Leonardo couldn't remember how many times he had woken up with aches and pains, or even how many times he had woken up in a place he didn't know, but this, this took the cake.

He had a list of bruises and cuts a mile long and he was fairly certain that some ribs had been bruised at the very least, but his worst injury seemed to be his arm where the ninja had thrown a shuriken into his forearm.

The weapon had been removed at some point but they hadn't bothered with stitching up the wound, which had gathered a frighteningly large mass of blood on the ground below it.

Leonardo attempted undo the wraps on his arms and legs to staunch the bleeding when he realized that they had been stripped from him along with his katanas. The only thing that remained was his mask, which Leo promptly pulled off and pressed against the wound.

Though the room had very little light to see by, Leo could feel the blood begin to stain his mask and was sure that his mask was now an awful purple color.

He hissed as the cloth rubbed against the wound, unable to stop the sound.

"Fearless? That you?" Raph croaked to his left, his voice gruff. Well, gruffer than usual.

"Yeah, it's me." Leo answered, edging himself closer to his left so that his free hand could reach through the bars blindly.

A hand clamped down on his wrist and then released him.

"Where's Mike?" Raph asked as soon as he had evidence that he was talking to his older brother

"Don't know." Leo admitted. "I just woke up."

"Me too." The youngest groaned to their right.

Instantly, Leo was pushing himself against the bars on his right, his hand reaching for his youngest brother in the darkness. He could hear Raph shuffling to his right but he was unable to get any closer to their youngest brother and cursed when he realized this.

Over his immediate younger brother's swears, Leo quickly asked Mikey what hurt, as the last time he had seen his youngest brother, he had been dragged away by Foot.

"My leg. I can't- I can't move it much. It's still bleeding. It hurts, Leo." Mikey whimpered, squeezing his eldest brother's hand once he found it.

"I know, it'll be okay Mikey." The leader quickly assured him, ignoring Raph's snort from behind. "Take off your bandana and use it for your leg."

His hand was released and he heard his brother's pained yelp as he pressed the cloth firmly against his injured leg.

"Oh yeah, it'll all be fun and dandy. Right Leo?" Raph growled. "You know where we are, don't you?"

"Not now, Raph." Leo hissed, half turning toward his red banded brother. He didn't want to frighten poor Mikey any more than he already was.

"Oh I'm sorry, Fearless. When would be a good time to tell him? He's not stupid, Leo! Shielding him from the truth isn't going to help!" Raph yelled, pounding on the bars of his cell a few times for good measure.

Mikey sniffled next to him and the grip on Leo's arm tightened.

"Yeah, well you're not helping anything either, Raph." Leo muttered under his breath. "We need to keep calm and plan a way out, not freak and start going at each other like usual, okay Raph?"

"Whatever." He heard the hot-head growl with a final kick at the bars.

"It's going to be fine, Mikey." Leo said to his youngest brother. "We'll all be fine. We'll find a way out of here, then we'll go back to the Lair and we'll sleep for a few weeks."

Leo was hoping that his attempt at humor would make the talkative turtle smile a little, or at least pull him out of his head, but the sniffles continued.

"What about Don?" Mikey whispered after a moment.

Leo tensed at the reminder of their brother and consequent betrayal and he could hear Raph let out a string of profanities.

"That backstabbin' traitor! When I get ahold of-"

"Raph, enough!" Leo snapped. "We don't know what happened, there could have been something going on."

"There's no excuse to do that to your family!" Raph argued.

"He doesn't know, Raph." Leo stressed. "We just need to keep our heads and get out of here. We'll deal with Don later."

"Inspiring words for a turtle stuck in a bad situation."

All three turtles snapped their attention toward the front of their cages. A door to their right had opened, it's light gleaming off of the metal armor that had given the warrior his name.

"Shredder." Leo hissed.

Behind him stood Baron, scowling but otherwise impassive.

"I would have thought that you three would prove harder to catch." Shredder murmered, walking in front of their cages casually. "I'll admit, I had my doubts when Donatello proposed the idea of bringing you three to me, but he managed to do what some of my servants could not."

"Liar!" Mikey yelled boldly from his spot on the ground.

"Mikey, no!" Leo hissed harshly, tightening his grip on his youngest brother.

But Mikey simply yanked his hand away and somehow found strength in anger to stand, facing the Shredder with more vigor than they had ever seen before.

"You're lying! Donnie didn't do that!" Mikey yelled boldly.

Leo sucked in a breath when Shredder walked past his cage to stand in front of Mikey's.

"Didn't he? Donatello is the one who came to me with the idea of capturing you three. Granted, the original plan was to kill you, but revisions had to be made." Shredder informed them in an offhand tone.

Kill them?

Mikey paled at the information but slowly shook his head.

"You're- you're lying." Mikey said but his words didn't hold half of the confidence that they had before. "He didn't... He didn't-"

"You wanted to meet him on that building, and I allowed his ambush." Shredder continued as if Mikey had never spoken.

None of them spoke now.

How could Donnie do that? Leo had thought that he was simply not prone to fighting, but had he really been planning to ambush them the whole time? But if that were the case, why tap out morse code? Why mouth 'sorry' if he had been planning this since Leo proposed it? It didn't make sense.

Part of Leo wanted, like Mikey, to deny it. But the other part wondered how, if Donnie didn't plan it, Shredder knew where they were meeting.

As much as it pained him, the only conclusion that Leo could come to was that their brother betrayed them.

The Shredder paced in front of their cells again and stopped in front of Leo's, glaring at the blue banded turtle.

"I ask this only once." He rumbled. "Where is Hamato Yoshi?"

"Go to hell." Raph snarled without hesitation.

"Never!" Leo vowed, narrowing his eyes hatefully.

"Get on Shred-head!" Mikey yelled.

Leo could practically hear the smirk in Shredder's voice.

"I can wait. I have my ways of getting what I want."

Leo shivered in his cell. He remembered Baron saying almost that exact same thing about Don.

"And by the time I am done, you will wish that you had given me what I wanted in the beginning." Shredder snarled then gave a small nod behind him. "Baron."

That was all he said before walking away from the three turtles and out of the room. In his place walked in two Foot soldiers who promptly stood at attention behind Baron.

"I'll ask you all again, where is the rat?" Baron demanded, a droll smirk spreading across his face at the expected answer.

The three teenagers answered with stony silence with accompanying glares.

Baron's smile widened. "Good, we don't want this to be too easy."

Leo's muscles tensed and a shiver ran down his shell at the tone.

"Take him."

At first he thought that Baron was referring to him, but quickly realized with horror that they hadn't meant him at all.

Mikey was essentially defenseless against the two Foot ninja as they stormed into his cell, ignoring his brother's yells and even pleas, dragging their baby brother by his injured leg out of the room.

"Let him go!" Raph roared. "You cowards! Let him go!"

"Take me! Don't hurt Mikey! Mikey, listen, it'll be-" but his foolish attempt at consolation was cut off by the slamming door.

Leo heard his immediate younger brother's roar and the string of profanities that followed but was unable to rally himself to speak to his red banded brother.

Oh god Mikey, please be okay. His leg was on fire as he was dragged through halls that he couldn't focus on.

His eyes were stinging with tears that he tried with all his might not to shed and his breath was coming in ragid gasps that he couldn't control.

Mikey had just lifted his head up to look around at his surroundings when he was roughly thrown into a room.

He held out his hands to take the brunt of the hit and winced as his injured leg scraped the floor.

He attempted to stand only to be hauled up rather unceremoniously and shoved onto a table. Almost immediately, metal cuffs locked onto his wrists and ankles, rendering him unable to move even an inch.

"You're dismissed." A voice to his left said.

"Right on my guy, just let me out of these and I'll be on my way." Mikey offered, pulling on his restraints pointlessly.

"Oh, it's sarcastic." The voice said, finally coming into Mikey's view. "I'll fix that."

The man was tall with a great bald spot the size of a basketball on his head, dressed in a long white coat and gloves. His lips were set in a kind of wicked grin that Mikey didn't like and his eyes were narrowed as if that were his permanent expression.

"F- fix what, exactly?" Mikey stammered.

"Your insolent attitude. You will tell Master Shredder what he wants to know, but in the meantime, I've been given permission to break you."

"Never gonna happen, Baldy. You just keep on dreamin'." Mikey said, childishly turning away from the man.

"It worked once, it will work again. Even if it is for a different reason."

Miley's attention snapped back to the man.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mikey demanded but the man simply turned away and glanced at a clipboard. "Hey! What do you mean by that?"

"Start off with something simple, Shredder wants the three alive..." The man murmered, apparently talking to himself as he moved toward a switch on his desk.

"What did you mean by- AHH!"

Mikey couldn't hold back the scream that erupted from his lips as his entire body became alive with electricity. He couldn't feel how his wrists and ankles dug into the metal bindings, he couldn't feel how his throat begged for rest. He wasn't aware of how his back arched and his body writhed in a frantic attempt to escape.

All he could think or feel was the fire that seemed to have somehow seeped into his very bones and was slowly burning him from the inside out.

After what felt like a lifetime, the burning stopped and Mikey was allowed to give hisn dry throat a reprieve and gasp in some much needed air into his abused lungs.

"Hamato Yoshi." The voice drawed. "Where is he, and Master Shredder will make your end quick."

Mikey, for once in his life, didn't want to speak. He didn't want this man- who seemed to be the very definition of evil, right next to Shred-head- to hear how afraid he was. And he really wasn't sure that he would be able to speak if he tried.

Taking his silence as defiance, the man pressed the switch again and another horse scream made its way out of Mikey's poor throat.

Shock, questions, shock, questions. This happened for what felt like forever, when in reality wasn't more than three rounds.

Mikey wasn't aware of when exactly the person appeared in the room, but he was aware when his cuffs retracted and a new form appeared in front of him and helped him to stand.

"Master Saki wants them all alive. It does no one any good to kill one before it's time, now does it?" The person was saying, but Mikey's vision was too blurry to make them out. "When Master Saki wants them dead, he'll kill them himself. Until then, you keep them alive."

There was a little huff of contempt. "Fine, then. Bring me the red one."

There was a mumbled, "Hai," and he was lifted by both arms and dragged out of the room.

Mikey tried not to make a sound as his leg scraped the floor to no avail and heard the person mumbling.

"Stupid, really. Forget the shock therapy, blood loss and infection will do him in if they're not careful."

Blinking, Mikey looked up to see Donnie walking in front of him, shaking his head and talking to himself softly.

Pain that had absolutely nothing to do with the shocks that he had received bloomed in his heart. Donnie hadn't really done what Shredder said, did he? No, he wouldn't.

But not even Mikey could convince himself of this as he was dragged by who he assumed was two Foot soldiers back into his cell and the door slammed.

"Mikey!"

"Mike!"

"What'd they do to you, little brother?"

"Mikey, listen to me, can you move? Can you feel my hand?"

"What'd you do to him!? I'll kill you!"

Slowly, Mikey forced himself to his knees and looked around.

Raph was throwing himself at the bars, trying to reach an impassive Donnie who stood far from his fingers.

Leo was reaching toward Mikey, his expression concerned.

Mikey crawled until he could reach and squeeze his oldest brother's hand.

"What'd they do, Mikey?" Leo whispered.

"Are you going to come willingly, Raphael?" Donnie asked, standing in front of his red banded brother's cage. "I don't want to have to fight with you, b-"

"So you don't want to fight, but ambushing is fine?" Raph yelled. "What kind of messed up code is that?"

Donnie said nothing but Mikey thought he saw something flicker across his face, but attributed this to the poor lighting.

"What kind of ninja gives his word and then plans an ambush?" Leo supplied beside him, his tone one of rare rage. "What kind of dishonorable ninja are you?"

This time, Mikey definately saw something flicker on his immediate older brother's face. Donnie opened his mouth to reply before reconsidering it and snapping it shut.

Donnie turned to the two Foot ninja that had dragged him in.

"Take him, let's go."

The two Foot moved toward Raph's cage and swiftly opened the door and Mikey could hear the sounds of a struggle.

Mikey felt Leo's hand slip from his grip and then heard the sounds of his brother joining in the ruckus.

"Take me! Leave my brothers alone and take me!"

"What's going on in here?" Baron asked, surveying the scene with narrowed eyes.

"Dr. Roland wanted Raphael brought in and he sent me to get him." Donnie explained.

Baron still looked suspicious but nodded.

"Master Shredder gave me permission to use my own methods on that one." Baron told him, nodding to Leo.

Raph and Leo both growled at this, at being spoken about like animals while being unable to do anything about it.

"Hai," Donnie murmered before stepping aside.

Two more Foot soldiers appeared behind Baron and moved toward Leo's cage, who held up his hands in a defensive position.

Mikey wanted to somehow help them, to do anything to give them a chance, but he could barely move let alone fight.

The most he could do was torment his poor lungs by yelling his brothers' names as they were dragged away, still attempting to fight their way out but were simply overpowered.

In the end, he was left alone in the oppressing darkness with nothing but his body, wracked with spasms, to accompany him in the solitude. Leonardo had never been quite consumed with fury like this before. Yes, he had been angry on many occasions, but never before to this extent.

He had just seen his baby brother being dragged into his cell after clearly being tortured and hadn't gotten to speak to him.

Raph had been beaten and subdued by no less than five ninja and dragged from the room with their brother leading the way shortly before he himself had been grabbed and towed away from his brothers with Baron.

How could he not be angry?

And despite what he had said to Raph about not blaming Donnie, he found that he couldn't not blame him. Regardless of whether or not Donnie knew they were related, he went against his word and organized an attack against his family.

If only he had listened to Sensei, then maybe they wouldn't be in this predicament.

Leo glared his contempt when he was shoved roughly into what appeared to be a dojo, doing nothing when Baron approached him with a sword in hand.

Leo waited, prepared for pain that was certain to come, only to be confused when it didn't.

"I'll make you a deal, Leonardo." Baron said.

"I think I've had enough deals." Leo replied coldly.

"Oh, but you'll like this one." Baron promised with a wicked grin. "Here's my deal to you. I pick one ninja and if you beat them, I'll ensure that your younger brothers are left alone for a time. If you do not beat them, I'll personally make sure that they will wish they were dead in a days time."

"That's hardly a deal." Leo growled. "Fine. I win, you leave my brothers alone."

Leo was certain that he could handle one measly Foot soldier. Really, how many had he taken down without even thinking over the years?

Baron's smirk widened and glanced to the side as the door opened.

Leo's heart dropped into his stomach.

There's the catch, he thought to himself.

"Master Baron, you wanted to see me?" Donnie asked with a short bow, his eyes narrowing at Leo's presence.

"I thought that you could use some extra training, Donatello, so I've picked you to help me with Leonardo here." Baron told the unsure turtle.

Donnie opened his mouth, presumably to object by the hesitant expression on his face, when Baron turned a deadly glare to him and Donnie snapped his mouth shut and gave a simple nod, grabbing his staff and moving into a defensive position.

Leo tensed.

This was his payback, he realized. Leo had been expecting revenge for stabbing the man's leg in the form of torture, but instead chose to make him fight one brother for the safety of two others.

Leo balled his fists and turned to Baron, making sure to keep Donnie in his sights at all times.

"Do I not get a weapon or will you leave me defenseless?" Leo demanded.

In answer, Baron smirked and threw his sword at Leo's feet, which he deftly caught, and Baron swiftly backed away.

Leo turned back to Donnie, who's expression now held none of the hesitancy from before, once again becoming an emotionless mask.

For some reason, this made it somewhat easier to face him, easier to raise his sword, and even easier to make the first move.

Leo made his first swing with his borrowed blade, aiming for Donnie's arm and so it was quickly blocked with that metal staff of his.

Donnie matched every strike that Leo made step for step, never taking the offensive against him. He blocked and dodged and side-stepped every attack, only ever bringing up his weapon in defense.

For reasons that Leo couldn't quite name, Donnie's lack of antagonism only served to fuel Leo's movements, which began to get more and more agressive.

Why wasn't he fighting back?

Leo realized that he wanted Donnie to fight back. He wanted an even fight with the person who had caused so much trouble for his family, not just a sparing match.

He didn't see his brother anymore. Instead he saw a Foot soldier who lured his family into a trap. Who engineered their capture and endangered his brothers. He saw a Foot soldier who didn't care how they were tortured or if they survived.

He hated how the turtle didn't fight back, that hesitance in every move, like he was afraid to actually land a blow.

He wasn't too afraid to hand us over to Shredder, was he? Leo thought bitterly, using the sword to shove that stupid staff into the turtle's own plastron as hard as he could.

He was rewarded with a yelp of pain and used the distraction to throw his weapon aside, kicking one leg out from under him.

Not wanting to lose the advantage that he had gained, Leo pushed his knee into the turtle's plastron and used his other knee to keep him in place.

Leo once again felt that unfamiliar rage build within him, this time aimed at the turtle below him. One hand was clenched around the sword, the other balled into a fist so tight that his skin was more white than green.

Without realizing what he was doing, Leo raised the sword until it was resting above the turtle's plastron and both of his hands were gripping the handle.

The turtle stared up at him and for a moment, he saw fear. He saw the same terrified eyes of the turtle that risked his life for Leo's eleven years ago and paid dearly for it. He saw his brother, someone he had promised that he would protect and never hurt.

He looked down at the weapon in his hands, positioned for the kill, and quickly placed it safely on the ground, horrified at what he had almost done.

Donnie stared back at him with wide, disbelieving eyes as Leo stood up, staring down at his little brother.

How could he have been so willing to hurt him? To go so far as to kill him, even?

"Finish it, Leonardo." Baron said, his hands behind his back, his eyes careful but amused and yet strict like a teacher's.

Leo glared back at the man. If there was anyone to hate, it's that man. He took their brother from them, helped to form him into what Shredder wanted. Certainly he was responsible for the blame.

"I beat him. I completed the deal. Now you hold up your end." Leo replied, refusing to look down at his brother for fear of what he would see.

Baron slowly shook his head. "A warrior is not beaten until they are dead. You have not yet completed the deal. Kill him, Leonardo."

Unbiddingly, Leo glanced down at his brother who still lay on the ground, one hand cupping the upper side of his wrapped plastron, the other squeezed into a fist.

Even being threatened, he made no move toward the sword, though it would have been easy for him to grab it from his position.

Donnie's eyes met his and Leo couldn't find anything reminiscent of Foot. He could only see the turtle tot that he had known since before he could speak.

"No." Leo murmered, shaking his head in defiance, and turned back to Baron. "Deal's off, then."

Baron's sly expression abruptly changed to one of fury.

"Then your brothers have you to thank for what is coming to them." He snarled before two Foot soldiers melted from the shadows and effectively restrained him, dragging him from the room as roughly as he had been dragged in.

The last glimpse he caught was of Donnie staring after him, a conflicted expression on his face, before they turned a corner and he was gone.

They dragged him back to the cells, where he was thrown inside and the door locked before he could stand back up again.

"Fearless?" Raph managed to say, ignoring his aching body.

"Leo?" Mikey whispered through the waves of pain that came from no where and dissapeared just as quickly.

"I'm fine, guys." Leo mumbled. "What'd they do to you, Raph?"

"Well, I didn't get electrocuted." Raph grumbled to his left. "Mike over there has been shaking like a leaf since he got back."

Electrocuted?

"It was awful bro," Mikey put in. "I'll never complain about the toaster sparking ever again."

"Then what'd they do to you?" Leo asked his red banded brother, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"Well, they were going to take me to the same place they took Mike, but I didn't make it there, 'cause, well, I fought back. Tried to get their weapons and come back, but they got me on the ground and they started beatin' me. Couldn't do anything." Raph admitted. "What'd they do to you?"

Leo hung his head in shame at the reminder of what had passed in that dojo.

"Baron made me a deal." Leo murmured quietly. "He said if I could beat one ninja of his choice, he would let you guys rest and not bother you. It was Don that he wanted me to fight."

"You didn't do it." Raph said, more a statement than a question. In his mind, he was certain that Leo would never intentionally harm a brother.

Leo bowed his head further.

"I did. I did fight him and I- I almost did it, guys." Leo admitted shamefully. "I almost killed Don."

There was silence for a moment.

"But you didn't. That's what matters, Leo." Mikey said helpfully.

"Fearless, if you really wanted to kill him, he'd be dead. You got angry, believe me I know, but I don't think you ever woulda' killed him." Raph said. "And you showed it in Baron's face, didn't ya?"

Leo nodded before he remembered the poor lighting and said, "He was pretty mad. Said that if I didn't kill him, it would be worse for you guys."

Leo could practically see Raph shrug.

"How much worse could it really be?"

"You have no idea how much worse it could be." Baron drawed, venom in his tone. "Take it, now."

Leo and Raph were unable and useless to do anything at all as their baby brother's cage was once again opened and his thrashing body dragged out.

Baron turned back to Leo with a cruel smirk.

"You chose this, know that." He said. "You chose to put your brother through pain."

Leo shook his head. "I can't choose one brother over the other. That's not how it works."

"You chose wrong." Baron said simply before following the ninjas and a struggling Mikey out of the cells.

Leo fell back as the door shut. What condition would Mikey be in when he returned? If he returned?

"Don't listen to him, Fearless." Raph said, already knowing that the leader was blaming himself. "I don't say this too often, but you're right. You couldn't chose one of us over the other."

"Say that again?" Leo asked, his lip twitching.

"Say what again?" Raph asked.

"That I'm right." Leo answered. "I don't hear that a lot."

"Shut up, Fearless." Raph grunted, but Leo could hear amusement in his voice too.

But the somewhat funny moment was interrupted by cold reality. One brother was having god only knew what happening to him. The other was somewhere within the building, surrounded by people who didn't care if he lived or died. Leo and Raph were powerless to do anything about their situation and it was likely that no one knew where they were.

Leo could only hope that Splinter would soon be suspicious and start looking for them, because he wasn't sure how much longer they would last in here.

Honestly, I think I feel bad for everyone involved. I hope you guys liked it!