Author's Note: This story is set somewhere during the first season for both shows, so the 2003 turtles haven't been to the Battle Nexus yet.

Mission Save the Brothers

Leonardo woke up with a start. He had been in a cell with his brothers, slowing his breathing down to avoid inhaling sleeping gas, and now he was…

He was lying on a bench in the open, with Leo next to him.

Leonardo jumped on his feet, taking in his immediate surroundings. This looked like a small town square, with benches circling a fountain and several streets leading through buildings of various shapes and forms. It was nothing like his New York, but it was definitely a city.

What was he doing here? And more importantly, what if people saw him?

Leonardo's last memory was pain coursing through his body as he was shocked with some sort of wave. He must have experienced a blackout.

But why wasn't he in the cell with his brothers? Hadn't Draxum selected Leo for his mission?

Said Leo was still sleeping peacefully, like he hadn't caused any interdimensional drama at all.

Leonardo shook him softly. "Wake up!" he whispered in Leo's ear, at the same time looking for a place where they could retreat. They were way too exposed.

Leo moaned in his sleep. He looked younger than he was, curled up in a ball like this.

But Leonardo couldn't afford to let him sleep.

"Wake up!" he insisted. "We must leave!"

Leo yawned and opened his eyes. "What's the emergency?" he drawled.

At that precise moment, people entered the square. They weren't looking at them, and they…

They weren't human.

Leonardo relaxed ever so slightly.

"Are we still in the Hidden City?" he asked his counterpart.

Leo stretched before standing up and looking around. He nodded. "It looks like it." Then he frowned, his memories catching up with him. "Why are you here?"

Leonardo shrugged. "I don't know. The others are missing."

"Still in that cell, I assume." Leo's shoulders sagged a little. "And just when I had found them again."

Leonardo could relate to that feeling. He hadn't expected to be separated from his brothers so soon after their reunion. And now it looked like they were the prisoners of a maniac.

Leonardo would not forget about Draxum and what he did.

He sat down on the bench, thinking.

"What can you tell me about Big Mama? And Draxum?" he asked Leo.

Leo grimaced. "Big Mama is a dangerous spider yokai and I don't want to cross her. Or see her. Or have anything to do with her. Oh, and she's obsessed with her Battle Nexus and will try to send us there if she can."

"What's the Battle Nexus?"

"It's a place where people fight each other in front of other people. Big Mama doesn't care about obtaining the fighters' consent, I'm afraid."

"I see," Leonardo said somberly.

"And Draxum is the one who mutated us in the first place. He wanted to turn us into weapons." Leo shrugged. "Good thing Splinter took us in instead. Can you imagine training for hours every day of your life?"

Leonardo lifted an eye ridge. "Yes, I can."

Leo had the good grace to look a tiny bit sheepish and Leonardo didn't insist. They had more pressing matters to attend to.

"What do you think is the best course of action? Should we go back and try to free our brothers, or should we carry out Draxum's mission?"

Leo looked surprised for some reason, but his answer was immediate. "Draxum didn't hesitate to drop me off a building once. He won't hesitate to kill the others if we don't give him what he wants."

Leonardo's fists clenched ever so slightly. "Then it's settled. We have to bring him these Oozesquitoes. Where is Big Mama's hideout?"

Leo cleared his throat. "I… don't know. I've never been in this part of the Hidden City." He stood up before Leonardo could reply. "But we can always ask."

Leo kept a discreet eye on Leonardo as they walked inside the streets.

He had been considering trying to run out on his counterpart. This was the perfect opportunity to accomplish the exploit his sword wanted, after all. Single-handedly saving his brothers and Leonardo's brothers from Draxum…

On the other hand, his brothers' lives were at stake and maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have reinforcements.

Leo had never underestimated Big Mama and he wasn't going to begin now.

He looked around, in search of another person to ask, but they were alone for now. They must have been moving away from the city center.

Leo had already asked several inhabitants of this city and they had all refused to answer his question, however simple it was. He had changed the wording several times, to no avail. The last time, the questioned citizen had even run away.

Maybe "Where can I sell my contraband Oozesquitoes?" had been a bit too explicit.

"Maybe we should try another strategy," Leonardo suggested.

Leo wasn't going to admit it, but it sounded like a good idea.

"What do you have in mind?" he said, his tone carefully neutral.

Leonardo pointed at the rooftops. "I suggest we climb there and take a look at the city from above. In my world, alleyways are always good places for shady business. If Big Mama is in charge here, she must send subordinates to do her dirty jobs. If we find one, we can follow them back to her hiding place."

"It sounds like a plan," Leo admitted, wishing he had thought of that.

No sooner said than done, they both climbed up the closest building. Leonardo stayed near the edge and scanned the city in search of a suitable alleyway while Leo leaned against a chimney, watching him.

"Are you really the leader?" he asked, sounding like he wasn't really interested in the answer.

"Yes."

"It was never Raphael?" Leo asked again, just to be sure.

"No."

"Okay."

Raphael had really taken him for a ride, then. Leo made a mental note to find a way to get back at him.

Nobody took Leo for a fool and got away with it, not even his own brothers.

Leonardo spared him a curious glance.

"What really happened with my brother?"

"I told you, he was mean." Leo glared at Leonardo as if it had been him and not Raphael. "At the end he didn't even want me to leave your lair on my own! How ridiculous!"

Leonardo raised both his eye ridges, obviously surprised. "Raph didn't want you to leave the lair?"

"Yes." Leo shook his head. "No offense, but he sounds like a real pain in the-"

"Thank you for your opinion," Leonardo cut him off. "And I'm sorry if he wasn't completely welcoming to you. But understand that I love him as much as you love your own brothers. I'd be grateful if you didn't insult him in my presence."

Leo considered that. "Fair enough," he finally muttered.

"Look," Leonardo said.

Leo rolled his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to have an in-depth conversation with Leonardo about what had happened in the other turtle's world. "I said fair enough. You made your point. No need to add more. It's not because we have the same name and the same favorite color that we're going to become best friends forever."

Even if you do listen to my plans, he added in his head with a hint of regret.

Leonardo shook his head with something that might have been slight exasperation.

"I meant 'look at this'. I think I've found what we are looking for." Leonardo pointed at something Leo couldn't see from where he stood.

"Oh." Leo came closer to the rooftop's edge and watched the shadowy figure who was striding inside a narrow street, not very far from there.

The figure was carrying an imperfectly zipped backpack and Leo could have sworn there were green lights flickering inside it.

It was an Oozesquitoes trafficker, Leo would have bet his li- Donnie's life on it.

"I suggest we follow this guy," Leo said as if he just had the idea.

"Sounds like a plan."

Leonardo sounded amused, which Leo ignored.

After all, the one who talked first could take the credit for the plan.

Crouching on a rooftop, Leonardo watched inside the alleyway that the trafficker had just entered. For now, the yokai was alone; but he was clearly waiting for someone, pacing back and forth and muttering under his breath.

Leonardo settled more comfortably for the wait, thinking about what he had seen so far.

Walking into the crowd in the city center had been a strange experience. An ill-advised somebody had even tried to search his belt for a wallet, as if Leonardo carried one.

The turtle definitely felt more in his element on the rooftops, in this less-frequented part of the Hidden City. And it was comforting to know that shady business still happened in shady alleyways.

Still, Leonardo hoped that he would have the opportunity to come back here with his brothers. Michelangelo in particular would love to blend in with the people of that very special city.

Something shifted down below, and Leonardo focused on what was happening.

Two giant owls in purple costumes were exiting a portal. The trafficker had stopped pacing and was doing his best to stand straight.

Leonardo glanced at Leo. His counterpart's somber face left no doubt about the fact he recognized either the owls or their costumes.

Good. The sooner this mission would be done, the sooner Leonardo would see his brothers again.

"Do you have the Oozesquitoes?" one of the owls said.

"Of course I do." The trafficker put his backpack in front of him, then held out his hand, palm up. "My payment, please."

The second owl walked to the backpack and opened it. The trafficker fidgeted.

"You said you had thirty Oozesquitoes," the owl said, his voice threatening. "I'm counting only seven."

"They're hard to catch," the trafficker said in a strangled voice.

"You should have waited before calling us," the owl added. "This is a waste of our time."

"I need the money now." The trafficker hung his head. "My mother is sick and…"

The first owl took a threatening step towards him. He let out a strangled gasp before running for his life.

The second owl closed the backpack and took it. "Let's go," he said to his companion, pointing at the still-opened portal.

Leonardo looked at Leo. Leo looked at Leonardo.

They both grinned.

The owl's costume was a bit too large for Leo's size, which was especially irritating because it fitted Leonardo perfectly. Leo was still extremely satisfied with their improvised plan.

They had knocked out Big Mama's minions and taken their outfits and the Oozesquitoes before jumping inside the portal, which had closed behind them.

They had also let the owls' money clearly visible in the alleyway in case the trafficker decided to come back. Leo liked to think that a mom might be healed thanks to it.

He had only collected a few bills for his emergency fund, the one Raph didn't know about.

Now both Leo and Leonardo were standing inside a hotel room Leo knew all too well.

"Good news, we're in New York," he whispered to Leonardo.

He didn't add that he had no idea how they would go back to the Hidden City once their mission would be complete.

"How do we go back to the Hidden City with the Oozesquitoes?" Leonardo asked.

Leo ignored that very rude question and adjusted his mask of freshly sampled owl feathers. After all, he couldn't afford to be recognized by Big Mama or her staff.

In fact, a fox in the same purple uniform as them was watching them suspiciously.

"We'll put these Oozesquitoes with the others," Leo said loud and clear, going for the elevator.

Leonardo followed him, which Leo enjoyed. Leo was the one in charge here, he knew the ground and he knew their foes and -

The elevator doors opened to reveal Gus, Big Mama's dog yokai pet. Leo made a U-turn to hide behind Leonardo.

Gus left the elevator and sniffed, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Leonardo moved past him to enter the elevator. Leo made sure to always have the other turtle between his precious body and Gus.

The elevator doors closed just as Gus' spikes bristled.

"An old friend of yours?" Leonardo deadpanned.

Leo closed his eyes briefly.

"Okay, new plan. Let's use the elevator shaft to enter the air ducts. I've already done it once. Also let's hope Gus has better things to do than chase me."

"Gus?" Leonardo was already opening the haft in the elevator's ceiling.

Leo sighed. "I'm not the one in charge of names."

They fell silent until they were in the air ducts, Leo leading the way once more.

"Alright. I know where Big Mama's safe is. If we're fast, we might be able to slip in and out without being noticed."

"Haven't we already been noticed?" Leonardo asked.

It almost looked as if he was enjoying himself. Leo straightened up as much as he could in the air duct.

"It's only a minor setback."

They crawled along several hotel rooms and a restaurant full of yokais, until they reached a gigantic room Leo remembered from the tour Big mama had given them, at that time when Leo's brothers still thought she was a trustworthy lady.

"What's this place?" Leonardo whispered.

"It's the sporting lounge," Leo answered. "That's where they watch the Battle Nexus fights. Let's not linger here."

But Leonardo had frozen and was watching one of the giant glass balls that served as screens, his whole body rigid.

Leo looked more closely to see what had caught his counterpart's attention.

And he gaped.

Every screen displayed six turtles they knew all too well about to enter a fight with an eight-armed colossus.

"Oh come on," Leo protested. "How did they even get there?"