Trapped in a stalemate with the burning building, April could feel the ambient pressure of the angry mob's rage all around the confines of the fallen shelter. Holding her own, but unable to do more, a rescue was her only hope in this losing battle against time. Not likely in and of itself, but even less so with a moat of enraged rioters between her and aid.

Instinctively, she reached out to the one, everpresent connection to her soul across time and space, an awareness that had become second nature to her over the years.

Her heart sank as she realized how far away Donnie was. In a fog of pain and worry, he rushed towards her, but she didn't know if she could hold out long enough for him to save her. And it was her own damn fault. She'd shut him out and now it might be too late.

Unless he wasn't the only one on the way. Then maybe. Maybe, if they made it through the mob.

An idea ocurred to her, so selfish she would've laughed if she'd had the breath. They're trump card to be saved for the most strategic moment. If released now, it might and only might, give her a slightly better chance.

Thinking of the new life growing within her, it was an easy decision. She had something to live for.

Marshalling her reserves, she found the strength to send Donnie a message, one single word.

Now.

TSOTCTSOTC

Through the rain of Slash's water, Mondo's skateboard slid along the metal rail in a wicked grind as he either swatted or caught projectiles, hot potatoing them back the way they came. Most still made it through. He zoomed past an ox and a jaguar mutant cowering behind a cement sign for whatever company that owned this place, fused into the steel rail barrier. "You dudes gonna help or what, man?". Despite his best efforts, he was still missing most of what was thrown. Good thing the windows were boarded up.

Reaching the end of the rail, he trick flipped up, sticking to the corrugated, metal wall of the warehouse with the naturally adhesive pads on his hands and general friction of his rubber sneakers, having transferred his board to his tail. He scurried across the front wall, batting objects away with his board. But there were so many. "Things are gettin' gnarly here, bro. I could really use some air support." Not that Pete would be able to hear him over the roar of the crowd.

And then relief appeared, though not what he'd been expecting. Even better. "LH, Mikester! Righteous entrance dudes."

The mob parted in terror as Leatherhead pushed through them, Mikey perched on his shoulder. Oblivious to the horde of angry and fearful humans behind him, LH focused on Mondo. "I am sorry I am late, my friend."

Mondo flipped off the wall. "You're right on time, man. So, what now?"

LH sniffed the air. "New fires. Michelangelo, Mondo Gecko, you should check on the sides. I shall defend the front."

Not needing to be told twice, Mondo skated for the corner seeing Mikey mirror him on the other side.

Looking back, LH had placed himself front and center between the crowd and garage-style front door, looking over at the ox and the jag. "Stand proud and join me brothers."

Yeah, good luck with that.

He rounded the corner. "Cowabunga!"

An answering "Booyakasha called out from the other side."

Kicking the tail of his board, he launched into a dude, first of many along the alley wall, trying to axe his way in, and banked off his face for another wall crawl. Using his tail to wield his board, he swatted aside weapons as he went. Until he found what he was looking for.

Two dudes, hiding in the crowd, pouring something acrid over the wall. One had just pulled out a lighter.

"Time to chill." Mondo called out, slipping the board back under his feet and riding the wall down into them.

He barreled through the two arsonists, snatching the lighter as he went. Skidding to a halt behind them, he turned back to taunt. "Didn't anyone teach you not to play with matches?"

"No." The reply came from directly behind him and he felt the muzzle of a gun against his skull.

Guess there were three arsonists. Not cool.

"Goodbye freak."

Uh oh.

TSOTCTSOTC

If Leo had to rank all his battles from best to worst, this one would fall dead last. If not for needing to obscure the refugees flight, he wouldn't have used the smoke bombs and the firecrackers were probably too much in any case. They'd just caused panic in the smoke and stampeding in random directions. He hoped no one had been trampled. Now that the special effects were long done, the whole thing had become one, big, tedious slog.

As horrible as they were, these people were just untrained idiots. He couldn't justify doing them serious harm, though it sounded like Karai was not of the same mind on the other side of the battlefield. Starting out with a nonlethal mentality, he'd grabbed a pair of bokuto from the bag, leaving his real katanas on his back. Using the wooden, practice blades to disarm anyone around him and cow the worst of rabble rousers into cautious silence, they'd all mostly fought amongst themselves to get away from him. But, with the armed swat teams, he couldn't afford to be clear of them and thus had spent most of the fight chasing frightened rioters. Unchallenging and endless.

A battlecry rose above the din of the crowd, drawing his attention.

Aries? Swinging a rifle like a bat. Plowing headlong into the mob.

People screamed, climbing on top of one and other to get out of his way. If he hadn't seen what they'd tried to do, he might feel sorry for them.

"Forget this!" One of the swat guys yelled, leveling his weapon at Aries without concern for friendly fire.

No!

Leo leapt atop the shoulders of the sturdiest man in the vicinity and launched himself toward the line of fire, hearing the guy yelp in surprise as he crumpled under the force of Leo's jump. He tucked his head into his shell, feeling the bullets ping off the top half of his shell, ricocheting up into the building behind the swat team, before landing in a roll and popping back up to his feet. He already had a kunai drawn and ready to disarm the officer, but paused when two other members of the swat team tackled their comrade. And then three others raised their rifles.

Members of the swat team turned on each other, but at least a few shots were getting off before the infighting consumed them. Hearing the first volley, the crowd moved like a wave rushing away from the swat team and making Leo fight for balance as they swept by, many crying out as they fell under foot. He had to save them from being crushed. He had to block the bullets on three different trajectories. He had to fix this. How?

No time for an answer as the guns began to fire.

TSOTCTSOTC

Donnie staggered as a message from April lit up his mind. Just one word. "Now."

Ducking into an alley and behind a dumpster to avoid getting caught in all the chaos, he pulled his tablet out of his messenger back and got ready to unleash the weapon they'd been preparing since his capture. The one vulnerability of Battle's organization. Public exposure.

He hesitated. This wouldn't just expose the EDF. It would cast light on his family too. Having created them, Zoe and Sappho would be revealed in detail along with the rest of the EDF's dirty little secrets. Their Kraang Legacy project would expose April and mom. And of course, all the information on their recent rescue would divulge everything they'd kept secret on what they were truly capable of during the war...and before.

Secrecy. That had been everything to them, as second nature as breathing, even after moving topside, they never truly left the shadows. Until now. What would this bring down on them? Would people in power want to destroy them? Capture them? Use them? He didn't know.

What he did know was that he wanted to be alive to find out. With April and the new life they'd created, he had more incentive to survive than ever before. As with the Shredder before him, their survival depended upon defeating Battle and the EDF. And this was the only way.

Everything changes. Time to adapt.

Casting his doubts aside, he launched the process. The EDF's system defenses would fall leaving them exposed to the governments and literally anyone else testing their shields. All the data on their disturbing and illegal projects and plans for the future that April had drawn and organized from his breach in their security would appear on sites all over the internet.

And there was tonight's coup de gras, provided by his mom. She'd practically pinpointed the time he needed to look for in the EDF security feeds to find the recording. Battle giving the order to incite the riots.

Through back doors he'd created and maintained years ago, ironically to intervene if his family were at risk of being revealed to the public, he played it on repeat over every channel available. Television, streaming services, phone alerts all mass blasting out. Battle would seal the EDF's fate with his own words.

TSOTCTSOTC

Denim counted her friends heads in a repetitive circular pattern, amid sparing a surfing gaze over rooftops, fire escapes, and the crowd both outskirts and center. Her ammunition was quickly diminishing and each shot had to make a difference. Not to mention even though her tranq gun was modified, it still took longer to reload. Where was she? Oh yes, head count. She slid the next five darts in the chamber, grateful for Donatello's unmatched engineering skills. Mikey, okay, Slash, okay, Leatherhead, okay, oh Mondo! No!

She fired, but the tranqs took a few seconds to knock out a target. This gave Mondo's third attacker time to land his blow. Who was closest to gather their crumbled friend? "Rockwell, Mondo is down. Leatherhead and Mikey are closest, but I don't know if they saw him fall. They've both got their hands full. I can try to cover everyone, but I'm running low on ammunit- what is that?"

Off to the right, beyond the burning building, the madness of vandals and fighting bodies, just peeking over the hill, were more people. Denim's heart clenched. A lot more people. Humans from what she could see in the front.

A line of them stretched from the sidewalk across the street all the way to the other side. As they marched closer she saw row upon row of them. They were carrying signs and chanting. What did they say? What were they shouting? Denim's heart pounded. They'd never be able to hold back this many people. She fired two rounds, holding back the biggest threats to Mondo as Mikey and LH worked in tandem to rescue him. Quickly, she assessed the oncoming crowd. Peering down her scope, she zeroed in on a poster.

Equality for all.

Her pulse quickened as she pulled another sign into focus.

Mutant Rights.

Tears pricked her eyes. She blinked determined to see the next sign, her ears straining to make out their words.

"Equality shouldn't be a fight!" Blared over a megaphone.

"It's everyone's right!" Answered the crowd.

"Equality shouldn't be a fight!"

"It's everyone's right!"

These were real protestors. She exhaled a shaky breath as they kept coming, row after row, filing the street. And there, scattered among them were more mutants. Not many but they were there. Including two she recognized but would've never expected. Raph and Zoe? Denim laughed. Closer they drew, the angry mob staggering a bit in confusion. The perfect opportunity for her family to get the refugees out. Denim laughed, tears streaking her cheeks. "Rockwell, patch me through to everyone. Are you guys seeing this?"

Her relief came and went as a cacophony of police sirens approached from the opposite side of the crowd, car after car after car rolling up on the mob to create a barricade. Denim choked on her breath as police in riot gear spewed out of the vehicles. Now there was a sandwich on either side and the middle of the burning shelter. Police, mob, innocent victims and protestors. In that order. "Slash," Denim uttered, "tell me you guys have almost got everyone out of that building."

Denim's voice boomed through Slash's head as he sprayed the water into the fire while coughing, soot-covered people poured out of the warehouse back into the street.

What? Of course they weren't all out. They'd just started escaping, finally more afraid of burning alive than being beaten.

Taking a moment to look around, he realized that he was sandwiched between pro-mutant protesters and anti-mutant rioters on either side of the shelter. The rioters now backed up by swat teams, seemed bolder than ever. At the edge of his vision, Leatherhead, Mikey dogging his heels, approached from the side of the shelter carrying something in his arms. Was that...Mondo?

The only thing saving Slash from losing his shit and smashing rioters like a whack-a-mole game was Leatherheads calm. It couldn't be as bad as it looked, could it?

Mondo shifted in Leatherhead's arms and rubbed his head, smearing a streak of blood across his colorful skull and Slash untensed. He might not be ok, but at least he was alive. Phoenix could work with that.

The refugees flooded around him in a terrified huddle, filling the space between the protesters and the rioters. Too many angry, frightened people in too small a space. Not good.

Nearby, he heard Dr. Rockwell cry out, grabbing his head, his levitation giving out as he sank to the ground in exhaustion.

'Oh shit' barely had time to flash through Slash's mind before all hell broke loose.

TSOTCTSOTC

Medusa glanced at Casey Jones weaving in and out of the crowd like a crazed teenager and smiled despite the situation. That was the Casey Jones she remembered from her young womanhood, who she held close to her heart, the ordinary scrapy human boy, who she and her mother fought on a semi-regular basis when they were enemies, who made the world work in his favor anyway. As one of the people came too close to his potato masher and was tazed, causing their hair to stand on end before they fell to the ground on top of two other people, Medusa went back to work following Sappho's instructions removing blocks in a very precise manner.

Each time she or Arcos did so, things would shift slightly, and her heart would threaten to stop as the entire structure argued that it wanted to come crashing down. If it did, everyone inside would slowly cook, like pizzas in an oven. She shivered at the thought. "Thissss isssn't happening fassst enough," she said frustratingly.

"You got a better idea?" Arcos asked, heaving a block of the building out of the way, glancing uneasily at the crowd Casey was holding at bay.

Before Medusa could answer, someone spotted them, "They're digging them out!" An arm of the group managed to make their way past Casey on his left and head toward the trio.

"Yesssss," Medusa hissed. "Dig fassster." She picked up a non-load bearing block and flung it in the direction of the oncoming crowd. They easily avoided it, but it slowed their progress.

"Sappho," Arcos called. "Which blocks?"

"That one," Sappho pointed, "and that one, then that one, then that one," and pointed each one in order. Arcos and Medusa grabbed them and flung them at the approaching humans, causing them to scatter each time, but like some sort of primordial ooze they came back together and kept on with their approach.

They began to hear voices coming from inside the bricks. "April!" Arcos yelled. "Can you hear us?" He grabbed the next block in the sequence and when he did, he nudged the block next to it as he heaved it into the crowd.

The entire structure began to shake. Like a picture of dominoes, bricks began to fall, threatening to not only erase all of their progress, but to put them even farther behind than they had been before, causing the fire to smother those inside. With a quickness that a body that large should not have possessed, Medusa wedged herself into space where the load bearing brick had been, making her body into an arch shape and holding the structure shakily up. "Hurry!" she hissed, as her brother stared at her.

TSOTCTSOTC

Denim was running dangerously low on life-friendly ammo, and she couldn't open real fire on a situation like this. She loaded her last five tranq rounds into the chamber. Technically, she had live rounds, and she could shoot - she wouldn't miss - but it would exasperate an already dangerous situation.

Pete lifted his head and moaned from beside her. "Are we winning?" Before she could reply, his eyes closed as he slumped once more.

She scanned the crowd, saw Rockwell fall, Leatherhead carrying Mondo. Mikey on his heels. Slash still struggling with flames and terrified mutants. They weren't moving out fast enough and Mikey could be put to better use. Denim pegged the lead of a cluster of rioters, stopping him from smashing a crowbar into Rockwell's skull. Her target dropped his weapon, grabbing his neck as he slumped to the ground. His buddies backed away eyeing Rockwell as though he'd done something to them. Good.

Four shots left.

Fishing her phone out of her pocket, she speed dialed Mikey and put him on speaker.

"Sup, Blue Jeans? You uh- ow, not cool, bruh. Sorry, Blue Jeans. You, uh, okay?" His chin tilted in her direction but he didn't look.

"I've only got four shots left, Mikey. Rockwell is down. Tell Leatherhead to give Mondo to you, and for him to get Rockwell. Both of you bring them up here with Pete. We've got to regroup before-" Denim nearly dropped the phone as rioters charged the oncoming protestors, the police pushing up from the back so the group could not change direction. They'd be forced into one another unless the protestors retreated. Denim set down the phone, keenly aware of Mikey's shouts, but not really hearing what he was saying. Grabbing her weapon, she peered into the scope adjusting in search of the end of the sea of people. Flashing lights filled her sights. More riot police setting up barricades on the other end. "Oh no."

The air on the rooftop shifted, her neck lengthening as though someone were lifting her up by it.

"Drop your weapon," came a male voice.

Denim inhaled slow, her finger lightly on the trigger as she tried to pinpoint the exact position of the newest problem right behind her. She couldn't waste a shot. While hers was life-friendly fire, her attackers may not be.

"I said drop your weapon, or I'll shoot!" The man's voice was tense, an undeniable quiver of adrenaline. "Now!" He was stepping closer.

"Drop your weapon!" Came a second voice.

Shit.

Denim lowered her head and her weapon just a bit, unsure if she should risk the shot or lay down her gun and seek another opportunity for escape. Either way her time was up. Decisions, decisions. Alli, Jem and Scout flickered through her mind. Then Mikey's big blue eyes. She'd almost opted to set down her gun, when the black screen of her phone caught her attention. In it, a perfect reflection of her assailants behind her. All she needed. Dropping to the ground, she rolled, shooting one in the neck and the other in the thigh. Just as she thought it was over, a third cop appeared in a utility door. She spent her last shot dropping him.

She exhaled, resting her head against the rooftop as she savored a small victory over a close call. But now she was useless, with the fight not over. Her gaze drifted toward the slumbering riot police. What were they packing? Rolling to her hands and knees, she pushed herself to her feet as the sky behind her erupted in flashes of light, sonic booms and gas. No time to waste. She searched the first cop and smiled. If all three were packing the same thing, she was more than back in business. But she had to get rid of them.

She tugged on the first cop's arm. Heavy. This was a setback she did not have time for. She searched his waistband fishing out his handcuffs. If they came-to at least they'd be restrained.

Her phone lit up with Slash's image and Denim paused to answer it. "We need cover, Denim! Where are you?"

Casting a glance at her unfinished cop binding, she grabbed the closest gun and made for the roof ledge. The other two would have to wait. Readying her new shotgun, she checked the chamber. Rubber bullets. Perfect. But her nose wrinkled at the lack of scope. One hand fishing through her gear bag, she pulled out yet another handy modification Donnie made for her. As she mounted the device to the shotgun she answered her friend, "I'm here, Slash. I've got you."

Mikey felt like he was drowning in people as they crushed in around him, trying to get away from... well everything. "Blue Jeans," ow "you still" oof "there?"

"Protect our friend." LH rumbled placing Mondo atop his shoulders, apparently overhearing Mikey's convo. "I will retrieve Dr. Rockwell," he explained as he waded through the sea of people.

Mikey, still struggling for balance and crying out each of the many times everyone ever collided with him, couldn't help but smile, visualizing LH carrying Monkey Brains up Denim's building like King Kong. Or the lizard version of King Kong. Would that be Godzilla?

His smile vanished as a new voice sounded over his still open phone, so quiet it was barely audible over the mob and yet it was all Mikey could hear.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

"Blue Jeans, you got this right?" He begged.

No answer. The call had dropped.

Panic gnawing at his stomach, he balanced Mondo on one shoulder and scrambled up the nearest person, a solidly built badger mutant, to her immense surprise and began sprinting across the shoulders of the crowd towards Denim's building. Once more up the fire escape with an armload of injured allies. Total deja vu. At least he only had one injured friendly this time.

When rubber bullets rained down from the rooftop into the crazies swarming Slash in the street behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief. Denim had it on lock.

With it all good, he cheerfully popped his head up over the ledge, ready to deposit Mondo and get back at it. Except the downed baddies weren't downed enough. One was trussed up nicely like a Christmas present, but another, not nearly as tied up, looked to be drunkenly lifting a handgun at his honey.

Not gonna happen.

Pushing off the wall with his toes, he flipped over the ledge to fling a spray of ninja stars at the gunman while gently-ish landing Mondo onto the roof behind him. His satisfied grin at seeing the pistol fly outta the dude's hand slipped away when he heard the crack of a shot going off.

How? He knocked the gun away. And it wasn't from Denim's direction. So...oh third gun dude.

The newly noticed guy struggled to keep a hold of his firearm with numb hands while shakily pushing up onto one knee.

Mikey's kusarigama flew out, sending the gun skittering away as the chain wrapped around gun dude's wrist. With a firm tug he toppled the guy into his equally klutzy buddy and lassoed the rest of his chain around them yanking it tight.

Yeah, that's how it's done.

Why did his head feel so fuzzy? Were tranq darts contagious?

That was about when his left arm finally got a screaming message to his brain to stop using it to pull the chain.

Looking down, he could see blood, a lot of blood, spilling down the front of his plastron from somewhere around his collar bone.

Uh oh. Not good.

His vision swam and he felt himself toppling forward.

Not good at all.

"No! No, no, no, Mikey, no." Denim dropped her weapon, grabbing her bag as her world threatened to topple. No. No. No. Each step toward him reverberated throughout. Not again. Not again. She couldn't lose him too.

Michelangelo was only footsteps away, but she couldn't seem to get to him fast enough. How bad was it? He's seemed to crumble right before her eyes. So fast. Heart pounding, she dropped to her knees beside him. "Mikey, hey, talk to me. Stay with me."

His eyes focused momentarily and he slurred, "Denim, you're ok. So good. Was worried."

Her eyes began to tear as she wrestled with the collar of his tee. No. No. Not Mikey. There was too much blood. Not now. Not yet. Not ever. "You're okay, you're gonna be okay." Was she lying?

Grateful she'd left her bag open she found her first aid kit, grabbing her scissors first. Mikey moaned as she cut away his tee. "You're okay, baby you're gonna be fine. It's fine." Her fingers began to shake as blood covered them hot and fast, his skin already coated and sticky with it. It was dark and she couldn't see. Damn, the one drawback of sniper hiding.

She fished out her flashlight fully aware she was creating a spotlight as she clicked it on, placing it in her mouth to free up her hands. Okay, okay, where was it coming from? This time she grabbed her water bottle, pouring it over his neck area with one hand while she tugged out gauze pads with her other.

"Leo an' Sensei's gonna lecture," Mikey mumbled to no one in particular, struggling to get the words out. "Always say I gotta be more aware of my surroundings."

Chucking the bottle to the side, she ripped open the packets wiping away the blood to find the source. There. There it was. A nasty hole right through his trapezius. Entry wound. Ew. Okay. Not an artery, but still not great. Pressing the gauze firm against the wound, she wrapped her right arm behind his neck, pulling him toward her. Exit. Please. Please.

"Denim?" Leatherhead's voice came from behind her. "What has happened?"

She couldn't answer for the flashlight in her mouth, but she prayed he didn't throw a massive fit. She could do nothing to stop him and it would hurt Mikey more than do him any good. Not even trying to answer, her heart unwound as congealing blood clung to her fingers. How had he even been able to hold his weapon with this injury? There was a literal hole through his shoulder.

As the massive croc let out an explosive roar, Denim felt the pressure recoil in her back. Really? He was going to do this now? Removing the flashlight from her mouth, her head pivoted toward the infuriated reptile. "Help me, help him. Please."

Leatherhead blinked as though he'd been slapped, but his nictitating membranes retreated from his eyes and his breathing normalized. He gently lay Dr. Rockwell down and looked about helplessly. "My friend...what can I do?"

"You can help by holding the flashlight so I can work." She tossed it up into his claw before turning back to Mikey. "I've got you, Mikey. Do you hear me? You're going to be okay."

Then field medic training, something she had from military life, but kept up in the Hamato family, took over. Thank you Leo and Donnie for insisting. She had to stop the bleeding. She ripped open more gauze pads, pressing them to the exit wound, fully aware of the blood seeping out the entry wound onto her legs.

Gauze wasn't going to cut it. She grabbed the tiny bottle of disinfectant squirting it over her hands then the exit wound. Next for a needle and thread. Hers was no ordinary first aid kit, carrying two different vials and a package of syringes among a few other items Donnie kept her stocked with. Time for some hasty stitches then tape, then more gauze, front and back, a dose of Adrenalin, a bottle of water and a sling. A lot to do and not a lot of time.

An explosion from below rocked the building and Denim wondered for a second if it would cave. Hopefully, Slash, Raph and Zoe were holding up okay. She frowned as she worked the needle through Mikey's skin.

"Leatherhead, use your freehand to call and update Slash, then call Phoenix." She glanced around, her eyes skimming over Pete, Mondo and Rockwell then back to Mikey. "We've got more down than we've got standing. We need a real healer."

She glanced at the vial of adrenaline. If they couldn't get hold of mom then it was doses all around to get them all out. The injured couldn't stay here any longer. Either the tables turned in their favor of it was time to retreat.

TSOTCTSOTC

Operation 'Distract Dumbasses' was a success. Until it wasn't.

Casey swore loudly as the crowd surged passed him towards the shelter. He'd teach them to ignore him.

Dropping a line of pucks, all he had in reserve, he began shooting them, rapidly firing them into the heads of whichever unlucky bastard happened to be closest to the building. Hard rubber struck skulls, dropping people in their tracks and boulders flew at the oncoming horde courtesy of Arcos and 'Dus, but it wasn't enough. The wave of people was about to break on his friends. And then phones everywhere went nuts.

Like trained lab rats, an expression that always made him smile given the way Splinter still creeped him out, a majority of the angry rioters actually staggered to a halt to look at their devices. To Casey's amazement, they actually started getting the attention of the rest of the mob to do the same.

Not that he was complaining, but what the hell?

Hating himself a little bit for doing so, he pulled out his own obnoxiously chirping phone. His eyes were probably bugging out of his head as he scanned the screen.

Damn. D actually did it. Battle was going to flip his shit. Just like the mob around him. Some stalked off in an angry huff, but most began to turn on each other, forming angry factions of those who had people trapped inside or didn't care for being used vs those that just wanted to hurt some mutant freaks.

And yet a handful were still gunning for his friends while the rest fell into infighting.

Not on his watch.

Skating deftly between the numerous brawls, he covered enough ground to bodily check the asshole closest to Arcos and 'Dus, before spinning to face the rest. A little hooking here and high sticking there instilled the fear of hockey in them, bringing the fight to a standstill as each one hesitated to be the next to cross him.

The face off dragged on until Arcos pulled the right rock and a flood of trapped people poured out of the ruined shelter. Score one for freedom. Too bad the new arrivals made for an easy target. His opponents abandoned him in favor of more vulnerable prey and even a chunk of the brawling crowd noticed and broke away to attack.

Fuck that. Time for Casey Jones to rack up dome penalties.

"Goongala!" He cried, charging in to bring the hurt. Too bad he didn't have long to lay on the pain before everything went to shit.

He'd just been tallying the notable absence of the person he most wanted to escape when a literal fireball blasted out of the shelter's opening behind him.

In any other circumstance, it would have been totally metal. But not here. Not now.

He didn't even recognize the hoarse scream that escaped his throat. "April!"

TSOTCTSOTC

This was a helluva mess. Slash decided he had officially lost control of the situation. Technically he'd lost it once the swat team started firing into the crowd. Most of his time and energy following that had been spent as a bullet shield, many he'd managed to deflect with his shell protecting rioter and refugee alike, but he had more than a few embedded in his arms. Even so, people around him, friend and foe, were dropping like flies.

The team lead, who'd clearly expected to be out here strictly for the purpose of intimidation, fought to regain control of his unit, some hesitant and retreating, others unleashing on the crowd without regard for friendly fire, until one of his own men knocked him out cold with the butt of a rifle. The situation had only descended further into chaos when more rank and file officers arrived with some ambulances and began duking it out unsuccessfully with swat while the paramedics couldn't get to the injured.

Under fire and fed up, he fumbled for his phone, trying not to be resentful at Rockwell for exceeding his limit and dropping out. For a moment he thought Denim might not pick up and nearly crushed the T-phone Donnie had made for him. "We need cover, Denim! Where are you?"

Before he could get a response, someone flailed into his arm, clipping his hand just right to send his phone flying to crunch underfoot in the seemingly endless horde of people. Instead his answer came in the form of rubber bullets strategically pegging the offending swat officers.

For one brief moment he felt relief. Then he looked back at the shelter from which the final few stragglers were staggering out coughing and choking. Except the last guy, a raccoon mutant, sprinting full speed while screaming. That couldn't be good.

Shoving through the crowd, he was almost to the shelter when something big exploded inside it. Windows blasted out, raining down glass, and the door burst out of its frame in a wave of force and flame.

Roaring with the effort, Slash caught the wide metal door, gritting his teeth as its windows shattered out around his face, and pushed back with it against the power of the explosion in an effort to shield the people around him. Solid as he was, he still rocked back on his heels.

And then several assholes rushed in to finish knocking him off balance, descending on him with axes and clubs the moment he was flat on his shell. As they pummeled his already beaten body, he realized that he had no allies anywhere around him. For the first time since forming the Mutanimals he was completely alone.

"Spike!"

Slash sucked in a breath at the sound of Raph's voice, almost smiling at him falling back into the habit of his old name. Not so alone after all.

With a loud battlecry, he started flinging people off him and struggling back to his feet. This fight wasn't over yet.

TSOTCTSOTC

April had long since lost track of how long she'd been trapped in this limbo. It could've been hours or moments, she didn't know, but it wouldn't be forever. Sooner or later she'd lose the battle with gravity. The house always wins.

It didn't help that she'd divided her focus. With the fire threatening around their prison, she had to push back on the spread of that too, learning by trial and error as she went how to insulate against heat with her telekinetic powers. After everything she'd seen and done, it had somehow never come up before.

Despite her best efforts the temperature was rising, turning their prison into an oven. She could feel the rivulets of sweat trailing down her face and back, seemingly draining her stamina away with them. The rising heat made every effort cost twice as much.

But, by far, their biggest problem was air. With both people and flame sucking up what oxygen had been trapped with them, any fresh air managing to squeeze in through the cracks didn't put a dent in the amount they were using. She hadn't noticed at first but it was now hard to ignore. Every breath was so difficult with very little to show for it. Her head ached and she felt dizzy. Whether that was from oxygen deprivation or the extended use of her powers, she couldn't tell. The situation was untenable and eventually she'd lose.

And then the rubble above them shifted, slamming against her will with an unexpected blow. For a moment, she thought she might shatter. And then, someone else was there with her, shouldering the weight. Medusa? And Arcos and Sappho and even Casey.

Their hysterical relief bubbling up in her chest counterbalanced the wave of panic the shifting stone had inspired in everyone else, terror consuming their precious reserves of air even faster.

But her friends were digging them out. They'd be free soon.

Wait. Her friends were digging them out. And the fire. The inrush of air would trigger a backdraft. No, no, no, no, no.

Fighting through the wooziness making her head feel as though it were stuffed full of cotton, she projected out a mental image of what was about to happen.

Too late. Arcos just pried free the last stone.

With her final reserves, April switched to blocking the air from the fire, feeling the stone above her buckling as she didn't have the resources to keep pressing. She wouldn't last. At least all the trapped people didn't waste a moment rushing outside.

Her consciousness slipped as the last stragglers scrambled free.

No. Have to fight. For Donnie and the baby.

Her strength collapsed. The ceiling began coming down and the air flowed in towards the fire. Her knees betrayed her and she started to fall.

Then a blur of motion slammed into her but she didn't smash against the broken stone behind her. Time seemed to slow as she realized she was grasped in Sappho's arms as the cyborg crouched sideways against the far wall. Legs uncoiled launching them towards the exit as the fire ignited.

Everything exploded into light and heat, a gout of flame chasing them out. She could feel Sappho's terror and saw with double vision the cyborg of the present and, deeper within, a girl from the past, pinned as the world around her burned. All three of them screamed together in the instant the escaping fire outpaced and engulfed them.