Authors Note: Just to clarify - italics are thoughts. But ...italics with stops around are thought projection...
&&&&&&&
Donatello opened his eyes and stared at the floor beneath his beak – smooth, polished wood. He blinked, wondering if he was seeing things. The wood remained.
Bracing his hands against the floor, he pushed himself to a kneeling position and looked around, startled. He was back in Foot Headquarters, the severed and smoking mechanical arm of the Shredder mere inches away. The Shredder himself was flailing his mechanical arms around, obviously having been hit by something very large and explosive.
What the...?
"Donnie!" Mike was by his side in an instant, helping him up. "You okay?"
Mikey has – two hands?
With a feeling of dread, Donnie realised that somehow, he was back on the night when they fought and defeated the Shredder, the night they had lost Splinter – and Raph.
Looking at the Shredder, a blur of motion aimed for the Shredder – Splinter, remembered Donnie with a pang.
No, this has already happened! We fought Shredder, we lost Splinter and Raph, we grew apart, Mikey found Raph again and lost an arm and we went after Karai and there was some kind of – creature...
Just as Donnie remembered, one of the Shredder's mechanical arms hit Splinter mid-leap and threw him toward the window.
It was a dream, while I was knocked out from the blast, decided Donnie in a burst of cold logic. No one in my family's gonna go missing tonight. Not if I can help it.
Splinter hit the window hard, just as Donnie remembered, but this time Don was already moving toward the window. The glass gave and the rat fell backwards and began his plummet…
And this time, Donnie was close enough that Splinter was able to grab the bo and stop his fall.
Beneath him, Splinter stared wide-eyed as Don grinned. He had done it! He had saved Splinter; meaning Raph wouldn't go after him, meaning Karai couldn't…
Karai. He had forgotten about her.
A hard blow to his shell knocked him forward and his feet met with thin air as he fell from the window and he and Splinter began to fall…
He didn't even have the illusion of the rope, as Raph had. They were falling and there was nothing he could do to save his own life or Splinter's. He heard Mikey screaming his name as the helipad rushed closer to meet him…
And woke up, his beak pressed against the hard wooden floor of Shredder's private dojo, where he could hear the aftermath of the explosion that had taken off the Shredder's leg. The shot that he had fired.
Getting to his feet, he saw the blur of Splinter heading for the Shredder, trying to finish him off before he could recover.
Is this real?
Shredder's flailing mechanical arm hit Splinter, throwing him back into the window.
Has this already happened?
The window gave and Splinter fought gravity for a moment as Donnie raced toward the rat, bo prepared for Splinter to grab on to.
Was the creature real? Did I imagine it? Was I even unconscious?
He threw himself across the glass-strewn floor, reached his bo to Splinter as he fell – and the rat missed his grip and began to plummet.
I failed; I've let him die, again...
And a green blur leapt over him and jumped after Splinter.
Raph.
The rope!
Before he could get up and guard the rope, Karai was there already, incapacitating him with a kick, slicing her sword through the rope that was the only thing that could save either Raph or Splinter now.
"RAPHAEL!!"
Don could hear Mikey scream and he knew that in a moment, the scarred turtle would attack Karai; giving her the worst of the injuries to her body she would receive that night.
Instead, Karai turned and in one swift movement, brought down her sword. Donnie couldn't see the blow land, still unable to move on the floor. But a second later, a nunchaku landed beside him. The arm that had wielded it was still clinging to it, ending in a mess of bone and blood. A moment later, Donnie heard Leo's yell of anguish as Karai swung the sword again. Out of his sight, something heavy fell to the floor.
Couldn't save him – I was right here and I couldn't even move – I let him die!
Donnie fought to get up, get his breath back, anything. Raph and Splinter were gone. Mikey was gone. That left Leo and himself – and Leo couldn't do this if Don didn't help.
But there was something wrong with him. He couldn't get up.
Leo raced at Karai, screaming in fury, swords extended, the killing blow certain. Karai regarded him with cold eyes, merely waiting for his attack.
And as Leo leapt, the Shredder made his move, unleashing a blast so powerful it threw Leo off course, away from Karai, blackening and tearing his flesh. Donnie was suddenly assaulted by the powerful stink of burning…
And he woke up, his beak pressed against the hardwood floor of the dojo.
Please no more... what's going on? Why do I keep letting them die?
&&&&&&&&&&
Michelangelo rubbed the back of his head with his remaining hand and groaned, forcing his eyes open. He seemed to be in another cavern, dimly lit by some unseen source. There was no sign of the creature – and no sign of his brothers either. Any of them.
Raph was here.
The memory forced away the last of the bleariness and he tried to remember what exactly had happened before he woke up here. The creature had been holding them, Raph had turned up, there was a brief recollection of being hit with another tentacle and then – nothing.
Raph must have stopped the creature somehow and because I was injured, they left me here while they went after it to finish it off!
Logic told him that at least one of them would have stayed with him, but he refused to let logic intrude on a good theory. He sat up and glanced around, eyes narrowing as he saw a shadow approaching around the corner. He reached down for his lone nunchaku and found that somewhere along the line he'd lost it.
Doesn't matter, I've got another one at the lair the same, can't use it because I only have one arm now...
"Who's there?" he asked in a low voice, hoping it was one of his brothers.
"Mikey!"
That voice!
"Raphael!" Mike got to his feet and grinned for the first time in weeks, months even. "I knew it! I knew you were alive! I knew the creature didn't get you!"
"You're wrong Mikey."
Mike frowned. His brother's voice sounded – different. There was an undertone of malice he had never heard from Raph before.
"The creature got me Mike," continued Raph, coming into view. His right side at least. His left side was still hidden behind the rocks. "But it was merciful. It offered us a chance to join it – and I took its offer."
Raph continued forward and with dread rising in his throat, Mikey realised that Raph's left arm was no longer there. Instead, there was a mass of tentacles, just like those of the creature.
"No… Raph…"
"No?" Raph tilted his head to one side. "Your choice."
"Raph, NO!" Mike got to his feet and wondered if he would do well to fight or if he would be better to run, find the others, find some way of subduing Raph and getting away from all this.
Too late. Raph leapt forward, a kick landing on Mikey's plastron. Mikey landed on his shell, staring up at Raph, feeling as helpless as he had done the first time that Raph put him through this.
Raph reached a hand behind his back and pulled out a katana, advancing slowly. "A gift from the last brother who said 'no'," he said with a grin that bore no resemblance to the turtle he had once been.
"Leo?"
"Who else?" Raph laughed, holding the katana in front of him with the hand that was still his own. Mikey might have been able to do something then, but he felt glued to the spot, frozen…
And without warning, Raph stopped laughing and lashed out with the sword.
The shot was aimed at his face and Mike brought up his right arm to block the shot. The limb fell to the floor, surprisingly painless, blood trickling from the new wound and running warm down his sides.
"That's you Mikey. Totally 'armless," said Raph, with what Mikey would have dubbed 'worst pun of the century' had he been in a position to judge. As it was, he was in shock. His only arm, removed.
"Maybe we should have some fun," mused Raphael, swinging the sword again. It sliced through Mike's left leg and Mikey screamed as the blade went through muscles and bone and sinew and stopped halfway through the limb.
"Hate when that happens, don't you?" Raph's tone was conversational as he pulled the sword away and tried again. This time, the blade cut through the rest of the limb and Mikey stared as the leg became separate from him, save for a few stringy, bloody red things that he thought might have been nerves.
"One down, one to go," said Raph, grinning at Mike. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit – ahh, who am I kidding?"
This time, the sword took three swings to sever the limb. Mikey, unable to do anything, stared wide-eyes at his much-loved brother and found he had no words to save himself.
"Quiet huh? First time in your life. I should have done this years ago!" Raph grabbed Mikey's legs and threw them carelessly aside, kneeling in front of Mike. "Now you're in no position to run, or clobber me with those chucks, maybe I should take you to meet my new boss."
"…No…"
"Come with Mikey!" With macabre good cheer, Raph grabbed Mikey by the shell and began dragging him away.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Leo opened his eyes and found himself in a tunnel leading from the cavern, the whole place submerged in gloom. He rose, looking around for Donnie or Mike. No one else was there.
But someone was approaching.
Leo unsheathed a katana and narrowed his eyes as the figure came into view. Armoured, helmeted, staring at him through inhuman eyes.
"SHREDDER!"
Leo leapt for the figure, driving his sword down. Before the blade touched, Shredder caught it with the prongs of his gauntlet and threw Leo aside.
Leo rolled and jumped back to his feet, katana raised against the…
Man?
A slow smile spread across Leo's face. "You're not the Shredder. I killed him myself."
The armoured figure regarded him impassively.
"But I know what Mikey told me."
He ran for the figure, which blocked every blow, parried every strike.
"It's you Karai." Clash. "I know it is." Clash. "Why hide behind the armour?"
The Shredder, slightly dazed, backed off a couple of steps and Leo took his chance, a spinning kick knocking off her helmet…
Her?
Not her. With a growing sense of dread, Leo stared as the Shredder as he moved his face and looked at the turtle.
The face was his own.
"NO!"
"Who else?" Shredder-Leo grinned at his stunned counterpart. "Who else could hurt your family this way? Who else could lead them to do something so stupid? Who else could lead them to their deaths?"
"I didn't want them to die!"
"No?" Shredder-Leo continued to smirk. "You had it pretty good back in Foot Headquarters, didn't you? You were training Foot ninja, you had your Sensei's trust, you had a good life. And then one of your brothers rocked the boat. Michelangelo, if I remember correctly."
"SHUT UP!"
"Mikey. He dragged you out of the Foot, took you from your life and made you live in a stinky sewer. But we didn't take him first. Because there was someone who was more of a thorn in our sides, wasn't there?"
"No…"
"Raphael. Yes, he was the one it was unbearable to live with. He was the one who argued with us so badly we had to leave the lair and got attacked. He was the one. We could put up with Mike, but we had to get rid of Raph. Oh, and let's not forget Splinter. The rat. The one who put the idea into Mikey's head in the first place, who thought he could replace our Sensei."
"That –that's not how it was!"
"Don't lie to yourself. You knew what would happen if you led the attack on Foot Headquarters and you did it anyway. Because deep down, you hate your family. You hate their weakness in depending on you, looking on you to lead them. You hate that they took you from your happy life and forced you into what you have now. Their fault you were attacked and injured, their fault that you have to live out of sight, their fault. All their fault."
"NO!" Leo leapt for his alternate, katana ready to slice off his head. But anger had already defeated him. Shredder-Leo merely stepped aside, swung his gauntlet and caught Leo's katana, tossing it aside as he raised a foot to knock the breathe out of Leonardo. Leo rolled over, his stomach heaving at the force of the blow.
Shredder-Leo retrieved his helmet and replaced it, looking at Leo from behind the metal. "We are one. It is your destiny to lead your family to their doom. You truly are the son of the Shredder, Leonardo. I am proud…"
"You are not me!"
Leo ran for his foe again, ignoring the pain. The Shredder merely parried the katana swing and struck Leo in the face with his fist. Leo fell to the floor, feeling helpless.
Shredder walked over to Leo, resting a foot on his plastron. "You should admit it Leonardo. You and I, we are the same. I brought you up too well for you to fall to foolish sentiment. I groomed you to take over from me and you seriously tell me you would be happy living away from the humans, hiding from them, when you could have the world? You would rather live with a clown who has forgotten how to laugh, a genius whom you do not understand – you would rather have that?"
Leo felt the weight of the Shredder on his plastron and a part of his mind wholeheartedly agreed with the Shredder. He had been happy with the Foot. He had liked what he had done there. And his brothers alternately confused, annoyed and irritated him.
But…
With Donatello, chasing around Foot headquarters aged maybe seven, radio controlled car speeding around while they took it in turns to drive the thing through the corridors, laughing when one of them crashed the thing into a wall or smashed into a Foot soldiers ankle...
Donatello, risking himself for a total stranger, going after the mousers when he could have let April die, leaving the Foot and all his research behind for the good of his family...
With Michelangelo, sometime in their early teens, his brother in one of the jocular moods that had gotten few and far between the older he got, dragging Leo away from his katas and talking him into a video game that got so rowdy that two passing Foot ninja thought they were fighting and checked the room to see who was being killed, Leo laughing so hard that his stomach had hurt for the rest of the day...
Michelangelo, scarred by the Shredder and losing his arm in his desperate hunt for his missing brother...
With Raphael, not a year before they had left the Foot forever, on a midnight run, leaping across rooftops and trying to outdo each other with their stunts and flips, exchanging good-natured insults and for once not bothering to try to keep silent, too high up for anyone to hear them, just enjoying the moment...
Raphael, leaping out of a window with nothing between him and a messy landing but a single rope, all to rescue Splinter...
"I choose, Shredder," he snarled. "I choose as they did. I choose my family!"
With that, he rolled aside and jumped to his feet.
"This isn't real!" he yelled.
"I beg to differ Leonardo," replied the Shredder. "This is very real."
"Only in my head." Leo took a deep breath and let it out again. "You're not here. I'm not here. This is the creature, messing with us. Where are my brothers?"
"Worry about yourself," snarled the Shredder, advancing.
"I can't worry about you – you don't exist." Leo turned his back on the Shredder and hoped he was right. Otherwise, he was in for a world of hurt.
He closed his eyes, hearing the Shredder's approach…
And woke up sitting upright in a chair of some kind. Looking around, he was in a small – room? – with three walls that were mildly organic looking and a fourth that was not only organic looking but also pulsing mildly, slightly transparent with light struggling through it.
Leo took the katana from his back, slightly surprised that they remained. He sliced through the wall, some kind of membrane if he had to guess, although Donnie would know for sure.
Donnie – Mikey...
He had to find them. Now.
He stepped through the membrane, realising he was covered with some kind of slime and feeling grossed out. His previous comment came back to haunt him – it could take us weeks to search all of these!
But there were two pods beside the one he had just broken out of, glowing with the same dull red glow he remembered from the meteor spear.
He slashed through the first one and sure enough, there was Michelangelo.
&&&&&&&&&
"Raph – no! Please!"
Raphael kept pulling him, on his infernal course.
"You already took everything," sobbed Mike. "My arms, my legs, my brothers, everything! You can't just let me die?"
Raph turned his head and looked at Mikey, a sneer twisting up his face.
"Listen to me, Mikey."
Mikey stared. The words were coming out of Raph's mouth, but the voice was definitely Leo's.
"This isn't real. It's all in your mind… you have to wake up! Please…
&&&&&&&&&&
"…Wake up."
Mikey blinked and looked around. Leo was leaning through a slash in a membrane on one wall, talking to him. Quickly, Mikey looked down. He had one arm and two legs.
"I'm – whole?"
Leo frowned, obviously unsure of how to respond.
"Whole enough." Mikey replied his own question, standing up. "What happened?"
"It was a dream – a nightmare. I think the creature messed with our heads, made us live our nightmares." Leo pulled at the membrane, giving Mikey enough room to get out. "We have to find Donnie."
"And now," agreed Mikey wholeheartedly.
&&&&&&&
Splinter fell through the window.
How many times? Thought Donnie as he leapt for the rat and missed once more. How many times do I have to fail, to see my family die before my eyes?
A green blur passed in front of him. Leo, this time.
"Wake up Donnie!" he yelled as he fell out of sight.
Don blinked. "Huh?"
Mikey ran over, not screaming at Karai this time. Instead, he grabbed Don by the shoulder. "The creature's fucking with us! Mind games – please Don, wake up! Wake up! Wake…"
&&&&&&&&&
"…Up!"
Don rubbed his eyes. The scene that had been playing in front of him was gone. Instead, he was in some kind of – cocoon – with a faint light around him. Leo and Mikey had both come in through a sword-slash in the membranous walls and were shaking him.
"What….?"
"The creature," replied Leo and Don noticed he was covered in some kind of slime. Mikey too. "Playing with us. This is what it does to people who it lures – it feeds off them somehow, off their fears. It's been doing that to us."
"Where is it now?" asked Don, standing up in a hurry. He didn't want to be a battery cell for an evil being from outer space any longer.
"We haven't seen it," replied Mikey. "But it has to be around."
Don thought back over his confused memories. "Did you guys see…?"
"Raph," confirmed Mike, his mouth trying to turn down at the corners. "The creature has him, but only because Karai let it. We have to get him free. And the only way to do that…"
"Kill the creature," confirmed Leo.
"And Raphael's still around, somewhere," added Don. "He'll try to hurt us. We can't let him – it's for his own good."
"But don't hurt him, if you can help it," said Mikey; still shaken by the vision he'd had but unwilling to give in to it.
The three stepped out of the pod, glancing around for Raph but not seeing their brother – or any sign of the creature. Don looked at the hundreds of pods and whistled. "How did you find us, in all these cells?"
"They were glowing," replied Leo. "Glowing red, just like the spear. Speaking of which, I dropped it. We need to find it before we can do anything."
Mikey pointed to the spot he recalled Leo being stood in before the creature got hold of him. "I think…"
He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence. A figure swooped out of the darkness and kicked him hard in the plastron, knocking him flying.
Raphael.
His eyes glowing an eerie red, Raph turned to Leo and Donnie, a vacant grin on his face. The sun and moon daggers, not his original pair which the turtles had possession of, but a shiny new set, glinted in his hands.
And Donnie, barely able to credit what he was seeing, froze.
"Look out!" Leo barrelled into Raph as the turtle suddenly darted at Don. The pair went down in a mass of limbs and Don finally found himself able to move, snatching his bo and targeting the back of Raph's exposed neck, hoping the blow would incapacitate or at least knock his brother out.
Raph turned at the last possible second, the bo smacking him in the arm instead of the neck. Looking up, he flicked a wrist, Leo punching at the limb a fraction of a second too late. Don jerked back, the sun and moon dagger opening the skin on the side of his head. Raph threw Leo aside and jumped to his feet, barrelling at Donnie. Don raised his bo and for a moment, he and Raphael tussled, Don's brown eyes meeting the glowing red ones of his brother. Then Don shoved Raph backwards, the possessed turtle stumbling, almost falling, before regaining his feet.
Leonardo jumped up too, then glanced at the walls. He narrowed his eyes and paused for a moment, not going to help Donnie. There were tentacles snaking out of the walls, evidently planning on trapping them in the pods again. If they were to escape again, would the same thing happen? Continually recaptured and trapped until there seemed no point in waking from their nightmares?
The tentacles moved at a speed that seemed impossible for their size, lashing out at Leo. He leapt backward, trying to avoid them. More moved behind him and he barely avoided getting ground into the floor. Grabbing his katana, he slashed at the tentacle closest, missing by mere inches as yet another tentacle whipped toward him and this time connected with his plastron. He flew backward, hitting the cavern wall hard and landing in a heap on the ground.
Meanwhile, Michelangelo had got back up and rather than join the fight against Raphael, tried to recall where Leo had been standing when he had been grabbed by the creature and dropped the meteor spear. There was no sign of it anywhere.
A tentacle shot through the cavern with surprising swiftness, aimed straight at him. Dodging, he avoided the blow and those that followed, jumping and ducking, being forced backward. He leapt over a particularly low shot and landing, felt his heel hit thin air, heat against his shell. He had landed on the precipice where the meteor was housed, the fire surrounding it close enough to reach out and touch.
Another onslaught of tentacles forced him to leap the meteor, landing on the other side, facing the gap. He could see Don and Raph fighting; Leo slumped on the floor, trying to regain his senses. He had to go and help them, had to…
From the corner of his eye, he saw something glowing in the darkness, a dull red.
There!
Running over to the glow, he dropped to his knees and found the spear almost hidden in the shadows. Grabbing it, he stood up and turned…
Just as the creature revealed itself.
The ground shook as it pulled itself up through the floor, huger than Mikey could ever have imagined. Its head reminded him of a lobster, the mouth sideways on with shorter tentacles around it, the larger, longer ones acting as its legs. But the eyes were insectile, located far to each side of its head – and what looked almost like a third eye, a shining light in the centre that glowed so brightly that it hurt to look at it. Mikey paused momentarily, staring at the thing, eyes narrowed to block out the light.
That's what's been controlling Raph…Behind the creature, he could see Don go down, Raph getting the better of him. A second later, a newly roused Leo brought a sword around in a sweeping arc, stopping the sun and moon dagger that Raph was aiming at Donnie's face.
Up to me.
Mike ran at the creature, held the spear aloft and took aim, hoping that his training and practise would pay off in spite of him not using bladed weapons on a regular basis…
...Michelangelo...
Mikey blinked, his aim faltering. The voice had sounded right inside his head, without the words being spoken out loud. So familiar, persuasive.
...Feel my power...
He could feel its power from where he stood, as if the creature were throwing it off as easily as the light that shone from it.
... See my strength...
He had already seen its strength. It had thrown them around like they were toys.
...You cannot fight me...
He could feel the creature within his mind, almost as if the tentacles he could see were accompanied by invisible ones that crawled over his thoughts and burrowed into his head.
It was unpleasant. And yet…
...You cannot win...
Win? Against this? Of course he couldn't win. He could see that now He could sense the age and infinite experience of the creature, see the demise of the many who had tried to defeat it. None had succeeded. Why should he?
...If you serve me, I will give you cities. I will give you power and wealth...
Power. Wealth. The things that he had been brought up knowing were important. Master Saki had sought and achieved both and he had been able to live in the world, getting whatever he wanted. Maybe Michelangelo too would be able to find his place outside the sewer – if he had the power. And wealth brought power. Hadn't his brothers said so less than an hour ago?
...I will give you the world...
Michelangelo grinned. His eyes flashed red and he threw the spear to one side. Looking at the creature's light no longer hurt. The glow bathed him, illuminated him, made him stronger, able to see the way forward, into a world that no longer shunned him, but revered him…
A world where your brother is still a prisoner.
Mike frowned slightly, shaking his head as if to dispel the notion. He would have everything he ever wanted – if he were to just do this one thing.
Nothing's free Mikey, you know that by now. At what price, this wealth and power? When have you ever wanted those things, more than anything else? What do you really want? Because I don't think this monster can give you that.
What did he really want?
His family, reunited. His brothers, safe.
Gritting his teeth, he shook his head again, more violently this time. The red light in his eyes flickered and died, revealing his own blue orbs, wide and shocked but without the tinge of the creature.
"I don't want the world. I want my family."
He dropped and rolled, snatching up the spear and jumping to his feet. Without pausing to check his aim, he hurled the meteor spear directly at the creature.
The spear flew directly from his hands and lodged into the centre of the creature's face, the third eye where its red light emitted.
It screamed, the noise drilling directly into the skulls of all the turtles. Instinctively, Mike clapped his hands to the side of his head to no avail. He could see Leo and Donnie do likewise – and Raph too, incapacitated by the telepathic howls.
The light from the creature grew still brighter and Mike closed his eyes, the light penetrating even through his eyelids. He turned his head, raising his one hand to cover his face and try for some protection as the shrieks grew ever louder.
And suddenly, there was darkness and silence.
Cautiously, Mikey opened his eyes and peeked from behind his hand. The destruction the creature had wrought was still very much evident and the meteor still glowed, the fire around it burning and providing some light to see by. But the creature itself had gone, leaving no trace…
Almost no trace. There was a red spillage leading into the hole the creature had come from, not blood but more like an ichor that glowed in the light of the meteor.
Mikey closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.
"Guys!"
Opening his eyes at the sound of Donnie's voice, Mike shook himself out of his reverie and looked over. Leo was already on his feet and making his way to Don. But Don was kneeling on the floor, checking Raph's pulse.
Raphael lay on the floor, unmoving. He had gained no real injuries in the fight against his brothers and had been on his feet until the creature's screams. Mikey could see no reason for him being down and out.
Oh you liar, said a voice within him, the voice that just loved it when he messed up. It sounded quite a lot like Oroku Saki. When you killed the creature, you killed Raph too. That was the only thing keeping him alive. He was too badly hurt that night so they reanimated him. No creature, no brother. Should have taken it up on that offer.
"No," muttered Mike under his breath, hurrying over to the others.
Leo bit his lip. "Don…"
"He's alive," said Donnie, not bothering to disguise his relief. "But he's out of it. And we don't know what's gonna happen when he comes to."
"Alive." Mikey allowed a small smile to cross his beak.
Much to his surprise, Leo rested a hand on his shoulder. "You did good Mikey. Saved us all."
Embarrassed, Mikey looked at the floor. "Uh, thanks."
Raphael stirred and all three turtles tensed, waiting for what came next. There was every chance he would get up and attack them again – or was the creature's influence lifted now it was apparently dead?
As the long-missing turtle opened his eyes, they all searched for the telltale signs of possession – the red glow, the sudden urge to attack the others. But Raph's eyes were as they always had been, deep brown bordering on black, his eye ridges turning down into a scowl.
"What. The. Shell?"
Don stared. "Raph?"
"Anyone get the number of that truck?"
"Raph!"
Don pulled his brother into a sitting position and hugged him fiercely. "Raph, I – I thought you were dead, and you're – shit, it's good to see you!"
Raph put an arm around Don in response, while Mike and Leo grinned. "I'm okay. Now. I was beginning to think I'd never get free of that…" He stopped suddenly, his eyes growing wide. "Mikey?"
"I'm right here Raph." Mikey fought back tears and won – for the moment.
"I – remember. What happened on the roof…"
"You didn't do it Raph, we all know that."
Raph got into a standing position, moving slowly as if his muscles were stiff. "Your arm – I did that?"
"No, you didn't have a choice." To his credit, Mikey didn't even glance at the missing limb. But he could see Raph's face, the guilt and horror growing there.
"I'm sorry…" Raph tore his eyes away from Mikey's arm, the one that ended in a stub at the elbow, and stared at the floor instead.
"We can do regrets later," said Mike, not wanting to have this conversation at that moment, not when they still had a job to do.
"Raph." Leo tried to force the goofy grin off his face and look serious. Until that moment, he hadn't realised just how much he had missed his brother. "What happened? How did you end up here?"
"I don't really remember," said Raph, frustrated. "We fell and I twisted 'round and landed on my shell – I guess I lost consciousness then, but I know my shell – it shattered."
The other three turtles winced, unable to imagine just how much that would have hurt.
"Then I was – kinda drifting I guess. I knew time was passing but I wasn't thinking about anything much. It was a long time before I realised what was going on. There was a tube fulla liquid and these – worm things, crawling on me. I couldn't brush them off and turns out they were helping, healing all the wounds and, um, knitting the skin back together. Did a real shitty job with the shell though."
Raph frowned as he tried to recall events in a coherent order. "I was still pretty weak when they brought me down here. The creature snagged me, put me in a pod but I escaped. Didn't matter. I escaped a whole bunch of times, but I couldn't get out of the cavern. It just put me back in a pod and the whole thing started again. The last time, I was really beat down and it showed itself, crawled right of the floor and faced me. Tried to hold it off, but it kept wearing me down, crawling around in my head and I didn't have any way to fight it. It managed to take control of my mind…"
"It's okay Raph," said Mikey. "I faced it too and if I hadn't had the meteor spear, I couldn't have held it off. It crawls through your head, looking for a way in."
Raph nodded. "Just like that. I couldn't do anything about it. A part of me could see what I was doing, but everything was so confused. I thought I broke free right after I – after the night on the roof. Threw off the creatures influence and attacked Karai… but it was still in my head and it wasn't Karai at all, it was a Foot soldier who pissed her off. I couldn't see it until I wasn't myself again."
"The pods, the illusions there are little glamours," said Don. "It – I don't know, fed on them somehow. But it's influence extended and it used that to protect itself."
Leo nodded. "And where does Karai fit into this?"
"Saki," replied Raph. "He found this place not long before we left the Foot, found out about the monster and struck some kind of deal with it. It's alive and it understands humans – or aliens or whatever the hell Saki was. Saki could bring it what it needed and it could give him more power. Karai knew about it too and knew it could give her what she wanted."
"Us," said Don angrily. "Why kill us when she could torment us instead? Have us down here, reliving our worst nightmares over and over, or serving her against our will. That cunning bitch."
Mikey nodded slowly. "Where's Splinter in all this?"
"I don't know," replied Raph. "Haven't seen him since I got here. I don't even know if he's still alive or not. I didn't see anything after we hit the ground."
"Where's Karai now?" asked Donnie.
"Up there." Raph pointed toward the ceiling of the cavern. "Top floor. But she doesn't expect us to ever get out of here – I don't know if she'll be expecting us."
"Are you feeling up to taking her on?" Leo asked.
"You kidding?" Raph got a nasty gleam in his eye. "I've been waiting for this chance for months."
"Don? Mikey?"
"You know it," replied Don, while Mikey merely nodded grimly.
"Let's go then." Leo turned toward the exit of the cavern, his mouth set in a firm line. "This ends tonight. One way or another, we finish this now."
&&&&&&&&&&
Authors Note: Yes, another one. I'll be clarifying some more of what happened to Raph next chapter - which will be the last main chapter, followed by a short epilogue. Thanks for reading!
