WARNING: This chapter contains violence and strong language.
Leo
I dashed alongside my brothers down the abandoned subway tunnels, clenching my teeth as I ignored the awful soreness in my ribcage that tightened with every step. It forced me to lag behind, but with my brothers ahead of me, I decided to use my sluggish pace to watch for Foot soldiers at our rear. I was prepared for a fight; I just hoped the fight would come much farther away from home.
Big Leo took the lead with Donnie's T-phone in his hand. He was in charge of checking the cameras Donnie had placed around in the sewer system and abandoned tunnels while the genius was preoccupied.
"So far, so good," he reported.
"Raph, let April know we're coming. Donnie—"
I was cut off by my frantic smarter brother, who held a drill he was working into the Heiwa no Buki as we bolted across the empty metal tracks. "I'm trying, Leo! This is delicate work and very hard to do while running for my life."
"Don't panic, Don. Breathe," I panted.
Donnie complied, breathing in as calmly as possible while running and reaching into his bag for another tool. "I'm going to try drilling this twist bit into the Heiwa no Buki and see if I can push out the tick-sized chip. Then we can dispose of the chip far away from the lair."
"How long do ya think that will take?" Raph asked from the front.
"Don't worry about time; worry about evading the Foot," I said.
"Speaking of, there's a group coming at twelve o'clock. This way!" Big Leo barked.
We followed his lead and veered straight into the sewers as my younger brother worked on freeing the chip. The sound of his drill was raucous and bounced across the walls. It was a risk of giving away our position, but then again, so was taking a tracking chip with us. Every turn we took to evade a fight only prolonged the possibility of our enemy catching up to us. Sooner or later, we would slow down, giving the Foot an advantage in addition to knowing our location. I just hoped Donnie could remove the tracking chip before they had the chance.
"Do you see Mikey and Sensei?" Raph asked.
"They passed one of the sensors not long ago. They're fine. We seem to be redirecting the Foot's traffic away from them," Big Leo reported.
I let out a short-lived sigh of relief, soon to be disrupted by a sudden ache in my ribs. I hated splitting the family amid an emergency like this, but it would be stupid to keep Mikey and the Heiwa no Buki together with Shredder and his army on the hunt. Worst-case scenarios nestled into my brain when my brothers and I went silent, like my youngest brother and Father running into trouble and Mikey getting captured. I had to keep reassuring myself that he was the safest with Master Splinter and have faith in my plan despite Mikey's pleas.
He seemed genuinely worried for us when he should be worried about himself. The look he gave me when Sensei pulled him away from our grip was fresh in my memory. This was for his own good, though, just like excluding him from our previous mission. I owed him so much pizza if—no… when we finish this.
Then I breathed another sigh, knowing that worrying about Mikey wouldn't help anything.
"Okay, ninjas. Hang a left. There should be a ladder within a hundred feet. Donnie, how's that extraction coming?" Big Leo asked.
"It's coming," was all Donnie could reply over the mechanical whirr of his drill.
I picked up the stressed murmurs leaking from underneath Donatello's breath—how "careless and stupid" could he be to not guess there was a tracking device in the weapon. I sought to eradicate that kind of talk, to tell him that none of us could have foreseen this coming before bringing the Weapon of Peace to our lair. The Shredder knew we were injured and distracted, thus why he sprung this trap so suddenly. Yet I said nothing, thinking I would only disturb the genius seeing how focused he was. Maybe bullying himself was some strange way of blocking out distractions so he could work timely.
"And… got it!" Donnie lifted the chip up, and I could barely see it under the darkness of the tunnels, not to mention my vision jumping up and down from all the tiresome running.
"We're approaching the exit," Big Leo said.
I permitted a relieved sigh to escape me. A sense of assurance washed over me, weighing me down and making me go slack, but only for a precious minute did I get to enjoy such a feeling. When a familiar robotic whine echoed behind me, I craned my neck, anxious to find a band of Foot bots coming up on our rear. Ten-twenty of them, judging by my quick glance.
"Good, because we've got company," I alerted.
My brothers turned, their eyes widening at the large mass of ninja nearing as we made it to the designated exit. Big Leo jumped behind me and unsheeted a katana to deflect a projectile shuriken aimed at my head.
"You guys go! I'm right behind you."
"Are you sure that's—"
Big Leo cut off Donnie as he sliced the head of the first robot ninja to come near. "Dump the chip and get to safety!"
I clasped comforting hands on Donnie and guided him to the ladder. As much as I didn't want us splitting up more so, Big Leo would do well against simple Foot bots by himself. The fact that we were pressed for time also left no room for debate. My future self would save us plenty by holding off the robot ninjas.
I followed last, the pain in my chest pulling as I worked my upper body strength to ascend to the surface. First Raph, then Donnie, then myself, clambered out of the manhole. But what we found under the rising sun caused a lurch in my stomach.
An army of mutants smiled down on us—Rahzar, Fish Face, Bebop, Rocksteady, and a hoard of Foot bots. They surrounded the manhole amid the alley, and we were quickly seized before I could utter an order. Rocksteady yanked Raphael and Donatello by the shells and pushed them down to the concrete, laughing cruelly as he applied much force on them. I drew my hand back for a katana, but Rahzar was quick to knock me on my shell, holding a foot down on my bruised plastron that caused me to cry out.
"Leo!" Raph called desperately. He was out of my line of sight, but I could hear him furiously growling beyond me.
"Do not even dream of struggling. This ends now," came a deep voice.
I craned my neck as far as I could, seeing the group of Foot bots parting so Oroku Saki could step through. His foggy blue eye focused somewhere behind me, narrowing angrily. He marched down the alley toward my brothers, and I fought to watch him, straining my neck until he was out of sight. Rahzar noticed this and decided it'd be best for me to see every detail of what would soon go down. He removed his foot and yanked me by the arms, restraining me with a bony arm wrapped around my neck.
The Shredder approached my younger brothers, looking down on them with clenched fists. He bent down and snatched the Heiwa no Buki from Donnie.
"The Heiwa no Buki is mine once again." The armored ninja's eyes studied the small hole drilled into the weapon and sneered, "Nice try, turtles."
"Fuck you, Shred-Head. Let us go and fight us like a man, you sorry, son of a bitch!" Raphael snarled. He struggled to push himself upward, only to receive the Shredder's boot clocking him in the jaw. My brother shot him an unfocused death stare, but I could see in his eyes that the blow had jarred him.
"You'll be wise to hold your tongue, you savage mutant before I cut it where you lie defeated," Saki threatened.
We heard a commotion coming from the bottom of the manhole we crawled out of, sounds of Big Leo grunting and his katanas clashing against metal. He sounded distraught, outnumbered. More Foot bots must have advanced on him. The Shredder stepped toward the hole, looking down with what I could have sworn was a twisted smile under his mask.
"Yame!" he ordered. Then, the ruckus stopped. "Come join your brothers or die by the hands of my disciples. It is your choice."
Without a word or a moment to waste, Big Leo quietly scaled the ladder. Saki turned to Rahzar, giving him a brief nod. My katana was unsheeted behind me and held at my throat for Big Leo to see once he surfaced. I swallowed thickly at the cold metal gracing the scales of my neck.
"I don't know what timeline or reality you crawled from, Leonardo," Saki growled toward my older self, "but try to fight or escape, and this Leonardo dies. If he is your past self, I would suggest heeding to me, given you'll die with him if you try anything."
Big Leo said nothing, raising his hands in surrender as he eyed our enemy twirl the Heiwa no Buki like a baton.
"That's one piece of my plan secured. Now, for the second."
"Forget it, Shredder," I spat, holding back a shudder as my Adam's apple pressed against my own blade when I spoke. "Mikey's long gone, and you'll never find him."
Saki ticked his head to the side, that smug look under his mask unmoving. "I doubt that completely, as Tiger Claw is in pursuit of him now. Even if he fails, it doesn't matter, for I have four live bargaining chips ready as a backup plan."
My eyes widened, meeting my brothers fretfully. We knew Mikey would give himself up for us, even though he promised Big Leo otherwise. Master Splinter would stop him, right? Right. I needed to break from Rahzar's hold. I needed to fight.
Raphael's emerald eyes found mine. My gaze darted to his sais, and I raised my eye ridges in question. He blinked once for yes, telling me they were within reach. At least, I hoped that's what he was telling me. He looked at my hand that didn't have a hold of Rahzar, noticing I signed, "wait."
Again, he blinked.
Mikey
Master Splinter's grip on my hand tightened when I saw his ears twitch, and he silently led me to a dark corner. We veiled ourselves in the shadows with baited breaths until a group of Foot bots clanked by. Sensei always waited a minute or two before he would jerk me back into a run, even after they were long gone.
This routine had slowed down after ten minutes. It made me wonder if Leo's plan had worked—if they had successfully led the Foot away so Sensei and I could escape. My big bro always had good plans, but I hated this one. When I went to protest Master Splinter, he harshly shushed me and told me he needed to focus on his hearing. And unless I wanted a knot on my head, I knew it was best to bite my tongue.
Another squeeze on my hand, and I looked at Father. His eyes darted to a tunnel coming up on the right, one I knew led to the sewers. When our padded steps reached the tunnel, we bolted inside and proceeded to run.
I could usually run forever before tiring out; I was the fastest and most agile of my brothers. But this felt like a different type of run, unlike our usual sprints over the NYC buildings. It was demanding all of my energy, leaving my feet aching with every step. Running for your life will do that to you, I guessed.
Master Splinter was slowing down, too; I could hear it in the sharp breaths he fought to conceal, the quivering of his knees when he stepped. After a few more agonizing minutes, he finally stopped, placed his paws on his knees, and gasped a shallow breath.
"Sensei?" My eyes hovered over his trembling form. I clasped my hand around his arm, fearing he would collapse in the sewer water. There was a haunting reminder floating above my head that Splinter wasn't the nimble ninja he was years ago, and it was starting to reflect in the grey hairs of his fur, his quaking knees, and the newfound hoarseness in his speech I had taken notice of just a few months ago. It worried me deeply as I studied him with a spreading frown.
"Let's rest, my son. I do not hear any approaching threats." The quaver in his voice was concerning.
"Are you going to be okay, Papa?" I panted as I gently set him down on the concrete bordering the rushing water.
"I will be okay once we get you to safety, Michelangelo," Master Splinter said, setting a cold paw on my shoulder.
He pushed a smile beneath his whiskers, and I felt no desire to return the action as comforting as it was. My frown spread as I wondered how many more of my family members had to suffer because of me. Leo's ribs were bruised, Sensei was pushing his limit, and our home was at risk of being compromised all because I had a stupid connection with a stupid weapon. They fought for me, hurt for me. When could I do the same for them?
"Have patience, my sainenshō no musuko. This will be over soon."
I blinked, wondering for the millionth time in my life when he developed mind-reading powers and how could I get them?
"Papa… I can't keep watching you all get hurt," I admitted, squeezing his arm as if that would help him know how serious I was.
Sensei placed a paw on my cheek, his bushy eyebrows knitting together. "We love you, Michelangelo. A family that does not protect one another is not a family at all. You would do the same for your brothers, would you not?" Leaning into his paw, I nodded. "And as for this old rat, I would break my back protecting my children again and again. It is the way that I am."
Uninvited tears swelled in my eyes as Father pulled me into him. I nestled my wet face in the soft fabric of his robe, my shell hitching with an uncontrol sob.
"Sensei—"
Suddenly, his paw clamped over my mouth, and I looked up to find his ears twitching, eyes shut in concentration. He lifted us to our feet and ducked into a wide drainage pipe, where we crouched and waited. In the darkness, I heard a faint click coming from his side, knowing he had flicked his tanto from the sheath and readied it. I didn't dare ask what he was hearing before I heard it myself—a hefty body stalking the same tunnel we occupied, growing closer.
My heart hammered in my chest as I saw a faint shadow stretching eerily across the wall. I gulped, seeing it wasn't a hoard of Foot bots by the shape but that of a hulking mutant. The shadow paused, its feet no longer sploshing in the water. Then, I picked up the sound of a sniffing nose and a purr following shortly after.
"I smell you and the rat, cub. No point in hiding from me."
Tiger Claw! I clung to Master Splinter, trying to ask him what we would do through touch, but the tiger approached the drain pipe before I could get a response. His yellow eye split through the darkness, locking on us with a deep growl. As he reached for his blade with a bandaged hand, Sensei crawled from our hiding spot, slicing at the cat with a fierce cry.
Tiger Claw deflected the blow by the skin of his teeth, returning the gesture with his machete that Master Splinter dexterously dodged. The two danced in a circle, awaiting a strike from the other through focused glares.
I set a hand on the handle of a nunchaku, waiting for a moment to help my father.
"Master Shredder ordered me not to kill you if I found you with the cub, but you make it so difficult to follow orders," Tiger Claw said.
Sensei replied with another swipe from his tanto, to which the cat hopped to the side. His body came to view, and I sprang from the pipe, wrapping the chain of my nunchaku around Tiger Claw's neck. He jolted back, his claws curling around the chain he couldn't quite free himself from. When that didn't work, he drew his paws back, grasped my shell's edges, and then catapulted me at the wall. My shell took the brunt of it, and I fell on my head, the world spinning around me. I saw the tiger stomp toward me from upside down, but Master Splinter sliced at him, returning his attention to him immediately.
"Go, Michelangelo!" he ordered sternly.
I rolled right side up and grabbed my second nunchaku. "I'm not going anywhere, Sensei."
My wooden weapons whizzed in my ear slits as I jumped, slinging them at the large cat with my battle cry. I managed to thwack him across the face and his gut before he brought his claws down on me and nicked my shoulder.
"Irritating child!" Tiger Claw bellowed. He attempted to drive the hilt of the machete into my head, but I jumped away, blowing him a raspberry.
"You know, TC, I'm a cat dude myself, but you give cats a bad name," I taunted as I landed.
Sensei leaped from behind me, swiping his tanto down on the cat as he was distracted, painting the blade red with the blood from his shoulder. Tiger Claw released an animalistic roar and retaliated with a hard smack on Sensei's head. My father slammed into the concrete and went still.
"Papa!" I looked him over, feeling tears brimming in my eyes as he was unresponsive.
"Give up, little kame," Tiger Claw growled. I looked up to see him towering over Sensei and me, flashing a device I couldn't name. "As we speak, Master Shredder is seizing your brothers, and he will have the Heiwa no Buki."
I suppressed a gasp, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear. My eyes went white in a blink, and I stood, spinning my nunchaku furiously.
"Tenacious little creature. If you will not come with dignity, then you will come unconscious," Tiger Claw said. Just as we prepared to launch at each other, my eyes widened at an enormous shadow closing in on my enemy. It enveloped him as he went to strike, belting a ferocious roar familiar to me.
"Leatherhead!" I cheered.
The mutant alligator easily picked up the unsuspecting tiger and, with that ear-splitting roar, slammed his head into the wall. Tiger Claw's body dropped like a sack of sand, going limp on contact.
"Are you alright, my friend?" the alligator asked as I embraced him, nuzzling my face in his scaly stomach and so relieved I could have cried.
"You really saved my shell, dude. Though, I wish I could say the same for Master Splinter." With a frown, I walked over to the rat, running my hand through the greying fur on his head. Then, his eyelids fluttered open, his bloodshot eyes meeting mine.
"…Michelangelo," he rasped.
I perked up and lifted his head on my lap. "Papa! The others are in trouble; we have to help them!"
"No, my… son. It is…" I watched his eyes roll to the back of his head as he slipped back unconscious. Fear crawled up my shell. Only Donnie could determine what was wrong with him, and he was in trouble! I needed to do something. Time was running out.
"Leatherhead, I need you to take Master Splinter home. You remember where it is, right?" I asked hopefully.
My friend nodded, stooping down to gently pick up my father with his giant mitts. "Where are you going?"
I walked to Tiger Claw's lifeless-looking form, sifting through his things until I found the device he showed me earlier. I saw a red dot on the screen with a crafty smile, knowing it was the tracking device that would lead me to my bros. Then I looked at my friend, my eyes shifting entirely white.
"To kick some serious shell, dude."
I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave any comments, as I'm still trying to improve my writing. I hope you have a great day!
