The NeoFoot! Oh gods! The NeoFoot were here! Why were they NeoFoot here?! When did they get here?!

And when did his brothers know? What was going on? Why didn't they tell him?!

Leo's thoughts were racing wildly in all directions, crashing and churning into and around one another, and it took every ounce of his will to silently and slowly exhale out of his nose, pushing those thoughts aside and clearing his mind. He had to focus. He could deal with those questions later. Assessing the situation in front of them and making sure his brothers were safe needed to be his first priority.

Squished against the wall as he was, he could still ignore the bristling and very stressed out shells pressing into him and instead closed his eyes, concentrating on all his senses. Carefully picking through the auras, he could sense nine NeoFoot down there, two of which he guessed were elites, due to the special armor they wore dictating different, slightly more deliberate movement in order to stay as quiet as the much more lightly armored regular grunts.

And that normally wouldn't be an issue. He knew that he and his brothers could handle even this group if they worked as a team.

But... Were they really still a team? Tonight for the first time in many, many years had him wondering.

This was bad. Very bad. Leo couldn't understate how bad a situation this was. If a fight broke out down there, and Leo was forced to fight, how would they react? They wouldn't even let him do a simple rooftop jump earlier! And if his brothers were focused more on Leo than their own roles in the fight, then one or more of them could definitely be hurt or… or even...

Leo clenched his teeth, his lip curling slightly in a snarled frown as his hand lifted to feel out the handle of his sword.

Well, he had to admit that his brothers had been right about one thing. They were in no shape to be topside. If he had known that the freaking NeoFoot were skulking around, he wouldn't have pushed them into going topside! What was going on?! Did his brothers hide this information from him?! No. Of course they wouldn't do something like that. Right? After all, how could he lead them effectively if he was going in…. blind.

(Oh gods, they still wanted him to be their leader, right?! Even though he was blind? Of course they knew that he was still able to lead them! They had to know that! … Oof. Suddenly his stomach wasn't feeling so good.)

Thankfully, as far as Leo could tell, he didn't think that the ninjas skulking in down there were aware of them. Their movements were cautious, but not aggressive. This seemed to be more of an investigation than an ambush attempt.

Which, yeah. Fair. They had made quite a bit of noise earlier when RAPH HAD TACKLED LEO OFF THE ROOF, which had probably attracted their attention in the first place.

One of the NeoFoot slipped up to press against the wall, and must have given a signal (which Leo couldn't interpret due to his blindness and his brothers being frustratingly obstinate at the moment so he wasn't going to ask for their help to translate), because the three around him/her immediately moved as a unit, spreading around to form a silent, stealthy perimeter around the alleyway.

Donnie and Mikey pressed back against Leo with just a little more force, their shells pushing him against the wall to the point it was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Donnie's hand fumbled back to touch Leo's arm as if reassuring himself that his big brother was indeed back there and safe. Raph was bristled up in front, his chaotic aura flaring wildly and aggressively. Leo realized with a sinking feeling that his brother was on a hair trigger right now, and if a single NeoFoot down below made even the slightest motion towards them, he would explode into violence.

Oh dear gods, Raph, stand down! Don't attack! A fight would be the worst thing that could happen right now! Just stay calm and don't attack! Leo tried to mentally will his volatile brother to stay back.

The shadowy figures below moved with precision and perfect teamwork, like finely tuned clockwork. They crept up, covering all possible escape routes, and once the alleyway was completely secured, the two elite slowly approached the obviously disturbed dumpster.

Up above, in their hiding spot, Leo and his brothers all tensed up and waited, holding their breath.

For a moment, the world seemed to slow down. Even the city noise in the distance seemed to pause and dim down to a faint, fearful whisper, as if the whole city around them could feel the tension and was now just realizing just what was about to happen. Two highly volatile currents were on the verge of making contact, and if they did, if the NeoFoot down there discovered the turtles and their hiding place, then the sparks would instantly ignite, and there would be a catastrophic and unavoidable explosion of violence and flashing steel and blood.

This was so very, very, very bad!

The NeoFoot stealthily moved up to the dumpster, and carefully peered in. They jerked back, startled, as a family of furry rotund creatures exploded outwards towards them.

The family of racoons, who obviously had just about had enough of this nonsense of a day, dashed away for cover, chittering wildly and angrily, and the NeoFoot watched them run off, obviously perplexed. And then, to Leo's indescribable relief, they seemed to relax, letting down their guard. They slipped out of the shadows to convene in the middle of the alleyway.

"It was not the turtles." One of the lesser grunts came up to one of the elites, his quiet voice heavy with a Japanese accent. "My apologies, I thought for certain that I had seen them earlier."

"I did not think it would be them." the elite scoffed, her tone dismissive as she turned away from the dumpster. "The Hamato Clan are among the most highly skilled and well trained ninjas in the world. They are veterans of countless battles, and have faced unimaginable enemies and foes, always defeating them with cleverness and cunning. They are the masters of the city's shadows, and highly dangerous." She scoffed. "They are not going to do something as simple and clumsy as falling off the roof."

"Still, we need to follow any clues, no matter how thin they seem." The other elite, this one a male, walked up as well. "It is our top priority that we find the turtle brothers as soon as possible. They are our best chance at finding Leonardo."

Leo felt his brothers all bristle around him at those words and squish him just a little harder. His shell was going to start cracking the brick wall behind them if they kept that up. And he couldn't help but notice with a sinking feeling that, once again, they didn't seem very surprised.

The female elite down below seemed to take charge once more, stepping forward and apparently giving out signals. "We'll have the best chance if we split up again. We need to send groups to change shifts with our brothers waiting at the meeting spots in case April O'Neil or Casey Jones accept our attempt at an outreach, and we need to check our surveillance equipment for possible footage. We also need to cover several potential hotspots including pizza places and skate parks that the turtles might frequent."

"I cannot stress this point strongly enough. The turtles are NOT to be harmed." The male elite soldier added. "If you find them, alert the chain of command, but stay back. Not a scale on their body is to be touched under any circumstances. Even if it costs you your life." The male elite was deadly serious as he stalked in front of his line of soldiers. "Those turtles belong to the Master and the Master alone, and he will never forgive us if they were damaged or, heavens forbid, anybody took them away from him."

"May the gods have mercy on your souls if that should happen." the female moved to stand next to him. "Because our master would have none."

Wait. 'Master'? Who were they talking about? Leo was confused. As far as he knew, the NeoFoot didn't have anyone they called master. Not since Oroku Saki had been killed (by Leo's own hand, in fact), and later when they had quite emphatically rejected Karai as his heir. Who led them now?

Leo narrowed his blind eyes, his nostrils flaring just a little as he turned towards his brothers. He sensed them wince ever so slightly under his unseeing gaze.

Leo's jaw tightened.

"Everyone keep your eyes open, and communications open." the elite NeoFoot continued their instructions. "We need to find the turtles, and we need to find our Master. Nobody rests until then. Understood?"

The other NeoFoot grunts moved sharply in what Leo assumed was a salute or something, and then they all melted away as quickly as they arrived, splitting off in several small groups to do whatever tasks were required of them.

There was one very tense moment when a pair of them scaled the walls close to the turtles' hiding spot, obviously intent on reaching the roof. A metal rain spout was bolted to the wall right next to the alcove, a mere foot or so away, and they were using that to climb part of the way. All the turtles tensed up, holding their breath with hands on weapons, muscles coiled like snakes ready to spring. But, thankfully, the black clad human ninjas leapt to use a window sill just under their hiding spot, and didn't seem to sense them in the darkness.

The turtles all let their breath silently out in relief as the NeoFoot disappeared, but none of them dared to move. Minutes ticked by, and the only sounds were the slight breeze rustling paper, plastic, and old leaves down in the empty alleyway below, and the distant sounds of the city and seabirds. Still, the turtles didn't move, staying silent and still as statues in their alcove.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen.

Finally, after nearly twenty minutes with no sign of the NeoFoot returning, Leo decided that it was safe enough to move. He finally pushed his way out of the protective crush of shells, a little more roughly than was probably called for, shouldering his way through to crouch near the edge of the alcove alongside his brothers.

It seemed like the NeoFoot were gone from this area, but they were still out there in the city, hunting him and his brothers, with this unknown factor known as 'Master'. Leo didn't like it. Any of it. Especially the part where his brothers already apparently knew what was going on, and didn't tell him for some reason.

Never in his life did he have such a strong urge to strangle all three of his brothers. But first, he needed to make sure they got out of this safely.

He tapped Donnie's arm to get his attention. Over their many, many battles and years of working together as a team, they had developed quite a complex hand signal system, and Leo used it now. Even though he himself couldn't see it, he knew his brothers could read his subtle hand movements.

He silently inquired with deft finger movements if the underwater entrance was accessible from here. Then he took Donnie's hand and put his hand lightly on top of it.

Donnie paused, obviously confused.

Leo gritted his teeth in frustration and switched their hands so that Donnie's was instead resting on top of his. Then he deliberately and emphatically gave the signs for 'yes' and 'no', so Donnie could feel it against his palm.

Donnie straightened, obviously catching on quickly, and when Leo put his hand back on top of his brothers, he could feel Donnie's fingers immediately twist into the simple 'yes' signal.

Leo nodded, satisfied, and with his other hand started silently signaling once more, using short, quick statements and questions to try and figure out the best tactical choice to make. Going back to their garage was out. That was way too obvious if they were observed. The sewers were a safer route, but the NeoFoot knew that they used them, and might be patrolling them. The underwater exit would be ideal, as the NeoFoot couldn't easily follow the turtles underwater for long, but, without knowing all the information about what was going on (which was DEFINITELY going to be a topic they were going to address VERY shortly), he couldn't tell if that was the best plan of action.

Donnie's hand under Leo's quickly responded, and Leo concentrated on feeling out the hand signals moving under his palm, piecing together the information as it was given.

The underwater exit was a bit distant, but there was apparently a path through the sewers that led to a storm drain they could use. It would be about a ten minute underwater swim from there, but that wasn't a problem for them.

Donnie's hand paused for a second, hesitating. Leo guessed that this upcoming comment probably wasn't going to be quite what Leo would want to hear at the moment, and his brother was trying to gauge just how mad Leo was right now. Then his fingers under Leo's palm started moving again, though this time more questioning and unsure.

Leo understood immediately. Donnie was pointing out that Leo was unfamiliar with the underwater route, and that maybe he should have some physical guidance to assist him in navigating it.

Leo ran his tongue over his teeth as he considered how to respond to this suggestion of more babysitting for a moment, pondering on just how to get the right feelings across in his reply.

Then he carefully reached over to Raph on his other side, and gently took one of the still unsheathed sai he was holding. Raph, understandably surprised by this unexpected gesture, let his blind brother borrow his weapon without protest.

Leo turned back to Donnie, calmly flipped the sai in one hand and, holding the middle prong between his fingers, used it to give the rather rude gesture that Raph was always rather famous for giving..

His three brothers shrank down just a little, wincing.

Oh yeah. Leo was maaaaaaad.

Thankfully, there was no sign of NeoFoot activity through the tunnels and pathways they chose, but that didn't stop all four turtles from being on edge. And when they finally reached the underwater part of their path, Leo would've been so impressed and proud of his brothers for the ingenious set up, if circumstances had been different. His tremorsense was at its natural height underwater, and he could navigate and swim through the obstacles as easily as his brothers. In fact, they were probably instinctively relying on the same senses he was instead of their sight in this murky water, as visibility was almost nothing down in these muddy waters anyways, whether they realized that or not.

That didn't stop the hesitantly helpful hand touching his shell when they reached a complicated, branching tunnel underwater, but he coldly shoved it off.

The rest of the trip was tense and awkward, until the final gate closed behind them, sending tremors through the water as the heavy lock clicked into place. They swam up the final tunnel to emerge out into open air, and as they all breached the surface, soaked masks and padding clinging to their scales as they tread water, Leo recognized the room around them instantly. They were in the center of their lair. They were home.

"Well… That was certainly an exciting trip, wasn't it?" Mikey tried joking nervously, bobbing in the water. "Bummer we missed out on the pizza, though."

Leo didn't respond as he climbed over the railing and reached up to wring the water out of his mask, jaw tight.

"Oh, fuck off, Leo!" Raph snarled angrily as he clambered out of the pool, splashing water everywhere as he stomped over to Leo, not even bothering to try and dry off. "Stop acting like a frigid asshole! Everything we did, we did to protect you, and you know it! We were just trying to keep you safe!"

Ah yes. Predictable. Raph knew that they were in trouble. The entire trip back, Leo could feel his red brother getting himself more and more worked up, and by now he was now fairly frothing with defensive anger. And Raph always played defense by immediately going on the offense. The opponent couldn't worry about hitting you when you were attacking them first, after all! (Plus, if he was the loudest and most aggressive, then all the negative attention was focused solely on him and not his brothers. He had shared that little fact with Leo once when they were sitting on a rooftop together, watching the city before them.)

Normally, when this happened, Leo would fall for it almost every time, bristling up himself to rise up and meet Raph snarl for snarl. As much as he hated to admit it, his own temper always seemed to run shamefully thin when his brothers were doing stupid things. Especially when it was something exceptionally bone headed. Like LYING TO HIM ABOUT EVERYTHING!

However, this time, Leo didn't engage him like he normally did. Instead, he ignored his red brother's tantrum and remained deathly silent as he turned and stalked across the lair towards the kitchen.

Raph didn't like being ignored. So he stomped right after Leo, his temper flaring up even more. "Oh no you don't! Don't you dare walk away from me while I'm talking to you, Leo! You're acting like this is completely all our fault! But we TOLD you that we needed to stay in the lair! Just give us a few freakin' days to catch our breath! We had everything completely under control, and we were doing our best to make sure you were comfortable and able to adjust and all that crap!"

Leo didn't acknowledge him as he followed him closely, ranting. Instead, Leo calmly and quietly took the wooden back of one of the dining room chairs, picking it up and moving it to the center of the room. Donnie and Mikey's auras stood somewhat unsure off to the side, watching as Raph continued to bristle with ever increasing guilty rage.

"But nooooo! You couldn't just trust us! You're the one who forced us to charge straight out into the open city, where any sort of trouble could find us! And no, not just the NeoFoot! Don't you pretend that's the only problem here! There's so many dangerous factions out there, any one of them could've stumbled on us! Your actions out there put us all in danger, and now you're getting mad at us?! That's bullshit, and you know it!"

Leo quietly continued to move back and forth, transferring chairs from the kitchen to the open living area until he had formed a circle of four facing one another.

"If you just would've listened to us for once, none of us would have been in any danger to begin with! Everything was fine! Everything was under control! We were- GHKK!"

Raph's rant came to a sudden and abrupt halt as Leo's finger touched under his chin, finding the pressure point and forcing the red brother to freeze and go rigid. Leo then led his partially paralyzed but still sputtering and wheezing brother over to the ring of chairs, and with a twist of his fingers sent him sprawling down into one of the seats.

Then he turned to face his other two brothers.

Donnie and Mikey quickly took the hint and hurried over to take their seats as well.

Leo turned and sat down in the remaining chair, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands as he glowered sightlessly at his brothers. His voice was icy and frigid, a tone that he rarely used on his family. "Tell me the truth. Now."

Raph snorted defiantly and his aura slumped down in his chair insolently, arms crossed as Leo knew he was most definitely scowling at everything around them except Leo.

Mikey's aura shrank back in his chair a little as he realized just how much trouble they were in, already putting up his 'Little Brother' armor. Leo was fairly certain that he was now giving big, blue epic puppy dog eyes. Not that he'd be able to see them anymore.

(Leo's frosty demeanor slipped ever so slightly. Oh gods. He just realized that he wouldn't be able to see Mikey's puppy dog eyes anymore.)

Donnie, as Leo expected, was the one to crack. He groaned, and exhaled slowly, before leaning forward. "Okay. Okay okay. But first, Leo, know that we weren't hiding anything to hurt you. You know that, right? We… we honestly were just trying to keep you safe."

"By lying to me." Leo observed through gritted teeth, not at all pacified. "You three KNEW that the NeoFoot were back in the city already! You weren't surprised at all to see them there. I could tell from your reactions!"

"Bullshit! How?!" Raph protested incredulously, his chair scraping on the floor as he leapt to his feet and flung it back a few inches, still super charged and ready to explode with ALL the emotions. "You're blind, Leo! You can't even see us! How could you know what our reactions were?!"

"Super Ninja Senses." Leo said coldly, reaching over to press under Raph's chin again, getting angry sputtering noises as his volatile red brother was forced back into his seat. "And, from the sounds of it, there's even more that you've been keeping from me. How long have you guys known? Why are they looking for me specifically? And who is this 'Master' they were talking about?"

All three of his brothers seemed to wilt just a little around him.

Donnie swallowed hard and sat back. Leo could faintly hear him rubbing the scales on his arms nervously. "O-okay. Where do we even start?" He gave a shaky exhale, and the chair creaked as he shifted. "Leo. Do… do you remember those chemical shipments that we were trying to stop? Back when… back when…?" He trailed off.

Ah yes. Back when he had been blinded and fell out the plane in the middle of the ocean and they thought he was dead for two years. How could he forget? Leo nodded. "Yes. They were trying to build some sort of chemical weapon, a bomb."

"Well, no. That's what we thought." Donnie's voice was still low and quiet. "That's what Karai's sources told her they were for. But… We found out the hard way that that's not what was going on. The NeoFoot… They found some Utroms who were trying to reestablish the Kraang establishment, and they made a deal with them."

"The… Kraang?" Leo was surprised. He remembered that the Utrom had a few pockets of rebels after the defeat of Kraang Prime, but he thought that Bishop and his crew had it taken care of.

Donnie made the smallest of movements, and then seemed to remember that Leo wouldn't be able to see him nod. "Oh. Uh, yeah. And the chemicals the NeoFoot were bringing them were needed for the… the monstrosities they were trying to create. The Kraang were using their alien technology to try and once again make the perfect biological soldiers and slaves to serve them, only instead of spending millions of years evolving specimen naturally like before, they were trying to create them in a lab. They were able to create human-like clones that were ready made for battle, faster, stronger, and tougher than anything else on this world."

"So the NeoFoot were hoping to rebuild their numbers by working with the Kraang to get some of these soldiers?" Leo frowned, trying to piece this together. "Some sort of living FootBot upgrades?"

"No, not quite." Donnie still seemed to be searching for the right words to use. "The clones are too complicated and require a lot of time, energy, and resources. It's a project that's thankfully not something easily massed produced. Only, the Kraang were were having trouble with the project. Something was missing in their creations, they couldn't get them to work. The creatures they were making were basically soulless husks. Biological robots made of flesh, nerves, and muscles, without any programming to make it run. They had no souls."

"That's when the NeoFoot stepped in, and why they were able to team up with them." Mikey said quietly, sounding emphatically serious as he spoke, like when he was trying to explain just why they should fear one of the monsters in his favorite horror movies. Only, there was actual fear in his voice. "They managed to find some super secret ancient techniques for summoning powerful yokai spirits. And… and Leo. Bro. They're combining that with the Kraang's technique. The body of an alien super soldier that looks human, but powered with the soul of an ancient and powerful evil spirit."

And his brothers were trying to hide this from him?! The hell!

Leo sat up in his chair, more than a little alarmed and sobered by this news. "How many of these things are out there?! Do we know?!"

"Just one, as far as we know." Donnie tried calming him down. "Like I said, it's a very difficult and resource draining operation, both for the creation of the cloned body and the summoning of a strong enough yokai spirit. They created one prototype, but haven't been able to replicate the process again."

"And... and that protoype is the 'Master' that the NeoFoot were talking about back in the alleyway. Isn't it?" Leo guessed as he leaned back and crossed his arms, trying to process all this.

He sensed his brothers wince, and raised his head, realizing that there must be more.

"Leo…" Donnie started hesitantly. "The NeoFoot worked with the Kraang for a purpose. They wanted something… specific. Someone specific."

Leo's stomach plummeted, and a cold sweat broke out on his scales.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh FUCK!

It couldn't be! No! Not again! They were finally free of him! Leo had killed him! His undead resurrected body had been banished to the Netherworld when they defeated the Demodragon! He was GONE! He had to be!

"Oroku Saki." he whispered in realization, the name more breathed out in horror than spoken consciously.

"Well… technically, only sort of?" Donnie sounded slightly apologetic as he corrected Leo. "He's no longer the Shredder that we're familiar with, anyways. Actually, he's now a biologically clone of Oroku Saki that's been created in a lab and artificially enhanced to super-human levels of strength and prowess by outlawed alien technology and then infused and animated by an ancient malignant Japanese spirit capable of destroying entire cities by forbidden dark arts."

He sighed and shrugged hopelessly. "New form, new Shredder."

"The Demon Shredder." Mikey whispered. "Tengu Shredder."

Well... Fuck.

A/N

Well, look at that! Leo can swear! Usually it's when he's losing control, and usually just in his head, but it does happen!

Also, Leo's having a bad day. Come to think of it, his brothers are as well.