The first thing that Donatello noticed upon stirring awake was that they had a killer headache. The feeling reminded them of the time they stayed up working on a project for several days without so much as a coffee break—except ten times worse. As though their precious noggin' was pressed under a thick pile of cement crushing it.

The second thing that they noticed as they blinked blearily, eyes adjusting to where they were, was that they appeared to be trapped in a cage. Though it was tall, enough for Donnie to stand in if they wanted to—the width was cramped and tight. Even the floor was barred with cold metal.

"Nngn...whuzzgoinon..?" They slurred groggily, wiggling and squirming as they managed to find sit up in an upright position.

Voices started to pipe up, all disoriented as if they were underwater, and then suddenly became clearer.

The third and final thing that Donnie noticed was that they were not alone. In fact, Leo, April and Mikey were all squeezed next to them.

"Donnie?"

"They're awake?"

"Finally!" Mikey squealed, nearly knocking the softshell turtle down with a joyful bear hug wrapped around them tightly. "We were so worried about you!"

"Ugh, Michael, please give me a moment..." They patted their brother's head with fondness before promptly wheezing overdramatically; "I'm struggling to breathe with you collapsing my left lung. I predict it'll rupture if you keep hugging me."

"Oops, sorry," He moved away sheepishly.

"How are you feeling Dee?" April said, resting a hand on their shoulder. Donnie automatically melted at the warm touch from their friend.

"Well considering I was knocked out, captured and I am now in an oversized cat carrier next to Leon so..." They grumbled, but there was no further malice behind the statement, just snark. "Not great."

"What's so bad about being next to me?" Leo scrunched his nose sassily. "Should I be offended?"

"How about the rest of you?" Donnie asked, ignoring their twin's question.

"Ehhh...so so. A little dizzy," Mikey admitted. "And April messed up her ankle so it's all twisted and weird looking."

"Hey!"

"What? I'm just being honest."

"Yeah but you don't-" She sighed. "We're fine overall."

"I looked it over, and it's just a sprain," Leo confirmed to Donnie, who looked deeply concerned for their best friend. "The rest of us are good. I mean, considering the circumstances..." He gestured to the cage around them.

"Great, kidnapped on our supposed vacation. How delightful," They rolled their eyes, yelping slightly as they felt another sharp pain in their temple. "This is so inconvenient. I should be sipping a smoothie now, but nope, the universe seems to hate me. Or at least want me to be humiliated."

"You think we're all jazzed to be stuck here?" Leo snapped, turning surprisingly serious for the self proclaimed jokester of the team."We've gotta get out of this stupid cage! I don't know what that creep is planning, but it can't be good. Especially with us involved."

"How did you even get caught? My memory's all foggy, I don't remember anything before I woke up."

Mikey raised his hand and waved it around. "Ooh! I'll explain everything. April and I followed some guy in a trenchcoat into some spooky room. And then when he said we were interfering with his 'plans' he attacked us with his freaky looking guards! It was so not cool."

"Then we were thrown into a supply closet, which was degrading," April added. "You were already there when we arrived. Completely unconscious. We still had our phones at the time, so we called Leo to tell us what happened. After we tried to wake you up of course."

"April told him to contact Raph so they could rescue us together but..."

"But...?" Donnie prompted, already shooting an accusatory glare at Leo. "Leon, what did you do this time?"

"...I went by myself." Leo confessed, his voice quiet. The blade wounds on his neck started to form faded scar lines, which he subconsciously rubbed. "I thought I could handle everything but seeing as I also got kidnapped: Apparently not. But that's in the past, so all we can do is rely on Donnie to figure out how to get us out. So let's- Mikey, will you stop kicking me?"

"That wasn't me!" Mikey protested.

"It was me, sorry," April said sheepishly. "It's just this dang cage is so tight! I'd like a little more space, y'know?"

"I'm gonna lose my mind if I spend one more minute trapped in here. It's been thirty minutes and already my butt's all numb!"

"Thanks for sharing, Leo," April said flatly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"No problem."

"Guys, I think my leg fell asleep." Mikey whined.

"Well, wake it up!"

"That isn't going to work!"

"Enough!" Donnie gripped their hands against the bars. "It's impossible to think with a headache /and/ you imbeciles chatting!"

"Don't worry, Dee, we know you'll think of a super awesome plan in that great noggin' of yours," Leo gushed, leaning back to relax. "So we'll behave."

Donnie crossed their arms over their plastron; "Wait a second. Why am I the one who has to think of a plan?"

"Um, because you're the smart one...duh." Leo said slowly, as though he was speaking to a small child. "You're the smart one, April's the chaotic one, Mikey's half of the comedic relief, Raph the muscle and I," He smirked. "am the most relevant one."

"Nardo, you're also the leader! As much as it pains me to admit it." They exhaled sharply. "You can think of some ideas too, ya know."

"Well my plan was to just sit here, look pretty and wait for Raph to rescue us." The other three blinked back at him as if he just sprouted three heads. "What?"

"That's it. We're officially doomed." April grumbled. "But, no way am I just gonna sit here and do nothing. I mean, that would be really anticlimactic."

Mikey shook his head furiously. "Me neither!"

Leo nodded. "I was kidding about the waiting around part anyway. Mostly. How can we help, Dontron?"

"Make yourself useful Leon and push the violet button on the left side of my battle shell. I can't reach it from here, and you're the closest."

Leo winced, looking visibly uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah...about that..."

"Seriously, just do it. It'll activate a drill and then I can break through the bars."

"Dee, um..." Mikey fiddled with his hands nervously. "While you were out cold, the evil dude he might have..."

"It's a really funny story but..."

"He took your battle shell!" April blurted out, squeezing her eyes shut. "And all of your tech."

"He WHAT?!" This had to be some sick joke. Donnie spun their head back in horror, trying to feel for their shell, then to their shoulders where the pads usually rested on top. Instead of the comforting armour they were used to wearing, was now replaced with the familiar, soft exterior of their natural shell. "No..." they uttered, shivering from the sudden vulnerability of their exposed shell. "Great Galileo, I'm naked. That was my favorite one too! If that monster even slightly dented the titanium alloy- which would nary be possible but still, I will be furious!" they fumed.

Noticing his sibling's distress, Mikey started rubbing circles on Donnie's flat carapace. "Hey it'll be okay! We'll get outta here without it. And our weapons..." He pointed towards his empty holders which usually carried his nunchucks. "His goons took em' too. But! We totally will escape without all our stuff."

"That's not the point! I don't need my battle shell to be an awesome fighter, but it's nice having it with me! And furthermore, if I had any of my tech, I'd be able to sneak us out faster than a speeding comet. But I don't. We don't even have our weapons! So as dear April eloquently put: ``We are doomed." They frowned at their siblings in annoyance. "Don't look at me like that. I'll survive even without my battle shell."

"Sorry for showing concern." Leo rolled his eyes.

Mikey's stomach audibly growled. "I'm about to die of starvation," He flopped to the floor. "This is the end."

"Actually you would probably die from dehydration long before you die from starvation but that's besides the point!" Donnie threw their arms in the air. "I need to figure out a way outta here or we will be doomed."

"No worries," Leo said. "There's one last bit of technology that wasn't stolen," He whipped out his phone from his belt. "Tada! We're saved! That weirdo didn't snag my phone."

"Go on and text Raph!" Mikey said eagerly. "Hurry!"

"I'm on it."

[heyyy raph just wanted 2 let u know we got kidnapped :( can u pick us up? lol]

"Was the 'lol' really necessary?" April raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely yes."

"He's not gonna take it seriously!" Donnie snapped, growing irritated with Leo's nonsense.

"Put a smiley emoji to show we're okay!" Mikey insisted. "Or maybe a skull face."

"Winky face and send!" Leo pressed the button cheerfully. "And send!" He frowned. "Donnie, why isn't the message sent?"

The purple masked turtle peered over at the screen. "Alas, there appears to be no signal."

"Can you fix it?"

"Unlikely," Donnie reached for the phone, fiddling with the device carefully. "If there's no signal, there's no signal. I'd have to figure out a mobile hotspot, which might take some time."

Leo tapped his foot impatiently. "We don't have time! We have to contact Raph now! No pressure though. Actually, yes, lots of pressure!"

"I'm working as fast as I can." Donnie's beak was pressed against the phone as they tapped away irritably.

"You have to work faster. You've barely even tried!" He urged, unknowingly causing his sibling's stress to rise. When Donnie didn't respond immediately, he took it as a chance to keep pressuring them. "Donnie! This situation is super cruddy and you're our only hope right now!"

Donnie's eye twitched, snapping their head upwards in aggravation. "Well maybe we wouldn't be in this situation if somebody had contacted Raph in the first place like he was supposed to!" They snarled the retort, causing Leo to flinch from the sudden outburst. "Instead you just had to play 'Hero Boy' and risk not only yourself but the rest of us here. And now you're expecting me to get us out of here once again, instead of leading us." They scoffed, ignoring April's glare. "But that was to be expected of course..."

"Listen if you're jealous that I was made leader and not you: that's your problem."

He regretted the words as soon as they left his lips. How could he have been stupid to metaphorically poke the tiger? Even Mikey looked mortified.

"Donnie, he didn't mean-" April started but she was promptly cut off.

Donnie snorted. "Jealous? Are you even listening to yourself?" They flipped their bandana tails back in a mocking gesture, "Oh, look at me! I'm Leonardo, the brand new leader in blue appointed by shere dumb luck and everyone simply must be jealous of me! Get off your high horse for once in your life!"

"I'm not- ugh!" Leo winced from both exasperation and pain. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have because obviously I'm not jealous. I'm right! I would be better at leading this team, you ignorant, idiotic-"

Leo shook his head. "We don't have time for this! I know I shouldn't have gone alone, and I am sorry! Can't I make a mistake without you constantly biting my head off? Don, I don't know what you want from me."

"What was even the point of even going alone? To satisfy your own ego?"

"No!" Leo said, affronted and hurt, but also growing frustrated by Donnie's hypocrisy. "I..I panicked, okay? I was going to find Raph but I couldn't waste another second leaving you three alone with God knows what!"

"What were you thinking?" They stood up with a scowl, not missing a beat. "Big surprise! You weren't. You never think, Leo and now we're trapped here." They hugged their arms, breathing heavily, Leo's phone still loosely held in their grasp.

"I..." Leo gulped. "Donnie, seriously just fix it plea-"

Donnie tossed the phone to the floor. Miraculously, only the screen cracked. "How about you fix it, Fearless Leader." they spat, clenching their fists against the bars. Leo missed the look of regret in his sibling's eyes when they turned away, but Mikey didn't.

There was a long, painful pause before Leo spoke; "I thought you were gonna die, Donnie."

The words hit like a ton of bricks the second they left his lips. Mikey and April sat in stunned silence, Donnie had yet to utter a single word, but still refused to look at their brother, which felt like an added punch to the gut. Leo's dark eyes filled with devastated tears, the liquid trickling down his cheeks which he refused to acknowledge. He didn't want to seem weak.

"I thought you were gonna die, and it would be all my fault. When April told me what happened it was like something snapped. I couldn't waste any time knowing you guys were in trouble. I know, it was reckless and stupid and impulsive and whatever other words you wanna use but..." He trailed off, his voice barely a choked whisper.

"And you're absolutely right. I should have gone to Raph. He would have known what to do, being the oldest and all that stuff." His eyes flickered to the floor. "I still don't know why Dad even made me leader of all turtles. He sprung it on me and I still don't know how to handle it all. You said it yourself," He placed a hand where his heart roughly would be. "I let my own emotions take control and in doing so, put you guys in danger. I don't even know what the guy wants with us," He glanced meekly at Mikey, then April, then back to Donnie, who had yet to look at him. He let out a pitiful laugh, the kind reserved for self deprecating jokes. "What kind of leader am I?" He asked no one in particular.

The three jagged scars on his neck burned.

"An amazing one, that's what," Mikey said firmly. "You're trying your best, and even though things didn't go exactly to plan...well we still have Raph! He'll help us and it'll all be cool. We'll fight the bad guy like we always do." He smiled cheerfully. "Uh once we found out who he is."

"You're still new at this, we don't expect you to be perfect, Leo," April agreed. "None of us do."

"Exactly!"

"But..." Leo muttered, watching their unusually silent twin. They had yet to move a muscle, as though they were still processing everything Leo had said. He had expected a furious retort, a snarky comment, an eye roll- something that proved Donnie was listening. Heck, even those hostile reactions would have been comforting. But Donnie remained fixated on the wall instead.

"Give them time." Mikey said quietly, though even his own optimism seemed to falter. His hopeful grin didn't disappear though, "Say Leo, do you still have the tanto blade? I know, the guy took our weapons, but maybe I can-"

"Yeah, I still have it," Leo handed the small knife from his belt into Mikey's eager hands without a second thought. "Don't hurt yourself."

"I've got an idea!" Mikey zoomed towards the only door of the cage, and got straight to work on...something. Leo didn't look, he was too focused on Donnie.

"You two never saw the guy who attacked us." April said to Leo and Donnie. "But Mikey and I did. So we know what we're up against. Sort of." She huffed as she faced Leo. "Stop dwelling on your stupid arguement with Dee! We need to focus on getting out of here."

But Leo was neither paying attention to April, nor staring grimly at Donnie. Instead, both he and the purple masked turtle were looking at the only door in the room that was now opening.

April shuddered. "Or we could pay attention to the conveniently opened door. That's cool too."

"Ooh..." Mikey shivered, turning around from the lock and placing the tanto down. "Heh, well would you look at that? I think you guys'll finally get to see our captor in person!"

"Oh goodie," Donnie said dryly, speaking for the first time since the argument. Despite their initial calm demeanor, they looked anxious.

Webbed feet stepped into the room, revealing a mutant none of them had ever encountered before. He appeared to be some humanoid fish. His skin was red and orange, with giant gills stuck to his sides and two fins the size of diving boards for a swimming pool. His teeth were overgrown and sharp, sticking out of its mouth unnaturally. But the oddest thing about this creature was that it had a fish bowl filled with water on its head, most likely to help him breathe as though he was an astronaut.

He was...bizarre.

"Greetings," He said, fully waltzing into the room with a slippery trail of water following him. Two larger mutants that looked like a combo of different marine animals trailed behind him. One resembled a shark with urchins sticking from its sides, the other was a jellyfish hybrid.

Donnie had only heard the guy's voice over an intercom, so they were extremely confused. "He's a fish?" Donnie gave April a baffled look. "You didn't mention that he's a mutant! Or that he has mutant bodyguards!"

"It didn't seem that important!" She hissed back. "We didn't even see him up close before his goons grabbed us." She pointed to his guards that were blocking the doorway.

"Huh, he kinda looks like Piebald," Mikey noted.

"I don't care what he is! Why have you captured us?" Leo demanded, cutting to the chase and looking the fish directly in the eye.

"Ah, getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? Normally I wouldn't share my evil schemes, but I've decided you're all going to perish anyway, so why not?" The mutant chuckled. "My name is Doctor Phineas Filch."

"No one asked."

"Shhh, let him do his evil monologue!" Mikey whispered,still crouching down.

"Thank you. As I was saying, my name is Doctor Phineas Filch and I used to be a normal man, much like how you turtles were." None of them thought it was wise to point out that they started out as turtles and April was a human, so instead they let him continue his monologue. "I had a successful career, I had everything I could have possibly desired. But a scientific mishap turned me into a deformed monster. A piranha, of all things." He spat. "Once a man, now I'm a..." He raised a fin to his scaly cheek. "A monster."

"But that changes today. I have altered the mutagen used from one captured mosquito and some of my own to create the ultimate ooze! Soon, I won't be the only fish man out there. No, now there will be more like me." He frowned at his guards behind him. "I tested the ooze a while back and although it didn't give me the exact results I wanted, now it has truly been perfected."

His lips curled into a sadistic smirk. "Now I will be able to make my very own marine mutant army! And what better way than to infect all of these innocent cruise goers with it. Maniacal laugh!" He demonstrated by laughing like a corny super villain.

"Hey!" Donnie scoffed. "That's my line! First you steal my stuff and then you steal all of my genius quips! Wait until you hear from my lawyer!"

"You don't have a lawyer," April pointed out.

"Fine, when I obtain a lawyer, he will be hearing from them!"

"Listen Fishface," Leo started, casting Donnie a look before sneering at Filch. "Can I call you Fishface? Whatever I'm calling you Fishface. Quick question: how do you expect to turn every single human being on this ship into a mutant? That's a lot of people. Didn't quite think that through, did you?"

"Foolish turtle. With this!" The newly dubbed Fishface presented a small tranquilizer gun from behind his back, the clear top filled with mutagen.

Leo stared at it blankly. "That's it? That puny thing is supposed to mutate everyone? Oho, now that's...just pathetic."

"This?" Fishface placed the gun into the holder on his belt next to a strange orange beaker. "No, no, that's just for close targets. Thanks to one of my loyal assistants, I've hooked up every sprinkler on this ship with my ooze, so when I press one simple button, boom! It'll coat everyone with it. Like a cascading rain of pain and suffering."

Leo cringed. "Ooookay...yeah you definitely thought this through. Wait a fish army? I feel like there's a pun there somewhere..." He tapped his chin.

"Not just fish, all sorts of marine life mutants. It's truly a fantastic plan if I do say so myself. Any more pressing questions?"

"Yes, actually," April placed a hand on her hip. "Why are we here?"

"Initially you turtle mutants were used to upgrade my mutagen," Fishface said, flicking his fin casually. "You were just here at the wrong time," he said, referring to April. "But seeing as I have already retrieved all of the necessary DNA..."

"You'll set us free?" Donnie promoted, resting their head on the bars.

"Goodness no! Not when you could reveal all of my plans to the entire crew. I've decided a perfect plan for you four," Fishface jeered. "You see, this cage isn't just any ordinary cage. It's a shark cage. I'll have my guards attach you to the ship and then lower you into the waters where you'll be eaten by sharks."

"Ahem, hold the phone. Did you just say we're gonna be EATEN?" Leo repeated, holding two bars and aggressively pulling at them- as if they would rip in two. More out of annoyance than genuine fear. He didn't have Raph's strength, so the act itself was pointless. "You can't do that! That's totally unethical and weird! You'll never get away with this- and don't you dare say-"

"I already have." Fishface sneered, waving a flipper casually.

"Oh, great he said it!" Leo's face planted the bars irritably. "You're really predictable, you know that? Like, if I were a bad guy I'd try to spice things up a little. But nope! You're just going with the clichés. Lame!"

"Leo."

"Not now, April, I've got a bone to pick with this loser! First he kidnaps us, then he puts us in a shark cage, and THEN he decides to feed us to said aforementioned sharks!"

"Leo!" April exclaimed in exasperation. "He left while you were ranting. It's just us."

Leo pouted, crossing his arms. "Hmph!"

"Or are we..." Mikey said ominously. He then giggle snorted as he watched each of them turn to face him slowly in confusion. "Nope, yeah, it's just us. But don't fret, I've got this!"

"What are you on about, Miguel? You were sitting there the entire time he was sharing his evil plans."

"Was not! I was picking the lock with your tanto blade. Thanks for distracting him by the way. I followed Donnie's lessons on lock picking AND I watched 'The Unlocking Channel' once. So I'm basically an expert," With one last wiggle of the knife, the lock clicked. "Tada!" Even Donnie looked impressed.

"So, the only reason you asked him to keep monologuing was so you could have time to pick the lock?"

"Duh!" Mikey scoffed, but still had a playful glint in his eye. "Pretty awesome right?" His expression turned suddenly serious and determined. "Let's get outta here. Once and for all." He swung the door open clumsily and slipped through. Unfortunately, the door shut behind him before any of the others could escape. "Uh...oops." His eyes went wide as he heard the click of the lock.

"Mikey!" April groaned. "You were supposed to keep the door open! Now we're locked inside."

"I didn't know it was gonna lock behind me automatically!" Mikey said in a panic. "I'm sorry! What should I do? What should I do?"

"Stop hyperventilating, obviously." Donnie reached through the bars to pat their little brother's head to console them. "Listen to me, because I'm only gonna say this once. You have to go through those vents," they pointed upwards towards an air conditioning vent on the ceiling. "Sneak through without getting caught. Find our weapons, and more importantly my tech. If all goes well, you'll locate Raph and then both of you will come to save us. Got it? Please tell me you've got it, because I despise repeating myself." They drawled.

"What?" Mikey gulped. "I have to do this...all alone?"

"Ideally, yes. Until you find Raph but I mean it's a very large ship so don't get your hopes up."

"No way, I'm not leaving you guys here!" Mikey looked outraged. "Leo, tell Dee they're being crazy! I can't abandon my own fam."

Leo hated agreeing with Donnie, especially now, but he didn't see any other option. "It's the only way. We're locked inside, remember? You're the guy outside of the cage." He didn't want to add that technically it was Mikey's fault that they were still trapped. He didn't want to upset the kid any further.

"But I..." he looked positively terrified, shaking like a timid puppy. "I don't think I can do it! I never do things alone, it's always a team effort!" He gripped the other side of the bars anxiously. "We're the Mad Dogs!" He whimpered, voice cracking. "Emphasis on dogs! Plural! I can't do this."

Leo tried to keep his face stone cold to prevent any more panicking. "Mikey, you need to go right now. We'll be fine. You'll be fine."

He couldn't protest any longer. Fishface could enter at any moment, and Mikey was wasting valuable time. He only wished he could have hugged them goodbye, but the bars prevented him from doing so. With one last fleeting tearful look at his family, he bravely climbed through the vent and disappeared from sight.