Catalyst

How long had it been since Lagosi disappeared?  A few weeks--at least a month, right?  The threat of being turned into a vampire spawn had vanished alongside him, but it seemed there were still people on edge about a danger they knew little to nothing about.  So on edge, Donatello had been taking a few extra precautions whenever he went out in case anyone recognized him when he'd been under Lagosi's control.

Of course, despite only going out at night, avoiding large crowds, keeping a low profile, and staying with Lazarus rather than staying at home, there he was lying on the ground with five prominent figures looming over him. Donatello had long since given up trying to fight back, curling himself into a ball as a last-ditch effort to protect himself.

If there had only been two, he'd have been fine.  Maybe he could have walked away with a broken wrist and a limp if there had been three.  Five though?  Five was too much for anyone to handle unprepared.  Every time Donatello tried to throw a punch, at least two fists flew at him from out of sight.  He just couldn't keep up with everything going on.

"Fucker, just die already!"

Another kick came in from the riled voice that just screamed at him, the boot aimed at the back of his head, hitting his fingers instead with a sickening crunch.  Donny's vision blurred after the hit, and he knew at least a few of his fingers were broken, but he refused to move his hands from covering his head.  It seemed like the kicks were finally coming to a slow, and he if could just hold out a little longer..

"..He's not getting up, and if he does, he won't be up long."  A stern voice with some sense.  This was not something Donatello had expected, given the situation.  "Let's get going before someone sees us."

There were a few grunts of disappointment from the figures surrounding him, but it sounded like the others agreed with the voice of reason.  They may have thought they were doing some sort of twisted vigilante justice, but violence and murder couldn't be justified just because they were suspicious of him.

One of the angrier members of the group spat down at Donatello before they kicked him one more time for good measure.  Donatello's body trembled weakly as he heard footsteps walking away from him.  Was it really over?  Did all of them leave, or was the stern voice's request just a ploy to see if he still had life left in him?

The redhead swallowed down every painful grunt as he remained curled up on the cold ground.  He didn't know how long he waited in that lonely alley, but only when he was confident his attackers were gone did Donatello finally push himself up.  As soon as he put pressure on his left arm, he let out a sharp scream before he fell back to the ground.

"Yup.. that's definitely broken," he shakily mumbled.  "Assholes didn't have to stomp on it.."

Donatello felt his head start to spin before a thick, metallic taste started to fill his mouth before he gagged, retching up a large amount of blood.  His vision blurred as his eyelids sagged tiredly, but he did everything he could not to fall asleep.  He couldn't fall asleep.. not before..

Tears welled in his eyes before he firmly squeezed them shut.  The former vampire spawn shook his head back and forth in an attempt to shake away the dizziness.  Using his right arm, he pushed himself up again, this time using his legs to scoot himself to the closest wall for extra support.

"Aah!!"  Donatello wrapped his good arm around his chest, taking a few minutes to steady his breathing.  "Broken ribs, too.  Figures," he sighed as he took his time to move his legs around.  "But.. legs aren't too bad."

He may have been in bad shape, but at least he could get up and limp to his original destination.  But he'd have to hurry if he didn't want to succumb to his internal injuries before he got there.  Fuck the pain; as long as he could keep himself upright with a wall, nothing was going to stop him.  He reached for a nearby trashcan to prop himself onto his feet before leaning against the nearest brick wall.

"O-Okay.  One step at a time.."

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DING DONG!!

The familiar chime startled Lazarus awake, a thin line of drool dripping from his mouth as he sat up from his desk.  It seemed he'd fallen asleep after furiously taking notes on all of his recent research on vampirism again.  Drowzy eyes glanced over to his desk clock as he yawned.  It was late.  Too late to reasonably come over as a last-minute surprise.  That could only mean one person was at his door, and the sudden realization sent a spike of energy through the scientist as he clumsily stumbled to his feet.

DING DONG!  DING DONG!  DING DONG!!

Oh?  It appeared his visitor was in a hurry.  Perhaps they had more of the information he'd been looking for.  Lazarus's excitement only went up at the thought as he rushed as fast as he could to his front door, tripping over one of his carelessly discarded jackets before he reached the doorknob.

"I'm here, I-I'm here!  What's got you in such a--"

But before he could finish his question, the blond felt the dead weight of his visitor fall against him.  Caught entirely off guard by the sudden contact, Lazarus fell backward to the floor as his visitor stumbled directly on top of him.  If it hadn't been for the horrifying scream of pain, he would've taken a moment or two to poke fun at the person on top of him for being in too much of a hurry.  Lazarus immediately sat up, carefully pulling Donatello onto his lap.

"D-Dondon??"

No, this wasn't a time to talk or ask questions.  Donatello was in bad condition.  Critical condition.  The raggedness of the other man's breathing alone was proof enough that he couldn't waste any time trying to figure out what happened.  At this point, he needed to figure out what to do to keep Donny alive.

Lazarus rushed to his feet, tossing one of Donatello's arms over his shoulders to provide the support he'd need to stand and walk.  Every whimper and cry stung the blond to his very core, but he couldn't spare any time being too gentle if he wanted to get the other to the hospital in time.

The moment the hospital came to mind, Lazarus thought of Timothy.  If the worst came to be, maybe he could..

"L..Laz I.."

Lazarus's train of thought broke when he heard the voice speak up, but Donny was in no shape to talk, instead coughing up more blood.  This wasn't good.  At this rate, there was no chance of them getting to the hospital before Donatello..  No, those were distracting thoughts.  They were of no use to him in the moment.

"Sit here," Lazarus said, trying to sound more confident than he felt about the whole situation.  He gently led Donny over to the nearest seat.  "I-I'm calling Timothy over.  I can at least bandage you up before he gets here.."