Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(Season 5 Episode 10: Lone Rat and Cubs)

The rat was surrounded.

The Kraang Droids sent after the mutants were circling him now, The cart of small mutated turtles left stranded behind him at the dead end of the sewers he had been running through.

too much was happening but Thinking through his options the Rat stood calm, watching as one of the kraang droids that looked deceivingly human stepped forward and sent out an order to the other droids around him and the children.

“Kraang will dispose of Rat Mutant but take little Mutants.” The suited Kraang spoke, The voice sounding more robotic than human but the words cutting through all the same.

A few Kraang Droids around responded to this command, giving their acceptance as they all posed to attack.

The Rat stood still, moving backward to retrieve a long sword from the cart behind him without taking his eyes off the Droids before him.

“Never.” The Rat spoke, Unsheathing the sword and stepping away as the kraang moved to attack.

The Droids were Quick but the Rat was faster taking out Kraang droid after droid as they attempted to get to the cart behind him.

Even with the numbers of the Kraang against him, the Rat fought well, ducking over the cart and moving away as the droids kept coming, leading them further and further from the Baby Turtles who seemed to be watching, intrigued by the action from the cart.

It didn’t take long for the rat to get his bearings on the situation, taking out one droid after another until the last one lay destroyed at his feet, His breathing heavy as he stood back from the mess of metal before him.

Leaving only the suited one who seemed to be out of his sight now.

He realized how far he was from the cart as he took in a breath, Scanning the room as he realized the last remaining Kraang was standing by the very cart he was to protect.

“LEAVE THEM BE-“ The Rat called as he dashed forward, jumping from where he had been fighting before to attack the last kraang, sending the cart across the sewer floor.

The Kraang was quick though, Using the momentum of the fall to make the rat discard the sword he had been wielding.

running out of options, the rat seemed to panic only for a moment while struggling to attack. An idea flashed over his face as he used his head as a weapon, smashing the top of his skull into the head of the robot in front of him as if it were a rock.

the attack seemed to stun the Kraang droid leaving it to let go of the Rat as He tried to free himself again, ripping the fleshy part of the Kraang out of the suit as he did.

the ringing in his ears from the blow was deafening as he moved to stand, scanning the sewer room again to find the cart and his turtles

He froze when he spotted it again, the cart now teetering on an opening in the sewer tunnel.

An opening to a sharp drop.

The rat moved quickly, jumping up from where he was and dropping the still-moving kraang as he ran, yelling something nearly unintelligible as he watched the cart slip from the edge.

The distressed chirps from the cart as it fell echoed from the walls of the sewers as the Rat jumped over the edge of the tunnel to follow them.

To save the turtles inside.

not realizing one had slipped from the cart before it fell.

and was left.

________________

Kraang Droid #94872637 Online…

Status Report: Kraang was briefly disconnected from the body but was quickly reinstalled. Rat mutant and Little mutants have disappeared but one Little Mutant was left. Orders?

Status received.

Orders from Kraang Prime: Return the little mutant to Dimension X for Testing.

Orders Received.

________________

Splinter shot from his cot on the floor of the dojo, a cold sweat beading down his back as he tried to get his breathing back under control.

The nightmare again, the night he brought the turtles home. But lost one.

the memory pledged his mind still as he moved to stand, needing confirmation that his other Sons and daughter were okay.

Making his way to the door of the dojo he peered out to the main room of the lair, his two sons and daughter were sitting around the Television he had found about a week back and gifted them for their 8th mutation day that had just passed.

Leonardo, his “eldest”, was sitting in the middle of the two rambling about the show that was on while flapping her hands as she spoke to express her excitement about certain parts.

Donatello, his more technical son, seemed bored with the show but watched nonetheless, pointing out flaws with the plot and earning himself a couple of glares from the turtle in blue.

Michelangelo, his more playful son, seemed to enjoy the show the same as his sister, exchanging theories on episodes to come while Donatello just listened.

Splinter himself let out a sigh as he watched, the sight of his children getting along always put the old rat at ease but the memory of the lost one still plagued him as he made his way back to the dojo, leaving the steady noise of the television and his daughter’s rambling behind him.

He crossed the dojo slowly, making his way to the small shrine he had built when they first found this place.

A small cracked terrarium was placed on the shelf before him, along with photographs he had kept from his old life and a red mask draped over the shelf.

The 4th Mask he had kept from the turtles

The one for the Turtle he lost.

Chapter Text

Donatello dragged his big sister down the sewer tunnels, running back and forth from the tunnel offshoots to look for metal and scraps as Leo followed quietly behind, groggy from sleep as Donnie had just woken her up about 20 minutes ago to go with him into the tunnels.

On their 8th mutation day about a week ago, Donnie had Begged splinter to allow him to go into the sewer tunnels beyond the lair.

Their father had always been very strict when it came to where they were allowed to go growing up.

Never wonder about the tunnels.

Never go up to the surface.

Mikey and Leo never had any issue with this other than the normal wanting somewhere bigger to run around or train but Donnie always wanted to go explore for tech!

Splinter would go into the sewers or up-top to find food or supplies when they were younger and would bring back metal scraps and old computer parts he found trashed in the tunnels for Donnie to mess with.

But when Splinter found a way to get up to the surface easier he stopped going into the tunnels altogether.

So Donnie getting his hands on parts and metal was way harder..

So when Splinter finally caved and said he could go as long as he took Leo or Mikey he was ecstatic!

It took a bit to convince Leo to go with him but he had finally done it the other day, getting her to promise she would tag along in the morning.

So here he was now, running from tunnel to tunnel to look for any scrap metal or old trashed computer parts.

He actually had some luck earlier and found an entire trashed laptop someone had apparently dumped near a sewer grate.

How someone could dump an entire computer was beyond him but it looked pretty beaten up so he could guess it broke or something.

Leo had the forethought to bring her messenger bag for storage so she was currently just following Don with the computer and some other scraps she had picked up.

Although she was still exhausted Leo did enjoy following around Don while he searched, the excited look on his face when he found another scrap piece or random junked phones was always fun to watch.

Although when he found the glowing triangle thing she got nervous…

Donnie had been a ways ahead of Leo for quite a bit now when he found the thing.

He had peaked his head around another tunnel entrance when he spotted a small magenta glow coming from next to one of the sewer openings, as if whatever it was had been dropped down it.

Donnie glanced back to Leo who was still a few tunnels down before he went to check it out.

It was a small device, just about the size of his hand. It was triangular in shape and looked as if it was made of very pristine metal with magenta lights in the corners.

The thing was gorgeous, although from what Donnie could see it didn’t seem to do anything.

There were no buttons, no opening, nothing-

It just looked like a solid triangle with lights.

Donnie wanted to try and take it apart when he heard his big sister's voice from down the hallways again, calling him back so they could head home.

As much as Donnie wanted to investigate the tunnels more he obliged, sticking the triangle in his palm and running back out to meet Leo.

Leo looked at the thing confused but didn’t ask about it other than a simple “What is it” but even Donnie didn’t know the answer to that-

Back at home, Donnie dumped the bag of scraps and old tech out on the table of his “lab” which was just one of the lair’s old rooms with a table and some old toys he had made when he was a kid and now some scrap metal.

It wasn’t much but he liked the place and he planned to make it look more like a Lab in time.

Leo took the bag back a little later and left him be, going to watch some TV show with Mikey before Splinter called them all for bed in an hour or so.

Donnie went immediately to tinker with the old laptop he had found but he couldn’t seem to let himself focus..

He wasn’t sure what it was but the little glowing triangle just kept drawing his attention-

So after about 10 minutes he gave up and decided to try and figure out what the thing was..

It looked exactly the same as before, the glow still strong around the corners and Donnie picked it up and turned it over in his hands a couple times.

He was 8 but he was smarter than most people he knew.. which weren’t many- but he still counted it!

Talking a small screwdriver he got his hands on some time back he tried finding any opening in the object, and corner he could pull apart.

The thing seemed completely solid though.

Even the edges with the lights seemed to just blend into each other-

Next test. Break-ability.

Donnie held the device up high, as high as he could at least, and threw the device down.

The thing bounced for a moment but nothing happened..

He threw it again.

Nothing.

Again?

Nope.

Aga-

“Hey Donnie what’s all the noise?” Donnie’s head snapped to the side when he heard a voice from the door, Mikey was standing there looking curious as to what Don was doing.

“Oh uh- Hey Mike-“ Donnie smiled at the turtle as he walked into the lab.

“What’s that?” Mikey’s small voice sounded genuinely curious as he walked closer to Don holding the device still.

“I don’t really know- I’m trying to see if I can break it.” Donnie looked at the device as he spoke, flipping it in his hands a couple times.

“Can I try?” Mike asked as he held his hand out.

“Sure, just don’t break anything else,” Donnie stated as he handed the thing over.

Mikey nodded and looked over the device before holding it above his head and using his entire body weight to throw the thing across the room.

The device hit a wall and bounced, going over the boy's heads as they ducked and bouncing again before it stopped. Mid-air.

Donnie watched the device in awe.

It froze.

About 3 feet in the air.

Attached to nothing.

Mikey was still ducked down as he looked up, eyes wide as he saw where the thing had landed.

“How-“ Mikey muttered before it moved again.

The corners of the device moved, seemingly detaching from the device and floating around it parallel to where they had been.

It seemed to be making a triangle in shape where the pieces were.

And it started glowing..

More than before, the thing seemed to make some sort of sheet of light between the pieces of the device.

like a triangular portal-looking thing..

Neither of the boys moved as they watched it.

The sheet of light was no bigger than one of the boy's heads but no one wanted to get close enough to measure.

“Hey Mikey where did you go?” Leo’s voice rung out from the main room as she got closer to the “lab”

Mikey and Donnie glanced at each other but no one responded.

“Hello is anyone-“ her voice cut off as she opened the door to the lab. Spotting the sheet of light floating in the middle of the room.

“WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?!”

Chapter Text

The Turtle was quiet while the Kraang worked again.

It was the 3ed time in the last day or so that they had needed blood and tissue samples from him and at this point he was just trying not to flinch at every incision.

He was used to this of course.

Blood and tissue samples were nothing compared to normal tests but they still stung-

Especially when they were taking this much this often.

The samples only took a couple of minutes while the 8-year-old sat patiently, kicking his feet over the edge of the table as the droids finished up their sample collecting.

The turtle could put two and two together on why they needed so much recently, they had put him on some new chemical and needed samples of the results.

He wasn’t sure what it was, they never told him much, but he felt the results.

He always felt the results.

But that was beyond the point, right now he just wanted them to give him the normal bandages and meds so he could go back to his “room”

The small cell-like room he had made his own over the years.

The turtle was finally let go after a few more minutes of samples before being handed the proper medical supplies and kicked out of the medical room, being instructed to return to his cell.

The mutant wasn’t quite sure why they didn’t bother to walk him there even since he had grown more but he liked the time to walk, and the opportunity to wonder.

So long as he wasn’t caught.

Normally he would take “detours” around the facility before he headed back, wandering around the halls he already had memorized, avoiding the wondering droids while he walked.

Occasionally he would find the room they kept the “human artifacts” as it was labeled and would rummage through it for shiny or colorful things.

He wasn’t sure what humans were but he liked their stuff! It was always so cool or just straight-up confusing for no reason-

That’s how he got his hands on half the things that “decorated” his cell room.

But this time he be-lined for his room, wanting to get his arms wrapped before they started to sting too badly.

Speeding through the halls of the facility he was located in, he scanned through the other cells as he passed.

Empty as usual.

No one was ever brought here, he wasn’t even sure why the Kraang had other cells when since he was brought here no one had ever been in the other cells.

He arrived at the single cell, the door was open but he knew once he entered and the computer had confirmation it was him that had entered it would lock again.

He tried to figure out how to get it to stop a couple of times but he hadn’t been able to figure it out just yet although he didn’t really care much.

It’s not like there was much to do outside the cell anyway other than wonder.

And as much as he loved to do it, it was risky.

If he was caught and couldn’t come up with a proper excuse he was put in isolation.

There was nothing there.

He hated isolation.

So his wandering was limited to a minimum.

The turtle entered the cell and watched the door buzz shut and lock as he made his way to the wall on the far side, sitting down and starting to wrap his arms as he looked around his room.

The cell was small and barely decorated but he liked it, it was much more colorful than the rest of the facility.

He had things labeled “Christmas lights” hung around the walls, he had found a coil of them ages ago but he could never figure out why they were never bright as they looked like they were supposed to be.

But he liked the colors of the dark bulbs anyway.

He also had quite a few blankets and pillows he had snagged out of the “human artifacts” room that he had thrown around the room.

He wasn’t sure why he liked them so much but he knew he liked the colors and the warmth from them.

And last but not least he found blank books and writing utensils in the artifacts room.

He wasn’t sure what they were specifically made for but he used them for drawing.

Sketching out the droids and things he saw around him.

He liked the pass time.

And the drawings he then had to hang up around for more “decoration” and color around.

He was thinking about this all again as he was snapped back to reality by a sharp pain in his arms.

Focusing back on wrapping them again he lifted some of the bandage to see the open wounds left from the sample collecting next to the scabbed and healed over ones along his forearms and wrists.

Samples were always taken from the left.

Experiments were injected on the right.

It was the procedure.

Never questioned.

Never changed.

He finished wrapping his arms up before trying to move them again, wanting to grab one of his “sketchbooks” as he had dubbed them but the timing seemed to have other plans.

The turtle had scooted over to the small pile of art supplies when the light appeared.

About a foot of light similar to the portals he had seen created by the Kraang appeared by the wall, out of sight of the door.

The turtle froze.

The portal was small, tiny compared to the normal portals he saw.

He wasn’t sure how to react at first, the portals were made to take Kraang in and out of dimension X from specified areas.

what was one doing here?

The turtle slowly stood, inching towards the portal when he heard a loud voice come through.

“WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?!” The turtle flinched hard at the scream.

The voice was weird-

All the droids sounded the same..

but this voice sounded completely different.

More high-pitch, like him they sounded young.

“Hello..?” The turtle spoke, voice raspy from little use.

Whoever was on the other side seemed to stop.

The turtle repeated himself “Is anyone there?”

“Who are you?” Another voice came through the portal, different from the first.

The turtle paused.

“What?” He responded again.

“Who are you? What’s your name?” The voice came through again, sounding curious.

“Uhm-“ he stuttered “turtle?”

“Turtles a weird name-“ yet another voice came through this one sounding younger than him, much higher.

“Well that’s rude-“ Turtle responded quickly, backing up from the portal.

“Oh!” The younger voice seemed to pause at the statement “Sorry, Sorry didn’t mean to be mean!”

They sounded nice.

Not as dead as the droids always spoke.

Who were they?

“How did you open this?” Turtle spoke again.

“I’m not sure, is this some sort of communication device? I was tinkering with it when it activated, where are you? I want to test how far this is going-“ the second voice started to ramble on before the first one that had yelled spoke again.

“Donnie, hush for a moment I think you’re overwhelming them-“ they paused for a moment. “One question at a time.”

“But Leo-“ The seconded voice, Donnie(?) seemed to whine before giving in “Fine. What is this?”

“It’s a portal-“ the turtle said matter-of-factly.

Three different woah’s came over the portal, as if whoever was over there had never seen a portal before.

“And where are you?” Donnie’s voice came through again.

“Uh..” Turtle contemplated lying but decided against it, reciting the same facility code he had been told so many times. “Facility T, Area 6351, Cell T1”

The silence was deafening as Turlte listened for any signs.

“Located where.” The Donnie Voice spoke again, very hesitant.

“Dimension X- duh..”

Chapter Text

“Dimension X- duh..”

There was silence at the other end of the portal as the turtle spoke.

He wasn’t sure why they had stopped asking questions but the silence was eerie now.

“Hello..?” The turtle spoke again waiting for any sign they were still there.

“Sorry- sorry-“ the Donnie voice came through again, “my geography is a little rusty, what continent is that?”

“Hm?” Turtle hummed his confusion. “Turtles confused-“

“What?” The first voice, was their name Leo, spoke again “Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?”

“Uhm.. I don’t know? That’s how you say it-“ Turtle approached the portal again, sitting in the blanket pile next to the wall it was on unsure of where to be.

“No?” The Donnie voice spoke again “Basic grammar says it’s ‘I am Confused’.”

“Oh..” Turtle thought back to the grammar he was used to, how the droids always talked like that.. in ‘third person’ whatever that meant.

“Ok, my turn!!” The smaller voice spoke again, he didn’t have a name for this one but they sounded little “Why is your name Turtle?”

Turtle thought about the question-

“Don’t know..” he simply stated

“Are you a turtle?” The small voice asked.

“Maybe? They call me turtle mutant so I guess?” Turtle was unsure of the question.

“So you’re like us..?” Turtle heard the first voice, Leo he guessed, whisper before the smaller one seemed to overtake them.

“Well that’s pretty bland..” the smaller voice spoke in a quieter tone “Can I name you then?”

Turtle froze for a moment..

He had never really thought about names, all the droids and mother prime would just call him some version of ‘Turtle Mutant’ so he always called himself as such..

The idea of a name of his own sounded fun-

“Sure..” Turtle spoke hesitantly..

The small voice hummed as they seemed to think before the first one pipped up.

“Well as confusing as this is, which.. Donnie I want answers later- whoever this is they seem to be like us, as much as they described at least.” The voice paused, “why not name them something similar to us-“

“Ooh! Yeah!” The small voice sounded excited now “Something like what Dad named us!!”

Turtle listened quietly as they spoke, taking note of all the little differences in their speech.

Much different from anything he had ever heard before but it was a nice sound..

He liked listening to them talk-

Even if he was confused as to what this was, who they were, or all the random things he heard them mention it was still nice.

He was nearly spaced out when the smaller voice, he thought he had heard him called Mikey at some point, suddenly pipe up to talk to him directly again.

“I got it!” The Mikey voice was nearly shouting his excitement through the portal at this point. “We’re named after artists so you will be too!”

“Hm” Turtle hummed as he listened.

“Donnie got the book Dad used to name us and I found a cool one!” The small voice was so chipper, much louder than the others but still smaller nonetheless.

“Raphael!” He could hear the smile on the little one's face “Or just Raph-“

“Raph” the Turtle repeated, it sounded nice- like the color red in the darkened Christmas lights around his room or the old toys he would find in the human artifacts room.. Raph.

“I like it..” Raph spoke calmly through the portal from where he was sat.

“Yeah!” The Mikey voice changed from the portal “You’re one of us now!”

“As confusing as this all is I agree, welcome stranger.” The Leo voice spoke as well, more calm and steady but still soothing.

“Spirits I need to run so many tests-“ the Donnie voice popped up quietly as well, theirs sounding more melodramatic but still steady at times.

“We are not telling Dad about this.” The Leo voice stated before the other two chuckled, agreeing as well as Raph just questioned who “Dad” was-

—————————

The portal was not a temporary thing either from what the Donnie voice had found, after running a lot of tests he had relayed the information back to Raph on the other side.

The turtle was confused a bit by Donnie’s speech but seemed to get most of the words-

In a basic form, he had found that it was a small, two-way, non-traveling portal, trying to get objects or anything through it was a bust but they could talk and Raph could listen so he didn’t much care.

How it was activated was a mystery to all of them but it didn’t seem to be turning off anytime soon so they didn’t really question it.

Apparently, whoever “Dad” was to the others wasn’t allowed to see the portal.

Occasionally Raph would hear them hushing each other and covering the portal with some kind of fabric to hide it he could guess.

He asked once why they did it but the Leo voice changed the subject, muttering something about overprotectiveness before asking Mikey about something random.

They asked him a lot of questions as well, asking about where they were and who took care of them.

The questions were odd..

A lot about ‘families’ and stuff that made Raph think a lot..

‘A family’ wasn’t something he ever really thought about, he guessed Mother Prime would count but he wasn’t sure..

He only ever saw her over comms for check in’s on his progress for experiments.

He only called her Mother Prime because she insisted he had, he had no idea what the term meant..

So he ignored the questions, changing the subject whenever he could or directing them back at Mikey who was typically the one asking.

He didn’t like answering questions himself but he loved listening to the answers from the others and the stories that came out of them.

He couldn’t tell how many hours he would have let himself listen to the stories from the others, the details Leo would slip into Mikey’s rambling as Donnie would clarify any words Raph was confused about.

Their voices were comforting.

Like the warmth, he hadn’t felt for a long time.

But per his luck, nothing lasted.

—————————

The portal had been open for nearly 3 weeks now from Leo’s guess but Raph could have sworn it was longer.

Their talking has been steady for days with at least one of the others being near the portal with the exception of ‘bed times’ that they talked about.

Raph enjoyed it, listening to them ramble.

He never really said much back other than basic responses but he loved listening.

Whenever the droids could come to collect him for samples, injections, or whatever they never noticed the thing, staying outside the cell as they normally did.

Questions were asked whenever he got back as to where he disappeared too but Raph had gotten good at changing the subject, never giving more information than what was needed.

One specific day was the worst though.

The turtle had been cleared to be put on another experiment list.

One with more tests.

Fewer chemical tests.

More physical.

He was used to blood and skin samples being taken but this was worse.

Whole areas of skin were removed to test how quickly he would heal with little medical attention or non at all.

He would always return to his cell worse than before, with more tests run and fewer medical supplies given.

But when questions were asked, he was silent.

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t say anything.

He just didn’t.

Opting to do anything to take the attention off of where he was and why he sounded like he had been crying.

Anything to keep them from knowing what was happening, he figured it was normal to go through this.. so why tell them something they probably go through too?

He was just being weak.

One day he was called for tests again, taking the appropriate steps and making his way to the medical rooms.

Tests were done.

Injections given.

The subject was released back to his cell.

Normal.

As the Turtle made his way to his room though something felt off.

Like something was taken from him with no warning.

He wasn’t sure what it was until he saw the droids leaving his cell.

The turtle's heart dropped.

Watching the droids leave without a hint of recognition as they passed Turtle fell into a dead sprint for the cell.

Everything was the same.

Except the portal.

The small wall of light that had kept his mind at ease for this long was gone.

The voices missing.

The warmth ripped from him.

The others that stayed with him who’s whole time even when he refused to tell them anything, disappeared.

Had the droids found it?

Did they shut it down?

Why were they gone now..

He didn’t even get to say goodbye…

Chapter Text

(Time skip 3 years…)

———————————————

-Begin Kraang Update Logs-

———————————————

Subject: Mutated Turtle

Current subject age: 11 Earth years

Medical notes: N/A

———————————————

Major Experiments/Achievements:

Year 1 - Experiment Success - Breathing injection - Allows subject to breathe in dimension X atmosphere, necessary for growth and study.

Year 2 - Achievement - Speech - Subject able to make intelligible noises/speech although subject seems to not use this unless necessary or instructed. Good.

Year 2.5 - Achievement - Movement - Subject is able to use its hind legs to move around freely similar to Human anatomy, droid temporarily assigned to watch the subject so it doesn’t wander.

Year 5 - Experiment Failure - chemical injections - Subject was injected with a certain Chemical to enhance Vision - no Improvement noted outside a side effect of the subject's eyes appearing to glow in low/no lighting - reasoning inconclusive.

Ongoing - Experiment Success(?) - Blood and Tissue samples - keeping collections of mutagen in subjects' blood and tissue over the years - no changes seen.

Year 9 - Experiment Failure - Regeneration - Large Incision made around subject's left eye / Left leg removed at the knee to test regenerative abilities - no regenerative abilities noted - Subject uncooperative for 2 weeks post-op.

Year 9.5 - Experiment Success - Prosthetics - After failed Regenerative Test Kraang Prime ordered the Making and installation of a Prosthetic for the Subject - Prosthetic connector attached and Subject Healed well.

———————————————

Current Experiment:

Year 11 - Introduction to Earth - Kraang Prime has assigned the Turtle Mutant to Earth droid forces, subject needs to be introduced to Earth and trained on correct procedures before they can accompany droids to Earth for Collection/Exploration/Experimentation Missions.

Breather Acquired for Subject.

Sending Droids to escort the Subject currently.

———————————————

-End Kraang Update Logs-

———————————————

.

..

…

“Hey, Raph?”

Raph woke up quickly and bolted from the pile of blankets in the corner, not realizing his prosthetic wasn’t attached and promptly falling flat on his face before he could process the voice he had heard.

He opened his eyes from the floor and looked up again, scanning the room as his mind seemed to fully wake up.

Nothing.

The cell around him was empty as always.

The Turtle took a deep breath in as he processed that what he just heard had been only in his head, pushing himself off the ground and propping himself up so he was sitting against the wall next to him.

He took a moment to focus his mind on what he had heard, trying to recall who it sounded like.

He remembered the portal when he was smaller of course but over the 3 years since then, it had gotten fuzzy in his memories.

He hated that.

He was fine with forgetting everything else, he even welcomed it at times but he wanted to remember that.

Remember them.

But no matter how much he tried to voices sounded so fuzzy now.. so distant-

He let out a sigh as he gave up trying to figure out who it was and instead focused on his leg.

Kraang Prime had ordered an experiment 2 years ago to test “regenerative abilities” as she had put it but the test didn’t go as planned.

And now he was left with a huge gash across his face and a missing leg.

Kraang Prime ‘felt bad’ about it and ordered a prosthetics be made but still sucked-

But that was beside the point, couldn’t do anything about it now just had to live with it.

Just like the aftermath of every other experiment.

Like normal-

Raph was still stuck in this mind loop when he heard mechanical footsteps coming down the halls.

He hurried to install the prosthetic before he could stand up straight, waiting for the droids to get to the door so he could figure out what they needed.

He did so like clockwork as by the time he was stood up and balanced the droids came to the front of the cell, staring in at the turtle with robotic eyes.

Raph said nothing as he stood, waiting for orders or to just see if they were sent to check on something.

“Kraang, unlock the cell” the first droid spoke as the second one moved to open the room up to the hall.

“Subject Turtle Mutant of Cell T1, Step out. Kraang Prime has Requested you.” It spoke again as it backed up, allowing the turtle to step out after it.

The droids both turned in unison and started away from the cell, Raph following behind quickly as usual, keeping about a 2-foot difference between himself and the droids.

They took the normal turns around the facility until they got to the comms room, a circular chamber filled with screens and devices to communicate with other facilities and bases.

Raph had only been here occasionally when Kraang Prime, or “Mother Prime” as she always made him call her, wanted to speak with him.

The droids before him stepped to the side when they entered, leaving the turtle to stand on his own before the large screen in the middle of the room, currently with Kraang Prime’s face plastered on it.

“Mother Prime.” The Turtle spoke simply, letting the kraang before him know he was there and listening.

“Turtle” Kraang Prime’s voice came over the speaker loud, causing Raph to flinch a bit before straightening himself out. “to see you is good, I have an update on your status.”

Raph stood waiting for her to continue, knowing better than to speak when not given instruction.

“I have decided you would be more useful out and about than in that cell between tests, you are different from my other experiments as I have told you before.” She continued as the Turtle listened, “I am sending you with earth forces as a backup.”

Earth forces?

He had heard of the division before but he never really knew what it was, no one really told him much other than Kraang Prime but even she was vague about things. Luckily Kraang Prime continued with her explanation.

“I see your confusion, The earth forces are a group that does exploration and experimentation in another dimension close to ours.” She paused for a moment before clarifying once again, “The same dimension you were originally from before we brought you here to safety.”

Wait what? Raph’s mind started to circle, that information cleared up nothing in fact it did quite the opposite-

“You may speak, Questions I presume?” Kraang Prime guessed before Raph started.

“Yes Mother Prime, what do you mean by where I was originally from?” He wanted to ask so many more questions but drew it down to one, knowing better than to ramble.

“Earth is a dangerous place.” Kraang Prime started, “Your Original species are found there but they are dangerous, as well as the others that inhabit the dimension. It is a place not suited for a child, but I believe you have come to be competent enough to join the Earth forces.”

That answered a little but didn’t help the dilemma..

If it was a dangerous place that he was saved from, why were they sending him back?

and why now?

“Why do you need me there?” the Turtle spoke much softer this time, unsure if he was still cleared to speak.

“Because we are preparing the planet for an invasion.. to save it. And we need all the hands we can get.” Kraang Prime spoke, her very mushed face twisting in a horrid smile that sent a shiver down Raph’s spine. “I believe you have proved you are reliable enough to go with them.”

“Can you do that?” she spoke again.

“Yes. Mother Kraang.” Raph replied, his head nodding as he stepped back.

“The inhabitants are a danger to you and us all.” The words cut deep with a threat as Raph was ushered out with the droids again.

“Don’t make me rethink this.”

—————————

Things after that happened quickly.

Raph half-expected to be taken back to his cell but quickly figured out that wasn’t the case, the droids instead taking him down a hall he didn’t completely recognize.

He followed behind, scanning the halls for any differences but found none of the same metallic walls and neon lights as everywhere else just in a different direction.

Until they got to the crossover, the large door that lead out of the facility.

Raph had seen it before and even used it when the droids would take him out when he was younger to teach him about where he was, as Kraang Prime insisted he know what was outside and how to navigate it.

The droids punched in a code and the doors opened, the gray dirt and Magenta skyline greeted him as the droids stepped out.

He looked over to the crystal-like “trees” as they were called lining the facility, he always liked the look of them but he didn’t dare touch them after finding out they were basically explosive..

he looked back to the droids and noticed he had lagged behind them, nearly tripping over his own prosthetic he jumped to catch up before they noticed.

He did semi-gracefully just as the droids got to the door of the base next door.

Raph had seen the base many times before but he had never been inside, simply never given a reason to.

The droids punched in another code and entered the base as Raph followed into the same metallic hallways as seemed to be in every base or facility.

The long hallways stretched on just the same as Raph started to wonder why he was even being taken here again.

After a while of following the droids though a room soon appeared at the end of the hall, not like one of the medical rooms or the comms but larger, lined with what looked like weapons he had seen the droids around the facility use before.

And a portal..

He had seen portals before but they were much smaller, created simply so one or two droids could pass at a time before it closed. But this one seemed permanent, much larger than the rest with droids seemingly crossing out and into it without a second thought.

He looked at the thing with wonder, watching the pink and purple swirls in the light as he tried to keep his focus on anything else.

The droids he was to follow stopped once they got inside, ushering the Turtle to a suited droid by one of the many sets of weapons and other things around the room.

He had seen the suited droids before, they were few and far between in the facility he was in but they had appeared every once in a while.

They must be the Earth's forces.

Raph watched the suited droid as he approached as instructed, standing before them as the droid watched.

“Turtle Mutant.” The Suited Droid spoke, Its voice was still robotic but had less of an echo-like tone than the others.

“Sir.” Raph simply replied, waiting for instructions or any kind of explanation on what was happening.

“Kraang was informed that Kraang Prime has assigned one known as Turtle to the Earth Force.” They spoke in a very long speech before the droid moved to the wall, seemingly taking something down.

“This will allow you to breath in the place known as Earth’s atmosphere.” They spoke again before handing him a small choker-like device with something that looked like it was going to stab into his neck when he wore it.

“This time is just a test to see if you are able to adjust to the place called Earth’s atmosphere and testing of basic abilities.” The droid repeated before turning to the portal, waving his hands to the droids that had escorted the Turtle there to follow as well.

Raph watched as they came up behind him, following the turtle and the suited droid toward the portal.

Anxiety spiked in the turtle as he approached it, the look of the portal starting to freak him out as he got closer.

he quickly remembered the device and pressed it to his neck, hearing the thing close around his neck and feeling the stab of something to his throat.

He winced at the pain and tried to ignore the instinct to rip it right back off as the droids continues to push him towards the portal.

Why was this all happening so fast?!

Before he knew it the portal was right before him, he watched the suited droid step through and disappear right as he was pushed in as well by the droids now behind him.

He closed his eyes quickly and tried to focus on his footing as he stepped through.

The cold air around him growing colder and the sounds of droids being replaced by beeping and distant footsteps as he passed through.

the droids behind him seemed to stop pushing him forward as he slowly attempted to open his eyes.

Everything around him was so much darker than the room he had just left, tall cube-like buildings surrounding him as he seemed to be in between two of them.

It was cold, colder than dimension X, and much louder.

He was used to near silence all the time so the sudden loud sounds of what was around him nearly hurt his ears.

He slowly straightened himself out again though, getting used to the noises and the temperature before he let out the breath he seemed to be holding and noted that with the help of the device around his neck, he seemed to be able to breathe.

not focusing on the droids in front and behind him he looked around again, this time seeing all the little details.

Like the dots in the sky..

And the neon lights everywhere..

Someplace he was not familiar with.

Earth.

Chapter Text

Earth..

the 11-year-old’s eyes shot left and right, scanning everything he could possibly see from where he was standing in between the 3 droids.

The place was honestly gorgeous, all be it loud and kind of smelly-The turtle wanted to see what was beyond the confines of the droids around him and walk beyond the buildings but he was stopped, attention snapped back to the suited droid as they started to speak again.

“This is New York, Earth City 914” The Droid Deadpanned the information like it was second nature. “This is the city Kraang has found the humans most active, so kraang has decided to send kraang here for exploration and study of the place called New York.”

Raph nodded along, half listening while watching the place around him still.

“Kraang Prime has assigned the one known as Turtle Mutant to the Earth forces with Kraang” The droid continued to drone on as it turned away from Raph to face the way ahead.

It started to head down the path as the droids behind Raph followed as well, passing the slower-walking turtle as he listened.

Raph’s attention stuck to the suites Droids words for only a couple more steps before his mind started to wonder again, looking around the small dark area he was in.

He glanced at the droids, and a thought crossed his mind..

He always followed behind the droids.. but when did they never check he was there.

A smile grew on the young turtle's face as he slowly came to a stop behind the moving droids.

Theoretically, if we just left now and was back in a couple of minutes the likelihood hood of them noticing was slim..

He watched the droids continue on, leaving him behind with no clue as he slowly backed up..

A couple of minutes couldn’t hurt-

Raph looked around the area he was in, two buildings on each side with some sort of metal contraption on one to his right.

He was trained with the basics back on Dimension X.. climbing up that metal thing couldn’t be too hard-

The Turtle backed up to the opposite wall, glancing to the droids that had long since left the area before he turned back to the building, taking a running start and jumping to the metal thing.

He expected to jump at least 3 stories given the gravity he was used to but quickly figured out that was not the case here, just barely grabbing onto the first rickety metal platform.

Raph pulled himself up, wincing at the creaking noise the platform was making as he moved but pressed on anyway, using the bars to climb to the top of the building slowly.

The turtle glanced back one last time before pulling himself onto the top of the roof, checking to make sure the droids hadn’t noticed anything.

Luckily they looked clueless as he stood up on the top of the building, finally giving himself a sec to look around from the top.

The city around him was amazing..

The sky was a dark gray now but was spotted with little bits of light, Raph could have stared at those alone for hours but pried his eyes away to look down over the roof.

Looking down over the streets was weird, the height might have been messing with him but everything looked small, the few people out were like little sticks he could fit in his hand..

And the neon lights were amazing..

Lights of all colors and patterns spread over the street below and the city before him.

Raph was still mesmerized by the lights when he heard a noise behind him, his head snapped around as he saw the only door on the roof start to creak like someone was opening it.

The turtle didn’t take a moment to even see what it was before he was sprinting, taking a jump off the side of the building.

If the gravity here was like dimension X then he would be fine landing-

But it wasn’t.

The realization that he wasn’t slowing kicked in fast as Raph sucked in a sharp breath, preparing for a harsh landing.

And it did come but not as harshly as he thought-

When he hit the ground he seemed to land on something, the noise of it rattling through his skull before he could even process the pain..

It didn’t actually hurt that much though.?

It almost felt soft? But not pillow soft-

And it stunk.

Raph opened his eyes slowly, attempting to get the rattling of his brain to stop before he looked around..

He landed in some sort of bin, a big metal bin filled with what looked like large plastic bags-

The whole thing stunk as Raph attempted to shuffle himself out of it, sort of succeeding as he somehow rolled out and landed on his shell with a thud.

The turtle groaned as he sat himself up, looking over at the bin he seemed to crawl out of as he checked himself over for injuries..

Other than some extra pain where his leg and prosthetic met he seemed to be ok, and the pain was bearable so he ignored it, hopping back to his feet as he wiped himself off.

He seemed to be in between another two buildings as he looked around, noting a small door on the side of one only a couple 10-15 feet away from him.

Raph was about to turn back to the main Street figuring it was about time that he head back before he was caught when the door beside him opened.

Fight or flight seemed to fail him now as instead of running he froze, watching the door swing open as yelling seemed to echo through the alley-

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT COMING BACK HERE TONIGHT-“ a loud deep voice came from the doorway as Raph’s Legs seemed to agree with him now and he ducked behind the bin he had just crawled out off.

A small shadowy figure was thrown into the alley, the shouting cutting off as the door closed quickly and loudly.

Raph wasn’t sure what just happened or what to do-

Instinct said run, Kraang Prime had told him this place was dangerous but what was he doing?? Running around anyway!

He wanted to listen to instinct and run. But his mind had to know who it was..

The turtle peaked his head around the bin, watching the small figure that was just thrown getting up surprisingly unharmed and brushing themselves off.

‘Great. Now that you know that they’re ok you can leave.’ The small voice in his mind shouted as Raph agreed and turned to leave a small area.

But just by his luck as he turned to sprint his leg seemed to malfunction, something not that uncommon but still annoying-

The turtle tripped out the non-moving leg and hit the ground once again.

Realizing he had just basically put himself right beside whoever was just thrown out he opted for the best chance of survival of all this.

Hide.

Raph pulled himself completely into his shell, prosthetic leg and all as to keep himself out of the way-

“Hello?” A much smaller voice came from beside him, a shadow from the small figure he had just seen moving slowly towards the shell now just sitting on the alley floor.

“I hope you know I just saw that-“ they spoke again, as Raph started to panic.

The turtle shut his eyes and tried to hold his breath, hoping whoever was next to him was dumb enough to just leave him be-

He heard the figure get closer, listening to whoever it was kneeling beside the shell laying a hand on the back as they spoke again.

“The curling-up thing was cool! How did you do that?” The figure spoke again as Raph kept still. “Be real helpful when dealing with my dad-“

Maybe if he just kept still they wouldn’t know he was alive..

“Are you ok?”

The words echoed as Raph listened, still holding his breath as he waited for whoever it was to leave.

He heard the figure stand up, hoping it was to leave but quickly throwing that option out the window when he felt himself being hoisted up by the shadow.

“You probably don’t feel safe in some random alleyway” the Voice spoke as they started to walk, shell held tight to their chest “I’m going to take you to my hideout-“

Panic was an understatement for what Raph was feeling now, some random figure in a dimension he knew was dangerous was now taking him somewhere he didn’t know-

Fear was a better word for it.

—————————

Before he knew it had been set down again, from what Raph could hear around him he didn’t seem to be outside anymore, and from what he could feel he had been placed somewhere soft..

He heard the figure move across from him and plop themself down as well, humming some tuneless song as they scooted themselves next to the shell again.

“You’re safe here if you want to come out..” The voice spoke from next to him, like they were trying to coax a child out from under their blanket.

Technically he could run-

Just pop out and book it!

But he didn’t know where he was anymore, or even if his prosthetic was going to work or not..

Ok, running is off the table.

Maybe? Negotiation?

“How do I know you aren’t going to attack?” Raph spoke, his voice low and scratchy from the breather device around his throat.

“Attack you?” The voice seemed to chuckle at this before pausing, realizing the turtle wasn’t kidding.

“I’m not going to hurt you I promise..” they spoke again, this time a little more sincerely.

Raph didn’t completely believe the words but waited another moment anyway before slowly popping his head out, glancing around the place before fully rolling out of his shell.

The place around him was small, like some rundown room in an old building.

It was covered in pillows similar to his cell although here also had some sort of screen and boxes hooked up in one corner and what looked like very packaged food in another.

“Woah-“ Raph heard the human figure next to him gawk at the Turtle before them, “you're really cool-“

Raph turned to look at the person, flinching back and grabbing a pillow next to him to hold up as he realized how close the person was.

“Sorry! Sorry- didn’t realize I was the close, you ok?” The person spoke as they backed up so they weren’t invading the turtle's space.

Raph slowly moved back into a sitting position, holding the pillow he had grabbed close to his plastron before glancing over his prosthetic to make sure nothing was obviously broken.

It looked fine but it had failed him before so he wasn’t sure-

“What are you?” The curious voice came from the other person again, Raph glancing over to get a good look at who had brought him here.

A small boy, about his age, sat across from him staring intently at the turtle as he waited for an answer.

The kid was barely his height, with shaggy black hair that was haphazardly held out of his face by a black bandana, the kid seemed to be missing one of his two front teeth and had small freckles all along his face.

His clothing seemed paint and dirt splotched, whether that was on purpose or not was beyond Raph but the kid wore it well.

When the turtle didn’t respond the Kid across from him took it as a sign to introduce himself instead.

“Names Casey- Casey Jones!” The kid did a little salute before looking back at the turtle “Who are you?”

“Turtle Mutant, Cell T1” Raph repeated off memory, not taking in the confused look the kid, Casey?, shot him after.

“Wha-“ Casey paused for a moment, thinking before he continued “Well I guess that explains the shell-“

Raph nodded as he watched Casey piece things together.

“So.. you’re a turtle. With a metal leg?” Casey questioned, as he watched the turtle's eyes dart to his leg.

Raph simply nodded again.

“Don’t you have a name..?”

The question echoed.. Casey’s voice sounding more like the small one from the portal before he remembered where he was..

Raph was about to answer when he heard the footsteps..

Footsteps he had memorized-

The droids-

How had he forgotten about the droids?!

Raph dropped the pillow he was holding, jumping up to his legs, which luckily worked, and booked it to a small door in the tiny room.

“Woah, dude where are you going?” Casey hopped up as well behind him.

He had to get out there to the droids but if the droids saw the human then they might take him as well..

Kraang Prime said this place was dangerous but he hadn’t done anything to hurt him..

Raph had to keep this kid safe-

Raph turned back to the kid, holding a hand up to his mouth in a motion to shush him.

Casey seemed to understand and closed his mouth fast, his eyes narrowing as he watched the door.

“Stay.” Raph spoke a single word before he grabbed the doorknob

“But-“ Casey made an effort to stay behind him but the glare it earned him was enough for Casey to get the message.

“Stay safe turtle dude-“ Casey spoke once more as Raph nodded, opening the door and booking it as far from the small makeshift room in some abandoned building as he could.

He was still running when one of the droids grabbed him.

The suites droid was beside him, lifting the turtle by the arm as he hissed.

“Turtle Mutant Secured. Kraang returning to Dimension X” the droid spoke as it started to walk.

Raph had gotten far enough from the room before but he saw it again as the droid dragged him back.

Glancing over to the small door, now creaked open only an inch.

And a set of small worried-looking brown eyes staring back..

—————————

Raph berated himself the whole way back.

He was supposed to explore for a couple of minutes!? And now he was going to pay for it-

He had gotten in trouble for little things over the years but nothing this big..

As much as he hated to admit it.

He was terrified.

The track back to the portal seemed to drag on but eventually he was back-

His breather was discarded as they took him back to the comms room, throwing the turtle down to the floor before Kraang Prime on the screen.

“The one Known as Turlte mutant was found trying to escape assigned Droids.” The suited droid spoke, the words ringing in his ears.

“Wait- wait no! I wasn’t trying to escape I-“ the words caught in his throat “I was just exploring! I was going to come back I swear!”

“Silence-“ the word cut through the room. Raph’s voice shutting off immediately as he watched the screen.

“I told you that Earth was dangerous and you still decided to try and run away-“ Kraang Prime repeated back.

“Please- I wasn’t running!” The turtle's voice shook.

“What did I say about speaking.” Kraang Prime reminded him before continuing.

“Attempted escape from Dimension X is a highly punished crime.” She spoke, the words dripping with venom.

“Luckily for you, I’m forgiving..” Kraang Prime looked down to the turtle, “Tell me you won’t make the same mistake again.”

“I won’t- I promise I wasn’t trying to leave” Raph was still rambling when he noticed tears streaming down his face..

“Stop it with the crying.” Kraang Prime spat, “And the rambling you know better than to speak more than needed.”

“I’m sorry..” Raph repeated over and over “I’m sorry, I’m sorry..”

“Get the breather.” Kraang Prime sent a command to the suited droid by the door, the droid quickly moving to leave the room.

“You will continue to train with the Earth forces but use this as a warning.” Kraang Prime continued to speak. “If you ever pull something like this again. The consequences will be astronomically worse.”

As she spoke the suited droid entered again. A small metal mask-like device in its hands as it approached the turtle, still on his knees on the ground.

“Let this be a learning experience.” Kraang Prime muttered as the suited droid grabbed the turtle from behind, locking the face mask onto him and bolting it into place.

Raph panicked, fight or flight kicking in as he clawed at the mask over his mouth.

It was tight-

It was hard to breathe..

Why was it so hard to breathe-

“This is another breather. It will give you the ability to breathe both here and on earth for your training, but most of all.. it will keep that pesky rambling and crying of yours under control.” Kraang Prime stated, watching the young turtle try anything and everything to get the mask off.

“Now you will know better.” She finally said, the comms shutting off as the room went dark.

The mask around Raph’s nose and mouth was physically suffocating, keeping his mouth shut but allowing him to breathe non the less.

He knew better than to disregard orders.

And now he was here.

He knew better.

Raph wouldn’t let himself make that mistake again.

Chapter Text

(Time skip, 4 years. Current year: 2012)

“Happy mutation day!”

The words echoed through the lair, voices happy as Splinter listened to his children laughing from the other end of the table in the kitchen.

They had all gathered for dinner when his youngest had brought out an odd-looking cake, shocking his other son and daughter who quickly figured out it wasn’t really a cake but thanked Mikey anyway.

“Ahh yes, 15 years ago today our lives changed forever and we became the unlikeliest of families-“ Splinter spoke, his smile wide but his words tinging a little sadness in his gut.

“Can you tell us the story again?” His youngest spoke again, eyes lighting up as he watched.

“I have told you it many times over..” splinter smiled, not really wanting to run through the twisted version of the story he told his children.

As far as the turtles knew there had only been three of them from the pet shop, three of them mutated, and three of them raised under Splinter's careful watch.

He didn’t want to call it a lie.. he wasn’t lying about the story. Just.. changing some details and leaving some parts out-

“Please? PLEASE-“ Mikey started to beg, Splinter thought it through but gave in..

“Very well-“ he spoke, the smile on his youngest face making it worth it. One more lie..

“Many years ago when I was still human..” splinter started, running his way through the story..

As his sons and daughter knew, they had been bought from a pet store, three baby turtles. Their father had been bringing them back when he passed an odd man on the street..

Something felt off about the man, so their father decided to follow trying to figure out why he felt so odd about the man he had bumped into.

He followed the man to an alleyway, where the man appeared to meet another, looking identical to the first.

Their father had attempted to get closer, trying to figure out the reason for the meeting but his presence was seen, a small rat running by his feet and nearly tripping him..

When the man he had followed saw him he spoke, talking in an odd robotic way repeating words over and over as he approached trying to grab their father.

Their father had tried to fight them, more appearing behind him as he defended himself..

One of the men seemed to be carrying some sort of liquid, a glowing ooze in a canister.

In their father's fight to get away, the canister was thrown, shattering on the ground and splashing on both him and the turtles that had fallen from his steady grasp on the enclosure.

The other men ran.. evacuating before much else happened, but seeing the mutation. Logging the mutation.

Leaving the now newly mutated Rat and Turtles on their own..

Splinter left out the rest, not leading on to tell them about the rest.

The fight.

And the loss of their brother.

Be brought the story back to the canister he still had, the one he held on to..

“That was the beginning of our life together, it was the mysterious substance in this canister then in a way..” he paused, looking at the cracked canister he held before his sons and daughter. “Gave life to us all.”

“Mom-“ His youngest grabbed the canister holding it to his face as he chuckled, the oddness also earning some eye rolls from the other two.

“So father!” His oldest daughter spoke up, “Now that we’re 15.. I think we’re finally ready to go up to the surface don’t you?”

Splinter's smile faulted for a moment, he knew the dangers of going up top.

In the back of his mind, he knew his children were probably ready to go up, he had been training them over the years in self-defense but worry still plagued him..

“Yes..” he spoke, the turtles cheering for a moment before he finished his sentience, “and no-“

A couple groans were heard as they all grumbled, his middle child in purple muttering “I hate when he does that..”

“You have grown powerful, but you are still young..” he glanced at the grumbling teens in front of him “You lack the maturity to use your skills wisely.”

“So.. father, isn’t that just no?” Donnie spoke from behind him as Splinter stood up, walking to the side of the table.

“Yes! And no..” he chuckled at his own vagueness as he continued “wisdom comes from experience..”

He thought back to his own ‘experience’ of the world up top.. the constant hiding and fighting for survival.

“and experience comes from making mistakes.” Splinter winced at his own words.. the mistakes he made haunting him still.

“So in order for us to gain the wisdom.. we have to make the mistakes!” His middle child smiled at him “So we can go?”

“No..”

“And yes?” Don asked

“No.” Splinter repeated. His voice staying mellow as his son groaned-

“Dad-“ Leo spoke again, “we know you’re trying to protect us.. but we can’t spend our whole lives hiding down here.”

The words buzzed in splinters mind..

He trusted his children he really did, he knew the kind of power and talent they held and he was so proud of them for that..

But the red mask haunted him..

The memory of his lost ones holding him back.

He wanted to protect them, just how he never got to protect his lost son and his late daughter Miwa..

But he knew keeping them down here was not right.

And he believed in his children more than anything..

He opened his eyes to see all three of his kids before him, all jokingly in a sitting pose begging him to let them explore.

Splinter let out a long sigh, “You may go.. tonight.”

The turtles hopped up all cheering before his youngest held up his hand.

“High three!” Mikey shouted and all of them did, turning to high three before they rushed off to their rooms. Thanking their father as they did.

—————————

A couple hours later Leo was sat in front of their old TV, tapping her hands on her knee pads as she watched Space Heroes.

“Gentlemen I have a bold and daring plan!” She spoke, mimicking the words from the characters as he sat up shaking her hands out as he watched.

She loved the show, she had been watching and rewatching it since they had gotten the TV years ago and it never ceased to make her feel better when she was anxious.

Donnie walked in a little later, glancing at the TV before heading to the kitchen, grabbing his usual “#1 Scientist NERD” coffee mug that Mikey had defaced years ago with a red marker.

Grabbing the coffee and heading back out to sit with Leo as he was bored waiting for when they were to leave.

On his way to the large indent in the floor they used as a couch he spotted his younger brother trying to sneak into his lab.

“Mikey step away from the lab.” He deadpanned as he watched Mikey stick out his tongue at him.

“But I need something!” Mikey muttered as he watched Donnie sit next to Leo who was still watching the show but also had her eyes on both brothers.

“Whatever you need it can wait until I’m in there,” Donnie spoke as Mikey huffed, slumping his way over to the couch as well and falling backward onto the pillows so he was facing the TV upside down.

Splinter made his way out of the dojo, looking over the turtles before calling them to get their attention.

“It’s time..” he spoke and watched as they all lit up, smiling as they ran to grab their respective weapons they had been trained with over the years.

Leo grabbed her twin katanas

Mikey grabbed his nunchucks

And Donnie ran to his Bo staff

Before splinter knew it they were lined up before him.

He chuckled at the sudden spike of energy before he spoke “You are going up to a strange and hostile world”

“You must maintain awareness at all times,” Splinter repeated back to them, checking them each over to make sure they had everything.

“Hai sensei!” They all spoke, the title not used often other than in training. They turned to leave but Splinter spoke again..

“Stay in the shadow-“

“Hai sensei!”

“And Don’t talk to strangers!”

“Hai sensei.”

“Everyone is a stranger!”

“Hai sensei-“

They rushed off this time, not giving their father enough time to change his mind..

“Make sure you go before you leave!” He called back before they left fully “The restrooms up there are filthy!”

“Dad!” They all called back, abandoning the formality of it.

Splinter chuckled at the reaction, watching them go.

“Good luck my children.” He muttered mostly to himself as they booked it out of the lair.

As much as he wanted nothing more than to follow them and keep them safe he knew he had to let them go some time.

He just hoped they would come back safe.

—————————

The portal to Earth opened, Raph watching it as it did from behind the droid squadron he was supposed to be a lookout for.

Always the lookout.

He didn’t mind the job, he liked sticking to the roofs and watching the city while the others worked.

The droids in front of him started to move, marching their way through the portal to a wear-house the kraang had taken over.

Apparently they had partnered up with some Human to collect scientists for some reason. He didn’t really listen close to the details.

The human they had partnered up with was a guy named Snake, tall lanky dude who looked like he hadn’t drunk water in years.

Raph followed the group until they got to the van, the droids had been called because one of the scientists they needed was spotted a little bit away and they needed a pickup team.

Which means Raph was just back up encase the scientist tried to fight back too much, though they rarely did.

He hopped into the passenger seat next to Snake while the other suited droids got in the back, watching the human look him up and down like gutter trash.

“Why they send you again?” Snake spat, glaring at the turtle as he sat back against the seat.

Raph just glared.

Even if he wanted to answer his breather mask was on tight, but he didn’t want to talk to this guy anyway.

The guy just rolled his eyes and sighed, starting the van to drive to the location they had been given.

The drive was surprisingly short, Raph watched the road while they went and saw when they approached the targets.

It was a girl, looking about his age and what seemed to be her parent, another lanky dude but this guy had red hair-

He waited for the van to stop, watching snake jump out of the van and the droids to open the back, basically ambushing the poor guy.

Raph just waited, arms crossed in the passenger seat, these takedowns were typically pretty quick so there was no point in moving.

He was honestly shocked they even took him on these missions still-

He was messing with a small loose screw on his prosthetic when he saw them.

Three dark figures jumping down from a rooftop across the street..

At first he was amused, thinking it was just some dumb teenagers that thought they could save the guy. He had seen one or two of them try before but the droids typically just knocked them out and left them for someone else to find.

But then he got a better look..

The windows on the van were tinted to the point no one could see in, which according to the books Raph had snatched out of the human artifacts was pretty illegal, although it gave him a better visual from where he was.

The figures had landed themselves around the van, facing off against a droid or two each but they looked odd..

Not like the normal humans he has seen before, more bulky but still shorter.

Raph watched them for a moment, two of them disappearing behind the van and one still facing a droid on the other side of him.

He took the chance to book it, hopping out of the van and making his way over to the nearest fire escape, as he learned they were called, climbing up to the roof so he could get a better look at them.

The height made it easier to see around the van and spot the attackers much better, plus the roofs are where he typically hung out on longer missions, as this one looked like it was going to be.

Raph glanced over the edge, watching the younger human girl get caught in between some of the droids and one of the attackers, a turtle from the looks of it..

Wait.. backtrack. turtle?

Like him?

Beyond confused, Raph thought back to Kraang Primes words.. she had spoken before about him coming from Earth but he had never seen any actual turtle mutants here before..

And he never saw anything about mutated turtles in the books he “borrowed” either, only ever small ones that looked like they could fit in your hand!

Was this normal?

Were they just rare??

Judging by the girl's scream when she saw said turtle he could guess they weren’t very common around here at least..

Raph shook his head a bit, trying to clear his mind and focus on what was happening.

He could request information about this later through the written reports.. right now he was just trying to figure out if he was to get involved or not.

As shocking as it was to see three other mutant turtles he was more just amused at how they fought.

Sitting down on the edge of the rooftop he watched the turtles get their shells handed to them-

They could fight well on their own but Raph could see what the issue was, they kept trying to fight in each other's spaces and because of that kept beating each other up more than the droids.

He was holding back laughter at the ones with the blue and purple masks, as the blue one’s katanas kept getting in the way of the purple one’s bo staff.

Raph recognized the weapons as well from another book he snatched from the artifacts room.

Traditional weapons used by ninja, he liked reading about them and how they fought but these guys needed some better lessons..

Personally, the only defense he was equipped with was a small taser and a knife but he knew how to use them each well so he never minded.

Raph watched the purple turtle get thrown backward into the orange one as the droids got in the van and left with the scientist and the girl-

And they left him behind. Great.

He saw one of the droids left behind as well and decided to just tag with it, as long as he was near one of them he wouldn’t get punished for separating..

Keeping to the roofs he watched the blue and purple turtles run behind where the van had gone, seemingly trying to chase it although he wasn’t sure how they expected to catch up to a van.

But one of the turtles stayed..

Raph watched the small orange-masked turtle close as the turtle got up from where they had just been thrown with the purple one.

They stretched for a moment before starting to walk toward where the others had gone before the last droid seemed to spot them.

Watching the turtle shout something as they threw their nunchucks around was amusing, even more so when they tried to attack with them and just had them taken by the droid instead-

The turtle turned and booked it, realizing they were outmatched but the droid quickly followed, running full speed.

Raph quickly jumped up to follow, hopping from roof to roof to try and stay close to the thing..

If he lost sight of the droid and it left he was going to be in deep shit with Prime..

—————————

Mikey ran as fast as his legs could take him down an alley, not realizing It was a dead end-

Turning back around Mikey cussed under his breath, watching the guy he had just tried and failed to fight come down the alley behind him.

Realizing he only had one side of his nunchuk left he clicked the button on it as a blade came out, holding it up as his last means of defending himself.

The guy approached as Mikey held a hand over his eyes, swinging the blade around like crazy to get the guy away.

He felt when it had hit something, hearing a buzzing coming from the guy as he opened his eyes again-

The man was holding his face and backing up, Mikey panicked for a moment thinking how much Leo was going to Kill him if she found out he killed a human..

But when the man fell there wasn't any blood there..

Mikey approached cautiously, looking the suited man over for wounds.

There wasn't any blood and the man was on his side so Mikey couldn't see where he hit.

He used his foot to kick the guy over, nearly jumping out of his shell when he saw his face-

The guy's face has been torn off in the front but it wasn't to a skull and there wasn't any blood like he expected.

Instead it seemed to be robotics, wires and a metal skeleton poked out of the body as Mikey froze.

“Dude that's all kinds of wrong-” Mikey nearly yelled, mostly to himself as he looked back over the dead-looking robot- thing-

He kicked at the suit again, not sure what else to do.

Mikey nearly screamed when he heard a loud hiss-like noise come from the body, watching a small chewed bubble gum-looking thing jump out of the stomach.

The tiny thing looked right at him, looking like it was about to jump on his face before it seemed to hear something above and scurry away.

Mikey was now beyond terrified as he watched it run, not sure how else to react with this new information..

I mean.. At least he didn't kill anyone..?

Mikey shook himself out for a sec, trying to get the panic to chill before he attempted to find his siblings when he heard someone above.

His head snapped to the roof, panic starting again before he saw the shell.

Mikey breathed a sigh of relief figuring Don or Leo had come to find him, he hopped to the fire escape quickly, making his way to the roof so he could tell them what he had just seen-

“Dudes you won't believe this!” Mikey started shouting as he hopped to the roof brushing himself off as he made his way to them.

“Those robot guys we fought?! Their..” Mikey was cut off when his gaze lifted, making eye contact with the turtle in front of him now..

Definitely not Leo or Donnie.

The turtle blinked at him, backing up like they were about to turn and run at any minute.

They were covered in bandages and metal armor that looked like it could have been made with the same materials from the robot he just took down.

They had a huge cracking hole in the right corner of their plastron and to Mikey's awe, they were standing on a sick-looking metal leg.

When Mikey looked back to their face he saw half of it was covered with a large almost painful-looking metal mask over the turtle's mouth and snout.

Their eyes were dark but looked almost pinkish with a long scar running down their right eye to under the mask..

The turtle looked.. confused more than scared but fear was definitely one of the emotions that flashed in their eyes as Mikey stood there.

Mikey’s eyes were glued to the turtle in awe.

“Who..” Mikey spoke but before the rest of the words could even come out the other turtle was running, hopping down from the roof and high-tailing it out of there before Mikey could even think to chase them..

Mike stood for another minute, trying to figure out if this was some weird dream at this point when he heard voices behind him, turning slowly to see his older siblings making their way over to him.

“Mikey.. You look like you just saw a ghost.?” Donnie commented as he got closer.

“You won't believe what I just saw.”

—————————

Raph was going to be in deep shit with Kraang Prime..

Chapter Text

“Sorry. Mikey. You saw what?” Don’s eyes narrowed as he watched his little brother frantically trying to run through the story again.

“OK, SO THE DROID THINGS WE FOUGHT WERE THESE- I DON'T KNOW ALIEN LOOKING BRAIN THINGS! AND- AND AFTER THAT THING LEFT I LOOKED UP AND THOUGH I SAW YOU GUYS-” Mikey's shouts were jumbled as he spoke, stuttering his words every now and again as he went.

“But when you came to find us?” Leo spoke, trying to get the other half of the story out again.

“IT WASNT YOU! IT WAS SOME OTHER TURTLE! THEY WERE ALL COVERED IN SCARS AND BANDAGES AND ARMOR!” Mikey was fully rambling now, similar to how he did when he was excited about something but here he just sounded.. Shocked.

“Another turtle?” Leo questioned, crossing her arms as she watched Mikey pace.

“Yeah! It was another turtle I swear to spirits! You have to believe me-” Mikey’s voice was just a little more calm now but still loud.

“Mikey with all due respect this sounds like one of the dreams you have when I let you drink my coffee.” Donnie deadpanned, not believing a word his little brother was saying.

“It wasn't a dream though!” Mikey pleaded before remembering something. “Wait! Wait the robot thing was left! COME WITH ME-”

Mikey turned and jumped down the fire escape next to him, expecting the others to follow to where the robot thing had been discarded.

Don glanced to Leo who shrugged, deciding to follow the younger turtle down to the alleyway.

When they reached the bottom Mikey was standing there, eyes fixated on the empty alleyway before him, no ‘robot’ in sight.

Leo approached, standing beside Mikey as he stammered.

“But, but it was just right here? I saw it!” Mikey held his hands out to the alleyway.

“Maybe the other turtle took it.” Donnie joked, the sarcasm coming across not as clearly as he hoped when Mikey shot up.

“That's it! The other turtle must have taken it before they ran!” Mikey lit up again, completely sure of himself now.

Donnie rolled his eyes and slapped a hand to his face as he watched.

“Come on, let's head home for now so we can talk to Father about what to do next.” Leo pat a hand on Mikey’s shell as she moved to another alley nearby with a manhole cover, brothers following behind.

—————————

Technically Donnie was right.. Raph was dragging the discarded droid back when he spotted the portal.

The thing on his back wasn't too heavy but still made running a little more difficult with the odd angle he was holding it in.

The droid was offline and practically destroyed but if he didn't bring anything back as proof he wasn't wondering then punishments would be harsh.

Raph readjusted the droid on his shell as he started walking through the portal, attempting to catch his breath through the breather as he went.

Stepping through the portal Raph looked around, scanning the sparsely occupied portal room for his squadron.

They seemed to have already dispersed which made the dread in Raphs gut sink just a little more as he dropped the discarded droid against a wall and made his way out of the room to look further.

Before he could even get out the door he felt the buzz of the comms in his mask, a small speaker on the side lighting up with sound right next to his right ear.

“Turtle Mutant. Report of facility T, Comms room.” A loud robotic voice echoed into Raphs ear, he flinched at the volume before shaking his head for a moment.

Guess we’re getting right into this..

Ralph made his way to his main facility before Beelining for the Comms room, not wanting to be any more late than he already was.

When Roah entered two Droids where stood next to the doorway with Kraang Prime big on the screens.

Raph knew the drill. A small computer was set up for communication. He just had to explain-

“Why were you separated from the squadron.” Kraang Prime’s voice was stern.

Raph took to the small screen in front of him, quickly explaining through the text.

[I was left behind on lookout.] Raph glanced up to see Prime’s stare.

“And why did you not return immediately.”

[There was another droid left, so I tagged with them but it was destroyed.]

“Kraang #27529616 yes, but they returned immediately. You did not.” Her voice was growing more angry as she waited.

[I was trying to get the droid back.]

“Don't lie to me. With your training that should have taken much less time.” Prime spat.

[I'm sorry Kraang Prime]

“That's Mother Prime to you.” her voice was dripping with venom as Raph cringed at the name. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

[I’m Sorry Mother Prime.] Raph corrected the text.

“Well you’re blatant disregard to return on time can't be overlooked.” Her voice calmed down but the venom was still there, simply hidden.

[It won't happen aga-] Raph was mid-word when the computer locked, not allowing him to continue.

“I was informed a while ago that you keep more in your Cell than you have let on.” Prime’s Voice echoed on the walls, “I didn't have an issue with the matter before because it didn't seem to be affecting your work or medical tests. But now it may be.”

Raph’s eyes widened as he realized what she meant..

She had thought he was trying to run again, like when he was younger-

Raph tried to activate the computer again, trying to tell her that wasn't the case but it remained locked.

He was still tapping on it when one of the droids by the door grabbed him, pinning his arms behind his back as Kraang Prime spoke.

“Droid #48262710, Clear Cell T-1 Immediately.” the order rang in Raph’s ears as he watched the droid move before pausing at another command.

“Incinerate anything found.”

Raph tried to break out of the droid's hold for a minute in a flash of panic but quickly gave up, letting himself fall to his knees as he would only make things worse if he tried to get away.

It had been ages since he had done something like this..

He was always on time.

Always followed instructions.

Never disobeyed Kraang Prime.

He deserved this.

He knew he shouldn't have froze when he saw the turtle, no matter how confused he was.

This was his fault.

He had one job.

He waited there for a while until the droid came back, confirming that the task was complete.

Raph was then let go of the first droid's grip, nearly falling further to the floor but catching himself beforehand.

He stood quickly, ignoring the stinging in his wrists where the droid had held much too tight.

“I did believe you knew better than this but I think you won't make the same mistake again.” Kraang Prime spoke, much softer now.

“You’re lucky I'm forgiving, others would have done much more than just clear your cell. It was a junk pile in there anyway.” She smiled with an odd sharp misshapen grin that made Raph shiver every time. “You are released.”

Raph nodded before backing out, slowly making his way to the end of the hall the other droids were in.

Once he turned the corner and confirmed it was empty though he ran, full sprint towards his cell hall.

Skidding to a halt before the open Cell door, the room now completely empty and spotless..

The only way he knew it to be his was the number plate above it reading “Cell T-1”

Raph took a step in, watching the door slide shut behind him as the emptiness of the cell crept in on him.

All the blankets, pillows, books, sketchbooks, pens, and lights he had collected were nowhere to be found.

Year's worth of collecting things, gone.

He knew this was going to happen eventually. He always had the feeling..

But it still hurt.

Raph made his way over to the far wall, emotions numbing in real time as he walked.

Raph stripped his armor off, discarding it to the corner and sitting himself against a wall, unsure of what to do now..

His mind was racing and he was starting to phase out when he remembered something.

A precaution he had taken years ago encase something like this happened.

Raph popped back up quickly, making his way to the wall next to the door.

Year's ago he had found the walls between his cell and the hall were hollow.

It had taken him ages but using some random tools he found + some parts from his own leg, which he then blamed were missing from a mission, he was able to remove one of the panels on the wall.

He had used the small removable panel as a hiding spot for things over the years.

Mostly for precise items he didn't even want to worry about getting stolen.. Or burned.

Raph popped the panel off with relative ease, letting out a large breath of relief when he saw it was untouched.

Inside the pocket in the wall was the first blanket he had ever taken from the human artifacts room, and a small book.

The book was one he found ages ago and had read through over and over..

A book titled “the Renaissance”

Raph placed the panel back on the wall and sat back down, the blanket draped over his good knee as he opened the book.

4 pages had been highlighted.

Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael

Raph had read through the pages 100 times over by now.

They were the names of the voices he had heard all those years ago, his memory was beyond fuzzy now..

He couldn’t even remember their voices well anymore but he still had the names.

He had to Remember the names.

Or they were going to disappear in his memory like everything else.

Raph read over the book again as he tried to keep his breathing steady..

All the emotions starting to break as he held his breathing still.

He was confused about everything.

The turtles he saw he could write off but now he was messing up again.

Why hadn’t he run?

Why did he feel like he had to stay? Had to see who the kid was.

It felt weird.

He just wanted things to go back to normal.

No warm feelings from seeing another one like himself.

No nothing-

Raph took a shakey breath as he came to a decision.

Whoever these turtles were he just had to ignore them.

If he didn’t mess with them.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t mess with him.

He wasn't going to mess up again.

The sound of droids making their way down the hall snapped Raph out of his thoughts.

Odd.. He wasn’t supposed to be going back to another mission for a couple hours..

Raph popped back up to his feet quickly, shoving the blanket and book back into the wall and covering the area before he ran back to his armor.

The droids approached as they normally did, two of them standing back from the cell door as it slid open.

Raph was putting on the last elbow pad when the droids spoke the given orders.

“Kraang Prime requests your assistance with the droids guarding the humans known as the O’Neils.”

Chapter Text

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey were hidden behind the building they were currently trying to break into.

All three of them had claw-like metal bands on their hands, helping them scale the wall as they watched the van they had used as a distraction burn below them.

Just a couple of hours ago they had run back to the sewers, to their father to ask for help..

Messing up the fight and letting a human get kidnapped in front of their eyes was something they couldn’t really handle alone.

Splinter seemed hesitant at the time to let them back up, worry haunting their father's face as they begged him to let them go back out and help.

Mikey also told their father about the robots.. the droid things he had seen, but other than a flash of fear that to splinters luck no one had caught, he simply assured Mikey he was just tired and seeing things odd.

No such thing as brain-like creatures on robots-

Not that he had seen in years..

Leo and Donnie had thought Mikey hit his head while they were out but after Donnie did a check-up in the Lab Mikey seemed fine.

So after some talking about a plan, Donnie threatening some guy named Snake they found, and some trickery to make the same guy think they were leading themselves right to him, there they were again..

“Wow, lucky thing that van showed up to distract them.” Mikey muttered, looking down on the burning pile of a van below them.

Donnie snapped his head to look at his younger brother, legitimately reconsidering if he had missed something when he checked for a concussion earlier..

“That was the plan Mikey..” Leo sighed as she spoke from above Mikey on the wall “I knew snake was in the alley so I made him think we would be in the van.”

“But we weren’t in the van..” Mikey spoke, genuinely confused..

Leo narrowed her eyes at Mikey, trying to see if he was messing with her before she sighed again, turning to the top of the wall above them.

“Just keep climbing” She deadpanned, making her way up the wall again.

“Can do!” Mikey smiled, climbing after her with Donnie beside him.

It didn’t take them long to find a way inside, climbing through an oddly big and clean air vent through the very futuristic-looking building.

Once they found a mostly clear hallway Leo moved the air vent cover, scanning the hall to only see two guards making their way down.

She dropped the cover, watching it clang on the floor as the guards turned to look at it. Glancing from the ground to the vent above them as Leo hopped down, knocking them both down.

Her brothers hopped down after, scanning the halls as they turned and stood up to move.

“Wow.. I’ve never seen anything like this!” Donnie spoke, eyes shining as he looked around the aggressively bright hallway “They’re using a metal alloy that I don’t even recognize!”

“Donnie! As much as I love listening to the sciences stuff- I think you forgot we’re kind of in the middle of an enemy lair!?” Leo whisper shouted from behind Don, snapping the purple turtle's attention back to where they were walking.

The three of them made their way through the area, eventually coming to an intersection opening in the hallways.

There were guards in the opening.. they almost looked clear? And robotic.. with weird bubble gum-looking creatures inside-

“Woah-“ Donnie’s mouth hung open as he examined the things from afar “Alien Robots!”

“Alien Robots huh-“ Mikey repeated, “where have I heard that before.. oh yeah! I’VE BEEN SAYING IT FOR HOURS!”

Mikey’s shout echoed through the hall, alerting the Robot looking things in front of them to their presence..

Donnie shot Mikey a glare before running ahead, Leo behind him as they started to knock down the Droid-like things in front of them.

Mikey rolled his eyes and jumped in after, knocking down a couple of his own droids as he went.

It didn’t take them long to knock down all the droids in the hall, Leo slicing the last one in half as Don and Mike headed over to regroup..

As Donnie approached the sliced droid to get a better look at the thing, the pink bubble gum-like creature seemed to scream.

Donnie and Leo both nearly screeched at the thing as it tried to climb out of the suit in front of them.

Mikey jumped in front of them, bonking it with his nunchuck real fast as he went to pick it up.

“SEE! See! It’s a brain thing! I told you! I told you- but did either of you believe me? No! You both think I’m just some kind of bonehead!” Mikey shouted as he held the thing up, Leo holding back laughter at how dumb it was now-

Mikey was still flaunting his victory as the thing seemed to wake again, climbing onto Mikey’s arm and biting it hard causing the turtle to shriek and fling the thing across the room.

Mikey ran back behind his older siblings as the brain thing hit the wall, smacking into some sort of button as it did and setting off an alarm around them.

“MIKEY!” both Leo and Donnie shouted.

Donnie grabbed Mikey’s arm and checked it over for a second to make sure whatever just bit him didn’t break skin before he backed up, scanning the place as Leo went big sister mode on Mikey.

“When we get home you’re dead Mikey- got that?” Leo muttered as she glanced around the halls, noting the sounds of footsteps incoming.

“Ok- but I was still right about the brain thing!” Mikey stood straight, glancing around on his own “Gotta give me that-“

“Let’s move-“ Leo stated, glancing at the oncoming shadows from the rounded halls as she moved down the opposite way.

“I think those are power conduits!” Donnie pointed at the ceiling as he explained “We should head down that way, might be something important-“

Leo and Mikey nodded, following behind Donnie as they all ran down the halls.

Donnie came to a screeching halt before though, nearly tripping Leo who was right behind him as he stopped in front of a glass window into a small room.

“We found them!” Don shouted as he looked through the small window to the humans they had been trying to locate.

Donnie looked over to the lock-like contraption beside them as laser-like gunshots started coming from the end of the hall.

“We’ll hold them off! You pick the lock-“ Leo grabbed her swords quickly, Mikey following after as she ran to the droids at the end of the hall.

“Don’t worry! I’ll have you out of there in a second!” Donnie spoke to the two on the other side of the door.

“Ok giant.. lizard thing.?” The girl spoke, watching the door.

“Turtle actually, names Donatello!” Donnie spoke, paying less attention to the people and more attention to the lock as he spoke.

“April-“ the Human on the other side of the door glanced over to the other side of the cell, like they were trying to figure something else out..

“Well nice to meet you but introductions later,” Donnie stated as he continued to tinker with the lock, nearly getting hit by Leo as she slid by mid-fight.

“Just a couple minutes here..”

—————————

Raph had been stationed here for a while now as he waited, nothing much had happened since he was placed at one of the doors to the human’s cell.

Raph wasn’t even sure why Kraang Prime wanted him out here anyway, the work was nothing one of the droids couldn’t handle-

When he was first put out there a couple hours or so ago the small human girl inside had tried faking illness, and then just plain cussing him out to try and get free but nothing worked.

It was funny to watch her try though.

Although recently she had just been talking to him..

The larger human guy had said something about not talking to the kidnappers but the girl had ignored him.

“What’s your name.” The girl had been idly asking questions through the window.

Raph just glanced at her a couple of times, he wasn’t sure how to make it clear he couldn’t talk even if he wanted to but it seemed like the girl didn’t care if he answered or not.

“What are you?” She spoke again, her arms crossed leaning against the small window.

“Whoever or whatever you are you need to dress better..” the girl sounded bored as she spoke “At least change the color.. the magenta does not look good on you.”

Raph chuckled a bit, although it sounded more like staggered breathing with the mask but the girl seemed to perk up at the reaction.

“Hm..” she seemed to think for a moment, verbalizing it a lot with her humming “You look like you would look better in red, go with the pale green skin thing you got going on-“

He knew the girl could only really see him from the side of his back and his shell from where he was leaning against the door but his small laughs seemed to come across well.

“Why are you wearing that anyway..” she went to ask more questions as the alarm above blared to life, causing Raph to nearly jump out of his shell at the sudden loud sounds.

Raph turned to look into the cell again, nothing much changing other than both the humans looking a little freaked out now as well.

The alarms went on for a while, the girl shouting something he couldn’t hear and after a bit Raph was almost half tempted to just call one of the droids so he could dodge back to his own cell, but he heard a commotion on the other side of the doors.

He glared back into the cell and saw both the humans talking to someone on the other side of the cell behind the other door.

The cells they were in were odd, with doors on either side of them for really no reason but Raph never questioned it.

Attempting to listen to the voices on the other side over the alarm still going off Raph couldn’t hear well but figured out quickly it wasn’t one of the droids.

Sounded to.. organic. Like a person-

Raph punched the call button beside the cell, like another layer of emergency notifying if specific help was needed.

It took the droids a couple of minutes but there were there quick, assessing the situation themselves before punching in the code to open the door.

The droids grabbed the humans as Raph heard three restock tube shouts from the other side..

Raph quickly made the decision to ignore them as he followed the droids and the humans.

The girl screamed a couple of times and seemed to have gone back to hating him and cussing him out as he followed the droids holding her and the taller man.

The droids let Raph know they were taking the humans to be moved to another facility via air transport.

On any other occasion, Raph would have just nodded along, ignoring all the details and waiting until he could get to the next portal back to dimension X.

But this time felt weird..

He was way too curious about what was going to happen to the girl.

Curiosity won out and Raph decided to follow, with semi-permission..

I mean he was tasked with guarding them? Who said it only had to be in the cell-

He knew the excuse would work fine as long as he go back in time so he followed the droids, not even bothering to hide as he stuck right behind them on the way to the air transport.

—————————

The turtles watched the girl and the scientist get taken again, shouting something as Leo slashed the lock in half to open the now empty cell-

They all watched in shock at how quickly things had backfired before the sounds of blasters sounded behind them again.

“We can still catch them!” Leo shouted, running through the cell and with her brothers behind her trying not to get shot.

They followed the shouting from the girl, leading them out a pair of double doors to the concrete courtyard-like area outside.

“Get the door!” Leo turned quickly, watching Donnie try to close the doors.

One of the droids somehow got stuck in the closing door, causing Donnie to grab the blaster they were holding and use it to blast the droid out of the doorway before kicking it shut.

Donnie tossed the blaster to the side before turning back to a shocked-looking Leo and Mikey.

“Hm?” Donnie hummed at the odd looks.

“That was SO COOL-“ Mike shouted as Donnie grinned.

“I try” Don smiled as they all refocused in the courtyard in front of them.

They spotted the girl and the scientist on a pathway above, being led by a small group of droids and a shadowy-looking figure..

Mikey tried to focus his eyes on the figure but it was too dark to see so he focused instead on the weird-looking plant thing that seemed to be appearing in front of them..

“Uhh.. guys.” Mikey stuttered a bit as his siblings head’s turned to look where he was looking.

“You did this to me..” the odd-looking plant mutant spoke, “now you’re going to pay!”

“I think it’s snake!?” Leo watched in shock as the thing moved. “He mutated into a.. giant weed!”

The human they had interrogated before had somehow come in contact with the mutagen.. turning him into some sort of leafy-looking plant thing.

The creature let out a shriek as it went to attack, causing the turtle to duck from the plant’s vines and attempt to attack the thing..

Donnie glanced around the plant again, trying to see if he could spot the scientist and the droids as he dodged another vine.

To his both excitement and dismay, he did happen to spot him, the man and the girl behind forced into a helicopter a couple of stories above them.

“Leo! Help me get up there!” Don shouted, stashing his bow staff on his shell as he looked to Leo who glanced at the edge next to her and got the idea.

She nodded, bending to her knee and holding her hands out to boost him.

Donnie ran for her and stepped up as she threw him, using the momentum of her throw to get himself up a couple of stories..

Don clambered up to the rooftop just below the helicopter pad, glancing back down to make sure Leo and Mikey were ok.

After confirming they were alright and still fighting he focused again on the helicopter.

Using his staff to pile jump the last platform Donnie could finally see the helicopter clearly.

The thing seemed to be taking off as he saw the two humans sitting inside.

“Shit-“ Donnie cussed under his breath.

Taking a running start Don used his pole to jump again, this time launching himself as high as he could to grab only the landing bars on the helicopter.

The girl closest to the window seemed to stare in shock as Don struggled to pull himself up.

One of the droids on board seemed to notice as well, taking a long turn to try and wiggle the turtle off to no avail.

The door above Donnie opened, one of the droids inside poking out to try and get him off the side.

He just had to get the scientist and the girl down..

—————————

Raph watched the turtle clamber onto the helicopter, one of the droids had already been taken out as he watched.

The other moving to try and knock the turtle down as well..

The girl had her eyes locked on the turtle, in the hope she was going to get out of here ok-

Raph’s mind raced as he watched this all play out.

He knew the girl was taken from her home.

Even with her doing nothing but cussing him out for a last while, thinking of how genuinely she was asking the questions earlier, how she seemed to perk up when he actually responded even if it was only a chuckle.

He guessed, He felt bad..

This girl was just dealing with what she was given at the time, same as he does all the time.

But she had the opportunity to get out, and these turtles wanted to help..

Even if he wanted nothing to do with the turtles he had been seeing left and right.

Ok.. breathe Raph.

If you play this right you can go back with no punishment.

Raph’s dark pinkish eyes seemed to clear as he came to a decision.

He turned to the droid that was about to attack the turtle, quickly getting up to use the small taser he was given to shock the body still and knock the kraang inside out cold..

He watched the shock on the scientist's and the girl's faces as he did this, the purple-masked turtle below only focusing on pulling himself up.

Raph held out a hand to the girl, she took it and he lead he to the edge handing her off the purple-masked turtle.

He had seen them fight.. even if they sucked at fighting together he knew the turtle could make it down a fall from here.

Raph turned to help the scientist next, holding his hand out before he heard a clank behind him.

Like the droid he tazed waking up.

Raph turned quickly to knock it down again before everything went dark..

—————————

The girl screamed as he watched the armored turtle fall, the droid behind them had used the end of its blaster to knock them out as they had done to it a moment before.

The droid turned to the turtle out the window next, walking to the edge and pointing the blaster right at the turtle's face..

The scientist next to the droid that had been too scared to move before took one look at the turtle speaking one word.

“GO-“ they shouted quickly as the turtle dropped with the girl currently clinging to his shell.

Donnie quickly got his focus readjusted, using his momentum and weight to land somewhere with minimal damage.

The girl still clinging to the back of his shell when he finally hit the ground.

“You ok?” Donnie spun once he felt her let go, backing up so she didn’t freak out.

The girl just fell to her knee’s looking to the helicopter still flying away above..

“Dad.. and the turtle..” The girl, April? Muttered.

“Do you know who the armored turtle was?” Donnie asked, realizing now that who he had just seen looked a lot like who Mikey described before..

“No.. but he helped..” she looked from the sky back to the turtle before her “I don’t think he belongs there.”

—————————

.

..

…

Raph woke up again in a dark room.

He popped up from the floor, quickly noticing the absence of his armor.

It took a moment for his vision to clear before he was able to see around him.

Although it was pointless anyway..

There was nothing around him.

He has been stripped of his personal belongings and prosthetic, leaving only his shorts, bandages, and mask behind.

He knew this place as well..

The lightless dark room with the solid metal door.

He had been here many times before..

..

Isolation.

Chapter Text

Mikey ducked as he ran from some of the robots blasts, sliding past a couple of boxes scattered around the warehouse as he moved to trip a couple of the droids from below before taking them out from above-

The turtles had been following the robot things, which they found were called the Kraang, for a while now.

They weren’t quite sure how they kept running into them at first but after figuring out some of the stuff they were trying to do they decided to fully go after them.

Although from all the Kraang they had seen now no one had even seen a glimpse of the turtle they spotted before..

As much as they knew the turtle worked for the Kraang in some way, from Donnie’s explanation on what happened last time and how the turtle seemed to save them, it didn’t look good as to where the turtle was now..

They didn’t know how the Kraang treated something like one of their “soldiers” going against them.

They were just hoping whoever it was is still alive.

That girl they saved, named April O’Neil, had been with them for a while after her dad was taken, but found a place to go with her aunt a little later.

Although she still came to the lair every once in a while, mostly to check if they had any updates on her dad, and also because she had become somewhat of a friend to them all.

She had helped them out with some stuff around the lair, brought them pizza sometimes, and had even been talking with their dad about training.

Although she wasn’t with them right now, and that wasn’t the issue here, the issue right now was taking out some Kraang droids without getting their shell’s blasted-

Mikey ducked under another attack as Leo took out the droid above him, Donnie tailing quickly behind as he attempted to take out some of his own.

Keyword, attempted.

Donnie kept swinging and although he had taken quite a few out on his own he always needed someone with a “sharper” weapon to come finish it.

His bo wasn't really helping much-

Running up behind another droid Donnie popped up and hit the robot upside the head, trying to knock it down but only managing to unbalance it a bit-

The robot turned to look at the turtle, Donnie cussing under his breath as he realized the laser gun was then turned and pointed at him.

Donnie ducked and tried to book it before Leo came to the rescue, slicing the droid before it had a chance to shoot.

Don came to a halt behind a puller as he stopped to breathe, letting out a disgruntled shout as he looked at his bo staff.

“How am I supposed to fight advanced alien technology, with a stupid. STICK!” He shouted, spinning around the pillar to jump back to where the droids were.

He watched his siblings take out some more droids as scanned the room, spotting some droids saying something about a “canon” to test.

Although before he could think about it too much he got distracted by a robot being thrown towards him, followed by a “Sorry!” Coming from his little brother across the room.

Leo let out a chuckle as she watched Donnie almost get knocked into the wall by a broken droid before her attention was snapped to the wall beside them.

Two droids seemed to be opening the wall up, Leo moved to stop them but froze when she saw what was on the other side.

There was a large gun-like thing on the other side of the wall, which looked like a later gun like the ones the droids used but about 10x bigger.

Leo looked for Mikey and Don who had also spotted the thing and backed up.

Leo backed up to them as well watching the canon thing.

Her mind said to stand your ground but she knew better than to stand directly in front of a huge gun.

“RUN-“ Leo shouted as she saw the thing powering up, all of them splinting in different directions immediately.

The canon shot around the warehouse, taking out boxes around them but ultimately missing the turtles, save for Donnie’s bo that got blasted when he ducked out of the way of the fire.

“OH COME ON-“ Donnie Shouted again as he realized half his weapon was missing-

“Dude your weapon just exploded!” Mikey laughed as he watched Donnie duck out of another blast behind some boxes.

Leo watched as her brothers sucked their way out of the fire, noting where they were before calling the droid's attention to her.

The droids all turned, canon aiming over as well as she stood her ground this time, realizing she was sort of cornered where she was.

Her brothers made their way to the plant form above and dropped down, standing behind her as she made a plan.

“Kraang, destroy those who call themselves the turtles when that which is the signal is the signal that is given by-“ the Kraang started to ramble as Leo got an idea.

Thanking the spirits they were in a warehouse Leo spotted a forklift nearby, glancing at the rambling Droid as she took one of her shuriken.

She sent the metal star flying across the room, watching it ricochet off the wall before breaking the forklift panel and sending the machine into the pile of Kraang and the canon.

Mikey let out a chuckle as he watched the Kraang and canon get smashed into a wall by the machine, looking to Leo who was also holding back laughter at the sight of them all just stuck.

Leo and Mikey made their way out of the warehouse via a window nearby Mikey doing a little victory dance as they waited for Donnie to hop through.

Although when he did come through he seemed to be dragging one of the broken droids with him.

“hey give me a hand with this-“ Don said, struggling to pull the robot through the window.

“A hand with what?” Leo asked, looking at the thing oddly.

Donnie just glanced between the two, giving them a “are you kidding look” before pulling the thing through himself.

—————————

Back at the lair Donnie was tinkering with the droid, he had somehow dragged back, taking the thing apart with way too much energy..

April had popped over earlier and was currently sitting on her laptop on the couch, scrolling through something as Leo and Mikey watched Space Heroes and Donnie continued to tinker.

“This technology is light years ahead of anything I’ve ever seen!” Donnie rambled as he poked through.

“Well, other than that thing when we were kids,” Mikey commented, earning a glare from Donnie.

Mikey put his hands up in mock surrender as he turned back to space heroes, dropping the subject that his brothers had banned many years back.

“Do you know what this is?” Donnie held up a small piece of technology to his human friend beside him.

April glanced up for a second to scan the thing before going back to her laptop, “nope-“

“Neither do it! But I can’t wait to find out-“ Donnie looked like he was almost drooling at the excitement of new tech.

Just as Donnie had put the pieced down, splinter walked from the dojo with another staff in hand.

Donnie deflated when he saw the weapon, turning away from his project to talk to his father.

“With all due respect Dad I can’t keep fighting alien technology with a 6ft staff-“ he took a breath “I was hoping to up upgrade my weapon.”

“A 7ft staff-“ Splinter chuckled as a joke although he watched it go right over his son's head.

“No, I meant using modern technology..” Don clarified.

“Ah- a solar-powered staff!” Splinter chuckled as he spoke.

“I’m serious Dad-“ Don complained.

“Yes, I know and you may upgrade your weapon,” Splinter spoke.

“That’s totally unfair! You can’t just-“ Donnie paused, realizing Splinter didn’t say no. “Wait, really?”

“Ninjas have improved their arsenal for centuries, we are masters of adaptation,” Splinter informed as Donnie only half listened.

“That’s great!” Don stood quickly grabbing the tech from next to him “With this technology I will be invincible! What should I make..”

Donnie continued to ramble for a moment before Splinter spoke up again.

“But remember, technology is a means not an end.” Splinter cleared his throat as he spoke “It is you who must prevail in battle, not your weapon.”

“Combat is not a video game.” Splinter watched his son drag the large metal scrap pile out of the main room and to his lab, listening to him ramble some more before the door shut-

Splinter let out a sigh, knowing his son as much as he loved him this wasn’t going to end well.

—————————

The door hissed open.

Raph wasn't quite sure how long it had been.. He could guess more than a couple of days though.

It didn't matter anyway.

He learned his lesson. That's all kraang prime wanted.

Droids stood on the other side of the doorway as Raph’s eye’s adjusted to the light of the hallway.

They threw his prosthetic in, waiting for the turtle to move enough to install it so he could walk.

After about a minute of Raph regaining his balance, they escorted him to the labs.

There he was given his armor and small weapons yet again and was allowed his mask off for only a while so he could choke down some food.

Although Raph knew the rules, if he spoke mask went back on. Whether you ate or not.

The find given was probably the first thing he had eaten since before he was locked away.

Miracle he didn't starve.

Yet again he was used to going a long time without food.

When his mask had been relocked and his armor replaced he was taken back to the coms room.

Kraang prime on the screen once again.

“Turtle Mutant.” she spat, watching him as he started back. Empty.

“I see you have learned you’re lesson.” her words were sweet but dripping with venom “I do wish you won't make the same mistake again, you are the good one. I know you know better..”

Raph just watched her, eyes cold as he waited for his orders.

“Well.. I am sending you out again. You have been quite. Defiant.. As of late.” she spoke again, cold now. “I’m not sure why. But you know what kind of.. Consequences.. will be followed if it happens again.”

Raph nearly flinched at the threat but stood, still, eyes stuck on the screen.

“But that doesn't matter now, you were taken out of isolation early because of earth force matters.” the venom and malice seemed to drop from kraang primes voice in a second “You are behind sent down with another squadron.”

“Don't mess this up again.”

—————————

Leo and Mikey hopped from one rooftop to another, a small metal turtle-looking robot Mikey named “MetalHead” that Donnie had built from the earlier scraps ran behind them, much louder in its footsteps.

Leo came to a skidding halt on a rooftop, Mikey sliding behind her as they waited for the small robot to catch up.

“Should be double back? I think theirs a car alarm you didn't set off.” Leo shot at the robot.

Mikey chuckled from behind her as he moved beside the robot, waiting for a response.

“Oh come on, you guys are just jealous cuz your out there in the cold- and I'm here eating Mikey’s last slice of pizza.” Donnie’s voice came over the speaker.

“HEY!” Mikey shouted, punching the robot in the arm before quickly remembering the thing was metal and bringing his hand back with a hiss.

Just as Mikey did Leo’s head snapped to the alley below them, hearing a familiar voice from below.

“Guys be quiet,” Leo said as she moved to the edge, spotting the source of the voice.

“Guys it's me!” a small voice came from below, Leo recognizing April immediately and hopping down to the alley.

Mikey spotted her as well and hopped down quickly and quietly after.

Metalhead was less stealthy, falling right down into the dumpster beside them all and causing them to flinch hard at the loud bang.

It took the little robot a minute to wiggle his way out before he could stand back up, to the confusion of April and the glares from Mikey and Leo.

“What. The heck. Is that-” April looked the thing over as Mikey half-skipped his way over to the thing.

“It's Donnie’s latest “brilliant” creation.” Leo deadpanned as she watched it “Metal Head.”

“Catchy name huh? My idea” Mikey beamed as he leaned on the robot's head.

“Oh sorry April, still getting used to the controls” Donnie’s voice came over the speaker again, this time much louder and squeakier before he fixed it. Apologizing. “Whoops.. microphone button got stuck.”

“Anyway-” April ignored the oddity of the situation and focused on the issue “Guys, we gotta do something! I was sneaking around and found out the Kraang are going to poison the city’s water supply with mutagen!”

“The whole city will become a disaster area..” Leo pieced together as she thought..

“There will be mutants everywhere!” Donnie’s voice came over the speaker again.

“Wow! Think of all the friends we can make!” Mikey smiled, earning glares from everyone, robot included somehow..

“Excuse me for being a glass-half-full kind of person-“ Mikey crossed his arms as he stood glaring back.

“Let’s go-“ Leo ignored them and rushed past, Mikey tagging behind.

Metalhead turned to follow before Leo stopped them.

“Donnie I need you to hang back. Metalhead is just too clumsy it’ll get in the way-“ She explained.

“Clumsy?!” Donnie shouted as his arms swung out, knocking down the trash cans next to him in a loud crash.

“Yeah ok-“ he sighed, giving in quickly.

April just patted his shouter for a second, chuckling at the randomness of it all before both she and Metalhead made their way to the roof for lookout.

“They going to be ok?” April asked as she sat on the ledge next to the robot.

“Yeah they should be fine, worst-case scenario I’ll hop in,” Donnie reassured her as they watched the other two turtles hop in.

Leo made her way into the building with ease Mikey followed behind just as stealthily.

Another warehouse. Who could have seen that coming?

The warehouse was filled with Kraang, most of them in one large area but a couple scattered around as well that they could take out easily.

Leo spotted four robots that seemed to be transporting some mutagen and hoped down to catch them.

Leo landed, Carefully and gracefully slicing the two she fell next to quickly and watching Mikey jump down on the other two just stomping on them.

She chuckled as he continued to stomp on them before she grabbed the back of his shell, dragging the still-kicking Mikey away from the crushed droids.

Making their way behind some boxes next to the main patch of droids Leo and Mikey were able to get a clear view of the robots.

And someone else.

Leo spotted the turtle first, nudging Mikey and pointing to the masked and armored figure.

“See! Donnie saw hun to he is real!” Mikey whisper screamed at his sister.

“I didn’t doubt that after Donnie saw him but I’m shocked he’s still working with them!?” Leo looked very confused.

“Didn’t they save April and Donnie last time-“ Leo watched, the turtle leaning against a wall in the corner with a droid beside them.

“Maybe they brainwashed him..” Mikey said, only half joking Leo realized as she gave him the “Are you serious.” Look.

“What!” Mikey crossed his arms. “he could be-“

Leo looked around again, trying to find a good angle to attack the group from when she heard a noise behind her.

Her head snapped to a half-broken droid that Mikey had stomped on which apparently still worked, it made a noise and pointed to the two turtles standing behind the boxes.

“Shit-“ Mikey cussed which earned him a small punch from Leo who looked back at the group of droids that definitely spotted them now..

Leo and Mikey ran as the laser shots started to come at them, dodging behind some more metal boxes that didn’t break when shot and watched the droids start to close in on them.

“We’re trapped-“ Leo looked to Mikey who was on the other side of the boxes.

“Or many they’re the ones who are trapped-“ Mikey smiled as he stuck his head above the box he was behind, quickly ducking again when a laser almost took his eye out.

“Nope, it’s us.” Mikey said as he slid further down the box.

Leo tried to scan for the turtle again but her attention was quickly snapped to the ceiling, the glass shattering as Metalhead crashed down on a solid chunk of the group of droids.

The robot's arms were all out of wack above his head as he stood back up to look at his sister.

“What are you doing?! What is wrong with your arms?” Leo snapped as she watched the robot.

“My arms.. are they not on my hips?” Donnie’s voice spoke low as he realized he messed up the controls.

“No!” Leo shouted.

“Sorry! Forgot to press B.” Donnie spoke as the robot's hands quickly readjusted so he looked like he was posing like a hero.

Leo set her face in her hands as he watched her brother pop back up, using the various amounts of weapons he had installed to take out the Kraang around him.

Leo quickly remembered the other turtle, jumping on the blocks as Donnie had the other droids destructed.

She glanced around, trying to spot the turtle but only caught a glimpse of the armored figure retreating from the facility.

“MIKEY! STAY HERE WITH DON, MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T KILL ANYONE-“ Leo shouted as she ran to the door she had seen the figure leave from.

She had to figure out who this was.

—————————

Raph watched the metal turtle-looking robot crash through the ceiling, taking out quite a few of the droids in his squadron.

He almost laughed at how easy it looked to take out the droids but controlled himself, sending a signal back to dimension X, on a coms pad he was given, that they had been interspersed.

He was sent back a simple message to retreat and leave the droids to handle it, that it would be taken care of later.

He was expected back in 20 minutes tops.

Raph knew the droids were probably going to get destroyed here but he didn’t much care.

Making his way to the back doors.

He half wondered why he was ordered to leave the droids but he wiped his mind of the question.

He didn’t question orders.

Raph heard a shout of someone as he left but he ignored it, not quite rushing but making his way back to the portal a while down the way.

He had a bit of time.

He just had to be back in dimension X in 20

—————————

Leo rolled out of the building, spotting the figure a little way down..

She knew she had to play this well.

Leo moved to the fire escape, quietly jumping up and running beside the mutant, they didn’t seem to be running but they weren’t walking either..

When Leo saw an opening she jumped down, landing right in front of the Turtle.

Sword pointed to their plastron.

The turtle seemed to notice her as she jumped down, lowering into a defensive position and sliding a small blade from what looked like under their wrappings.

“Who are you.” Leo was glaring at the turtle, watching every breath.

The turtle didn’t move. Didn’t speak. barely breathed.

“Who. Are. You.” Leo’s voice raised a little.

The turtle just stared back.

She looked at the mask, then at the armor, they had the same metal and light as the kraang droids, but the mask looked.. odd.

“Can’t you even talk in that thing?” Leo’s voice got more demanding before she stopped.

She noted the breathing coming from the mask.

There was no other noise.

Could he talk through that thing?

Her eyes softened as she dropped her sword to her side.

“Who did that to you..” her voice was softer now.

The turtle's eyes seemed to soften just for a moment.. like they wanted to say something..

But a crash sounded behind them..

Fear sunk into Leo’s gut as she realized something might have happened to her brothers..

Her eyes snapped back to the turtle in front of her, his eyes had gone cold again.

Empty.

“I will find out who you are,” Leo spoke as she moved to run by the turtle, making her way back to the warehouse.

Inside it looked like Metalhead had been taken over by one of the Kraang but Donnie had come to help in real life, taking out both the rest of the droids and his own creation.

Leo rushed over to them both, checking them over for injuries before hearing Donnie mutter something about him being the team medic so she backed off.

“Did you talk to Cyborg?” Mikey’s eyes lit up as he watched Leo’s face drop.

“Not really, that mask thing they had on.. I don’t think they can talk through it..” Leo deflated as she spoke before she realized the name. “Wait.. Cyborg?”

“Yeah! That’s what I named them cuz of all the metal!!” Mikey beamed, “Cool right!”

Donnie rolled his eyes as he turned to his sister. “You said they can’t talk through the mask, do we know why?” He asked.

“No idea.. but by the way his eyes seemed to snap when I asked who did it to them.. I don’t think it’s self-inflicted.” Leo said, relaying the information she collected.

“So.. they might be in trouble.” Mikey moved to ask.

“I don’t know..” Leo spoke watching the ground more than anything.

“But whoever this is. We have to find out more.” Donnie spoke up again.

“Yeah if they are in trouble we have to help them! They’re a turtle like us maybe we can’t be friends!” Mikey smiled again as he looked to Leo.

“Yeah.. Maybe we can be friends.”

Chapter Text

Raph was sat on the edge of a building nearby yet another warehouse.

Why the heck New York had so many random, unclaimed warehouses was beyond him but he stopped questioning it years ago.

He was on lookout again, shocker, for some deal that the droids were setting up inside.

He knew a few of the details but not much, he did know it was going to be a while tho so he had chosen to sit up on the rooftops again so he could watch the city.

Raph’s eyes scanned the neon signs and streetlights as he “watched” for any sign of danger to report.

The probability of that was very low so he didn't really focus much-

He was humming some random song he had heard playing from some apartment a while back as he was scanning the signs and reading them over and over.

It was peaceful until he heard a shuffle on the fire escape on the other side of the building.

Instincts kicking in Raph jumped up and spun on his metal heel silently, small blade from his wrappings sliding into his palm as he watched the shakey metal frame.

A couple seconds of panic later a small black lump of smooth, short fur hopped onto the roof.

A wave of relief washed over Raph as he recognized the feline immediately.

Raph stood back up, sliding his blade away and returning to the ledge he was sitting on as he waited for the cat to prance her way over as she always did.

The little cat was skinny but not malnourished, she was small enough that Raph could pick her up easily but not small enough that he worried about her health, thank spirits-

The little thing hopped up onto his armored shoulders and curled herself around the turtle’s neck, purring as she seemed to watch the same lights he did.

His mind was calm as he listened to the wind move past him and the purring of his cat near his ears.

—————————
(3 years ago, Year 2009)

The smaller turtle stood in front of the coms screens yet again, he had been given his armor about half a year before for missions and was still getting used to the heavy ness of it everytime he put it on.

Kraang Prime was on the other side of the screen, looking down on the still-standing Turtle as she gave the droids and him orders.

Raph was about half listening again, processing the data but more stifling his excitement about this mission.

He had been working with the Earth forces for about a year or so now, earth time, but he had only ever been next to the group.

Always tailing a droid so he didn't wander.

Not like last time.

But he was finally being trusted again, Kraang Prime has specifically given him orders to be on lookout alone this time!

He was excited about this because it meant he could watch the city again. He loved seeing the lights, hearing the people, and feeling the breeze but he could never fully enjoy it when he was being ordered around the whole time by a droid-

So when the portal was opened and the squadron let through Raph was ecstatic to get to the roof tops.

When the whole squadron had reached the destination of whatever mission they were working on, Raph got the nod from the main droid that he was released for lookout.

The turtle was scanning the rooftops quickly, evaluating which would likely be unoccupied for the longest when he heard a noise.

A small chirp-like meow from a box a bit away from him.

Confused, and slightly scared of the possibility it‘s something dangerous like kraang prime had said, Raph glanced back to the droids who seemed all very occupied with whatever they were doing and not paying any attention to the turtle.

Raph looked back at the box, slowly approaching as he glared at the thing.

The box seemed to shuffle, causing him to flinch as he came close enough to open it.

He slowly moved the corner of the box open, trying to see what was inside as he opened it fully.

Inside was a small kitten, about the size of the smaller turtle's hand.

The only reason Raph knew what it was, was from the books he had “borrowed” from the human artifacts.

The small thing looked hungry but not in a scary way like it was about to pounce, the little green eyes looking up at him nearly melted his heart as he slowly moved to pick up the box.

Raph was still looking the small thing over when he heard a droid beep behind him, snapping his attention back to where he was.

Raph spun quickly, moving the box behind his back as he faced the droid who had approached him.

“The one called, Turtle Mutant is supposed to be on the job referred to as, Lookout.” the droid said, voice just as robotic as ever.

Raph nodded quickly, turning away from the droid and tucking the small box under his arm as he scaled the fire escape, careful not to jostle the box around.

When he reached the top of the roof and glanced down at the droid who was now somewhere else entirely Raph focused back on the box again.

He sat down on the roof and opened the lid again, this time nearly jumping out of his shell when the cat bounced itself gracefully out of the box.

Watching the cat with more awe than confusion now, the little thing immediately turned to him prancing its way over and nudging its head against the turtle's metal leg.

Raph’s hands were right in front of his plastron like he didn't know what to do with them, but he slowly moved to pet the feline, like he had read done in quite a few books.

The cat immediately started making an odd whirring noise like it had a motor in its throat.

Raph pulled his hand back again but the noise continued, the cat crawling their way into the turtle's lap.

Raph contemplated what to do-

Think back to the books, what did they say..

Food! This cat was way to small Raph would have to find food somewhere.

He has read about cat food before so he had a vague idea of what it would look like but he had no idea where to find it..

He would just have to search.

As long as he didn't go too far it would be fine-

Raph picked up the cat and placed it back in the box, half closing it so the cat could get out if they really wanted.

He looked back at the cat's head that was poking out of the box a bit and pointed at the feline, giving it a soft glare he hoped said ‘Stay.’

The cat seemed to get the idea, not making any moves to jump out or follow him as he made his way to the edge of the building.

Raph hopped to a couple more roofs close by, looking for any way he could be able to get cat food.

It would be a miracle if he found any.

But he guessed the spirits liked the cat as well because a miracle it was!

Raph spotted an elderly human a little ways down, she seemed to be feeding some strays as well and had a whole stack of cat food cans next to where she was sitting on a bench.

He needed a plan.

Sneak up, snatch a can, get away.

He felt bad stealing he really did but the cat needed this..

Once his resolve was steady Raph hopped to the other roof, making his way down the fire escape as quickly and quietly as he could.

Once at the bottom he was in the alley next to the woman, he just needed to sneak up and grab the food.

Raph glared out of the alley, the woman's gaze was away from him so he started to sneak, walking slowly as he could near the bench.

So far so good, Raph though to himself as he got close enough to reach the food, not even the cats had spotted him.

“You need some for a friend don't you..” the woman spoke softly, Raph’s attention snapping to the human who was now facing him.

He froze.

Oh spirits he was dead.

“Take some, I have more inside.” the woman spoke again, smiling.

The words confused the frozen turtle, was she not going to attack him?

“Go on, take as much as you think your little friend will need.” her eyes where nearly closed like she was squinting to see who was there, but they were kind nonetheless.

“My eyes don't work as well as they used to so I can't really see you well but you look like a nice young person..” she gestured to the stack of cans.

Raph seemed to get a grip of his movements, reaching for a can and backing away quickly.

“Make sure you take care of them well alright? And they will take care of you just as well..” She called as Raph backed up into the alley he came from.

The words rung in his head as he made his way back to the roof by the mission zone, running fast as he could across the roofs.

Back on the original roof, Raph attempted to catch his breath through his mask.

Making his way to the box again, Raph plopped down and set the can next to him, opening the box again.

No cat.

Shit-

Raph’s eyes went wide as he realized there was no cat in the box anymore.

Panic was setting in and he was about to pop up and check all around the roof and fire escape when he felt something rub against his shell.

He turned faster than anything before spotting the cat, rubbing her side into his shell and making that whirring noise again.

Raph took a moment to breathe, relief washing over him as he pulled the cat back in front of him to his lap.

The cat didn't mind being moved, they just waited until they were set down and curled up on the turtle's lap.

Raph watched the cat curl up for a minute before he moved to grab the can, it was a pull tab so opening it was easy and the cat seemed to pop back up when they heard the thing open.

The turtle held back a chuckle as he set down the food cat, watching the cat race for it immediately.

Maybe he could take them back to dimension X?

No.. If he couldn't breathe here, they probably couldn't breathe there..

And besides, if the droids spotted them there would be hell to pay.

Raph watched the cat eat, content with taking care of them here for now..

—————————
(3 years later, year 2012, present day.)

Raph watched the lights still, Cat still curled on his neck as he recalled the fuzzy memory of 3 years ago.. Nearly chuckling at the warmth of it.

He remembered after it all happened he was called back to the mission sight and taken back because the mission was over.

He remembered a lot of things.. Although most of them were fuzzy now..

Being worried he wouldn't find the cat again when he returned.

Reading everything he could find about cats and studied the species so he could take care of her if he found her again.

The little fluffy bastard then finding him again the next time he was on earth, nearly making him cry.

Finding out she was a girl and naming her Bastet after the mythology books he found.

The small feline somehow always knowing when he was on Earth and finding him on about 75% of his missions.

All the memories flooded his mind, he liked thinking about them, she was one of the only steady things he could look forward to seeing..

His mind fell blank again as he watched the neon lights.

Scanning the roads every once in a while for danger.

His calm was interrupted as he spotted the one thing he wanted to avoid today.

The three turtles he had come to dread spotting.

Shit. Raph thought to himself as he moved to stand, not wanting to bother Bastet who was still curled up on his shoulders..

He tapped something on his mask, sending a signal down to the droids. The signal something or someone was coming.

Raph moved the sleepy Bastet off his shoulders, she stretched in his arms as she set her down.

Of all the days they could have shown up-

It's always when he’s just trying to have a peaceful mission.

Chapter Text

Mikey was bouncing down the sidewalk beside Leo and Donnie, hopping on the walls and curbs to do little flips as he made his way to the building they were to check out.

A lot of weird stuff happened in the last couple of weeks..

Like Mikey making friends with some guy named Bradford who ended up being kind of a jerk-

The three of them getting attacked by these metal animal-looking things called “mousers”

And finding this dangerous guy their father knew as Oroku Saki, or they called the shredder..

But Mikey didn’t really care about any of that right now, right now he was just excited about scoping out some Kraang sightings again.

Half because the Kraang droids were just fun to beat up.

And half because he was hoping to see the cyborg turtle again!

Leo had told them to keep a watchful eye out for the turtle but focus on the mission they had currently.

Their mission currently was trying to see why the heck kraang droids had been spotted coming and going from this location for a week now.

They had found this out through a forum April set up for people to report strange findings, they doubted its credibility at first but it had surprisingly been working!

Some “sightings” were a bust or people just making things up but most of them actually did have something to do with either shredders guys or the kraang.

Normally the turtles traveled by roof as well but Donnie had suggested scoping this place out from a lower vantage point because of the architecture of the place.

So they were sneaking through the shadows on the sidewalks below, although “sneaking” wasn’t really necessary..

For the city that never sleeps this place was almost always quiet and empty at night-

Mikey went to jump on another curb on the sidewalk when Leo put a hand up, stopping Mikey before he could jump.

“This is the place, Donnie got anything on the scanner?” Leo whispered as she glanced to Donnie.

“Yeah looks like there are a bunch of them in there..” Donnie noted, his face shoved into a small scanner he had built to detect the energy signatures of the droids.

“So can we go in? I want to find Cyborg-“ Mikey mumbled, giving Leo the puppy eyes from the side.

“Not yet Mikes, we need to find a safe way in first..” Leo closed her eyes so as to not succumb to Mikey’s puppy eyes as she spoke.

Mikey let out a small huff, stepping back and scanning the street more out of boredom than anything.

A small twinge of a feeling that he was being watched slowly settled in his gut.

“Probably just a cat or something..” Mikey mumbled mostly to himself.

—————————

Raph was still sat on the rooftop above the three turtles, eyes beaming down from where he had kneeled at the edge.

Bastet was also watching from beside him now, keeping her green eyes on the orange one.

What were they doing here!?

Raph was running scenarios over in his mind, trying to think of some other reason they would be here but coming up with nothing-

He half wondered why his signal to the squadron had gone ignored but figured something was just going on and the droids were busy..

He tapped the button on the side of his mask, signaling again.

Nothing.

Odd..

It’s fine, as long as he kept himself hidden he would be fine.

Bastet seemed to have noticed the panic growing as she turned to nudge herself against Raph’s side.

Raph ran his hand through her fur a couple of times, more to ground himself in the situation than anything but Bastet loved the pets anyway.

As long as they don’t try to get in the building it’s fine..

But if the turtles get in and the droids don’t take the signal from him he was in deep shit.

Breath.

This is fine.

It’s all fi-

Raph was mid-breath when the wall of the warehouse erupted from the inside out.

Both Raph and Bastet jumped from the sudden noise, Raph grabbing the now puffed-up cat as he made his way to the other side of the roof he was on to see what happened to the warehouse-

Jumping down from the now large gaping hole in the wall was a large mutant, it looked like an alligator from the books he had read but he wasn’t completely sure.

It had a small tube of some weird substance under its arm, like a glowing magenta power source.

Raph sent another signal to the droids, still holding Bastet in his arms.

Still nothing.

The large alligator mutant seemed to be lost as the thing’s head swiveled left and right, before it ran down to the right.

Right towards the turtles on the other side of the building, out of sight..

Oh spirits-

They were going to get trampled-

Raph ran back over to the other side, looking down to the turtles that seemed to be trying to figure out what the large crash was as well.

How could he warn them??

Raph’s eyes ran back and forth looking for anything to help, glancing at Bastet, then to the gravel that seemed to coat the roof.

Gravel!

could he throw rocks at them?

Raph set Bastet down who still looked panicked but could handle herself, and grabbed a small handful of gravel before making his way back to the edge.

He threw a rock down, missing slightly as he glanced over the ledge to the mutant who was approaching rapidly.

He threw another one, internally cussing himself out for trying to help them but pushing those thoughts aside, this one hit the orange turtle right in the back of the head.

The orange turtle let out a hiss as their hand flew to the back of their head and they swiveled on their heel, looking right at him.

Shit-

Was this a bad idea-

“Cyborg!” The orange turtle shouted, severely confusing Raph at the name-

Raph ignored it and pointed around the corner quickly.

The small turtle looked confused for a second then nodded, rushing past the other two who looked beyond confused and looking around the corner.

“Woah!-“ the orange one-half shouted as he spotted the mutant

Right as he did the alligator mutant seemed to be right in front of him, although with the warning Mikey was able to push the other two back so they didn’t get hit.

The other two turtles, who looked even more confused now, turned quickly running after the mutant.

The orange one turned to look up at Raph but he backed up quickly, so as to not be spotted again.

Maybe he could just pretend non of this had ever happened..

A Kraang droids robotic voice came over the speaker right next to his ear, causing the turtle to flinch.

“Has the one known as Turtle Mutant seen the one known as Alligator Mutant pass by the one known as Turtle Mutants place of lookout.” The voice echoed.

Raph contemplated his choices..

—

A. Tell the truth, the alligator and turtles might get caught..

Though what did he care?

The turtles have gotten him in trouble way too many times!

And he specifically said he was going to avoid them at all costs-

But then he warned them just now..

—

B. Lie.

It would keep the turtles out of his work.

Might get his shell handed to him again if he was caught though..

—

Shit.

Raph glanced to Bastet who seemed completely distracted by a small plant she found.

If the Kraang stay away from the turtles, then maybe the turtles will get the idea and stay away from the Kraang.

Raph reached up, pressing a button on the side of his mask that sent back a no, implying the alligator had not come by him.

Kraang’s voice came back immediately, loud as ever over the speaker.

“One known as Turtle Mutant will stay in the place of lookout until one known as Alligator Mutant is found.” The voice cut out at the end, leaving Raph alone again.

Ok-

Ok, this is fine.

He just had to stay here, wait it out.

No need to worry about the turtles that just chased a probably dangerous wild mutant down the street-

Raph wandered over to Bastet who was still pawing at the plant she found.

Bastet looked at him as he went to kneel, causing him to freeze under her gaze.

He wasn’t sure why she looked so scary now-

Bastet glanced over to another bang a couple of alleyways down and back to Raph.

Fine.

Raph stood back up straight, giving Bastet a scratch behind the ears before he took off.

Jumping from roof to roof to follow the mutants-

—————————

Mikey dodged to the side, as the fastest of the three siblings he kept the lead in front of them just behind the mutant they were chasing.

The large alligator mutant had only been running a block or two when they slid into an alleyway, slowing down enough for Mikey to jump on the fire escapes and bounce in front of them.

Mikey landed before the mutant, putting his hands in the air as the large alligator slowed quickly.

“Stop! We just want to talk to you!!” Mikey shouted as the mutant looked for a way out in their rage.

Their breathing was uneven as their tail slammed into a dumpster beside them causing all three siblings to jump at the bang.

For some reason the jump seemed to snap the alligator mutant back to reality.

The mutant froze as Mikey watched their eyes clear up, the second eyelid peeling back to show a pair of black eyes shining around where they were.

“You ok..?” Mikey said a little softer, hands still up waiting for something to happen.

“I..” the alligator seemed to take a couple deep breaths, addressing where they were now. “I believe so.. who are you.”

“Names Michelangelo! And behind you are my siblings Donatello and Leonardo” Mikey beamed at the still shaken-looking alligator.

“You seemed to have broken out of the Kraang-infested warehouse we were watching-“ Donnie Spoke as he and Leo came around the mutant to where Mikey was.

“Kraang..” The alligator seemed to not respond to the name well, posture lowering like he was around to run or attack again.

“Woah woah! Calm there are no-uhm.. robots.. here I promise!” Mikey stuttered, trying to come up with anything other than the name Kraang.

The alligator seemed to lighten at this but not by much, keeping his back arched so he could see the turtles better with his height.

“I am sorry, they are not kind to people like myself.” The mutant tried to explain. “Their name brings Rage.”

“Hey, that’s ok!” Leo said, waving her hands “We all got something that makes us mad, are you really ok though?”

“I assure you I am fine, although I would like to be farther from the place of my capture.” The mutant spoke.

“Capture?” Donnie echoed.

“Yes, I was being held there I believe.. I don’t really remember much.” The alligator clarified.

“Do they have others there?” Leo asked, she looked almost scared for the mutant.

“I am not sure, I do not believe so where I was for I did not see anyone else.. but I believe there are others maybe in other facilities.” The mutant spoke, the look on Leo’s face intensifying.

“Did you happen to hear of any turtles?” Mikey beat Leo to the question.

The alligator seemed to think for a moment.

“Indeed, I did not see any others there but I do believe I heard some talking about a Turlte Mutant, yes..” the alligator lowered themselves more so they were at eye level.

“Maybe it was cyborg!” Mikey smiled, flapping his hands as he looked from the alligator to Leo and back.

“Cyborg?” the alligator asked.

“Yeah! We named the turtle we’ve been looking for Cyborg!” Mikey smiled at the alligator “Do you have a name by the way?”

The alligator paused again.

“No, I don't believe so,” they spoke.

“Then I’ll give you one!” Mikey looked to Donnie who was just shaking his head then back to the mutant “You look like a leatherhead!”

“Leatherhead.” the mutant smiled a bit, “thank you my friend.”

“You're welcome!” Mikey beamed back.

“You said you wanted to get away from them, maybe you can find a place in the sewers same as us,” Donnie spoke, pulling up a map of the sewers on his T-phone.

“Yeah! We can be neighbors!” Mikey sqeeled a bit, Leo smiling a bit at the excitement.

“That would be nice, I do need help hiding this though..” Leatherhead held out a small glowing tube to them.

“What is it-” Donnie’s eyes lit up with fascination at the thing.

“It is a kraang power source.. I took it to stall the kraang invasion.” leatherhead explained.

“I'm sorry.. Invasion?!” Leo spoke up quickly.

“I promise I will explain more once we are clear of this place.. We could be found here, I know I did not run far..” leatherhead explained.

“After that, I will-” Leatherhead's voice was cut off by an echo.

“One known as turtle mutant must report back to-” a robotic voice from above sounded down into the alleyway.

Leatherhead's eyes glazed again.

A low growl escaped from his throat as he ticked the power source away again and jumped up to the roofs where the noise came from.

Leo and her brothers watched in panic, Mikey shouting something as the alligator jumped up.

“Follow him!” Leo shouted as well as she made her way to the fire escapes, her brothers right behind her.

Within a couple of seconds, they were on the roof.

Leatherhead was holding something, or someone against a small Concrete wall at the roof's edge.

Leo ran to see what droid he had caught but froze when she spotted who it was.

Cyborg..?

The turtle’s eyes were shot open in fear, tears pricking the poor kid's eyes as their hands tore at the huge hand pinning their shell to the wall.

“LEATHERHEAD WAIT-” Leo shouted as the mutant froze what he was doing, hand still around the Turtle he had apparently found.

“Kraang.” leatherhead’s voice broke the silence, his tone dripping with venom.

Mikey and Donnie were both frozen behind him.

“Please- put them down..” Leo said again, taking a step or two toward the alligator.

“Kraang!” Leatherhead's voice was louder now, his huge hand squeezing the turtle he was holding against the wall still.

Leo half expected a scream.. Or even just a squeak from the turtle.. But there was nothing.

Only ragged breathing came from the terrified armored turtle.

“Leatherhead.. That's Cyborg.. Remember..” Leo hoped the name would help but nothing happened.

“Leatherhead” Mikey's voice seemed to come back to him again as he stepped forward beside his sister. “Please.”

The alligator seemed to deflate.

Stepping back from the wall and dropping the turtle as he did so.

The turtle fell to their knee’s immediately, their breathing becoming quick as they tried to catch their breath.

“I.. am..” Leatherhead stepped back. “I have to leave, I am a threat to you,” he spoke one last time as he turned, dropping down the building and running away from the scene.

“Wait leatherhead!” Mikey shouted as the mutant jumped down, ignoring the call.

“We can find him later..” Donnie spoke as he put a hand on Mikey's shell before turning back to the still hyperventilating armored turtle.

Leo had made her way over to them, unsure of what to do.

“Are.. You ok?” she asked, kneeling next to them as they breathed.

Leo went to put a hand on his shell but before she could cyborg jumped, curling away from her before standing up and bolting the other way.

Back towards the warehouse.

“Wait we just want to!-” Leo gave up
mid-sentence as the Turtle jumped to the other rooftops away from them and out of sight quickly.

“Well, there go two of our friends..” Mikey spoke as he made his way to Leo.

“Friends?” Leo questioned

“Yeah, I think we’re friends now, he helped up dodge Leatherhead and let you go before right?” Mikey explained.

“Hm.. Guess so.” Leo spoke as she stood back up dusting herself off.

“We lost the mission too.” Donnie deadpanned from behind them.

“I don't think that's the main concern here but I like the enthusiasm.” Leo joked as she turned to the other side of the roof.

“Let's get back before Dad has a heart attack,” she spoke again, hoping down the fire escape.

“We can look for cyborg again later right?” Mikey asked as he followed.

“Sure, gotta help a friend right?”

—————————

Raph’s breathing was all out of order when he got back but it's not like any of the droids noticed.

Finishing the mission and going back to dimension X was anxiety-inducing to say the least..

But once he was back in his cell he collapsed, taking the blanket and Book from the wall before he did.

Why did everything have to be changing now..

He just wanted his peace back-

Chapter Text

Leo and Mikey were both idling in the kitchen, Leo had made noodles for lunch that day and was about to call Donnie in for his when she heard a shout.

Leo knew what the shout meant she had lived with Donnie since they were mutated after all-

“What did you complete this time Don!” Leo shouted as she set down Mikey’s noodles, watching the younger turtle snatch them immediately before muttering a quick “thank you” and digging in.

“Leo look!” Donnie shouted as he ran into the kitchen, a small laptop in one hand and what looked like a bug in the other.

“What is it?” Leo sat down herself putting Donnie’s bowl on the table close to where he was standing and hers down in front of her.

Donnie just made some happy clicks as he held his hand with the bug out to Leo.

In his hand was a small cockroach, just large enough to be the size of a small finger but covered in what looked like a mini camera and battery pack.

“Woah-“ Mikey looked up from his noodles in time to nearly jump over the table and inspect the thing.

“Careful!” Donnie shouted, pulling his hand back as Mikey slipped on the table and fell on his plastron. “He’s special-“

“Why is he special Donnie?” Leo asked, with just a bit of sarcasm in her tone.

“Because, I outfitted him with a remote-controlled camera helmet!!” Donnie nearly squealed with excitement at what he made.

“Well.. that explains why you’re special.” Leo chuckled as she turned back to her noodles.

“Listen! We can send him into TCRI and spy on the Kraang.” Donnie held a hand up as he spoke.

Mikey, who had pushed himself off the table now and was back standing on the floor, popped up at the mention of the Kraang immediately.

“And Cyborg!!” Mikey shouted.

“Yes sure, and Cyborg,” Donnie confirmed, Leo nodding along as she listened.

“The camera allowed us to see whatever the cockroach sees” Donnie continued as he held the cockroach out again.

“So we use it to find out what the Kraang’s plan is about this whole “invasion” thing and stop them!” Leo stood, trying to look like a triumphant leader as she spoke.

“And find cyborg!” Mikey shouted yet again, earning him an eye roll from Donnie who just repeated.

“And find cyborg.”

—

A couple of hours later they were set up in Donnie’s lab, both Leo and Mikey huddled around Donnie who was holding the controller to the bug in front of a small screen.

On the screen was the kraang warehouse they had scouted out a while ago-

The cockroach had snuck in and, with Donnie’s control, skittered around the facility.

The small thing ran from area to area, attempting to pick up any talk of the invasion plans or anything they could use to stop or stall the droids.

Mikey who was behind Donnie still with his eyes stuck on the screen kept asking if Don saw cyborg yet, like a kid asking “Are we there yet” in a car.

Donnie stopped responding after the 5th time, instead focusing on leading the cockroach up a small pillar to the roof’s support beams, so he could get a better look.

From the beams in the ceiling, Donnie was able to see two kraang standing next to a screen with what looked like a diagram of earth on it.

“Wait, what are those guys talking about..” Leo spoke from behind him “Can you get closer?”

Donnie obliged, leading the cockroach as close as he could while still staying on the beams.

From there the mic was able to pick up the speech of the robots.

“That which is known as the next phase of the kraang invasion to the planet known as Earth will soon begin.” One of the droids spoke, stretching the sentience out way so long.

“Next phase.. that doesn’t sound good-“ Leo spoke as she set her elbow on Donnie’s shoulder from the side.

“That which is the laser drill will drill a hole in the planet known as Earth. That is a hole that is 13 miles deep in the earth.” The other droid continued, with the same aggravating sentence length as the first.

Donnie quickly hooked up his phone to the laptop, grabbing the diagram off the screen and uploading it onto his T-phone.

“They’re going to bore a hole into the earth?” Donnie repeated, looking over the diagram again.

“I’m guessing that’s bad..” Leo muttered.

“Well unless you think the city needs a giant lava fountain-“ Donnie corrected, glancing at his sister.

“Yep. That’s bad-“ Leo corrected.

“Lava surfing rules-“ Mikey smiled as Leo chuckled at the stupidity of the sentience.

“It definitely doesn’t Mikey-“ Leo calmed as she looked back to the screen.

“How are we going to stop this?” Donnie swung his head back in the chair so he could see both his siblings behind him.

The droid's voices came back on, shutting Donnie up quickly.

“To execute the plan kraang needs to possessing that which is known as the diamond lens to make work the drilling of the laser drill.” The first robot droned on again.

“Kraang is already on the way to that which is called the laboratory that is having the lens that is needed by the Kraang.” The second responded quickly, catching Donnie’s interest.

“What lab are they..” Donnie was mid-sentence when Leo spotted something else on screen, quickly shaking Donnie to turn the roach sky.

Donnie, caught off guard at the sudden movement, threw his hand holding the controller up to get it out of arms reach.

He heard a crack as his hand and the controller hit something.

The screen seemed to falter and go static as Donnie pulled the controller back to him.

“Shit-“ Donnie cussed under his breath as he tried to get the screen to come back. But it was gone and so seemed to be the signal coming from the cockroach..

“Looks like it fell off the beams.” Donnie muttered, “Might have cracked the tech..”

“Wasn’t there like a pit of mutagen below us?” Mikey asked, half paying attention as he was messing with something random he found.

“Well.. let’s hope it missed,” Don stated. Ending the whole conversation.

—————————

Raph sat in the passenger seat of the van quietly, one of the droids were driving currently and there were a couple more in the back.

They were on their way to pick up some diamond lens thing for the invasion project.

He wasn’t part of the project officially so he didn’t know much if any of the details but he didn’t really care either.

Nothing much would change for him if they took over.

He might just get sent back to his cell for good again, like before he was sent with the earth's forces.

His memory of that time was fuzzy if not gone now but he still remembered that the time existed.

His only issue with that is he might miss seeing Bastet.. and the lights.

But other than the attachments he had ordered not to make.. whoops.. he didn’t much care.

So he just followed orders.

Keep to the rules, don’t get punished.

Raph was watching the road as they pulled up to the lab the lens was being held.

The droid in the seat next to him gave him the wave off to scout the roofs and within a minute Raph had exited the car and sprinted to the rooftops.

It was a quick exchange so he didn’t expect to be here long so he stuck close, watching the street.

Should take about 15-20 minutes to clear the place and the lens should be good to take.

Raph watched the lights above the roads flash from red, to green, to yellow, to red again over and over on a long spread-out loop as he waited.

Bored..

He knew this place was much farther from where Bastet typically hung around so he didn’t expect to see her at all.

Still eyeing the lights Raph scanned the road again, this time eyeing an off-looking pained van.

The whole thing looked like it was covered in armor and graffiti, it looked funny-

Raph’s eyes were tracing the patterns as it got closer, slowly coming to a stop before the lab like it was going to park.

Odd?

Raph noticed the Kraang were coming back out, carrying the lens to the van.

He wondered what the heck the people in the pretty van's reactions would be to seeing literal robots in front of them but the vehicle didn’t move.

Raph clicked a button letting the Kraang a small warning before he poised to jump down from the roof.

The turtle was about to jump down and make his way back to the van as the Kraang closed the doors with the lens inside but something told him to stay.

Luckily he did because within a second the pretty colored vehicle was moving again, quickly picking up speed and ramming the van in the side.

The whole van was sent flying as Raph watched in shock..

Who were these people?!

He had seen dumb humans but what the heck was that?

A couple of the droids stepped out do the van as the doors to the colorful vehicle opened.

Ah.. that’s why.

The three turtles stepped out of the colored van, holding their weapons up as the blue one shouted at the droids.

Raph moved closer to the face-off, more entertained at this point than anything..

“The halting of Kraang is not a thing that the ones who are turtles will be doing to Kraang.” One of the suited droids spoke first, Raph’s eyes snapping to the blue one for a reaction.

“Wrong! The halting of Kraang is exactly that the ones who are..” the blue one seemed to stutter before giving up, “Ugh.. just halt!”

Raph suppressed a laugh as he listened to the blue one try to replicate the droids.

“What should we save first? The world or the English language.” The Purple one muttered from behind the blue.

The orange one, who had somehow snuck past his gaze and into the other van came back, hauling the diamond lens behind him.

“For the diamond thingy!” They cheered as the blue and purple ones nodded.

Raph was ready to watch them go at each other then a large bang was heard from the broken van.

His eyes snapped to the van before he froze.

It was a giant.. mutated.

Cockroach..

Raph would have absolutely screamed if it weren’t for the mask covering his snout but that didn’t stop the panic.

He moved to walk, run, move his legs at all to leave but the lack of motor control the panic created caused him to slip, his grip on the edge of the building fumbling as he tripped over the side.

A loud crash was heard as he took a moment to realize what just happened, looking around.

Somehow he had landed in a garbage bin at the bottom of the building again but the safety of his landing didn’t take away from the fact he was now so much closer to the cockroach than he was before.

“Cyborg!” A small voice echoed as his ears rung, his mind wanting to grasp to it as his head swiveled from left to right and he climbed out of the dumpster.

Raph’s eyes snapped back to the mutant, the kraang droids were all busy firing at the terrifying bug mutant as he looked to the turtles again.

The blue and purple ones seemed to be fixated on the mutant and droids before them but the orange one was looking right at him.

A strange expression on his face, like fear or worry? But not for himself..

He remembered seeing the expression once before.. from those brown eyes he remembered seeing on the first day he went to Earth..

Those eyes were the only memory of that day he had left.

Raph took a step back into the alleyway he had fallen in as the orange one looked like he was about to run up to him, but the orange turtle's attention snapped back to the blue one as they spoke.

Raph looked to the droids again, who seemed to have mostly been destroyed by the roach before him..

“Mikey, Donnie you take the roach! I’m going to grab the lens!” The blue one shouted, watching the other two run off.

Raph stayed frozen in the entrance of the alley as he watched the blue one run for the large lens case and the other two go after that.. creature-

He wanted to run, to hide but his legs wouldn’t move and his ears wouldn’t stop ringing.

Why was he so scared of this thing?!

Raph watched some of the squadron droids that had gone unblasted by the roach use their gliders to get into the sky, chasing and shooting at the blue one as they tried to drag the huge case away.

Should he help?

Take the lens..

Or leave it with the turtle.?

Raph’s mind was made up for him when the kraang got the blue one away from the case, reaching into the case and snatching the small lens as the blue one shouted at the droid.

The purple one had seemed to be tossed aside by the roach, the thing making a bee-line for the colored van as it passed and shoved the orange one aside as well.

The blue one, who was still being chased by the glider droids, was running far from the vans as they were chased around a corner.

The cockroach seemed to be aiming for something in the colored van as the purple and orange ones got back up to attack.

Even with both of them working together the roach somehow overpowered them.

The cockroach sent the purple one flying and unconscious into the alleyway across from him before turning and grabbing the orange one by the throat.

They seemed to be holding the turtle up to eye level, not quite choking him thankfully but even with the orange one kicking and wiggling he couldn’t get himself out.

The orange turtle looked so.. helpless.

Raph watched this all play out, his feet still frozen to the ground as his breathing was stuck at hyperventilation levels.

The cockroach scared him enough but watching the orange one struggle in its grasp.

He felt..

Rage.

A deep, burning rage he hadn’t felt since he was younger..

He hasn’t felt since he was the one that helpless.

—————————

Back years ago in dimension X.. before Raph was even considered for the Earth forces.

When he was still used mainly for experiments and research.

He was being trained.

Of course not any “martial arts” or fancy teaching.

Just how to Survive.

The basics, punch, kick, block.

Stay alive when you are needed.

Even though the Kraang themselves couldn’t fight for shit. This was still mandatory.

Because the Kraang had a whole robot body of armor-

He only had a shell.

Altogether the training wasn’t that bad, a little difficult yes and sometimes painful.

But never.. lethal.

Although there was one lesson that haunted him.

The Kraang showed no mercy to those who they deemed unuseful to them.

So Kraang Prime ordered a test.

A challenge of sorts.

For Raph to prove he wasn’t useless and could end his opponent in a fight.

In her word, a simple lesson.

How to kill.

Raph at this point was around the Earth age of 10.

The little one had gone through basic training, how to maneuver and fight even with his metal leg and no weapons.

The Turtle was obedient but seemed.. Immature Nonetheless.

This was fixable.

—

When the day of the “test” came Raph didn’t even know what was happening..

He was only told that he was needed for another session and was taken to another, larger, cell.

Definitely not his own..

Raph was tossed into the Cell, the door hissing shut behind him as his eyes snapped to the dark side of the room.

Something was there..

Someone?

“Hello..” Raph’s small voice echoed through the cell.

A low grumble was heard on the other end, causing Raph to flinch at the volume.

“Woah! I knew someone was there! Are you being kept here too? Do you need help training?” Raph’s voice nearly lit up at the possibility that another person could be in the facility with him.

There hadn’t been anyone since he was brought here..

Another low grumble from the other side of the room, this time sharper.

“Hey, are you ok? You are hiding in a corner..” Raph glanced to the doorway, the droids were still standing there but didn’t seem to be moving at all, like they were shut off.. or observing.

Raph looked back to the dark side of the room.

“If you just come out I can see what’s-“ Raph tried to speak but was cut off quickly by movement.

The kid nearly screamed as whoever was in the other corner flew out, pouncing at him like a lion on its pry and using a large fur-covered hand to hold the turtle's throat against the wall before him.

The same low growl escaped the mutant's snout as Raph could see the thing clearly now.

It was a large mutated black bear..

From the books he read, he could assume it to be an adult and very. very Feral.

Raph kicked his legs from under him, trying to wiggle his way out as the bear growled, grip tightening.

The bear's hand was nearly the size of Raph’s plastron already so when it tightened its grip it wasn’t just on his throat.

Raph had always had a small crack on his shell, just a small chip that had been there as long as he remembered..

He felt it cracking with the pressure placed on it.

A fire-like sensation reaching to his chest as he heard the cracks of the bear's paw breaking his plastron.

A blood-curdling scream came from the turtle even with little air coming from his restricted lungs, still trying to wiggle his way out.

The scream somehow managed to hurt the bear's ears enough for it to drop him, Raph immediately getting to his feet somehow even with the blood dripping down his plastron and the fear making his ears ring.

Raph looked to the droids on the other side of the door again.

Didn’t they see what was happening?!

Why weren’t they helping him!?

“PLEASE-“ Raph went to shout something but the bear pounced again, this time missing as Raph rolled out of the way.

He ran to the other end of the cell, backing up completely to the wall as his eyes scanned for anything he could use.

Nothing. The room was empty.

He was trapped, no one was coming to help and the droids that took him here were just watching him.

He was going to die..

He was helpless here.

Raph eyed around the room again, adrenaline rushing as he tried to remember anything from the training.

“Kraang is known to use what Kraang can to defeat the one known as the opponent.” The robot's voice echoed in his mind..

He could use anything?

Raph scanned the room again, still empty but his mind flashed to his leg.

His prosthetic..

If he could get the support beam in his leg free he course use that!

The bear turned to face the turtle again as Raph fell to his knee, trying to unlatch the leg.

It started to move..

Raph panicked, trying to work faster but fumbling with the metal.

It got ready to pounce again, this time for the kill.

One more bolt, please.

It jumped.

The bear reached the turtle within a moment, the fuzz of the creature overtaking him as he folded in on himself in defense.

With a metal beam plunged into the bear's chest.

The creature seemed to fall back, choking on what Raph could assume was blood as it fell over.

Raph’s eyes were still latched to the bear, half expecting it to get up again as he tried to move.

Remembering quickly he currently didn’t have a leg..

Tumbling back to the floor as the adrenaline calmed a bit, Raph was hit with the burning pain in his plastron again.

A small pained groan came from the turtle as his eyes seemed to glaze over, snapping to the now-opening door as his mind faded.

“One known as Turtle mutant has completed the test for kraang prime” the droid spoke as it started into the cell.

“This means the one known as Turtle mutant is ready for exchange and evaluation for the working forces.” The other droned as they both started towards the turtle.

Right as he was about to ask what that meant.. his mind went black..

—————————

Raph wasn’t going to let anyone feel that helpless.

—————————

Mikey watched the roach slam the unconscious Donnie into the alley beside them.

The turtle nearly screamed as he watched his brother get thrown out of his reach.

He popped up quickly to run and make sure his brother was ok when the roach seemed to turn to him, approaching rapidly as he backed up to the shell raiser.

“Woah, woah there dude no need to attack so harshly” Mikey tried to reason as the roach reached for him.

Negotiation quickly turned into panic as Mikey felt the mutant’s claw around his neck, hoisting hun up to eye level.

Shit-

Mikey kicked and flailed around for some way to get out but he was stuck.

And it was getting harder to breathe..

Mikey’s eyes raced across the now cleared road around him for his sister but she seemed to have been chased away while Donnie and him went after the thing now holding him.

His eyes drifted again to the frozen turtle, their eyes glued to the road as their breathing picked back up.

“Cyborg-“ Mikey’s voice was ragged as he tried to get the name out.

Mikey wasn’t sure but something clicked, the turtle before him that looked absolutely horrified by the creature in front of them a second ago seemed to calm.

their breathing returning to normal as their eyes lifted off the ground.

Bright pink.

The turtle's eyes have always had a pinkish tint from what Mikey had seen before.. but this was new..

They looked like they were glowing..

Mikey just held his hands to the roach's claw as he watched Cyborg straighten out.

A look of pure anger written clear in his face.

Before he was gone.

At least it looked that way.

To the human eye, it would have looked like the turtle just vanished but Mikey was used to the technique, he had used it himself a couple of times.

The turtle was flashing around the roach, the thing unmoving before cyborg reappeared behind where Mikey was being held.

And the mutant dropped.

Like a body that had been dead for a while.

Mikey was dropped as-wall, although the turtle was unharmed by whatever Cyborg had done.

When the turtle caught his breath out of the death grip he turned quickly, wanting to see what Cyborg had done.

Wanting to thank him and ask him why he was saving them..

But the road was empty again, nothing being heard but the sounds of Leo running back around the corner to see what happened and a small grumble from the probably now semi-conscious Donnie.

Nothing..

Cyborg had run off again..

—————————

Why did he do that?

What was he thinking?! Helping the exact turtles he had been trying to avoid!

How come every time he saw them he had to save them in some way??

And why did he get so mad right there..

He had seen people hurt and killed many times..

But that rage he felt when he saw the threat of the orange one being hurt.

The parallels he saw between himself and the small turtle before him.

That was new..

And he didn’t like it.

Chapter Text

The comms room was filled with Kraang droids and floaters, all buzzing around and tapping at different screens as they waited for the command.

A large screen above them all lit to life as they all froze, waiting for the words of their leader.

“The invasion begins.” Kraang primes voice echoed across the room “Now.”

Cheers from the droids shot from everywhere.

This is what they were all working for.

This was it.

The first invasion.

“And,” Kraang Prime’s voice broke through one more time.

“Bring my turtle to me.”

—————————

The large Kraang orb started to grow a bright magenta, quickly dumping data into the computer Donnie was working with at the moment.

“Holy Toledo!” Donnie shouted as he watched the info pour onto the screen before him.

April had found the orb in the sewers the day they had gone to save her father and bring him back, but until now it had been unresponsive.

Donnie’s eyes glazed over the info, activating his text translator quickly to read over as much as he could.

“What’s with the alarm Donnie?” April appeared at the door to the lab.

“Orb!” Donnie said quickly, trying to focus more on the info.

April made her way over to the computer Donnie was currently working at, scanning over the info herself to see what was happening.

Donnie didn’t pay much attention to his friend as she started to read next to him, keeping quiet.

Until she reached a part he hadn’t got to yet.

“Shit-“ April cussed as she pointed to a part later on, Donnie’s eyes snapping to the data log.

“Shit indeed,” Donnie muttered as well.

“Need me to go grab Leo and Mike?” April spoke quickly as Donnie stood up.

“No. I’ll get them you read further, see if there is anything useful in there still.” Donnie quickly replied before speeding into the main room.

In the main room, Leo was sat in front of the TV watching what looked like the final episode of Space Heroes for the 1947th time with Mikey focused on one of the arcade cabinets Donnie had found and fixed years ago.

As much as the sight of them relaxing made him want to just sit down and let Leo tell him all about Captain Ryan’s adventures or have Mikey use him as a taste tester for his weird food, he unfortunately had some more important worries this time-

Donnie paced over and grabbed the remote, shutting off the TV as he moved to tap Mikey on the shoulder.

“What are you doing? That was the final episode of Space Heroes!” Leo called as she glared at her younger brother.

“Sorry- sorry, but you might want to see this-“ Donnie held his hands up as he pointed back to the lab.

Within a minute they were all piled in front of Donnie’s computer again, April still in the computer chair.

“April and I were sifting through all this Kraang chatter and.. well.. listen to what we found,” Donnie spoke as April pressed play on an audio recording of what they found.

“The final phase of the plan known as Kraang’s invasion shall commence in the unit of time that is 6 hours” the robotic voice echoed through the lab “The techno-drone shall arrive from dimension X through the portal.”

“Are you sure this is the translated version” Mikey joked as he listened but soon backed off when he got a glare from Donnie.

“Wait.. but I thought April was the key to the Kraang plot and they don’t have her-“ Leo asked as April nodded from the chair.

“If that techno-drone comes through that portal.” Donnie stuttered a bit. “Well.. it sounds like the end of the world”

“So what do we do?” Mikey asked, seriously this time.

“Guys. We’ve got to find a way to shut that portal down,” Leo stood as she spoke “It’s up to us.”

“To save the world?” Mikey asked as he spotted their father walk in.

“Leonardo is right.” Splinter spoke up from behind them all, causing them all to turn around quickly “As much as I want to keep you don’t here and safe from whatever is going on up there.. you may be the only ones with the knowledge to help the people up there.”

Leo’s face softened as she heard the slight worry in her dad’s voice.

“I have lost people to the exact species you are fighting and as much as that pains me.” Splinter's face dropped as he spoke “Stopping them might be the way to save others from the same fate.”

“Dad?” Donnie’s voice was questioning as he spoke up, wanting to ask the question he knew he shouldn’t.

“Yes, my son..” Splinter's voice was low.

“I..” Donnie dropped it, not wanting to hurt their father. “Sorry, never mind.”

“No need to apologize my son.” Splinter smiled a bit as Mikey looked eager to be moving again.

“Are we going?” Mikey spoke from the spot he had been bouncing around in for a bit.

“Ah yes-“ Donnie spoke as he started out of the lab to grab supplies, Mikey quickly following behind with Leo walking out more calmly.

“Leonardo.” Splinter’s voice broke the silence.

“Yes?” Leo turned back to the rat.

“Keep your brothers and yourself safe. You are the first priority.” His voice was soft as he spoke, watching his eldest daughter give a confident nod before heading out to help.

“You ok splints?” April spoke from behind him.

“Yes, April. Just worried that’s all.” Splinter turned to the girl in the computer chair.

“Understandable, my dad gets worried about me all the time.” She smiled, hopefully, to make him feel better.

“Thank you, where is your father anyway?” Splinter asked, both he and April had been staying here since they brought him back from the Kraang a couple of days ago.

“I’m not sure..” April spoke, “Got to be here somewhere..”

“Probably nothing to worry about-“

—————————

Raph was making his way to the techno-drone dock, the droids had been working on the huge thing for a long while a couple of faculties away across dimension X.

He had only seen the thing a handful of times when he was making his way to the portals but had never seen it up close.

It was massive-

At least the size of four small floating islands..

Raph had been called to it by Kraang's prime because apparently, she wanted to have a “guard” with her.

But Raph really knew it was because she watched to keep an eye on him while on Earth.

Had had made too many mistakes before, he wasn’t trusted on his own in the upcoming chaos.

Raph didn’t really care about that though, he was more anxious at this point, for two reasons..

1 - Bastet, his cat was still on the streets or rooftops somewhere and the thought of something happening to her with all this made him feel sick.

2 - The turtles.

He knew he hadn’t seen them in a while, not since the roach “incident” when he helped the orange one-

But he had a feeling that with this whole invasion thing happening.. there was no way they weren’t going to show up.

He was just hoping by being near Kraang Prime would keep him away from them if they showed up.

Raph made his way onto the ship as his thoughts raced around his head, be-lining immediately towards the hallway he was instructed towards.

The place was zero gravity but he was used to the weightless feeling from the normal gravity around here so making his way to the room he needed was easy.

Inside was the normal gravity again so his feet hit the ground with a soft thump as he walked in.

It was a large room completely empty save for what looked like a medical table held vertically in place, and Kraang Prime herself implanted in the wall..

“Hello, Turtle.” Kraang Prime spoke as she spotted him.

Raph’s eyes were glued to the medical table as she greeted him.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t for you this time.” She said as Raph’s eyes snapped back to her.

“Come, we will be departing soon. You will want to see what we are here for.” She spoke slowly, Raph making his way to the other side of her in the room.

“The invasion will be soon.”

—————————

The turtles watched the shell razor bast into the glass doors of TCRI from below them.

The plan was to use the vehicle and metal head to mess with the droids inside while they used Donnie’s tech wings to fly up above.

“Nice work Don!” Leo called from beside her brother as she watched the explosions continue to go off.

“This is awesome!” Mikey shouted from behind the two, doing tricks in the air as he shouted “Turtles were born to fly!”

“Alright guys- let’s do this.” Leo smiled as she turned back to the TCRI building they were about to land on.

Mikey was the first to land, doing a roll on the edge of the roof they had chosen.

Donnie landed next, dropping his flight gear immediately as he tapped on his T-phone to get on the Wi-Fi and disrupt the camera’s setup around the edges.

Leo landed last, somehow gracefully dropping to her feet and taking off her own gear as she moved to help Mikey who was struggling to get his off like a 5-year-old.

“Got the cameras” Donnie noted as he watched Leo drop both her and Mikey’s flight gear. “We just need to be watchful now.”

Leo nodded as she started to make her way to the edge they needed to cross to get inside from the roof.

Donnie and Mikey followed behind as Leo stopped, holding her hand up that there were droids around the ledge.

Mikey knew the plan and jumped out in front, yelling at the droids who somehow looked shocked at the sudden appearance of a turtle this high up.

Leo moved behind Donnie as the boy readied his bo staff.

Mikey did a show of falling backward off the ledge before the droids made their way over to see if he had fallen all the way.

The two droids glanced over the edge to see the turtle with wall hooks and a smug look on his face, pointing to the side.

When the droids looked they were both met with a staff to the face, sending them really falling down the building as Mikey claimed his way back up with ease.

A quick high-three and they were off again, finding the door from the roof inside and making their way to where Donnie’s tech picked up the portal signature.

A large room on the highest floor filled with Kraang and tech Donnie hadn’t even seen before.

“The portal room..” Mikey looked around in Awe

“Ok, we got to take out that portal-“ Donnie repeated as he watched the droids move.

“That dudes scary..” Mikey spoke, pointing to the large rock-like monster in front of them.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be gone before that guy even know we’re here-“ Donnie reassured him.

Leo pulled out the large laser cannon Donnie made from old kraang parts and lined it up with the portal from their spot in the rafters above.

“Ok, this all ends in 3..” Leo counted down.

“2”

“1”

A large beam of fiery light came from the cannon, heading right toward the portal it was aimed at..

Before it fizzled out.

A large purple-like force field came to view around the portal like it was taunting them.

“What?” Leo’s face dropped as she watched before looking to Donnie “There’s a force field? Why didn’t you tell me!”

“Well because I wanted us to fail.” Donnie said sarcastically, “OBVIOUSLY I DIDN’T KNOW!?”

All the droids in the room spotted them at once, aiming the multitude of blasters around the room right at the group of turtles.

“We got a plan B?” Mikey asked before all their attention was turned to the rock monster that somehow appeared behind them.

They all screamed before dashing in opposite directions, like mice trying to scurry away from a trap.

The large monster turned quickly, following Leo out of all of them as she tried to rush away as the cannon was reloading.

Leo was cussing under her breath as she was cornered by the large monster, hitting her hand against the cannon like that was going to charge it faster.

The rock slowly moved its leg to kick her into the wall when the cannon decided it wanted to work, causing the unprepared turtle to get blasted back but still hit the monster blowing one of its legs off and giving her the chance to run.

“How’s that plan B coming Donnie??” She shouted as she ran across the room.

“I’m working on it!” Donnie shouted back from the other side, currently using one of the nearby droids as a shield from oncoming fire.

“I could probably hack into the Kraang’s server if you give me enough time!?” Don shouted again just as a large rock from the monster came down from above, crushing all the droids firing at him at once.

“Great! Go-“ Leo shouted back as she dodged another attack from a droid.

Donnie made his way up to the control panel with the lack of fire on him, taking out a floater or two as he dropped his bag next to it, quickly plugging things in.

Leo was busy blasting more and more rock creatures as she waited for Donnie to knock down the field.

“Come on. Come on.. this thing is running out of juice!” Leo shouted.

“And guys! Uhh- the portal!” Mikey shouted himself as he pointed to the large powering-up machine.

“Whatever’s coming through the portal is going to be here soon!” Leo looked to Donnie who was still working.

“I’m working on it!” Donnie struggled as he tapped away.

His brother and sister still taking out droid after droid behind him.

Leo had used the cannon to take out the large remaining rock monster but to her dismay as soon as she fully took the thing apart and Mikey had landed to help they both watched the parts seem to move on their own.

Putting the thing back together.

“Uhh.. I forgot he could do that-“ Mikey muttered as Leo cussed under her breath.

“I think I got it!” Donnie shouted again from the computer.

Like clockwork the field went down around the portal, still powering up but now vulnerable.

“Yes! All hail me!” Donnie screamed as he threw his hands in the air.

And then the portal turned on..

The blast of energy caused the three to duck to the ground as they watched the portal’s light erupt into the roof.

The walls that looked somehow almost see-through now showed that outside came a large floating mechanized orb.

“Holy giant floating shippy-ship..” Mikey muttered as he watched the thing come down.

The droids who seemed to have snapped back to their senses turned to the group of turtles, firing on them as they all ducked for cover.

“Leo! Do the zippy-zappy thing now!!” Mikey shouted as he inched towards his older siblings.

“Come on baby, come on baby-“ Leo spoke to the cannon as it powered up in her hands.

“YES!” Leo echoed as she stood up with the now-charged blaster pointed right at the active portal, “say goodnight kraang!”

Before the cannon short-circuited.

“What was that!?” Donnie looked the thing over as Leo ducked again.

“I think the battery died!” Leo spoke as he watched Don examine it.

“Uhh- we have to go guys-“ Mikey said as he pulled on their arms to get off the line of fire.

“What’s plan C Leo??” Donnie said as he backed up to his sister as well watching the droids close in.

Leo’s eyes flashed around the room looking for anything that would help-

“What would happen if I ruptured the power cell?” Leo asked as she looked back to Don.

“The whole place would go up! With us in it!?” Donnie shouted as he held his bo tight.

Leo got a determined look in her eyes.

“Don’t even think about it Leo-“ Donnie spoke before Leo turned back to him.

“I’ll get out fine you guys go now!” Leo smiled as Mikey looked more worried.

“You promise you’ll be ok?” Mikey asked as he held onto Donnie’s arm like a little kid.

“Promise, now go!” Leo spoke as she ushered the other two away, watching them hop out of the building as she turned back.

Getting to the power cell was relatively easy, just knocking out a droid here or there until she was close enough to take it out.

Sending her blade into the cell she watched the machines around her shut down and start to malfunction.

That’s her cue to leave-

Jumping from machine to malfunctioning machine Leo made her way to the roof before she was able to break her way out of the glass.

And the whole place went up in flames behind her as she fell down the side of TCRI.

Her eyes snapped to the ground coming closer every second as she realized she had no way to land.

“Crap, Crap, CRAP-“ Leo threw her hands in front of her eyes as she waited to hit the ground.

Until two hands grabbed her arms from above her, quickly shifting her momentum.

“Got you!” Mikey smiled down as Leo let out a shaky breath at the near-death encounter.

“Hah! In your face gravity!” Mikey called out to Donnie as he let Leo catch her breath in his grasp.

She was about to throw her hands up and celebrate the face they just saved the world when her eyes opened again.

And she saw the techno-drone.

(To be continued.)

Chapter Text

“oh no-“ Leo gaped at the large metal sphere of a ship in front of her.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say, AHHH-“ Mikey started screaming while he held onto Leo’s arms, keeping her in the air. “What is that thing?!”

“It’s the end of the world Mike-“ Leo shouted as well from under his wing-suit before Donnie pipped up.

“Actually it’s just the end of humanity’s reign as the planets dominate life form, like when the dinosaurs-“ Donnie was cut off his ramble by Leo shouting again.

“Donnie I love your rambles but now?! You want to do this now!?” She shouted to the purple turtle.

“Well excuse me? But it’s how I deal with stress!” Don shouted back as he watched her dangle.

“Uhh.. maybe it doesn’t have weapons?” Mikey half muttered from above Leo as she looked to the huge ship.

Right as Mikey said it, a multitude of laser gun-like turrets seemed to aim at the three flying through the air.

“I think it has weapons!” Leo shouted back as she pulled her legs up to not get shot by the incoming fire.

The three of them attempted to get out of the heavy laser fire but it seemed to do little good as Donnie’s wings suit got ripped through by one of the lasers and he went down.

Mikey and Leo following soon after when they tried to maneuver away and spiraled into the side of a small building, Mikey landing in a dumpster and Leo falling onto a ripped mattress next to it.

“You good Mike?” Leo called the moment she got air back into her lungs, hearing a small “I’m good” come from the dumpster before it opened and the small orange turtle crawled out with a huff.

“Are you guys ok?!” Donnie’s voice came from the end of the alley, Leo spotted the purple turtle come running up to them as she got to her feet.

“I think so.” Leo helped Mikey up who seemed to shake off the garbage muck like a dog before smiling at the two.

A shadow cast over the alley they were all in as they looked up to the huge floating ship that had shot them down just a minute ago.

“What do we do now?” Donnie looked to Leo with desperation as he held his hands to his plastron, unsure of what to do with them.

“We need to talk to Dad-“ Leo said as she scanned for a sewer hole cover to get back home.

—

They quickly spotted one and about 10 minutes later they were back at the entrance of the lair.

“Dad?” Leo shouted, getting no response.

“April?” Mikey shouted next to the same result.

They all circled around the lair, looking for anyone that might still be where they left them to no avail.

Mikey decided to check the dojo over, heading in to see if somehow their father had just not heard them while he was meditating.

“Anyone here?” He called through the large dojo as he waited.

Behind him was the large tree that their father had been growing since they were children.

And from behind said tree came a large lanky figure with what looked like a wooden bat, running at Mikey.

“Woah dude chill-“ Mikey dodged as he shouted, spotting that it was April's dad as he ducked to not get hit.

Leo and Donnie were in the dojo in a second at the shout and before Mikey knew it they had taken down the guy.

“What is happening?!” Leo looked down at the guy she and Donnie had just pinned to the ground on his stomach.

“Wait- check this out” Donnie paused, lifting a hand from the guy's back and pointing to a small device in the back of his neck.

A small metal dot with the same kraang glow they had seen before.

Donnie ripped the thing off and April's dad, Kirby, seemed to stop all wiggling as this kind cleared.

Leo and Donnie stepped back as the man sat up, unmoving.

“I don’t think he’s going to attack again so you can just leave him here, I’m going to figure out what this is-“ Donnie rambled for a sec before speeding off to the lab, leaving a very confused Leo and Mikey.

About 15 more minutes later Donnie was back in the main room telling Leo, Mikey, and the now fully conscious Kirby.

“From what I found in the kraang logs I still have I think it’s a mind control device-“ Donnie repeated as Leo looked the small thing over.

Kirby let out a sigh from where he was sitting on the couch as Donnie approached, “Mr. O’Neil, are you ok?”

“I’ve done something terrible..” He said as the turtle was unsure of how to help.

“Uh.. well it wasn't your fault, just tell us what happened-“ Donnie tried to comfort the guy by patting his shoulder but it didn’t seem to do much.

“It appears that the kraang have formed an alliance with your enemy the shredder..” Kirby explained while the turtles just exchanged worried glances. “That’s not all.”

“I fear that the shredder has handed April over to the kraang..” the man collapsed back in on himself as the turtle's eyes glazed over with worry now.

“Shredder kidnapped April?” Leo clarified more to herself.

“Dad must have gone to save her-“ Donnie added on as he put two and two together.

“So where is April now?” Mikey asked as he watched Kirby collect himself again.

“They.. they’re taking her to the techno-drone,” Kirby said as he watched them all.

“The what?” Leo looked very confused at this point.

From behind them Mikey had seemed into got sidetracked and turned on the tv, the news now being echoed through the room, catching Leo and Donnie’s attention.

“Carlos Chang O’Brien Gambe here, Pandemonium in the streets as a techno-terror-dome hovers over downtown-“ the tv blasted as some news reporter was seen in the street filming.

“Dudes.. this is getting freakier by the minute,” Mikey said, pointing to the TV.

“We might have to break into that freaky thing..” Donnie muttered as he looked to Leo for confirmation.

“In a matter of hours, the world we once knew will be gone,” Kirby spoke from behind them again.

“The Kraang want April to help in their conquest of earth-“

—————————

April’s eyes were glued shut from what she could only assume was exhaustion.

She didn’t even think of trying to open them as she slowly crawled back to consciousness, taking a second to feel around and try to figure out why she felt so weird.

Metal.

There was nothing but metal around her, she could feel large flat pieces holding her to some table thing she was laying on, binding her arms, legs, and torso down.

She tried to think about how she could have possibly gotten to a metal table when the memories rushed back-

Shit-

She remembered her dad handing her over to the shredder a couple of minutes after the turtles left and then something about the Kraang wanting her.. then nothing.

She took a moment to open her eyes, the room around her was almost blinding as she tried to blink away the fuzziness.

When she was able to make out what was in front of her she had to bite back a scream.

A huge Kraang-like face was smiling creepily dead in front of her.

whoever it was looked to be 20 times the size of a normal Kraang..

And just about 20 times as terrifying-

April swallowed the fear down and tried to calm her face, remembering what sansei had said about showing your emotions to an enemy.

“April O’Neil.” The Kraang Spat as they realized the human was awake. “I have waited a long time..”

April ignored the thing speaking, instead taking the moments she has to feel around for any loose bars or something she can use to wiggle herself out.

Her eyes also scanned the room for anything when her eyes caught something of a different color in contrast or the shining white room.

Green, a turtle?

Cyborg!

April recognized the turtle from the first time she was kidnapped and from the explanations and stories she had gotten from her own group of turtles.

Apparently, Mikey had named them Cyborg and they had helped him before.

Maybe they could help her now.

The turtle was standing parallel to where she was up in the air on the table, facing Kraang the same way but their eyes looked straight ahead like they were in some military attention position.

They looked a lot more.. focused than they did when April saw them watching her cell the first time.

No- not focused.. more. Scared.

April decided to play Kraang’s game to try and get answers.

“What’s going on.” She deadpanned

“I am called Kraang Prime. I am in need of this planet for Kraang to live.” Kraang Prime explained a bit before April cut them off.

“Uhm- that’s great but we’re kind of using it.” April spoke as she slowly moved her hand to her pocket under the restraints, trying to grab some of the pins she always carried “So you came all this way for nothing.”

“Oh no- We came all this way for you, April O’Neil.” Kraang Prime spoke again, this time causing some confusion.

“Oh really as if I have anything to offer you Kraang,” April said with as much sarcasm as she could muster as she removed a pin from her pocket and adjusted her grip so she could flick it.

“Your mental energy is uniquely attuned to this universe..” Kraang prime rambled as April lined up the shot at Cyborg. “Once I gain this ability, I will be able to transform your world into a world for Kraang's kind.”

April flicked the pin.

Kraang Prime seemed to be distracted on her tangent about taking over to notice he turtle flinch at the pin hitting them and glare up, eyes seeming to realize who was on the table for a second before his face fell again and he was back facing forward.

April was able to tell two things.

1, the turtle definitely recognized her for a second.

2, she might be able to get him to help.

She just needed to find away to get herself out or hope her group of turtles were on their way-

April had been ignoring Kraang Prime’s tangent but was quickly snapped back when she noticed the small machines slowly making their way into a ring around her skull.

She took a long breath as she realized she might not have as much time to get out as she thought she did.

The turtles better get here fast-

—————————

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey ducked around some overturned cars in the street.

In the short time they had to plan the city seemed to have erupted into chaos, which was a reasonable response given the circumstances.

But they weren’t really worried about the state of things right now, currently, they were focused on the pods they had found.

To cut a story short, they noted some pods that came and went from the techno-drone and decided that was the best way to get in.

And here they were facing what looked like 8 droids between them and the pod.

“Ok, so what’s the plan,” Donnie said, ducking as he watched one of the droids look his way.

“I’m thinking..” Leo replied quickly, tapping a finger on her other knuckle as she did when she was contemplating something. “There are 8 of them and 3 of us so if we both take-“

“You said 8?” Leo was cut off by Mikey asking a question.

“Uhh- yeah, 8 I think.” Leo repeated before she went back to he plan, not noticing Mikey small smirk as he jumped over the car.

Leo snapped back when she heard metal hitting the pavement but with Mikey’s skill by the time she had turned the droids were on the ground, Mikey smiling above them like he did nothing wrong.

Donnie chuckled and Leo just put a hand to her face as the older two killed over the car and made their way to the pod.

The three jumped in the pod, Donnie trying to figure out how the thing worked before it started moving on its own.

“Maybe motion sensors?” Donnie said, now deeply fascinated by how it had worked on its own.

Leo just focused on how close the techno-drone was getting while Mikey looked bored already.

A door on the huge ship opened as they approached, taking in the pod as Leo watched the place around them change from the middle of the sky to a neon-lit hallway.

“Woah” Mikey looked interested in the mission again.

“Ok, we got to get out of this pod and look around,” Leo said as she felt to see if she could side the glass panel open again.

When she found it did slid she called for a jump.

“Let's go in 1.. 2.. 3!” Leo counted down as she pulled the glass up, allowing the there of them to jump out, before they were quickly made aware of the fact they whereby going down.

In fact, they weren't going anywhere-

“What's going on?” Leo half-shouted as she started the float in the zero gravity zone.

“I think the kraang forgot to pay their gravity bill-” Mikey said as a machine sucked him to the side before the court wiggle away.

Leo gasped for a second as her brother disappeared down another hall but quickly heard him get spit back out behind her which calmed the panic.

“it appears the Kraang have generated anti-gravitons” Donnie said as he watched Mikey try to swim back to them with little luck.

“Is there any way for you to generate anti-anti-gravitons??” Leo stuttered the word as she asked.

“You mean gravitons?” Donnie corrected.

“Yes!”

“No!?”

“Uhh- guys I'm gonna throw up- or.. Down? Or maybe sideways!” Mikey said as he held his plastron “one things for sure, I'm majorly gonna throw-”

Another pod that had been approaching behind them seemed to hit Mikey, it was going fairly slow so all it really did was push him with it so Leo and Don just decided to go with it grabbing the pod as well to pull themselves forward.

It only took a minute or two of following it until they heard a scream come from somewhere.

“Uh- I'm going to assume that was definitely human-” Donnie said as he realized what they all thought.

“April!” they all shouted as they realized how loud they were..

Shit-

They all frantically looked around but took a breath when they realized no one had heard.

Listening for the scream again, Leo had hopped off the pod, her brothers following behind as she made her way to the bottom of the hall where the noise had come from.

“There's a panel in the floor, maybe it leads to the vents?” Mikey asked, wondering if it was like some super spy movie.

“I don't think the kraang have air vents but we can see-” Leo said as she jabbed her sword into the floor.

The panel dislodged and she was able to get the thing up.

Vents.

“Well I take it back then.” Leo noted as she made her way down, pulling Don and Mikey in as well.

—————————

“April O’neil.” Kraang Prime spat at the girl who now looked completely out of it from the tech surrounding her. “Your mind belongs to the kraang.”

Raph had been watching all this play out, unsure of what to do.

He had seen the girl before, she was the one who talked to him a long while back when she was imprisoned.

The memory was fuzzy now but when the girl had flicked some small metal thing at him and he got a clear view of her face he remembered some..

She was nice to him..

And now he had to watch her go through whatever this was-

Kraang Prime was still rambling on when Raphs attention came back to the room, like he knew something was off.

Someone else was there.

“Witness the end of your kind!” Kranng Prime screamed before she was cut off by another voice.

“Not if we can help it!” both Kranng Prime and Raph’s eyes snapped to above the girl, where three turtles were standing on wires.

“The turtles?” Kraang Prime sounded shocked, but she knew who they were.

Raph’s gut dropped.. How did she know who they were?

“I will not be stopped by pathetic mutants-” Kraang Prime’s voice was filled with venom as she spat.

Ow..

“At least we’re not stupid aliens!” the orange one shouted as Raph watched, unseen by them from below still.

“Turtle! Take them-” Kraang Prime directed as Raph froze for a second.

He was to fight them?

But-

He..

Raph shook his head and forced the emotions down as he focused on the command.

Follow orders, don't get hurt.

The Blue one was getting the girl down as Raph got to his senses.

Avoid the girl and blue and maybe you can get out of this with minimal guilt.

Raph headed for the purple one, figuring if the blue and the girl could get out then they would all retreat and he could act as if the overpowered him-

The purple one looked shocked at the attack but blocked, knocking Raph’s fists into their staff.

“What are you doing?” The purple one watched as Raph didn't put his full weight into the standstill.

From behind him, Raph felt himself get launched into the wall below Kraang Prime, quickly hoping up to face balance Raph saw the orange one had kicked him.

“Sorry!” the orange one called but Raph was more confused by the words to note them.

“I got April let's go!” the blue one shouted as the girl seemed to shake herself out of her haze and climb onto the blue ones shell.

The three of them turned to climb up the machines as Raph ran to the base of the wires.

Turning back to Kraang Prime, Raph realized what was about to happen as he watched the walls around the room dent and break as Kraang Primes Robot form came from the sides.

“After them Turtle!” Kraang Prime shouted as she adjusted her own metal body.

Raph turned to follow the three up as Kraang Prime seemed to adapt to follow.

The three turtles were actually very good at making their way through the drone.

The blue one had the girl on their shell as the purple and orange ones took out the droids coming left and right.

Raph knew if he wanted to he could catch up..

But he delayed anyway for reasons even he couldn't understand.

The three of the turtles jumped through the odd hallway of the techno-drone, which now without the power of the girl was falling from the sky..

probably something to worry about later-

“Uhh- Guys I have a question!” Raph heard the orange one yell from up ahead.

The three of them had taken out all the droids in their way but the orange one was shouting.

“Can it wait?!” the blue one shouted back.

“Did we beat that big kraang thing?” the orange one gas noticed the noise he also heard coming up behind them.

“Yes, we did-” the blue one looked back.

“Then why is it following us!?” the orange one shouted as the blue and purple ones seemed to spot it too, running faster now.

Raph turned quickly to estimate the distance between him and kraang Prime.

When she got closer he was able to jump and attached to one of her robotic legs to follow, knowing she was much faster than he could be.

Raph watched the three run like mice through the huge circular area they were in.

He almost winced when he saw the purple on trip and almost get pummeled as they jumped back up.

As if on cue Raph looked up to the top of the robotic suit, the small electric like blaster slowly charging and firing as Raph was unsure how to feel-

Mixed emotions rushed as he shook his head to clear it.

“There's one escape pod left- we need to get to it!” the blue one shouted as they all spotted the pod.

The orange one had somehow taken a wrong step at that and tripped, falling down into one of the holes in the “floor” as they shouted.

Kraang Prime took the opportunity, taking the blaster to the long hole as the turtle orange turtle nearly screamed.

Raph almost wanted to scream-

The blaster charged quickly as Raph was frozen to the robot's metal limb.

No, no wait!

“Get away from my brother!” Raph heard as the blue one come running by, the girl now not on his shoulders but on the purple one’s as the blue one sent a blade through the blaster.

An unintentional wave of relief came through Raph as he watched the orange turtle climb out and start running again with the blue one.

They just needed to get out-

He knew they could do this..

“There's nowhere for you to run mutants..” Kraang Prime spat as the three of them and the girl all loaded into the pod.

Raph watched the blue one's eyes load over ways to get out as they seemed to come to one themselves.

The blue one jumped back out of the pod, brandishing their sword as they ignored their siblings screaming for them to get back in.

“All of you will die here.” Kraang Prime’s voice came through as the blue one glared.

Raph had jumped to the side, sliding out of view as he watched it all.

Unsure of what to do..

Who to help.

Using chains the blue one had somehow got their hands on the blue one jumped around Kraang Prime, getting the robot into a lock where they couldn't move.

“LEO!” the turtles in the pod all shouted as Raph’s eyes snapped to them..

Who?

Who did that name sound so..

Raph’s eyes snapped back to the blue one.

His mind only spitting one word.

Help.

Raph ran towards the turtle, getting a solid kick to the blue one's side and grabbing the chains as they went flying toward the pod.

The blue one looked beyond shocked when they got back up but when they saw Raph wasn't in fact letting the chains so they seemed to understand.

They climbed back into the pod, watching Raph as he held back the still squirming Kranng Prime.

“Let me go you little Pest of a pet!-” The large robot turned from the pod and was able to get a solid hit in from their loose limb but Raph held tight.

His eyes never left the turtles in the pod.

Trying to get the message to them without being able to speak.

The simple word.

Go-

The blue one looked devastated but the purple one took over, closing the pod and sending it out.

The room was still being filled with the screeching from kraang Prime but Raph could have swarn he could hear something else from the pod before it disappeared.

“We’ll come back for you.”

—————————

Leo shouted the last words as the pod escaped the techno-drone, shooting out the side and splashing into the water.

“What.. Just happened..” April's voice came from behind them, she had been conscious through the whole thing but pretty foggy.

“I.” Leo took a moment to breathe. “I don't know.”

“Did cyborg just save us?” Mikey asked as he held close to Leo in the pod.

“I think so,” Donnie spoke from his own curled up form in the other corner.

“We have to get home.” Leo got to her feet as she looked out to the sea. “Uhh.. Do we have a plan for that?”

—

About 2 hours and lots of rowing alter the turtles made their way back into the lair.

Splinter had returned as well at some point and met them turtles at the entrance with 100 questions before they could even ask him where he’d been.

“Are you ok? Did anyone get hurt?” where the first two splinter started with, and with some quick “we’re ok’s” he got to the secondary issues.

“What happened to the kraang-” he asked, letting out a long ‘worried dad’ breath.

“We kicked their butts!” Mikey shouted but Splinter saw the freeze on his daughter's face.

“But what..” he asked, placing a hand on Leo’s shoulder.

“Cyborg saved us.. We don't know what happened to them after that.” Donnie filled in as Leo watched them both.

“Can you speak my daughter?” Splinter asked, looking back to Leo who just shook her head.

When she was really overstimulated she couldn't speak sometimes so Splinter just nodded back.

He held his arms out, quickly getting. Tackled in a hug by all his children and watching April get hug attacked by her own father behind them.

Leo backed up first, giving Donnie a look.

“We need to find Cyborg and get them out of there, we know they want to help us now..” Donnie filled in for what Leo wanted to say.

“But they could be in danger for helping now..” April spoke from behind them after she wrestled herself out of her dad's hug.

“I don't know why but last time they helped us and seemingly got ‘caught’ we didn't see them for a long while..” Mikey agreed as he watched.

Splinter didn't quite know who they were talking about but if they were important to his kids they were important to him.

“Then we have a new mission my children,” Splinter spoke as he backed up. “Save your friend.”

“Save Cyborg-”

—————————

A day or two later Mikey and Leo were above ground, Mikey had wanted to test out some skating tricks and Leo had wanted to make sure he didn't get hurt.

Nothing of note really happened save for Mikey finally landing the flip he was working on.

And Leo spotting a small black cat that looked like it was looking for someone..

Chapter Text

Splinter sat in the dojo with his daughter beside him, meditating.

He was used to her joining him but something seemed.. off this time.

Like she was trying to ignore something.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Splinter said calmly with his eyes still closed.

He heard Leo flinch a bit at the sudden attention but quickly relax again.

“Thinking about cyborg.” She responded after a minute.

“Ah, your friend. May I ask why?” Splinter’s eyes were now open and looking to his daughter.

Leo paused for a moment again.

“There’s something about them we haven’t told you..” Leo spoke softly.

Splinter seemed to think about this before asking something of his daughter.

“Why don’t you go get your brothers and we can discuss them, hm?” Splinter looked to Leo.

Leo simply nodded and got up to get Don and Mike, the three of them returning within a couple minutes.

The weird family all sat down in the dojo as if they were about to have tea or something.

“What is it about this cyborg friend that you have yet to inform me?” Splinter's voice didn’t sound mean, just curious.

“Ooh we’re finally telling Dad that cyborg’s a turtle like us!” Mikey smiled brightly as he got a light smack to the head from Don.

Leo turned to Mikey who was already apologizing and sighed, watching the floor as she tried to explain-

“Listen Dad, Mikey’s right but that’s not the only thing..” Leo’s eyes snapped up to her father's before she froze.

Fear and sorrow were etched onto her father's face like a statue.

“I..” Leo was unsure of what to do as she looked to her brothers who looked equally as clueless. “Dad?”

A long breath escaped the rat as he seemed to collect himself.

“A turtle,” Splinter spoke, his voice icy.

“Uhm.. yeah. They’re a turtle, they look around our age-“ Donnie pipped up from behind as Leo watched.

“And you said they saved you..” Splinter looked up, his eyes almost hollow.

“Yeah.. from what we’ve seen they work with the Kraang but.” Donnie stopped when another shutter came over their father's almost frozen form.

Like the word Kraang was poison.

“Dad..” Mikey’s voice rung from behind them all, sounding small.. scared. “I'm sorry..”

The sound of his youngest must have snapped him back as Splinter started to breathe again.

“No.. no my son I’m sorry.” Splinter snapped back immediately, holding a hand out to his youngest. “I shouldn’t have reacted that way.. I just..”

“What.. just happened.?” Donnie was confused, same as them all as he watched Mikey take splinters hand a curl into his side like he did when they were kids.

“My children..” Splinter looked like he was trying to decide something before his shoulders collapsed. “I have not been entirely honest with you all as well.”

Leo looked from her brothers to her father and back.

“I think it’s time for everyone to be clear,” Leo spoke. “No more secrets.”

Agreements came from the other three as they settled down.

“I have told you three the story of how we came to be here many times.” Splinter looked ashamed as he spoke now “but I might now have been telling you the complete story.”

“Hm?” Donnie hummed as he listened-

“When I first got to New York and got you three from the pet store, there were not just three of you. There were four.” Splinter stated before going silent again.

“So..” Mikey’s voice was low “we have a sibling?”

“Had.. or so I thought.” Splinter corrected “When you were all very young I was in a turf war with the Kraang and although in the end, I won our home.. in the battle I lost your sibling.”

No one spoke.

“I thought for sure the small turtle had perished but now with your information that there is a turtle working with the Kraang.” Splinter let them put the rest together.

“And then being the same age..” Donnie muttered.

“So.. cyborgs our sibling?” Mikey asked, sounding a little excited.

“It’s a possibility..” Leo echoed.

“Wait!” Mikey popped from under splinters arm as they all looked to him “Do you guys remember what happened when we were 8?”

“We promised not to speak of that..” Donnie gave him a soft glare.

“Yeah- but-“ Mikey stuttered a seconded before solidifying his resolve “Whether you wanna believe it was real or not I still remember it!”

“And what Mike?” Leo asked, genuinely curious about what he could have remembered.

“And I remember our portal friend saying he was in dimension X-“ Mikey twiddled his thumbs as he watched the others.

“And you are sure this is an actual memory Mikey?” Donnie asked.

“Portal friend?” Their father looked confused.

Leo moved to explain while Donnie asked Mikey more questions.

“Do you remember anything else?” Don questioned.

“Uh-“ Mikey racked his brain for a moment “we named him Raphael, he never talked much, and.. and he disappeared without saying goodbye.”

“.. I do remember that last bit,” Donnie confirmed as he started writing things down on a small notepad he got somewhere.

“So you all had a Kraang portal in the lair and didn’t think to inform me?” Splinter sounded a little pissed but Leo explained quickly.

“We didn’t know it was a Kraang portal and after it all happened we vowed never to talk about it again cuz we thought we were imagining it..” Leo held her hands up as splinter seemed to deflate for the 7th time.

“We didn’t want to worry you Dad.. we know how protective you get-“ Don spoke after he finished writing down what Mikey had said.

“So this portal friend.. could also be cyborg?” Splinter tried to clarify.

“We don’t know- even putting all our information together there’s still a lot of data we’re missing..” Donnie said as put the notepad down.

“But it’s a start.” Leo spoke again “Maybe if we can talk to them.. somehow- we can try to figure this all out.”

“This is a lot..” Splinter put his head in a hand as he was still sat on his knees.

“What I need right now is a cup of tea and some quiet to thi-“ Splinter was cut off by a shout from the main room.

“Guys? We got a bit of an issue-“ April’s voice came through the lair.

The three turtles popped up immediately and ran out of the dojo, leaving Splinter behind for a moment.

“..there is too much happening today-“ Splinter gave an exasperated sigh before getting to his feet.

“What can one more issue be?”

—————————

April was sat on her windowsill, reading some fantasy book.

She and her dad had just been able to go back home a day or so ago from the invasion and settling back in had been a rough day-

So taking a little time to chill and read was really was she needed right now-

But of course, she was always surrounded by the weird so that didn’t last long.

April heard a small *tink* come from her window, like a tiny rock was being thrown at it.

She was confused by the sound at first, thinking it was a bug or something before she nearly fell off her windowsill at the sight of a tiny rock coming at her face.

*tink*

What the-

April looked down to the street below her window, trying to spot who was throwing rocks at her.

Casey?

Aside from the turtles and her friend Irma, Casey Jones was one of April’s close friends.

He was a wide weirdo and seeing him out at night wasn’t anything to worry about but seeing his face as he was throwing the tiny pebbles.

April didn’t know but he looked off..

He had his hockey mask and stick strapped to his back and a black duffel bag on his hip.

April slid her window open and whisper shouted down to the guy.

“Casey, what do you want?” She watched the boy look more off now.. like he was a little kid and was left in the dark.

“Uh.. can I come in? I’ve got a problem..” Casey whisper shouting back up.

His voice sounded hushed, like he was hiding from something.

“Uh- yeah, I’ll ring you up-“ April spoke back down as Casey nodded and headed in and started up to her apartment.

—

“So let me get this right..” April spoke, Casey had been explaining everything for the past hour now but she needed a recap.

“Your dad got drunk off his ass again and that’s why you have a black eye..“ April repeated back.

Casey just nodded.

“And you decided that was enough- so you ran away,” April asked.

Casey nodded again, eyes on the floor.

“What about your mom and sister?” April watched Casey’s eyes darken at the sentence. “Ok.. that’s fine we can help them later.”

“Right now we need to focus on you. Do you have a place to stay? Like your old hideout when you were a kid?” April asked.

This time Casey shook his head.

“Destroyed,” Casey said as he looked up to April’s worried gaze.

“Anywhere else you can think of?” April watched him tense up.

“I was hoping here.. I’m kind of out of options-“ Casey’s eye fell again.

“Oh Case.. I- we don’t have room here-“ April racked her brain for anything.

Murakami’s? No.

Irma’s? No.

The turtles?

I mean.. maybe? They have the room she knows they do-

But how would they react to another human, or how would Casey react to them?!

April tried to think of anything else but nothing came up.

“Listen Casey.” April looked back at the messy-looking guy. “I can think of a place, but it might be weird.”

“I can do weird-“ Casey seemed to perk up at the possibility of a warm place to sleep.

“Ok.. follow me-“

—

“The sewers?” Casey said, walking down the sewer tunnel April had brought him down. “If you are trying to murder me I feel like there are better places to do it-“

“Oh calm it, it’s just down the way.” April chuckled before waving him off.

“I do have to warn you though.. when I said weird. I meant weird.” April repeated, this time more serious.

“You can say that again-“ Casey answered looking around the sewer tunnel.

They came to what looked like a train entranceway that lead into what seemed to be a huge make-shift living room.

April hopped over the tills and Casey did the same after.

“Guys? We got a bit of an issue-“ April shouted into the room.

Within a couple of seconds, Casey heard three people running in from another room.

Casey didn’t have the best eyesight but he could make one thing out..

These guys were not human.

“Woah..” Casey could only watch as the three green turtle-like creatures froze.

“April.” A voice came from the one with the blue mask “Why is there another human down here-“

“Ok ok, I can explain-“ April put her hands up as Casey nearly pushed past her.

“You guys are turtles..” Casey nearly whispered.

“Uh.. yeah-“ the purple spoke as Casey examined them all.

“I knew I wasn’t making it up!” Casey shouted, throwing his hands in the air as he did. “I knew he was real!”

“But which one of you-“ Casey’s voice seemed to trail off as he came to another realization.

“None of you have a metal leg..” Casey seemed to deflate.

“What?” The orange one poked out from behind the other two.

“I- knew a turtle when I was like 11 but he had a metal leg.” Casey clarified

“YOU SAW CYBORG WHEN YOU WERE 11?” The orange one shouted.

“Cyborg?” Casey looked confused at the younger one.

“Ok ok, introductions first!” The blue one spoke.

“I’m Leo, this is Mikey and that’s Donnie.” The blue one said, pointing to the respective people.

“Oh right, I’m Casey! Casey Jones!” Casey held his hand out and Leo shook it.

“Now what is this guy who has seen cyborg doing here April?” Leo looked back to the girl as she started to explain.

“So- he’s kind of a runaway right now and I was hoping he could stay here-“ April smiled awkwardly as she spoke.

“Another guest?” Splinter's voice rung from the dojo doors.

Casey turned to say hi when he froze.

“Hello young one, April this is a friend of yours?” Splinter asked.

“Yes sensei!” April smiled back.

“Then he is welcome to stay here.” Splinter nodded.

“And he’s seen cyborg!” Mikey popped up as Splinter seemed intrigued.

“Well then even better, why don’t we..” Splinter was cut off as he looked to the forced Casey.

“Are you ok?” Splinter looked confused.

“Rat. You’re a rat.” Casey repeated.

“I don’t really do well with rats-“

—————————

Opening his eyes was a challenge.

Raph’s ears rung and it felt like he had been crushed by a 300-pound brick as he struggled to get to his knees.

All he wanted to do right now was lay back down wherever he was and fall back into that dreamless haze but he knew better.

Blinking away the fog Raph took a second to look and feel around him.

No leg, no armor, still mask, pitch black.

Isolation again.

Of course.

Raph tried to remember what landed him here this time but his head was pounding and thinking wasn’t helping so he decided just to keep quiet and try to see if it would fade.

And it probably would have on its own but the door to the room was forced open and he was dragged out before he could even process what was happening.

He could feel two droids metal limbs grasping onto his loosely bandaged arms and dragging him down the painfully bright hallways.

He had just woken up why were they so eager to grab him out now?

What had he done for the droids to be so frantic..

He tried to hop along with his one good leg but it didn’t go well and Raph just ended up letting himself get dragged.

His mind still pounding and ringing as he was still waking up fully.

It felt like he had been jumped by a whole squadron of droids 20 times over..

Less than a minute after he was dragged out of one room he was then thrown into another.

Raph let out a huff as he hit the ground and blinked at the lights above him as he scanned this new room.

Well “new” wasn’t right..

He had been here before many times since he was young.

The medical labs.

This is where they ran the tests and such.

Why was he brought here though?

Raph tried to remember anything again but his mind seemed to physically want him out this time, the ringing slowly dissipating a bit.

“Turtle.” Raph jumped hard at the voice.

Muscle memory kicking in, Raph tried to get to his feet and stand at attention but without a leg that didn’t go so well and he landed with a thud back on the metal floors.

Clearing his vision a bit after the fall Raph looked around for what screen Kraang Prime could be on, spotting a large one across the room.

The medical lab was mostly the same with machines and such everywhere but the table in the middle seemed to have been pushed aside so the middle was empty.

And Raph couldn’t find a single medical droid in the whole room.

Why was he alone here?

And why did he feel so.. scared?

“Do you know why you are here?” Kraang Prime’s voice echoed again as Raph’s vision snapped back up.

Raph slowly shook his head.

“Really? Lying again? I thought you would have known better after the events of our latest invasion.” Her voice was dripping in venom.

The invasion?

Raph’s mind seemed to click at this, letting him past the fog to what happened..

The invasion.

The turtle's faces, the girl’s terrified screams, he saved them..

Raph’s eyes were blown wide as the memories flooded back, fear, confusion, and familiarity rushing past him.

He remembered them leaving in the pod-

Hearing the blue one, ..Leo?, say they were coming back for him..

Leo.. why did that name sound so familiar?

And why did his brain want to protect them..

He remembered letting go of the chains once they were all safely out.

He remembered deflating to his knees as Kraang Prime wiggled herself loose.

And he remembered her throwing him into the wall the moment she could move.

Then nothing.

She must have knocked him clean out because that’s when his memory ended-

Raph’s eye snapped back to the screen as Kraang Prime just watched, looking at him like he was a rat she could crush.

“I like you turtle. So we are going to play this fair.” Her voice came through again, this time softer somehow. “I raised you specifically to work here, for us, and with us.”

“So seeing you helping the earthlings? Let alone the turtles. It hurts me.” Kraang primes voice sounded fake, but Raph believed every word. “As the earthlings say, I raised you, I am practically your mother.. and you treat me like this? For some other species?”

Raph’s eyes snapped to the ground.

“This could be classified as treason.” The venom was back as Raph listened. “You have seen what the Kraang do to traitors haven’t you?”

The word traitor hung in the air as Raph wasn’t sure how to respond.

“When you first arrived here. When we first made the plan on how you would help us, we did see this possibility.” Raph’s gut seemed to sink more at every sentence. “So among other tests, we implanted this.”

A small blueprint came onto the screen next to Kraang Prime’s face.

A small chip.

The label read “The kill switch.”

Raph was confused..

“This is our backup.” Kraang Prime spoke once again when Raph’s eyes snapped back to her side of the screen.

“Would you like a demonstration?”

A click sounded from somewhere behind the screen as Raph’s entire body lit up in pain.

It was like a lighter had lit in his chest and his veins were full of gasoline-

His vision went white as all attempts at keeping himself on his knees fell away, sending him slamming into the floor as he writhed in pain.

Attempting to breathe was agony as he tried to shout, scream, anything..

But the mask was in the way so it was a pointless endeavor.

Raph didn’t know how long it had been but it felt like hours before the pain subsided, leaving him shaking and out of it on the lab floor.

His ears were ringing so loud he was sure there had to be a bell inside his brain as he tried to listen to the voice saying something.

“Any longer and that would have killed you.” Raph tried his hardest to grab onto the voice he heard. “You’re the special one. As much as it pains me to see you hurt we can’t have you trying something like that again.”

Breathing was becoming more bearable as Raph listened, still clutching his already cracked plastron with every ounce of strength he had left.

“Have you learned your lesson, my turtle?”

Raph’s chest continued to have a dull ache as Kraang Prime spoke. The fluorescent lights making the room far too bright and his head now aching as well.

Maybe giving in would be the best option.

Chapter Text

The turtles and April jumped from rooftop to rooftop, shouting as they hopped for their new friend to catch up behind them.

Casey, who has been staying with said turtles for a week or so now was following behind with some lag.

He was fit sure, hockey made sure of that but he was currently nowhere near the turtles and April’s level of stamina-

April wasn't 100% at the turtle's level either but by the fact she said she had been training with them and the rat for ages, she was definitely much better than Casey.

Jumping over another roof’s wall Casey stopped a moment to breathe, sinking to his knees as the turtles stopped to make sure he was alright.

“I never understood how turtles-” Casey tried to speak with lagged breaths “could- be so fast!”

“Come on Case, can't be giving up now?” April put out a hand with a sarcastic tone.

“Leave him be-” Leo nudged the girl aside as she pulled Casey to his feet again. “She is right though this is just the warm-up.”

“The warm-up?!” Casey kept his hand on his knees as he stood “For two hours?” he was just glad he left all his hockey equipment back at the lair, only having his hokey stick tied to his back.

“That’s what ninja’s do!” Leo lit up as she spoke again “Sometimes training can last 4-5 hours at a time! Awesome!”

“What about real missions?” Casey asked as he finally got full control of his breathing again.

“It took 15 years for us to get up here and April took a long while as well! She just started joining us on big missions recently-“ Mikey laughed for a moment before realizing Casey was serious.

“Oh geez- why did you guys let me come out then?” Casey asked.

“You wanted to? You said you were bored underground.” Donnie repeated his own words back.

Casey let out a small sigh and went to speak again before he was interrupted by Leo holding up a hand.

Leo had gone still and April seemed freaked out as well.

“I hear something,” Leo said quickly as she scanned the surrounding area.

“I think you’re right I feel someone watching us-“ April said slowly as she closed her eyes to pinpoint the source.

“There.” The two girls spoke at the same time, both pointing in the same direction as everyone faced it.

From where they were pointing Casey spotted a lanky shadow of a figure duck out of sight on another roof across the way.

Before Casey could even react the turtles and April were running, all using grappling hooks that they all somehow had to get lines across the way to the other roof.

Casey followed quickly, although unsure of how he was supposed to get there seeing as he had no grappling hook.

Watching the turtles all zip across Casey looked for another way before he heard April call him from her own line, tossing him a hook so he could zip down her line after her.

“Thanks!” Casey grabbed the hook out of the air, waiting for the girl to zip down and land before he hooked himself on.

He did a roll at the bottom so he didn’t break anything, earning him a laugh from Mikey as he spotted the turtle watching him hop back up.

“You good man?” Mikey asked as April rushed past to where Leo and Donnie were crouched at the end of the roof.

“Yeah, all good-“ Casey chuckled himself as he hopped over to where they were now all crouched down.

Across the way was the same lanky shadow guy running down the building's fire escape to a lower apartment complex by the looks of it.

Leo gave a small hand gesture and the five of them hopped to the fire escape as carefully as they could, Casey struggling a bit but ultimately being silent enough for no one to notice.

“It’s quiet” Donnie spoke from beside the window the man had entered just a second ago. “Too quiet.”

Leo took the moment to hop beside Donnie, pulling a small metal piece to jam the window open as carefully as she could.

The five of them taking the time to enter carefully one by one to not pull any traps.

When nothing went off and they were all inside Donnie and Leo clicked on flashlights, scanning the dark paper-filled apartment as they moved in slowly.

There were maps, pictures, food containers, and small artifacts everywhere.

Casey thought It looked like a mini museum but much less organized..

Mikey wandered in as well behind his older siblings, scanning some drawings he found posed on the wall before he took in a sharp inhale, alerting his older brother.

Donnie made his way over immediately, sticking his flashlight at what Mikey had seen and nearly gasping himself.

It was a sketch of the Kraang, a very crude drawing but the message of it was clear.

Whoever’s apartment this was knew the Kraang somehow.

Donnie’s flashlight scanned over the many more photos on the wall as Leo, April and Casey approached as well.

The whole wall seemed to be covered in photos of the Kraang, and their mutant friends, and even them-

“It’s.. us?” Donnie gawked at the many photos spanned over the wall.

“Not just us,” Leo clarified as she looked over more “photos of mutants and Kraang..”

“Wait look!” Mikey nearly shouted as he ducked down to a small group of photos near the bottom of the wall.

The smaller turtle picked one of the photos off the wall as he held it up.

It was a photo of cyborg with some small black cat on their shoulders, which Mikey had grabbed from a grouping of a bunch of similar photos of the kraang turtle on different rooftops, seemingly on different days.

There was some writing and such with the photos but it was too dark to read right now, so Mikey ignored it.

“Can I see?” Casey took a step from beside them as he tried to get a good look at the photo.

When Mikey handed the Polaroid photo to him Casey sucked in a sharp breath.

“Were we right? Is cyborg the turtle you saw when you were a kid?” Donnie asked when he noticed Casey’s reaction.

Casey just nodded his head quickly, confirming what they already suspected to be true.

“That will be useful later..” Leo mumbled before April spoke again, taking the attention off Casey so he could slide the photo in his back pocket.

“So what’s with all the creeptastic pictures?” April asked from beside them, glaring at a photo of herself on the wall as well.

The room grew silent when Leo put her hand up again, trying to examine the room again.

“You. Behind the door.” She spoke harshly, her eyes not even leaving the wall in corny of her to see the guy slowly sidestep from behind the doorway.

Donnie was the first to move, ducking out of the guy's eyesight and pinning him against the wall behind him so he couldn’t attack back.

“Wait, wait! Don’t hurt me I’m a friend-“ the guy pleaded as Donnie just glared.

“Stalker more like it” Casey spoke from behind the purple turtle and next to the rest.

“Finally after all these months..” the guy started to ramble as Donnie lowered his staff “finally face to face with the talking ninja turtles and.. April O’Neil herself..”

“And I chopped liver here?” Casey muttered from beside the group, earning a chuckle from Mikey and a Jab from Donnie.

Although the chuckles were quickly cut off when the stalker guy tried to approach April, Leo moving quickly to push the guy back with a steady hand on her katana.

“You better explain, what’s with the photos. Who are you?” Leo spat as she watched the guy back up again.

“Sorry- uh.. the name’s Kurtzman, I was a journalist on the case of the missing scientists last year..” the guy held up his hands as he explained, showing he wasn’t a threat “but then I discovered something much bigger..”

The man turned to the nearby wall and flipped a switch, flooding the whole room with light as he threw down what looked like a thick notebook he had gotten from somewhere.

“The Kraang.” He spoke in a low tone as he flipped the book open, revealing long old sketches and notes.

The man, Kurtzman, went into a long detailed explanation, showing old drawings and manuscripts with the Kraang involved in all of them.

He explained how the Kraang had been working on taking over for years but they needed a specific type of human DNA to get it to work.. which they didn’t have until now, with April.

Kurtzman held up a photo of April as a young child, finishing his ramble as he did.

“That’s me?” April asked as she watched him put it back in the book.

“Your mother was taken by the Kraang before you were born.” He spoke again “and she was.. experimented on.”

“My mom?” April asked again, trying to wrap her head around the whole thing.

“That’s why they need you so bad, your DNA can perfect the mutation in this dimension,” Kurtzman said, trying to say it in a way that wouldn’t mess with her too much.

April took a step back, balancing herself on Mikey’s she’ll as she stood next to him.

“I need a minute..” April spoke again, prompting Leo to take over again.

“How do you know all this?” Leo stepped forward.

“I’ve had my eye on both April and Kraang turtle for a while now-“ Kurtzman went to explain more but Mikey cut him off quickly.

“Cyborg?!” Mikey shouted, causing them all to jump a little at the volume.

“He means the Kraang turtle-“ Leo clarified after giving Mikey a small gesture that basically meant “inside voices.”

“Oh- oh! Yes, the Kraang turtle!” Kurtzman looked intrigued again, “Why do you call him cyborg?”

“To make a long story short, they’re covered in metal-“ Mikey said quickly before getting a confused look himself. “Wait why are we still calling them cyborg? We know their name, name? I mean we gave it to them-“

“You named them?” Kurtzman asked again.

“To make an even longer story short, we sort of met them when we were kids through a weird portal thing I found and named them Raphael-“ Donnie explained this time.

“And they could talk?” Kurtzman was beyond invested with this new information.

“Oh.. yeah I guess they could. Why didn’t we put those dots together I guess they didn’t have the mask when we heard them-“ Donnie looked quick to Leo and Mikey who both just shrugged. “We’re going to have to look into that later, the point is! What do you know about them?”

Kurtzman straightened up again as he realized the attention was on him again.

“Right, right! Seems I know far less than you all, I’ve only been able to find some minor details on the kid.” He moved by the turtles to look through some notes he had next to the photos “I started noticing them more when I realized they weren’t with your little group, I thought they were with you guys because.. you know.. turtles- but when I noticed they were on their own working with the Kraang I started taking more notes on them.”

“Anything that can be helpful to us? We’re kind of trying to get them to leave the Kraang and come with us..” Leo watched as Kirtzman thought it over.

“I’m not sure, I do have some information on their kitten friend though!” Kurtzman spoke as he moved to the window they had crawled into a while ago now.

“Kitten friend?” Donnie puzzled over the notion.

“I did see a cat with them the one time they saved us from getting trampled by LH!” Mikey exclaimed as he followed Kurtzman to the window.

“I noticed a lot of times they would have a small black cat with them, but the cat was still a stray-“ Kurtzman opened her window and grabbed a small can of cat food from a pile beside the window “so when I noticed the same little kitten came around these areas I started to feed her.”

The man stuck his head out the window, gave a small short whistle and waited.

Less than a minute later they all heard small patters coming from the fire escape as a black shadow of a cat jumped to the windowsill.

“Awe!” The turtles and April all cooed as the small cat looked a little startled at all the people.

Casey alone stood back-

“What’s wrong case?” April looked back as Casey took another step back “You afraid of Cats too?”

“No-“ Casey said as the cat seemed to notice him and hop down, maneuvering through the turtle's legs to the guy.

The small cat jumping from the nearby couch to Casey’s shoulders as the guy sneezed, hard.

“I’m allergic-“ he tried to explain as the rest of his friends just laughed at him, Mikey coming quick to take the cat off of the poor dude.

The cat just letting herself get carried as she settled into the smallest turtle's arms.

“That’s fascinating..” Kurtzman spoke again, “She has never entered the apartment on her own..”

“Guess she really liked Casey then-“ April mocked as Casey continued to sneeze beside them.

“And Mikey I guess” Leo nodded to her youngest brother as well as the small back cat was now curled up in his arms and purring.

“Do you have anything else on Raph?” Mikey asked as he used his free hand to pet the cat.

“Not that I’m-“ Kurtzman was cut off quickly by heavy footsteps running through the apartment.

Three Kraang droids ran through the doorway to the living room they were all in.

“They found me?!” Kurtzman shouted as the turtles and other two humans all went into a defense position, Mikey rushing the cat to the window as he watched the rest of them.

“Kraang, the human known as Kurtzman has allied himself with the ones called turtles, who are turtles.” One of the droids spoke with their blasters raised as Mikey got the cat out safely and ducked back to his family.

“Observe, Kraang. Disintegrate first, capture for interrogation later.” Another one said as well before they charged.

All three droids fired as the group ducked and dove out of the way.

Casey jumped over the couch to attack first, using his hokey stick to disarm the first droid and knock him into the wall.

Using the momentum of the shove to then drop the stick and use his back to throw the droid across the room.

Mikey was in the line of fire next to him as well trying to duck as the droid shot the couch he had just rolled over.

Ducking behind the same couch Mikey let some shiriken loose that knocked the droid down.

More droids seemed to be pouring in as April, and Leo got to attacking as well, knocking down droid after droid as Kurtzman hid somewhere.

“Retreat!” Leo shouted as she realized there were too many coming in such a small area.

The turtles and humans ducked out of the same window Mikey had let the cat out of a minute or so back.

Kurtzman went to follow but turned back at the last minute, scanning the now-trashed apartment for his notebook.

Spotting it on a nearby table he attempted to grab it but was nearly shot when he tried, leaving the notebook and getting backed up against the windowsill.

Attempting to turn and move Kurtzman tripped and missed the fire escape entirely, falling down at least 2 stories before Mikey’s chains caught him by the foot and lowered him down.

The rest following down, Casey having a little trouble but getting there eventually as Leo gave the command to move.

They were about to do so when a van pulled up the alley where were all currently standing in, doors swinging open and a spider-like kraang droid with a turret made its way out.

“Shit-“ Casey cussed under his breath as he spotted the thing.

The group ran the other way, getting out of the alley before the spider-like droid had time to evaluate and follow.

When it finally did the street was empty..

Hearing nothing before the sounds of another car engine crashing from another side.

The shell-raiser blasted from another alleyway nearby as the droid just watched, getting crushed in its path.

All the turtles and now 3 humans tucked inside making a plan.

A plan to break into TCRI and erase any information on April’s DNA the Kraang could use to their advantage..

(To be continued..)

—————————

The floor was chilling and held no comfort as he lay against the icy walls. Raph’s mind continued to race remembering the feeling of being at death's door. His plastron ached. Movement only made everything ache more.

He missed the warmth of earth, the glow of the street lights, most of all the purring of Bastet against his shoulders as he watched the sunset dipping below the skyline..

Chapter Text

“Why are we rushing to get my information off some Kraang tech again??” April shouted over the motor as she held tight to the Shellrazer’s door.

“Because the Kraang having the information on your DNA could help them with another invasion-“ Leo quickly filled in before focusing on the road again.

“Got that part- but what about the current plan? You know about finding your potential lost sibling?” April shouted again.

“Well A, we don’t know if they’re our sibling just because dad also lost a kid similar to them when we were turtle tots-“ Donnie rambled for a moment before stopping himself and refocusing on the sentience “and B, this is kind of time-sensitive so they will have to wait-“

“What if we find Raph on the mission?” Mikey asked this time.

“We will handle that if it comes to it-“ Leo hushed them all as she spoke.

“Here’s the plan,” Kurtzman spoke up again as the questions died down. “You guys break into TCRI and get to wherever they keep the data storage and erase everything the Kraang have on April”

“Wait.. didn’t you guys blow that place up last time?” April asked one more question.

“Uhh-“ Leo’s voice came from the front of the shell razor again as the car curved into a parking spot a while away from TCRI.

The whole tower fully rebuilt somehow-

“They rebuilt the place already?” Casey gawked at the large building “That place was on pieces after the weird alien thing-“

“I’m just as confused..” Donnie spoke up before Leo launched into the plan again as she and the rest of them made their way out of the shellrazor.

“We break in, erase April’s DNA codes, and get out-“ Leo waved her hands as she spoke “Infiltration only.”

“Let’s do this,” Casey spoke as he reached for his hockey stick.

“Great, you and Kurtzman stay on lookout.” Leo awkwardly smiled as she low-key kicked Casey off the team for a bit.

“Oh come on-“ Casey complained as Mikey laughed at him.

“No problem!” Kurtzman answered, “Take this, it’s a key card I stole from one of their vans it should get you in easy.”

“Thanks, Mr. Kurtzman,” Leo said, taking the keycard from the guy as she, Mikey, Donnie, and April made their way to the rooftops to head toward the building.

Casey just let out a long huff as he watched them all leave-

He knew he wasn’t as trained but still- they didn’t have to leave him behind on “lookout”.

Meanwhile, the turtles and April all made their way a couple of rooftops down and much closer to the TCRI building.

Using Leo’s grappling hook to make a single line down to the building so they could get in from an upper level.

The group was about to latch on when they heard someone climbing up the same building they were on.

Turning to see Casey pulling himself up and over the edge with a loud thud as he hopped back up to group with them.

“Alright-“ Leo side-eyed Don as she spoke, “Casey you stay here and maintain radio communication.”

“Can’t I stay with you guys? I can help I swear!” Casey half pleaded as the rest of them started to zip down the line.

“Down worry case we’ll be back soon!” Mikey attempted to reassure the teen, before zipping down after Don and leaving Casey alone on the roof.

“Wait around like some sidekick?” Casey grumbled, “I don’t think so.”

With a little work and a small window, the turtles and April landed inside the building, all backed up to a wall so as to not take up much room.

Mikey was the first to move, turning over the wall’s edge and nearly screaming when he was met face-to-face with a droid.

Leo was behind him in an instant holding a hand over the turtle's snout to keep him from screaming while her sword came up to the droid's face.

Nothing.

No movement, no sounds, no alarms..

The droid just watched like it was unpiloted.

Donnie poked his head over the short wall to see the rest of the room, noting quickly that the whole large room was filling with Kraang droids in cubicles, all unmoving as Donnie looked over them all.

“Hey it’s alright,” Donnie spoke up to clarify, taking his bow out a poking the one in front of them to reveal a cord behind it “I think these androids are just charging.”

“Weird, wonder if there are Kraang inside,” April muttered as Donnie moved his staff to move the droid's hands, revealing there was, in fact, a Kraang inside.

Mikey pushed past Leo’s hold now, approaching the droid and poking it while laughing, messing with the robot like it was a human's face.

“We got to move, we don’t know when these things are going to wake-“ Leo was cut off quickly by a figure dropping from the ceiling.

The rest of the group nearly shouted again as Casey landed on his knee as he stood up and brushed himself off.

“Casey?” April stood shocked at the sudden new person. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to help!” Casey spoke as he looked at the group

“Ok ok fine- just be quiet, stay close, and do not touch anything!” Leo scolded as she pointed around.

A sudden beeping noise was heard from behind them all where Mikey was standing with the droid, said droid’s eyes all lit up as they all snapped to it.

“It wasn’t me-“ Mikey held his hands up as he spoke.

“I think they’re done charging!” Donnie shouted as they all ran for the short walls outside the cubicle. “Let’s get out of here!”

Passing the walls and booking it down the hallway the turtles and now two humans ran until the droid moved to the hall they had ducked in, freezing.

However, that didn’t do them much good as more droids appeared around them, not quite noticing them yet but could very easily.

Leo ran for the elevator, pressing the buttons fast as the doors opened and they all attempted to rush inside.

They all ducked in as the doors shut and Leo swiped the key card Kurtzman had given her, a robotic voice coming from the speakers as she did so.

“The floor known as level 40 has been accessed to kraang.” The robotic voice spoke as Leo let out a sigh of relief.

“Not bad so far-“ Leo spoke again as the elevator music came on and everyone just stood, unsure of what to do.

When the doors opened again Leo popped her head out, scanning the area around as she made a gesture to follow and moved along, her brothers and friends sneaking along behind her.

Casey clumsily tumbling along.

The room they came to seemed to be large, with a big drop into an even bigger dome like room, filled with flying Kraang mini-ships, all focusing on the one larger hologram of what looked like the Kraang leader.

“What's going on Donnie?” April asked as she ducked down behind Leo.

“It’s a Kraang sweet 16 birthday party! How am I supposed to know!-“ Donnie started the sentence with an upbeat tone before dropping it for sarcasm.

April held her head as she answered her own question, signal’s getting passed through her in the room.

“It’s Kraang prime, meditating.. communicating?” She tried to figure it out “I can hear their thoughts..”

“Like telepathy?” Mikey asked before hushing again.

“The experiment is nearly complete, despite setbacks the mutation will be ready as planned” Kraang Prime’s voice spoke loud in April’s mind.

“They’re talking about another invasion..” she filled in as she focused.

“Soon we will transform the earth and all of its hideous people” Kraang Prime spoke again as April let out a gasp, messing with the waves and alerting Kraang Prime.

“What! Intruders?!” The Kraang screamed through the coms as all the smaller Kraang around seemed to snap out of their trance-like state.

The Kraang started to wake up and scream as the group started to panic.

“Uh, guys- what are we thinking?” Mikey asked in a worried voice as he watched the Kraang wake up.

“Run!” Leo shouted as they all took off down the hall, trying their hardest to open the elevator again.

“Dudes!” Mikey caught their attention again. As he pointed to a new droid. “It’s the freaky lady from April’s school a while ago!”

Leo glanced at the feminine droid before focusing on the elevator again, trying to get it to work.

The robot held up an arm, elbows seeming to slide back as a rocket was launched toward the teens.

The group scattered as the projectile hit where the elevator was.

More and more droids swamped the room as they all started to fight taking out droid after droid.

“We gotta get to the door!” Leo shouted across the room as Casey attempted to bat away another frying droid.

They all be-lined across the room but the door was blocked again before they knew it, more droids showing up.

Focusing on fighting again April was faced with another droid, this one somehow getting the upper hand and disarming the girl, grabbing her wrists and grabbing her back from the group.

“Shit- help! Guys!?” She shouted as the turtles and Casey all snapped to her voice quickly, nearly earning them all a middle to the shell/back if they weren’t paying attention.

“Casey! Take down Mrs. Rocket arms!” Leo shouted as Casey nodded, running for the feminine droid as he did.

“Already on it!” He shouted as the rocket arms pointed towards him and he aimed his stick, jabbing it in the blaster and causing an explosion.

Somehow the stick came back mostly unsinged as Casey grabbed it and ran back for the turtles.

“We have to get April!” Leo shouted as they all followed, taking out the final droids that attempted to follow.

Getting to the door and turning down the halls the turtles and Casey ran for a moment before hearing another shout and spotting April come running past.

“RUN!” She shouted as to turtles quickly followed to not get shot by the droids following her, quickly turning into a cell at the end of the hall and watching the door slam shut.

“Why are we hiding in a dead end-“ Casey looked around as Leo went for the controls to open the cell again.

Although the controls did nothing.

“Doors locked were trapped here-“ Leo said as she tried to pull at the actual door.

As if like clockwork April’s form in the middle of the room started to laugh, like a horrific hysterical laughter you only hear from the Joker in Batman movies..

Gas started pouring in from the ceiling as the turtles and Casey started to process what just happened.

“April?” Donnie asked as he moved to see the girl's face but it was wide and inhuman.

Casey, Mikey, and Leo started to bang at the door as Donnie tried to figure out what just happened to his best friend.

“There is no escape turtles.” The girl spoke as Donnie backed up to his siblings.

“That’s not April..” Donnie spoke slowly, realizing what the other three probably pieced together a moment before.

“It’s an android- Get her!” Casey shouted, lunging at the droid shaped like his friend.

Although he was quickly thrown off balance when the girl grabbed him with his own momentum and threw him across the cell.

April was strong but she was never this inhumanly strong..

“I hate having to do this..” Donnie spoke.

He poised to strike next, lowering his stance and sending an attack that ultimately landed him across the room.

Next to a control panel.

An idea struck.

Waiting for the droid shaped like April to approach Donnie just waited, watching until she got close enough to grab.

When she did he used his arms and legs to throw the droid over, landing face-first into the control panel and sending a whole field of electric shocks down the android.

The droid seeming to melt as the door slowly slid open.

Allowing the turtles and Casey to stumble out, gasping for breath.

Through a symphony of coughing Leo was able to get out the next plan as she stood.

“We need to find-“ she spoke through more choking. “The real April-“

The 4 of them once gaining the ability to breathe again started running down the hall, following Leo as she ran.

Mikey was muttering something about April looking freakishly real when Donnie stepped back, stopping them both as Mikey went quiet.

A small laser scanned the room and landing on Mikey’s foot as it started to fire, causing the youngest turtle to jump around to avoid getting shot in the legs.

The laser came from a small camera-controlled turret in the ceiling before the door they were headed for.

“Bet whatever’s behind that door is pretty important..” Mikey spoke as the other three watched the door.

Leo used her agility to make her way into the camera view, avoiding the laser fire as she jumped to the card reader and clicked the key card through.

The thing shut off immediately as she did.

The door opened as the four of them tumbled in.

The room was filled.. with Aprils..

Hundreds of them in metal compartments.

As the turtles just gawked at the mass amount.

“April clones..” Donnie looked around, much more fascinated in the science of how they did this than anything- “Perfect genetic duplicates, I bet the Kraang have been making them to harvest their DNA!”

“Weird-“ Mikey muttered after, waving to one of the clones as it seemed to blink.

“So where’s the real April??” Casey spoke as he looked around the room.

Donnie rushed to the table in the middle of the room, trying to log his way in to erase the DNA data and also see where their friend was.

Although the loud scream from across the floor level answered that for them.

A couple more Kraang droids filed into the room with the turtles, blaster pointed and ready to fire from the plant form above them.

“The turtles survived, open the bin that is known as the reject bin.” One of the droids spoke as they pressed a button.

A panel from the floor bored opening as they watched a hand reach out, then what looked like April’s head.

But the body was much more messed up..

The whole thing being nearly twice the size of a normal human and nowhere near the shape of one.

Multiple limbs were sticking out and their head was stuck onto another misshapen one.

The sight of it was enough to make someone sick.

“Uh oh..” Mikey muttered as he backed up.

“What the heck is that?!” Leo nearly shouted as she watched it.

The large thing attacked almost instantly, aiming for both the droids near the door and the turtles at the same time.

“Some kind of a reject clone, a genetic mishap..” Donnie muttered as he dodged the clumsy attacks.

“An April dirp!” Mikey shouted as he ducked and ran across the room to avoid the attacks.

“You guys take care of the dirp! I’ll go get April!” Casey shouted as he hopped up onto the upper level of the room, watching the turtles continue to fight as he ran from the room.

Casey ran towards where the scream had been, locating the room pretty quickly and sneaking in and on top of the huge machine over April.

“I got ya!” Casey shouted as he ripped the wires off the thing, stopping it as April opened her eyes again.

“Oh great- saved by Casey I’m never going to live this down.” The girl muttered as Casey hopped down to take out another droid.

“Don’t worry, we all have some of those days-“ Casey shouted as he took out another droid.

Not soon enough though as another three were behind him in an instant, holding the guy still.

“Shit- Casey!” April shouted back.

The teen was forced to the ground by the group of the droids, hissing as his face hid the cold floor below him.

April started a panic again, the machine above her with a needle aimed at her face somehow powering back up, slowly moving again as she watched.

“No no no-“ she shouted before screaming “NO!”

A shock wave was sent through the room, the droids around her including the ones holding her friend down were blasted back as the machine was broken as well from the shock.

Casey was back up in an instant, getting the restraints off the girl as he hauled her up to her feet.

“You ok April?!” Casey asked quickly as she leaned on him in an attempt to not fall over.

“Brain.. on fire. Ready to pop.” April spoke slowly like she had just run a 10k with no warm-up. “Other than that? Meh-“

“April!” The other three turtles who had apparently gotten away from the dirp thingy all landed in the room, running to make sure their friend was ok.

Right on time the alarms started again, blaring through the whole facility.

“Oh shit- time to haul shell!” Mikey shouted as they all bee-lined for the door.

Making their way back through the doorway into the clone labs April was sticking behind Leo as they entered.

However seeing as the whole room was now filled with April clones, even Leo was getting a bit confused.

“Where are you going guys?” one of the clones tried to reason.

“Trying to ditch me?” Another..

“Let’s get out of here!” And another-

The real April poked from behind the small group, pushing back the clones as she got pulled into the crowd of clones.

“April?!” Mikey shouted as he and the others lost sight of her almost immediately.

All the clones now rambling something about them all being the “real April”

Although it only took a moment before a metal fan was held up above the clones and a small circle was formed, leaving the real April to attack and destroy some of the clones around her-

“There’s the real April-“ Leo smiled as she and the guys took a moment to take out the rest, leaving the real one standing with them.

“Ok that was gross-“ Mikey muttered before Leo spoke up.

“Let’s move!” She shouted as they all made their way as fast as possible to the exit of the building.

Busting through the doors as the new swarm of droids started after them.

A van pulled up before the group of running turtles and human’s and everyone was prepared to attack whoever got out before they saw Kurtzman open the door.

“Get in!” The guy shouted as they all breathed a sigh and hopped in the back without another word.

Wanting to be as far from the building as possible.

“Escaping from the Kraang in their own van!” Kurtzman laughed to himself as he put the van in drive and sped away as quickly as he could.

“Thanks for the save Mr. Kurtzman!” Leo shouted from the back.

“I owed you one!” He answered back quickly “So did you erase the data?”

“We did, by the skin of our snouts-“ Donnie replied from the front seat next to the man.

Just receiving a chuckle from the guy as he pulled up to an alleyway.

“You should walk from here-“ Kurtzman spoke as he let them all out. “Well I’m off- someone’s gotta keep an eye on the Kraang.”

“If you ever need me again you know where to find me!” The guy spoke as he held out a small business card to Leo.

The name Jack J. Kurtzman written big in it with lots of other info.

This would be useful later, Leo made a note and stuck it in her belt as she nodded.

“Do you think you could look for Raph more!” Mikey hopped from beside his sister.

“I can’t try little one-“ Kurtzman answered quickly “I’ll let you know if I get anything on them.”

“I’ll be the first to know!” Mikey insisted.

“You’ll be the first to know..”

Chapter Text

Kraang Subprime marched in his Mech down the halls of the main facility of Dimension X.

The one meant for Kraang Prime herself and only those she deemed trustworthy enough to be close.

The small scared Kraang in the suit had some bones to pick with the leader about a certain Amphibious Mutant but had to keep it sugar-coated.

She would kill him if he directly spoke against her prized possession.

But his latest questions needed answers.

So he busted into the room Kraang Prime was currently inhabiting.

She was placed in her mech, bolted into the walls around so anyone who entered would only see the main part, but could tell the rest was hidden.

Her eyes were closed as if she was communicating with some of the other Kraang forces through telecommunication.

Which she probably was..

But her eyes quickly snapped open when the door was thrown.

“I have questions!!” Kraang Subprime shouted as he moved his mech into the room.

“What have you interrupted my time for.” Kraang Prime shot back, clearly not in a question-answering mood but Subprime decided to proceed anyway.

“We have completed the control devices and have started collecting mutants to control using them,” Subprime explained what Prime already knew.

“Yes.” Prime watched.

“So why is the Turtle Mutant not being connected to the hive mind,” Subprime asked the question.. unsure of how the leader would respond.

“He is more useful disconnected,” Prime spoke simply.

“I disagree! The thing would be much easier to control without having to worry about watching.” Subprime stammered a bit but got the sentence out.

“I have been watching it since the previous invasion and since we showed it the kill switch it seems to want to obey again. So I don’t see a point.” Prime deadpanned at the argument.

Kraang Subprime wouldn’t lie if he said he didn’t like the turtle mutant. He was ecstatic when Prime approved the plan to control all the mutants with devices but now realized the one he wanted to control was apparently the exception..

“Where is the turtle now?” Subprime gave up for a minute to ask more.

“In its Cell.” Prime explained only a little, “It has been temporarily taken off earth forces and put back on full Experimentation until it can prove it's loyal again.”

“How long will that be?” Subprime’s voice, although still shouting, was much lower now.

“Soon, with the preparations coming back into play, we will need to ally with the foot clan again for our future attacks.” Prime was tuned the other way now, focusing on some other screen.

“What would that mean for it?” Subprime had to pry to get information at this point.

“Based on our failure on the turtle’s part the foot might be hesitant to ally again. So using the turtle as collateral might be our best plan.” Prime turned to face him again.

“You are parting with it?” Subprime was almost completely shocked the at fact she was so willing to give her prized item up.

“Only temporary and we will negotiate terms.” Prime turned away again. “It is still our’s of course.”

“Of course.” Subprime echoed.

—————————

Raph’s eyes fluttered open on the floor of his ‘room’

Forcing himself up he suppressed a wince as his joints screamed for him to stop moving.

He had been on constant surveillance since he pulled the whole ‘save the enemy’ stunt during the previous invasion but recently the droids and Kraang Prime had been leaving him be more often..

Raph got to his feet with a little trouble from his prosthetic as he stretched out, hearing a couple of pops from his shell as he moved.

He didn’t really have a reason to be up currently but he knew if he stayed on the ground for more than a couple hours then getting up and moving was going to be hell.

He crossed the small room to the hidden hole in his wall next to the door and pulled out the small book inside, leaving the blanket and covering the hiding spot back up again.

He hadn’t touched the thing in a while, he was honestly scared to open it at this point with everything that had happened and all the thoughts buzzing in his mind.

Specifically, the one name he heard.

“LEO!” The panicked voices of the other turtles in the escape pod rattled through his mind like a fight train.

His head pounding from laying on the floor all day and the rush of memory making the throbbing worse.

Taking a small shallow breath Raph spun and slid down the wall, opening the book up to the first Renaissance artist, the one he was named after.

The name Raphael was in bold letters over the page as he scanned the text again.

His fingers had the next page ready to turn but his mind stopped him, like something knew what was on that page was going to hurt him.

Ignoring his mind he turned the page, the name Leonardo printed in scratched-out bold on a faded page he had read 100 times over since he was a kid.

The name always sounded familiar, he knew that he knew the name somehow but his mind had blocked whatever memories were tied to them, leaving a blur of emotions and fog.

He wanted to say the name out loud, jump start his mind to give him any pinch of information he could remember..

But his mask was on tight and his mind was still foggy.

Flipping over a couple pages he stopped at the next bookmark, Donatello listed in large lettering.

The same familiar feeling.

Flipping a couple more he came to Michelangelo.

The same.

Anger bubbled as he reached into the fog of his mind for anything.

He wanted to scream, cry, anything to show he was angry-

Angry at his mind for blocking everything out.

Angry at whoever the turtles were for messing up everything he knew..

Angry at himself for betraying his home…

The anger fizzled away quickly as tears started streaming down the turtle's face, curving around the mask as they dripped to the cold metal floor.

He didn’t even realize he actually had been crying until he felt the tears.

Attempting to rub them away quickly, he was already dehydrated and crying was not going to help that.

His mind began to swim again, shouting words at him like missiles.

Worthless. Pathetic. Baby.

Idiotic child that can’t even figure out why he’s so mad at the turtles he’s never even had a full conversation with.

Mind switching back to the kill switch, remembering the pain that shot through everything and how hopeless he felt in that moment.

Raph placed a hand on his plastron just over his heart, checking to be sure it was still beating.

The slow beats calming his own breathing as his mind finally quieted for the first time in a while.

But that never lasted long, the sound of droid’s footsteps echoing down the hall as his heart started to go a bit faster.

—————————

“Listen I’m sorry about Metalhead Donnie but on the good side we got all the mutants out of that facility-“ Leo tried to reason with her younger purple brother as they all entered the lair.

Donnie’s eyes hadn’t left metalhead’s severed head since they got back from what they thought was just a quick check to make sure the kraang weren’t killing anyone-

Turned out they had been trying to control people this time, the turtles finding a whole room of mutants the Kraang had kidnapped.

Luckily with a little help from Donnie’s robot they had gotten them all out but not without the casualty of Metalhead himself.

Donnie made his way to his lab without saying a word, Leo and Mikey following out of worry as they watched him approach a shelf on the far end.

“I’m sorry little buddy-“ Donnie spoke as he placed the scrap metal piece of metalhead’s head on the shelf with a sigh, stepping back to see it sitting right next to the little metal triangle kraang piece from when they were little.

The metal triangle causes Mikey to ask questions again.

“If the Kraang were controlling the mutants they kidnapped..” Mikey paused “Could they be controlling Raph too?”

“I don’t know- it’s a possibility but we have no way of being sure until we see them again..” Leo answered for Donnie as Mikey attached himself to her arm.

“If we see them again.” Donnie corrected.

“Donnie!” Leo snapped as Mikey curled in on himself.

“What! We haven’t seen the turtle in ages since the invasion. How do we know they aren’t dead?” Donnie was shouting now “I mean they directly went against the Kraang to get us out and we can assume what they do to traitors isn’t fun!”

“Donnie knock it off.” Leo’s voice was cold now as Mikey started at the ground.

The lab was silent again Leo and Donnie glared at each other, Mikey hidden behind his older sister.

“What the hell are you guys screaming about at 7 am?!” Casey busted through the lab doors, sleeping mask still thrown over his messy hair as he stood in a large old band shirt and shorts.

The sight seemed to cheer Mikey up a bit as he stood straight again with a snort.

“What are you wearing?” Mikey asked as he made his way to the door, Casey rolling his eyes as he turned and walked out and towards the kitchen with Mikey behind him.

When the two were out of earshot Donnie turned back to Leo.

“We have no proof they are even alive,” Donnie spoke as he watched Leo straighten back up.

“That might be true but we can’t just stop looking for them?” Leo’s eyes softened as she spoke. “You know how much this means to Mikey.”

Donnie let out a long sigh as he pinched the bridge of his snout.

“Fine.” Donnie deadpanned.

“Don’t act like you don’t want to find them, April told me about the search programs you have running on info through the Kraang’s data you found.” Leo crossed her arms as she watched Donnie deflate a bit.

“Damn snitch-“ the purple turtle muttered as he gave up, sulking to his computer.

“I’m going to go make breakfast for the children,” Leo spoke, with a sarcastic tone on the word children.

When Donnie didn’t respond she started to make her way out, pausing at the door before she fully left. “I’ll put some coffee on if you promise to be out soon?”

Donnie paused from his computer.

“Thanks Leo..” a small mutter came from behind the screen as Leo smiled and left.

Eyes focusing from the door Leo had just left back to the screen in front of him Donnie clicked open the computer.

Running through and checking his normal logs when his eyes caught a new notification.

A small red ping above his Kraang logs tab.

A find?

Leo was right, April had been studying in the lab when Donnie had set up the searchers, having his computer look through all the kraang logs that came in for the word turtle.

He found a lot originally but it was all information on them and nothing on the missing turtle.

He had gotten his hopes up a couple times when new info came in but it had been nothing every time.

So he calmed himself as he clicked on the notification, prepared for another false lead as the window opened.

His eyes glazed over the text the popped onto his screen.

An old log. Like very old..

But was still being updated.?

Reading down the information his gut seemed to get lower and lower in his stomach.

“Oh shit..”

Chapter Text

Kurtzman opened the window to the fire escape, glancing at the small bowl of untouched cat food.

Odd..

He moved to the corner by the window, grabbing another can of food before emptying the old dish and rinsing it out to make sure it was clean before filling it back up.

He set it out on the small blanket he had out there and closed the window again, knowing if the small black cat was around she wouldn’t come down unless the window was closed.

The little cat seemed to only come down when it was closed unless that one friend of the turtles was over with them.

Casey was his name? Something Jones he was sure of it-

Kurtzman snapped out of his thoughts and moved to his couch to watch the window for the little black cat.

About 15 minutes went by and nothing..

He knew her schedule almost by heart now, she always came around the same time at dusk, ate, maybe took a small nap on the blanket, and then scurried away again.

But she hadn’t come yesterday and it looked like she wasn’t coming again today..

The day before he had brushed it off as just a missed day but now we were a bit worried.

Judging by the weather outside and the news forecasts, it was supposed to be the coldest winter in a long time..

Worry plagued the journalist’s mind as he thought of where she would be in the cold.

She wasn’t even his cat, she was the Kraang turtle’s cat but he felt like something was wrong.

He hadn’t seen the kraang turtle in a long while either but the other turtles filled him in on their theories of why that was.

Glancing at the cloud-covered sky out the window he knew it was cold.

He really just hoped she was ok.

For the kraang turtle's sake if no one else’s..

—————————

In another dimension Kraang Prime was stationed in her comms room, facing a large screen with her little turtle standing below her at attention, facing the screens as well although unseen from the other side.

Standing on the other side of the comms screen was an armored man, covered in burn scars and metal.

“Shredder,” Prime spoke simply.

“Kraang Prime,” Shredder replied just as dry. “Why are you contacting me.”

“I’ve come with a proposition.” Kraang Prime cut to the chase, “an offer if you will.”

The metal man’s eyes narrowed.

“Go on,” Shredder spoke.

“The Kraang have been working on a plan to take over Earth once and for all.” Kraang Prime watched the shredder’s glare get harder. “I would like to offer another alliance.”

“You already had an alliance with the foot for your first attempt to take over and it cost me multiple legions of foot bots.” Shredder watched, eyes solid. “Why would I offer that same deal this time.”

“Because this time my plan will work and you will be able to control all of New York.” Kraang Prime answered before continuing “And I have something new to put on the table.”

The metal man seemed to contemplate this, specifically intrigued by the end.

“Something new?” Shredder questioned.

“Think of it as collateral, something you can take and use until this is over and you have what you want.” Prime clarified.

“And if I don’t get what I want?” Shredder looked like he was legitimately considering it.

“Then do what you like with it, but I would like it back so I do believe I will get you what you want.” Prime watched the shredder think for a moment, silence filling the rooms.

“Alright. What exactly is on the table?” Shredder finally asked the question.

Kraang Prime smiled her weird gapped smile that made anyone shiver.

“My turtle.” She spoke, watching the turtle below her seem to flinch just a bit at the name and the realization it was here for a reason.

Its gaze wandered to the screen then up to Kraang Prime before it fell back into an attention stance.

“A turtle?” Shredder questioned, his view of the room Kraang Prime was in didn’t allow him to see the little-shelled soldier standing below her.

“It is a mutant turtle just like the ones you are currently hunting. We do believe it is tied to them in some way so using it against them might give you an upper hand in taking them down.” Kraang Prime spoke as he looked to the turtle “Turtle, approach the screen.”

The turtle did as commanded, making its way up before the screen so the metal man could see them in their entirety.

“Intriguing.” Shredder seemed more interested now “And how do you know it’s connected?”

“It seemed to know them before and they seemed to know it.” She spoke while watching the turtle, completely unmoving. “It went against orders to protect them, they may try something stupid to do the same.”

“And how do you know it won’t try and betray again?” Shredder’s eyes narrowed to the turtle before him on the screen.

“It had been taught its lessons,” Prime spoke with venom laced in her words, a warning. “It will not betray again if it values its life.”

“Good.” Shredder’s eyes went back to Kraang's prime through the screen. “An alliance can be arranged.”

“I am happy to hear you are on board.” Prime’s eyes never softened but her smile grew wider.

“When will I receive my collateral?” Shredder asked.

“Now.” Prime turned to another computer and sent out a command. “It will be with you soon.”

“And when do you plan to start your little plan.” The last question was asked.

“In about an earth week.” Kraang Prime responded. “I will contact you then.”

Without even giving a warning Prime canceled the comms and shut down the contact.

“Turtle. Report to the teleportals, you will be escorted from there.” Kraang Prime looked to the turtle who had not moved the whole time.

Although now it nodded, hesitating a second before making its way out of her comms room.

Check another deal off the list.

The invasion of Earth will be soon.

—————————

When Raph reached the teleportals he was almost immediately commanded through one, a droid “escorting” him to the large brick church-like building he was now standing in front of while the droid waited.

Raph’s mind was racing left and right with questions about what was happening but he stayed quiet behind the droid.

What was he doing here? He had heard the whole conversation obviously, they had been speaking in front of him as if he wasn’t there before so he got why he was here but..

Why him? Why was he being used as a bargaining chip?

One moment he was in dimension X under constant surveillance for treason and the next he was commanded to Earth to temporarily work for a metal man that is apparently hunting the other turtles..

And he didn’t even want to think about the other turtles right now..

The door to the large building opened with a click, snapping Raph back to where he was as the droid started inside and he followed.

A large black lanky-looking wolf-mutant was holding the door, watching the turtle like he wanted to hill him as they passed.

The droid seemed to know where it was going so Raph simply followed, careful to keep 2 feet of distance so as to not get in its way.

The wolf-mutant that had held the door seemed to be behind him now, following the two as Raph kept his eyes on the droid in front of him.

After a couple of turns and a stairwell upwards they came to another room, this time the droid taking the initiative to open the two large doors that led into a long pathway to what looked like a metal throne.

The droid pressed on, taking steps into the room but stopping just before they hit a small staircase up to the seat.

The same metal man he had seen was sitting in the seat, his gaze was a glare directed right at him.

He chose not to stare back, instead keeping his eyes on the droid and stairs before him.

“Kranng Prime has sent Kraang to deliver the one known as Turtle Mutant to the one known as The Shredder.” The droid echoed as the metal man, shredder, stood.

He said nothing as he descended the stairs, making his way to the turtle before him.

The shredder grabbed his mask and held it up so he could get a good look at the mutant he was given.

“Why does it wear the mask.” Shredder looked to the droid, not letting go of Raph whose gut had dropped when he was grabbed, looking almost terrified at the sudden movement.

“Disciplinary measure, the one known as Turtle Mutant was caught disobeying direct orders given by the one known as Kraang Prime at the time known as 4 years ago.” The droid responded, filling the shredder in.

“And what does it do?” This time his glared eyes never left the turtle’s armor.

“The mask is used to assist in the breathing of the place known as the Earth’s atmosphere. The mask is also used to keep the one known as Turtle Mutant from verbally communicating.” The droid responded again.

“Hm..” the shredder hummed, letting go of Raph’s face and stepping back. “And the leg?”

“Experimentational Error” was all the droid said for that one.

The shredder just looked him over again as he moved before the droid again.

“You are dismissed, Tell Kraang Prime if she needs me she is free to contact.” Shredder deadpanned as the droid turned and left, beeping to show it understood the command.

“You.” The shredder turned back to him again as Raph attempted to collect himself “You will be tested soon to see what your skills are and how you can be of use to me”

Raph nodded, holding his hands behind his shell in an even posture.

“Razar,” Shredder shouted as the door behind them opened and the same wolf-mutant stalked in.

“Yes, boss.” His voice was deep as he spoke.

“Take it to one of the cells for holding while it is here” Shredder spoke as he turned to his metal throne again, waving a hand dismissively.

“Yes sir.” Razar nodded before turning to the turtle and grabbing it by the upper arm, just below the metal shoulder gear.

Raph suppressed a wince as he felt the wolf’s nails cutting through his bandages into his skin as he was dragged along by the much taller mutant.

When the doors to the “throne room” were shut Razar asked a question while he dragged the turtle.

“You with those other turtles?” The wolf asked, his voice sounding rough.

Raph shook his head just a bit to get the point across.

“No?” Razar glanced as he kept walking “Good, cuz I’ve got a bone to pick with them.”

Raph just watched the ground as he was dragged, trying to walk but mostly just being rushed when he did.

Within a minute they were in a round room, three cells lined against the rounded middle of the room.

The wolf opened the one to the right, tossing the turtle in without an issue of strength and locking the cell door.

“Hope you have a good time in there.” Razar spoke as he turned back to the main door out “Don’t know what it was like where you came from. But I guarantee this will be worse.”

The door slammed behind him, leaving Raph in a very dim cell on his own.

He was used to being in cells on his own but this one felt. Colder.

Everything was colder..

Pushing himself off the floor he made his way to the furthest corner and curled in on himself trying to keep in any warmth he could find.

His mind buzzing with so many questions again but ignoring them as thinking made his head hurt right now..

He wanted his book, the names he tried so hard to never forget already feeling like they were fading.

Why was he here?!

And why was it so cold!

Maybe if he focused enough this whole invasion would be over soon and he could go back.. back to his book and back to his own cell.

Back to his “home”

—————————

Casey rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he pushed the manhole cover up, climbing out of the sewers and replacing it quickly as he made his way to the sidewalk of the Main Street.

Leo had woken him up to ask if he could go get some stuff from topside, seeing as it was worming already and she needed some stuff for breakfast for Mikey.

As much as Casey wanted to just go back to sleep and ignore her he was kind of a guest in their “house” so he didn’t want to be mean.

They were letting him stay there basically rent-free, the least he could do was grab groceries.

Although he was regretting bringing a coat with how cold it was up here..

Making his way down the path to the nearest corner store Casey looked down at his phone, nothing new in his notifications but-

A loud, pained meow entered his ears.

Casey’s head snapped up from his phone immediately, trying to trace the source of the noise.

Taking a few steps and peering into a nearby alleyway he spotted the source.

A group of some of the purple dragons losers were kicking around what looked like a small cat?

What the hell?!

Casey pocketed his phone and ran down the way, jumping in between the assholes and the cat as fast as could to make sure they couldn’t kick the poor thing again.

“Hey, what the hell is this?” Casey shouted at the three guys in front of him “What kind of heartless monster’s beat up a cat?!”

“The little bastard took some of our food!” One of them yelled.

“You getting in our way?” Another one shouted.

“Yeah, I am! Back off and you might come out unscathed-“ Casey shouted, lowering his stance like Splinter had shown him once.

The three guys glanced at each other before letting out a chuckle.

“Oh, this will be fun.”

—

Casey wouldn’t call himself the best fighter, definitely not compared to his Turtle friends but he did not expect to have his ass handed to him so easily by three guys-

On the good side, the cat he had in his bruised up arms now seemed to be mostly ok, just a few scratches but nothing broken..

On the bad side, he might have cracked a rib or two himself.

Luckily after a while the guys got bored and left them alone, leaving Casey to now be walking with the little black cat in his arms.

He realized quickly after he got a good look at the cat that it was the cat Kurtzman was looking after, Raph’s cat.

That was probably the reason she was okay with being held right about now.

She seemed to like him a lot but just holding her had him choking back sneezes..

Damn, allergies.

He thought it best to take her back to Kurtzman’s, he definitely knew better about taking care of cats than he or the turtles did.

So he was tracking his way to the building now, coming to a stop before the journalist guy's door.

Shuffling his arms around him he was still holding the cat in one hand he reached up to knock on the door before stepping back to wait.

Took the guy less than a minute to come and open the door, seemingly scared it was the Kraang again but when he saw a beat-up Casey and Cat he opened it up immediately.

“Spirits, kid what happened to you?” Kurtzman asked immediately, watching Casey saunter into the semi-familiar apartment.

He and the turtles had been here a couple times now for information and updates on any Raph/Cyborg sightings, although there were never any, so he was used to the place.

Kurtzman watched him fall onto the couch, wincing as the small cat jumped out of his arms and curled up next to him.

“Oh, you found the cat!” Kurtzman spoke, worry lifting off his shoulders as he walked over to the cat “You gave me a scare bud.”

The cat just looked at him and Kurtzman got the note to not touch her so he backed up, focusing on the very beat-up kid before him.

“Ok uhh- you need a first aid kit? Anything I can do to help? What happened??” Kurtzman stammered a bit.

“Sorry- sorry, I came in unannounced- can you check over the cat first? I’m fine I’ve dealt with worse.” Casey apologized quickly and sat up, moving the cat slowly so he could get a good look at the cuts along her back and face.

“Oh yeah sure! I don’t think she will let me touch her but I can give you some bandages and walk you through wrapping them for her-“ Kurtzman was already going as he spoke, grabbing a first aid kit and walking back.

Casey nodded, taking the bandages he was given and wrapping the small cat so there were no exposed cuts that could get infected.

“She’s going to have to stay here I hope you know..” Casey spoke as he finished the final wrapping “We can’t let her out again like this.”

“I don’t think she’s going to like that much.. I’ve only seen her content around you, the kraang turtle, and the other turtles but only on occasion.” Kurtzman spoke, grabbing a bandage and placing it over a cut on Casey’s hand. “You’re turn to be patched up.”

“Ok.” Casey just nodded, letting the guy check over the exposed bruising and make sure no bones were really broken. “I can stop by to make sure she’s ok so she doesn’t freak out too much.”

“That would probably be smart..” Kurtzman spoke as he wrapped a large gash on Casey’s forearm before closing up the first-aid kit.

“Any updates on Raph?” Casey asked as Kurtzman moved to put away the Kit.

“Nothing yet kid, sorry..” the guy spoke again “Why?”

“Just asking..” Casey leaned back again.

“Oh shit I have to go to the store!” Casey jumped from the couch, wincing as he did and startling the cat as he ran from the apartment, leaving the journalist in the cat behind.

Chapter Text

It only took Casey 3 minutes to run to the store he was supposed to have been at nearly an hour ago.

Grabbing what Leo said they needed and checking out Casey bolted to the nearest manhole cover, opening it and jumping down as gracefully as he could with only a couple of hiccups when he tripped or missed a step on the later.

Within a shockingly little amount of time He made it to the turnstiles at the front of the lair, although he paused quickly when he spotted the very pissed and slightly worried-looking Leo.

“Where were you? Why do you look beat up!?” Leo scolded immediately, arms crossed.

“Uhh- long story?” Casey raised his hands with the bags in surrender.

“We have all day.” Leo deadpanned as Mikey poked his head out from the kitchen.

“You got the eggs!” The smaller orange turtle cheered as he ran for the bags in Casey’s hands before stopping “Wait why do you look like you got curb stomped by a bus?”

“Rude,” Casey replied quickly as he handed the bags to the turtle.

Leo narrowed her eyes as she waited for an explanation.

“Ok so you know Raph’s cat that Kurtzman is taking care of?“ Casey started his story “I kind of saw some goons kicking her around so I jumped in-“

“And they beat you up?” Leo deadpanned again.

“And they beat me up-“ Casey chuckled at himself.

“So then why are you semi-patched up? And is the cat okay?” Leo asked, shifting from one foot to another as her gaze softened just a bit.

“Uhh- I took the cat to Kurtzman and he’s looking after her inside now, she was mostly ok a few cuts and scrapes though so he’s just keeping her for the time being.” Casey filled in, trying to slowly sneak by the mother-hen-like turtle.

“You didn’t answer the first question.” Leo turned her head as Casey shuffled around.

“I’m fine! Completely ok- really!” Casey had mostly gotten pash her at this point but not before she picked him in the ribs, looking more cocky when he let out a hiss of pain from it.

“You’re fine?” Leo repeated.

“Ok, I might have bruised a rib or two-“ Casey finally said, letting out a sigh “but you should see the other guys!”

“Come on Casey- I sent you out for groceries! I know that cat was in danger but couldn’t you have just grabbed her and ran?” Leo melted when Casey told the truth, dropping the tough act immediately as her mother-hen nature took over “We’ve been training you I know you can do it!”

“The dudes were being dicks I couldn’t just let them get away unscathed!” Casey tried to reason as Leo sighed.

“Hey, language!” Leo shouted back before calming her voice, “Fine! Fine. At least let Donnie look you over for anything broken?”

“Kurtzman already did..” Casey muttered.

“And as much as I trust the guy I don’t know his medical knowledge.” Leo glanced to the lab Donnie was in “But I do know Don’s. And it is extensive. So please just go-“

This time Casey deflated, dropping his arms and nodding as he moved towards the lab.

“Thank you-“ Leo called as he went.

“Nah- That’s a thanks on my part-“ Casey turned and corrected as he moved.

Leo watched as the guy made his way to Donnie’s lab, listening to them bicker for only a moment before Donnie agreed to look him over.

After confirming that they weren’t fighting like 5 year olds she turned towards where Mikey was in the kitchen.

She gave a quick knock to the wall to let him know she was there before she walked in, watching him blend something up that did not look like it should be blended.

“What are you making..?” Leo was scared to ask but did anyway.

“Pizza smoothies!” Mikey beamed back as Leo tried not to laugh at the stupidity of the words.

“Oh, Leo! Do you know where the spare heaters are? I asked Donnie earlier but he only had the ones he needed.” Mikey questioned as he moved about the kitchen.

“Uhh- I think there might be some old ones in the dojo closet, ask Dad he would know,” Leo replied as she backed away from the blender and towards the sink.

“Can you? I was going to but I’m kind of busy right now-“ Mikey said as he grabbed more “ingredients” from the pantry.

“Sure, why do you need them though?” Leo agreed but was curious anyway.

“I don’t know about you but it’s getting way colder down here- I asked Don about that as well and he said according to some blah blah science stuff this was going to be the coldest year since we were like 8!” Mikey rambled for a bit but successfully answered the question so Leo called it a win.

“I did notice it was getting colder but I thought it was just me.” Leo spoke as she moved back to the doorway to go fetch the heaters “Wait-“

“Hm?” Mikey hummed

“You said since we were 8?” Leo asked.

“Oh yeah-“ Mikey seemed to put the pieces together as well, pausing in the middle of the kitchen.

“Well, that lines up scarily well..”

“8 years ago we talked to Raph over the portal,” Mikey stated as he thought about it.

“Well we still don’t have solid proof it was Raph it could have been-“ Leo tried to explain but Mikey cut her off.

“It was Raph.” Mikey dropped his positive demeanor in a second, almost startling Leo.

She thought to correct him but paused.

“..How do you know?” Leo asked, slowly.

“I just do. It was him.” Mikey muttered.

Leo stood for a moment, watching her little brother look at her like he had just seen the end of the world.

“..ok.”

—————————

“This is it!” Leo beamed as she opened the small tape box she had found while scouring the sewers out of boredom a couple of hours earlier. “The final episode of Super Robo Mecha Force Five Team Five!”

“I love the show so much!” Mikey made a squealing noise for a moment as he hopped from foot to foot, unable to keep still not that anyone blamed him. “I wish they were real and we were fake!”

Leo held back a chuckle as Mikey continued his mini-existential crisis.

“Wait.. What is we are?” He stopped for a moment as he held his hand to his plastron.

Leo popped the tape into the TV and took a step back as Mikey jumped over to it.

“What if someone somewhere is watching us on TV right now! Or reading us in some book!?” Mikey turned to Leo as he spoke “They would be reading us watching TV, in a book bro!”

Leo tried not to snort as she clicked the remote, playing the tape and distracting Mikey immediately.

Casey, who still looked like he had been hit by a train somehow from the mornings events, was sat on the couch behind the TV as Leo sat next to him on the other side.

They had caught him up on the episodes a while ago so he was just as excited for the final episode as the rest of them.

A large Robot came onto the screen, along with a couple of characters yelling about something that they couldn’t really hear but could pick up from context-

Within the first minute or so Mikey stood up from his spot on the floor in front of the TV.

“Oh my gosh, Donnie has to see this!” Mikey said, picking up the whole TV before anyone had a chance to stop him.

“Wait! Mikey!” Both Leo and Casey shouted but Mikey had gotten too excited to think, attempting to carry the TV out and nearly breaking it in the process.

Luckily he seemed to snap back and realize what he was doing as he backed up quickly and put it down, but not before the episode Tape popped out and the film unraveled to the floor.

“Oh.. sh-“ Mikey tried to speak but was cut off.

“Language.” Leo deadpanned before picking up the tape. “But it’s fine you just got excited, go check to see if Donnie can ravel this back.”

Mikey dropped his head as he grabbed the tape, muttering a quick sorry as he made his way out towards the lab.

—

Donnie had been sitting in his lab for a while, purple hoodie pulled over his shell with some heaters set up around as he tapped away at his computer.

Mikey knocked on the door of the lab, slowly stalking in with the broken tape in his hand as he scanned the place.

“Uhh.. Donnie? Can you fix this.?” Mikey slowly muttered as he made his way to Donnie’s desk.

Something on Don’s monitor made a bad-sounding chime as the purple turtle nearly slammed his hand into the desk.

Mikey flinched back a bit, not at him but at the noise, taking a moment to look around the computer.

“Wait is that..” Mikey spotted something on Donnie’s desk that he recognized, the small metal Kraang triangle that had been sitting on Don’s shelf for years was now attached to wired and hooked up to his computer.

“What are you doing with that?” Mikey asked hesitantly.

“I’m working on this thing, It’s what I call a turtle mech but I can’t find a stupid power source for it!” Donnie huffed at the screen as Mikey dropped the broken tape on the desk and leaned over to see what was on Donnie’s screen. “If I can just- get it. Working!”

Donnie slammed his fist into the desk again, this time knocking the triangle off as things rattled around.

Mikey hopped back from it, watching the little thing in awe as it made a small noise and started to float up.

“Uhh Donnie..” Mikey tried to grab his big brother's attention but Don was glued to his computer.

“Donnie-“

“DONNIE!” Mikey shouted this time, causing the purple one to flinch.

“WHAT?!” Donnie spun in his chair fast but stopped when he saw it.

The small device floating about 6 feet in the air, similar to how it had 8 years ago.

With one difference.

As the portal opened, it wasn’t just light and it wasn’t a foot long.

It was a whole, opened portal.

“What did Mikey do?!” Casey shouted as a joke as he and Leo came skidding into the Lab at the noise.

“I didn’t do it!” Mikey’s hands shot up as Leo looked shocked at the portal before her.

“What did..” Leo muttered as she watched the thing.

As she spoke, pinkish gas started to filter in through the portal.

“What is that?” Leo questioned as Donnie moved to action, throwing his hoodie off and grabbing some mask-shift breathers from the cabinet.

“It’s Kraang atmosphere, here!” Donnie raced over and handed them out to the rest. “Filtration units, they’ll allow us to breathe it safely.”

“So that leads to dimension X? Wait! Is that why Raph wears that metal thing? So he can breathe in there?” Mikey looked shocked at his own question.

“Probably the opposite.. he might not be able to breathe here-“ Donnie said, hooking his breather up. “And I think you’re right.. I think that’s Dimension X..”

“So that could be-“ Leo muttered a bit.

“So Raph could be through there?” Casey finished the question for her.

“Based on the fact we haven’t seen him. He has to be.” Donnie nodded before they were all startled by a loud glitching noise.

The kraang communication sphere lit up with pink dots, a voice cracking through.

“Tu- Tu- Tur- Tur-“ the thing crackled to life as Leatherhead's face came up in a hologram above the thing. “Turtles.”

“Leatherhead!” Mikey was awed at the sphere, mostly just happy to see his friend “he’s alive!”

“Turtles. The Kraang has perfected the mutagen” The message seemed prerecorded as they listened “They’re about to-“

“Oh no- They got him! He needs our help!” Mikey shouted at the sphere.

“He must be in dimension X!” Donnie seemed to realize something, “As soon as the portal opened, his signal came through and activated the orb.”

“So can the one tell us where he is?” Mikey pleaded, shaking the thing around.

“I don’t know- It might be able to but it could take a while-“ Donnie took the orb from Mikey as Mikey started to panic.

“But Leatherhead needs us now!” Mikey pleaded.

“We can’t be too sure we might be able to- MIKEY!” Donnie shouted as he watched his little brother ignore his words and run through the portal

“Leatherhead and Raph here I come!” He shouted as he disappeared.

The other three stood still, honestly shocked at the youngest’s sudden disappearance.

“We got to go after him!” Casey shouted as Leo nodded.

“Let’s move-“ Leo commanded as they both ran through after the smaller turtle.

“But the environment could be toxic too “ Donnie tried to shout after them but they were already gone.

Don let out a long sigh before shoving his bow onto his back and running through after them all.

—

When they could feel their shells on their backs again, minus Casey, everyone was able to take a moment and realize where they were.

The three of them had landed hard on the ground of.. wherever they were, Don and Casey immediately looking back to the now closed portal with panic.

“Guys.. uh- look?” Leo muttered from in front of them as she brushed off her shell.

Donnie and Casey turned back towards the older turtle, panic melting as they took in the scene before them.

They were in a world covered in pink, purple, and blue. Glass trees littered the floating rock-like islands all around them as they tried to see a possible bottom to the whole place with no avail.

kraang buildings and parts were everywhere, random worm-like animals that they had seen before with the Kraang on Earth seemed to wander the place.

“So this is dimension X..” Leo muttered again as she gawked at the sight.

A large worm-like creature came scarily close to them as she spoke, causing them all to jump out of the way.

“Freak show-“ Casey said as he balanced himself again.

“There’s no sun there’s no anything.” Donnie was fascinated at the place as he spoke “How could it-“

Don had been backing up, getting a little too close to the edge for Casey’s comfort as he watched.

“Look out!” Casey shouted as Donnie seemed to not see the edge and fall right now, causing both Leo and Casey to bolt for the edge as well.

When they looked down to see Donnie falling he was gone, both kids panicking for a moment before they spotted Donnie somehow standing on the other side of the platform they were on.

“This is ridiculous!” Don shouted as he threw his hands up. “Gravity can not work like this!”

“Apparently, here it can,” Leo spoke as she held a hand out for Donnie to grab and pull himself back up to the top.

“Yeah.. different dimension-“ Donnie spoke as he grabbed a rock, throwing it to the side and watching it come back around without adjusting. “Different laws of physics.”

Don grabbed the stone and it just stopped in his hand.

“Let’s just hurry up and find Mikey-“ Casey started to worry as he looked around again.

“Ok, we find Mikey, then LH, then Raph. Plan?” Leo questioned.

“Any idea where to start?” Donnie asked, half sarcastic.

“Well, that might work.” Leo pointed up to where she was looking a moment before, a large spiked ball on top of a larger platform a while in front of them.

With some freakishly big jumps, hopping from place to place, avoiding some weird electrical bots, and Leo finding something cute and it turning out to be a huge mountain-like worm that was currently chasing them the turtles + Casey eventually made their way near the platform they had aired for.

Although right now they were focusing on not getting eaten by the “little cute thing” Leo had been cooing over before.

Donnie had just hopped over another huge lump of metal when he felt something like a rope wrap around his shell, yanking him away from the thing.

Leo and Casey were yanked as well and all three of them were thrown into a pile away from the huge rock-like worm as what looked like Mikey landed in front of them.

“Stay away from my Siblings!” Mikey shouted before correcting “And friend!”

“Mikey?!” Leo shouted as she realized it was him.

Mikey didn’t respond, instead letting out a really weird scream-like noise that seemed to ward the “rocktipus” as Mikey had shouted at some point, away.

When the thing was gone the three moved again.

“You ok!” Donnie laughed as he ran over, Leo and Casey right behind.

“We were worried about you!” Leo called as half-tackled Mikey in a hug before backing up.

“Well, what took you so long? I’ve been here for months!” Mikey crossed his arms as Leo backed up.

“Months?!” Leo panicked for a moment.

“Or- probably more like a few hours..” Mikey chuckled to himself “I don’t really have a watch.”

“We went through the portal like 15 seconds after you?” Casey looked confused as he watched Leo take way too big of a sigh that her baby brother hadn’t been here for months.

“Obviously time passes faster here than in our own dimension..” Donnie said, thinking to himself.

The rest of them went quiet for a moment, seemingly all thinking the same thing.

“Then.. how long has Raph been here?” Leo finally asked the question.

“I.. don’t know. If I have more information then I might be able to calculate it but it would just be a guess right now.” Donnie looked up as he spoke.

Casey was sure he saw a flash of genuine sorrow flash over Mikey’s face before it was replaced by a shocked look from behind him.

“Hey!” Mikey shouted again as they all turned fast to see the rock-worm again.

Mikey made a much lower but still just as off scream and that seemed to get it to leave but Donnie was looking more and more confused.

“Wait, how did you..” Donnie half-asked before Mikey shouted again.

“Let’s get moving! That’s things gonna keep coming back and we gotta rescue Leatherhead!” Mikey didn’t explain much. “Ooh! Better stock up on bang rocks-“

“Mikey be careful!” Leo shouted as she watched Mikey bounce over to the glass trees.

Donnie had tried to mess with them before and they were blown up so panic set in again when she saw Mikey move to one.

Mikey made a small chirp, like the ones they use to communicate sometimes but much higher, and as if like a command a small branch clipped off the tree with no issue.

“How did you do that?” Donnie asked again, this time hopping for an actual answer.

“A lot of stuff here responds to sound!” Mikey explained before jumping back down, grabbing some tiny worm-like creatures and handing one to each of them.

“And what are we supposed to do with these?” Leo asked before Mikey demonstrated, squeezing the thing as a rope-like thing popped out and grappled onto a nearby platform.

The three copied, getting launched up and on their faces as Mikey landed perfectly.

“How did you know those worked like that?” Casey groaned as he pushed himself off the floor and back up.

“I don’t know.. seemed kind of obvious-“ Mikey replied as he chuckled at them hauling themselves back up.

“Mikey, you’re like a genius here!” Casey laughed as Mikey corrected him.

“Hey, in crazy backward land, crazy backward dude is king.” Mikey crossed his arms.

“Now! We gotta go save leatherhead!” Mikey shouted.

A couple minutes, and Mikey showing them more tricks later the group had landed on another platform which according to Mikey was where they were keeping leatherhead.

When they landed Mikey had taken over for a minute, finding and attacking two stone droids outside the facility and knocking them clean off the platform.

To everyone’s surprise and support, Mikey was really good at fighting here so no one got in his way other than Leo panicking and checking him over after every fight like a worried mom.

After a while they were able to get into the facility, working their way through the vents to get into the main halls with Mikey’s guidance this time.

The four of them tucked out of the vent they had been crawling through into one of the hallways outside of a guarded door, luckily They were around the corner so the droids didn’t see them yet.

Leo grabbed her swords, preparing to attack before Mikey put his hand up, Leo pausing as he did.

Mikey grabbed some of the worm-like creatures from his belt and used them, grabbing the Kraang straight out of the droid body’s with the grapple.

“Smooth-“ Casey commented as they all got to the window of the locked door, peering in.

Inside was an Earth tree, seemingly growing out of a small patch of dirt with two cannon-looking devices around it.

Kraang Prime’s face was plastered to one of the screens, watching.

“Initiate that which is called mutagen transformation sequence.” A voice came from one of the computers in the room, definitely a droid’s but there wasn’t one around.

“That which is called mutagen transformation sequence, initiated.” The same voice echoed.

As the sentience was ended the cannons moved, aiming at the tree and spraying what looked like regular mutagen onto the thing until it looked like one of the glass trees they had just seen outside.

The rest of the computers shut off when the tree was “completed” and the group of teens to no more time to break into the room.

“See that? That’s what leatherhead meant when he said they’d perfected the mutagen..” Donnie rambled as he went up to the tree, then to the computers nearby.

“They’re going to use it to transform everything on Earth, even the people-” Donnie read as he went over the data that hadn’t been shut off yet. “They’re gonna turn Earth into another dimension X!”

“So I’ll be a genius there too!” Mikey beamed for a moment before he remembered the whole world was probably going to die.

“I- yeah, yeah I guess but that’s not really what we should be taking from this!” Donnie scalded him for a moment before everyone’s eyes snapped to a nearby door in the room.

Droids started to pour through the doors but by the time they were fully through the teens had vanished..

The teens ran down a couple more halls avoiding droids and remaining unseen as they went.

Mikey was leading again and they were headed one way until they heard the screaming, low pained noises that snapped Mikey out of his running and got him to turn and go after them.

To Mikey’s both relief and slight horror it was leatherhead, their friend being held in chains as the droids shocked him.

Mikey jumped immediately, taking out the two droids with Leo and Casey’s help as Donnie ducked to the control panel, deactivating the physical holographic chains.

“Leatherhead! Are you ok?! Is there anything I can-“ Mikey was shouting but stopped quickly when the chains deactivated and leatherhead nearly fell on top of him, the alligator’s chest accidentally crushing the turtle.

“Get- off- me-“ Mikey huffed as Leatherhead stood back up immediately.

“I am sorry- Thank you, my friends.” The alligator apologized before talking to the rest of them “I feared you would never come..”

“Dude, did you quit moisturizing or something? You look like- way older?” Mikey questioned as he got up, brushing his plastron off as he did.

“It’s the temporal difference, Mikey..” Donnie spoke as she made his way to the alligator. “Do you know how long you have been in here? I might be able to make an educated guess on what the time difference is-“

“I believe I have been here for months.. I left Earth a long time back to spy on the Kraang.” Leatherhead explained, “When I discovered they had perfected the mutagen, I had to contact you.”

“The time has come, their invasion begins now.” Leatherhead grabbed a glass branch from behind him he somehow had and used it as a crutch to stand “Follow me!”

The four turtles followed quickly, Leo and Donnie lagging a bit to the back.

“How long you do think he was in here for?” Leo asked quietly so only Don could hear.

“Leatherhead or Raph?” Donnie questioned as they ran.

“Raph.. cyborg? Kraang turtle-“ Leo muttered “We gave him a lot of names-“

“That would be Mikey” Donnie smiled as he spoke “I do think I have at least a guess though.”

“And?” Leo tried to pry the answer out as they ran.

“And from how long Mikey said he was here and leatherhead I believe the time difference is about 1 to 1.5” Donnie rambled for a moment before Leo gave him a nudge, snapping him back to the question.

“Right right- sorry-“ Don stuttered a bit “I think he’s been here for 20-25 years give or take.”

Leo stopped running.

“But we don’t know that! And from what I’ve seen I believe his mind and body ages with earth time so he is 15!” Donnie tried to say anything to make Leo stop staring at the ground like it had killed her dad.

“He’s been alone here for 20 years?” Leo lifted her head just a bit so her words were heard.

“I- yeah. At the minimum.” Donnie spoke. “But think of it this way, more of a reason to get him back home to earth and safe.”

Leo took a deep breath as she started to move again, tugging Donnie along and running after the other three that had left.

“Save Raph?” Donnie asked as he steadied his running from Leo’s pull.

“Save Raph,” Leo repeated.

—

The group of teens + leatherhead made their way to the main portal room of the facility.

“Oh that’s not good..” Donnie spoke as he learned over the ledge they had gotten to, to get into the room from above unseen.

“So many portals. Why do many?” Leo questioned as she scanned the room.

“Look!” Leatherhead spoke as an alarm went off.

The walls around the room started to open, letting out legion after legion of Kraang droids into the room.

“So.. looks like we’re done here?” Donnie spoke as he panicked a bit, backing up.

“The tunnel leads to the hive factory, where the Kraang droids are manufactured.” Leatherhead explained again “Their numbers are effectively limitless.”

“So what can we do?” Donnie said, looking up to the taller mutant.

“We can go down fighting.” Leatherhead seemed sure of that “I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”

“Well, I wouldn’t I have knee pads!” Donnie shouted back, “The only sensible course right now is retreat!”

“No!” Mikey shouted over the two, getting a plan ready “Leo and Casey, block that tunnel. Donnie and I will sabotage the portal generator!”

“Leatherhead!” Mikey just looked at his alligator friend with a grin.

“Crush Kraang.” The alligator gave a shit-eating grin of a smile back.

“A lot!” Mikey beamed “Let's hit it!”

The orange turtle turned and hopped down the 3 stories to the room floor from above, using the grappling worm to swing.

The other three teens followed and Leatherhead jumped down quickly after, falling straight down and crushing a whole platoon of droids as he did.

Leo and Casey attacked next to the alligator, taking out droid after droid as Leo looked for a way to stop them from coming.

“There! A blast door!” She shouted as she slid to the panel, trying to close it but getting nowhere as her handprint meant nothing to the machine.

Another droid started to come after her and she got an idea, cutting the droid's arm clean off and taking the rest of it out as she got the arm and used it to close the blast doors, crushing another couple rows of droids as she did.

Donnie dropped to the control panel quickly, tapping away as he muttered his own plan.

“Ok- we need to shut down all but one portal so we have a way home.” Donnie rambled “Then we set the whole thing blow once we’re through.”

Donnie tapped at the screens again, cussing under his breath when he couldn’t figure out how to turn it off.

“No, no, no no no no!” The purple turtle started to get more and more frustrated as he worked.

“Oh just let me do it!” Mikey shouted as he pushed Don aside, not even pressing anything as he smacked the screen in front of him like a drum.

Something eventually clicked and all the portals around closed at once, leaving one in the middle and a countdown on the screen.

“Thirty seconds!” Mikey read off the timer as he moved.

“Time to go- now!” Donnie shouted while sprinting past Leo and Casey, dragging them along as well.

“Go through without me, I’ll keep them busy-“ Leatherhead tried to move away from the portal before Mikey cut in.

“Not this time buddy!” The small orange turtle spoke as he kicked the large alligator mutant through the portal without warning.

He peered through the portal for a moment to make sure he was okay though, giving Leatherhead a thumbs up as he confirmed he was okay.

Mikey jumped to the side, taking out some more droids as the other three teens jumped through, landing on a ledge near LH and helping him back up.

The small orange turtle was still on the other side of the portal.

What if he just stayed here? Looked for Raph?

He had to be somewhere..?

Mikey glanced to the portal then back to some droids he was taking down.

But his siblings might need him..

A small voice spoke in the back of Mikey’s mind.

“Raph’s your sibling too.”

Mikey wanted to feel hurt by it but he didn’t.

He knew deep down Raph was his sibling even if the others didn’t have “solid proof” yet.

All the more reason to save him.

But not alone.

“Well, goodbye being smart-“ Mikey muttered, making up his mind and jumping through the portal after the rest.

“Wait!” Mikey rolled in the air, shooting a grappling worm into the portal again and snatching a large branch off of the glass tree growing from the middle of the teleportal room.

Ducking into a roll as he landed Mikey curled around the glass, carefully not to break the energy source.

“Donnie!” Mikey shouted once he was sure he was done rolling from the fall “I got a battery for your turtle mech!”

“Mikey, you are a genius!” Donnie beamed back as he pulled himself up from the fire escape he had landed on.

“Not anymore!” Mikey spoke, pulling his Kraang-like hat he had gained off. “Now I’m just back to being regular old Mikey-“

“No way, saving that power source was brilliant!” Leo spoke as she pulled Mikey to his feet “And you did that here.”

“Yeah, I did!” Mikey spoke before realizing, smile growing quickly.

Donnie, once off the fire escape had made his way over to the group as well.

“That overload should have taken out their whole facility.” The purple turtle explained. “Their invasion should be set back for a while!”

“And how long is that with the time difference?” Casey asked as he looked to Don.

“Uhh.. I don’t know- hours? Maybe a day?” Donnie thought about it.

“Guys. There’s a storm coming. Are we ready to fight?” Leo asked, putting on her leader's voice.

“If it means getting another chance to find Raph? Absolutely.” Mikey spoke as he looked to Casey who gave the same nod.

“We got this?” Donnie asked, hesitantly.

“We got this!”

—————————

Raph was breathing hard, hands shockingly steady on the twin Sai Shredder had given him just a couple of hours ago.

His mind seemed angry, loud but quiet all at the same time, screaming at him to go, move, dodge, survive. But nothing else.

Across from him in this “dojo” as the metal man had called it was a tall, lanky girl with black hair and shrunken tucked between her fingers.

He was sure he had heard her name at some point but it left him now.

He was too exhausted to put real words in his mind.

So it repeated.

Go, Move, Dodge, Survive.

He had been here for hours, the shredder calling it some kind of “test” but he was used to tests, this was not one.

The looks of his torn bandages and fresh scars around his many faded medical ones could tell you that much.

Raph was sure it had to be over soon, tests were never this long in his dimension, the droids always got bored after a while.

Raph was crouched low, in a position where he could attack or flee when the option presented itself, he was practically wheezing through the breather with unsteady breaths.

He looked like shit-

He wanted to leave, find a way back to Dimension X on his own but he knew his role here.

He was the bargaining chip.

If he left now, the whole invasion would be set off.

And his punishment would be much worse than anything this was.

The girl across from him lowered a bit, standing like a snake about to strike at its prey.

Go, Move, Dodge, Survive.

It repeated.

Go, Move, Dodge, Survive..

Chapter Text

——————————————————

-Begin Kraang Update Logs-

——————————————————

Subject: 2ed Earth Invasion

Dimension date: 2847, 39, 7264

——————————————————

Log Notes:

“once Kraang finds the one called the turtles place of hiding then the act called the second invasion may begin.”

——————————————————

-End Kraang Update Logs-

——————————————————

Oroku Saki sat atop his high throne before his foot soldiers below him.

Around an hour before, the leader of the Kraang had contacted him. Informing the man that their plans would be carried out soon.

The second invasion.

His plan to destroy those turtles and rat once and for all.

Speaking of the disgusting things, beside his throne standing like a statue to his command was one of them.

He had been gifted the mutant as a symbol of alliance by the Kraang leader.

And with only a little conditioning and training it had shaped up nicely to be his little soldier.

Unmoving and obedient.

Saki watched the turtle out of the corner of his good eye.

The thing was bandaged up, light patches of blood showing through the white gauze.

From training of course..

The old kraang armor had been long discarded, he really hated the look of the alien’s tech so he had his own armor made for the turtle.

Sleek gunmetal gray armor similar to his own covered the turtle's shoulders, elbows, and knees.

However, one thing from those horrid aliens did have to stay.

That bothersome mask.

He had addressed it while talking with the leader and while he had the power to take it off so the thing wouldn’t starve he was persuaded to keep it on for the rest of the time.

He hated the look but he liked the use.

Saki faced his legion of foot bots, all unmoving similar to the turtle but they were different. Robotic.

Along the sides were his own mutants, standing and leaning against whatever they pleased like lazy workers, save for Tigerclaw of course.

Soldiers. All of them.

Following his command.

This was going to be interesting.

—————————

The air in New York was crisp, snow lightly falling down in sheets just enough to make you notice it but not enough to build.

April had a heavy coat and gloves on while she walked down the empty New York street with her friend in toe.

“Why can’t you introduce me to your secret friends April?” The girl, Irma, had been on this tangent for a while now. “I don’t get it?”

“One of these days, Irma.. maybe-“ April stammered to cover, she had never been really good at lying “They’re really good, um.. people.”

“Anyway! What I want to know is how can you go out in this weather without a coat?” April changed the subject, confused at the girl's attire next to her.

It was the coldest winter New York had seen in a long long time and April hated it.

“Eh, I hardly ever notice the cold.” Irma smiled as she waved her hands dismissively. “But seriously if we’re friends, friends should introduce friends to friends and-!”

Irma stopped talking quickly, letting out a sharp gasp when a group of masked, black-coated figures landed around the two from above.

April didn’t take a second to process before her fan blade was out, Irma getting shoved behind her.

“Foot-bots!” She shouted as Irma seemed to shrink in on herself. “Move Irma, run!”

April turned and pushed her friend down the street, running behind her as the ninja-bots ran behind them both.

April whipped her T-phone out, attempting to call the turtles before it was shot out of her hand by a loose shrunken.

“Shit!” April cussed as she threw her phone to the side.

“Who are these freaks April?!” Irma pleaded as she ran.

“Doesn’t matter, Run!” April persisted, staying behind her friend as they ran.

—

Down the street Casey had been on lookout for Karai, hopping from roofs to alleyways to spot anything snake-like.

Apparently Karai was the turtle's sister but that was a whole long story he had kind of tuned out-

The focus point right now was that she had been mutated into a snake-like creature and was on the loose.

Mikey had joined him for a while earlier but Donnie had called him back so he didn’t get to sluggish due to being cold-blooded in this harsh of the cold.

So it was on him for lookout currently..

Casey hopped down to an open alleyway, spotting the side of a building that he would love to spray paint..

Closing one eye and putting up a hand he mentally measured what he could do in the spot.

Maybe something of Raph? Or the little cat?

Casey realized his thinking and shook his head, focus Jones. Look for the snake.

The teen went to hop on another fire escape to get back up to the rooftops when a police car pulled up to the alleyway.

—

Donnie was sat at his desk in the lab, large purple hoodie draped over his shell with heaters all around.

“I’m so worried I can’t even eat-“ Donnie huffed as he tossed the slice of pizza he was holding to Mikey across the desk.

“Me too-“ Mikey said, mouth full as he grabbed the other slice. “Totally.”

Mikey had a large gray blanket around his shoulders as well, placed there when he had gotten home after Donnie called earlier because Leo was freaking out about the cold-

Leo herself was pacing the lab, gray leg and arm warmers bunched around her wrists and ankles with a thin Red scarf around her neck.

“You have a right to be concerned..” Splinter muttered as he entered the lab, spotting his kids all bundled up. “How are you all doing, cold? I believe I have more heaters I can dig out-“

“No, no Dad we’re good! thanks-“ Leo smiled and waved her hands before sticking them right under her arms again.

“Alright..” Splinter sighed before refocusing “the Kraang invasion is imminent.. what plans are we using to stop it?”

“I got it!” Donnie popped up from his seat, computer in hand to show his dad his blueprints.

“I give you, the turtle Mech!” Donnie exclaimed as he spun the computer around. “It’s fully armed with rockets, flame throwers, and an electro-harpoon! Guaranteed to stop a massive Kraang invasion army!”

Donnie gave a small joking bow “Or you’re money back-“

Mikey looked like he was about to explode from excitement.

“Giant robots are awesome!! I vote turtle Mech!” Mikey beamed as he looked to Leo quickly, the blanket falling as he did.

Leo rushed over, putting the Blanket back over her baby brother as his hands stayed in the air.

“But Don- that’s things not even ready! It could damage New York more than help it-“ Leo looked to Donnie with a worried glance.

“It’s ready!.. enough!” Donnie started to get defensive.

“There had to be another way Donnie.” Leo stood straight, looking over the blueprints again. “We have to establish a second base outside the City.”

“There is no time for that Leo!” Donnie shot back, exaggerating the girl’s name. “The turtle Mech is solid, if I were leader! I’d-“

That got her blood boiling.

“But you’re not leader Donnie! I am! And this family’s safety depends on me!” Leo shot back, angry now.

“Children!” Splinter shouted, recoiling immediately at his own tone before he softened it quickly “Please- we should be preparing for this fight..”

Splinter wanted to say more, to trap them all in a hug and tell them it was all going to be okay.

He hated that they had to fight this battle.

—

“Faster Irma!” April and Irma were still running, putting more and more distance between themselves and the bots but not enough to lose them. “Move those little legs!”

“I’m moving! I’m moving!” Irma shouted from in front of the girl.

“This way!” The two slid around a corner as April called out where to go.

April panicked a bit when she noticed the corner led into an alleyway, eyes scanning the place for anywhere to duck and hide.

“A dead end..?“ Irma muttered as she attempted to catch her breath “It’s over- and we’re dead.”

“Not yet,” April spoke sharply as she grabbed the girl and dragged her into a hiding spot.

The foot bots that had been chasing them turned the corner as they ducked, robot chattering being heard as they looked around the place for the humans.

After a bit the bots opened up a large garbage bin, taking time to throw all the trash out and look through it all.

Giving the girls a chance to sneak out of the alleyway from behind some other trash cans.

Irma and April ducked around another corner, April eyeing the bots as she went, knowing it was only a matter of time until they got bored and went looking again.

April scanned her surroundings again.

A manhole cover.

The sewers? That would be a good hiding place for her of course but..

April glanced to her friend who was still watching the bots dig through the trash, what looked like fear glazed in her eyes.

She let out a long, angry sigh.

Splinter was going to be pissed-

“Down here-“ April grabbed her friend's arm, dragging the shocked girl over to the sewer cover before lifting it up for them to go down.

“You’re not serious.” Irma watched as April climbed down with disgust. “Oh, you are serious..”

Taking a long breath Irma turned as well, starting down the hole as she nearly gagged on the stench.

“Ugh, the smell is making my sinuses melt-“

—

“Uhh- can I help you officers?” Casey half stammered as he watched the cops that had just pulled into the alleyway step out of the car.

Fear and panic started to set in as Casey realized his dad might have sent them..

“You’re loitering kid.” One officer spoke, glaring. “You know what that means?”

Casey seemed to breathe a little easier at that but not by much.

“Heh- loitering, seriously?” Casey chuckled as he took another step back from the two cops.

“We’ll figure out a real charge later, Casey Jones.” The second cop deadpanned as the same fear and panic began to build again.

Oh, this is not going to end well-

The two attempted to grab the kid but he backed up quickly, dodging the cops trying to pin him.

Shit- shit- SHIT-

—

“Leo come on! The turtle mech can work!” Donnie pleaded behind his older sister as they both left the lab. “Be reasonable!”

“I am being reasonable! We need a second base Donnie!” Leo turned as she shouted back.

Donnie wanted to make another argument but loud footsteps from the tunnels outside the lair snapped them both to the present.

“Guys!” April’s voice was heard before she barged in through the turnstiles at the front of the lair. “I’m sorry about this-“

Another human was behind her, the girl seemed to have dropped her glasses in the rush as she was now on the ground reaching around for something she clearly couldn’t see.

Everyone in the lair froze at the sight of another human here.

Splinter especially.

“But- but foot-bots were after us! And- and Irma here is really good at keeping secrets! And- uhm-“ April stammered as she watched the turtles scan the new person.

“April.. you have brought a stranger here.?” Splinter looked almost betrayed at the sight.

“I’m so sorry master splinter! But she’s cool! Right Irma!?” April looked to the girl who had just picked herself up after finding her glasses.

Irma took a moment to brush herself off before her gaze rose to the scene before her.

She froze.

“Irma?” April held a hand out to steady the girl.

“T-T-T-T-T-Turtles?” The girl started stammering like a broken record player.

“Uh- miss?” Leo pushed past Donnie and Mikey to make sure she could see her “Listen I know we look kind of different and all but I promise, we’re not going to hurt you-“

Irma started to flinch, weird inhuman-like motions flashing through her arms and neck.

April backed up a bit, standing beside the turtles as she watched her friend.

Before her friend turned metal.

Her limbs seemed to snap from her body, long metal joints peaking through where human skin used to be and expanding.

The metal looked scarily familiar.

Kraang tech.

“Holy Chalupa!” Mikey nearly screamed as he ducked behind Leo.

“Turtles. Turtles. Turtles.” The robot version of April’s friend started to repeat as she continued to grow and morph into something else.

This time everyone screamed.

After a minute whatever was happening with Irma’s body finally came to a stop, a small Kraang creature slowly popping out from the middle as the body around it had grown at least 3x the size of it originally.

“April? You really gotta pick your friends more carefully..” Mikey slowly spoke, still hiding behind Leo but with his head popped over his sister's shell.

The small Kraang creature started to laugh, they sounded like a 40-year-old smoker and had scars all along their form and Kraang tech for an eye-

“Oh my gosh! Irma was a..” April stammered a bit before she was cut off.

“KRAANG!” The small Kraang in the now huge mech screamed as they reached behind them, throwing the arcade cabinet that had been sitting there across the lair.

“Lowly insects.. Kneel before he genius oh Kraang subprime.” the Kraang spoke again, lower now. “Greatest Kraang spy in all of Dimension X!”

The turtles all took a step back, April following with splinter behind them. The rat inching towards the front to protect the teens.

“The discovery of the lair was the final component needed to launch FULL-SCALE INVASION” Kraang Subprime screamed as he stomped closer.

With that, portals started appearing around the main room popping up one after another to the turtle's horror.

“This can’t be good..” Mikey muttered again, curling into his shell.

—

“Hey back off of me man-“ Casey shouted as the cops kept grabbing at him.

“Come on, get in the car punk.” One of the cops cussed as he grabbed the teen's arms, definitely causing a bruise as he attempted to drag him towards the cop car.

Casey struggled a bit, grabbing his hockey stick off his back and attempting to wiggle his arm out of the cop's grasp when he spotted the portals.

Pink triangles of light popping up all around the alley and street next to him.

“Shit-“ Casey cussed as he spotted droids starting to file out of them.

He had to get to the sewers.

Yanking his arm out of the guy's grip Casey knocked him upside the head with his hockey stick, sending the guy down with the force of the hit.

“Oops-“ Casey muttered, realizing he might get arrested for this.

Then his dad would really find him-

But before that fear could set in Casey spotted the cop seemed to glitch, what looked like a hologram fading for a second and a Kraang droid showing through.

“Oh, that’s just mean!” Casey shouted, not feeling much less bad about hitting the guy and sending his stick into the other cop's gut.

Casey took the opportunity to run, booking it out of the alley and down the street as he questioned why this was happening so quick-

—

“The signal was correct, Kraang has discovered the place of turtle hiding.” One of the droids spoke as they stepped through one of the portals.

Splinter had taken the moment, attacking a group of droids that got a little too close to the teens for his comfort.

Laser fire blasted through the lair, aiming at anything organic while the turtles and human ducked out of the way and hid behind whatever they could.

“This is so messed up!” April shouted from behind one of the larger pipes along the walls “My best friend for the past year was a Kraang?!”

“Hey?!” Donnie shouted back, slightly offended.

“You’re my best turtle friend Don-“ April corrected, ducking again so she didn’t get shot.

“I better be!” Donnie shouted again from across the room.

“Fooled you!” The kraang subprime screamed as he rampaged the room. “Fooled all of you!”

Mikey had ducked into the kitchen, using some spare pots to knock down 2 of the 3 droids that followed him.

Ice cream kitty, a cat Mikey had accidentally got mutated ages ago now, took out the last one by slamming the freezer in its face.

“Oh yeah!” Mikey cheered as the cat let out a small Meow at her victory before Mikey was thrown across the room by the Irma-Mech.

He let out a small hiss of pain when he hit the ground, hopping back up quick and booking it out of the kitchen.

The bot followed, destroying everything it came in contact with as the Kraang Subprime inside screamed.

“Destroy the Turtles! Wipe out the lair!” The Kraang’s voice sounded like it was about to give out but he kept screaming. “But the Rat comes with us-“

Splinter heard this and took his moment to hop away again, covering his back while he spotted the teens retrieving their respective weapons.

—

Casey was still running down the streets, running out of breath but the sound of the Kraang droids behind him kept him running.

The city around him devolving into more and more chaos as people were running from droids and portals and the cars on the road skidded at every turn to avoid hitting people and portals.

Keep running-

Find the lair-

Find the turtles-

Keep running!-

—

Splinter tossed Leo’s 2ed katana across the lair to his daughter, dodging more shots as he did.

“Go! Escape!” Splinter shouted to the teens who had regrouped and were currently on the defensive, taking down droids around them.

“No way! We’re not leaving you!” Leo called back from her spot in the group, 2ed Katana now in hand next to her first.

“I have a plan! Now go!” Splinter shouted as the Irma-Mech broke into the room again.

“Come on!” Donnie commanded as he started to run towards the entrance “Head for the Shell-raiser!”

The four of them ran as Donnie said, Leo looking back to splinter before her vision was filled with the Irma-Mech right behind them again.

“You’ll go nowhere!” Kraang Subprime screamed as the Mech held out a limb, launching what looked like a missile and taking the shell raiser out completely.

It was luckily they weren’t that close yet because shrapnel went everywhere with the explosion, chunks of metal getting thrown into the walls.

“MY BABY-“ Donnie screamed, looking like he was going to cry now.

Splinter took over again, latching himself to the Mech so it couldn’t move or fire until it got him off.

“Everyone! Follow me!” Leo commanded as she looked back to her father before running down the sewer tunnels, her brothers and April following close.

—

It only took them a minute or two to lose any straggling droids, now running down the way to figure out a plan.

Donnie came to a stop before one tunnel looking to his sister who had heard him stop and turned.

“This way! It will lead us to the turtle mech!” Donnie pointed as he spoke.

“No way- we need to find Casey first!” Leo stood her ground as he spoke in her ‘leader voice’

“We can find them in the Mech!” Donnie half-pleaded.

“It’s too slow!” Leo argued as she took another step towards the way topside.

“You’re the one who’s too slow! You’re leading us into disaster-“ Donnie shot back, stepping towards his older sister.

“I’m doing what Splinter would want us to do.” Leo glared as she spoke low.

As they spoke another portal opened up between the two, splitting them immediately as the purple and blue turtles jumped back from the magenta light.

A group of droids started to march through, the first one stopping only to drone out a command.

“It is the one called the turtles.” The droid spoke in the same metallic voice as them all as the group started to fire on the teens again.

Mikey let out a war cry as he passed Don and April to attack the droids. April grabbing out her fan quick and Donnie scanning for Leo on the other side.

“DONNIE!” Leo’s voice was heard from the other side, metal clanging against metal as Don could tell she was fighting her out droids.

“LEO?” Donnie called back as he knocked another droid down, hopping over it and trying to see past the wall of light.

“RUN! TAKE APRIL AND MIKEY TO SAFTEY!” Leo shouted from the other side as Don frantically looked for a way to her. “I’LL LEAD THEM AWAY-“

“WE ARE NOT LEAVING YOU BEHIND!” Don shouted back before he felt a hand grab his arm.

“Come on Donnie-“ Mikey pleaded as Donnie looked back to the portal blocking his view and way to his sister.

“GO!” He heard a shout again before he started to run with Mikey and April.

—

Mikey, being faster than April and Don, found a way up to the surface quick showing the way to the other two as they ran close behind.

Getting up to the street Don and April paused to take a breath while Mikey flipped out his T-Phone fast.

“Come on..” Mikey watched his phone as Leo’s profile buzzed on it.

Calling..

“Poke your head out of your shell and answer..” Mikey tapped at the screen.

No answer.

“It’s my fault-“ Donnie muttered from behind Mikey as he caught his breath “I shouldn’t have argued with her.. now she’s gone.”

As if by some twisted clockwork when Donnie had spoke another portal opened down the alley, droids pouring out and running down the way.

The teens had ducked quickly, hiding behind an old car to not be spotted. Watching the droids run by.

“Leo was right.. We should have gotten out of the city when we had a chance.” Donnie whispered as he turned to sit against the old car once the droids were gone.

“Not without my dad and the others.” April deadpanned from next to him as they turned to her.

“Come on guys.”

—

Casey took the time he had to climb to a nearby roof from where he was running, not able to find one of the sewer covers from the street somehow.

As he reached the top the sky seemed to open, Kraang ships filtering through one by one as he watched in horror.

“This is worse than that giant techno drone thing last time-“ Casey said mostly to himself as he ducked on the roof.

He was about to say something else about wanting to go home when the T-phone the turtles had given him started to ring.

Fumbling it as he grabbed it out of his pocket he picked up “Mikey?!”

“We’re on our way to April’s apartment! Meet us there!” The orange turtle called through the phone, not even giving Casey a chance to ask questions.

“Roger that!” Casey called back before he shoved his phone away again and jumped back down from the building.

—

Back down in the sewer tunnels, Leo was perched near the ceiling, holding herself up as she heard more drones stomping through the metal remains of the old ones she had taken care of not even a minute ago.

“Kraang, still no sign of the turtles.” One of the droid’s metallic voice rang through.

“Hurry Kraang. We must obtain the turtles for the one called shredder.” Another spoke as they kept stomping through the tunnels.

“Shredder.?” Leo mumbled as she watched the droids leave, dropping down from her place on the ceiling.

—

Donnie, Mikey, and April were sat in April’s apartment watching Kirby pace the place while mumbling.

“The city’s overrun..” the guy muttered as he walked back and forth “We’re doomed- oh my poor sweet April-“

“Dad I’m right here, you’re ok-“ April spoke as she walked back from where she was behind the couch, putting a hand on her dad's shoulder to try and calm him.

“Don’t worry Mr. O’Neil!” Mikey beamed “This whole alien invasion thing is a really no big deal!”

“Look!” Mikey moved to the window, throwing the blinds open to reveal a very destroyed downtown and Kraang droids and ships all over the place.

“Oh.. never mind,” Mikey muttered as he moved to close them quickly.

Kirby just let out a huff and seemed to pass out, April yelping as he tried to catch him so he didn’t hit his head.

Mikey peaked back out the window, only opening the curtains enough so he could see through.

“I wonder where Raph is during all of this.?”

—

Shredder stood atop a broken city. Turtle at attention beside him as he glared over the ruins.

“The city is our’s Master Shredder.” Tigerclaw, the mutant behind him spoke strong as he watched the shredder look around.

“Since I was a boy. I have seen this very vision.” The shredder spoke low as he turned to face the tiger mutant. “The world in chaos.”

From above, another mutant jumped down. The same one that the turtle had seen when entering the church for the first time, a tall wolf-like mutant with rotten-looking gray fur and a bare skull for a snout.

“Master shredder, the Kraang have sent word. Leonardo is not far from here.” The mutant fell to a knee as he spoke to the metal man “They’re leading her straight to us.”

“Excellent.” The shredder spoke as he watched the mutant stand to full height again “Then it is the beginning of the end.”

“Turtle.” The shredder glared down to the reptilian mutant as he spoke again.

“Be ready to end this all.”

A loud crash was heard below the gathering. Flashes of green coming and going as they realized she was here.

The very turtle that if taken down could destroy the whole Hamato clan.

Leonardo.

“SHREDDER!”

(To be continued)

Chapter Text

“SHREDDER!” Leo’s voice echoed through the stone alley around her, she knew that basterd was close. She just needed to find him.

Her katana were bolted to her hands at this point, poised and ready for any attack that could come at her as she moved to find who she was looking for.

The man that had hurt her family before, and was currently hunting them down again.

Moving around another corner Leo was met face to face with a foot bot, although it was taken down easily with a staggered swipe of her katana she noticed more around her.

Bots dropped from rooftops around her as he took a couple more down, making her way further down the concrete path of the road.

Arrows came down from above as well as she dodged, taking a shorter path through a covered alley to lose the bots behind her.

“Where is he..” Leo muttered as she ducked under a clothes wire, dodging to another alley as she lost the last do the bots after her currently.

She came to a stop, skidding a bit as she landed herself on an unfamiliar sidewalk.

From behind her, she could hear more foot bots but they hadn't seemed to find her yet so she had some time..

Moving around a small closed of construction site, the turtle slowly slipped into the site, attempting to find a place to breathe for a moment.

Leo checked her T-Phone to see 47 Missed calls from her little brother, Mikey had probably been spam-calling her to make sure she was okay.

She was smiling just a bit at the unintentional gesture when the foot bots got close enough to hear again, robotic chittering coming from around the construction site she was currently hiding out in.

Two bots turned the corner she was around quickly, spotting nothing as Leo slipped behind them, taking out both droids at once as more showed up.

She was able to duck under some shuriken that came flying at her, taking down another droid that had come a little too close as she hoped to the top of the walls of the construction site.

—

Raph stood above the scene, shredder before him facing down at the blue-clad turtle fighting below.

Watching the turtle, Leo.. He remembered vaguely, fight and hop around the same bots he had been training against for a while now.

“She fights bravely,” Tigerclaw spoke from next to Shredder, peering down same as he was.

“She is young. Overconfident. Foolish.” shredder spoke back in a low tone, as if insulting the turtle to her face.

The blue turtle below them took out a couple more bots as they spoke.

“Do not take chances with her Master.” the decaying wolf-like mutant spoke from beside him as well. “We should destroy him quickly.”

“Archers.” The shredder didn't even respond, just giving a one-word command as the foot bots on the neighboring roofs got into a firing stance.

Leo took out the last of the bots below as shredder gave the order.

“Fire!”

The blue turtle turned at the sound, spotting the arrows as they flew, she seemed to mutter something but they couldn't hear it from above.

—

The TV in April's apartment sputtered to life, a newscaster shouting something about an alien invasion as footage came on from the streets.

The broadcast only lasted a minute or two of shouting before it cut off abruptly, connection seemingly to be lost to the channel.

“Yeah.. I’d say we’re basically doomed.” Donnie muttered at the TV shut off before them, April and Mikey sitting beside him as he spoke.

“This is all my fault..” April’s eyes stuck to the ground as she mumbled. “If I hadn't brought Irma to the lair-”

“Don't blame yourself April! You were just trying to help!” Mikey cut her off, attempting to help all he could.

April took a long sigh as she sat up, making her resolve.

“I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna find your sister, and Casey.” April looked to the turtles beside her as she spoke.

“You can't go out there April!” Kirby called from behind them all, curled up on the couch “You have to stay with me, I'm scared..”

Mikey’s phone went off before April could protest.

“It's Casey! He said, On my way, some military-looking group is trying to take down Kraang Prime!” Mikey just stared at the text “Maybe he’s going to be late.?”

—

Ralph watched as Leo backed up as the arrows came down, slicing a couple and dodging the rest as she moved.

The girl came to a stop as the arrows stopped, holding her katana back as she looked up to the roof.

“STOP HIDING BEHIND YOU FOOT BOTS, FACE ME SHREDDER!” the girl shouted up to the group of them.

She clearly couldn't see him standing behind them. That was most likely for the best.

“You are beneath me turtle.” shredder spoke low once again as Raph fought the urge to shrink under the words even if they weren't directed at him.

“Turtle mutant.” Shredder’s voice broke through Raph’s thoughts again. “Attack.”

Raph froze.

Attack? He was supposed to attack the turtle?

Was this why he was trained all this time? This is what the previous days of blood and blades were meant for?

He couldn't attack her-

She had never done anything to hurt him before..

“Turtle.” Shredder’s voice was a bit louder this time. “Might I remind you what will happen if I report your disobedience to you’re home leader.”

Raph stiffened at that.

The kill switch flooded his mind, the pain in his plastron and chest coming back and filling his mind as he flashed back to the present.

Her or him.

Her or him.

It was her life or his.

Raph moved to the edge of the building, resolve solidifying as he jumped down to the concrete below, ignoring the stinging pain in his non-metal leg as he landed.

—

Leo heard something from above her, shredder seeming to give another order to another one of his lackeys as she waited for another opponent.

Just take them down and get to shredder.

A moment later she spotted them, a small figure about her size approaching the edge of the building from behind the group of mutants.

They took a large leap down to her level in the construction site as her gut seemed to sink at the realization and familiarity of who it was.

Ralph stood before her, the very turtle they had been trying to find again was standing in front of her again.

He looked different this time, mask still on and untouched but the armor was different, it was sleek metal matching the shredder's own armor, spikes, and all.

And he looked. Angry…? Tired.? More.. Determined.

Like he had a mission.

“Raph!” Leo shouted, before she realized she was speaking. “We where looking for you for so long!”

The turtle seemed to freeze at the name, half fear and recognition flashing over his eyes before the look of conclusion was back.

Like nothing was stopping him now.

“Raph.?” Leo muttered as she noted the Turlte’s eyes grow dark, hands slipping to hidden Sai among the armor plates.

Leo’s grip instinctively tightened on her katana as she took a step back.

“Raph we can talk about this..” Leo took another step.

Raph attacked first.

The armored turtle ducked to the side, adjusting his stance to get behind the blue-clad turtle before him.

Leo moved out of the way as he did, avoiding a Sai to the shell and jumping backward so she was facing the armored turtle once again.

“Raph what are you doing!” Leo shouted back as held her katana in a defensive position, not to attack.

The turtle didn't respond, simply keeping his eyes on the ground as he moved to strike again.

This time he landed a hit, using a fake-out to get beside the turtle and use his momentum to launch her into one of the construction walls, breaking it instantly into what looked like a large rectangular hole set into the ground.

Leo half caught herself as she fell, landing less than gracefully on one of the support structures set up around the dig-out.

“Why are you working with him!” Leo caught her breath, noting she had lost a katana that had fallen further down the hole.

The turtle stood above on the now open ledge. Leo noticed a slight shiver as he readjusted his stance.

Maybe he was brainwashed..? But could he hear her?

She had to try and get to him.

“Raph I know you can hear me! Please at least look at me!?” Leo pleaded as she watched the turtle lower himself before taking a large leap to a platform opposite her.

His eyes never leaving the ground.

As he landed on the scaffolding he moved again, ducking around until he was right next to the girl.

Leo moved quickly to get a reasonable distance from him, noting the moves were similar to the foot bot's style of fighting.

“I don't want to fight you!” Leo tried to see Raph’s eyes but his head was low.

Another attack.

Another dodge.

“Raph listen to me! You can leave!”

Another attack.

Another dodge.

She had to get through to him.

This time Leo moved. Using Raph's attack and don't strategy against him as she ducked below the turtle and got him pinned against the back wall, katana against his throat forcing his head up.

Leo nearly froze when she saw his face.

Tears were falling fast as Raph’s pinkish eyes finally looked at hers, a small strangled sob somehow being let through the mask.

“Raph..” Leo muttered, lowering her katana a bit as she backed up.

The turtle nearly fell to his knees when he was let go but caught himself. Sai still pressed into his hands but they were motionless at his sides.

“Raph.. We can leave- please..” Leo ducked a bit to get eye level with him. “Just come with me.”

Raph’s eyes widened for a moment as he seemed to realize something.

Or remember something.

His eyes fell once again, Leo staying still to see if the turtle would move.

And he did.

Take the opportunity that arose to get a solid swipe at the blue-clad turtle's face.

Leo jumped back but couldn't dodge in time, her hand flying to her face to see what had happened when she felt the sting and warmth of blood running down her face from her mouth.

She didn't say a thing as she pulled her hands away from her face, noting the red liquid pooling in her palm.

Her eyes flickered to the armored turtle once again.

He was stood still. Facing away but still in an attack position.

He moved again.

Leo nearly fell as the turtle turned on her yet again. Forcing her to back up faster than she could as he attacked.

Blow after blow, some hitting her, some missing.

She used her remaining katana to block some of the blows, not sure what to say anymore as the turtle kept attacking.

What was she supposed to do?!

Raph took a longer drawback, sending his blades at her as she countered them, katana and Sai locking together and forcing the turtle to pause face to face.

Leo’s back was now against the wall, katana raised to hold the other Turlte’s sai away from her plastron as she tried to find any words that would get through to him.

From above them both they could hear the metal man speak.

“Mutant Turtle. Finish this.” the Shredder spoke low, jumping down to the platform above them, his mutants behind him.

Think Leo- you need to snap him out of this.

However he got with that man is an issue for later, right now you just need to get him out.

One of the turtles Sai drew back, aimed at her girl's neck as she spotted more tears running down and around the turtle's mask.

Think..

Anything..

“Raph.. I’m sorry.” Leo muttered as she struggled to keep the turtle's weapons at bay.

She wasn't sure what it was. But the turtle froze, Sai frozen in place as she started to breathe again.

Leo started to laugh a bit, stopping herself quickly as she lowered her katana, Raph’s other Sai going with it.

“Raph? Can you hear me?” Leo smiled as she tried to see the turtle's face.

His eyes were still bolted to the ground. Stuck in that place.

“Pathetic, useless, Mutant.” a low voice was heard from above, Leo had forgotten the shredder was there before she heard it.

Her whole body moved, turning and covering to statue like Raph as she saw the metal man jump down.

Her katana raised as she went to block his attack but a shuriken from somewhere else sent it flying as Leo realized she was screwed.

Her eyes snapped to the figure above her as she heard a loud klang and her vision went black.

—

Raph watched her body fall, his mind buzzing with too many thoughts he had been trying to suppress for a long time and his ears ringing as he heard the Klang and thud of the turtle before him hitting the ground.

His eyes snapping to the man now standing before him.

“Disappointing.” the Shredder spoke as he walked past him, scanning the ground of the construction site as he did. “Hesitation is weakness.”

Raph’s eyes didn't follow him as he moved, instead sticking on the turtle before him, out cold and breathing ragged.

How hard had he hit her?

How much damage did he himself do..?

Raph’s eyes moved to the large gash running perpendicular to her mouth, still bleeding.

“I trust you can finish your half-wit of a job?” Shredder’s glare glued to the turtle as Raph froze again.

He didn't move.

His mind racing.

Foggy memories of the last couple of months cleared for only a moment as he processed the command.

“Kill her.”

Raph’s eyes snapped to the shredder.

His gaze stareing daggers into the turtle's eyes.

The threat behind them very clear.

A choice.

Save her, have the kill switch flipped.

Kill her. Keep living through this.

The choice was clear, as much as his mind screamed survival something else made the choice for him.

The feeling of familiarity and protectiveness taking over any self-preservation he had left.

“Well.” the metal man watched as the turtle moved, placing himself between him and the limp turtle.

“Hm.” shredder hummed as his mutants lined up behind him once again. “Tigeaclaw, take the girl.”

The tiger mutant moved around his master, making his way towards the turtles.

But Raph stood his ground, lowering his stance just as taught to show he was ready to attack.

The tiger paused.

Rationally, Raph knew he couldn't take him in a fight but he had to try.

He had to get Leo back to the others.

“Master shredder.” the tiger spoke as he looked back to the shredder, awaiting a command.

The shredder almost looked amused at the act of defiance.

“Leave them.” he commanded, turning away and making his way out of the construction site “It knows what's coming to it if it sees this through.”

“Yes sir.” Tiger Claw nodded and followed behind the shredder again.

Within a minute they were gone.

Raph stood in the site, frozen, unsure of what to do now with no one watching him.

No more commands to follow.

Raph’s mind started to fog again before he remembered the body next to him.

Leo!