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"GEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Casey jumped, almost dropping his hockey stick. He spun towards the source of the scream.
"Donnie!"
Donnie was hunched over, clutching his left arm as blood spurted from the crook of his elbow. The Footbot that he'd been fighting raised its saw blade-
But its neck joint was no match for Casey Jones' epic swing. With a sharp crack and the fizzling of circuits, the Footbot was decapitated.
He glanced around, and saw no more movement. "I think that's the last of 'em!" He turned just in time to see Donnie fall to his knees, elbow still clutched tight. He was breathing hard and fast, and his face was pinched with pain.
There was… a lot of blood.
The wound was pulsing, spurting more blood with every beat of Donnie's racing heart. It was spraying between his claws like a pinched garden hose, splattering the rooftop beneath him.
Casey fell to his knees beside him and pulled up his mask, hands up and twitching with indecision. "Donnie, what do I do? Oh, shit, there's so much blood…"
Between gasping breaths, Donnie said, "Call… the others. Tell them t'… bring the Shellraiser. Fast."
"Okay! I can do that, no problem!"
Casey yanked his gloves off and dialed Leo, knee bouncing as he waited impatiently for her to pick up.
Riiing… riiing… rii-
"Kind of in the middle of something!" The sound of laserfire could be heard over the phone.
"It's an emergency, Donnie's bleeding a lot and he said to call you guys!"
More laserfire, then, distantly- "Guys, fall back! Donnie's in trouble!"
Leo brought the phone back to her face and said, "We're on the other side of town, the fastest we can get there is ten minutes. Just hang tight, we're coming!"
Then she hung up, leaving Casey alone with Donnie again.
"Leo says they'll be here in ten minutes. Is that- you're not gonna, like, b-bleed out, are you? Cuz, cuz if you are, then I'll- I'll-"
"Casey," Donnie's voice was firm enough to pull Casey out of his spiraling thoughts. "I'm not gonna… bleed out. But you need… to apply a tourniquet."
"I need to- I don't know how! And isn't that, like, super dangerous? I mean, sure, my dad's into survival stuff, but this is a whole 'nother level!"
"That's okay, I'll walk you through it." Donnie voice was steadier now, but it was clearly taking significant effort. "But you have… to do it. I think the artery… is severed."
Casey felt like he was gonna throw up. But he didn't. Very brave of him.
He took a deep breath. Then another, for good measure. "Okay, okay. What do I do first?"
"I need to… keep pressure on the wound. Take your bandana off… and then wrap it around my arm, above the joint."
With shaking hands, Casey did as he was told. He never took his bandana off, but he wasn't about to start an argument.
"Okay, now tie a half knot. Get your pocket knife- keep it closed- put it on top… and secure it with another half knot. Good job, Casey, you're doing well."
He certainly didn't feel like he was doing well. He mostly just felt like he was about to pass out, and he wasn't even the one gushing blood like a faucet.
"Casey, look at me. This next part… is really going to hurt. I might scream, or cry. You need to turn the pocket knife… until either the bleeding stops… or you can't turn anymore. Don't stop until then, no matter… how much pain I'm in. Can you do that, Casey?"
Casey's clothes were soaked with blood and sweat. His hands were trembling. His heart was beating so hard his chest ached. His vision was blurring, from tears or adrenaline he wasn't sure.
But Donnie's red-brown eyes were looking into his with an intensity unmatched- and he felt the panic recede, just that little bit.
"Y-yeah. I can do that."
He grabbed Donnie's upper arm with one hand, and the pocket knife with the other, and started twisting. He could feel the resistance increasing as the fabric pulled tighter around Donnie's arm.
After a few twists, Donnie gasped. "Don't stop."
A few more, and Donnie's breathing was getting faster. "Keep going."
Casey kept twisting. Donnie's breaths had taken on a reedy, gasping quality, and his expression was pure pain.
"Ngahhhh… MMM, MM- Fuck! Fuuuuck that hurts, oh shit…"
Donnie had moved his other hand off the wound so that Casey could watch the blood flow. Bright red continued to seep out of the wound, pulsing with the beat of Donnie's heart.
Donnie's body was tense, and his arm kept jerking as if to pull away, but Casey held it in place. He kept twisting, even as the swearing devolved into gasping sobs.
Finally, finally, one last twist and the bleeding stopped. Donnie's arm was complete dead weight in Casey's lap.
"Okay, Donnie, it's done. How- how do I keep it from untwisting?"
Donnie breathed hard, trying to get his sobs under control. "M-my… my mask… tie it off…"
Casey pulled Donnie's mask off, letting his glasses fall into his lap. Hands still trembling, he tied the pocket knife in place.
"Okay, it's done. It's over, Donnie, I'm finished."
"M-make… make a note of th'… th' time…"
Casey clicked his phone on. "Four-oh-six AM," he said. He opened the notes app and wrote it down.
Donnie's eyes fell closed, and he looked like he was about to pass out. Casey patted his face until he opened them and said, "Your siblings'll be here any second, 'kay? You gotta- you gotta stay awake. Just stay awake, you'll be okay. You're gonna be fine." He tried to ignore how shaky his voice was.
Donnie had stopped sitting up on his own at some point, now leaning on Casey's shoulder as he cried. Casey ran one hand over his carapace, like he was petting a cat. The turtles liked that, right? He was pretty sure they liked it.
Donnie wasn't telling him to stop, at any rate.
Casey looked at his arm. God, there was so much blood. Donnie's lower arm and plastron were bathed in red, and it had covered Casey's lap as well. It was on his shirt, his arms, his hands, sticky and tacky and-
Casey looked at his face instead. The turtles' masks mostly covered their facial markings, but now he could see the spots and curved lines tracing around Donnie's half-open eyes. His face was pinched with pain, his breathing fast and shallow.
Casey pulled him closer.
"You're gonna be just fine."
