Displaced

Chapter 1

Leo ran swiftly along the dark rooftops. It never failed to amaze him how he and his four brothers could run across the skyline of New York and not be noticed. Honestly, they were all over six feet tall. Raph was just past 7 feet and was the size of a tank.

And yet, they were able to run all over the vibrant city with minimal trouble. Credit to Splinter for the stealth training Leo supposed. Donnie dashed past him drawing his attention back to his team. Leo grinned as he looked over to where Mikey was showboating. Mikey had vaulted off Raph like a gymnast and twirled in the air as he jumped a wide gap between buildings.

"Hahahah! Beat that!" Mikey taunted as he landed neatly across the gap.

Raph's barking laugh was the response as the largest turtle leapt the distance, neatly summersaulting forward.

"Nice, classic, points for form, no points on style." Mikey criticizes, grinning ear to ear.

Leo neatly landed beside them just as Raph took a playful swing at their youngest brother. Before he could say anything, Donnie asked, "What's that?"

Leo looked over, quickly spotting a glowing triangle suspended in the air above a rooftop a few blocks away.

"Oooh, My vote is aliens." Mikey offered.

"My sensors are picking up all sorts of things! Let's check it out." Donnie piped up.

Leo narrowed his eyes, but begrudgingly offered, "Let's scope it out before getting too close, okay?"

"Yeah, surveillance!" Mikey offered before leaping to the next roof.

Donnie was quick to follow, no doubt excited to study a new anomaly. Leo glanced over at where Raph was still standing. Raph's eyes were narrowed at the triangle.

"Come on Raph. Let's keep them out of trouble." Leo offered as he trailed his brothers.

The soft footfalls of the giant turtle following was his only response. In short order all four of them were crouched on a rooftop one over from the odd anomaly. From this higher vantage point they had a much better view of the glowing purple triangle.

"Soooo, what is it?" Mikey asked.

"I have no idea! It's emitting an extraordinary amount of energy and some wavelengths of light I've never seen before."

"Looks purplish to me." Raph offered.

"Invisible wavelengths Raph, purple and white are visible wavelengths." Donnie explained.

"Is it dangerous?" Leo asked, wondering if he should move them all further back.

Donnie tapped at his computer, "Uhh, I don't…"

They all ducked below the edge of the roof as something was launched out of the triangle. The figure was small, green, and landed very roughly if his muted cry of pain was any measure.

"Is…is that a turtle?" Mikey whispered.

The small figure pulled himself up and lurched back toward the triangle. Only to have it snap out of existence. There was a terrible silence as everyone's eyes adjusted to the abrupt change in lighting. As Leo's eyes refocused, he realized the small figure was now kneeling on the roof in front of where the triangle had been. There was something wrong with the silhouette of the stranger though.

Raph abruptly jumped the distance between the roofs. He landed lightly about ten feet from the stranger, but proceeded to dig his foot into the gravel on the rooftop, making a modest amount of noise. The small figure whipped around and raised a single bloody sai in defense. The figure was shuddering, but was clearly trying to focus on Raph. His right arm hung at his side, despite him trying to lift it.

"Easy. I'm not going to hurt you." Raph's deep rumble was carried to them on the wind. Leo strained to hear a response from the stranger. Raph continued as he knelt down, still a good distance from the stranger, "Will you let my brother look at your shell? He's good at medical stuff."

That comment had all of them moving. Mikey was the first one across, ginning eagerly. Donnie was pulling up his medical programs and quickly following; bright holograms at the ready to feed him information. Leo found himself the last one across. Raph waved Mikey back, even as he kept his eye on the newcomer, "Stay back Mikey. Will you let Donnie take a look at you?"

Leo took in the scene carefully, surprised Raph was offering kindness to this stranger. When he got closer, the reason was self-evident. A small turtle mutant was crouched in a fighting stance. He was roughly four feet tall, and had emerald color skin marked with cuts and bruises. All his proportions were oddly blocky compared to Leo and his brothers. The red bandana and sai were a startling mirror of Raph's chosen gear. The strange turtle was practically naked, only wearing basic wraps and kneepads with a belt. Raph's own clothes, deliberately calling back to the armor of ancient Romans, seemed modest and chaste in comparison.

The stranger faltered in his slow retreat, stumbling a bit. Drops of blood were hitting the roof from a wound somewhere on his back. His arms were shaking where he held out his single sai; his numerous injuries clearly bothering him. Leo noticed that there were two loops of leather to carry weapons on the stranger's belt. Donnie was trying to creep closer to the small turtle, taking scans of the stranger.

Leo stepped forward, "Hey, My names Leonardo…"

"I know who you are Leo. That's Raph, Mikey and Donnie." The stranger snarled out, "And you're all proof I'm not in the right dimension."

The last sentence was barked out with a startling undercurrent of sorrow and dread in his tone. Leo could feel his eyebrows rise.

"Raphael," Raph tried again from where he crouched, trying to not tower over his small counterpart, "Let us help you, same as you would help any of us if we dropped into your dimension injured."

Small Raphael offered a dark chuckle, "I don't think you guys can fix this, but you're welcome to try." Then his eyes rolled up and he collapsed forward.

Leo felt his eyes widen as he took in the back of the turtle. A massive section of his shell had been torn away. From roughly mid-back between his shoulder blades and up to his right shoulder, long jagged tears marred his shell, with chunks missing until the entire section of his shell above his right shoulder was simply gone. The delicate skin and muscle beneath was torn and ripped, oozing blood. Donnie skidded to a stop as he kneeled beside the small turtle, "This…this is bad."

"Bad, this is awesome! There are other dimensions, and other us!" Mikey eagerly squealed.

Raph moved to the other side of the small turtle, "How can I help Donnie?"

"I…I don't know. Turtles don't normally survived damage to the shell this catastrophic. He should be paralyzed! I…"

"He's not just a turtle, he's a mutant like us." Raph pointed out.

Donnie nodded, "Let's get him back to the lair, we can clean his wounds and stabilize him until we figure out what to do about his shell."

Leo cut in, "You two go. Mikey and I will investigate here. Text me if you need anything to help him."

Raph carefully picked up the small version of him, cautious of his many wounds. Then they were off, Donnie helping Raph find the least jarring path home. Leo turned away and picked up the small sai. It was tiny in his hands; yet there was blood on the central spike. Leo cleaned the blood off with a rag and tucked the weapon into his belt as his eyes roved across the rest of the roof.

"Uh, Leo? What are we investigating?" Mikey asked, his eyes trailing after his brothers.

Leo sighed, before explaining, "Little Raphael's other sai should be around here somewhere. Along with his shell pieces. And we might find something to help us contact his brothers. Maybe something that could help us reopen the portal?"

Mikey dutifully started combing the roof, still chatting, "I mean, they fought someone who did all that to him. What if that something comes through?"

Leo was wondering the same. Raphael's stance had been good, very good; despite how much pain he must have been in. And something clearly got the better of him.

Then Mikey gasped, "What if his family is dead?!"

Leo rolled his eyes before glaring at Mikey, "His family is dead? Really? Focus Mikey."

Mikey threw his arms wide, "Leo, there's nothing here. His sai and shell must be still in the other dimension. Nor are we likely to find any dimension hopping tech, that's Donnie's realm."

Leo hated to admit, Mikey was right. The other sai wasn't here. With a sign, Leo turned to where Raph and Donnie had gone. Mikey grinned but didn't comment as they started jumping roofs. Instead he started up a song under his breath. Leo tuned him out. His thoughts were with the other Leonardo in a different dimension.

For all the friction between Leo and Raph; Leo knew he'd be losing his mind if Raph was in a different dimension badly injured. If any of his brothers were that badly injured in this dimension he'd be beside himself. Leo cast his gaze on the horizon, the path forward clear. Leo would look out for this Raphael like he was his own brother, until they figured out how to get him home.

Karai and her Foot ninjas quickly stole back through the portal; their prize in hand. Sheer dumb luck that the strange triangle appeared in their rural headquarters. They got through just as the portal snapped out of existence. Three of her ninja were trapped on the other side. It was a moment of relieved stillness as they all counted themselves lucky to not be them.

Karai turned away from where the portal had been. They had found him; managed to free him from Kraang's prison. Though he was still frozen in ice, Karai was overjoyed to have found Shredder.

April was having a quiet day in. She had recently broken a big story about white collar crime at one of the major insurance companies in town. After weeks running the story to the ground, publishing and then following up, she was excited to have a day off. Maybe she'd play a videogame and not talk to anyone for a bit.

Then her phone rang. April briefly entertained the idea of not answering it. Then she huffed and reached for it regardless. When she saw it was Leo calling, April grinned.

With a click, she answered, "Hi Leo, what's up?"

"Hi April. Sorry to bother you, but we need a favor."

"A favor?"

"Some medical supplies. We'd get it ourselves, but…"

"It's daylight out." April concluded, as she looked at the bright beautiful day outside her window.

"Yes. We'll pay you back…." Leo started.

"Depends on the price tag. What do you need and who's injured?" April asked, reaching for her purse.

"I'll text you the list. Donnie's still working on him. And…it's…you'll see when you get here."

"On my way Leo." April offered, her curiosity well and truly aroused.

It was a curious list of materials, part medical list and part hardware. April's mind spun with possible causes. She had been a journalist for too long to let her mind settle on a possible answer without more information. As far as she could figure from the items in her bags, someone had hurt their shell. How and who was left to be answered.

The trip through the sewers was much more familiar now that she had known the turtles for about a year. In short order April was walking into the rebuilt lair of the Turtles. It was built around a tall central area, with plenty of headroom for the titan like turtles. Each had claimed a small alcove for themselves, one for Splinter, and even one for a guest up on a second story. Then there were communal alcoves on the first floor; the kitchen, the dojo/gym, a garage and the medical area among others.

April looked around as she set the bags down, "Hello?"

Mikey strolled out of the spare alcove, a bundle of sheets in his arms, "Hey April, lookin' fine, how are you?"

"I'm good Mikey. What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm getting the guest room set up! Get this." Mikey dropped the sheets and jumped down to be whisper conspiratorially, "We found a dimension hopping turtle."

"Really?" April let the suspicious disbelief consume her words, "Let me guess; they're your doppelganger?"

"Mine, actually." A deep rumbling voice offered.

April turned to see Raph had come out of the medical alcove. He grinned down at her before picking up the bags. April smiled, "Hi Raph. Do you really mean there's a second you running around?"

"Yup!" Mikey cut in, "And he's adorable!"

April took this in for a moment, watching Raph take the bags to the medical alcove. Then she sighed, "How bad is this little Raph hurt?"

"Quite badly, I'm afraid." An old voice answered. Master Splinter seemed to just appear on the other side of April. He tilted his grey nose up toward her, "Thank you for getting these supplies for us. We did not wish to delay his treatment."

April smiled down at the mutant rat, "I was happy to help. I'll admit I was concerned it was one of you who was injured."

"Fortunately not; though I sympathize greatly with my own counterpart in this moment. Michelangelo, finish preparing a room for our guest. Miss April, please follow me. I've no doubt you want to see our new friend for yourself. I think it best to satisfy your curiosity, so my sons can continue their work." Splinter offered.

April nodded, and followed Raph and Splinter into the medical bay. Raph moved to bring the new supplies over to a desk with rough drawings on it. Leo and Donnie were carefully wrapping bandages around a tiny turtle. April felt her eyes widen. The turtle mutant wasn't even half the size of the turtles April knew. Splinter might be taller actually. And there were bandages all over the small turtle. Leo and Donnie were giving special attention to an injury on the upper right of the turtles shell; carefully picking gravel out of the wound. The turtle was noticeably greener than the others too.

Raph was laying the medical materials April had brought on a table as Donnie continued his work. Leo stepped back and set up sunning lights over their small guest.

"He's … tiny." April offered, "What happened to him?"

"That's what we want to know." Leo offered. He was holding a thin red mask, some leather wraps and a small sai, "Thanks for answering. We want to get a solution for his shell as fast as possible."

"Shell? This looks a lot worse than a chipped shell!" April stated, alarm seeping into her voice. She hadn't imagined an injury of this scale.

Leo and Splinter gently lead her back out of the medical center. Behind her Donnie and Raph were discussing how to create artificial shell as Donnie continued to clean the damage. Leo sighed, "Yes, however we've found that part of our mutation is damage to the shell is not deadly. And it can grow back."

April narrowed her eyes, "You don't sound happy. What's the catch?"

Leo motioned toward the medical bay, "This Raphael has a little chip missing from his shell. It's an old wound as far as we can tell. Which means his mutation didn't include shell regeneration."

Splinter set about making tea, "We are hopeful that his mutation is such that an artificial shell will be a sufficient solution."

April considered the small turtle in the other room, "Where did he come from?"

"Glowing purple triangle." Leo offered deadpan.

April lifted an eyebrow, waiting for explanation.

"Unfortunately that's all we've got. We only know he came from another dimension because he mentioned dimensions before passing out."

April frowned, "And his brothers?"

Leo offered a tired grin to her, "That's what we're all wondering. Hopefully they don't dimension hop in broad daylight."

April looked over at Splinter as he steeped the tea. He carefully poured out three cups of tea, and passed one toward April. April took the tea, "Thank you. You're expecting him to be here for a while?"

"Young Raphael has a long road of recovery ahead of him; and he is forced to walk it the company of relative strangers. Should one of my own sons find themselves in such a scenario, I could only pray they find compassion from my dimensional counterpart. As such it is only right we gift such kindness to this Raphael."

April glanced over at Leo, who just snorted and offered, "Sensei and I are of the same mind on this. Raphael will be under our protection and care while he's here."

April wrapped her hands around the tea, "I'm going to skip past the part where you're all okay with there being proof of alternate dimensions. What makes you think Raphael will let you protect him?"

Leo grinned as he sipped at his own tea, "He has a quarter of his shell missing; he's not going anywhere."

Raphael was indeed going somewhere. And Raph had a feeling he knew where he was going. Leo was a few roofs ahead franticly chasing the small turtle across the dark rooftops. Raph could tell the blue clad ninja was genuinely shocked at how hard to track Raphael was. Even Raph had to admit this tiny version of himself knew way more about disappearing than he did. They had all panicked when they realized their small guest had let himself out from the medical area, and taken off from the lair. Splinter ordered them to find him, and bring him safety back. Leo and Raph had teamed up to cover the area between the lair and the roof where they found Raphael.

Leo skidded to a stop again as Raphael slipped into another shadow, "How does he keep doing that?!"

Raph had been quiet, just following Leo's lead. He offered, "Leo, let's just…"

"There!" Leo pivoted. The bright white bandages flashed as the small turtle moved between shadows.

Leo jumped onto the next roof, hissing, "Raphael, wait!"

There was a momentary hesitation, before a brief flash as the bandages alerted Leo to the small turtle's location again. Leo darted after him. Raph grimaced, he needed to stop Leo or Raphael would never trust them. How on earth to convince Leo of this when Leo never listens to him?

Just as Leo was about to catch up to Raphael, Raph shot out his hand and caught Leo, hauling him back by his katana sheathes. Raphael's all white eyes glanced over at him from the side of the roof he was nearly cornered on.

Raph just pointed toward the roof where they found him, "Over there."

Raphael slipped away into the shadows, and Raph was left to deal with the furious blue clad ninja. Raph shifted his grip to ensure Leo couldn't chase after his counterpart.

Leo turned his head to glare at Raph, "Let me go Raph."

"No." Raph was not ready for this conversation, but he knew there would be no getting around it.

Leo tore himself loose and spun around to face Raph. Raph deliberately kept his hands and arms loose at his side. Leo got right up in Raph's face, "What was that?!"

"Leo, do you trust me?"

The questions clearly was unexpected, and whatever Leo was about to say he bit back. Leo looked carefully at Raph, "Why?"

"You need to trust me. I'll make sure he comes back by sunrise." Raph offered.

Leo looked bewildered, "Are you crazy? Sensei said…"

"Leo, trust me." Raph interrupted, "I'll even let you stalk us from a distance so long as you don't interfere."

Leo held Raph's gaze for a moment. Then, to Raph's surprise, he stepped back and to the side. Raph nodded and walked past his older brother. Then he set off running in the direction he had sent Raphael. It didn't take him long to catch up. The smaller mutant was stealthy, but still badly injured.

Raph slowed down and called out, "Hey, Micro, come on out. Leo ain't following anymore."

A shadow suddenly developed eyes and Raphael returned, "He's just a few blocks back. You're all noisy, Macro."

Raph sighed, "Yeah, I couldn't get him too completely back off. However, he won't stop us either."

The white eyes narrowed. Raph shrugged, "Come on, let me get you where you're trying to go."

The shadow detached itself from the wall and stepped onto the roof beside Raph. Seeing an alternate version of himself would certainly take some getting used to. It oddly helped that his shape was pretty alien; with sharp edges and odd portions. Raphael barely came up to Raph's elbows. And he was still naked, save for the bandages and mask. Raph would need to fix that at some point. The distrustful expression was also something they would need to fix.

Raph knelt down, "Hop on, it'll be faster."

Raphael narrowed his eyes at Raph, "I can still run."

Raph snorted, "We both know you're in loads of pain, despite the meds Donnie gave you. Come on, you don't want to waste any more time."

Raphael frowned yet still climbed onto Raph's back. True to his work, Raph set out for the roof where they found Raphael.

It wasn't ten minutes before they were there. Raphael was looking around expectantly, digging in the gravel and turning over everything on the roof. He was muttering, "It's got to be here. It's got to be."

Raph stepped closer, "What are you looking for?"

Raphael was on his hands and knees searching over the rooftop at this point, "A Krang device. Should be silver and purple. It's how they open portals, without it…."

Raphael didn't finish the thought, and Raph didn't need him to. It was obvious Raphael was afraid of being stuck here without a way home. It's the same fear Raph would have.

His counterpart stood slowly, his wide green eyes fixed on the ground. Raph waited, suspecting he needed a moment to wrestle his emotions under control. Not to mention the medication cocktail the small turtle was on.

Eventually Raphael turned to face where the portal had been and sat down. He crossed his arms and determinedly fixed his eyes on where the portal once was.

"What are you doing?" Raph asked, knowing the answer.

"I'm waiting for my brothers."

"You're going to wait here all night?"

"However long it takes."

"Why?"

"I have to be here when they open the portal."

Raph resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Did he sound this ridiculous when he was being stubborn? Raph asked, "What makes you think they'll be able to open the portal?"

"Donnie will figure something out." Raphael said with absolute confidence.

Raph frowned. Faith in his brothers he could understand, however he was dealing with a tiny badly injured turtle that couldn't be left out on a rooftop to be found by some unfriendly person. Not to mention the blood staining the small turtle's bandages from where he pulled all of Donnie's stiches out with this stunt. Raph looked around as he mused, "Well, my Donnie did a lot of work putting you back together, and while I got faith in his medical skills, he did not factor in you being an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot." Raphael mumbled. If anything the turtle pulled further into his shell, wincing as the bandages prevented him from completing the movement.

Raph winced in sympathy. He could feel Leo laughing at him from wherever he was hanging about. This was not going well. So Raph took a deep breath, trying to step back and clear his mind as Master Splinter had taught them. Then he took another look at the situation.

He had to get Raphael back to the lair. He could pick the tiny ninja up, however Raph knew that would kill any trust between them forever. That was a no go solution. Meanwhile, Raphael wanted to be there when his brothers opened the portal, whenever that may be. Why…oh. A light went off in Raph's head.

Raph stomped over to where Raphael was sitting. He could see the smaller turtle tense up for a fight. So Raph jammed one of his sai into the roof beside the turtle, grumbling, "I'll be right back. Don't move. And next time don't leave the lair without a weapon!"

Then he jumped away, pulling out his phone. A quick dial and he had Leo on the line, "Leo, do not bother Raphael…"

"You just left him on the roof! He's drugged out of his mind!"

"Leo!" Raph shouted into the phone, followed by a softer, "Trust me."

There was a moment of silence on the line.

Raph looked down at where some punk was tagging a building, "You can keep an eye on him from a distance. Just leave him be."

"You're asking a lot of me." Leo conceded.

"Cause I know you can deliver it." Raph grinned as he slipped down into the alleyway.

A heavy sigh on the other side of the line was Raph's cue to hang up. Either Leo would listen to him, or Leo would mess with Raphael and probably lose an eye. Raphael just screamed scrappy fighter. Raph shrugged as he moved forward toward the bag of spray paints. He gently slid it backwards away from the graffiti artist until he could jump with it back up to the roof. A quick sift through it and he had two cans of red. Raph grinned as he tossed the bag back down into the alleyway, hearing the panicked yell as the cans fell on the punk.

Time to go see if Leo still had his eyes.

Leo was furious. Raph's 'trust me' line had thrown him. He had been braced for a fight with two stubborn hot heads. Raph's almost passive approach Leo had not been ready for. However leaving Raphael alone on a roof alone, even with a sai nearly the same size as the small turtle, did not seem to justify trust. Then Raph came back. He passed over two paint cans and said something to Raphael. Raphael set about tagging the brick access hatch on the roof. Leo couldn't get a clear view of it, since both Raphaels ended up just sitting on the roof, watching where the portal once was. Leo waited, watching as the smaller of the two drooped lower and lower. As light started to appear on the horizon Raph stood and said something to Raphael. The small turtle still had a slump in his shoulders, but climbed onto Raph's shell. Then they set off for the lair.

Leo waited for them to slip out of sight. Then he made his way over to the portal roof. He landed silently and turned to see what Raphael had written. In bright bold red it said, "I'm here." There was a distinctive red lightning mark too.

Leo tilted his head, considering it. Then he stepped away, and headed for the lair. He had to admit, Raph was right about this one.

Splinter watches as Donnie finished getting Raphael hooked back up to all the various monitors. The whole family was on edge after the small turtle had slipped past them all. It was admittedly sloppy of them to assume injuries and medicine could stop any version of Raphael from doing what he wanted. Splinter would also never admit that Raphael had slipped past him as well.

Raphael was watching them all with hooded eyes. He was clearly losing steam. Splinter nodded toward him, "Get some rest, Raphael. Donnie, join us when you have seen to him."

"Yes father." Donnie idly responded as he checked an IV drip.

Raphael watched him warily. Splinter could sympathize. He was sometimes caught off guard by the sheer size of his sons, despite watching them grow. No wonder this smaller version was alarmed by their size. Splinter left them to see to his other sons.

Raph, Leo and Mikey were lingering in the kitchen, trying to appear like they were not waiting for him.

Splinter tugged on his beard as he considered them, "My sons. I do not fault you for our guest's actions."

He watched with some satisfaction as their eyebrows rose. They clearly hadn't been expecting that. So he continued, "How did you convince him to return?"

Leo and Mikey immediately turned toward Raph. Splinter's largest son looked down at the table and looked to be on the verge of pulling into his shell.

"Raphael?" Splinter prompted.

Mikey was about to say something, so Splinter spanked him with his tail. With a yelp, Mikey quieted back down. He had never learned patience when someone else is asked as question.

Raph looked up and quietly admitted, "We left a message for his brothers. He was worried they would open a portal here and not realize he was in this dimension."

Splinter met Raph's eyes, "Do you believe he will try to leave again while healing?"

"Yes. He'll want to check for his brothers."

"Hmmm. Leo, Mikey, what suggestions do you have for addressing this?" Splinter asked.

"Duh, cameras." Mikey offered.

"Cameras?" Leo deadpanned.

"Sure!" Mikey jumped to his feet with an eager grin, "We get Donnie to set up some cameras on the portal roof, give Mini-Raph the feed and voila! He doesn't need to leave the lair to check for his brothers."

They all turned toward the entrance of the kitchen as Donnie cut in, "A good idea, however I might have to send you guys to do that." Donnie had a dark look on his face, "He's got a fever. I think he's developed an infection in one of his wounds."

Thank you for reading. Critique on my writing and suggestions for improvement are welcome.