Leo held my hand as we walked quietly back to the others. The whole feel was more like a funeral procession than any kind of victory. I don't know exactly what I was expecting after a fight like that, certainly not balloons and streamers but they all seemed almost, ashamed even maybe scared of themselves and what they did.
There was a difference between just knocking someone out and literally beating the shit out of them. As far as I can tell they had never taken a fight to this extreme, except for maybe the Shredder fights. And also as far as I could tell they never had to do this, technically, to themselves. I had no idea what it would feel like having to beat the snot out of someone that was you, just from another world. Only they could answer that and right now I had a feeling they weren't handling it well. The best I could compare it to was, imagine giving your twin a serious beat down.
Not one of them spoke, no banter, no jokes. Finally I just stopped. Leo felt it and stopped himself then turned to look at me. "All of you listen to me." Now I had all of their attention as they halted to hear what I had to say. Now the problems was, how do I say it? I found a large rock and I sat down on it, lord I was so tired, and leaned forward to put my elbows on my knees.
Then I spoke as I watched the slight breeze move the dead leaves on the ground between my feet. "None of you are monsters. None of you are turning into some kind of evil beings. Yes, you did something that I wished to god you never would have had to do. You literally beat them to within an inch of their life."
I brought my head back up and looked around at the grim faces around me. "Honestly, what choice did they leave you? They have been warned. Again and again you have beat them and yet they still came back. I know this is probably bothering you, all of you, that you had to do this to your own kind, your own doubles. I would feel the same way if I had to do it to another human. But god damn it, I would still do it if it meant it was the only way to protect the ones I love. Your not the monsters, you did what you had to do to stop the monsters. You did what you had to do. At least you still had the humanity and mercy left in you to let them live. I'm not sure if I would have after the things he..." I choked off, dropping my head back down so they wouldn't see the tears.
Then Leo was there, kneeling in front of me and he pulled me against him in a tight hug. He wasn't the only one but he was the first. Suddenly I was surrounded by turtles as they all moved in on me, each getting as close as they could to wrap an arm around me or to just place a hand on my shoulder. At that moment I think we shifted from two separate family units to one. I felt close to all of them suddenly, not just my big guys. Leo even moved out of the way so Little Mikey could take me into his arms for a moment. "It's all good, Sis." He told me quietly. It was the first words any of them had spoken. "It will be awhile before they bother you again, if they ever do."
"Lord knows we tried hard enough to get the point across." Little Raph added.
Little Mikey helped me back onto my feet and Little Donnie handed me a cloth to wipe my eyes with. "I for one will try just as hard to get it across again if need be."
The larger turtles just watched their smaller counterparts quietly, their eyes unreadable. Little Leo also watched his brothers as they were fussing over me, then turned to the larger turtles. "I think something happened here tonight that shifted in us." He said quietly as he met Leo's eyes. "I, and my brothers I believe, no longer see you as just doubles from a different world. We have seen that 'just a double' can also mean the total opposite of what we believe. It would be a honor to have you call us brothers, it fits better for some reason."
Leo's eyes widened a little and he looked at his own brothers, three nods and grins was his reply. Leo reached out his hand and placed it on Little Leo's shoulder. "Brothers it is."
"Cool! I got little brothers!" Mikey grinned to the groan of the others.
"Well now, isn't this touching." Came another voice.
Leo didn't even flinch, neither of them. I somehow knew that they had known he was there. "I was wondering when you would show up, Bishop." Leo said as he turned. Bishop stood there with his own set of troops with him.
Little Mikey and Little Raph stayed close by my side. They had no idea who he was but they immediately knew he was trouble.
"I'll take that crystal now, Leonardo." He met Leo's gaze. "You really don't have the option of telling me no. I'll wipe out your family if you don't."
Leo returned his gaze calmly after he took in the amount of troops standing there. He held out his hand to Little Donnie and the smaller turtle reached into his bag, retrieved the crystal and handed it to him. "Fine, you want it, Bishop?" He quickly spun and slammed it into the rock I had been sitting on, it cracked as it hit and immediately it began to darken and you could feel something rapidly build in it. It didn't shatter but bounced back up and Leo quickly kicked it towards Bishop. "Here! Then take it!" Then he turned and once again I was grabbed and hoisted up as he ran, the others following quickly. For the second time in less than two days an explosion rang out into the woods and another shock wave hit.
"I'm getting real tired of getting caught up in explosions." Raph muttered as we got back up.
"I know. They make my brain rattle." Mikey said.
"Your brain always rattles."
Leo helped me up. "You ok?" He glanced worriedly at my chest. He tried to cushion the fall as best he could but I was still gasping in pain.
"I honestly don't know, Leo." I told him.
"Come on. It's beyond time to get you out of here." Again he scooped me up and we made our way through the woods at a run again.
A few minutes later we met up with the others. "What in the hell was that?" Cris asked as we approached.
"Leo blew up the crystal." Raph told her.
"Well, jeez, Leo are you going to leave any forest left before we go? Or are you planning to knock it all down?"
"Oh I dunno, a couple of new clearings might be a good thing. Gets rid of all the dead stuff to make room for new trees." He grinned at her. "Come on, let get out of this area. That was Bishop and I'm almost certain he's still wandering around out there."
"That man has more lives than a hundred cats put together." Mikey said as we moved out again at a run.
"I wish we could take that portal of his out." Leo sighed.
"Why, we already know he has more than one. That wasn't the greenhouse base we were swept into remember?" Donnie said.
"I know. But still, I hate the thought of him being here."
"I imagine he will leave anyway. You just made the thing he wanted from this world blow up in his face. He really has no reason to stay anymore. And Bishop never does anything without a reason."
"Do not worry about this Bishop, Leonardo." Usagi said. "I will take care of him if he persists. We may be more primitive here than on your world, that does not mean I can't gather the forces to push him away. You have done enough, it is time for you to go home."
"Amen to that." Raph said. "No offense, I like you little rabbit, but I really want to get out of here."
"None taken Raphael." He smiled.
"Come on. Let's find a clearing and see if we can't work on that." Little Donnie said. I was so glad to hear those words. "Going to have to take you to our place first though."
"That's fine." Leo smiled.
A little while later we found a nice spot and Little Donnie pulled out his domahicky as the rest of us said our, very lengthy, good byes to Usagi. I was actually in tears as the tall rabbit took me into his arms. "Do not cry." He told me. "I am sure we will meet again one day."
Donnie had a thoughtful expression on his face, then he pulled out his tracker and swiped a small screw driver out of Little Donnie's bag. He then played around with the little device for a moment then put it back together. "Here." He said handing it to Usagi. "If you ever need us, press this button. I modified it a bit to where it can each me. Mikey's intermentional tracker comment the other day had given me the idea, figured you could get the first prototype. The signal will be weak, but I'll catch it."
Usagi took the small device. "Thank you, Donatello."
"Hey, your a part of the family too now. We all stick together."
Little Donnie fired up the machine and a small portal popped up. Leo turned to the rabbit and took his hand. "Good bye, my friend."
"Good bye is so final. I prefer, until we meet again, my friend." Usagi smiled. By now the others had went through. Leo took my hand and we followed them. As we stepped through I looked over my shoulder one more time but Usagi was already gone, disappeared into the forest.
Even though I would miss Usagi, I still felt a sense of relief as the portal closed behind us. We weren't home yet but this was the next best thing. I looked around in the large abandoned subway station they called home. Finally taking in the fact we were all safe. Once that thought hit I collapsed. Leo's arms wrapped around me as I fell and on the other side I could feel another set also supporting me. "Donnie!" I heard Little Leo's voice come from that side.
Two heads swiveled our way at the call. "Bring her this way." Little Donnie said and led the way to their infirmary. His setup was a bit different than back at the lair, but then he had a lot more room to work with. Gently the Leos put me on the bed and both Donnies took over from there.
"What's wrong with her?" Mikey asked, he had followed us.
"She just reached past her limit. She's hurting and exhausted." Little Donnie said. "I'm surprised she held on as long as she did."
"She's a stubborn one." Donnie said and began checking me over from head to toe, looking for new injuries that may have been missed and looking over the older ones that were still in the process of healing. Leo stood quietly out of the way and watched us as Little Leo ushered Mikey away. "She's torn some of the stitches open in her leg." Donnie said quietly. "Everything else seems to fine besides some more bruises. Just those damn ribs, they have to be hurting."
"I'll get what we need." Said the smaller one.
I just laid there, to tired to even talk. Little Donnie was right, my ribs did hurt but it was to the point I was used to the pain. I was starting to forget what no pain felt like.
Little Donnie came back with some blankets and the supplies he needed. Leo took the blankets from him and gently covered me up as Little Donnie took a needle and shot something into my arm. "This will help you sleep, Sis. You need rest right now more than anything. We'll fix you up while your sleeping." There it was again, that 'Sis'. I smiled at that as Leo took my hand. My family just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. For someone who had spent their life keeping folks away it was a strange feeling to have such a large family, but I was glad to have them in it.
