AN: The turtles have no idea what they are going back to…

Thanks for your wonderful reviews!

Miraculous Pink Ninja: Splinter would have a heart attack if he knew.

Nutella Swirl: I wouldn't recommend any attempt at lying…

Techno Dawn: Yes! This time he was a little more efficient.

missNOBODY: Alive turtles remain my favorite kind of turtles.

Guest: Yes… It won't be a pleasant surprise.

%%%%%

From Bad to Worse

The four turtles were moving quietly through the sewers, each of them pondering the recent events.

The anti-mutant weapon.

Karai in Japan.

The Shredder and their lucky escape thanks to Leonardo's scheme.

Michelangelo finally broke the silence.

"What are we going to do? They have an anti-mutant weapon now."

Donatello bowed his head sadly.

"I'm sorry I let it go."

"Don't," Raphael said softly, putting an arm around Donatello's shoulders. "There was nothing more you could have done. We're already lucky to have escaped with our lives."

"Yeah," Michelangelo sighed. He turned to Leonardo and made a poor attempt at a smile. "Thanks again, by the way, bro."

"You're welcome," Leonardo whispered softly. "It was my fault anyways. If I hadn't wanted so badly to spy on the Foot…"

"Then we wouldn't have known about their new weapon," Raphael grumbled, putting his other arm around Leonardo's shoulders. "Stop blaming yourselves, both of you. What is done is done."

"But now Shredder knows about you," Leonardo went on guiltily. "And about Hamato Yoshi. He… he won't stop until he finds him."

And kills him, he added in his head.

Raphael took a deep breath.

"Tomorrow, we'll think about that. We'll warn the other mutants and…"

Talk to Splinter? Raphael wondered. He was almost certain they had to. The Shredder knowing about them – about him – was too important a fact to be kept from their Sensei.

"Tomorrow," he repeated to give himself courage, "we'll have to talk about it with Master Splinter."

His brothers exchanged concerned glances.

"We're toast," Michelangelo whispered, leaning against Leonardo.

Leonardo sighed. He couldn't say he hadn't been warned.

%%%%%

Splinter was waiting resolutely for his sons. He had managed to calm himself enough to be fairly certain he wasn't going to start yelling at them the second he saw them. No, he would remain calm. Calmly ask them where they had been and what they had done. Calmly listen to their answer. Calmly let them know they were grounded for the following month, no, for the following year…

Breathe, he chastised himself. Calm. Water. Stone. Stone over water… No, wait… That's not quite it…

His ears twitched as he heard the sound of three pair of footsteps.

Three?

His heart beat faster. He turned to the turnstiles and…

No, they were four. Leonardo was just moving quieter, that was all.

In the near total darkness, he was invisible for his four sons. They, however, were going across a dimly lit area of the living room. He examined them quickly. They were all standing on their own – good, that was good. Although they seemed really tired. Were they hurt?

"Let's go to bed," Raphael whispered. "And remember what I said. No blame game, okay?"

Splinter crossed his arms and silently stood up. Oh no, you're not going to bed now, Raphael. No matter how tired you are.

He suddenly switched on the lights, making his four sons jump. The light revealed their multiple bruises and cuts. Splinter took a deep cleansing breath.

My-precious-babies-you're-hurt-who-did-that-to-you?

"Where have you been?" He asked. Calmly.

He was so proud of himself for that.

%%%%%

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello were lined up in the dojo, on their knees and heads bowed.

Looking every inch the guilty disobedient sons they were.

Splinter had crossed his paws in his lap to prevent them from twitching. He was a living statue.

Shredder? They met the Shredder? They fought the Shredder?

He had managed to listen to their story without interrupting. Now he was watching them sternly. None of them dared to meet his gaze.

He believed that what they had told him was the truth: they had been spying on the Foot, had overheard a conversation about an anti-mutant weapon and decided to interfere. Then the Shredder had shown up. They had managed to escape thanks to clotheslines, apparently. Leonardo's idea.

This boy is resourceful.

Except something wasn't making sense.

"Leonardo, where did you get that bruise if you didn't fight?" Splinter asked, cupping his son's chin to have a better look at it and forcing him to look at him in the process.

"Uh… I… I don't remember," Leonardo murmured.

At his side, Raphael shifted. Splinter lifted an eyebrow and glanced at his red-clad son. The turtle was looking at the dojo floor with a focused expression. His cheeks had an interesting reddish hue.

"You don't remember?" Splinter inquired.

Leonardo looked panicked. It was strange, considering he – along with his brothers – was already in the maximum amount of trouble he could get into.

"It… it must have been when I opened the briefcase," his son quickly said. "Yes. In the heat of the moment, I must have hit it… really hard…"

"I see," Splinter slowly said.

He decided to drop the matter for the moment. Splinter could wait until he was alone with Leonardo to reprimand him for lying. The ninja master wasn't even sure he would. First, he had more pressing matters to attend to. Second, he appreciated the fact that his son didn't tell on Raphael, who obviously had played an important role in this particular issue.

Sighing, Splinter released Leonardo, who immediately went back to watching the floor.

There was only one point which still needed to be cleared. Splinter took his most severe parental voice to ask his question.

"Why were you spying on the Foot tonight?"

His boys exchanged uneasy glances before Leonardo shifted and raised his head to look at his father.

"It's my fault," he said guiltily. "I wanted to know what had happened to Karai."

Splinter breathed deeply. He had feared something like this would happen, but he didn't expect it to be so disastrous. Now he needed to know if his son was conscious of his foolishness.

"And you didn't mind endangering your brothers in this process?"

Although he hadn't raised his voice, his tone was sharp. Leonardo recoiled as if he had been slapped.

"It's not… I didn't want to…"

"He didn't force us to come," Michelangelo quickly interjected.

"And I'm the one who jumped into the fight," Raphael added.

Donatello stayed quiet. He didn't know if telling his father that Leonardo had tried to go on his own would make matters better or worse.

"Silence!" Master Splinter commanded, and his sons immediately shut up. "I'm asking Leonardo."

His son inhaled sharply.

"I'm sorry, Sensei," he whispered in shame. "I never meant for any of this to happen. Now Shredder knows about us and…"

Leonardo closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I only wanted to have news of Karai…"

Splinter sighed. Although he understood his son's reasons, he was furious. Leonardo should have known better. Each of his sons should have known better.

"Sorry doesn't make up for it. You went behind my back. All of you. I'm extremely disappointed in you. Now that the Shredder knows about our existence, he will stop at nothing to destroy us."

He looked hard at Leonardo. His anger and worry were building up again and almost overwhelming him.

"At nothing, Leonardo. Do you realize what you have brought upon this family?"

Splinter realized too late how harsh his words sounded, and how they could be interpreted. Before he had time to amend them, Leonardo straightened up and looked at him with pained, angry eyes.

"Do you regret that I came here?" He whispered hoarsely.

Leonardo's brothers gasped while Splinter quickly tried to reach for him.

"Leonardo, no! Of course I don't," he said.

But Leonardo was too upset to listen. Recoiling from his father's touch, he stood up, tears in his eyes.

"Because I never asked for any of this to happen! Never!"

Splinter could have slapped himself. Of course he was mad at the boy right now, but he should have anticipated that the trust between them was still too fragile for Leonardo to accept his words for what they truly were: the clumsy expression of a father's concern.

Leonardo stubbornly wiped his tears away and turned round, ready to… what? Go to his room? Run away?

Michelangelo must have wondered the same, because he swiftly stood up and hugged his brother from behind.

"Leo, please," Michelangelo begged. "Don't take any rash decision you're going to regret later. Things will look brighter after a good night sleep, okay? Come on. I'll make you some tea."

Leonardo had stiffened at his brother's embrace, but he didn't try to break free of it and slowly nodded at his suggestion. Michelangelo glanced at his father, who nodded his permission.

As they left the dojo, Splinter looked back at his two remaining sons, who looked tense and on the verge of forgetting every dojo etiquette to run after their brothers.

"We'll continue this conversation on the morning," he said despondently. "You're dismissed."

%%%%%

Shredder was pacing back and forth in front of his throne.

Hamato Yoshi was in New York, and he had trained mutants to become ninja. Turtle mutants, of that he was certain, but maybe other mutants too? Maybe his nemesis was training an army of ninja to attack the Foot?

The turtles had almost stolen the anti-mutant weapon. It was highly unlikely that they would use it.

No, they were trying to protect themselves. Or others… The fools!

Shredder turned towards Bradford, who lay at his feet.

"Karai told me about a mutant hideout. Do you know where it is?"

"Y-yes, Master Shredder," Bradford managed to utter despite the pain he was in.

"Very well. Then I believe it is time for us to test this newly acquired weapon."

Shredder hoped it was worth its price. Soothing Steranko hadn't been easy, but it had definitely been expensive.

"This is your last chance," he said ominously to his servant. "For your own sake, I hope you don't waste it."

Then the black armored man began giving his orders.

%%%%%

It was early morning and the city was slowly waking up. April and Casey, however, were already well awake and hurrying to the mutant's hideout.

"Are you sure of what Leatherhead said?" Casey asked, not for the first time.

"Yes," April answered, irritated. "He said: 'I think I'm going to take a nap now.'"

"And you believe it's concerning?"

"We were in the middle of a conversation! Of course I believe it's concerning!"

Casey sighed.

"Okay, okay. Then… maybe we could tell the guys?"

"It's the middle of the night for them. It's concerning, but not that concerning."

Casey moaned.

"You didn't mind waking me up."

"You're a human. You rise by sunrise."

"Maybe you do. I'm not a morning person."

"Stop complaining, Casey Jones. We're almost there. We check on Leatherhead so I'm reassured, and then I'll buy you ice cream, okay?"

"Looks like a deal, Red."

As they neared the mutants' hideout, however, April had to reconsider her offer. She felt wrong vibrations all over the place.

"It's bad," she whispered. "It's really bad. Let's warn the guys."

She took her T-phone and tried to call Donatello, but the genius didn't answer. She swore inwardly.

"Any chance with Raph?" She asked Casey.

"Nope. He must be in silent mode. He does that sometimes, when he's on special ninja stealth missions."

"Isn't he supposed to sleep right now?"

"Maybe he forgot to deactivate it. Or maybe he's just too deeply asleep."

"Let's try the others."

As neither Michelangelo nor Leonardo answered, the two teenagers looked at each other.

"Looks like we're on our own," April whispered. "Be careful."

"Casey Jones does awesome, not careful."

April glared at the boy.

"But maybe Casey Jones can make an exception this time. For you, awesome Red."

She rolled her eyes and the two of them cautiously entered the building.

%%%%%

"What happened here?" Casey exclaimed, aghast.

"Hush!"

"Sorry. I mean, what happened here?" Casey whispered, aghast.

Mutants were scattered everywhere on the floor. April was already running to the closest.

"Merely asleep," she whispered. "I don't sense any alien presence here, but we still have to be careful. They could come back."

She began running from mutant to mutant, checking that each of them was breathing.

Casey nodded and did the same. As he was helping April putting a heavy tree mutant in a more comfortable position, he heard a groan.

The teenager quickly found its source.

"Mondo?" He exclaimed, rushing to the side of the gecko mutant. "You're awake? What happened?"

"Gas… Sleepy…"

Mondo's voice was raspy.

"Bad man, horrible man… Woke me up…"

The gecko grasped Casey's shirt in panic.

"Calm down, Mondo," Casey soothed him.

Behind him, April put a comforting hand on the gecko's shoulder.

"Wanted to know where the turtle's lair is… didn't tell him…I'm… courageous…"

Casey exchanged a glance with April. It wasn't the right time to tell him that he didn't know anyway. Michelangelo considered that his friend wasn't good at keeping such secrets.

"Of course you are, Mondo," April said gently. "What happened next?"

"I don't know… Just… Gone…"

April nodded.

"Alright. Don't worry, Mondo, it's okay now."

Casey swore.

"We need to talk to the guys as soon as possible. They're still not answering. I'm going to the lair."

April nodded.

"I'll stay here and check the other mutants. I'll know if someone comes inside and I'll hide, so don't worry."

Casey bit his lip nervously before nodding reluctantly. He didn't like leaving April alone, but she could take care of herself. And he had to warn the turtles. He waved at her before leaving the building.

I hope they're okay, Casey thought, on the verge of panicking. Surely they are. The lair is secret.

But what if they weren't in the lair?

Then I'll ask Master Splinter. He'll know what to do. It's going to be just fine.

Running away as fast as he could, Casey Jones made for the turtles' lair.

Utterly unaware of the shadows following him.

%%%%%

Donatello woke up with a start. He had been dreaming that he was dancing in a nightclub with April, but now he realized that this dream had been induced by the flashing lights in his bedroom.

The flashing red lights he had set up to warn him from any intrusion within the lair.

A few seconds later, the alarm went off. Donatello threw his blankets away and stood up.

The genius had tuned his security system so that it wouldn't react to allies like April or Casey, or to his father or brothers.

At least Michelangelo and Raphael. He hadn't taken the time to do the same for Leonardo yet. A fact that had allowed him to be informed of Leonardo's attempt at a solo spying mission - which he had inadvertently forgotten to mention to his brother.

But it didn't matter yet. He ran to the dojo to retrieve his bō staff, checking his T-phone in the process.

"Multiple intruders," he shouted to the others, who were running just like him, Michelangelo pulling a baffled Leonardo by the arm. "I have them on camera…"

Donatello opened his mouth, suddenly speechless.

"Donnie!" Raphael shouted. "What's happening?"

"It's the Foot," the purple-clad turtle managed to answer. "They followed Casey here."

Casey reached the turnstiles at that moment and he jumped them, panicked.

"Guys! What's the big commotion?"

"The Foot followed you here, you bonehead!" Raphael shouted.

"WHAT?"

"My sons," Splinter said hurriedly, taking his sword. "We have to get out of here. We can't let the Shredder find us…"

"Too late," a sarcastic voice echoed. "I must say the form of a rat suits you, Yoshi."

%%%%%

Leonardo was living a nightmare. He had gone to bed only half an hour before, after his brothers had managed to convince him that of course, he was wanted here, and Splinter was only mad at them, nothing new, although he had rarely been that mad at them, but of course he still loved them, Leonardo included, and now the lair was filling with Foot ninja and his brothers and Casey were fighting for their lives.

While Master Splinter was dueling the Shredder in a blur of steel. Master against Master. Brother against brother.

"I don't know who these turtles are, Yoshi," Shredder spat. "But know that I'll enjoy destroying them, one by one."

"Leave my sons alone!" Splinter shouted.

Oroku Saki merely laughed.

"Your sons? How wretched. But then, how appropriate!"

He turned to Leonardo, who would have been knocked out if Splinter hadn't blocked the blow.

"And to think that I've let you breathe the same air as my daughter for so long. For that betrayal, your death will be slow and painful," Shredder spat.

Leonardo clenched his fists, kicking a Foot soldier in the stomach and managing to avoid his blade in the process. He noticed that his brothers and Casey were surrounding him, protecting him the best they could.

But the Foot ninja were too numerous, and for every soldier knocked out, two came back.

"We must retreat," Splinter shouted to his family. "To the sewers!"

The four turtles and the teenager nodded and slowly headed for the exit of the place that had sheltered them for so long. Splinter covered their retreat the best he could, taking the full might of Shredder's attacks.

The five mutants and Casey managed to leave the lair and reach the sewers. To Leonardo's surprise, the Shredder looked like he approved of their escape. The turtle wondered why, until he saw that more and more Foot soldiers were coming between Splinter and his family.

"They're trying to split us apart!" Leonardo shouted.

"We're not going to let them," Raphael shouted back, trying to come closer to his father.

"Go, my sons! Escape! Don't worry about me!"

"No!" Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael immediately answered while Leonardo stayed quiet, trying to estimate his father's chances against half of the Foot clan. Leader included.

"Do it, my sons!" Splinter insisted, as the flow of ninja inexorably pulled him away.

"But…" Leonardo finally said, as the result of his estimation appeared in all its bleak horror.

Despite being caught in a furious fight, Splinter managed to turn at him and smile.

"I love you, my son. None of this is your fault, remember? You're not to blame."

Leonardo's eyes stung.

"But you said…"

"I was angry, and I was wrong," Splinter panted. "Now go!"

"You should have listened to you daddy, boy," Bradford's voice suddenly gritted. "Come with me. I have a grudge with you, mutant, and I'll make you pay."

The Foot soldier was at the head of another group of ninja and attacked them from the rear. Raphael roared and launched himself at him.

"Don't kill him, Bradford," Shredder said with authority. "I want him alive. Do what you want with the others."

"Yes, Master Shredder," Chris Bradford answered, blocking Raphael's blow with difficulty. He was limping worse than before, Leonardo realized.

"The Foot are everywhere in the sewers!" Casey shouted. "Where are we supposed to go?"

"Not far!" Donatello shouted back. "Follow me!"

"But what about Splinter?" Leonardo asked desperately, dodging another attack and wishing he could do more.

The ninja rat was now at the other side of the tunnel with Shredder and the majority of the Foot soldiers, and his sons had no chance of reaching him.

"He's a master ninja," Michelangelo gritted. "He can do this."

He has to, he silently added.

Just before being pulled around the corner, Splinter caught one last time Leonardo's horrified gaze.

He knew his son had guessed that he wouldn't be able to defend himself against both Shredder and that many Foot. At least not for much longer. But he was determined to give his family the time they needed to escape.

Oroku Saki knew it too. As the turtles and Casey disappeared from their sight, he laughed.

"Finally. After all this time, you're finally mine."