When the turtles finally returned to the lair, they found Splinter waiting for them, worried out of his mind. He demanded them to explain everything on why they were extremely late.
That is, until Splinter spotted them carrying an injured Leo.
At that instant, concern overflowed Splinter's face as he rushed over to his unconscious son. He carefully took Leo from Donnie and Mikey and held his eldest son in his arms, staring at all of Leo's wounds with incredible grief. Splinter announced to his other sons that he will take Leo to his room and do what he can to heal Leo.
Splinter also told the three that they should go to bed; they will talk about this in the morning.
However, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were unable to sleep (the anxiety for Leo clouded their minds), so they decided to hang out in the living room, all the while Splinter was alone taking care of Leo in Leo's bedroom.
All three waited for good news that Leo will be ok.
Mikey sat upside-down on the couch, distracting himself by playing games on his T-phone, but he couldn't help looking up to see if Splinter has come out yet. Donnie sat upright next to Mikey, drawing and designing new projects on his sketchbook. Raph was busy beating up the dummy behind them, venting out all his worry over Leo's condition and frustrations over not preventing Leo's torture in time through each of his punches and kicks.
At long, long last, Splinter came out of Leo's room, and the only one to noticed this was Raph.
"Master Splinter," Raph exclaimed, immediately abandoning the dummy (after one last punch).
Hearing Raph, Donnie and Mikey both looked up, dropping what they were doing.
The three turtles instantly went over to Splinter, looking eagerly up at their sensei.
"Why are you still awake," Splinter told his sons sternly. "You should be in bed."
"We just wanted to hear if Leo was going to be ok," Raph responded.
"Well, is he," Mikey immediately asked.
"Leonardo will be just fine," Splinter answered, and the turtles all sighed in relief. "His wounds will heal, though some scars will remain. He will need to rest."
"Thank you, Master Splinter," Donnie said gratefully.
"Can we go see Leo," Mikey asked, desiring to see him now.
Splinter looked uncertain. However, Mikey pulled out his secret weapon: the puppy dog pout.
Finally, Splinter sighed. "Very well. But only one may see him. After that, Leonardo must rest. And then you must all go straight to bed. And I mean straight to your bedrooms, asleep. Is that understood?"
"Hai, Sensei," the three turtles responded in unison.
"Ok, well," Donnie said. "Who wants to-"
"ME," Mikey shouted, already zipping toward Leo's room.
"Aren't you going to tell him to calm down around Leo," Raph asked Splinter.
"When has he ever listens to me?" Splinter only replied.
When Mikey opened the door to Leo's room, he shyly peeked in to see Leo resting on his bed with the covers up to his chest. There were bandages visible on some areas of his arms, but the cuts and bruises were still there. The only thing on him that stood up was the vibrant double scars on his still bare face.
Hearing the door creak, Leo opened his weary eyes to see his cheerful, but nervous brother Mikey at the door.
At the sight of him, Leo smiled tiredly. "Hey, Mikey," Leo said softly, though his voice was a bit weak.
Beaming like a child reunited with a longtime friend, Mikey swiftly entered the room and went to hug Leo, only to instantly release him when Leo groaned from Mikey's hold.
"Whoa, sorry, bro!" Mikey quickly apologized, worried that he had done something wrong again.
"That's ok, Mikey." Leo winced, his eyes shut just until the pain could pass away. He looked back at Mikey, putting on an amusing, 'Well, that's Mikey for you,' grin. "I'm glad to see you, too."
"How are you feeling," Mikey asked, sitting down carefully onto Leo's bed while looking at him with brotherly apprehension.
"I'm exhausted and sore, but other than that, I'm completely fine. Thanks for getting me out of there."
Mikey's smile stretched his freckled face. "No problem! At least that Shredder didn't turn you into a zombie turtle!" He paused for a second. "Actually, that might be pretty cool! You can be, 'Mutant Ninja Zombie Turtle'!"
Leo couldn't help but laugh a little, causing him to wince slightly. "I don't think I'll be much of a ninja if I became a zombie."
"Yeah, you're right. Zombies are way too loud." He demonstrated by holding out his arms, pulling on a weird face, and moaning quite loudly.
Leo chuckled at Mikey's interpretation. "That's about right!"
"Hey," Mikey suddenly said, breaking out of his zombie act. "I'm going out to get pizza. Want any?"
"I'm not sure right now, but I'll let you know later."
"All right, we'll save you a slice anyway!"
Just then, a knock was heard on the door and Raph's head appeared. "Mikey, time's up. Splinter wants us in bed now."
"But I'm not . . ." Mikey gave out a big yawn. "Tired."
Leo and Raph just rolled their eyes humorously.
"Yeah, well, Leo is. Let him get some sleep."
Mikey's face saddened, looking back at Leo. He really didn't want to leave his older brother just yet.
But Leo placed an encouraging grin on his face. "I'll be all right, Mikey. Go ahead."
Mikey grinned back, but still did not want to leave. Feeling he has no choice (especially with Raph watching him), Mikey said, "Oh, uh, yeah, ok. I, um, guess I'll be seeing you when you wake up, then."
But, before Mikey could stand, he stopped when Leo struggled to sit up, ignoring Raph insisting that Leo shouldn't move, or the pain spiking through his body. Instead, Leo wrapped his arms around his surprised, baby brother and embraced him.
"You guys shouldn't have come, you could have all gotten hurt," Leo mumbled to Mikey, but loud enough for Raph to hear as well. "But I'm happy you made it back in one piece."
Close to tears, Mikey warmly tightened his hug on him, burying his face on Leo's shoulder. "We couldn't have survived a week without you," Mikey admitted to Leo's shoulder.
"I know," Leo responded.
Raph couldn't help but smiled softly as he watched them.
Slowly, Leo released Mikey and Mikey stood up, walking over to the door. Raph and Leo exchanged looks and a nod before Raph left.
Mikey went to follow Raph, but stopped. He turned around to take one last look at Leo. "Catch ya later, Leo."
"Right back atcha, Mikey."
Unable to stop smiling anymore (and has no plan to stop whatsoever), Mikey turned around and slowly closed the door behind him.
Before the door fully closed, Leo's eyes narrowed on Mikey's back neck, almost hidden under his shell.
There, attached to Mikey's back neck, was a Kraang mind control device.
Once Leo was all alone, he leaned back on the bed, dropped the friendly mask and revealed a sinister smile.
Everything was going according to plan.
One Hour Earlier:
Leo's body was in so much pain, he wanted so badly to fall back into unconsciousness.
There was not a single spot on him that wasn't hurting. After the shock torture, he blanked out for who knows how long.
And it was a blissful, non-aching period of blackout.
When he awoke, the Foot Ninjas then began to have their fun on him. And their definition of fun included burning, cutting, and beating him up.
All while Karai looked away.
Leo had tried to keep his mind on his family, hoping that their image would make the pain lessen a little. However, the hurting was just too great, and, before he knew it, he was being dragged before the Shredder again, with Karai in the lead.
Once they've reached to Shredder, who was waiting for them at the foot of the stairs, Karai stopped and held up her hand, halting the ninjas behind her.
Both father and daughter stared at each other with hard, emotionless eyes. Shredder's eyes were narrowed at Karai with expectations. Karai nodded, answering his unspoken question, but felt particularly disgusted with herself and what she had done.
Karai turned and walked away, leaving Shredder to move his focus on the turtle.
With as much strength as he could muster, Leo slowly raised his head up to look at Shredder, waiting to see what his enemy had planned for him.
Shredder stepped forward and held out his enclosed hand before Leo, opening it.
Sitting on the palm of his hand was a very familiar device.
"Do you recognize this, turtle," Shredder at last asked Leo.
Leo did recognize the device. It was the same tool that the Kraang used to control April's dad. A mind control device.
"Ah, good," Shredder said, observing the expression on Leo's scarred and surprised face. "Then perhaps you know what I plan to use this for."
Looking up at Shredder's pointed eyes, Leo's mind flashed to an image of himself dressed up in Foot Ninja attire. It horrified him.
All of a sudden, Leo used what's left of his strength to lean in and grab the tiny device in his teeth. Then, Leo pulled away from the shocked ninjas and back-flipped over them, standing now afar from them.
The Foot Ninjas started to move, but Shredder held his hand up, forbidding them. They watched as Leo spitted the device to the ground and slammed his foot on it, crushing it into pieces.
Leo stared at them with a confident smile, even though the action took so much from his wounded body and was now shaking heavily. Although Leo was now dead tired, he stood his ground, trying to steady his panting.
However, to Leo's complete shock, Shredder just chuckled. Leo looked a his enemy in confusion.
"A very good performance, turtle," Shredder complemented mockingly. He pulled out a small controller from behind him. "But did you not think that I would have more of them? And in different sizes?"
Before Leo could react, Shredder pressed the button on the controller.
All of a sudden, Leo's eye pupil shrunk. And then, his hands immediately went to his head as he fell to his knees, screaming.
It was in his head. It was in his head trying to take control of him. Leo tried his hardest to fight against the device, but it only caused him to feel more unbelievable pain, this time, from inside his head.
"Do not bother fighting back, turtle," Shredder told him. "You are too weak from all the torture. It won't be long now."
Leo's eyes were shut tight, feeling his control slipping. "How . . ."
"While you had been unconscious during your torture session, my daughter inserted the device inside your head. The device is now attached to your brain, and I will soon have complete control over you."
"No . . . never . . ." But the pain was becoming too much to bare, and he had no more strength left to fight back, wasting them on taking and destroying the other device.
It was all for nothing. And now, he may never return to his family again.
He released one, long, and terrible scream that shook the room.
And then, he fell to the floor, silent.
A long, tensed pause filled the room, all eyes on the unmoving turtle, waiting.
Becoming impatient, Shredder stepped forward. "Arise."
At first, nothing happened, doubt sneaking into Shredder's mind.
But then, ever so slowly, the turtle rose up and straightened his body. His head lifted up to reveal two blank eyes.
Very pleased that it had worked, Shredder ordered, "Kneel before me."
The turtle walked up to the Shredder and, without a second thought, kneeled before him.
The Foot Ninjas exchanged looks with each other, amazed.
The Shredder laughed victoriously. "Yes, a success! Now this plan cannot fail!"
Just then, a foot ninja barged in, and Shredder knew immediately what his messenger ninja came to report about.
"Ah, the other turtles have finally escaped those imbeciles, and that they are on their way. Perfect." He looked down at Leo. "I have an important task for you . . . my faithful servant."
Leo's head rose up and listened intently to his new master's orders.