Author's Note:

After the longer than anticipated wait, I (and with the help of my friend hawkeyesassbutt ) finally got the first chapter done!

This can also be found on my tumblr page.

Final Days

The tall muscular man draped in dark metal stood upon the balcony of the large TCRI building, looking out on to the glowing city beneath him. His gloved hands were clasped behind his back as his one good eye scanned the people under him. Iron grating against concrete soon interrupted his thoughts as it drew nearer.
He made no effort to turn to the approaching robot.
"The dimensional portal for the one known as Shredder is near that which is known as completion." The alien's language was translated in a rough, albeit blunt manner.
"Excellent" The man replied, narrowing his eyes in delight.
"Kraang must give Shredder that which is known as a warning. The device needs to be handled with extreme caution. One mistake and the fate of all dimensions will be in that which is known as danger. Worlds will collide, war will be brought upon us. So Kraang asks: is the one known as Shredder really know what he is doing?"
"Trust me, this will be the beginning of a new era. This world has had its freedom for too long.
"Chaos. Stupidity. Ignorance.
"The strong need to overpower the weak. And who will be there to control them? With my army and your race we will be unstoppable. The bravest of men will cower before us, the strongest will fall to their knees, and the wisest will question their existence. This world will see to its end very soon. And this time no man or turtle will stand in our way!"

If it wasn't for the soft clattering of hockey sticks against one another, one wouldn't have noticed the three blurs of green and black soaring over the gap between two of New York City's buildings. Their leader- distinguished in blue- toke a couple steps ahead to glance over the edge while his team stood at his back. Three sets of eyes watched him in desperation before he released out an aggravated sigh, showing them his annoyance.

"It's just the Purple dimwits." Leo shrugged.
"YAWN!" Mikey rolled his eyes.
"I don't know, guys. I think they've seemed to've forgotten who really owns the streets around here. Should we give them a reminder, Case?" Raph rolled his eyes in Casey's direction as he pressed against his knuckles, the satisfying crackling sound escaping from under his skin. "They do seem to have a weak memory." Casey agreed reaching for the baseball bat nestled within his bag.

Silent figures soon leaped inside the building, springing from where they had perched just out of sight. The first to arrive was greeted with a bat to the face. By this time, the foursome was aware that this was no chance encounter. Nobody wore such dark, outdated clothing other than the Foot Clan. Of course, there was never a circus without a ringleader. The last man to appear was by far the most distinguished. No full-body uniform for Hun. After all, how could he show off his tattoos otherwise?

Instead of joining in on the fighting, Hun watched from the door frame. A sneer curled on his lip at the sight of his four enemies. Even as Foot soldiers were knocked around and slammed into things, he remained where he was. He held up a hand, and the ninja around fell still.

"That's enough. We're not here for them." Hun growled, his beady gaze narrowing. Even in the stillness, Mikey finished what he was doing. Another good smack with his nunchaku, and the ninja he had been combatting staggered and fell off his feet. For a moment, all eyes lingered on the orange-clad turtle. Blushing, he glanced away from the eyes that scathed over him.

"Ha...Whoops."

Although Hun set his jaw, he chose not to comment to this breach in the temporary ceasefire. Crossing both arms, his grin returned almost as soon as it left.

"Cut the crap. If you're not here for us, then what are you here for?" Leo scowled, the blades of his fine weapons glinting in the dim overhead lights. Unlike Mikey, he chose to stay on edge. These halts in violence didn't last long.

"Now, that's a little secret. Can't have plans ruined so early, after all. Especially since the whole of the Turtles aren't here. Can't start a game without the MVP, now can we?" The sunglass wearing thug chuckled to himself at his own cryptic words.

"You'll all see soon enough. But we don't have time for this. All hail Lord Shredder!" Hun tossed down a smoke bomb as he jeered. The fragile casing burst open immediately when contacted with the ground, and thick smoke spewed from the small casing. As the black fog cleared away, none of the gang members were in sight.

"Well, that was weird." Mikey coughed as he waved his hand in front of his face.

"Looks like we don't have to investigate that Foot sighting of fifth now." Raph scoffed, sliding a particularly large shard of glass out of his path.

"Since when did the purple dragons make such hasty deliveries for the Foot?" Leo added as he glanced around.
"Yeah, at least then they'll be sure to have a quick retreat and not leave any trace they were there." Raph agreed as he followed his brother towards the broken glass case.

"Unless they were wanting someone to know they were here." Leo and Raph looked towards Casey as he pulled a knife from the wall. Wrapped in dark cloth, the Foot Clan's symbol was draped over the handle.

"Well, this is getting suspicious." Raph responded bluntly.

"Yeah, this is just like in my comic books! Where the villain overlord would leave symbols where he knew where the hero would be to lure him into his trap!" Mikey beamed.

"Or they were just being idiotic and weren't picking up after themselves." Raph snickered as he took the knife from Casey.

"Either way our work here is done. Let's head back to the lair and inform Master Splinter and Donnie about this." Leo declared. He began from the back, and ushered the four back towards their underground home.

April was sunken down into one of the moth-eaten couches with her feet rested on top of the ledge of cement. The only sounds throughout the lair was the soft drone of the television in before her and the slow breathing from the sleeping body at her lap.

Her hand gently caresses the space where his mask was absent, the purple fabric draped over the arm rest of the chair. The dark circles beneath his brown eyes were exposed for her long enough to notice that he hadn't been getting the sleep he needed for quite some time. It had been a bit of a struggle to pull him from his lab and actually relax for once, but she was finally able to accomplish her task. As soon as he was comfortable in his chair, Donnie was out like a light.

"And then when I shoved him into that glass case, man you should've seen the way he winced in pain! I'm sure that'll be leaving a scar." April turned her head as Casey's loud mouth echoed through the dark tunnels adjacent to the lair.

April leaned forward to grab the remote and turned off the TV. The familiar voices grew louder, causing Donnie to inhale a deep breath in his sleep and turn to his other side. April continued to run her hand along his head, in fear that he was waking up, her gaze scathing the returning turtles (and Casey).

"Yeah, and how-"

"Shh!" April's finger met with her lips as the harsh his escaped her lips.

"Gez, red." Casey winced. "Didn't know it was nap time."

"Wow you actually got mister grumpy pants to sleep? What'd you have to do, hit him with a frying pan?" Mikey laughed at the thought.

"He's been up all night the past few weeks working on some miraculous project. Surprised you even got him out of that junk cavern." Raph grinned at his own humor, scooping an unopened soda can from the coffee table. He broke the seal from his can, the soft hiis following the cracking of aluminum.

"I know, he won't even let me in there. Whatever's going on in there lately he's been keeping under lock and key."

"Romeo forbids his Juliet to enter his sanctuary? Truly a tragedy." Casey remarked, earning a backhand to the arm from April. He lurched away, fingers ghosting over the stinging mark. The gap-toothed smile only widened at the hint of her aggravation.

"Oh, shut up, Casey. I'm just saying its unusual behavior for him."

"So are we going to tell them about our run in with the Purple Dragons or are we just going to keep talking about Sleeping Beauty as if he's not right there?" Mikey finally pointed out.

"We'll wait to talk about tonight's patrol when everyone's is present, like at dinner." Leo suggested. "It was just like any other Purple Dragon run in. There's no need for an emergency meeting or anything."

"But isn't it weird how active the Purple Dragons have been lately? And after that last encounter, aren't you guys just a little concerned?"
"Mikey, I said we'll talk about it at dinner. We'll make it a team meeting, I promise." Leo assured him.

"Pizza's here!" April announced as she pushed through the turnstiles, the four cardboard boxes steaming in her folded arms. "Thank you!" Mikey beamed as he snatched a box from the top of the pile and escaping towards the kitchen. "Glad I decided to get four boxes at the last minute." April remarked as she placed the boxes on the kitchen table.

"I'll let Donnie know pizza's here." Leo volunteered as he got up from his seat at the table.

"Good luck." Raph replied as he tossed the stack of paper plates on to the table as well. "Way to keep it classy, Raph." Casey scoffed, placing each platter in front of a seated chair. "We'd be eating on actual plates if somebody would do their turn on doing the dishes." Raph turned his head in Mikey's direction who was already on his third slice of pizza. "Uh, I think its Donnie's turn actually…"

"Oh, no, Mikey. You're not dumping it on me this time." Donnie ratted him out as he stepped in behind Leo. "It's your turn."

"Ooh, ratted out by the dead itself." Raph teased as he pulled out a chair next to Donnie. "Sorry, Mikey. I'm not doing dishes twice." Donnie remarked as Mikey pouted in his chair.

April and Casey soon entered the room and the room was filled with mixed conversations as the teenagers reached over each other to grab food find a seat at the table. Once everyone was seated, Splinter quietly entered the room and toke his assigned empty chair at the head of the table. The volume of the room lowered as everyone became occupied with emptying their plates.

"So, how did patrol go?" Donnie asked, his voice being the loudest thing in the room.

"Yes, Michelangelo said you have something to discuss about tonight's patrol." Splinter directed towards Leo with a hint of suspicion.

"It was just another run in with the purple dragons and how the foot was going to take over the world and yada yada yada." Raph explained as he reached forward to bring another slice of pizza to his plate.

"So the purple dragons are doing Shredder's biddings now?" April asked.

"It seems that they're only assigned to some of the more… less important jobs. I guess, shredder doesn't want his soldiers to go to waste. After all, they've only been sighted in small business and facilities. Nothing too major that they're stealing." Leo explained.

"Yet." Donnie added, his eyes not leaving his still full plate. "This could just be what Shredder is wanting us to think."

"Finally, someone else is taking a hint." Mikey sighed.

"This is true, Leonardo. Shredder is not someone to put plans into action without them having a larger meaning. I fear this may be a message that he's trying to get across. Maybe just not to us." Splinter spoke with concern, his left hand stroking his beard with each word.

"Alright, if it'll satisfy everyone, we'll go on another patrol tomorrow night to look for the purple dragons and get the answers we need." Leo finally gave into. "Hopefully they'll be more corruptive then."

The rest of the team silently agreed before continuing their dinner in silence, the occasional brief conversations picking up every once in a while.

The single light of his desk lamp guided Donnie towards his lab through the dark pit. The lair had fallen silent after everyone decided to go to bed after cleaning up dinner. Casey had agreed to walk April home after Splinter ruled that no one was leaving the lair in order to get plenty of rest for tomorrow training session, much to Donnie's dismay. His foot had just touched metallic rail of the sliding doors in the entrance when the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat froze him dead in his tracks.

"I believe that I informed all of you to be in bed by 11." Splinter's firm voice spoke from behind him. "It is now currently midnight, Donatello."

A sigh escaped from Donnie's nostrils, quiet enough so Splinter couldn't hear it.

"I was just making sure I turned off my computer before I drifted to sleep. They say if you keep it running long enough it'll over heat and explode and we don't want that, do we?" Donnie asked, making up the excuse on the spot in a way Splinter would understand. Splinter raised a brow before taking a step closer past his son. "Oh, my bright child. I know that sometimes I come across to you as an old fool." With a single slide of his hand, Splinter shut the lab doors behind Donnie. "But, you're going to have to think of a better excuse than that next time."

Standing this close to his son, Splinter was able to see the redness of his eyes and the dark circles peeking out from under his mask. His son looked utterly exhausted, yet there was still some determination in those chocolate brown eyes.

"Take care of the computer." Splinter sighed, averting his eyes from his son's. "Then I want you straight in bed."

"Hai, sensei." Donnie nodded without taking another minute to enter his lab. Splinter watched as the doors to his son's lab closed, a brighter light shining from under them.

Inside, Donnie turned on the overhead lights and made sure him computer was turned off the serve as an alibi. When the computer was shut down, Donnie slipped out the garage doors, making sure the door was shut only slightly to guarantee a quiet return.

Thanks for Reading! Next chapter should be up as soon as possible!