Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or anything but the storyline. All characters and references to the setting are from the show TMNT and belong to their respective owners/creators. Thanks!

Chapter 2 will have a similar set up as chapter 1, pretty blunt in 'setting' the setting (pun not intended) before the battle begins. Though this will have some action. Has some mentions of blood and battle! Not too much though, but read with caution! For the record, the next chapter will have a LOT of graphics and gore, so beware. I'll recap the events of chapter 3 in chapter 4 and put warnings before the sections with blood for you guys in chapter 3, even if it does cut the flow of the story. But anyway, on with it!

Chapter 2: Reality is a Problem

"I don't know what I expected. Things should be better, right? I mean, Leo's taking the lead. Donnie can relax now...But the air is so tense…" Mikey thought as his brothers moved silently across roof tops.

Not a word. Not a single word was spoken on their way.

"I suppose it's all for the best though...I mean, now we can all focus on the plan. I'm supposed to unlock the door, then wait until Raph and Leo are in, hear the blinding grenades go off, and go in with Donnie. I then cover him while he rigs the guns or puts the bombs on them to go boom, and we leave. No sweat...If we can get past the fence and Elite ninja waiting for us… and if the plan doesn't change again..."

"Though the Shredder probably won't be there, this whole thing seems off...Casey said the info was reliable, but all this work for one shipment of guns? There has got to be more to it...Hopefully I didn't lead us into a trap...But Raph and Don seemed okay with it, so-"

"Yo, Mikey! You listenin'?" Raph asks roughly.

"Uh. no…? Since when have you guys been talking?" Mikey asks before he could stop himself.

Raph looks just a tad bit concerned, his irritation fading as he says, "For tha past 10 minutes, Mikey. Did you not hear any of that?"

"No, not really. Recap for me?" Mikey asks, turning to Don...who was no longer on his right but behind him to the right…

Slowing down, Don replies, "This whole thing seems off. I'm guessing your sources were reliable?"

Mikey took a breath, he thought that if they had concerns, they would bring it up before the mission… now Mikey wasn't sure…

They were still running at this point, and so after another breath, he replied, "Well, Casey tipped me off about the meeting with the basics of wo was there and the weapons. I looked into it. It seems that the Foot, Kraang, and Purple Dragons will be there for sure. And the shipment is of guns, for sure…."

" But I'm not a hundred percent sure about the one shipment though, I would guess it's more, but it seems it is really be one shipment, of like four crates. I don't know why it's so important, but I think they're planning to talk a price." Mikey explained, sounding a bit confused.

"The Purple Dragons owns them, but as recent Foot activity has left them with less territory, they might be planning to talk price and exchanges. I can't figure out why the Kraang is there, though...It could be a trap, as the Foot know that I've been working the streets in their turf, but the whole deal is legit as far as I can tell…" Mikey finished.

"Seems fishy." Donnie agreed. "We'll have to watch our backs and try not to split off. But, back to what we were saying before, we were thinking you could take care of the fence."

Mikey blinked. "Well, of course dude! I have everything I need. If it's like the last one we saw, it'll take around two minutes tops!" Mikey said proudly.

"Sure you can do it, Mikey?" Leo asked a tad bit doubtfully, though you could barely hear it in his voice.

His brothers heard, though. Raph turned to Leo and Don tensed up. "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have brought up the mission. Have a little faith in me, will you? I am a ninja after all." Mikey said, suddenly feeling touchy.

Leo looked startled. Mikey was always one to make jokes and reassure him that he could for sure do many spectacular things…

"No, Mikey, it's not that I don't have faith in you, it's just-" Leo hastily responded.

"You always lose your focus? Yeah, not anymore, so relax, okay?" Mikey said, running straight ahead.

"What did I say?" Leo asked, perplexed. He hadn't meant to chase his youngest brother off...He wasn't really expecting an answer.

But he got one. "Mikey takes patrols really seriously now. You can't just ask him if he can do something after he just told us he could. Would you like it if you told us a plan and we asked, Leo, are you sure you can do this, right after?" Don asked angrily before taking off to join Mikey up front.

"Don, angry? Since when has Don-" Leo thought, now completely feeling out of the loop. But his immediate younger brother decided to enlighten him by saying,

"Hav'a little consideration, would ya? We've gotten along fine on tons of patrols and missions with Mikey as our info guide, so don't insult him by implyin' he ain't qualified."

"I didn't mean to. It's just I've never known him to be so serious and street smart. Things are-" Leo replies hotly.

Raph cuts in, "So differen' now, right?" Leo says nothing.

"It's fine, Fearless. Jus'...Just watch fur'a bit. We all changed in da past two years. Mikey doesn't fool around topside anymore like he used to. None of us do."

"This plan is going by so great, right now!" Raph thought sarcastically as he dodged a punch to the face.

Feigning left and sprinting right, he got around the Elite in front of him and hit him in the head with the hilt of his sai, knocking him out.

Looking back, Raph thought "This really was doomed from the start…"

*FLASHBACK*

When they got to the warehouse, everything looked fine. Warehouse by the docks, surrounded by a harmless looking fence. Well, harmless if you didn't count the barbed wire.

As promised, Mikey immediately began to disarm it.

"Time me, Raph? Bet I can do it in under a minute!" Mikey asked him playfully.

"Sure, Mike." Raph responded, a bit startled.

"When was the last time Mikey an' I fooled around with eachotha'?" Raph had thought.

All the brothers had watched as Mikey opened his tool box, a small metal lunch box covered in Star wars stickers, and pulled out tools from it. In a blur of motion, he had gloves on, a small set of pliers, and was setting up a wire connected to a battery to the barbed wire on the fence. A switch was flipped, some tinkering done with the spikes, and a few cuts later, the wire was cut. The electric current was broken.

"One minute, eighteen seconds." Raph told Mikey.

"Daaaang. That's still a new record though. Granted, this was the first time I did this, but I should've been faster than that. That's almost as long as it takes for Donnie to hack Kraang tech." Mikey said displeased, somewhat to himself.

Before anyone could wonder where his joy was, he was packing everything up and wrapping the end of the wire with electrical tape.

"Alright, Raph and Leo follow me. I'll meet you by the right side of the building, Don." Mikey had sped off.

Again, Mikey took out a lock picking set from his tool box and opened the door. The door had two locks on it, like a normal door.

"How long?" Mikey asked, putting his stuff away.

In reality, Raph hadn't counted. "Twenty-seven seconds." Raph had said, guessing. Mikey had been fast.

"I counted thirty-two. Still took too long. Have fun you guys! Remember, press the button and eight seconds to touch the ground away from you," Mikey said, teasing, but not. Then he left.

Raph and Leo barged in and split up. Raph spotted the crates. There were four of them, in the middle of the floor. Four Foot Elite ninjas attacked them. A lizard surrounded by the Foot had shouted something to Hon, though Raph couldn't focus on what.

"The Kraang have left. Said the deal wasn't worth it." Leo told him, dodging two Elites both slashing their sword and bo staff at him.

"Ready…? Go!" Leo yelled.

Raph was ready and pressed the button on the small, can shaped container. And threw it. It ignited with a CLICK.

He used all of them but one. Thanks to his goggles he could still see a bit as long as he didn't look directly at it.

Looking forward, he saw almost every enemy doubled over, shaking their heads, blinking, or clutching their eyes. Raph had felt no remorse. Life as a vigilante had taught him pity led you nowhere. He also saw Don and Mikey near the crates, Mikey looking around as Don crouched down. He fumbled with the lid and opened the crate...

Then Don yelled, "Get back!" Raph watched for a second as Mikey and Don turned to leave and then turned to leave as well. He saw Leo already ahead of him, holding the window glass open near the ceiling.

Raph had seen there was no one but Foot bots in there with them. Then, smoke.

Smoke seeped in and filled every single sense he had.

"Don't breathe it in!...Donnie! And Mikey! They were too near the smoke!" Raph had thought.

The smoke probably came from the crates.

With a jolt he realized… "This was a trap."

Then, he couldn't hold his breath any longer… he breathed it in. And it burned. Like fire going down his throat. And he coughed. And coughed. Until his eyes watered. He was dimly aware of Leo coughing and grabbing hold of him, of them making their way to somewhere.

They had been going to Don and Mikey, already making it toward the back door. Raph hadn't been able to see a thing. But Leo somehow knew where he was going.

Around the same time he heard Don and Mikey hacking up their lungs, Don shouting something at Mikey in a concerned voice. Raph sensed something coming toward him at his side. He dodged.

Barely able to look up, doubling over to breathe was too important at the time, he sensed other forms around him. Leo was already pushing him forward, also coughing, and fighting the bots. They had been surrounded by some Foot bots.

Raph had heard Don yell, "Come on! Out the back!" At the time, Raph still couldn't see through the smoke. He was also too wrapped up in breathing, but managed to stab a few bots.

He then heard Don yell yet again, and Mikey was suddenly at his side, pulling him and fighting off bots at the same time. Leo was yelling too.

Basically, it had been a rough time. They made it out though.

The four of them doubled around the building. And were confronted with four Foot Elite ninjas, one huge lizard dude, Tiger claw, Hon, and around thirty or so Foot bots coming round the back door to surround them. There were around forty Purple Dragons as well.

It was rough. The plan had failed, doomed from the start. The turtles had formed a line, ready to protect themselves against their enemies.

*END FLASHBACK*

But, back to the present. Raph was pretty upset he hadn't had the chance to check on his brothers. He dodged, stabbed, kicked, threw, and growled at the Foot bots. But they just kept coming from all sides. Raph wasn't tired though. Not know with his brothers who knows where, and with only…..twenty or so left, he noticed with a satisfied smirk.

"I hope they're okay. They better be…" Raph thought.

He had no idea where anyone was. And as the 'protector' in the family, this was absolutely eating at him with the beginnings of panic. He focused on his battle as much as he could, but Raph couldn't get over how quickly everyone had split up...

Then Leo joined his fight. For some unknown reason, all the Foot bots had been directed at Raph. The both fought a ways away from each other, and but they both fought well.

"The Purple Dragons went after Don. One of the Elites went after me. One went after Mikey. I don't know where the rest are. Don is by the left side of the building. We need-" Leo dodged a Foot bot who aimed to stab him and swept his legs under it, impaling the bot through the chest on the ground. "To hurry, Raph."

And they did. Raph was worried. Which of course made him feel anger toward his enemies. Pity for them, really. Raph threw himself at them, fighting from close range, so close he could reach and shove them over...Which he did. He spun and attacked, and attacked, and attacked.

Both older brothers fought like two furies, taking out all the bots in all of two minutes… And neither spoke a word to each other. Not of help, or warning, or thanks, unless you counted the words Leo told him before.

It was two separate fights, happening near each other. But they won. They took a single breath...

And then, came the two Elites. "That makes all four accounted for." Raph recounted, somewhat relieved, although seriously ticked about the whole thing. Then he realized that if that Elite was here, it had finished its battle with Mikey…

"What is going on?" Raph thought. Mikey wasn't dying, of that he was sure. Mikey was with Don, they would call for help. And his little brothers knew what they were doing. Besides, they were probably facing the Purple Dragons lackeys. Only Hon was somewhat a concern, but they were strong...

Neither brother noticed all the Purple Dragons, including Hon, leave. And neither knew, or remembered the Lizard that led the Foot bots.

Two Elites, one fighting with a sword, the other with two seraph blades. They attacked. Leo sped off and drew the attention of the one with the single, long, sharp katana. That left Raph with the one with the two swords…

And then came the scream. A scream that made Leo and Raph both feel frozen down to their bones…

It was Mikey's voice. Scared. Yelling for help. For Raph's help.

"R-Raph! Help!-" A pause. "It's Donnie! I can't hold them-Off! He's hurt!" Mikey yelled, sounding like he was in the middle of a battle. And terrified. Which was pretty observant of Raph, as he was, in fact, in the middle of a battle.

Raph was ready to speed off, but he couldn't leave Leo.

"I can't leave 'im…. What am I supposed ta do?! I can't beat 'em all! I'm wastin' time, but-" Raph thought frantically.

A three fingered grip was placed on his shoulder. Both brothers looked at each other for one second. All at once, Leo's blue eyes became so expressive, just like when they were young tots…

They were grim, plagued with fear and guilt, but there was also honesty, strength, and reassurance...like the look Leo would give him, the second oldest, before they split look was so Leo. And just like that Raph calmed...Raph had forgotten what that look looked like.

Leo gave a nod, and attacked both Elite ninjas. In a moment of distraction, Raph sped off toward the other side of the building. A million scenarios went through his head... Mikey impaled, standing over a dying Don…both lying in a pool of blood….spreading-The Elite appeared in front of him, only for Raph to jump in close and stab him in the stomach. He pulled the blade out and continued running, because darn it he was leaving his oldest brother alone for his younger two…

"They better be alright…" Raph thought as he dashed, looking straight ahead toward the side of the building

The Elite returned to Raph's side, and suddenly Leo was there, fighting the Elite off.

Raph ran across the lot, and Leo was faced two Elite ninjas, trained in teleportation and magic.

-end Chapter 2: Reality is a Problem