"You got what you wanted," Shredder growled. "Now tell me where the mutagen is."
"Not until I know Raph is safe," Leo replied. "I didn't agree to help you just to see him thrown right back into the middle of the battle."
Shredder narrowed his eyes, but when he said nothing more, Leonardo assumed it was an unspoken agreement.
They stared each other down for what seemed like forever.
Leo didn't move an inch, as if the slightest change would be all it would take for the master ninja in front of him to snap the truce's delicate spell. Standing in front of Shredder yet knowing he would not attack felt almost surreal.
He didn't know what he would do when the Footbots came back with proof of Raphael's safety. He had saved one of his brothers, but if he told Shredder the truth, he would be putting the other two in mortal peril.
That was, assuming they weren't already in that kind of danger. For all Leo knew, Michelangelo and Donatello could be-
He shook his head.
A battle cry rang out from beyond the door, followed by sounds of fighting. Clangs and crashes grew closer. Exactly how close, Leo couldn't say; the noise being muffled through the door, he couldn't accurately locate the source.
He got his answer a second later when Raphael threw the heavy door open.
Raph was covered in scratches, and the dirt smudged over him betrayed either he had tumbled a lot while fighting, or he'd fallen or been pushed down several times.
Leo hoped for the former, but a series of scrapes on the Raph's said he'd been thrown across the rough stone floor.
Raph panted and quickly searched the room with pupils the size of pinpricks. His eyes settled on Leo.
"Look out," Leonardo yelled, seeing the Footbots Raph had escaped running up behind him, weapons drawn.
Raphael caught a mace swung for his head without even looking. He picked the Footbot off its feet and chucked it into several others, making them all crumple and fall.
Not even half a second after the first had swung its mace, a second jabbed a sword at him. He caught it by the wrists, and planting a foot in the middle of its chest as a counterweight, ripped its arms clean off its torso, leaving sparking wires where its shoulders were supposed to be.
Raph pried the sword from its disconnected, twitching robotic hand, grabbed another Footbot by the neck, speared its metal skull with the sword, and kicked the third footbot into a fourth. The two bots stumbled backward into the wall, the momentum carrying the sword straight through the fourth's head and skewering them both to the wall.
Raphael raised his fists to his head and glared at Shredder's henchmen.
If his fighting weren't enough to cue Leo in, the blue-clad turtle could now see the rage boiling behind Raphael's eyes, could hear it in each heavy breath.
"Your brother bought you a chance at continuing your meaningless existence," Shredder growled. "You would be wise to take it."
"I'm not leaving without him," Raph yelled.
"Raph, go!"
"No. We stick together. No matter what!"
"Then you will die together!" Shredder said.
"So be it."
Shredder clenched his fists, causing his blades to shoot out from his gauntlets, and lunged towards Raphael.
Raphael was far enough from Shredder to see his attack coming, and ducked his blades. He rolled under Shredder's arm, tumbled onto his feet, and ran towards Leo.
"What are you doing? We can't take them all! We'll just get captured again!"
"Then fearless leader, why don't you call a tactical retreat?"
Leonardo started. He almost asked Raph if he was serious, but with Shredder and all his henchmen racing towards them, weapons drawn, he only had time to reach into his belt and throw a smoke bomb on the ground.
Raphael dropped a few more smoke bombs on the floor, filling the entire room with purple dust, grabbed Leo's arm, and practically hauled him to the door.
Raph pushed Leo in front of him once they were out of the room. "We're leaving."
Leonardo raised a brow. What did Raph think he would do?
They ran and ran and ran. Out of the building, into the street, onto the rooftops. They didn't stop to catch their breath until they were streets down and sure they weren't being followed.
Leo laughed, an airy sound coupled with his breathless wheezing. "We did it." He grinned at Raph.
"Yeah," Raphael muttered. He crossed his arms, refusing to meet Leo's eyes. "I guess we did."
"So, yeah. You were all mind-controlled by this uncool Kraang dude for a really long time," Michelangelo explained.
The recently-freed Utrom gathered around him, some still in their robot bodies, some having chosen to abandon the unfamiliar mechanical vessels.
The Utrom muttered amongst themselves. Some were skeptical, a few even still clutched their blasters close to them, eyeing Michelangelo, Donatello, and the Mutanimals suspiciously. A few cast disgusted glares at Kraang Prime, who sat cowering under Slash's and Leatherhead's guard. Mostly, the new Utrom just looked confused or distressed.
Many of them had questions, a lot of which Michelangelo had to admit he did not have the answer to- how long have we been controlled? What would happen if another one of us were to get mutated? What do we do now? Will we be able to return to our normal lives?
"How soon can you get here?" Donatello asked, clutching his phone to one ear and covering the other with his opposite hand. His brows shot up. "You mean like, right now-right now?"
A pink portal appeared in the middle of the roof, and Bishop, Queen, and Rook stepped out.
Bishop surveyed the trembling Kraang Prime, his humanoid disguise's nose wrinkling. "Is this her?"
"The one and only," Donatello said.
Kraang Prime struggled and screeched as Queen scooped her up.
"We will make sure she is dealt with," Bishop assured them. "I am forever in your debt for what you have accomplished today. The Utrom will forever remember your services."
"Glad to help," Donnie said. He looked around at the freed Utrom. "What are you going to do with them?"
Bishop pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose. "We will start by taking them back to dimension X. Then we will see how we can help them settle back into their normal lives."
"But there are secret Kraang bases all over the world," Donnie said. "How are you going to find them all?"
"When they were Kraang soldiers, their objective was to remain hidden. However, now they do not have this objective. They will be confused, and will make themselves known in their search for help. It should not be too difficult to locate them all."
Donnie nodded.
Bishop addressed the Utrom, some of whom had turned to him in curiosity upon his arrival. "Attention, Utrom. I am sure this is a shock to you all. But through this portal lies dimension X. Perhaps you would feel more comfortable learning about the recent events in your homeland?"
Bishop nodded at Donnie upon seeing the Utrom seemed unaggressive. "We have the situation under control. Feel free to continue doing what you need to."
"We should make sure Rockwell is alright," Slash said.
"Look." Leatherhead pointed over the edge of the roof to the ground far below.
Donatello walked to the edge.
A line of humans filtered out through TCRI's front door.
"Looks like he did just fine."
Donnie turned to Mikey. "We did it."
Michelangelo grinned and punched the air. "Yeah, boi! High three!"
Donatello, Michelangelo, and Splinter were talking in the lair's living room by the time Leonardo and Raphael crossed the turnstiles.
"Leo! Raph!" Mikey crashed into them, nearly bowling them over in a bear hug.
Donnie was right behind him, gap-tooth smile betraying his relief.
Splinter examined his sons for injuries.
They all had their fair share of cuts and bruises, some worse than others, but nothing more permanent than a few potential scars.
"I am relieved to see you all home safe," Splinter said, placing a hand on Leo's and Raph's shoulders. "How was your mission."
"Successful, Sensei," Leo reported. "We un-mutated the Shredder and destroyed the rest of his mutagen."
Raphael stared at the ground, teeth clenched.
Splinter was about to ask Raphael what was on his mind when Donatello said, "Wait. The Shredder got mutated?"
"Yeah," Leo replied. "It was like he could use his abilities to teleport. Thankfully, we stopped it before he could let his powers grow. Now tell me how things went for you."
"We used the retromutagen on Kraang Prime." Donatello noogied Michelangelo's scalp. "Thanks to your clever trap."
Michelangelo giggled, trying to free himself. "And your invention."
Donnie let Mikey go. "The Utrom are free from Prime's control now, and Bishop is going to take them back to dimension X to help them, and to decide what they'll do with Prime."
He gestured to the couch. "Looks like you have a few nasty scrapes. Why don't you let me treat them?"
Leonardo sat down and waited as Donatello picked a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the floor, which he assumed Donnie had been using to treat Mikey's and his own abrasions.
Splinter sat Raphael beside him and began to clean his cuts.
Raph didn't look at Leo.
As the minutes ticked by, Michelangelo's and Donatello's elation slowly drained.
Donatello yawned as he put a band-aid over the last of Leo's open wounds. Now that the adrenaline had seeped away, the bags under his eyes became more visible.
"You look exhausted, my son," Splinter noted, finishing dressing the last of Raph's cuts.
"Yeah, I think by this point, we all are."
Splinter nodded. "No training for the next few days. Take as long as you need to rest."
"Right," Raph said, practically jumping up. "I'm going to my room."
"Raphael?" Splinter said. "This is a time for celebration. You seem unhappy."
"You just said to rest," Raph replied, continuing to walk away. "I'm tired." He slammed his door.
Next chapter on Sunday. Have a great day, y'all!