Displaced

Chapter 5

Raphael fought very hard to not look nervous. The five sets of eyes watching him made that very difficult. Raph had a guarded expression. Mikey was grinning widely. Donnie was watching him like he was an experiment. Leo simply had narrowed eyes and a blank face. Master Splinter had an amused smile as he was observing from the sidelines. The tablet sat propped up beside him so Raphael could see the feed.

"Okay." Raphael began, "I'm going to assume your training is structured similarly to how my brothers train."

Leo lifted an eyebrow, doubt across his face. That was all it took, and all Raphael's nervousness fled replaced by a burning anger. He had been trained by Hamato Yoshi, and he would not let his father's teachings be belittled by these titans. He wanted to make his father proud, now was a damn good chance to prove he had what it took.

So Raphael placed his hands behind his back and lifted his chin, "Show me your most advanced kata, and we'll go from there. Leo, you first."

Leo stepped to the center of the room, an easy smile on his face. He proceeded to perform a well-executed Kata, strikes firm and unflinching. It was certainly no beginner movement set. Leo finished up, and did not give the customary bow at the end.

Raphael nodded as he picked up the stick he had roughly fashioned into a training katana fit to his size, "Good, now watch my feet carefully."

The Raphael proceeded to perform the exact same kata. Master Splinter had made them all cross-train; and while his Leonardo was a master of the blade, Raphael was no slouch with it either. Right at the center jump Raphael said, "See how you need to slid your foot here, shift your weight to the left foot, it makes the next jump kick," which Raphael performed, "Much smoother."

Then Raphael finished the kata and offered a small bow to Master Splinter, "My brothers and I were also taught to give a courtesy bow to the senior master supervising the training after each kata as well."

Master Splinter snorted as Leo's cheeks got a bit redder, "Well, I…"

"That gives me an idea of where you're at. Raph, you're up next." Raphael turned away from Leo. As fun as it was to make Leo sputter; he did have three others to go through. Leo wasn't the center of the world after all.

Raph stood up and tilted his head at Raphael, "Do you want the highest kata Master Splinter taught me or the Okinawa one you were teaching me?"

"The one you learned from Master Splinter." Raphael answered, sharing Raph's amusement at the surprised confusion of the others.

Raph obliged, and he also had footwork issues. They weren't quite as bad since he and Raphael had been working through some of his technique. When Raph finished he bowed to Splinter and then Raphael before stepping back in line.

"Thank you. Donnie, show me what you've got."

Donnie offered a nervous smile and picked a kata a few behind what Raphael was expecting. It sort of made sense. This Donnie was much more focused on tech. Raphael considered him carefully. He seemed really unbalanced. Then he realized Donnie wasn't wearing his backpack. How much did the extra weight on his shell impacted his movements when he was out in the field? Donnie finished the admittedly awkward kata, and bowed before stepping back in line with a relieved sigh.

"How heavy is your backpack?" Raphael asked, looking at Donnie. He was almost as tall as Raph, yet much lankier. Where was his center of balance?

"Oh, uh, not heavy. Maybe 40 or 50 lbs." Donnie offered, fiddling with his staff.

Raphael's eyes widened. That was more than he expected, "Raph, Leo, help him strap a 50 lb weight to his back. Then you're going to go again Donnie."

They complied, and Donnie stepped forward, shooting nervous glances at Master Splinter. He repeated the Kata, and it was much smoother. He was clearly more acclimated to moving with the weight than without. Raphael nodded, "Better. Donnie, figure out some sort of rig to mimic the distributed weight of your backpack. We train how we fight. And you fight with a rock on your back."

"It's actually a super computer." Donnie tried to explain.

"A glowing electrified rock on your back. Mikey, you're up."

Mikey bounded out and jumped into a basic kata, performing it effortlessly. Raphael frowned and barked, "Yame!"

Evidently that was the wrong thing to say, because Mikey tripped and fell as he snapped his head around to look at Raphael. Everyone else looked a bit confused as well.

"It means stop, and get used to hearing it." Raphael grumbled before turning to Mikey, "Mikey, I asked for your most advanced form. That was not it."

"You don't know that." Mikey offered with a grin.

"If you won't perform a kata, then I'll find a different way to measure your skills." Raphael threatened.

"Such as?" Mikey offered, his grin widening.

Raphael didn't bother to answer, instead chucking a rock at Mikey's head. Sure enough Mikey deflected it with a masterful spin of his nunchakus. As Mikey showboated, Raphael grabbed the staff at his feet. While Mikey was the smallest of his brothers; he was still much bigger than Raphael. The small turtle darted forward, smashing the end of the staff onto Mikey's foot, who in turn yowled in pain. As Mike hoped on one foot holding the other, Raphael swept his other foot out from under him. Mikey tumbled backwards like a tree falling; his limbs going everywhere.

Raphael sighed, "My mistake, you are at a beginner level."

"No! I…" Mikey protested, pulling himself back up.

"Fall back in line Mikey." Raphael instructed.

Mikey complied; allowing Raphael a chance to look them all over. Then he grinned, "I think I can give some cross training to all of you. I'll need some time to figure out the plan. For today; conditioning. 50 backflips; 100 pushups; then ten minutes of jump rope."

The turtles all looked at him in surprise. Raphael frowned, "What?"

Leo shook his head and looked over at his brothers with a grin, "Tiny Sensei has spoken. Let's get to it."

Raphael scowled as they all got to work. He'd have to kill that nickname fast. For now, he had some work ahead of him.

Donnie found himself hobbling from one side of the lab to another. Raphael had been training them for a week now, and it was the sorest Donnie thought he had ever been. However, training is only a part of the day, and for the rest of the day Donnie has been very productive in his lab. The data on the hard drive had proven incredibly useful and he already had two prototypes sketched out.

"Donnie! Whatchadoing?" Mikey asked bouncing in; cheerful and bubbly as always.

"I think I've got a solution to Raphael's shell. Problem is…" Before Donnie could finish, Mikey was bolting for the lab doors.

"Leo, Raph!" Mikey hissed loudly.

Fortunately Donnie could see that Raphael was engrossed in painting a mural on the far side of the lair at the request of Splinter, bopping his head to music in his headphones. It never failed to amaze Donnie that both of the Raphael's he knew were artistic. Of all things to be universal.

Leo and Raph filtered in, looking with curiosity to Donnie as Mikey bounced around the space. Donnie sighed and began, "As I was saying, I think I have some prototype designs. However I don't have the right materials, or fabrication equipment."

Leo considered him, "You already have a plan."

"Yeah," Donnie tapped at his computer, pulling up the same lab they hit before, "I'd need a while though. This sort of composite fabrication isn't going to be quick."

Raph grumbled, "How long is a while?"

Donnie sighed, "Days."

They all winced. Then Mikey asked, "Do you need to be there the whole time?"

"I could in theory supervise the fabrication digitally; however I'd need to be there to install the design and the check it at certain times. And retrieve it of course."

Leo paced slightly, "So we need to go in to get things going and set up a way to supervise the work, Then we need to have easy access a couple of times. And a final time to pick up the prosthetic."

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem getting in." Raph offered.

Mikey laughed, "Do you not remember the last mission?"

"What are the odds of running into Karai again while breaking into the same lab?" Raph pointed out.

Donnie glanced at Leo, admitting, "He's got a point."

Leo just looked at the ground, a furrow on his forehead, "Why was the Foot there anyway?"

"Shredder's coma? Could be in relation to that." Donnie ventured.

"Well, they probably got what they needed when they captured us; so we should be in the clear to go back!" Mikey said with a grin.

Donnie turned to look at Leo, "It's your call, Leo."

Leo looked around, tapping on his chin, "What if we make it look like an order from higher up? Hack their emails or something. Then we'd just need to retrieve it."

Donnie blinked. Then a wide grin spread over his face, "That…that actually is a much better plan."

"We won't even need to go retrieve it." Mikey offered, "Have them ship it to Casey or April."

The turtles all grinned at each other. Donnie laughed, "And here I was planning a break in."

Raph eagerly spun the bo in his hands. He had to admit it was fun to work on a different weapon for a while. Donnie was carefully working with Leo's katanas, and Leo was managing Raph's sai. Raphael had decided that today they'd be cross training on each other's weapons.

Except for Mikey. Raph glanced at where his little brother was morosely going over the simplest of unarmed katas. Raphael apparently wasn't ready to forgive Mikey for his stunt when he was assessing everyone's skill level. He had been putting Mikey through the simplest training he could think of while everyone else got to actually progress. It was to the point where even Raph felt it might be going too far.

Toward the end of practice Raphael lined them all up. Before he could say anything, Mikey stood up, "Sensei Raphael, I request you reevaluate my skill level."

Raph blinked. That was the most formal he had ever heard his goofiest brother sound. Glancing over at Leo and Donnie showed his brothers were equally surprised.

Raphael narrowed his eyes, but motioned Mikey forward.

Mikey launched into a kata. It wasn't perfect; however it was a complicated kata, just beyond the level Mikey had fully mastered.

They all watched in silence as Mikey bowed to Raphael and then to Splinter. Raphael held a stern expression on his face. Then he offered a small smirk, "Better. Join your brothers; you'll be training with them tomorrow."

Mikey wore a wide grin as he sat back down. Raph bumped him with his elbow, offering a grin back.

"We'll continue cross training tomorrow. Dismissed." Raphael explained.

As everyone stood Donnie's wrist watch chirped. He checked the message before looking up with a wide grin, "Can you guys join me in my Lab?"

Leo watched as Donnie excitedly pulled up the schematics. Raphael stood at his side, arms crossed under his poncho. He was wearing a guarded expression.

They hadn't told him when they executed Donnie's plan. They had concocted a story about a shell prosthetic for a billionaire's pet turtle; and the lab was eager to help. Now, three days later, they were expecting the prosthetic to ship today.

Hence why they were now letting Raphael in on the plan. Donnie was excitedly showing Raphael the manufacturing progress. Mikey and Raph were standing back by Leo.

Raph mumbled, "I don't think he's biting."

Leo couldn't help but agree. Raphael had uncrossed his arms, but was now uncomfortably rubbing at his right shoulder. Leo quietly asked, "Why wouldn't he want to fix his shell though?"

Raph thinned his lips and narrowed his eyes. Leo wasn't sure if that meant he didn't want to answer, or didn't know the answer.

"See, that's it there!" Donnie exclaimed, pointing at the screen. He had hacked one of the security cameras and had the live feed on it. Some of the lab techs were giving the prosthetic one last look over. It had come out surprisingly well, at least from what they could tell. They had even tried to match the shell color and pattern to make it less visible. Leo kept his eyes on Raphael; so he didn't miss the small turtle shuddering.

Donnie continued, ignorant of the discomfort of his audience, "They're going to send it to a PO box that Casey rented. Then, it's just a matter of doing a deep clean of the edges of your shell, possibly shave some of it down," That got a shudder from Donnie's whole audience; but he blithely continued, "Then we'll attach it with the flexible adhesive material. That will give you the ability to adapt the prosthetic as you grow."

"Grow?" Raphael asked.

"Well yeah. You're still a teenager; most human males hit a final growth spurt around twenty. So, to be sure, we wanted to make sure this wouldn't mess you up if that happens to you."

Mikey chose that moment to jump forward, "You may never be as tall as Raph, but you might still beat Splinter!"

Raphael just continued to look uncomfortable, turning his gaze back on the screen. Leo took a step forward, "Everyone step out for a …."

"What's that?!" Donnie exclaimed.

On screen the techs were all raising their hands above their heads. Foot ninja slipped into view; right before taking out the camera.

"Huh, the Foot did hit the same Lab twice. What are the odds?" Mikey sked.

Donnie was tapping away at his computer, "Hang on." Then he got a second camera up. Several foot ninja slipped past; carrying various prosthetics; including the shell piece.

There was a stunned silence in the lab. Donnie rocked back in his chair, bewildered, "I can't believe that happened."

"At least we weren't kidnapped this time." Mikey offered.

"We'll have to get the prosthetic back…" Leo started.

"Wait, storming the Foot over this doesn't make sense."

Everyone turned to Raphael. Leo lifted an eyebrow, "Of course it does."

Raphael shook his head, "No, Master Splinter always tried to teach us when to pick our battels. A piece of plastic isn't worth it. Besides, I can just keep using Casey's jacket when I'm on a mission."

"Actually, while you'll likely need some sort of extra armor layer from here on; we do need to properly reform your shell. Otherwise the structural integrity of your shell is at risk."

Raphael shook his head, "Okay, okay. We can just have the lab techs make another one, right?"

Leo nodded, "Honestly, he does have a point."

"We're just going to let the Foot steal prosthetics?" Raph asked.

Leo turned to him, "In this case, yes. We're going to leave it to the police." Then Leo turned to Raphael, "You're sure you're comfortable waiting?"

"I've waited this long. It hasn't killed me yet." Raphael offered confidently.

Within the hour, the reports that the Lab had been burned down were all over the news.

Leo sighed, "I guess we're storming the Foot Fortress after all."

Raph grinned as he stepped forward, "So what's the plan this time?"

Mikey tilted his head, "We're not going as laundry again are we?"

Donnie looked thoughtful as he tapped at a few screens, "We do have a fairly complete map of the foot fortress."

Leo looked around, "Hey, has anyone seen Raphael?"

Raphael waited patiently for the laundry truck to park. The workers were yawning, tired in the early morning task. He waited for them to cart the bins of laundry off before dropping down and slipping past the observing guards. He would get in, and get out. No need to put the titanic turtles at risk for simply stealing back a single prosthetic.

He shifted as he perched in a ceiling corner. Casey's jacket was proving very useful, even if it was a bit tight through the shoulders. But it was worn enough that he didn't squeak when he moved. The two guards he was watching passed beneath him and scanned open the door. Raphael dropped down and slipped in behind them before jumping back up disappear amongst the gargoyles in the rafters. The guards continued, oblivious.

Quietly, Raphael took stock of where he was. The Lab had multiple tables and desks; and there were a handful of lab techs crowded around diagrams of the human body. A quick survey of the tables revealed all the stolen prosthetics. Including Raphael's shell. He suppressed a shudder. While he knew Donnie had done the best he could to make it look natural, and he knew he needed it to stabilize what was left of his shell; it still creeped him out to see a shell, his shell, just laying on a table like a lab specimen.

Raphael forced the revulsion down. He needed to grab it and go; especially since the Foot had seen fit to destroy the fabrication lab. He started plotting a path forward, when the door swished open. Karai strode in, and everyone in the lab immediately turned to bow respectfully to her. She surveyed the table as she asked, "When will you be able to finish Shredder's foot?"

Raphael felt like his heart stopped. Shredder's Foot? Had his sabotage not worked?

One of the techs stepped forward, "With these examples and the data we pulled from their mainframes, we expect to have a prototype prepared by the end of the week."

"Complete it by Friday, Shredder will want to see his choices the moment he wakes up." Karai commanded.

Then her hand stopped on the shell prosthetic, "What is this?"

"Oh, when the ninjas you sent grabbed everything in the lab, they accidentally snagged that. We checked the data you pulled," The tech waved at the hard drive sitting on the table nearby, "Turns out they were constructing a prosthetic for a donners pet turtle."

Karai lifted it up. Raphael fought back the urge to hurl; something about the image was incredibly wrong. Karai then tilted her head, "Have you ever seen a turtle shell this flat and large?"

An awkward silence followed. Karai tucked the prosthetic under her arm; declaring, "The mutant turtles must be involved somehow. And this will make fine bait."

Then she left, followed by her loyal guards. The lab techs all started to chatter amongst themselves, speculating on the turtle. Said turtle rolled his eyes. The prosthetic was a lost cause at this point; that was clear to him. However; he had no intention of leaving empty handed. And the lab techs were conveniently distracted…

Raph fidgeted restlessly in the back of the battle shell. The converted dump truck was not subtle, however they didn't have a lot of options for the long trip up to the Foot Headquarters. Leo was driving on the edge of recklessness. Seeing their normally composed older brother so worried was causing both Donnie and Mikey to mirror his nervousness. So Raph tromped forward, dropping his hand onto Leo's shoulder, "Take it easy. Raphael will be fine."

"Fine! He stormed the Foot Headquarters! Alone!" Leo hissed, anger barely constrained.

"He's done it once without being caught, and he'll likely pull it off again. So long as we don't blow his cover."

"Raph has a point. There is zero chatter on the Foot Networks about an intruder." Donnie chimed in.

"And we know he's in the foot headquarters." Mikey offered from where he was sitting.

Raph watched as Leo incrementally relaxed. So he offered one more data point, "He let us know where he was and what he was doing. It's more than I would have done."

At that Leo finally took his foot off the accelerator and settled into a more sane driving pattern. "What if they capture him?"

"Hey, at least we'll never have to deal with angry other dimension Leo!" Mikey piped up, trying to lighten the mood.

Donnie reached out and smacked Mikey across the back of the head. Raph rolled his eyes.

Leo's foot was heavier on the accelerator again as he snarled, "Yeah, we'll never need to deal with my counterpart, or yours or Donnie's. Just Raphael. Who is alone, with a broken shell, in the Foot Headquarters. He's our responsibility; especially since his brothers have abandoned him."

Raph felt his eyes widen. It was an unspoken rule that they don't mention their absentee dimensional counterparts. Despite the brother's growing frustration with them. Apparently Leo's frustration ran a lot deeper than everyone else's. A quick glance at the wide eyes of his younger brothers proved Raph wasn't the only one caught off guard by Leo's tone.

Raph hesitantly set his arm on Leo's shoulder again, "Leo, Raphael is fine. He's a better trained ninja than we are. What's this really about?"

"You tell me Raph; he's your counterpart! Why doesn't he trust us to help him?!" Leo demanded.

Raph snorted out a laugh, "You said it yourself. His brothers haven't come for him. He's only know us a grand two months, most of which he was comatose or medicated." Raph squeezed Leo's shoulder, "Leo, trust me."

Leo sighed, and took his foot off the accelerator again. The truck slowed back down to the speed of traffic. Then Leo glanced up; briefly meeting Raph's eyes, "Alright Mr. Expert. How do we earn his trust?"

Raph grinned, "We'll park nearby, but far enough away that we don't alert the Foot. There we'll wait for Raphael to comm us. If we haven't heard from him by nightfall, we go in guns blazing."

Leo barked out a laugh, "And here I was worried you were maturing into a strategist on me. Okay, Okay. Donnie, where am I parking?"

Raph stepped back as Donnie gave Leo new directions. As he passed where Donnie and Mikey sat, Raph tapped Mikey's shoulder, "Have the roof feed pulled up; it's going to be Raphael's first question."

"Should we be encouraging that?" Mikey asked quietly.

"No, but if we force it, he'll just dig in his heels on the issue." Raph admitted.

Mikey grinned up at him, "So, how weird is it seeing your worst traits reflected in your fun sized mirror?"

Instead of answering, Raph just huffed and continued to the back of the truck. It wasn't fun, but he would never admit that to anyone; much less his goofiest brother.

Leo paced the length of the truck. Raphael had called them to let them know he had slipped out of the Foot stronghold. Donnie had been quick to give him directions to where they were waiting. Sure enough, immediately after getting directions, Raphael asked about the damn feed. While Mikey was quick to reassure him they hadn't seen anything; the fact that that was at the forefront of Raphael's mind still bothered Leo deeply.

He glanced back at where Raph was sitting and playing War against Mikey with a deck of cards while they waited. It was weird to rely on Raph for something other than his strength and instincts. Yet he kept surprising Leo with his insights on this whole situation. Now however, they were stuck waiting for the small red dot on Donnie's screen to reach them.

Donnie stood and looked over at Leo, "He's pretty close now; want to go meet him?"

Leo grinned and made for the door, "Raph, Mikey; stay here with the truck."

Mikey offered a predictable groan; however Raph just nodded. Leo and Donnie slipped out of the truck. It was a bright summer day, enabling them to slip into the dense foliage quickly. Donnie took point, leading them toward the small red dot on their screen. Within ten minutes then were right on top of the small dot. Donnie was looking around perplexed. Leo closed his eyes briefly; turning to his other senses.

"Where is he?" Donnie asked, tapping at his screen.

Leo looked up. There, high in the tree, hidden by a blinding sunbeam, was a dark patch, "Come on down Raphael."

He watched as the small form dropped down quickly. Raphael was practically dressed in dark clothes; most notably Casey's old biker jacket.

Donnie grinned, "There you are. Are you okay?"

Raphael wasn't smiling, "Shredder's awake."

Leo felt his own smile drop away, "What?"

Raphael's hands were moving about as he talked breathlessly, "Karai said he would be awake to pick his foot! I saw him frozen when I busted you out. They must have unfrozen him!"

Donnie glanced at Leo over Raphael's head, "Pick his foot?"

Raphael continued unheeded, "We have to stop him!"

"Stop him from doing what?" Leo asked, making sure to meet Raphael's gaze.

That brought Raphael up short, before he yelled out, "Anything! He's Shredder!"

Leo reached out and put his hand on Raphael's shoulder, "Easy. We can't do anything until we know what he's up to. For now we'll regroup."

"Regroup? We have to strike while we have the advantage! We can't wait for him to execute his plan like last time Fearless!" Raphael shouted, his eyes narrowed in anger.

Leo glanced over to Donnie, who clearly shared his confusion. "Fearless?" Leo carefully asked.

Raphael blinked. Then his whole body seemed to go slack as his eyes widened in horror, focused on something only he could see. Leo carefully reached out, "Raphael, are you…"

Before he could finish, Raphael turned and bolted, disappearing into the woods.

"At least he's still going toward the Truck." Donnie offered.

Leo turned toward Donnie in bewilderment, "Was that what I think it was?"

"Some kind of flashback? Yes. He hasn't had any I've known of in a while." Then Donnie tilted his head at Leo, "I'm guessing Fearless is your counterpart."

Leo frowned, "Do you think they argued about the fight that resulted in Raphael being here? Him and his Leo?"

Donnie laughed lightly as he gently pushed Leo toward the truck, "Can you picture any dimension where Raphael doesn't argue with you about every little plan?"

"Donnie; what if his Leo is dead? What if he's the only survivor of their fight with Shredder?" Then Leo came to a sudden stop, "Donnie, we can't let Raphael face the Shredder."

"Uh, good luck with that. Why may I ask?" Donnie kept pulling him forward.

"What if he has a flashback in the middle of the fight? What if he freezes?"

Donnie looked over at him concern etched on his face, "You think we're going to have to fight the Shredder again, don't you."

Leo sighed, "Yes. I do." Then he started moving forward with a determined stride, "But I have no intention of letting any version of Shredder hurt any of you like that twice."

They quickly returned to the Truck. Raphael was sitting on top with his arms crossed over his knees and his head down. It genuinely hurt Leo to see this small version of his most fiery brother so withdrawn and quiet.

Donnie snickered, "How much you want to bet Raph and Mikey have no idea he's there."

"I don't take loosing bets. Give us a minute, okay?" Leo asked as he moved to the handholds on the side of the truck.

Donnie nodded as he moved toward the door. Leo climbed up to the top of the truck. Raphael didn't give any sign of acknowledgment as the larger turtle knelt down beside him. Leo laid his hands on his knees and slid into a shallow meditation. It didn't take too long for a quiet voice to arise from beside him.

"I know I don't know what your history with the Shredder is here. I just…." Raphael took a shuddering breath, "I don't want him to hurt anyone else."

Leo waited a moment to see if Raphael would continue. The smaller turtle remained curled up in silence. Leo asked, "Did you kill your Shredder?"

The answer was so quiet, Leo almost missed it, "Stabbed in the heart."

"That's how you lost your sai?" Leo asked.

Raphael lifted his head and fixed his gaze on the horizon; refusing to look at Leo. "I told him it was a bad plan. Between Shredder and Krang Prime a head on attack was a terrible plan; even with the Mutanimals and Master Splinter helping. We needed to wait for a better time to strike; sometime when they wouldn't expect it. But Leo overruled me. Said I had to follow him. I tried so hard to show him it was a bad plan; that they were banking on us striking head on. But he didn't listen. We were cornered; right where Shredder wanted us. He almost killed Leo, again."

Leo felt his eyebrows rise at that. Again?

Raphael continued; his voice quiet and dull, "So I stepped in. I couldn't let one of my brothers die. I just…I've never been afraid to die for them. I just never expected this." Then Raphael turned toward Leo, "I would know if they didn't make it, right? I would know?"

Leo was struck by how young Raphael seemed compared to the rest of them. Yet he wasn't sure what to say. And his silence apparently said everything, as Raphael pressed his lips together and turned his gaze back to the horizon.

Leo sighed, "I don't know, Raphael. However I do know this." Leo reached out to Raphael's shoulder, forcing the smaller turtle to look at him, "You love your brothers. And you're continuing to honor their memory; regardless of if they are alive or not. You're even honoring your Sensei; ensuring his teachings don't end with you." Leo gently let go of Raphael's shoulder, "If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't be handling it half as well as you are."

Raphael just eyed him suspiciously before turning back to the horizon.

Then Leo stood and stretched, "Take as long as you need up here. I'll keep my brothers inside. We'll head back to New York once you come down. And Raphael?"

Leo waited for Raphael to look at him before continuing, "We may not be the brothers you're missing; however we are the brothers you're stuck with. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

As Leo climbed down, he heard Raphael quietly ask, "Can you send Raph up?"

Leo nodded and stepped into the truck, announcing, "Raph, you've been requested."

Raph looked up from where he was playing cards with Donnie and Mikey. He had one eyebrow lifted in question before Leo pointed up. Then he climbed to his feet and left without protest.

Mikey and Donnie turned the curiosity on Leo. Donnie spoke first, "Is he okay?"

Leo sighed, "No. And…" Leo drug out the word as he grabbed Mikey by the top of his shell when the younger tried to dart past, "We are not going to bother him."

"Come on, I just want to help!" Mikey wined as he was drug away from the door.

"I know, we all do. But you've got to remember this is Raphael we're dealing with Mikey. Trying to coddle him will likely just drive him away." Leo explained calmly. Then he turned to Donnie, "Donnie, can we start scoping out what Shredder's, or more likely Karai's plan is from here?"

Donnie shrugged, "I'd rather use my computer in the Lair, but I should be able to do something from here."

Leo nodded, "Do what you can. We might be here a bit. Mikey," Leo turned to his wide eyed little brother, "what card game do you want to play?"

It was less time than Donnie expected that they were on the move again. Raphael and Raph had separated from the rest of the group to take a detour to return the hard drive of data to the owner of the research lab. The rest of them were soon back to the Lair; and Donnie started the unpleasant task of data mining.

Thus far, all he had turned up was fool's gold. Donnie sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing at the bridge of his nose. Another poison? Nope. Anything from the Kraang? Nothing. Weapons hidden in prosthetics? Mikey's wild idea hadn't turned anything up either.

Donnie turned away from the computer and looked at his meditating older brother, "Leo, what exactly am I looking for?"

Leo blinked his eyes open, "Honestly I'm not sure. I just want to be one step ahead of the Foot for whatever they have in mind."

"Perhaps it is better to not go seeking trouble then. And instead focus on the problems immediately before us." Both turtles snapped their gaze to where Splinter walked in.

Leo stood up, "We're just trying to stay ahead of the Foot."

Splinter walked closer, eyeing the screens, "A noble goal. That is why we have sensors in the tunnels; and training every day. So when enemies strike; you can respond and win." Splinter turned his gaze on Donnie, "We've talked about pursuing what-ifs at the expense of what-is, Donatello."

Donnie dropped his gaze. That as a common discussion between the two of them; Splinter's gentle advice helped Donnie reign in the horrors he could imagine happening. And every time he fell into that mental trap, he was embarrassed; despite Splinter's assurance that Donnie brought it back under control faster every time.

"I asked him to, Sensei." Leo quietly admitted.

Splinter turned to him, "Leonardo, I was under the impression our most pressing concern was retrieving a proper prosthetic for our guest. Not chasing ghosts."

Donnie pulled up the camera feed from his hacking into the Foot Headquarters. It showed Shredder on a hospital bed hooked into quite a few machines. Leo pointed to the screen, "Shredder is back."

Splinter considered the screen as he stroked his thin whiskers, "Shredder looks broken."

That took Donnie back, and he looked at the screen again. Splinter had a point. Shredder was lying in a bed, comatose, with a foot missing. Glancing over, Donnie saw Leo looking at the screen with a confused expression as well.

"My Sons." Splinter drew their attention back, "Do not lend your enemies more power than they have. Also do not fixate on defeated enemies. It cheapens your victory."

Leo looked uncomfortable, "But shouldn't we keep an eye on our known enemies?"

"An eye yes, but not at the expense of other matters." Splinter explained.

Donnie turned back to the computer, "I'll try to set up a program to listen for any keywords; then we'll be alerted if there's reason to dig deeper."

"Let me know how I can help." Leo nodded.

Splinter turned to them again, "Now, what has happened to Raph and Raphael?"

April looked sadly over the ruins of the lab. She was out here to follow up on the fire that happened yesterday. The owner had requested she do the story, and April couldn't turn him down. Vern shouldered his camera rig and gave her a count down.

"Good Evening New York. I'm April O'neill, reporting from the wreckage of Ace Laboratories. Earlier this morning there was a fire that tore through the laboratory. Police are now investigating the fire as a potential arson case due to the deliberate destruction of the mainframes and the backup mainframes in the building. Ace Laboratories is well known for their medical material research; most recently making breakthroughs in prosthetic mater…"

"Wait! Wait!" A loud excited voice called out.

April turned to see the owner of the Lab running up, "Mr. Sands?"

Sands was excitedly waving a stack of hard drives wrapped in a red ribbon in his hands, "Ms. O'neil! Great news! Someone found hard drive backups of all the lab data! All our research was saved!" he turned with excitement to the camera Vern was holding, "Thank you! Whoever returned these, thank you for saving all our research!"

April gave a big smile to the camera, "You heard it here first. New York may be a big City, but we are also a city of heroes."

Karai glared at the shell prosthetic. For two days now she had been dropping breadcrumbs for the turtles to follow to her trap. And …nothing. She hadn't even felt the unsettling feeling of being watched. She had made no progress with the search for Kraang either.

With a frustrated sigh, she turned to a nearby guard, "Toss the prosthetic. They're not coming."

Leaving the trap, she moved through the stronghold. Soon she found herself in a recovery room. A nurse respectfully bowed as he stepped away from the bed. Karai stepped forward and knelt respectfully on the ground, "Shredder, I am relieved to see you awake. Have you made a decision on the prosthetic?"

"Yes, I have." Shredder hissed, "I'll be forcing Kraang to make me a prosthetic."

Karai snapped her head up, "Master Shredder?"

"Yes. The portal you used to rescue me from his ship. We will use it to kidnap Kraang so I may extract my revenge on him."

Karai winced, "Master Shredder, it was pure luck that a portal opened to his ship. We honestly thought it was an attack until we realized the portal was unsupervised. We lost three ninjas on the other side when the portal unexpectedly closed!"

Shredder slammed his fist into one of the monitors near him. Karai snapped her jaw shut.

"You will do what I have commanded!" The impact of the command was greatly diminished when he began coughing.

Karai bowed and retreated from the room. What to do, what to do. Karai spotted one of her staff carrying that turtle prosthetic to the trash. "Wait!" Karai commanded.

She came forward and plucked the prosthetic shell from the pile of trash, "Carry on."

As they left, Karai considered the item in her hand. Foot scientist had made no progress in understanding the wormhole technology. And Baxter Stockman; the one who made the most progression with wormholes in the first place was in jail. While she may not understand wormholes, she did understand jailbreaks.

Thank you for reading. Any Critique on writing is welcome and appreciated.