Warnings for this chapter: None.

*

It hadn't been that hard to sneak out. Really, Darius was so full of hubris it was incredible. Not to say that there wasn't any security, just that the security there was was pathetic.

A gloomy and clouded sky greeted them when they emerged, it looked like it might rain. How appropriate.

They snuck quietly, doing there best to keep hidden away from unwanted attention. No easy thing when three of you are primary colors, and one is roughly the size of an average mail truck.

Helio still wasn't sure how he felt about this plan; calling it a plan was being generous. Indigo had essentially pulled it out of thin air. He was sure that no forethought had gone into this what-so-ever.

"What makes you think they'll do as you think they will? " he had asked when Indigo more or less declared they were quitting Darius' employ. "They have no reason to help us, I wouldn't help us if the roles were switched. "

"They will, their code will demand it. " Indigo said it with such certainty that Helio almost let himself believe it. Almost.

"Every code has a backdoor, Fearless Leader."

"Would you rather stay with Darius? You don't have to come with us, I won't make you. "

As if I'd let you idiots roam the world on your own. "

That had been that.

Red had almost acted eager while they prepared for their escape. Helio didn't blame him; they all hated Darius. The thought of being out from under that obnoxious jerk's thumb was probably the closest thing to elation any of them would ever get.

Frenzy had been ecstatic. Despite himself, Helio had been privately glad to see his yellow brother behaving more like himself. After the 'incident' Frenzy had fallen into some kind of depression. It had been upset- aggravating to see him in that state. Hopefully this would return him to his own bizzare form of normalcy.

As for Helio himself, he stayed firm on his opinion that this plan was half baked at best. Preferable to staying with Dunn certainly, but foolhardy nonetheless.

But he was going along with it all the same, which meant he really had no leg to stand on in criticizing it.

Maybe they'd be lucky and just get thrown in prison. They could break out of prison.

Maybe they'd be handed over for 'termination'. They could escape that as well. Probably.

No matter how he looked at it, the most likely outcome seemed to be having to go into hiding.

It's what they should have done in the first place, in his opinion.

Somewhere obscure, preferably away from large populations.

The rainforest was a good option. Plenty of unused land, lots of cover, good food sources, superstition alive and well in certain areas. It would be easy enough to fade away there, become ghosts.

Plus, the diversity of flora in the jungle, perhaps countless undiscovered-

"We're here. "

Snapped out of his musings by his leaders voice, Helio shook his head to clear it and focused on the building in front of them. He wrinkled his beak at it. He thought it was ridiculously huge the first time he saw it, and still did now.

"So what do we do? " Red asked as he glared at the tower. "Ring the doorbell?"

Helio looked to his eldest brother. "Well,

Indigo?"

Indigo kept his eyes firmly on the upper floors. "We wait. "

*

"You guys see what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I belive it."

"There just standing there, why aren't they trying to bust the door down or somethin'?

"Maybe they're selling chocolate bars?"

"I really doubt that Mikey."

"Well Fearless, what do we do? It'd be rude of us just to leave 'em in the rain like that. Could catch a nasty cold that way."

"Agreed, let's go greet our 'guests'. "

*

The originals stepped out of the building. Each had his weapon drawn, ready to deflect any incoming attack.

The clones didn't move. The ninjas cast looks at eachother.

Leonardo stepped forward. "Why are you here? If you're looking for a fight, it will end like the others. "

The clones remained silent. Irritated, Raphael snapped. "What's with you freaks? Say somethin' already! We ain't got all night! "

Finally, Dark Leo stepped forward and unscheathed his swords, the turtles tensed for an attack, their eyes focused on the betrayer.

Narrow eyes widened as the clone let his weapons fall; they hit the ground with a clatter as loud as the thunder.

For a few long minutes they could only stare. They tensed again when the blue enemy moved, only to blink in surprise when the clone spoke.

"We need your help."

*

Raph gaped at the scene in front of him, trying to figure out what the clone thought he was pulling.

Seriously?

Who did these freaks think they were fooling?

"Yeah right, " he snapped. "You think we're a bunch of pushovers? We haven't forgotten the last trick you tried to pull. "

Indigo ignored him, and kept his gaze firmly on Leonardo. "We can no longer serve Dunn, we no longer want to serve him. Not that we ever wanted to."

"You seemed willing enough to destroy my brothers and I before."

"Yeah, " Mike piped up. "You even wanted to eat us!"

"That one was just Red, " Dark Mike pointed at the huge clone. His face scrunched. "I thought you guys would taste nasty. "

"... Hey- "

"At the time," Dark Don interrupted. "We were perfectly willing to end you all. But things are different now, you could say we've given Dunn our two weeks notice. "

"So what?" Raph glared at the purple one. "You guys turned over a new leaf one night? Some light from above fell on ya? I don't buy it. "

"Whether you believe or not is immaterial, it doesn't change the fact. And the fact is we don't want to live like that anymore. Especially not since -" he stopped, eyes widened a fraction, like he almost let something slip.

Raph wasn't going to have that.

"Especially not since what "

He almost missed it, and with their lack of pupils it was hard to say, but he could swear he saw purple and red's eyes quickly dart to the yellow one.

He could have imagined it, but he cast his eyes over to Leo and got the feeling he noticed it too.

Dark Raph spoke up. "It ain't important," he crossed his arms and fixed them with a glare. "Not your business anyway."

"You just came bangin' on our door! That makes it our business!"

Leo remained silent, fixing his clone with a scrutinizing look. Dark Leo stared back just as intently. It was an impressive stare down, Raph had to admit. Finally, his brother spoke.

"What reason can you give me to believe that this won't turn out like before?"

"Even a scorpion cares for it's brood, Leonardo."

Raph had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and judging by their expressions neither did the other clones. Leo however, something flickered across his face, to quickly for Raph to discern it.

Dark Leo continued, "I won't allow my brothers to spend another minute of their lives in slavery." He paused as he considered something. He locked Leo with a piercing gaze. "Leonardo, you once told me I could choose to do right, does that still stand? "

Raph turned his attention back to his leader, whose expression was unreadable. Or it would be, to anyone who didn't know him.

He knew that look, or at least had seen variants of it. That was the look he got when he felt there was some kind of injustice taking place; which put Raph on edge. He hated the thought of anyone being mistreated just as much as Leo did, but this was different. This guy showed himself to be a liar before, and Raph had no doubt that was still the case now.

But, if the way the light shifted in his older brother's eyes was any indication, he had a pretty good idea what was coming.

"You have betrayed my family before, and I am not ruling out that possibility. However, if what you say is true, then we will help you." His eyes turned to steel. "I don't trust you, but will allow to come in to lobby on the condition that you hand over your weapons. " He glanced at Dark Don's guards. "Including those."

Don's clone didn't look pleased, but a stern look from his own leader seemed to nip any protest that was coming. When Raph took the guards from him the clone hissed.

"I trust you about as much as you trust me. "

"Right back at'cha. "

The yellow one, Mike's clone, didn't really seem to care. He handed his clubs over without a word. Raph raised a brow at that; 'docile' was not a word he would've applied to the guy.

The red one, that Raph refused to believe came from him in any way shot them a sour look.

"What are you gonna do about me? Take my hands off?"

"Don't give us ideas. " Raph growled back.

After shooting him a look, Leo spoke again. "We'll talk more inside, I'm not staying you can stay, but we'll hear you out."

Leo turned, waving for them follow.

One by one they went inside, the clones trailing behind them. Mike kept casting glances over his shoulder at them.

They crossed the threshold, the door shut behind them. The ninjas turned to face their replecas again; every cell in Raph's body was on high alert. They were setting themselves up for double cross, he knew it.