Leatherhead's eyes began to droop as he pulled the shivering turtle closer to him. He began to grow more and more groggier as his running started to slow down. His cold blooded body was begging for him to stop and fall asleep into hibernation, and natural instincts were prodding sharply at the large mutant gator.

He blinked a couple times, trying to shake the wave of sleepiness that continued to crash on him. His legs finally gave out and he slumped against the wall, sliding down with heavy pants. Leatherhead glanced down at Raphael, thoughts zooming through his head as he took in the small injuries the turtle had received. The usually strong, hot-headed, stubborn turtle was now small, weak, and vulnerable.

The small turtle yawned in his sleep and Leatherhead shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. They needed to get home and fix the problems that had been made. The giant alligator stood up on wobbly legs, clutching to the wall to keep himself balanced.

He leaned heavily against the wall, his eyes slowly sliding shut. He had no idea where he was, or where to go, but he needed to get home.

Sleep tugged at the mutant, but something suddenly pulled him back. Leatherhead's eyes shot open and he quickly looked around the tunnels for the disturbance, expecting a threat. Raphael moved again in his arms and Leatherhead looked down.

Raph squirmed, trying to get out of the tight grip. He sneezed and his head rested on Leatherhead's arm for a moment tiredly before he tried his escape once again.

The larger mutant tightened his grip, earning Raph's wide eyed gaze and a sheepish smile. "Go back to sleep Raphael." Leatherhead sighed and began to walk down the tunnel again, hoping to keep himself awake.

Raph shook his head. "I don't wanna." He whined. He sneezed and then yawned. He began to squirm again but was no match for the strong yet gently grip. "Come on Leatherhead! I wanna play!" Raph begged, ignoring his injuries that were starting to get mad at being disturbed.

Leatherhead shook his head, laughing slightly to himself. He would have to give credit to Splinter for doing with four turtles for 17 years. "The sewers is not the best place to play, my young friend." He stated.

"Then let's go topside!" Raph propped himself up and grabbed onto Leatherhead's shoulder and gave his best puppy dog face.

"No!" He hadn't meant to shout, but he realized to late when Raphael's large smile dropped. He sighed. "The surface is a dangerous place. I do not want you to get more injured." He watched Raphael plop himself back into the comforts of Leatherhead's arms. "I made a promise to keep you protected, did I not?" He inquired.

Raph pouted and glared at the floor, his arms crossed. "Yeah… I remember that…"

"Your brothers will play with you as soon as we return home." Leatherhead stated.

Raphael gave a small nod, still looking slightly down trotted. He placed his hand on his stomach and looked up at Leatherhead, shifting slightly in his arms. "Ummm, Leatherhead."

The large gator took his eyes off of the pathway his was walking on and looked back down at the young turtle.

"Can we get some food? I'm really hungry." As if to make his point his stomach gave an angry growl, making the small turtle clutch at his stomach tighter and cringe.

Raph bit his lip, tears threatening to spill over as his stomach ate at itself. He turned his gaze away from Leatherhead's and stared at the ground in front of him. Every time he asked for food, he would either get super close to getting some, or get denied all together.

Leatherhead blinked before looking around. He remembered an old rotting apple core that had floated by a while back, but there was no way he was letting Raphael eat anything like that. Another loud rumble came from Raphael's stomach making the turtle give a startled cry and pull into himself.

The only edible food Leatherhead could think of was back at the lair or his home. Leatherhead's eyes wondered to the ceiling of the sewer and he internally cringed. His home, the lair, or topside.

He wasn't an angel that's for sure, but he definitely wouldn't ever let himself get caught taking a cookie from the cookie jar. He had been born rebellious. He remembered from the time of taking toys on the playground to skipping class, yet still winning the hearts of all of the teachers.

Even if he had ever been caught, it was always kind of funny getting chewed out by some over steamed adult.

And now, the one time he finally finds that one small corner of good in the equally small corner of his heart and commits an act of goodwill, Bruno finds a freshly sharpened katana blade pointed directly in his face.

Bruno sighed. These turtles were obviously related to the younger terrapin, and man did they look ticked. "Hey, look," He paused for a moment, biting his lip in thought. "Is one of you a Leo?"

Each turtle tensed before exchanging looks. Bruno clenched his teeth. "A Donnie maybe?"

"Mikey?" Jason offered.

The sword came closer. "Where to did acquire this information?!" He snarled.

Bruno's eyebrows knitted together at the word acquire. He crossed his arms and pretended not to notice the katana blade. "The squirt." He declared.

He watched as the turtle's eyes filled with worry before quickly masking it.

"Raph?" Mikey quickly mumbled in the back; his gaze drifting away in thought.

"Yeah, Raph, Raphael, whatever you ca-"

"What did you do to him?!" Bruno narrowed his eyes and puckered his lips at the purple masked turtle for rudely interrupting him.

Bruno wasn't exactly liking this turtles. "Why should I tell you?" He crossed his arms; the back of his mind screaming at him to stop being stupid while Jason gave him a weary look.

"Don't mess with these guys." Jason whispered. Bruno rolled his eyes. As if the turtles would actually hurt him.

The two behind Leo immediately pulled out their own weapons; each of them spinning it in a deathly threatening manner. Bruno bit his lip, now feeling slightly worried.

He carefully reached for his belt, keeping eye contact with the blue leader.

"Get down!" Donatello shouted as he dove for cover and a loud bang filled the air, followed by an even louder scream.

Jason and Bruno took that as the cue to book it. They raced back to their car while the other turtles were distracted. Ignoring their seatbelts, Jason stepped on it, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake while Bruno put his gun back into the holster.

Jason glanced over his shoulder as he drove, he gave a pressed smile. "They won't be following us that's for sure," He grumbled bluntly.

Bruno had a surge of guilt wash over him. They were only trying to find their little brother and he had gone off and shot one of them! 'It was self-defense!' He continued to mentally tell himself.

He glanced in the rearview mirror, no longer able to see the ninja turtles, but still seeing their faces etched into his mind.

He turned back to the upcoming road, his eyes widening, "Look out!" He shouted and grabbed the wheel, yanking it right, swerving the car and barley missing the small turtle.