Chapter 9:

(Donnie's POV)

Remaining undetected as we searched for the center of the complex, knowing that the Barron had to be there, was proving to be harder than we expected. Around every corner the man had more guards, some of them even generals, and on top of that Leo was forced to rely on me to a usually unnecessary degree.

We'd all been trained to move and fight in a blinded state, but my brother was also still fighting off the Barron's influence, so he didn't have enough free thought to put into the action of fending for himself.

"Is he going to be any help when we actually do find my brother?" Zira whispered in my ear some time later.

"You know he can hear you, right?" I told her in a level tone, causing her to look at Leo who was obviously not too happy with her remark.

"Sorry, it's just –" She started again, but he quickly raised a hand to stop her.

"No, you're right," He admitted, "I knew this wouldn't be easy, but it's taking everything I have just to hold him off. I can't fight him with you; I'll only be a liability."

"We prepared for that, Leo," I told him truthfully.

"I know, but I was still hoping we wouldn't have to go to plan B so soon," He muttered sourly.

"Then maybe you'll feel better to know that plan B's already started itself," Zira added and I quickly turned to find her pointing down the hall where half a dozen guards had been knocked unconscious with a little help from Raph, Mikey and the general, who I'd learned went by the name Usagi.

"Well, if the Barron didn't know we were here before he certainly does now," I told them sternly, causing my brothers to shrug sheepishly and Usagi to grip his sword like he was suddenly ashamed of himself.

"I wasn't sure how much longer we could keep him in the dark anyway," Leo admitted, standing noticeably straighter now that Raph and Mikey were close enough to help him fight off the nano bots attempting to control him, "Plan B it is," He added before handing out our orders.

"Donnie, Zira – I want you to disable the Barron's computers," He stated seriously.

"But –" Zira tried to complain, but he was having none of it.

"No buts, there's never a guarantee a victory and this way even if we loose, we'll have weakened him," He proclaimed truthfully and I nodded in agreement before pulling Zira along with me as we went to find the control room.

…

(3rd:)

"Ya gonna be okay?" Raph asked Leo as they made their way through the building, following Usagi in the hopes that what little memory he had of his work with the Barron would led them to their enemy.

"I'll be fine," Leo answered tiredly, "Once we take him down," He added more to himself than his brother, but Raph heard it anyway and couldn't help but agree. After all he knew exactly what his brother was going through.

"Here," Usagi proclaimed a few minutes later and they promptly stopped in front of a set of large double sliding doors, "But I don't know the code," He admitted as he activated the little computer on the wall, which would have opened the door.

"I do," Raph announced with a grin as he cracked his knuckles before forcing everyone to scatter as he threw his fist into the metal so hard that it left a massive dent. A few more punches and some bending later, he'd managed to make a hole in the door big enough for them to get through before standing back and motioned to them with a smile that they could go first.

"I'm impressed," Usagi revealed taking a quick moment to study the sheets of metal around him as he entered behind Leo and Mikey, only to realize that the door had been over 5 feet thick.

"Shit," Raph swore in response, though not because he'd been praised, it was instead due to the fact that the Barron was standing in the middle of the room with such a relaxed stance that proved he had been waiting for them.

"Well," Mikey sighed dejectedly, "So much for the element of surprise."

…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Donnie chanted as he skidded to a stop in front of a random door before checking his gantlet to insure they were in the right place, "This is it," He announced before moving to break into the computer and open the door while Zira watched the hall for any uninvited guests.

"Got it," He called once he'd reprogrammed the lock into the open position and quickly walked into the room as the barricade slid away to find exactly what he was looking for.

However, as he started work on the computer to have it find and destroy anything he could Zira quickly demanded his attention again.

"What?" He demanded in annoyance once she had called his name two separate times only to turn and find her staring at one of the hundreds of frozen tubes of strange green liquid that took up space in an adjacent room.

He had assumed they were to keep the super computer cooled, but judging from the horrified look on her face he was starting to think he had been wrong.

"Zira?" He asked kindly, forgetting his mission for a moment to walk over and make sure she was okay, which is how he came to see the small space of frost that she had wiped away to reveal a face.

But not just any face, it was the face of an Algon.

…

"I admit; I did not expect such boldness," The Barron proclaimed as he calmly took in the three turtles and rabbit before him, "But it ends here."

"We'll see," Raph threatened as he twirled his sai into his hands and charged. However, the man just casually slid out of the way like he found the attempt boring at best.

"Mikey?" Leo ordered quietly, as he finally opened his eyes to take in their opponent, having no reason to keep them closed any more, as he could feel that the man was no longer trying to break into his mind.

"Can you see him?" He demanded quickly, knowing that his little brother was the only one of them that had not yet been contaminated by the nano bots, and needed to make sure that what they were seeing wasn't just a vision brought on by that fact.

"Yeah," He announced as he watched the Barron dance around their brother's next few attacks, "But – something's up," He added questionably, "But I don't know what," He admitted, leaving Leo to nod, before drawing his own weapons and charged into the fight along side Usagi.

Together, the two swordsmen and the sai welder were able to force the man back, trying to get him into position for Mikey to take him out, but that wasn't to say it didn't still look like they were just being played with.

"Leonardo," Usagi called to him after a minute, getting the turtle's attention, "I do not believe this is working."

"Yeah, neither do I," He agreed watching as his brother's continued attempting to hit the man, trying desperately to make out what was giving the Barron his power, and as if on Q the answer came in the form of his phone ringing, prompting him to pick up to find that it was Donnie.

"Get away from him!" Donnie ordered loudly, making his leader's heart freeze.

"Fall back," He commanded Mike and Raph immediately, causing them to start, but did as he said, leaving the man to watch them with a curious smile, "Donnie, what's going on?" He demanded of the phone.

"He's absorbing the abilities of other Algons," His missing brother proclaimed from the other end, "He's got hundreds of them here, all hooked up to a super computer. I'll bet anything it's downloading their minds, allowing him to use their powers for himself. You can't fight something like that Leo."

"Then how do we stop him?" Leo asked as he and his team backed up a few steps so they weren't as close to the creature in the room they were beginning to think wasn't even the Barron at all.

Not anymore.

"I don't know," Donnie admitted as Leo clearly heard him typing on a keyboard, "I can't disconnect them, I can't do anything to this computer Leo, not without killing them," He announced in a panic.

"Damnit," Leo swore under his breath as his body clenched in response to this, however, before he could think his way around this new development a crash from the other side of the phone caught his attention.

"Donnie?" He asked the device as he heard a series of fighting sounds coming from the speaker, "Donnie!" He ordered, but the only answer he got was for the line to go dead.

"Damnit," He yelled again as he looked back at the Barron to find him obviously well aware of what was going on.

He thought he'd made the perfect plan; that they could take the man down while he was distracted, but it was beginning to look like they had overplayed their hand.

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