He looked back to me as some of the men reached greedily for the poor girl. “This one didn’t get enough poison in him; he’s still awake. Come on, lets get back to HQ before the other one wakes up. This stuff wears off quickly.”

I tried to voice my protest, but all that came out was a sluggish mumble. Completely helpless and drugged, I let my head fall back; the back of my head hit the guy holding me in the mouth hard. He grunted and cursed. I grinned to myself as I felt his blood dribble onto my head. . . ok, so that’s kind of disgusting, I know, but I got some pleasure from letting them know I wasn’t going down easily.

“Give me that.” Mr. Giant snarled, snatching me from my captor and slinging me on his free shoulder. I twisted my head to look at Don; his eyes were half-open, but he was obviously out of it. I tried to speak to him, but my mouth felt numb. I couldn’t even grumble.

I could only wonder where Leo and Raphy were as Mr. Giant walked away with us into the night.[/b]