AN: I hope you're enjoying not having to wait for the next part…

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Showdown, Part 2

On the other side of the room, Leonardo could see two huge and beautifully carved black doors.

If that's not the throne room…

"You!" Bradford shouted, noticing him and kicking Raphael out of the way. "You're going to pay for what my master did to me after the Purple Dragons fiasco! After the Steranko fiasco! After…"

"I got it, you're mad," Leonardo replied, jumping backwards to avoid the man's sword.

His red-clad brother quickly placed himself in front of him and used his sai to block Bradford's attack.

Donatello and Michelangelo were fighting against the four members of Shredder's elite guard. They needed reinforcements. Leonardo tried to go to them, but Bradford managed to get past Raphael's guard and sent him against the wall.

Leonardo collapsed with a groan.

Bradford raised his sword, ready to crush him. At the last second, Leonardo slid to the side to avoid the blow.

Bradford's sword fell on the wall. It must have somehow cut through the power supply, because the light switched off.

Leaving them in total darkness.

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Donatello and Michelangelo froze. They were used to fighting in the darkness, but they still needed some light, no matter how faint.

In here, they couldn't see a thing.

The good thing is, the other side can't either, Donatello thought.

They couldn't use their T-phones. It would have made them easy targets.

Donatello waved his bō staff at random, and heard Michelangelo grunt at his side. Oops. Sorry, Mikey! But you were supposed to be on my other side!

Next to him, Michelangelo swirled his nunchucks carefully, not daring to use them without seeing his target. What if he hit Raphael or Leonardo instead?

Speaking of Raphael, he was grunting at this very instant. Had he been hit? Had he stumbled over something?

Being unable to see was so annoying.

The Foot didn't seem to have scruples going on fighting, because the flat of a sword hit Michelangelo on the shoulder. The turtle winced and took a step backwards, right into…

Ouch! Sorry, Donnie! I thought you were on my left!

On the other side of the room, Raphael had just been kicked by Bradford. A lucky shot, at least for the Foot soldier. He waved a sai at random, hoping to trip his adversary, but he only moved air.

Bradford, however, didn't only move air when he kicked again. Raphael let out a wince of pain.

Then he heard Bradford let out a surprised cry, and he felt his mass collapse on the floor. Behind him, he heard the sounds of other bodies hitting the ground.

"What the shell?"

"Shh," a soft voice whispered in his ear while a three-fingered hand took his wrist.

Raphael bit his lip, allowing Leonardo to pull him behind him.

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Leonardo had begun moving as soon as the light had been switched off. He couldn't see, but he could feel air displacement, hear the soft rustle of clothes and the characteristic sound of steel and wooden weapons coming one way or the other, and smell human and turtle scents.

And he had memorized the location of every single object in the room when he had first entered it.

As he heard his brothers' grunts and bumps, he walked with sure steps behind each of the Foot ninja in the room and knocked them out, skillfully avoiding the blows they threw at random.

His instinct sharpened by the multiple times he had asked his Sensei and his brothers to demonstrate their moves, focused on the sounds and air displacement as much as on actually watching the sequences, and by the countless hours of his childhood he had spent exercising his body to move in total darkness.

It was only another round of let's-play-being-blind-like-Daddy for him.

He wasn't a match for any of the ninja present in this room if they could see him, but if they were blinded

Then everything was different.

Leonardo bent and twisted, pressed his fingers on pressure points, kicked and punched, and soon enough he knew he and his brothers were the only ones still standing in the room.

He caught Raphael's wrist and led him to Donatello, caught Donatello's wrist and linked him to Raphael's other hand, caught Michelangelo's hand…

"Leo?" Michelangelo exclaimed in disbelief.

"Hush," Leonardo said, linking his hand to Donatello's.

His three baffled brothers in single file behind him, he walked to the throne room's door and opened it.

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Shredder was smiling lovingly to his daughter.

"You can hit him first. But don't kill him. He deserves to suffer for what he did to your mother."

At her father's side, Karai swallowed hard. The chained up and gagged rat in front of her couldn't talk, but his eyes were looking at her with an expression that wasn't hateful at all. It was kind, and almost… almost loving…

Leonardo's words echoed in her head. 'You're Yoshi's daughter! My sister!'

It's just an illusion. He's a ninja master. Even in this state, he can play with my mind…

Biting her lip, she drew her blade.

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Leonardo ran inside the throne room, closing his eyes briefly to protect them from the sudden brightness. Please, it can't be too late, he pleaded. Please.

When he opened his eyes again and saw Karai ready to strike, he shouted, throwing the small frame he had retrieved from Donatello earlier.

"Karai! Catch!"

The kunoichi interrupted her move and extended her arms to catch the object flying towards her. A reflex born from each time she had played with Leonardo on the rooftops of Tokyo, his voice singing in her ears and a playful smile on his face…

But this time, Leonardo wasn't smiling and his voice was hoarse with anxiety.

Leo! She thought furiously. What are you doing here? Have you lost your mind?

Karai looked at the rectangular-shaped object in her hands.

An old frame?

She turned it, and the picture she saw took her breath away.

It was the complete version of the torn picture she possessed herself, the only image she had of her mother.

And the man embracing Tang Shen wasn't Oroku Saki.

'She wasn't his wife, Karai, she was Yoshi's!'

But then…

Karai looked at the man she had considered as her father for so long, horrified.

"I'm not… I'm not your daughter?"

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Shredder watched his daughter's expression, his heart breaking.

Karai wasn't Yoshi's daughter, she was his own. Tang Shen should have been his too. She would have been, if not for Yoshi's interference. Yoshi was a fool who didn't deserve them. It was only justice that Saki brought the girl up.

And now Yoshi's old picture was putting doubt on his beloved daughter's face.

It had to end, now. With Yoshi dead, with Yoshi out of the picture, then she would come back to her senses. And see that he, Saki, was her true father. The one she deserved.

Shredder turned to Splinter and raised his gauntlet to strike a killing blow, aiming at the rat's head.

As he lowered his arm, his daughter jumped with a cry, placing herself between Yoshi and him.

Taking the blow that had never been meant for her.

Like her mother had done, all these years ago.

As she collapsed with a cry, Shredder howled.

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"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Leonardo shouted, along with the Shredder. He ran to catch Karai in her fall while Raphael was using his sai to free Splinter from his chains, and the giant ninja master rat threw himself at Saki with his claws out, the two of them rolling on the floor…

"Karai, no," Leonardo choked.

Karai gazed at him in surprise and she coughed blood.

"I told you… to go away…" She whispered. "Do you… never… listen?"

Then she closed her eyes with a sigh.

Leonardo let out a strangled cry and hid his face against her neck.

He could feel her chest going up and down, up and down…

She's breathing? She's breathing! Leonardo realized, raising his head brusquely.

Donatello was at his side, and he quickly checked up the young kunoichi.

"Her armor…" The purple-clad turtle murmured. "It took the worst of the blow. But we need to get her to a hospital, now!"

Leonardo nodded and stood up. Splinter and Shredder were still fighting madly, and he noticed that Bradford was standing in the doorway, looking horrified…

I should have hit him harder.

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Bradford came closer to Karai. He knew what he had seen. The girl had betrayed Master Shredder! How could she? He raised his sword slowly, his face frozen in a vengeful expression. This deserved punishment, this…

"Stay away from her!" Shredder shouted, seeing him from the corner of his eye and sending him tumbling across the room with a powerful blow.

However, that move prevented him from avoiding Splinter's last attack, and the Shredder collapsed on the ground, paralyzed. His helmet rolled off with a metallic clatter.

Splinter barely glanced at his defeated enemy before running over to his daughter and taking her in his arms.

Karai's eyelids fluttered open.

"Fa…ther?"

"My daughter," Splinter cried. "My Miwa. Do not worry. You will be safe… You will be safe…"

Karai exhaled and buried her head in Splinter's tattered robes.

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He was on the floor, in terrible pain, a discarded pet dog who didn't know what he had done so wrong.

He had always done everything his master wanted, bent to his every whim, done his best to meet his highest expectations. And his loyalty had been rewarded with contempt and pain.

While she… she could betray her father and he still would hand the Foot clan to her on a silver plate.

Bradford felt cold, burning rage overwhelm his limbs and give him the strength to crawl towards the collapsed form of his master.

The energy to draw his hidden dagger at the man who had taught him everything, for better or for worse.

The will to stab his exposed neck.

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"Traitor!" Someone shouted.

Leonardo turned round to see one of Shredder's elite guard grab Chris Bradford by the collar.

It took him entire seconds to notice the dagger protruding from Shredder's head.

At his side, Splinter protectively turned so that Karai couldn't look at the scene.

"He's… dead?" Michelangelo asked shakily, grabbing Raphael's hand in shock.

"I think so, Mikey," Raphael answered in a strangled voice.

"Let's go," Donatello urged them shakily. "Karai hasn't much time left!"

Nodding, the mutant family headed for the exit.

And woe to those who would have dared slowing them down.