Author Notes: So, as I mentioned, KuraiArcoiris has been posting some absolutely adorable and wonderful drabbles about their take on this universe, and I'll post them all in a chapter after the story is done. There are some seriously cute brotherly fluff in those, and I love them!

But that makes me feel like I should mention, as I've said in my Shadow fics, that if anybody wants to take any of my story ideas and plot points from any of my writings and use them for their own stories, they have not only my permission, but my most sincere and freely given blessing. This is fanfiction, after all, and the whole premise of it is to take ideas or characters you like and explore different scenarios with them. Just knowing that I inspired anybody to even daydream a little with my random writings is both amazing and humbling!

Chapter 20: Rescued

The city was quiet and hushed under the lazily falling snow. Even the normal sounds of honking and distant sirens were scarce and far between. There was a tenseness in the cold air, as if the whole city was holding its breath, waiting defensively for the storm to pass.

Which, to be fair, was probably what was happening. There was an army marching through the streets as two powerful warrior factions in the city, the Hamato clan and the EPF, suddenly rose up against one another, throwing themselves against one another in a titanic bid to wrest control. What else could the common man do except huddle indoors and hope that the giants would leave behind only minimal scars on the city they fought over?

"Leo." Casey's voice came in over the headset. "We made it safe and sound to the bunker. For being abandoned, it's actually a pretty snazzy place! There's an old stuffed bear in the corner and everything!"

"Good." I exhaled, my breath leaving puffs of white mist in the cold, snowy air as I ran. "Everybody is safe? How is... Timothy, was it?"

"Oh, he's doing great." Casey's voice grew more muffled as he obviously turned to shout over his shoulder, "Hey! Timothy! Tell Leo hi!"

"Whoooo! Imma turtle! This is awesome!" an enthusiastic voice could be hear cheering faintly in the background.

"Yup, see?" Casey's voice grew clear once more, apparently he had turned back to his mike. "He's really embracing his inner turtle." He paused for a moment. "Also, he might be high off of the paint fumes. I'm not entirely sure."

I resisted the urge to sigh as I kicked off of a large pipe set against a wall and launched straight upwards to lightly touch down on the top of a brick wall, where I kept on running silently and skillfully across the narrow ledge as if it merely were a stroll down a sidewalk. "Do you feel like the defenses are sufficient for safely holding out?" I asked into the hands-free mike, turning my head to glance across the tops of the buildings. I noticed the top of the Utrom tank barely visible over the rooftops as it tromped down the street a few blocks away, and changed my rooftop course to intercept it. "It looks like the troops are starting to move towards you."

"Oh yeah, some of them are here already." Casey mentioned, sounding like he was moving over, maybe to glance out a window or something. "Just a few tanks and troops so far, but they're just taking up defensive positions and keeping their distance so far. I think they're waiting for the Mousers to arrive to take out the walls first before moving in."

"April?" I asked as I continued running along the narrow wall top.

"Working on it." April's voice joined us over the headset, the faint sound of rapid keyboard typing in the background. "The Channel Six tower is completely unguarded and quiet, I don't think this place even crossed their minds." She paused for a moment, and there was a flurry of typing, then she added, "I should have the deactivation code ready to transmit in about ten to fifteen minutes. I'll wait for your signal before broadcasting it, Leo."

"Perfect. Irma and I are approaching our target now." I nodded. as I arrived at the very edge of the apartment building. I casually hopped off the brick wall, free falling for a second or two, before landing gracefully on a fire escape landing. Irma squealed with delight in my arms as we did so. I was carrying her bridal style (which was very unfortunately named, in my opinion), and she had wrapped both of her arms around my own and was squeezing my scaled arm tightly. I glanced down at her, skin prickling. "Irma..."

"Oh! Right, right. The agreed upon 'Minimal Touching' clause." She nodded quickly, releasing her death grip. She paused and stared at my scaled, green biceps with utter fascination on her face, then, as if she couldn't resist, reached out with a hand and poked the muscles on my arm, giggling. "It's just... I can't get over how strong and agile you are!"

I growled and decided that, okay, we were close enough to our target. I dumped her quickly but carefully out of my arms onto the fire escape landing, very much so wanting the human no longer touching me, but also not wanting to injure her. "Please... just... Focus on our mission, please." I turned and leapt over the metal railing down to the garbage strewn concrete floor of the alleyway we were in, before creeping up and peering around the corner.

Through the curtain of lazily falling white snow fluffs, a two story tall, rounded war machine marched down on two legs down the wide empty streets like a faceless raptor on the prowl, its heavy footfalls cracking the pavement with each thundering step and sending a couple of stray cats racing in a panic to hide in a alley a few blocks down. I could feel the ripples pulsing through the concrete under our feet from the sheer weight and power of the thing as it moved.

"It's traveling alone and unescorted." I breathed quietly back to Irma. I had expected to have to deal with at least a few troops or Mousers as well. "Is that bad?"

Irma, apparently not willing to just jump off like I had, had just reached the bottom rung of the black metal ladder of the fire escape. She quickly moved up to risk a peek around me. Biting her lip, she adjusted her glasses and studied the situation, before shrugging. "My guess? Due to its size, it can only travel down wider streets, which is why it's taking such a round about path to get to Casey's hideout. More then likely the rest of the troops being sent took more direct routes so they'd arrive faster." She stared up at the approaching machine with an appreciative sigh. "Like I said, this thing is a beast. It doesn't need protection!"

"Mm." I absently acknowledged her, only half paying attention now as I glanced back up at the fire escape again. I stepped back, and Irma was quick to take the opportunity to pounce in and take over the premium viewing position at the corner of the building.

"So what's the plan?" she whispered over her shoulder, not taking her eyes from the giant war machine for a second. "Whatever we do, this isn't going to be easy. This is state of the art Utrom tech in front of us, a masterpiece of war technology built for the sole purpose of battling one of the most advanced space faring warrior races known in the nine dimensions, the Triceratons. It is built to excel in both offense and defense, and has few weaknesses. We... should..." She trailed off as the giant war mech slowed down, and stopped right in front of the mouth to the alleyway. She began to back away from the street in a slight panic, pressing tightly against the wall. "Uh... Leonardo?! I think they see us!"

There was silence behind her.

"Leonardo!" Irma hissed, finally breaking her gaze away from the two story tall Utrom War tank, looking around the empty alleyway in a panic.

Then there were solid thuds as two unconscious uniformed humans hit the ground at the feet of the Spectrum X.

Irma jumped with a squeak and a yelp, taking a defensive stance.

I dropped down from atop the mech and landed lightly next to them. "Right," I nodded, grabbing the unconscious humans by the back of the shirts and starting to drag them off the street. "Do you have any more of those zip ties on you? I don't want these guys waking up and blowing our cover too early."

"What... but... it..." Irma sputtered, staring at the bodies, then up at the top of the now-still mech machine, and then finally back at me, eyes wide.

"Don't worry, they're just unconscious, I didn't badly injure them." I reassured the flummoxed human.

As I quickly secured the two unconscious EPF pilots, I glanced around and noticed a cellar door set into the side of a building, held closed only by a rusty chain and padlock. I nodded, and hoisted one of the limp bodies over my shoulder, while dragging the other by the leg. A quick slice of my katana snapped the chain, and I tossed the two unconscious humans down into the cellar. EPF assholes they might've been, I didn't want them to actually freeze to death in an alleyway.

I dusted my hands off. "There. That should hold them until we're done." I turned towards the empty, waiting Spectrum X. "Let's go." I grabbed her by the back straps of her denim overalls and hoisted her up along with me as I quickly scaled up the leg of the mech.

"HOW?!" Irma finally managed to pull herself together enough to demand of me, obviously incredibly insulted at how easy that had been.

"Never underestimate a ninja turtle." I grunted, reaching the top of the mech. I tossed her into the waiting open hatch, and followed close behind.

She raised a finger at me, obviously about to protest the logic of that, but then she realized that we were actually inside and in command of a functional Utrom Spectrum X war mech, the interior around us covered in shiny black screens that lit up with colorful flashing square lights, both on walls and smooth panels. and I could almost physically see the gears in her mind screeching to a halt, then restarting full throttle in this entirely new direction.

Her eyes went huge, and she began inhaling.

"No squealing!" I quickly reminded her.

Her hands flew up and clamped tightly over her mouth, holding in the high pitched squeal of delight. Then she dashed forward to lunge at the controls, pawing over them eagerly, quickly bouncing from one to the other and looking like a kid given free reign in a candy store. "We actually did it! I can't believe this is actually happening!" She held her balled up hands under her chin and gave a little happy dance. "Somebody pinch me!"

"Irma, focus." I sighed. "My brothers are in trouble, remember?" I looked around at all the blinking lights and complicated looking buttons. "How do we get this thing going?"

"Oh! Right, right." Irma stepped back and closed her eyes, exhaling to calm herself. "I can nerd out later." She opened her eyes and looked around. The only seat in this room, positioned right in front of a large screen that acted as a windshield, almost seemed out of place, looking much more like earth-tech then alien, with a steering wheel, pedals, and knobbed levers. "Well, it looks like they modified some of the controls so it would be easier for those of us without tentacles." She held up a hand. "Don't worry, I'll save my horrified reactions to such a sacrilegious act for later. Right now, it's probably a good thing." She examined the modifications closely, then nodded. "It looks like a simple enough modification, operating this should be no different then driving a car."

She darted to a hole with a ladder in the metal floor, dropping to her hands and knees and sticking her head down to look. "Oh, hello beautiful baby!" she breathed, assumably to the engine room down below. "Aren't you a gorgeous thing!" She sat up and grabbed the ladder, already starting to climb down. "So the it looks like the engines and weapons system down here are far less modified and still in their perfect, original Utrom-tech glory." She turned to look at me, clinging to the ladder. "It would probably be best for you to drive, then. I'm fairly certain I can handle the weapons systems, which require a more Utrom-knowledgeable touch."

"Uh... right." I turned to look at the chair. "Um... so it'll be just like driving a car, you say?"

"Yup!" She said cheerfully, then froze as a thought hit her, and she looked sharply back at me. "Uh... You've driven a car before... right?"

"Of course I have!" I scoffed, settling gingerly down in the seat and looking at the wheel and levers around me.

And I had.

Once.

That... had been an interesting day for both me and Master Splinter.

"Oh, good." She exhaled in relief, then disappeared down to the level below. "I'm going try and familiarize myself with everything down here quick. You know where to go, right?"

"Yup." I reassured her, eyeing the setup around me. Oh, thank the gods, this thing had seatbelts. I quickly buckled myself in, then exhaled and nervously put my hands on the steering wheel. For my brothers, I reminded myself.

I accidentally turned on the windshield wipers, which, thankfully, Irma didn't witness, and then I realized that the shift stick was attached to the floor and not the wheel, and managed to shift it into drive.

The Spectrum X lurched forward with a jolt, and swerved awkwardly off to the side, where there was the unfortunate sound of crunching metal underfoot and car alarms suddenly going off.

I winced, and inwardly apologized to the owners of all those parked cars.

"What was that?!" Irma sounded startled down below.

"Nothing! Nothing!" I squeaked, turning the wheel a little too far the other way and instead crossing the street and knocking over a couple of street lights on the other side, sending them crashing into buildings and windows.

Irma's head rose up slightly through the hole in the floor, her glasses glinting with a dangerous light as she peeked over the edge. "Leo, I swear, if you're scratching the paint on this thing..."

"Just... concentrate on getting the weapons system up and running, Irma." I gritted my teeth as I somehow managed to straighten out and get the mech walking mostly down the middle of the street. "We'll be at my brothers' location in only a few minutes, and we need to be ready."

Somehow, we managed to make a full u turn and make our way back to the warehouse where my brothers were trapped. It hadn't taken me too long to figure out the hang of driving, and we were managing to move in what could pass as a straight line.

My heart felt like it was in my throat, and I couldn't help the worry squeezing my chest as the Utrom war machine plodding loudly back towards the unsuspecting army of waiting tanks and EPF troopers. Mousers were now swarming all over the ruins of the former warehouse like ants devouring a the carcass, the building decimated into a mere pile of broken bricks and dust.

My jaw tightened, and I forced myself to take a deep breath. If they had caught my brothers, then they wouldn't still be trying to further destroy the ruined building. In fact, through the visual screen in front of me, I could see that the Mousers were gnawing at the concrete floor. Didn't April say it was from the Cold War era? There was probably a vault underneath there, where my brothers were most likely hiding in there, safe and sound for the moment.

I hoped.

"EPF-USX One, why have you returned?" a voice broke in over the Spectrum's speakers. "Your orders were to secure the parameters around the rogue Hamato faction and retrieve the stolen specimen."

I ignored the voice, maneuvering the mech casually around the edge of the large parking lot to stand behind the largest and most dangerous looking tank in the group.

"EPF-USX, why are you not responding?" the voice demanded again.

"And why is your walking pattern so erratic?" Another voice over the EPF radio chimed in, sounding outraged. "Agent Henderson, are... are you intoxicated?! Again?!"

I reached over towards the com system on the dashboard and flicked it off. Then I sat back in the padded drivers seat and touched the button on my headset. "Show them the better mousetrap." I informed April, then, turning, I called out to Irma down below. "And fire at will."

There was a rather disturbing cackle of glee down below.

Then I watched on screen as all the mousers swarming the building froze in place at the exact same time, then slowly, each of them lowered their heads, as if they were all hit by a sleep gas. Several of them, teetering on the edge the rubble strewn all around them, tipped over unceremoniously.

At almost the same moment, a ball of technicolor energy snapped through the air from our mech and hit the unsuspecting tank in front of us, causing a massive fireball that curled upwards and quickly begin to rain down streaks of fiery debris.

As if that explosion were a signal flare, complete and utter chaos broke loose all around us almost instantly.

Troopers opened fire on us, flashes of brilliant white rhythmically pulsing from the tips of their heavy guns, but, for all I knew, they could have just been shooting theatrical blank rounds at us, for as much effect as it had. I couldn't even hear the pings of bullets hitting us, it was that soundproofed.

In fact, the whole thing felt almost surreal and anticlimactic. As we stomped around the parking lot next to the destroyed warehouse, scattering troops and destroying tanks, I could see the flailing, probably screaming men, the guns being fired at us, the giant explosions our own massive weapons caused, and the general pandemonium and mayhem going on outside.

But inside the tank itself? It was all completely quiet and peaceful. I could even see, out of the corner of the screen, the tips of our giant guns charging up with balls of pure energy, before launching them forward with such a blast that it sent the massive gun recoiling back several feet. But the Utrom war machine was apparently built with the comfort of the pilot in mind, and if I had a cup of tea with me, then the liquid would probably hardly be rippling.

As the chaos reigned soundlessly outside, I decided that maybe tea time, with maybe some swells of classical music playing in the background, wouldn't have seemed too out of place in the quiet peacefulness of this interior at the moment, even as I rampaged and stomped through an entire army like they were tissue paper.

But then we hit a snag.

We had been making pretty good progress, and I was in high hopes that we would soon be able to extract my brothers from whatever trap they had been forced into. I had made note of the small trucks gathering at the edge of the parking lot on either side of us, but there were only six of them, and I written them off as transport vehicles and non-threats, focused on the more heavily armed and dangerous targets in the area. But then harpoon-like projectiles shot out of the trucks, trailing thick metal cables, which quickly embedded themselves in ground around the Spectrum X, and the trucks roared off in circular formation, quickly entangling the two legs of the stolen mech in the cables.

The mech creaked, shuddered as it tried to step forward, and then came to a complete stop.

"Irma!" I snapped out, stepping hard on the pedals and turning the wheel to no avail, only getting a error message for my efforts. "I can't move! Can you take out the trucks?"

"They're too small and moving too fast!" Irma sounded frustrated down below.

Then I saw a semi truck pull up, a HUGE gun bolted down to the flat bed.

"Uh... Irma?"

The gun swiveled on its mount, and aimed at us, the round hole in the mouth of its barrel glaring at us like a pitch black eye.

"Uh, Irma?!" There was a little more worry in my voice. This one might actually hurt!

"It's just a little too far to the left, out of the range of my guns!" Irma sounded a little stressed as well. "You need to turn the mech a few degrees to the left for me to reach it!"

I desperately yanked at the wheel and stomped on the pedal, but the mech just shuddered and groaned, not moving an inch with the cables tangling us.

As with all the others, there was no audible sound when the giant gun fired, a massive plume of fire belching out as the recoil caused the entire semi it was perched on to rock.

But the projectile that crashed into us definitely could be felt, the impact causing a violent shudder that almost knocked me out of my chair and causing a loud clatter and a lot of cursing to be heard down below.

"How many more of those can we take?" I asked, grabbing the back of my chair and standing up, one hand back on the handle of a katana.

"More then you'd think." Irma grabbed the ladder to peer up at me, her face worried. "This is an Utrom Spectrum X, after all. But not a lot. Maybe eight, nine shots before we're in real trouble?"

I gritted my teeth and glanced at the hatch. My entire plan would fall to pieces if I revealed myself now, but then, so would dying. I had to protect Irma. If I went out there, maybe I could get the cables off so she could...

"Leo! Look!" Irma pointed with excitement, and I turned to look at the screen again.

Three figures had just flown out of the destroyed warehouse, and were now streaking along the ground in a dead run, like three ground-skimming comets of purple, red, and orange.

My brothers!

They ran in formation, fast and sure, like wolves on a hunt, then, almost as if an invisible signal was given, they broke apart with purpose in their movements.

Red swerved off the furthest, heading towards the trucks and their tow cables at our feet. A few troopers still stood bravely in his way, but he just spun his sais and quickly twisted about as he descended on them, skillfully sending them scattering. Then he was under us, and I couldn't see him anymore, though, one by one, the cable lines began to go slack.

Purple and Orange moved towards the same target, though Purple kept low to the ground, whereas Orange leapt up, nimbly leapt off a fence and then a street pole, and was soon quickly skimming across a neighboring building top.

Bo staff twirling, Purple swatted, tripped, and flipped anybody in his way with graceful, fluid movements, a dance he had obviously skillfully performed a hundred times before, and then he was at the base of a large, solid electrical pole. He pulled something out of his belt and quickly pressed it against the base of the metal pole, before jumping back and retreating a few steps.

There was a small burst of sparks and smoke, and the power pole gave a shudder, before slowly starting to tip over. Almost as if on cue, Orange leapt of the edge of the building and landed on his feet on the falling pole, skillfully adjusting its falling path, and springing lightly off just before it crashed heavily on the barrel of the large gun that had been shooting at his, causing both the gun and the semi to topped and tipping the barrel to face into the ground just as it fired, with devastating results to not only the asphalt, but the semi bed, and the gun itself.

Orange landed lightly next to Purple as he raced across the ground, and, together, the two brothers leapt, twirled, and danced around both machine and men that were in their way, almost like a playful game. Then they were under us as well, and any troops that were left quickly bolted out, running away as the last of the cables fell away.

"We're free!" I quickly slid back into the driver's seat. "Irma! Clear us a path!"

"Aye aye, captain!" Irma eagerly disappeared down below again.

There were a few smaller screens showing the various security cameras positioned on outside of the mech, and on one of them I noticed my brothers quickly scramble up the body of the utrom machine to perch on top.

I pressed the gas pedal and the Spectrum X lurched forward, and then quickly began moving down a street, Irma firing mostly just to make noise and discourage anybody from following us. Mostly, it seemed like the EPF troops in this area had been soundly beaten, and were either destroyed or retreating, presumably to regroup elsewhere.

Once it was clear that nobody was chasing us anymore, I slowed the mech down, and then brought it to a complete stop.

"We made it. We have them." I swallowed hard, eyeing the locked hatch, and tried to keep my voice casual. "Well, looks like that was a success. I'm... going to let my brothers in now."

I had been so worried about their safety, and focused on rescuing them, that I hadn't really thought about what I should do when I actually saw them again. What was I even going to say to them?

"Right. There should be a lever on the wall to your right that'll unlock the hatch." Irma peeked up, giving me a knowing grin. She disappeared down below. "I'll give you guys a few minutes to work out all that Hamato brotherly stuff while I check the Spectrum for any damages."

"Thanks." I nodded, took a deep breath, and then reached out and found the lever she spoke of.

There was a hiss and a click as the hatch unlocked, and a metallic creak as it was pulled open.

"...ever it was, it's somebody crazy enough to steal a giant war machine from the EPF." I could hear Raph's voice drift in as the hatch opened, and then my red masked brother was there, dropping down gracefully, before glancing upwards for a second to watch Donnie and Mikey crawl in. "I'll give you two guesses as to who that... could..."

He trailed off as soon as he glanced my way, eyes widening.

"What? Raph?" Donnie asked, as he dropped next to his frozen brother. Then, at that moment, both he and Mikey saw me as well, and, like Raph, they froze in place, Mikey still clinging to the ladder.

Reaching up, I took a hold of my head set and slid it back to rest down on my shoulders, turning in the pilot's seat of an advanced battle mech. I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my head awkwardly as I looked sheepishly at the three wide-eyed, stock still brothers.

"So... uh... I thought that maybe you guys could use some help..."

Author Notes: Well, that looks like a good place to leave off a chapter, right?

Let me tell you, I was this close to having Leo pull out a permanent marker and writing 'EPF Assholes' on the foreheads of the unconscious pilots to helpfully identify them to the authorities whenever they finally got rescued from the cellar. But I decided that was too OOC for him. Mikey, maybe Raph, but Leo's not quite that petty.

Oh, and I actually had a really complicated plan for Leo stealing the mech, so that's not just me cheating with the 'ninjas' excuse. It was going to resemble the 2k12's plan when they first met Stockman, with a pizza and a beehive and everything. But I like to overthink things when it comes to my stories, and I realized it was December in my story and there wouldn't be a wasp nest available. Then I was going to use a good old fashioned smoke bomb, one of the reasons I had Leo specifically get a utility belt, but then I was thinking that they'd have to air out the mech before using it, and they were in a hurry, and then, finally, I realized that anything that complicated was just going to slow down the story, so I just went with the "Leo's a Mysterious, Badass Ninja, Don't Question It' route. Plus, it amused me how annoyed Irma was over that.

Anyways, readers aren't tuning in to see the specifics of HOW Leo steals a war mech to rescue his brothers, only that he steals one and rescues his brothers. And then talks to them.

Which, I might add, both of those highly requested things happened in this story, so I honestly don't know why there's going to be people gathering at my door with BIC lighters and torches until I post the next chapter.