Chapter Text
Donatello felt nothing but terror in his chest. His instincts screamed at him to run, but his father and his little brother were on either side of him. And what a coward would he be if he simply fled?
The Shredder continued to stare him down. If this thing was ever human, it definitely wasn’t now. Something far more evil, more bloodthirsty, and more dangerous.
Before the living armor could move, however, Donatello caught a glint of light in the corner of his eye. He turned to see a portal opening behind him, one of the Foot Clan’s, based on the patterns.
Skull Crusher came rushing out of it, fists clenched. “All right! Now I’m finally ready to—” She gasped the second she saw the armor and pointed at it. “You revived Shredder without me?”
“Roomie!” Mikey called out from nearby. “Look, this situation got a bit complicated so—”
The rest of that sentence was cut off by an ear wrenching roar from Shredder.
The Lieutenant smirked and pointed to Draxum. “Shredder has consumed your life force. And now he will destroy your body.”
Donatello held up his staff, ready to fight back. Skull Crusher went to join her teachers as they all started to chant, encouraging the monster to move.
But then it suddenly turned on them. A claw grabbed both of the leaders by the leg and smashed them into the ground.
Donatello let out a sigh of relief. At least with the distraction they could—
Suddenly his father moved. Donatello felt it. But not like the man was getting up, more like he was being dragged away. The softshell turned, prepared to attack whoever grabbed Draxum, only to see that Draxum grabbed himself. A very thin vine—barely a whisper of one—was wrapped around his wrist and dragged him into the portal.
Donatello couldn’t even call after him before it disappeared.
Did…
Did his dad just leave?
Donatello’s brain failed to wrap around it even though he just saw it happen. Surely his father was coming back. He just went to try and regain his strength and then he’d return to the stadium with a way to take down this armor.
His father couldn’t have just left. Not after all those years of insisting he was nothing like Lou Jitsu. That he wouldn’t be cruel enough to abandon a child in a burning building to save his own skin.
This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t. It wasn’t!
“Don!”
Raph’s shout snapped him out of it only for something to shove him to the side. He rolled across the grass and felt the ground shake. He saw Shredder not far from him, claws buried in the dirt where he had been sitting. The armor’s piercing gaze snapped right over to him.
Donatello panicked. He opened the wings from his shell and summoned a rocket, at least to create some distance. But the second he left the ground something jerked him back. A clawed hand dug into one of his leather wings, and the ribbons sprouting from Shredder’s shoulders snapped through the air.
Donatello heard it slice through his wing, but he felt it cut right through his goggles and across his cheek.
It burned. To the point he could only focus on that pain rather than the pain of crashing into the ground. He forced himself back up, knowing blood was running from his cheek down to his chin. A faint alarm blasted from his gauntlet trying to report the damage.
Shredder roared again.
Donatello scrambled to find his staff. It lay not far away on the grass, surrounded not only by the broken remains of his goggles but also the ribbons of his bandanna.
Just as he put a hand around the weapon, a shadow passed over him. He glanced up, feeling tears burn at the corner of his eyes as the monster screeched again and lunged.
Donatello flinched.
He heard those terrifying claws hit something, but he felt no pain.
He immediately opened his eyes, seeing yet another shadow, but this time it belonged to his little brother.
“Raph?” Donatello shouted, watching as Raph leaned over him, Shredder’s claws pressing against his shell. “What are you doing?”
Why? Why did his little brother do that? After all their arguing. After Donatello monumentally screwed this up by not listening. Raph got hurt. He got hurt again.
But the snapper just smiled at him as he braced his arms against the floor. “You’re always looking out for me, Don. Let me return the favor this time.”
Donatello didn’t get the chance to respond. He heard April shout, and her kanabō flew into view. It smashed into Shredder’s head, knocking it to the side. The monster roared and released his grip on Raph.
His little brother spun around in an instant, landing another hit to Shredder’s face. The armor tried to retaliate, but Raph grabbed hold of both its hands and somehow pushed it back across the grass.
“Donnie?” Mikey rushed over. “Are you okay?” The box turtle reached toward his face but didn’t touch.
Donatello could still feel the burning pain, the dampness on his scales. He could even smell the iron from it.
But he couldn’t just sit here. He wouldn’t leave Raph to fight that thing alone. He grabbed his staff and used it to push himself up.
The second he did, however, he saw the armor flash. All of it lit up purple before zipping away in a streak of lightning and then vanishing entirely. Raph stood there in shock with his hands now empty.
What just happened?
Michelangelo felt more and more confused by the second.
So the ritual worked? Except that couldn’t have been Master Shredder. He didn’t act a thing like all the scrolls said. That armor ran rampant, even going as far as attacking the clan members in its tirade. It didn’t speak. It didn’t command. Something was still wrong.
And now it just disappeared?
For the time being he remained at Donatello’s side. Leo’s group stood about ten feet away, and Raph darted back over to Donnie with the threat now gone.
His senseis finally emerged from a small crater in the ground that was formed when they were getting thrashed. CJ had also gotten injured, but thankfully just tossed aside once.
“So, that was unexpected.” Lieutenant cracked his neck and rubbed his head.
“You fools.” Lou Jitsu pointed at them. “You have doomed all of humanity!”
“Have we?” Brute asked. “No, seriously, this has all been very confusing.”
Yeah, no kidding. Michelangelo began to walk over to them to ask some more questions.
“We must find out what went wrong.” Lieutenant pulled open a portal. “Back to the Foot Shack.”
Then his gaze snapped over to Mikey. “And that includes you, traitor.”
Michelangelo froze. “Say what?”
“You think we didn’t see you come out here and assist the others with getting Draxum out of that armor?”
His heart raced in his chest, not missing the way his teachers and his best friend were all glaring at him now. “Wh… But… Did we really have to use Draxum?” He opened his arms as he whined. “Come on, I bet there’s a dozen more mystic warriors or whatever we could have used. If you slapped anyone with enough mystic power in there it could have—”
Michelangelo couldn’t explain how the realization struck him. Maybe his subconscious was doing things he’d never been aware of. Maybe through all these years of asking questions, the answer behind almost all of them just fell right into his lap.
“Wait…” He looked at his teachers as hard as he could. “Is that why you didn’t just get rid of me when Lou didn’t bring you the armor piece?”
He saw the Lieutenant glare harder. He saw the Brute glance away and rub the back of his neck.
“Is that why you constantly had me working on mystic training?” He pointed at them, praying one of them would say no. “If you couldn’t get a hold of someone like Draxum, were you going to put me in that armor?”
Still no answer, but somehow the silence said more than words. Neither of them would look him in the eye.
So he turned on CJ. “Did you know about this too?”
She straightened up. “What? No. But what does that matter?”
“Huh?”
“Any loyal member of the Foot would be willing to lay down their life for the glory of Master Shredder. Did you forget that?”
Michelangelo couldn’t deny the lump forming in his throat now. It felt like the ground was giving out from under him. “So, what? You would have been fine with it? You’d be okay with them killing your best friend?”
Once again, the silence was deafening.
“Look, kid, we’re glad it didn’t turn out that way.” Brute tried to smile. “Thankfully you found Draxum so we could keep you around.”
Lieutenant crossed his arms. “If you return with us now we can find a way to overlook your actions during this fight.”
“Wasn’t all bad, removing that figurine allowed the armor to actually work after all.” Brute turned to the still open portal. “Come on, let’s go.”
Michelangelo couldn’t get his legs to move. Just go? Just walk back to headquarters behind them and pretend this didn’t happen? That they didn’t just confess they raised him from childhood to be nothing more than a helpless battery?
Raising Master Shredder was supposed to be for the good of the clan. As in the entire clan. How could that be true if they killed one of their own to do it?
“Recruit.” Lieutenant spat. “Get in the portal. That’s an order.”
Instinct almost had him moving, but he stayed rooted in place. “I…”
A hand touched his shoulder and he flinched. He looked to the side to see Raph staring at him.
“Mikey? Do you want to go with these guys?”
He couldn’t answer that. His throat was too tight.
CJ scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Come on, we can sort this out later.” She approached, hand out.
“Mikey.” Raph repeated, more firm this time. “Do you want to go back to the Foot Clan? In any capacity?”
Michelangelo tried to find an answer, but in the midst of that CJ grabbed his arm, and he tried to pull away.
Suddenly Raph lifted CJ off the ground with one hand. She kicked and tried to free herself, only for the snapper to chuck her straight at the Lieutenant. The pair crashed together along with the Brute and vanished into the portal which promptly disappeared.
Michelangelo stared at the empty air, still numb from head to toe.
“Sorry.” Raph stepped back over. “Kind of made the decision for you, huh.”
He failed to think of a reply.
“Hey.” April approached, weapon on one shoulder and Mayhem on the other. “Sorry we’re having a lot of shocking revelations at the moment, but I don’t think that armor is gone for good.” She held up her phone, showing the latest from a news site. A video played of the armor tearing through street traffic, sending cars into buildings.
“I suspected as much.” Donnie had done nothing to clean off his face except maybe wipe at the cut. The blood had begun to soak into his top. He’d at least taken that leather armor off his shell, the whole thing laying useless in the grass. “The way it warped looked far too erratic to be intentional.”
“Do you know what is wrong with it?” Lou Jitsu looked at Donnie and then to Michelangelo.
The box turtle could only shake his head.
“Nope.” Donnie kept staring at his gauntlet. “And without my goggles I probably can’t use that to check either. Too bad, so sad, I’m useless I suppose. I am out of here. Raph, are you coming with?”
Raph straightened up. “Huh? No, Don, we need to help out.”
“Sorry, how is this our problem?”
“How is it not your problem?” Leo shouted and stomped over to Donnie. The pair practically had identical glares on their faces. “You helped the Foot Clan put this entire thing together. You are helping us put a stop to it.”
“You can’t make me.”
“Don, please.” Raph pleaded. “That thing is just going to keep running wild if we don’t do anything.”
Donnie shot his glare over to his little brother, but in only a second it crumpled and he groaned. “Fine. Fine. I’ll see if I can find a way to keep track of it. There’s a good chance it will warp again. Human, can the agent turn big again?
Mayhem whined.
“Negative,” April sighed.
“Then we’ll have to rely on Nardo’s portals. Use that news station to keep an eye on it until I can get a fix on its signature.”
Leo added, “Until we can pin it down. We need to focus on damage control. I’d rather have it going after us than helpless citizens.”
Michelangelo just kept staring. Should he also help? Wasn’t that also a traitorous thing to do? To tear down the armor he spent so much time trying to build?
Raph touched his shoulder again. “Mikey? You good to go?”
The box turtle finally scoffed. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be. I didn’t even keep hold of my weapon on the tower and—”
“You mean this?” Lou Jitsu approached, holding the kusari-fundō out.
Michelangelo blinked and reached out to take it. “Where did you get this?”
“I noticed you left it, and thought I should return it.” The man looked like he had a lot he wanted to say. “Will you assist us? At least with this much?”
He knew that if he did, he could never go back to the Foot Clan. What member of the Foot put in an effort to stop Master Shredder? Even if that couldn’t possibly be him.
But what point was there in even going back? His roommate, his best friend, practically admitted she wouldn’t care if he died.
So she wouldn’t care if he came back either.
He tightened his grip around the hilt of his weapon. “Yeah. I’ve got this. Where do we start?”
Leonardo wouldn’t say out loud that he didn’t have a lot of confidence going into this, but he really didn’t.
He and his squad couldn’t even keep the armor down when Draxum was piloting it around. Now the thing was wild, out of control, and horribly unpredictable.
Not to mention the fact it kept disappearing.
Sure he cracked a few jokes about scaring it away, but as he opened more and more portals, kept trying and failing to knock the thing back, and got slammed into wall after wall, the exhaustion was really getting to him.
And this was all after that failure of a mission on the train. Didn’t they start all this yesterday?
He knew he wasn’t the only one burnt out either. Mayhem could barely warp April a few feet at a time. April herself would sway on her feet. Sunita appeared fine until her cloaking dropped and then her form could barely stay bipedal. His father kept wincing when he moved his back in certain ways.
And that was just his allies. Raph at least appeared to be ready to go, but Donnie and Mikey looked awful. The softshell still hadn’t done anything to cover the massive cut on his face and the box turtle would just stare into the distance the moment he wasn’t moving.
And Leonardo wanted to feel bad for them. He was more than aware that Draxum straight up left Donnie behind in the stadium and Mikey discovered the Foot Clan gladly would have killed him if they needed to but…
He couldn’t feel bad about it right now. He was still way too pissed off. This entire mess was their fault.
“Guys, we need a better plan.” April wheezed out after they failed to stop the armor in a construction site.
Leonardo helped pull his father from a pile of bricks. “I know, but I don’t have any ideas.” He looked over at Donnie. “Do you?”
Donnie surprised him with a grin, but that got weird fast as he followed it up with a barking laugh. “Well. Father dearest would have definitely known how to stop something that seems barely tethered to the realm we’re in but, oh, would you look at that. He’s gone.”
The softshell clutched at the air, shaking a bit. Raph put a hand on his shoulder.
“Oookay.” Leonardo looked at the rest of the exhausted group. “Anything else? Sunita?”
“Sorry, Leo. Just because I live in the Hidden City doesn’t mean I know everything.” Her form shifted into a puddle as she sighed.
Splinter groaned, and for a minute Leo just assumed his father was still in pain, but then he spoke. “I might… know of someone who would have the resources to help.”
Leonardo turned toward him. “Who?”
His father grimaced and tried to whisper, “Big Mama.”
“Excuse me?” Donnie must have heard it anyway because he shouted loud enough to rattle the steel beams. “No. No. Absolutely not. We’re not asking her for anything.”
Leonardo sighed. “Donnie—”
The softshell immediately stormed over to him and pointed at his face. “No. Don’t you dare try to argue with me. If you show up at her door to ask for a favor there’s only one thing she’s going to ask for. And considering the fact you almost gave it to her last time, I am not inclined to let it happen again.”
Leonardo bared his teeth. “I had no idea she was after Raph. I never would have led you guys there if I knew.”
Splinter stepped up between them. “Draxum got hold of her train, did he not? How did he bargain for that?”
Donnie let out a hiss. “Somehow he convinced her to take something else. But now that she has that, one less item on the playing field. I mean, what could you possibly offer her that she’d want?”
Leonardo glanced at his father, an idea already stirring in his head. He’d have to get his dad to go along with it, of course, and no doubt it’d be risky. She got the upper hand last time they tried to plan around each other.
He’d have to make sure to stay ahead of her this time.
“Dad and I will handle it.” Leonardo decided. “The rest of you, stay on damage control until we get back.”
“Excuse me?” Donnie shouted a second time and even grabbed Leo’s arm. “You are doing no such—”
Leonardo tore out of his grip and snarled. “Don’t touch me, you—”
“Hey, hey.” Raph stepped over and nudged both of them back. “Let’s uh, calm down a bit. Donnie, it’s fine, they can go.”
“What?” The softshell screeched.
“They’re right. Big Mama probably would have something to stop this. There’s no point in wasting time.”
“No. Why are you okay with this? She’s either going to demand you back or they’re going to lead her right to us and then she’s—”
Raph picked his big brother up with one arm, holding him close. “Don, relax. Leo’s not going to let that happen.” Then he gave the slider a smile.
Leonardo felt his chest tighten, honestly surprised by Raph’s trust.
He was determined not to betray it.
He nodded at the snapper and then turned to his best friend. “Like I said, damage control. Don’t worry about trying to beat it, just keep it busy. And if Donnie tries to ditch, hit him in the head.”
“Oh, that’ll be the easy part.” April sighed. “Please be careful, Lee.”
“Why are you even coming along?” Splinter mumbled. “I can barter with her just fine if you—”
“Cause I have a plan, Pops. Trust me.” Leonardo cut open the portal to the hotel and stepped through.
He and his father stepped onto the sidewalk right outside of the building. Leonardo looked up at the bright neon sign before walking through the automatic doors. Funny, last time he’d been here felt like years ago, even if the lobby looked the exact same. Minus all the oozesquitos, of course.
The lobby looked busier this time too, though all the patrons were of the mutant and yōkai variety. Leonardo kept his sword close as he and his father approached the elevator.
He recognized the bellboy in front of it. A tall and fearsome looking fox who tried to capture him during that whole bug catching mess.
Leonardo chose to pretend it was all water under the bridge. “Looking good there, mi amigo. Hi, it’s been a while, but we totally have an appointment to see Big Mama.”
He ignored his father’s unimpressed snort and the way the fox glared at him.
The bellboy pulled up one of those odd purple stones and spoke into it. “Two mutants to see you, ma’am. A rat and one of them bleedin’ turtles.”
Big Mama’s response was instant. “Tell them to shove off.”
He put the stone away. “She says to ‘shove-off.’”
Yeah, like Leonardo couldn’t hear her. He glared, already wondering if he could break his way into the building and up to her office.
When his father chimed in. “Ugh, tell her that her Snuggle Muffin Beefcake is here.”
The slider blinked once, twice, then glanced down at his dad who scratched at his cheek. “I’m sorry, what?”
Splinter groaned. “I know you and April dug up all that information about what the tabloids were writing about us during my career.”
“Yeah but that’s tabloids, Dad, I didn’t think it was serious.” He cringed. Even if he considered that his father and Big Mama probably had a potential fling he didn’t think it extended far enough to disgusting pet names like that. “Please tell me it wasn’t serious.”
Splinter’s whiskers twitched. “The day she took me away to the Nexus was also the day I proposed to her.”
“No!” Leonardo screeched. “Don’t say that!” Then he let that sentence actually process. “Wait, so you proposed and she just kidnapped you?”
“Pretty much.”
“Wow, more reasons for my ass to never fall in love.”
His father barked out a laugh. “Perhaps, though I can assure you, it is not always like that.”
Leonardo might believe that, but he still wasn’t interested.
“Hey, rat.” The fox finally turned away from the stone he was speaking into. “Big Mama has a message for you.”
Leonardo didn’t even get to ask what it was. The bellboy tossed out a coin looking object that opened the floor underneath them both.
Coins to make portals? Interesting.
Ones that dropped them into the Hidden City, it seemed. For a second Leonardo had no idea where they ended up, but the roars of a crowd gave him the vibes of a sports stadium.
Not far removed. It certainly looked like a VIP booth with the fancy furnishings and the massive window looking down on the field.
No, not a field, an arena.
This was the Battle Nexus.
Leonardo stepped closer to the window and looked down. Impossible to miss one of the fighters. The massive tentacle beast took up half the ring, roaring and spitting fire at the poor saps it faced.
“Great,” Splinter groaned. “Right into the Nexus again. We’ll be lucky if we get out of this.”
Leonardo didn’t respond at first. He looked at the massive monster, at the banners that lined the stadium featuring its face. The Kraken, was its title, the present champion as well. No wonder it held that title between its size and its strength.
“I think I have an idea,” Leonardo mumbled.
“Oh really? You do not know Big Mama like I do. She is ruthless.”
Maybe he didn’t know the extent of it, but he had a pretty good guess considering the amount of scars that Raph carried on his scales.
Speaking of Big Mama, the doors flew open. Leonardo turned to see her enter in her spider form, two more bellboys behind her.
“Snuggle Muffin Beefcake?” Her six eyes squinted at Splinter. “Now where did you hear that naughty little nickname, rat man?”
Leonardo saw his father’s shoulders tense before he suddenly shot forward. But rather than go in for an attack, Splinter simply grabbed her hand and spun her around.
“From you, as we tangoed the night away, my Sassy Sugar Badger.”
Leonardo swore he just threw up in his mouth a little and swiftly swallowed it back.
Big Mama smiled. “It is you. And looking more fetching than ever my Fuzzy Cuddleupigus.” She reached to scratch his chin, but Splinter stepped back.
“I did not come here for a trip down kidnapping lane. There is a vicious beast known as The Shredder laying waste to New York.”
“Is there now?” Big Mama’s voice held no notes of concern, just curiosity. “Well let’s have a look see.” She pulled up another odd flat stone, though this one was a different color. Leonardo crept around to see what appeared on it, not missing how the bellboys eyed him the entire time.
He could barely get a visual from this angle, but he saw the way the armor smashed through a row of cars. His heart stopped when he realized that Raph or Donnie could show up on that screen, but to his relief only April did as her weapon smashed into the armor’s face. Shredder swiftly tossed her aside.
“Oh, what a brutey behemoth.” Big Mama wiggled the fingers on her tiny hands. Just then, Shredder vanished like he always did, body twisting around in purple light. “Looks like his quantum energy is in flux.”
Leonardo blinked a couple of times at the term. “What like, he’s not all here?”
Her gaze flicked over to him. “Smart one, aren’t we, turtley-boo?” She reached over and patted his head. “Indeed, if I had to guess, your raging beast is not tethered to this dimension. In other words, he’s fizzy flopping back and forth, my Huggy Poo.” She turned her attention back to Splinter.
His father continued to glare. “I assume you know of something that could contain him?”
“I do have a splendiferous mystic bobble you can have.” She tilted the stone down so the screen emerged from it, revealing some kind of ring. Or maybe a collar? It didn’t look friendly with the eyeball looking stone in the center of it. “For a price.”
Splinter hissed. “And there it is. Always has to be something in it for her.”
“You don’t really expect it for free, now do you?” She glanced at Leo again. “I just wonder what you’re willing to offer.”
Was she trying to see through him right now? Possibly entice him to just hand over Donnie and Raph again?
Leonardo glanced at his father and then down to the arena. The cheering had died down, possibly because the fight was already over.
Then, he cracked a smile. “Sure, let’s talk business. I mean, Shredder is bad news. Not just for me but for you. After all, half your business is located on the surface. I’m sure you’d rather not have to pay for all those pesky repair fees that thing would probably cause you.”
Big Mama didn’t respond to that, but her eyes did narrow.
“So, if you’ve got a solution, let’s make a deal.”
“Leo, no.” Splinter hissed. “Nobody ever outsmarts her.”
Leonardo waved his father off. “Relax, I got this.” He sauntered over to the window and leaned against it. “You know, I don’t hear a lot of cheering. Business isn’t booming like it could be, huh?”
Her eye twitched.
He pushed away and began to pace around. “What you need is a headliner. Someone to get butts in seats. Someone to take on your champ and actually last for more than ten seconds.” He stepped up behind his father. “And who better to rally in the old and new fans than your old champion in a new form?” He twirled before pointing at his father. “Ratjitzu.”
“What?” Splinter shrieked.
But Leo didn’t let up. “Okay, fine, let me sweeten the deal.”
“Hang on.” His father tried to grab him. “She didn’t say no to your first deal yet.”
“And Ratjitzu is gonna be fighting with no weapons.” Leonardo grinned.
“But that beast has rat-crushing tentacles.”
Big Mama smiled back, looking truly amused. Her eyes studied him, obviously noticing that he was making this sound too good to be true, but he held her gaze. If she couldn’t see what he was up to, she had no reason to turn it down.
“We have a deal.” She announced.
His father stood there with his mouth open, possibly feeling betrayed. But Leonardo refused to explain anything to him with her standing right there.
“Great.” The slider clapped his hands together. “So where do we get ready?”
Big Mama snapped her fingers. “Boys, show them to the dressing room will you? I expect them ready within the hour.”
Leonardo eagerly followed the silent and intimidating pair out into the hall. Splinter was far less enthusiastic, grumbling the whole time.
The slider decided to be bold and pressed himself up against the side of the massive owl. “Say, haven’t we met before? Massive parking lot battle?”
The owl growled and shoved him away.
But Leonardo’s smile didn’t fade as he flicked the portal key between his fingers and tucked it under the palm of his glove.
No sooner had they arrived in the dressing room did Splinter get dragged off by the seamstress. She even had an old Lou Jitsu outfit on hand. Did they just keep those things in here?
Leonardo couldn’t help his curiosity as he grabbed another one off the hangers, staring at the pale blue and comparing it to his bandanna tails.
Funny, the years on his mask made the blue just the slightest shade darker, but they were clearly the same.
“Oh, do you want one too?” The seamstress was able to turn her cat-like head all the way around from her tentacle limbs that kept working away.
“Could I?” He dared to ask.
“Sure, hang on, let me go make some preemptive adjustments.” She came over to take it from him and then disappeared behind a curtain.
Leonardo shuffled over to his father and leaned next to the mirror.
Splinter glared at him, which didn’t look the least bit intimidating with his limbs utterly swallowed in the sleeves and leggings of his outfit.
“You have thrown us into the lion’s den,” the man muttered.
Leonardo listened to the roar just outside. “Actually I think it’s more of a Kraken’s den.”
“Leo—”
The door opened again, Big Mama walking in with her human disguise this time. Yeesh, she wasted no time checking in, huh? And just behind her were definitely not bell boys, but a couple of armored yōkai. Leonardo stared at the sharp point on their helmets, trying to gauge the size of it.
“You in that outfit that takes me back all those scrumptious victories.” Big Mama put a hand on her cheek as she stared at Splinter. Then she giggled. “Too bad this time you will lose.”
Leonardo scoffed. “Please, this is Ratjitzu we’re talking about. He could beat anybody.”
“Leonardo.” His father hissed, clearly desperate to stop him.
But he didn’t as he stepped closer to the soldiers. Now he had a much better idea of the size of that spike. “In fact, he could beat a ton of enemies at once. Haven’t you seen any of his movies?”
“Stop talking!”
“Like your champ and six of these guys.” He pointed to the soldier. That thing did have six legs, right? “Actually, better make it seven.”
“Will you shut it already?”
“And make sure they’re as armored up as this one. Wouldn’t want it to be too easy.”
Big Mama giggled again. “You have a deal. You’ve got quite a knack for this show business thing, don’t you deary?”
Leonardo didn’t want a compliment from her, but he pretended to appreciate it. “Why thanks. I did learn from the master, after all.”
“I’m sure you would have learned even more under my tutelage.”
“Oh yeah?” Leonardo fixed his gaze on her, far easier to do when she only had two eyes. “How many lessons did you give your previous champion?”
She definitely caught his meaning with the way her eyes narrowed. But rather than respond to the jab, she waved her hand to the soldiers. “Get the rest of your men ready for the show. And someone bring these boys some refreshments.”
With that, the group left the room again and the seamstress returned. She turned Splinter back toward the mirror and began taking a few more measurements.
“Is this revenge?” Splinter groaned. “Is this you punishing me for not saving your siblings sooner?”
“What? No.” Leonardo went back over to the mirror. “Dad, I promise I have a plan, okay?”
His father opened his mouth.
“Look, I know I keep screwing everything else up. Between getting the armor and sneaking onto the train and all of that but… I have a plan.” He met his father’s gaze. “Please, trust me.”
He tried to plead with his eyes just as much as his words.
Splinter’s eyes studied his face and finally he sighed. “Fine. But so far I really do not like this plan.”
Leonardo chuckled. “It’ll get better. Trust me.”
April literally couldn’t comprehend what was fueling her at this point. Sheer rage? Definitely not that single cup of coffee she snagged from a food truck during one of their very brief lulls in fighting.
Donnie was now able to track this thing wherever it showed up, but without Leo to teleport them and Mayhem way too tuckered out, the softshell wound up summoning his massive tank for them all to jump into.
And April just knew Mayhem was too tired now. When she initiated that whole bond thing while they were still on top of the tower she’d noticed a lot of new things. She understood now why the little guy always knew she was in trouble now. Anytime he got distressed or frightened during the fight, she felt it, and she always knew exactly where he was.
Was she just stuck with this now? No time to process it. Too busy running around and trying to smack a piece of living armor.
At least she assumed it was just armor. Mikey kept saying to himself that this couldn’t possibly be Shredder, but what else was it? Did kicking Draxum out somehow cut off the summoning part of the ritual? So the thing was just running on instincts?
No time to ask questions. No time to figure things out. They would wrestle with the feral monster, watch it disappear, and then let Donnie drive them off to the next likely location to do it all over again.
April didn’t even know why she trusted the softshell to get them there instead of running for the hills. Maybe she didn’t and this was just the only option. She was still royally pissed at him and Mikey for what they did to her and Leo. Raph was fine, at least.
Hell, Raph was the biggest reason they weren’t constantly getting wasted. The snapper’s strength and stamina were unreal.
Though sometimes Donnie would try to talk him out of it for some dumb reason. Like right now as they scrambled around shipping containers in one of the ports.
“Raph, you don’t need to keep fighting.” Donnie insisted. “We can handle this.”
“Speak for yourself.” April spat at him.
Raph just shrugged. “I don’t mind. When I saw how strong this stuff made Draxum, I wasn’t too worried about hurting him, and even less about hurting this guy.” Then he grinned. “Sides, I’m a lot better about controlling my hits now. So quit worrying so much.”
With that the snapper took off again because Shredder just broke free of the shipping containers Mikey had tossed on top of him with his mystic chains.
Donnie cursed and took off after him, using his own mystics to summon another array of drones to try and drown the armor in heavy fire.
“Man, what else can we try?” Sunita asked.
April rapidly glanced around to think of an idea. Mayhem’s claws dug into her shoulders and she watched him point toward a crane that sat about ten yards away.
“Think you could stun him?” She asked her other best friend. “I might be able to hit him hard if you do.”
Sunita pumped her fists. “I’ll do my best.” And with that she rushed into the fray.
April could only see so much as she ran. She watched Shredder rip through any mystic object that Donnie constructed. She saw Raph crash into the monster and send him flying, only for it to get back up.
Fireworks went off nearby. April kept running but stopped next to the crane to marvel at the colors.
Shredder must be less than impressed. He screeched so loud her ears rang. Then it began to barrel toward the water.
“No!” Raph shouted. “We have to keep him away from that boat.”
“I’m on it.” Mikey called out.
April didn’t know what she expected him to do when she saw those bright orange chains fly across the shipyard. But pulling an entire tanker ship through the sky was not her first guess. April’s jaw dropped as she watched the massive hunk of metal sail through the air like a rocket.
“Oh my gods?” Donnie screamed.
“Mikey, that’s amazing.” Raph cheered.
April didn’t linger to see if that thing buried Shredder in the ocean or not. She climbed into the crane interior and turned the key. She had the thing snatched up the first cargo container she could reach and drove it closer to the combat.
She saw the ship in the air. She saw it get torn in two as Shredder burst free.
“Guys? He’s still going.” Raph called out.
“I’ve got it.” Donnie responded.
She watched from the little window as massive, purple machine hands sprouted up from behind another shipping container. They all gripped Shredder and immediately tossed him back onto the concrete. Or at least April assumed that by the explosion of dust.
She tried to drive faster.
Raph let out a wild shout. All of the snapper’s punches made the air ring whenever they struck metal. But he must not be winning because April saw him soar overhead.
She was so close now. She could see the armor rushing for Donnie who tried to summon another tool only for it to fizzle and burst. He almost fell over if it weren’t for his staff.
April wondered for a second if he’d get struck down by the armor. But then Sunita sprinted in front of the monster, cutting off his route.
April cringed when the slime girl exploded. Not on her own, either, Shredder simply ran through her only to skid to a stop. A huge glob of Sunita clung to his face, right over his eyes. He screeched and thrashed.
April took a deep breath and clutched the control sticks. “Why did you get a crane license, April?” She mocked the tone of her doubting classmates. “Because this!”
The whole machine swung violently as it heaved the container through the air. Shredder only just got Sunita off his face when the mass of metal slammed into his side sending him skidding across the ground.
“Wow girl.” Sunita cheered as she half emerged from the ground. The rest of her slime was still moving towards herself. “You gotta show me how to do that.”
April smiled and was about to say she’d be glad to, but even more fireworks went off on the boat.
Shredder jumped toward it.
“Oh no!” April scrambled out of the crane, about to beg Mayhem to warp them over just so she could redirect it.
But that odd lightning returned. Shredder’s body warped and flickered away just before it reached the ship.
April sighed and let the end of her weapon hit the ground.
“Great. It got away again.” Donatello hissed. “While Nardo ditched us out here to run around all night until we pass out.”
“Hey.” April snapped. “Leo would never do that. We just gotta wait for him.”
“How about you wait for him and the three of us will go take a nap?”
“Don,” Raph mumbled.
“No. Don’t try to guilt me into helping even more. We are all exhausted! And knowing Big Mama, even if Leo intended to come back she’s probably tricked him right into her dungeon and we’re stuck here for the rest of the week.” The softshell screeched before he started to breathe heavily.
Mikey had nothing to add to that, apparently. He just kept staring at his weapon. April had never seen him this quiet.
Sunita fully reformed and stood up straight. “Fine. If you wanna be a quitter, then quit. April and I can just steal your bus.”
“It’s a tank! And you will be doing no such thing.”
Raph crossed his arms. “Then I’ll steal it.”
“Raph!”
April just let out an exhausted sigh. They had to quit arguing about this and get a move on.
She just prayed Leo didn’t take much longer.
The excited roar of a crowd is something Leonardo thought he could get used to.
He let his sword rest on his shoulder as his dad wobbled away from the Kraken. No doubt a bit woozy from the impact.
The plan worked just as he predicted. Of course Big Mama also threw him into the arena. That just gave him the opportunity to use the coin he stole to get his sword, because he said no weapons for his father, not for him.
And portaling some helmets to help them gain speed and trapping down the monster’s limbs with it, left it wide open to one more drop in the center of its head.
Though, understandably, Splinter looked a bit annoyed about all of this.
“I am glad your crazy plan worked.” His father rubbed his head. “But was that really necessary?”
“Hey, you’re the one who’s supposed to be the star of the show.” The arena still looked strange, being bathed in a hue of orange. Leonardo fiddled with the glasses on his face and kept glancing at his shoulder where the feathery details hung loose.
His father somehow wound up in an even flashier outfit than this, with deeper blues and a brighter orange.
Leonardo probably should have turned down his outfit. He didn’t even look in the mirror after putting it on, a bit too afraid of how it would actually look.
The crowd continued to cheer. Leonardo even saw some of them throwing sashes and flowers into the arena.
“Hear that?” Leonardo gestured. “They love you, Pops.”
Splinter scoffed. “Please. This was all you, my son.” Then he finally smiled. “I knew my faith in you was well founded.”
Leonardo felt the heat in his cheeks. “Psh, come on, you were full of doubt when we came down here.”
“Perhaps a bit, but not because of you. More because of—”
On her cue, Big Mama arrived, her massive form shaking the ground as she landed next to them.
Leonardo held out his sword on instinct, but then forced himself to relax and smirked again. “Oh look, just the spider I was coming to gloat to.”
Her eyes remained narrowed as she smiled, the corner of her mouth twitching. “I am not one to be outsmarted, turtly boo. Well done.” With a twirl of her smaller hand, the object she promised materialized in it. She moved it to her bigger claws and held it out. “A deal is a deal. And as a sign of respect, I shall return this Shredder beast to his prison dimension if you catch him.”
He immediately narrowed his eyes a bit. Prison dimension? How did she even know he was from something like that?
He almost hesitated to take the object, but did it anyway. Even if it didn’t work like they hoped, just slowing it down would be better than nothing right now.
He hated holding onto it though. With its size he assumed it was a collar of some sort. The eye on it seemed to watch him.
No time to linger on it right now. Maybe Donnie could explain more about it when they got back. “Come on, Pops, let’s jet.”
He said that, though self doubt tugged at his mind for a moment. He’d never tried to cut a portal all the way from the city to the surface.
Then he shoved that thought aside. Portals required confidence. He’d cut open a portal to wherever April was because that’s what he’d tell his sword to do.
So when the blade opened a flash of blue light he didn’t hesitate to step through it.
The haunting but bright lights of the stadium immediately faded into darkness. It was even raining now? Leonardo took a quick glance at the brick walls of an alley before his gaze fell on the colorful cluster of his friends and his brothers.
“Guess who’s back, baby?” Leonardo tried to keep his confidence up as he twirled the collar on his finger.
“About time.” Donnie immediately spat. “Do you know how long we—” The softshell’s gaze immediately fixed on the collar, eyes moving as it rotated. “What the hell are you doing with that?”
Leonardo caught it. “You know what it is?”
“You don’t?” Donnie held his staff and shot toward Leo.
April grabbed his arm and held him back. “Whoa, hey, what’s going—”
He immediately elbowed her in the side of the head. “Do not touch me, you—”
Mayhem let out something between a hiss and a roar as he jumped onto Donnie’s still very injured face, trying to scratch. Mikey ran over to pry him off.
What the heck was going on? Leonardo looked at the collar again, desperately scrambling for an idea of what this thing was. Donnie hated it, that much was obvious, but why?
Only then did he look at Raph. The snapper planted himself against the wall, as if he were cornered, one hand digging into the odd green mark around his neck.
Leonardo’s heart stopped. He looked between Raph and the item in his hand.
Okay, he knew why Donnie was pissed now. Leonardo didn’t even blame him.
But they needed answers. “Donnie.” Leonardo kept the collar close to his chest. “What is this?”
Donnie kept glaring at him, but at least no longer tried to rush toward him. He had a few claw marks near his nose, and even Mikey gained a couple before Mayhem returned to April’s shoulder. His best friend was rubbing her sore temple while Sunita rubbed her arm.
“It’s a control collar.” The softshell finally spat.
“What?” Splinter barked. “To control what?”
“Whoever is wearing it, obviously. Though they aren’t that powerful, usually only work if the person wearing it is tricked into allowing it.” He crossed his arms. “And I recognize it well, because Raph was wearing one when I got him out of the Nexus.”
“Yeah, put that together.” Leonardo kept checking on Raph who at least looked a bit less frightened. But he wouldn’t stop staring at the device. “Why would Big Mama give me this to catch Shredder?”
“She probably wants you to screw up and put it on Raph.”
“Well I wouldn’t.” Leonardo immediately retorted. “If I put this on Shredder, would it stop him?”
“Isn’t Shredder way too powerful for that?” Mikey mumbled.
“Just because he’s physically powerful right now, doesn’t mean his will is.” Donnie tapped at his chin. “If Shredder is acting this wild and out of control because his consciousness is not all there, he’d be very easy to manipulate.”
“So, if we pop this thing on him, we could stop the rampaging.” Leonardo held it out.
Donnie hissed at it. “Yes, I suppose. But I hate this plan. Do you understand? Once again you are allowing that woman to get close to Raph and I do not—”
Shredder’s roar echoed through the sky. Lightning flashed.
“Guys?” April lifted her weapon. “We’ve got incoming.”
Donnie huffed and approached Leo. The slider tensed, wondering if another fight would break out, but Donnie stopped right in front of him.
The softshell looked exhausted, like he always did when he used too much of his mystics, but his gaze was determined. “Do you swear to keep that collar away from Raph?”
Leonardo blinked. “Huh?”
The roaring got louder. Donnie took another step forward. “Do you swear to keep that collar as far from Raph as possible.”
Leonardo met his stare. “I swear on my life.”
“Then I’ll get you an opening. Do not waste it.”
Shredder appeared overhead. In the same instant, Donnie gripped the stone that hung around his neck and tore it free. Then he put the crystal between his teeth and bit down.
The stone shattered. Purple light erupted from it, and any that didn’t slip into the softshell’s mouth slipped into his skin. His eyes lit up and he turned toward the monster that was presently chasing after April and Sunita.
“Raph, Mikey, get out of the alley.” Was all Donnie said when the purple glow enveloped his entire body. Rocket launchers sprouted on his back, sending small ones into the sky that went off in an instant.
The noise and the light drew Shredder’s attention away from April. The armor shrieked as the lights reflected on every facet of its metal shell. Then it rushed toward Donnie.
Leonardo didn’t know if he should move. He could see his father tense up as well, prepared to intervene.
Donatello shoved his hands against the ground. His mystics jetted down his arms and into the concrete, even climbing up the sides. Leonardo couldn’t hope to recognize what they formed. It was another grid of some kind, and when it powered on the air in between it seemed to ripple.
Leonardo felt his sword shaking on his back, trying to rocket towards the three massive grids.
A magnet?
Not just any magnet. The second the armor tried to jump through it and strike Donnie, it crumpled into the ground. Its entire body lay flat. Thinner parts of the armor even distorted under the force.
“Leo,” Donnie snapped. Strange purple lines were snaking up his arms, as if his skin were splitting. “Now!”
Leonardo tossed his sword aside and simply went for it. Thankfully nothing else on his person got dragged into the magnetic force, but he still felt it when he entered the threshold. His nerves tingled. The air felt thin.
But he still slammed the collar down over the armor’s head.
The eye on it flashed green. Suddenly Shredder’s eyes went out, and he lay even limper against the magnetic pull.
Then the grids vanished in an instant, pixels rippling into the air as it dissipated. Leonardo turned when he heard Donatello gasp. The softshell was shaking, the bags under his eyes more visible than ever before.
“Don?” Raph came out from the corner he must have been hiding behind. He immediately helped Donnie to his feet, though he kept swaying and clutching his head.
“What the heck was that, Dee?” Mikey asked.
“Power surge. Don’t recommend it.” The softshell mumbled. “Tell me it’s over with.”
Leonardo glanced back at the armor to see both April and Sunita nudging it with their feet. The thing stayed together, but it really moved around like a set of display armor that Leonardo totally hadn’t knocked over before during one of his midnight trips to a museum.
He was about to ask what they should do with it now when he heard clapping sound behind him.
Leonardo snapped his sword back up and turned to look at Big Mama who stood on the sidewalk, seemingly alone.
The response to her presence was instantaneous. Raphael backed up, eyes wide. Donnie hissed and thrashed in his grip until he broke free.
“I knew it. I knew you’d lead her right to us again.” The softshell sounded like he couldn’t keep the air in his lungs. He tried to stand on his own, weapon in hand, but dropped to his knees in an instant.
“Oh, don’t push yourself, Young Baron.” Big Mama giggled. “Wouldn’t want you passing out, now would we?”
“I’m not letting you anywhere near Raph.”
“You don’t look like you’re in quite the position to stop me.”
Leonardo didn’t hesitate to jump over, putting himself between her and his two siblings. “He’s not the only one you’d have to worry about.”
“Indeed.” His father came over as well.
Only a beat later and April, Sunita, and Mikey all joined the crowd, more than ready to move despite the exhaustion in their eyes.
Big Mama watched them all, then shrugged and snapped her fingers. Suddenly rows of masked yōkai appeared, all armed. Leonardo’s entire body went tense.
“No matter. My little Snapper Yapper isn’t what I came here to take care of anyway.” She then produced some kind of flat object in her hand and tossed it into the air. It split open in an instant, forming a portal, but not one that Leo recognized. Something about it felt sinister. And no sooner had the opening formed, odd tendrils of light emerged from it and began to ensnare the armor below.
“What?” Mikey squeaked. “What are you doing with Shredder?”
“Sending him back to his prison dimension.” Big Mama hummed. “Just like I promised.”
Bit by bit the armor disappeared into the portal until finally its empty and terrifying face did as well. Then it snapped shut and the device returned to Big Mama’s hands.
Leonardo stayed perfectly still. He kept eyeing all the yōkai in case they moved, but they didn’t.
“You turtles really aren’t to be trifled with.” She smiled at them. “Something for me to keep in mind.”
The yōkai all disappeared and she gave a little wave. “Ta-ta for now. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.” And with that she vanished into another portal and the night fell silent.
Mostly silent. There was still rain, though it had slowed down immensely by this point.
“Man, what time is it?” Sunita whined. “I need to go home and sleep for two days straight.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” April muttered. “Want me to walk with you?”
“I got it.” Leonardo waved a hand. “Just where do you want me to send you?”
Before Sunita could answer that, Raph chimed in.
“Um… where should we go?”
It surprised Splinter just how much his son protested at the suggestion that the other turtles just stay in the lair for the night.
He expected those protests from Donatello, and protest he did. Insisting that he could summon their tank and it had plenty of space. But Raph immediately interrupted that with the fact that Shredder evidently wrecked part of it during one of his rampages. Even if it could still drive, a lot of the things that made it livable had shut down.
Splinter insisted it would just be for the night. They were all too tired to do much else, and Donatello clearly needed some medical attention.
And then in came Leonardo, suddenly saying things like Donnie and Mikey didn’t deserve any of that. And he didn’t want them around. And Splinter could hardly believe what he was hearing. His son had been trying so hard to bring them home, and now this? Just what did Splinter miss this time?
But in the end, they were all far too tired to keep arguing about it. Splinter led them through the sewers after Leonardo sent Sunita home. He planned to send April as well, but she shut that down in an instant. She wanted to stay with them tonight. She would text her mom and let her know.
The minute they filed into the main area, Leonardo stormed off to his room. Splinter’s sharp ears did not miss the sound of his son’s sword hitting the wall or the string of curses that left his mouth. April must have as well, because she followed him.
Splinter didn’t even see where Mikey wandered off to. He simply turned his attention to Donatello who’s cheek was still stained an angry red.
“If you want to follow me to the kitchen, we can clean up that cut of yours.”
Donnie, who had been glancing about the room with visible disgust on his face, curled his lip even further. “Absolutely not. I can handle my injuries just fine, thank you.” He tried to walk off only for Raph to pick him up with both hands.
The snapper smiled at Splinter. “Where to?”
“Raph? Put me down.” Donnie barked. “Raph!”
Splinter kept himself from chuckling as he went for their living room and kitchen. He flicked on the only two functioning lights and gestured for Raph to set Donnie in one of the kitchen chairs.
He listened to the boy protest as he jumped up on the counter to get to the medicine cabinet.
“Raph, no, I do not want—”
“Don, please just let him fix up your cut?”
“I can do it myself.”
“Your hands are shaking like crazy. Just let him do it, okay? You don’t even have to talk to him. I’m going to go find us a spot to sleep, okay?”
Donnie hissed and Raph’s footsteps retreated across the grated floor of the living room.
Splinter turned back around, arms now full of antiseptic, gauze, and a massive bandaid. He hoped it’d be big enough for the injury. He freed up one hand to grab some paper towels and ran them under the sink tap before finally returning to Donatello’s side.
He tossed the items onto the table and pulled over his own chair to eliminate the height struggle.
Donnie sat there with his arms crossed and gaze fixed directly ahead, though his eyes kept trying to drift shut.
Splinter didn’t say anything for now. He grabbed the wet towel and started to clean away the blood. Donnie flinched and hissed at first, but then let him work.
It took a while with how much of it had dried overnight. Splinter really prayed this cut didn’t get infected.
He had to replace the towel twice, not only running it around the injury but down the softshell’s neck and even on part of his plastron.
Splinter finally dried it all up and reached for the antiseptic. “You truly hate me that much for failing to save you?”
Donatello curled his lip and hissed again when the cream touched the open wound. “You wouldn’t get it.”
“I suppose I don’t. I thought you liked being with Draxum. At least that’s the impression I got.”
The turtle flinched again, though this time it didn’t seem to be from the injury.
Splinter continued. “Regardless, I won’t expect you to forgive me. I am glad you are letting me do this, at least.”
Donnie rolled his eyes. “You’re talking like it’s a privilege or something.”
“Isn’t it?” He carefully placed the bandaid along Donatello’s jaw and just a bit underneath where his ear was. “For years I thought three of my sons had perished, you included. I cherished every moment I had to patch up Leonardo’s injuries, because it meant he was still alive.” He tucked his hands behind his back. “And you are alive as well.”
Donnie just continued to glare at him and finally forced himself out of the chair. “Sure. Great talk. I am out of here.” He wobbled on his feet but managed to stay upright as he left the kitchen.
Splinter followed, wanting to make sure the boy made it to his destination. But as they both stepped through the main room, his ear twitched toward his own bedroom. Someone was in there. He heard the picture frame click against his nightstand.
Splinter’s room was one of the four tunnels in the bottom level of the main area. It was directly across from Leonardo’s. Not a big space, but all the extra things he needed he just kept in storage.
Splinter stepped over to the tunnel and nudged his certain aside.
In there stood Michelangelo. The box turtle was holding the photo frame in his hand, staring at it with an unreadable expression.
But movement still caught his attention and he jerked upright when he looked at Splinter.
Splinter stared back. “Are you looking for something?”
“Just… looking around.” The turtle mumbled and looked at the photo again. “Why did you keep this?”
His ear twitched at the question, almost finding it stupid. Why would he not keep the picture of his two infant sons framed nearby? Not just that, either. Directly in front of its resting place were a pair of ceramic turtles, painted to look like the two boys he saved from the Hidden City.
“You truly assume I stopped caring about you, don’t you?” He decided to ask.
Mikey scoffed and more or less slammed the picture back down in its place. “Obviously. What else am I supposed to think? You really had the last piece of the armor the entire time and you never used it to save me.” A tear appeared in his eye and he blinked it away. “Was raising two kids just too much of a hassle? Might as well cut it down to one?”
Splinter bit back his anger at the accusation. Just because he knew none of that was true, didn’t mean Michelangelo saw it that way. “I know you have no reason to believe it, Michelangelo, but I still love you.”
The box turtle flinched at the sound of his name and even took a step back.
“I cannot say if I had recovered that piece of the armor during the time the Foot Clan kidnapped you, but even if I had I did not recognize it as one. I thought it was nothing more than a simple teapot.” He folded his hands behind his back again. “Though I am aware that excuse does nothing to fix what happened. I left you in the hands of very dangerous people. People who only raised you for a nefarious purpose. I failed to bring you back from that. As I told Donatello, I do not expect you to forgive me.”
Mikey crossed his arms, nails digging into them. “I don’t… I don’t even wanna talk about this right now. Everything’s too confusing. I mean it’s not… it’s not like I didn’t know my senseis didn’t care about me that much. That’s just how it was in the Foot Clan anyway. But I thought at least CJ…”
He blinked away another tear and suddenly shoved past Splinter.
“Michelangelo—”
“Stop.” The turtle spat. “Don’t call me that. Don’t call me that like you know who ‘Michelangelo’ is. I don’t even know who he is!” And with that the turtle snapped the curtain shut as he left.
Splinter tried to give chase, but once again the box turtle vanished from his line of sight. A slippery one, learned during his time in the Foot no doubt.
His ear twitched again at the sound of footsteps. Raphael was standing in one of the empty tunnels, looking around. The second he spotted Splinter his face brightened and he walked over.
“Hey um, you don’t have some spare pillows or blankets or anything, do you?” He tapped his fingers together. “I figure Don and I can crash in one of these tunnels like Leo is doing but…”
“They are not very furnished, are they?” Splinter smiled and gestured for the snapper to follow him up to the second floor. “We can work on that if any of you boys decide to stick around. I may also move myself up to this storage room.” He slid open the half broken door. “It is much roomier anyway.”
“Maybe if there was less stuff in it.” Raph muttered.
Splinter chose not to take offense to that as he flicked on the light. The space was still a mess from their scramble to find the teapot before, but not to the point he couldn’t navigate it.
He found their stow away blankets and pillows. Sometimes Splinter would simply stockpile the things because of how quickly conditions down here could make their bedding unusable. It may not really be enough for all three of the boys, but it could do for the night.
He arranged it all into a massive pile and handed it to Raph. “Here, use whatever you like, though you may save some for… Mikey.” He decided to use the nickname since the box turtle never raised an objection to that. “Wherever he went.”
“Yeah, of course. Hope he’s doing okay. That was…” Raph didn’t finish the sentence. Maybe he didn’t have the words for it.
Splinter didn’t either. This entire battle felt like it lasted a week when it was more like a day and a half. He spent so much time stressing about Leo and April’s well being, still feeling that tenfold when the armor was completed. Then suddenly it took on a will of its own. Draxum disappeared leaving Donnie to take a horrible strike from that thing. Mikey discovered the Foot Clan only kept him alive to potentially use him to power the armor.
Splinter wanted to help them. He so desperately did. Even tell them that regardless of their pasts and what they did, he would still let them call this place home if they wanted.
But they probably didn’t want to hear that right now.
“I better get these to the room, er tunnel.” Raph shrugged, but then knelt down on the floor. “Um… see you in the morning?”
Splinter wasn’t sure what caused the uncertainty in his voice, but he smiled as he reached out to hold Raph’s face again. “Indeed. If I manage to get up before you boys I will try to make something delicious to eat.”
Raph’s smile grew to the point his eyes closed and he leaned into Splinter’s touch. The faint thumps of his tail hitting the floor sounded through the room.
Splinter let his thumb gently trail over to scars on Raph’s cheeks. How could Big Mama force such a sweet child into her arena? In a way it didn’t surprise him, she truly was that ruthless, but it baffled him still. He couldn’t fathom thinking that way.
Splinter even gave into the temptation to gently scratch the corner of Raph’s jaw, mainly because Leo also liked having that spot scratched. He was immediately rewarded with a deep rumble from the snapper’s chest.
But then it cut off as Raph put a hand over his own mouth. “Oh uh, sorry.”
Splinter didn’t get to ask what he was apologizing for. Raph snatched up the blankets and pillows again.
“Thanks again for these. See you later.” With that he darted out of the room.
Splinter frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted an answer as to why Raph was afraid of making a sound like that. Someone must have punished him for it in the past.
No matter, with time he could remedy that, perhaps.
Splinter returned to the first floor, and rather than go to his room he went to the living room. Might as well turn some TV on to fall asleep.
Hopefully none of the boys would stay up too late.
Leonardo hated this.
He hated that Donnie and Mikey were in his house. Hated that his father invited them here.
He hated how he looked in his father’s uniform when he glanced in the mirror. He felt like the world’s biggest imposter.
April wound up stepping inside his room while he was in the midst of taking it off, more than prepared to shred the thing and set it on fire somewhere.
But with her staring at him he simply tossed it into his pile of dirty clothes and didn’t say a word on it.
“I was going to ask if you were okay.” She let Mayhem out of her arms and onto the foot of Leo’s bed. “But I’m guessing that’s a no.”
“Am I okay? Are you okay?” Leonardo fired back. Everything that happened in the past twenty four hours was suddenly catching back up. “You… I thought you died.”
April blinked. “Huh?”
“Draxum captured you and said he was going to just toss you into the ravine.” Leonardo clutched the sides of his head and paced back and forth. “I got put in a cage fully believing that was the last time I’d ever get to see you and then—”
“Lee, hey.” She grabbed his shoulder and made him face her before giving him a hug. “I’m okay. We’re all okay. We stopped the armor.”
Did they? Leonardo had way too many suspicions about where Big Mama put it, or what she planned to do with that control collar. But there was no way they could try and dig into it right now.
He chose to quit focusing on that and instead focus on the fact he was hugging his best friend. That she was still talking and breathing.
The entire time he’d been trapped in that cage he couldn’t shake the image of her body lying limp on a pile of jagged rocks. Recalling it made him feel sick all over again. This was the second time he almost lost her and it was too much.
But he wouldn’t repeat the mistake he made last time of suggesting she sit out of this. With April this tired she may get cranky enough to slap him for it.
He was tired too. So tired. It felt like gravity was trying to drag his bones out of his skin. But he didn’t want to sleep either.
“Come on, we need to relax.” She squeezed his shoulders. “How about we all curl up on the sofa and put on a Jupiter Jim movie?” She gave him the best smile she could manage.
Leonardo nodded, but didn’t move before pressing his forehead to hers and holding her face, just taking one more second to appreciate the fact she was here.
Then he let go and they all shuffled into the living room. His father was already there with one of the comfy blankets over his legs. The man swiftly agreed to change the TV over to the movie and while April set it up, Leonardo curled up next to his dad. Mayhem stepped onto the back of the sofa and lay next to his head.
Only ten minutes into the film, Raph stepped into the room, eyes wide on the screen.
“What are you guys watching?” He asked.
“Jupiter Jim,” April answered. “Wanna join?”
“Sure, let me get Donnie, he’ll wanna see this.”
Leonardo wanted to protest, but he didn’t have the energy to.
True to his word, Raph brought Donatello into the living room. He sat on the floor while Donnie, completely enveloped in a blanket, sat on his lap. Initially the softshell glared at the screen, but then his expression softened as the film continued.
“What’s this?” Mikey’s voice came from behind.
Everyone on the sofa jumped and turned to look at him.
“Uh, Jupiter Jim,” April answered a second time. “You can watch if you want, just don’t talk.”
Leonardo thought she could say something ruder than that, but Mikey didn’t even retort. He stepped further down on the sofa before jumping over and curling up by himself on the far end of it.
The room fell silent. Leonardo could hear his father fall asleep, April not long after. Even glancing over at his brothers Donnie had clearly passed out and Mikey wasn’t far behind.
Leonardo was sure he wouldn’t stay awake for the whole movie. His vision was already going blurry.
He wondered if this should feel good. That he, his father, his best friend, and all three of his brothers were curled up in the living room watching one of his favorite movies.
But it didn’t.
Right now it just made him feel sick.