Hello, and welcome to this story! For those who haven't met me, I'm MusicGeek764. :) For those familiar with my work, two changes: 1. I won't be updating this on a regular schedule and 2. This actually isn't complete. I've actually been working on this for a while, but hit a snag of writers block. It's getting there, though! XD Also, this will go into AU territory, and this is canon up to and including "Karai's Vendetta". For now, though, enjoy! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They belong to Nickelodeon/Viacom, and any other rights holders. I am not making any profit, so you and you lawyers can leave me alone!
Something Old, Something New
Leo sat in the dojo, allowing the rhythmic motion of sharpening his katana blades to calm him. He breathed in and out, in and out, as he continued sharping them, allowing the stress of what was about to happen leave him, if only for a moment.
Tonight was big. He was going to lead his brothers back into TCRI on yet another invasion. They had a full plate of objectives: 1. Rescue Leatherhead from Dimension X 2. Shut down the portal and 3. Take back the power cell. They had spent weeks planning this mission; training and reviewing the blueprints April had gotten them. Donnie had even made them gas masks so they could fight in the toxic atmosphere without having to hold their breath.
And now the day had finally arrived. As Leo kept sharpening his swords, he went over the plan in his head. They'd break in through one of the glass windows in the top, and begin to work on taking down the Kraang droids. He, along with Raph and Mikey, would work to keep the Kraang busy while Donnie would make his way over to the controls for the portal. Then, he would bring back Leatherhead, destroy the portal before anything else came through, grab the power cell, and then they would run.
"I believe those are plenty sharp, Leonardo," Leo was snapped out of his thoughts by his sensei's voice, which seemed to come from out of nowhere.
"Master Splinter! How long have you been here?"
"Not very long. It's almost time for you and your brothers to leave on your mission."
Leo took a deep breath, sheathed his blades, and turned towards his sensei. Evidently, his nervousness betrayed itself on Leo's face, because his father put his hand on Leo's shoulder.
"You remember what I told you on your first mission?" He asked.
"Plans never survive contact with the enemy," Leo said. How could he forget their first mission? They had been so optimistic back then, not realizing what they were truly getting into.
"Be prepared for the unexpected. Think on your feet," Splinter added, then pulled his son into a hug. "Good luck, my son."
Leo looked up at Splinter. "Thanks, sensei." Leo stepped out of the hug, took another deep breath, and walked into the living room, Splinter not far behind him.
When he walked out, he saw Mikey and April sitting on the couch, a box of pizza between them. Leo knew that April liked to keep Splinter company when he and his brothers went out on missions; he figured they worried together.
Raph emerged from his room, and it was obvious he had just woken up from a nap. Despite that, he looked ready to take down some Kraang. Donnie came from his lab, carrying his brown duffle, which Leo knew was filled with all kinds of things that Donnie might need to hack into the Kraang's systems. Mikey looked up, as though just now realizing that everyone had just come into the room.
"We all ready, team?" Leo asked. The others gave curt nods. Leo turned toward Splinter and April. "Hopefully, we'll be back in few hours."
April ran up and gave all of them hugs. "Stay safe, you guys."
"Good luck." Splinter said once more as Leo lead his brothers through the turntables, through the sewers, and up to the surface.
As soon as he got through the manhole, Leo felt rain hit his head. He looked up at the sky. It was raining hard, and Leo jumped slightly as thunder boomed in the distance.
"Watch the rooftops; they're going to be slippery." Leo warned his brothers as they came up.
"Well, this explains why the sewers looked like they were about to flood. But, there was no rain predicted today," Donnie muttered, checking to see that his bag was fully zipped up.
"Well, it's a good thing we're inside for this mission," Leo said. "Let's go!"
And away they went, climbing up a fire escape to a roof, and soon they were soaring across the New York skyline, heading towards the large TCRI building. Though the overcast sky and heavy rain helped conceal the brothers better, it was also making things more difficult. They were all moving slower than normal to prevent falling, and even then, all of them had slipped once by the time they made it to TCRI.
The storm raged and got heavier and heavier as they stood on the ledge outside the upper floors of TCRI. Leo tried to see through the rain soaked windows. "Doesn't look like they've got a lot of Kraang in there right now, but it's hard to tell."
"Can we just get off this roof before we're blown off?!" Raph snapped, soaking wet and clinging onto the walls for dear life as the wind whipped around them. Leo looked at his sopping wet and already tired team, his brothers.
"Are you guys sure we should go on?" He asked, fearing the health and safety of his brothers.
"We can't give up now! We traveled all the way here!" Raph said, and Donnie and Mikey nodded in agreement.
"We'll be fine, Leo," Donnie reassured.
"Yeah, I'm ready to kick Kraang butt!" Mikey said, and Leo couldn't help but smile.
"Let's do this."
Donnie passed out gas masks and showed them how to properly put them on. Then, they broke the glass and made their way into TCRI.
Evidently, the Kraang had learned from the last fight with the turtles. Despite the open window, they toxic, green gas continued to hang around the air. Leo silently thanked Donnie for the gas masks as they began to fight.
Leo made his way through the floor, taking down Kraang after Kraang. The sounds of the ray guns and the slashing of Leo's blades against the droids mixed with muffled battle cries and a "Booyakasha!" from Mikey's direction. He kept an eye on Donnie, who was working on making his way over the controls. Evidently, the Kraang had picked up on this, as they were starting to swarm him. Leo made his way over, watching Donnie's back. Soon, Raph and Mikey were helping as well.
Suddenly, the air cleared, the green gas leaving the room. Leo looked over at Donnie, who was now at the controls. He took off his gas mask, took a deep breath, then gave a thumbs up to Leo. "I found the ventilation controls! The air's fine now!" Donnie called out.
Leo dropped pulled the mask off, and found that Donnie was right. He kept fighting and found that he was starting to breathe better. The Kraang droids must have something in their suits that allows them to keep breathing, but losing their normal air was starting to weaken them. He couldn't help but grin as he felt the battle turn to their favor.
Donnie started working at the controls, and the others worked on keeping the Kraang off of him. The portal started up, and Leo knew that Donnie was working on bringing back Leatherhead. He looked over at Donnie, who had a large grin on his face.
However, he didn't see the Kraang droid behind him.
"Donnie, behind you!" Leo called out. Donnie turned and threw a punch, when lighting suddenly struck the building, or, more specifically, the Kraang by Donnie. Leo watched in horror as Donnie was electrocuted along with the Kraang, his screams echoing across the hall, before crumbling onto the controls. The Kraang droid burst into flames and landed near Donnie.
"DONNIE!" Raph called from Leo's left, and Leo watched as Raph sprinted up to the controls, lifted the unconscious Donnie over his shoulder and tried to get away from the fight. Mikey sprinted after him, preparing to watch Raph's back. But, they never came, as they all seemed to be in various states of chaos. Evidently, they'd never seen Earth lightening up close before.
Leo made his way over to his brothers, but tripped and fell in the middle of the portal, which was still working on starting up, the three ray guns glowing pink. He made a move to get up, when he ducked down to dodge another lightning strike. This one hit the controls themselves with a resonating BOOM!
Leo looked up and watched as the ray gun's light changed from pink to a dark blue color. The beams suddenly shot out forming a large ball of energy, and Leo could do nothing as he was sucked in.
*Insert evil laugh* Oh, I love cliffhangers! I hope you enjoyed this, and if you did, feel free to review. Or, if you want to give me some constructive criticism, also feel free to review. If you just want to say that this was completely awful and tell me I'm a terrible person and give me nothing to work with, don't review, 'cause that's flaming and nobody likes that. Anywho, hope to see you all next chapter! :D