"Hey; I hadn't like, been aiming for his hand."

Raphael stared at the group of people who were standing at the top of the staircase leading into the room, wondering whether he was dreaming or not. They couldn't be there… he had been about to die. He was about to be fed to a group of monsters.

But there they were.

His family.

First came Michelangelo, sliding down the handrail. When he neared the bottom, he sprung upwards and flipped in midair, before landing neatly on the ground. He surveyed the area curiously, his gaze settling on the large pool of liquid in the middle of the room.

"Whoa…" His mouth was agape for a moment; however, he recovered quickly and cracked a smile. "Are you guys making pea soup in here?"

There were footsteps… and then the second brother followed him down.

"I… don't think that's soup," Donatello remarked, bending down and peering at it. "If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that whatever it is, it's extremely pernicious."

"It's what now?"

"You know… detrimental."

"Eh… that's a bad thing, right?"

"Yeah."

Raph heard someone else descend the stairs at a fast yet slightly uneven pace. He stopped watching his brothers and paid attention to the newcomer. She was fiddling with the metal chains tying him to the wall with a screwdriver. After a moment, they fell off him and he could finally feel the ground beneath his feet.

"April?" Raph croaked, staring at the redhead in front of him. "How…?"

"We'll explain everything later. Right now, we need to get you out of here."

"But Warumagi…"

"Geez, Raph. Ya ain't in no condition to do nothin'," Casey Jones interrupted, having come down without Raph noticing. He slung Raph's arm around his shoulder. "Have ya looked in a mirror lately? An' I ain't sayin' dat jus' 'cos yer ugly."

Warumagi didn't move, unable to apprehend what had just happened. His mouth hung open slightly, and his eyes were focussing on the slowly increasing number of new arrivals.

April worked on Katrina's restraint while Casey helped Raph walk. It was only then that the red masked turtle realized just how injured he was. He could barely stand, and the numbness within him was being replaced by a sharp pain. He leaned his body away from Casey, not wanting to be dependent on him. Before he could fall sideways and escape, though, he bumped into someone else.

"You're so lucky that you're hurt. If you weren't, I would so kill you for what you did," hissed Foxglove, grabbing hold of Raph's free arm so she and Casey were sharing his weight evenly. "If you ever, ever do something stupid like that again, I will kill you."

"Come on," said April, picking up Katrina and carrying her. It looked like she was on the verge of passing out. "Leo and Master Splinter are waiting for us. If we keep them waiting for too long, they might attempt a rescue."

Warumagi snapped back to attention. "Leonardo? He's here? Where is he?"

"Hey, is that Warumagi?" asked Don, jerking his thumb in his direction. Warumagi was smiling gleefully, rubbing his hands together with a slightly mad expression on his face.

"Yeah," Raph mumbled, feeling awfully lightheaded.

Mikey looked at Foxglove, raising his brow. "Wow… he is as crazy as you said he was."

"He's crazier than dat," muttered Raph darkly. His legs were aching so he bent them.

"We need to get Raph outta 'ere," Casey told the others. They began walking towards the stairs. "He's pretty out of it."

"No, I ain't!" snarled Raph. He suddenly lost his balance and shot forwards. Casey and Foxglove pulled him back to his feet and put their arms around his torso for extra support.

Mikey ran up the stairs first, jumping up and down as soon as he reached the top. Don took Katrina from April, and the two of them quickly ascended the staircase.

Warumagi watched them, still unmoving, with the smallest trace of delight on his face.

Raph and the two people aiding him went up last, closing the door behind them. They were in the bright office again. Raph squinted his eyes at the light, slipping his arm off Foxglove so he could shield them.

Mikey clapped his hands once. "Easiest. Rescue Mission. Ever."

"Dat's 'cos he let us escape," grumbled Raph. "We ain't the person he wants. Where's Leo and Master Splinter?"

"Here." The last two members of his family came forward. Leonardo put his hands on Raph's shoulders. "I'm so relieved that you're all right..."

He looked Raph up and down, taking in all the bruises and scratches on his body.

"Well, you're alive, anyway."

"My son..." Leo moved out of the way so Master Splinter could stand in front of Raph. "You do not know how happy we are to see you again. We have missed you so much."

Raph's body shook and he fell forward. Casey and Foxglove tried to grab him, but it turned out that Raph had purposely moved. Splinter nodded at him, embracing his son in a hug.

"I missed ya all too," Raph mumbled into his sensei's robe.

"The one day I didn't bring a camera," sighed Mikey, crossing his arms.

"Guys." Don looked over his shoulder. "We haven't saved the day just yet. That Warumagi guy is still down there, or did you forget?"

Remembering the headmaster's plan, Raph broke away from Splinter and stared at everyone, swaying slightly. April grabbed a nearby armchair and dragged it so it was positioned behind him. Raph sat down immediately, waiting for his head to stop spinning.

"He's right," Katrina said, wiggling. Don put her down carefully, and she stood relatively well. "We need to stop Warumagi. He wants to turn the whole world into horrible monsters. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"Those really big animal thin's?" asked Casey, grinning. "Yeah… we met dem earlier. They're outside the door in the hallway. Leo and Mastah Splintah stayed here in case they came in. Why do ya think we took so long to get here?"

"How did you get here?" asked Raph.

"Right." Foxglove cleared her throat. "After you rudely pushed me through that portal, I landed in New York. I think that was the last destination visited using the teleporter, so I ended up where I did. I really wanted to get back to you, so I went to that place where April works. I told her everything, and she took me to your family to say what happened again. You never told me you lived in the sewers. That's just gross. Oh yeah, so I went there and we were trying to think of a way to get back to you, and then purplely…"

"She still had some charged molecules attached to her fur," Don explained, "which were there from her journey through the rift the 'teleporter' created. You see, it's like an accelerator. Going through it speeds your particles up, causing you to travel so fast that-"

"Could ya just get ta the point?" interrupted Raph impatiently. "We ain't got all day."

"I was able to use this to track down the location she entered here, re-open the rift and go through it to arrive here," explained Don, faintly irritated at Raph. "We materialized in this room, where there were about a dozen of these… I'm guessing they're those 'Human Hybrids' you mentioned in your letter."

"He's quite smart," added Foxglove. "You know that chip in my brain? The one that let Warumagi see and hear the same things I did? He disabled it in like a few minutes. And don't get me started on how these guys fight. They took down those Human Hybrid things easily. Much better than you did, Raph."

He narrowed his eyes.

"They were pretty tough," said Mikey, putting his hands behind his head. He was grinning like crazy. "But they were no match for the-"

April leaned towards Foxglove and whispered, "You might want to cover your ears."

"BATTLE NEXUS CHAMPION!" finished Mikey, cackling.

"He'd gone a whole month without mentioning it," Don piped up sadly. "A new record for him."

"Michelangelo." Splinter raised a finger to his lips and cast his eyes towards the door. When it remained perfectly still, he turned back to the others and whispered to Katrina, "Please, elaborate on this plan you mentioned earlier."

She looked startled. "How do you know my name?"

Foxglove raised her hand. "I gave them a brief outline on what's what, but I don't know about his big plan."

"Okay..." Katrina exhaled, willing herself to tell them. They were strangers, and she was always shy around strangers, but if they were Raph's family then she knew she could trust them. Or rather, she had to trust them. "The Lord- I mean, Warumagi wants to… mutate everyone into what those creatures are… the ones you met earlier. Right now, he can only mutate people that are in this building, but he says that with the right amount of money, he could change the entire world!"

"Mutate… the world?" repeated Casey, scratching his head. "How's he gonna do dat?"

"I don't know, but I have the feeling it involves that giant green bath down there," April replied. "How does he plan on getting all the money he needs to mutate the human population? I can't see the government funding this sort of project."

Raph, Foxglove and Katrina turned to Leo. Leo gave them a bewildered expression before saying, "Why are you looking at me?"

"'Cos yer his way of gettin' all dat money," explained Raph. "See… Somehow, he found out there's a whole lotta money for yer head."

"Really?" Mikey said, looking Leo up and down. "He doesn't look like he's worth that much."

"It depends who wants him," Splinter told them. "Leonardo defeated Oroku Saki in a duel, as well as helping to exile him. There is also the Daimyo's son and Kojima... and many more. I suspect that certain people would want him very much."

"I'll remember that when I'm low on cash," said Mikey. Leo glared at him. "I'm kidding!"

He looked away.

"… Maybe."

"So what can we do?" asked Foxglove. "I bet the- uh, Warumagi's down there, waiting for us to take Leonardo to him. That's why he let us go. He wanted us to go get him."

"Well, we can't do that," Don told them, gazing pensively into empty space. "There has to be a way to stop him."

Silence descended on them like a snowstorm as they tried to think of a plan.

Unsurprisingly, Leonardo was the first to get the 'I have a really good plan' twinkle in his eyes.

"He wants me? Well, we're going to give me to him."

"What?" spluttered Mikey. "Isn't that what we supposed to be avoiding?"

"No, listen…" said Leo. "Where's the teleporter? Do you still have it?"

Katrina jumped, before turning away and reaching somewhere. Then, she turned around and held it out.

"Dare I ask where you hid that?" asked Don.

"Between my vest and my dress," she answered, blushing a bit. "Thankfully, th-Warumagi gives me quite tight clothing, so it didn't fall out."

"Perfect." Leo smiled. "Now, here's what we're going to do…"

As he elaborated, Raph's frown turned into a smile. He couldn't come up with the best of plans, but his brother sure could.

TMNTNMT

Warumagi pretended to look uninterested as his enemies re-entered the basement. He had expected them to storm down, waving their weapons and shouting out battle cries. Though to be honest, he didn't expect Raph to be in a good enough condition to do that. The turtle had his arms around April and Mikey's shoulders, and he was moving slowly. Still… the others were fit enough to challenge him to a fight.

Warumagi tensed, waiting for them to attack. Why else would they be there?

Leonardo stepped forward, causing Warumagi to flinch. The turtle gazed at him seriously. "Warumagi, we discussed what we think we should do… and have come up with two options. However, we thought that you should be allowed to say which one you think is the most preferable."

"Very well," groaned Warumagi, knowing that the two choices were not going to be in his favour. "What are they?"

"You can admit that what you are doing is wrong and surrender. If you choose to do this, we can assist you on getting your life back on track. Don can aid you in creating an antidote for your wife."

Warumagi raised his eyebrows. "I see. Tell me what my other option is."

"If you choose the alternative option and attempt to get hold of me or try anything funny, my family and I will stop you. We will not be sympathetic if you try to kill off an entire race, and we will stop you before handing you over to the authorities."

"I do not wish to offend you… well… I do, but I'm not particularly fond of either of them," Warumagi told him.

"I'm sorry." Splinter came forward, the voice of reasoning. "However, we cannot allow you to harm the world with your poison. What you wish to do will affect many innocent lives."

"They aren't innocent!" he spat venomously. "Everyone caused this to happen to me. They must suffer the consequences!"

"Revenge is a vicious circle that has no end," Splinter told him calmly, his eyes darker than usual. "They may have caused you to experience a lot of pain, but will doing it back to them be the right thing to do? Will taking their humanity away from them show the true humanity inside of you? Or will it just prove to the world that what they think of you is correct?"

Warumagi curled his lip. "They won't be able to be proved anything once they're my slaves."

"So this is not a lesson you are trying to teach?" said Splinter, anger tainting his words. "It is merely a way to destroy those who disagree with your opinion."

Warumagi didn't reply.

"Mister Warumagi, we are giving you a chance to turn away from this. You do not have to release your hatred in such a cruel way. We can help you, but only if you accept it."

Warumagi turned away. "It's too late for me to turn back to anything."

"It is never too late to turn to the side of good."

"Why should I listen to you? You're an old rat in a dress!" sneered Warumagi, walking away from them.

Don opened his mouth to say something, but April shook her head before he could say anything. He sighed, gazing at the headmaster with disapproval in his eyes. Raph growled,

"So you aren't accepting our offer?" asked Splinter.

"Of course not!" Warumagi scoffed, clicking his fingers. "Come out."

Nothing happened.

"Well," said Mikey. "That was kinda lame."

A head rose out of the green pool. Its body was covered with dark fur; however, its face was quite pale. It growled, its body submerging from the liquid as it moved towards the edge and climbed out. Its eyes were rather small, but the dark patches of fur around them made them look a lot bigger. It hissed, its striped tail trailing across the ground as it moved forward.

"Is that… Laurence?" asked Foxglove, raising her hands to her face.

Raph nodded. "Yeah."

"But… the room…"

"He left before I got back. We saw him go into that green stuff."

Foxglove's eyes darkened. She pointed at Warumagi. "You evil, twisted maniac! I'll… I'll kill you!"

She ran towards him but before she reached him, Laurence got in her way. Less brave, she began to draw back. Laurence snarled, following her.

"Foxglove!" bellowed Raph, struggling. April and Mikey grabbed hold of him, stopping him from breaking away from them. "Get off me."

"Raph, you're too injured," April informed him. "It would take you down in a heartbeat."

"But…"

"Come on, bro," Mikey said pleadingly. "If it tries to like, hurt her, we'll step in. For all we know, she has a plan."

"It will, though. It'll attack her."

"Look," Foxglove snapped, overhearing them. "I can handle this. He won't hurt me. If I reason with him, I bet I can-"

She lost her footing and fell over. Laurence stopped walking and raised his hands, getting ready to jump on her.

"It's me, Foxglove!" she told him, her eyes large and pleading. "Don't you remember me? We used to be friends. We are still friends! You don't want to hurt me."

Laurence lowered his hands. Foxglove nodded encouragingly.

"Remember all the things we used to do together? We went to the library… we hung out together… you don't have to do what the Lord tells you to do. We can help you become normal. We can find a way to reverse what he did to you. All you have to do is trust us. You trust me, don't you?"

Laurence closed his eyes. She smiled.

"I knew you would understand."

His hand unexpectedly shot out, slapping her right cheek. The strength in his attack flung her across the room. She gasped when her back hit against a wall, and she slowly slid down it. When she came to a rest on the ground, her body fell forward so she was face down.

Casey made to go towards her when Laurence picked her up and held her above his head. Her limbs dangled like a puppet's. Lifeless.

Undeterred, Casey continued walking towards her.

"Nuh uh uh," smirked Warumagi, waggling his finger. "Take another step and I'll tell it to finish her off permanently. Now get back."

Deterred, Casey reluctantly rejoined the others, though his fists remained in front of him.

Warumagi beamed. "Excellent. Now, I'll give you two options. You can try and save your friend, but then I'll tell my slave to kill her. After that, I will choose another one of you to die. I have a few dozen Human Hybrids stationed around the school. You won't be able to take them all down."

"But we took dem down earlier!" exclaimed Casey.

"There's about one hundred of them in total," Katrina alerted him. "I doubt you got them all."

"Or…" Warumagi's eyes glittered. "You give me Leonardo and I will give her back to you. No matter which you choose, I win and you lose. The world will be mine. So… what's it going to be?"

"We don't have a choice, do we?" Leo sighed. "Okay… you win. Just don't hurt her."

"What are you doing?" asked April, her voice rising as he went towards him. "You… you can't just go to him! You're giving him what he wants!"

"April, what else can I do? He'll get me either way. At least this way, she won't get any more wounded."

Leo walked away from them and stood in front of one of the computers. Warumagi grinned, striding over to him. He pressed a few buttons on the interface behind Leo, causing a bubble to appear around the pair. Leo pressed his hand against it and found that he couldn't pass through it.

As promised, Laurence released Foxglove. She fell to the ground and lay face down, breathing slowly.

Warumagi got out a small device and pressed the button on it. A siren sounded, screaming into the ears of everyone in the room.

"What's happening?" asked Katrina loudly, pulling a face.

"You see that pool there?" Warumagi said, pointing at it. "Well… there's a bomb in it. When the bomb goes off, it will cause the solution to go everywhere. The heat created from the reaction will also let off a toxic gas. It will fill the entire building. The liquid and the gas will be absorbed by all of you. As the concentration will be so high, it won't mutate you… it will kill you! The bubble I'm in will prevent me and Leonardo from absorbing anything harmful. This plan is flawless. You must be bowled over by my superior intelligence."

"Yeah." Mikey nodded. "I'm as bowled over as your head."

"What?"

"You know… bowled… bald… like your head!" Mikey chuckled, slapping his thigh. "'Cos, you know, you don't have any hair."

"How humorous," said Warumagi dryly.

"Mikey, that was pretty bad," remarked April.

"Okay…" Mikey held up his hands. "How about… I was so bowled over by your plan, like your head, that I nearly… bawled!"

Warumagi narrowed his eyes. "You're lucky I'm in this bubble, you incompetent moron. The only thing that stops me from getting out is the fact that in five minutes, you will be a corpse on the ground."

"You know how cool your plan is?" continued Mikey. "It's so cool I have to turn away from it, as its coolness is burning my eyes. So I'll turn away… on the ball of my foot!"

"Be quiet!" commanded Warumagi, his voice barely audible over Mikey's shrill laughter. "Just… just shut up, you idiot!"

"Oh, that was very… bold of you!" Mikey spluttered, doubling over. "Do you know how you like, emphasize things on the computer? You make the font bold."

"Shut up!"

"Like your head!"

"You don't have any hair either."

"Whoa…" Mikey placed his hands onto his head. "You're right… I am bald."

"Is there any way to turn off the bomb?" asked April inquisitively.

"No, I made sure of that," Warumagi told her proudly. "Once it's activated, the only way to turn it off is to go into the pool and destroy it that way."

"You'd have to be very bold to do that," Mikey commented.

Warumagi groaned, frustrated, before turning away and widening his eyes. While he had been distracted by Mikey, Leo had been doing something to the machine. There was a whirring sound, and the bubble disappeared.

"What?" shouted Warumagi, staring at the green pool in horror. "What… how… how did you do that?"

"Quite easily." Leo grinned. "While you were discussing bad puns with my brother, I was able to examine the machine and turn it off. It's not a very complicated machine, I must say. Now…" He got out a katana. "Assuming that the computer is not attached to the bomb, but merely sent the signal that started the countdown to it detonating, by doing this-" He stabbed the computer, causing smoke to come out of it. "-there is no way to create a new bubble. The only way to save yourself is to press the button on your device or manually defuse the bomb by going into the pool. Which I wouldn't recommend doing, because that solution is very detrimental."

"You're not Leonardo…" Warumagi said, his face paling.

'Leo' smiled. "Nope. Now, whoever is in the proximity will be within the bomb's range unless you choose to-"

"Including you!" Warumagi guffawed, throwing the device onto the ground and stamping on it. "You have to go in to stop it or else you'll be affected by the radiation!"

"Ah. About that." 'Leo' reached into his belt and revealed the teleporter. "Not with this, I will be. This is our plan B."

He pressed it and a portal appeared. He gestured towards it. "Come on, Warumagi."

The Lord blinked. "What?"

"It wouldn't be right to leave you," he explained. "You've still got a chance. If you come with us, you can live."

Warumagi crossed his arms. "I would rather die with my life's work."

"But…"

"But nothing!" Warumagi snarled. "That bomb will go off very soon! Unless you're too idiotic to notice, you will all die if you don't leave."

Raph stepped towards him. "You crazy-"

"One minute until the entire building is filled with radiation!" Warumagi bellowed, throwing up his arms. "If you want to live, I suggest you go. I'll finally be punished for what I did to Melissa."

"We can find an antidote for her," Katrina told him, cupping her hands together. She looked like she was praying. "Please… you don't have to do this."

His eyes darkened. "Melissa is dead." He looked down. "… She's been dead for… a long time."

The confession rolled off his tongue and dripped onto the floor. The emotion he was feeling was not unlike the one Raph had felt when he had admitted what had happened to Blossom.

"Now go. Please. I… I just want to be with her again."

Dumbfounded, everyone stared at him.

"If you want to live… go. Now. I've made my choice. I can't stop you from going, so…"

He turned away from them. He didn't hear them move, so he looked at his watch and began to count.

"Ten… Nine…"

The portal began to fade away.

The possibility of death brought everyone back to attention. Seeing that he wasn't going to be dissuaded, they made their way through the portal. Splinter hesitated before he went in, gazing at Warumagi. The certainty in the headmaster's eyes rendered whatever words the rat could say useless, so he remained silent and walked into the doorway.

Katrina was the last to go in. She paused before she left, turning her head to get one last look at what she was leaving behind. The Lord picked something up and put it into her hands. He looked into her eyes and they shared unsaid words.

He continued, "Six… Five…"

"Goodbye," she whispered, going into the portal. As soon as her last hair was gone, the doorway vanished from sight.

Warumagi stopped counting out loud. He looked at the shadowy corner of the room, where his wife's corpse resided. He listened to the machine she was in hum, growling like a wild animal. "Soon, we will be together again."

Three…

Two…

One-