Chapter 22

-Key-

Raphael entered Donatello's lab; it had been a few hours since they had returned from Channel 6 after the rescue. The Hamato Clan was united once more, yet this latest victory felt like anything but.

Casey was detained in an area of the sewers reserved for the Turtles' enemies due to the corruption of his mind. April was charged with watching over him in the hopes that she could connect with him.

Master Splinter, though unconscious, seemed to have control of his mind, at least according to April. Even with this information, Leonardo refused to leave their father's side.

Then there was Donatello.

Passing Michelangelo as he slept with his head atop his arms at Donnie's workstation, Raphael crossed the room. He took a seat next to a cot at the rear of the room where his other brother slept as well. Donatello looked so pale and fragile, yet there was still power emanating from him. This power... Raphael would have chalked it up to wishful thinking had he not seen it for himself...

Earlier…

Once again Raphael found himself cornered, weaponless, and freshly betrayed by his closest allies. This betrayal stung deeper than any other before, had the fiery turtle paid the slightest bit of attention to Casey's failing mental state, it could have been prevented.

There was no escape, he was flanked on all sides by members of the Mighty Mutanimals. One member gave him pause; Pigeon Pete stood dead center holding Raphael's sai in his hands.

"Raphael." Evixus breathed, pulling Raphael's attention away from the Mutant spy, "impulsive, hot-tempered, and dangerous, these are just a few attributes We have collected from this one's mind." Hearing the alien say those words with Casey's voice was a little more than unsettling.

Evixus paused and tilted his head to the side as if searching Casey's mind for more information and after finding it added, "there's more, seems this human has quite an affection for you?"

That little comment, which was meant to torment, only succeeded in adding fuel to the inferno burning in the pit of Raphael's stomach. "I'm only going to ask this once, you Alien Freak! The words spilled from Raphael's mouth like the bark of a rabid pit bull. "Where is my family?"

"You really are impatient. Don't worry, you'll be with them soon." Evixus clapped his hands causing a flood light to illuminate a dark corner of the room. The light revealed five medical tables and two of them were occupied by Splinter and Donnie. "They're waiting for you to join them."

Laughter bubbled from Raphael's throat, the sound was a mixture of uncontrollable anger and overwhelming relief. "See, you shouldn't have done that. Now there's nothing stopping me from kicking your ass!"

In a flash, Raphael retrieved the grappling hook from his belt hi and spun it above his head a few times. He did this for a couple of reasons, one, it got his opponents to back up a few inches, two, it allowed the pronged device to gather the speed needed to catch hold of an exposed steel beam overhead.

Raphael's grappling hook encircled the beam three times, missing a row of Fresnel lanterns by mere centimeters. With a wild cry, the hot-tempered turtle swung over Casey, Pete and Slash, landing expertly behind them.

Pete squawked in irritation and attacked; Not one to allow anyone the satisfaction of using his own weapons against him, Raphael decided to stand his ground. When Pete was close enough Raphael reached out and caught the prongs of his sai between the fingers of both of his hands.

Raphael then rolled onto his back, taking Pete with him as he did. Raphael kicked Pete in the stomach, simultaneously relieving Pete of both sai as the spy was sent flying across the room. With a pathetic squawk Pete fell to the ground unconscious.

Raphael had control of his beloved weapons once more, but the reunion was short lived as Slash tackled him to the ground. Raphael's sai flew out of his hands, one landing a few feet from him, the other lost beneath a pile of boxes.

Slash got to his feet and raised his morning star above his head, Raphael recovered quickly, with just enough time to dodge Slash's attack. The mighty weapon crashed into the concrete like a meteor, leaving a small crater in its wake. There was no doubt in Raphael's mind that had it made contact, he would have been minced meat.

"Calm down, Slash." Raphael said as he backed away. The idea of running from a fight had never crossed Raphael's mind before, but this was Spike, outside of the occasional sparring session, he couldn't fight him.

"It's useless Raphael." Casey said, "You have two choices, fight your friends or surrender. Personally, We would enjoy watching you suffer by hurting your friends before your inevitable downfall." The alien added.

"Yeah? Dare you to say that to my face, coward!" Raphael challenged.

"Oh, we'll meet Raphael, when We add your mind and body to our new army." Casey replied, "Grab him Slash, he has an important mission to accomplish."

"With pleasure." came Slash's reply. The mighty tortoise looked at Raphael and said, "This is for Pete." Slash swung his morning star once more from the side, this time as Raphael dodged the attack he tripped and landed on a box of T.V. cables.

Slash wasted no time, he jumped on top of Raphael pinning him to the ground, holding the shaft of his morning star to Raphael's throat. Raphael quickly grabbed hold of the weapon to keep from being strangled.

Raphael pushed against it but try as he might, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his body gave out. Raphael's arms were already growing tired and the need for air was becoming more demanding.

Raphael turned his head to the side in search of some relief and spotted one of his sai. But, in order to reach it he would have to let go of the weapon at his throat. The action would leave Raphael with one or two seconds to act before he lost consciousness.

It did no good to dwell on it, so Raphael took a breath and let go. The weapon instantly connected with his windpipe and his body convulsed with the need to survive. It was too late to back down. He wouldn't give into the pain; his family was counting on him.

Raphael's face tightened with determination; his fingers crawled along the ground until their tips grazed the cool metal of the center prong. He was only millimeters from being able to grab it but at this moment it might as well have been a mile.

Raphael mustered all the strength he had left and managed to stretch his body far enough to grab his sai. He walked the three-pronged weapon into his trained hand using his fingers and quickly threw it straight up into the air. It contacted a bracket securing a Fresnel lantern which caused it to come loose.

The lantern connected with the back of Slash's head; Raphael watched as Slash's eyes rolled to the back of his head. The red-banded turtle sputtered and coughed as he finally sucked in a fresh breath of air. "Sorry, Slash." he said as he turned his body to the side to offload his unconscious friend.

Raphael stood up, gripping the morning star in both hands, and turned toward Casey. He wouldn't use the overpowered weapon against Casey, of course, but it helped to be armed just in case.

"Raph…" Casey held his head in his hands, but it did nothing to soothe his oncoming migraine. "Help me, Raph… I-I can't fight him…" Casey tipped forward.

"Case'!" Raphael threw the morning star aside and hurried to catch Casey before he hit the concrete floor. "I gottcha buddy." Raphael pulled Casey against his body to help him stand straight.

"Thanks, Raph." Casey hugged the red-banded turtle and waited for him to return the gesture. It took a moment, but Raphael hugged him back. This was his chance. Casey plucked a syringe from his pocket and leaned in to whisper in Raphael's ear. "No, we've got you." Casey jammed the needle into Raphael's neck simultaneously pushing the plunger all the way down.

Raphael jerked away, shoving Casey in the opposite direction. He yanked the needle from his skin and examined it, its contents had been completely drained. "What the heck was that stuff?!"

"We told you, you would be part of my army." Said Casey, but the words sounded muffled, almost incoherent. Raphael fell onto his knees as a painful heat surged through his veins. It was at that moment that he realized just what was happening, "this...this is how you got Slash...and the others..."

"Precisely, it seems you are hiding a brain beneath all that brawn after all." Casey mocked, though his words were unintelligible to Raphael as the world shut out around him. Shrouded in darkness, Raphael heard a soft voice in the back that was altogether familiar and foreign to him.

"Raphael," said the voice. Then, a figure took shape as tentacles morphed out of the darkness, inky black and flecked with glowing light, followed by a humanoid body to match. "Join us, Raphael."

It was then that Raphael realized that he was gazing upon the entity that had started this whole thing. Evixus in their true form. As Raphael tried to speak a thin tentacle whipped out and wrapped around his throat. It didn't feel as though he was choking though, it was more like being gripped by fear itself. It was like sleep paralysis and knowing the horrors you are witnessing are only illusions and being unable to wake yourself.

"You aren't strong enough".

"You can't protect your brothers."

"That scares you."

"They will abandon you."

"You're too volatile."

"They fear you."

With each word the voice grew louder, and Raphael couldn't seem to block them out no matter how hard he tried to focus. How could he? Afterall, these are the very thoughts that haunted him daily.

"That's it, Raphael. Relax. I can make this pain stop if you join me." This time, when Raphael heard the voice Evixus was standing right behind him, whispering in his ear. And...it sounded tempting.

"Evixus! I thought I told you,"Both Raphael and Evixus were startled by the unexpected sound of an unmistakable voice. A violet cube morphed out of the darkness, "My family is off limits!" At those final words the light intensified.

Raphael shielded his eyes with an arm but was eventually forced to shut his eyes against the light. Raphael heard a body hitting the ground and managed to open his eyes once more. Casey was on the ground at his feet and through the purple light, Raphael swore he saw the silhouette of his brother. "Donnie?" Instead of answering the entity vanished, the light fading away with it, leaving Raphael alone.

Now…

Leonardo sat cross legged on the tatami mat, facing his father with his fingers interlaced in his lap. He kept his breath slow and steady as he tried to find a trace of Splinter's aura, luckily he was able to find a small spark of life, it seemed that his father's mind had not been taken by Evixus, just as April had predicted.

"Leo-nardo." Splinter muttered.

Leonardo opened his eyes, "Sensei!" Leonardo leaned closer relief washing over his features. "I'm here."

"Your brother…" his voice cracked with more than just the need for hydration.

"Don't worry, father, we got him. He's here, he's home." Leonardo smiled. "We're all together again."

"No…" Splinter licked his dry lips and motioned for Leonardo to get closer. "Donatello used his last ounce of strength to shut off his mind and kept my mind from being taken as well." Splinter sat up slowly, Leonardo quickly helped his father do so.

"Careful." He cautioned.

"I appreciate your concern but there is little time to worry about my old bones." Splinter said, "We need to stop Evixus."

"How? He's brainwashed the Mutanimals and Casey. There's only four of us now and once Evixus finishes rebuilding he can use the antenna on top of Channel 6 to brainwash everyone on the planet. I don't know what to do." Leonardo confessed.

"First, you must focus on repairing Donatello's mind because this fight will take all five of you."

"How do we repair Donnie's mind?" Leonardo asked, "April has tried everything to reach him… it's like he's… brain dead."

"Your brother isn't brain dead." Splinter said. "I have seen this only once before, back in japan, I had a classmate who studied the art of mind protection. This classmate was the keeper of our Clan's most secret tomes and so if he were ever captured, he could appear to be brain dead in order to lock the secrets away. Your brother must have discovered this and studied it on his own." Splinter smiled sadly at the thought of Donatello doing something so dangerous on his own, then at the thought that Donatello didn't need his help to do so.

"There is a way to unlock his mind, but it's dangerous." he said, then, stood up on shaky legs, shrugging off Leonardo's hands as they went to steady him, and grabbed a book from a bookshelf.

Splinter returned and opened the dusty book and stopped at a page depicting the Hamato Clan symbol with a keyhole in the center. "We need the key." Splinter set the book down and sat cross-legged before his son and began to explain. He placed a finger one of the five petals that made up the Hamato symbol and said, "Each petal represents a part of our Clan's sacred power: Life, Power, Truth, Trust, and Unity." He said, pointing clockwise to each petal in turn starting from the top.

"Okay, well let's get the key then." Leonardo said.

"Leonardo," Splinter said, "this is not a feat to be taken lightly. You will face things in the astral plane that will challenge you to your core. Failure can mean the loss of your very spirit; you will be left to wander the darkness while the astral plane devours you."

"It's our only option, Sensei." Leonardo said, "We have to try."

"I'm afraid it will take more than determination this time, my son," Splinter said.

"That may be, but Donnie would do the same for any of us and I'm not about to let him down."

"Neither are we." Leonardo and Splinter both turned to see both Raphael and Michelangelo standing at the entrance. "We can still reach him. He saved me back at Channel 6. I don't know how but he did." Raphael said. "If there's a chance we have to take it."

"Yeah, we have to try." Michelangelo said.

A/N: sorry this took so long; I lost my motivation. Recently I quit my anti-anxiety medication (by tapering off) because I think I'm ready. I think that's what was making me not wanna do stuff, even write. I'm going to try and make regular updates from now on though. Thanks for reading.