The moment it clicked in his mind that the blade of his katana was stuck through the lock of his cage, Leonardo wrenched himself free and tore through the Foot bots, darting towards the chain he'd noted attached to the floor by the Mutagen tank. Slicing through it, the turtle found himself being launched upwards towards Karai's cage. "Hold on, Karai!," he exclaimed, landing on the metal frame and grasping the chain it dangled from.
Hazel eyes looked up at him, swimming with relief, regret and gratitude, which she voiced when he pulled away the strip of tape from her lips. "Thanks!," she gasped, smiling up at him. He returned it, a sweet moment of triumph washing over him until he heard their Father yell his name.
"Leonardo!"
The grinding of metal struck his ears, Shredder leaping towards him like a hungry wolf, blades fangs bared. Leo snapped his head around, eyes wide, and his initial reaction was to duck.
But the chain...
Cold metal sank and slid through his semi-scaly flesh, producing a sickening blade-through-butter sensation. The sound of his heart pounding and blood rushing in his ears muffled the rip of his skin and throat, the pain coming too quickly to recall when it began, but his family's voices rang like church bells in the rush filling his skull. "Leonardo!," Splinter howled again, accompanied by the chorus of his four siblings, brothers and sister.
"Leo!" The blades glided through his jugular, and before he could even attempt to gasp, his fingers slipped free of the chain.
"Leo! No!," Karai screamed, watching the blue clad turtle tumble. The resounding splash when his carapace hit the Mutagen sent ripples through the glowing ooze, a distorted stain of red drifting to the surface. Shredder landed on the opposite edge of the tank, the clang of his metal grieves causing further ripples in the chemical vat.
"Get her down!," the ninja commanded, pointing to Karai. The near severing of her cage made him realise that this plan was extremely flawed; he had a habit of underestimating Yoshi's sons. A Foot bot obeyed, and his adopted daughter's cage swung towards him, which he promptly grabbed. She screeched, clawed and beat at him as he pulled her from the cage, but he enveloped her in his strong arms, pinning her thinner appendages to her sides.
"Leo!," Karai shrieked again and again, even as Shredder leapt safely to the ground with her.
"He will have either drowned in the Mutagen, or his own blood," Tiger Claw purred in sadistic glee, placing his foot on Raphael's cage as the red turtle roared and cursed.
"No!," he cried, fighting with the bars of his cage. His brothers kicked and squirmed as well, tears streaking down their cheeks in horror, their sister making terrible screeches, until a bubbling sound rumbled from within the tank.
"At least... he should have done...," the feline murmured, stepping away from the cages. Splinter's eyes widened and became hot with strained tears, as a green paw slammed against the glass of the tank. The sound of struggling and gurgling echoed from the vat, as if someone were indeed drowning, and then went silent. The screech of claws raking against glass made everyone flinch, accompanied by a resounding thud, as if a truck had been driven into it from within.
A large, four clawed hand burst from the glowing ooze and clamped onto the metal edge. It was far too large to belong to his son, yet he couldn't comprehend what else could have emerged from the tank.
Instead of Leonardo, a hulking, jagged creature hauled itself out of the Mutagen. It's jaw was long, arms built like brick walls with spikes of bone protruding from the elbows, and a shell the size of a small car adorned its back. Its claws buried themselves into the metal, and a long, sharp tail rose from the ooze. The creature stretched its jaw open so wide it didn't seem natural, rows and rows of stake like fangs lining its mouth and dripping with venom, Mutagen and blood. It leaned over the edge, making a wheezing, gasping roar of thunder that made the very warehouse shake at its foundations, the creature's thyroids, cartilage and vocal cords out on display in the two, gaping gashes in its throat.
Across its jade eyes, a streak of sky blue looked as though it was burned into his face.
Leonardo veered forward, then dropped over the side of the tank, landing with an earth-quaking thud on the floor below. Splinter watched him for a moment in stunned mortification, then ripped himself free of the binds and ropes, carving through Foot bots to his son's side in a matter of seconds. "Leonardo!," he panted, on the very edge of tears as he crouched beside the monstrosity. It was huge; larger than the mutant that Michaelangelo had named Leatherhead. He so wanted to believe that this wasn't Leonardo, that this thing was not his little boy. "Oh, my child..."
Sparking jade eyes snapped open, and a pearly green tail rattled and snatched at him. Splinter cried out in pain at the bone crushing strength of the appendage, gasping and heaving against it.
"Father!," Karai shouted. She struggled in Shredder's grip, before turning her head downwards and sinking her teeth into his bare bicep. The ninja howled and shoved her away, nursing the bite that now gushed with blood.
Karai spat out the chunk of human meat, and jumped up to free her new younger brothers.
She freed Raph first, who immediately sprang to save Splinter, while she released Donnie and Mikey. The red turtle scrambled up to the platform, skidding to a stop. Leo had no legs, but the long, muscled tail more than made up for it; even with most of it constricting their Sensei, he stood up straight to tower over most other mutants they had encountered.
Reptilian eyes locked onto the red clad turtle, and for a moment, Raph's blood ran cold with fear. Leonardo snarled, choosing to fling Splinter into his younger brother instead of attacking him, and focused his primal fury and confusion on the slew of Foot bots swarming the tank. His tail snapped like a whip, claws like Wakizashi blades. His two remaining brothers and their sister helped lower the number of bots, while Raph helped Splinter get to his feet.
On the other side of Stockman's lab, a dismantled Foot bot sparked and fizzled beside a pool of oil, spilling from a knocked over barrel. The liquid ignited, racing towards a collection of propane and oxygen tanks, immediately detonating them in fierce explosions. The delicate and volatile equipment around the warehouse began imploding, making Stockman buzz and wail in despair. "No! My lab!," he cried. The fly mutant was bashed out of the way as Splinter stampeded towards Shredder, standing a short way away in shaking, barely contained fury.
"You, Oroku Saki!," he roared, baring the sword he'd pulled from a Foot bot's head. "You did this!" Shredder held his profusely bleed arm, getting light headed from the fast blood loss. As the rat boomed at him in his steely voice, all Oroku Saki could do was chuckle. The dizziness began to overtake him, eyes dancing from Yoshi to his monster-son, and he descended into a maddening cackle that shook his rib cage.
"Yes," he gasped with morbid glee. "I did. You took my adopted daughter from me. I took your adopted son from you." With a final bellow of anguish and rage, Splinter launched himself at Shredder, only for rubble to cave in from the ceiling and block him off.
"No!," he cried with a growl, fists trembling.
"Father!," Karai screamed. "We have to go!"
"Leave me!," Splinter snarled, whirling around on his daughter. She flinched, but a life time of witnessing the Shredder's fury left her feeling rather brave in the face of Yoshi's anger.
"I promise, Shredder will suffer for what he's done to Leo!," she pleaded with him, grasping his wrist desperately. "But we have to leave and get my brother home!"
"Brother?" He turned his eyes up to the turtle-snake abomination Karai claimed was her sibling, and felt his heart shatter for what felt like the millionth time in his life. "I shall avenge you, my son...," he breathed, then grasped Karai's hand and the two ran towards the remaining turtles.
"We've gotta get out of here!," a frantic Donnie shouted over the hiss of flames and smoke. Raph whipped around to face the mutagen tank again, where Leonardo had taken perch at the top, shaking the collapsing building with his stormy roar.
"Not without Leo!," he retorted firmly. Splinter silently agreed, stepping towards the vat.
"Leonardo, you must listen to me!," he called to him. "We must go!" Catching the beast's attention seemed to be a mistake; jade eyes snapped to the rat, and his natural instinct to eat vermin rose its ugly head. He leapt from the tank and gripped Yoshi in his tail once again, crushing with an ungodly force. Splinter choked and struggled, but refused to produce the tanto blade in his sleeve. "My son... please."
Leonardo froze, eyes widening as he stared down at the rat, leaning back in confusion. His jaw fell open as if to speak, but the only sounds produced were broken and near illegible. "... Arr... err..." Splinter looked up at him pleadingly as he forced back the burning tears, recalling a time where he gently held Leonardo in strong arms, cradling and lulling him to sleep after a nightmare.
The beast hissed viciously, dropping his Father and shooting past him, veering up in front of Raph and spewing venom into his eyes, ensuring the others wouldn't follow him out of the warehouse. His brother screamed and fell to the floor and Leonardo slithered like a bullet from a gun into the smoke and flames, disappearing from sight, though heard Karai call out to him. "Wait! Don't go!"
It was raining outside. Near monsoonal, she concluded as an after thought, scaling a billboard for a higher vantage point. The effort was in vain; Leo was no where in sight. She made a pained sigh of defeat, eyes drifting down to the roof top, before she turned and jumped back to her family.
Donnie was sitting with Raph, washing Leo's venom from his luminescent green eyes, though the hot head was rancid and spitting curses at his younger brother, and no one could blame him. She wandered past them, glancing mournfully to the red clad turtle, and stopped a few feet short of their Father.
She took a shaky breath, shaking and hanging her head in shame with tears building in her eyes. "This is all my fault," Karai breathed. "I should have listened to him in the tunnels... I'm so sorry, Tousan..." Splinter didn't respond immediately, making her aching heart skip a terrified beat; he stood statue still, staring at the billowing smoke and flickering pyre of Stockman's lab, rain drops running over his slick fur and kimono. "Tousan...?"
His shoulders slightly twitched, though for what reason, she couldn't say. With a voice as dark and cold as a grave yard, he whispered, "We should go home, my children."
Her brothers began following their Father as he trudged towards the fire escape of the building, all of them looking around at one another haplessly. "You can make a retro-mutagen for Niichan, right?," Mikey whimpered to Donnie. The taller turtle wouldn't look his brother in the eye, walking along with his gaze on the stone roof.
"I don't know, Mikey... I hope so."
Hail to the princess, baby!