A/N: ...I'm not saying anything, other than Be Prepared. Be VERY Prepared.

I OWN NOTHING.

Enjoy.

Chapter 12

"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."

― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

When The Shredder had told him before he left his lair that this arms dealer, a Russian man named Steranko that had supposedly been an old friend of his, had sent out his finest men after him in search for one of the Foot Clan's most precious artefacts, he hadn't expected him to be serious when he said 'finest'. For three average looking humans, they were far more skilled than Tiger Claw had anticipated, and it had taken longer than he would have liked to get rid of them without making too much of a mess off the alleyway, though it did remind him t never underestimate an enemy by appearances alone. And though New York was faulty with many things, he could always depend on the police to arrive on the scene just after he made his escape. They would never suspect that a tiger would have been the substance of this brawl anyhow. So it was after he snapped his shoulder back into place, he powered up his jetpack and took to the air, heading back in the direction of Shredder's lair.

As he flew, he looked down at the city landscape below him, still buzzing with life even at this early hour in the morning. He raised a brow. This city was so much like Tokyo, and then it wasn't. He mused that this was probably how Leonardo felt when they had first arrived in the city a few hours ago.

In fact, what was Leo doing right now? He sincerely hoped that he wasn't causing any trouble at the lair with Karai. He sighed to himself at the thought of it. The two of them could prove to be the perfect disaster at the worst of times…

Well, he received a surprise when he returned to the church building that everything was still very calm. After he reported back to Shredder to inform him that his mission was a success, he went in search of Leonardo. He visited the dojo first, but found it empty. Then he went to where he knew their personal sleeping quarters would be…and was once again greeted with a surprise when he flipped the lights on.

Tiger Claws' eyes widened in mild surprise at what he was seeing. He had found the two teenagers, but they were both sound asleep on the floor. Leo's head was pillowed on his crossed arms as he lay flat on his stomach, and Karai's upper half was draped over his shell, her left arm pillowing her face and her right dangling limply over the other side of Leo's shell. The floor of the room was covered in white feathers, and the pillows that they had used were discarded next to their sleeping forms. Both of them were snoring lightly, completely unaware that the old tiger was watching them, and fighting back the urge to laugh. This was an old childish habit of theirs that they seemed to have not yet grown out of. Whenever Karai stayed over for the night when Shredder was away on important business, they would tire themselves out so much that instead of using the beds, they would end up sleeping on each other. He couldn't deny that it was cute, but they were too old for this…though of course he could always use it for blackmail purposes.

He shook his head and chuckled to himself. No, no that would be too cruel of him. After all, this was just something they did as siblings, and he probably would have done the same if he had any brothers or sisters. Walking inside the room, (and fighting the urge to sneeze) he bent down on one knee before the sleeping pair, and was about to attempt to wake them, but his outstretched paw stilled.

Their faces looked so at peace. He hardly saw them so relaxed, so care-free…

He really didn't want to, but Karai couldn't be seen in here with him like this. So it was with a sigh that he placed his paw on Karai's shoulder, shaking her lightly until she let out a protesting moan, swatting his paw away as she finally blinked her eyes open, squinting in the light. She sat up and let out a long yawn as she rubbed her eye, and then looked up at the tiger before her. "…hey," she greeted simply, "What time is it?"

"…it's 3 am," he replied flatly.

Karai barely reacted other than shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well," she said nonchalantly, before looking down at the turtle still sleeping soundly. Smiling softly, she patted his head softly before groggily getting to her feet, stretching until she heard bones popping in her back (making Tiger Claw's ears twitch uncomfortably at the sound) and then moving towards the door. She turned back to the tiger and smirked. "Tell three-toes that I totally won that match for me, okay?"

Tiger Claw rolled his eyes with a weary smile. "I think I can remember that," he huffed, gesturing the feathers around the room. This was going to take a lifetime to clean up, wasn't it?

Karai shrugged. "Sorry," she said, but she didn't look the least bit apologetic with that little smile of hers as she switched of the light and closed the door behind her.

Shaking his head again at the girls' antics, Tiger Claw turned back to look down at Leo. He could just let him sleep like that, but then again the air was a little nippy in here, and with him being a cold-blooded mutant, that would do him more bad than good, and Leo should have known that. Then again, that's probably why Karai decided to sleep on top of him; giving her some of her body warmth to keep him warmed up. Shrugging to himself, he set up a futon for him, and then being as careful as he could without waking him up, he slowly picked Leonardo up in his arms, holding him close to his chest as he carried him towards the futon, setting him down and then covering him with the blanket. The boy barely stirred, but he buried himself deeper into the warmth of his blankets in his sleep.

Tiger Claw smiled fondly, kneeling down and placing a paw on his head. "Once a cub, always a cub," he chuckled to himself. Though he knew Leo was growing up quickly, and he would continue to do so as the days rolled by and he faced new challenges, he wouldn't mind him staying the way he was for a little bit longer.

Just letting this moment between him and his cub last…just for a while…

Several days later…

Physically and mentally exhausted beyond belief, the purple clad leader, Donatello, flopped himself down on his bed, not even bothering to get underneath his blanket as he covered his eyes with his right arm, sighing heavily.

That mission could have gone so wrong in so many ways. In fact, in very nearly did. And it was all his fault.

After their run in with that Baxter Stockman guy a few nights back, Donnie had realized that with only the three of them fighting against guys like him, along with an army of ninjas and an entire alien race, they were never going to be able to cope. Three ninja turtles against all of them? Chances of survival were at least 0.00003%. No way. Heck, even that Dr. Falco guy had almost beaten him, and he was human, with no martial arts skills whatsoever. Well, he did have psychic powers at the time, but even so, that was just sad.

At least Raph and Mikey had a better advantage than he did when it came to fighting; they had strong, metal weapons that they could rely on. All Donnie had was a wooden stick that kept on breaking, and he was supposed to be their leader. How could Raph and Mikey look up to someone like him? And Raph was older than him, which made it even more embarrassing that he would have to follow someone like him into battle. So Donnie had thought if he could build their very own fourth addition to the team, one that could fire lasers, flame throwers and was equipped with all sorts of gadgets that could aid them in battle, then they could at least have a fighting chance. In fact, he was sure that they would. Well, that was until he remembered that he had reversed engineered it from a Kraang droid to start off with, which had only been after a Kraang had decided to take over it and turn it on them instead.

Raph and Mikey could have died that night because of him, as well as countless of humans in New York. Luckily enough however, they had managed to defeat Meatalhead and destroy the mutagen before anything like that could happen, but still…it was too close a call.

There were times that Donnie would need to get things off his chest, and he would do that by either going into his lab to work it off, or go to April's place to talk it out with her because she was just that good of a listener. Unfortunately, April was probably in bed by this point, and it was too late at night to go into his lab and work without waking everyone else up. He sighed heavily. He had talked to Splinter about it earlier (before the flying Bo staff incident), but there was only so much Splinter could help him with.

There was only one thing that he could possibly do, but his logical mind probably wouldn't allow him to do it. But this was just something he couldn't keep in, not this time. Sighing again as he sat up in his bed, Donnie made up his mind.

If he was going to do it, he had to do it now.

He swung his legs off his bed and stood up, heading towards his door. Silently, he crept his way out of his room and made his way to the dojo. He could already hear him whispering in there, but he had to make sure he wasn't finishing up already. Sure enough, however, he found him just as he was sitting down underneath the tree and setting the stuffed animal on the floor in front of him. Donnie's expression softened as he stood in the doorway watching him. He and Raph had seen just about everything on the night after their first clash with Chris Bradford.

It actually shook them a little to know that he still blamed himself for everything…

Shaking the thought off, he decided to make a move. Better to get it over and done with. He walked inside the dojo and stopped just beside Mikey, who didn't even notice him as he continued to whisper to the bear, something along the lines of Kraang-y Metalhead. Donnie rolled his eyes, and then he cleared his throat.

Mikey's whispering stopped instantly, and he slowly looked up to find that his tallest brother and leader was standing beside him, watching him with a small smile. Despite his slight embarrassment, Mikey smiled back. "Hey, Don," he beamed, "Whatcha doin'?"

Donnie shuffled his feet awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. This was so stupid. Mikey only ever did it because he thought that Leonardo's spirit lived on inside the bear so he could always watch over them…but Donnie knew better. He never really believed that there was a higher power out there in the place called heaven, but he could never tell that to Mikey. He was fragile enough as it is with him thinking that he was the reason he was trapped inside that bear, but at least it kept him sane.

Or, about as sane as Mikey could ever be, that is.

"U-um…I came to, uh," he stuttered out, his cheeks turning a very dark shade of red. "…I came to ask if I could…talk to Leo too."

Mikey's baby blue eyes widened in surprise, before that surprise suddenly grew into a full-fledged freckled grin as he leapt up to his feet, and before Donnie could even react, he was pulled forward for a crushing hug as Mikey buried his face into his chest as he held him tight, nearly lifting him off the ground completely. "I knew you'd come around, dude," he whispered.

Donnie just smiled down at him, and would have patted his head if not for the fact that his arms were pinned to his sides. When Mikey finally set him down, the two of them sat down again, cross-legged in front of the stuffed bear. Mikey looked at Donnie with an expectant smile. Donnie blinked at him, and then turned to the bear, unsure of what to do or say. What could he say to a bear?

He licked his lips and cleared his throat. "…um…hi, Leo."

The bear said nothing of course. Donnie's expression flattened. He now felt like a complete idiot. On his left, Mikey nudged his shoulder encouragingly. "Go on, dude. Keep going, he's listening," he urged with a smile.

The purple clad turtle felt his cheeks heating up in embarrassment, but he nodded once and turned back to the bear. And then he started talking. And strangely enough, the more he talked, the lighter he felt inside. Then he moved on to different subjects, such as what he was planning on making next, and Mikey joined in with how he would spend tomorrow, and how he would come back and tell him all about it. And as the minutes passed, Donnie finally understood why Mikey would come in here and talk every night. It felt as if they really were talking to their older brother, like he was actually there in the room with them, even though deep down they both knew he wasn't. But the warmth was there, the same warmth they felt whenever Leo had been there back when they were younger…

…and in a sense, it felt like Leo was actually listening to them, wherever he was.

And to think, Donnie could have replaced him with a robot…

"You guys are getting pretty loud, don't you think?"

Both turtles stopped as they spun around, only to find Raphael standing right behind them with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug looking smile on his face, most likely due to having succeeded in sneaking up behind them. Both younger brothers blushed deeply. "Uh…hi, Raph," Donnie chuckled in embarrassment. Great; the follower had caught their leader talking to a stuffed bear like he was a child. This was not good for what little reputation he had. Oh no, he'd better not tell April about this! He quickly wracked his brain for some kind of explanation, but it only came out in incoherent blubbers.

Raph shook his head and chuckled, stopping Donnie with a large green hand on his head, patting it as he sat down between him and Mikey. "You don't have to explain," he smirked, "I heard everything. And…I get it. Sort of. And it looks like it's helping you guys out a lot, so…" he trailed off as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Donnie and Mikey shared a look. He didn't…did he?

But he had Spike, his pet turtle, to talk to whenever he needed to get something off his chest. Maybe this time…he just wanted to talk with his big brother to. But of course, with Raph being Raph, he would never dare admit it out loud. Mikey grinned as he slung his arm around Raph's shoulder, and Donnie did the same as he chuckled. "Say no more, bro," he reassured, "If I did it, then so can you, even if it's just for this one time. Go right ahead. He's listening."

Despite himself, Raph gave them both a rare but genuine smile, and then he turned back to the bear. He reached out a hand and laid it gently on the bears' head.

He gave the animal a sure but sad smile. "…hey, Leo."

And as the three boys began to talk once more, their father and master watched them from behind the doors of his room once again. A smile tugged at his lips and he felt warmth in his heart at the sight. Though he knew that they were all growing up so quickly, and they would continue to do so as the days rolled by and they faced new challenges, Splinter wouldn't mind just letting this moment last.

Just for a little while longer.

The next night, the three turtle brothers were once again patrolling the city, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with silent grace and precision. However, there was one individual that was not so stealthy, and as he began to beatbox a tune to himself, it was starting to get on the older two turtles' nerves. This was supposed to be a stealth mission to infiltrate another Kraang opperation, which April had tipped off had been somewhere close to Central Park…and as always, their noisy brother was making it ever so slightly more difficult for them. At the front of the pack, Donatello rolled his eyes and sighed, skidding to a stop on the next building and turning to his two brothers, who stopped as soon as he did, though Mikey stumbled slightly die to not having paid much attention. He looked up at his tallest brother and grinned sheepishly as Donnie crossed his arms over his chest. "Mikey…" Donnie sighed, "What part of the notion of 'silence' eludes you?"

Mikey blinked. "…Who with the what now?"

Raphael slapped a hand over his face and groaned to himself. Donnie fought the urge to tackle him, and instead shook his head and tried again. "Mikey," he began as patient as he could, "we're supposed to be on a stealth mission to ambush the Kraang, meaning we have to be quiet, which you are not being with your constant beatboxing. So that needs to change. Right now. Got it?"

Shrinking into his shell slightly as his testy brother loomed over him, Mikey nodded with a nervous laugh. "Heh heh, right boss," he squeaked. Donnie nodded, his expression remaining flat as he then turned and continued onwards towards Central Park, his brothers following closely behind. Raph stopped just to give Mikey a smack over the head, and Mikey growled at his smirking brother, but chose not to retaliate in fear of upsetting Donnie again. The purple clad turtle could be just as bad as Raph sometimes in terms of unmotivated bursts of anger, especially now that he was the leader. So unless Mikey wanted his brains splattered across the rooftops, he would keep his mouth shut.

However, as they neared the entrance to Central Park, they remained unaware that there were eyes watching them from the shadows. One of them pulled out a device, and pressed a button, which triggered the device and showed a blinking red light on the screen.

With that, the troop moved on after them.

During the past few days of his stay in New York, Leonardo was surprised that he had very little, if not nothing at all, to do in this city. As a ninja and a mutant turtle, just about all of his work was done during the late hours of the night, where he would go out with that Chris Bradford chump and the long-legged creep, Xever, to take care of the more…dirty jobs of the Foot clan, jobs that Leonardo was all too familiar with, and still loathed every minute of. And even then, he was still sent out very little, and was left to instead wonder around Shredder's lair in search for something to keep him occupied. His schedule so far was to train, meditate and sleep all day, and then by night, train so more or go out on any missions. Normally, he would train in the dojo either by himself, with Tiger Claw if he was around, which surprisingly enough wasn't very often, or against any Foot ninja that were brave enough to step up to him. It was nearly pitiful that he could beat just about every single one of them. What was Shredder running here, an army or a circus?

This time, he was training against someone far more worth a challenge.

"You're bored, too?" Karai asked through the black metal mask that covered part of her face as she blocked Leo's downward slash with her short swords and gauntlets, the two of them pushing against each other to force the other backwards.

Leo nodded with a flat expression. "Yep," he sighed as he rolled along the ground to evade Karai's spinning kick, and he used his momentum to stick out his legs and spin his body in a spiral motion, tripping Karai over, but she reacted instantly by flipping back onto her feet as she faced off the turtle once more as he continued. "I mean, it's like Shredder brought me here just so he can screw with me," he growled as he and the kunoichi exchanged blows with their swords, simply going through the motions. "The only missions I get sent out on are with Bradford and Xever, who both, if he hasn't noticed, cannot function together. And the stupidest thing is, he hasn't even once sent me out to find Hamato or his followers. Isn't that the whole reason he dragged us here to begin with?"

"Hm," Karai hummed in agreement as she flipped over Leo's head, planting her hands on his shoulders before using the momentum of her descent to flip and throw Leo to the ground, hard. He let out a grunt of pain as his shell collided with the ground, and before he could get up, Karai was already straddling on top of him with her dagger to his throat. He froze, and then sent the girl a pout. She smirked in response, taking off her metal mask. "Though I know how you feel, because he's been doing the same to me, I think he might have a good reason for keeping you back," she said, sitting down on Leo's stomach and making Leo huff out an 'oof' from her added weight. "And to be honest, they haven't been seen since their clash with those two; they've just vanished. But I've heard tell that these guys are pretty strong. They've been able to defeat over a dozen of the Foot soldiers we've sent out after them –"

"Well that's really no surprise, since half of them are hardly even a challenge anyways," Leo huffed.

Smirking in agreement, Karai continued. "Yeah, but that's beside the point. Maybe he's gonna send out one of his strongest warriors out there as a last resort or something. That means either you or Tiger Claw." She teasingly pinched his cheek. "So that means you'd better step your game up, three-toes."

Leo smacked her hand away from his cheek and grinned smugly. "Thanks, helmet-head. I'll keep that in mind when I'm kicking your ass tomorrow," he sassed, "Now…can you get off me?"

His request was answered by the handle of her knife bopping his head repeatedly. "Not until you take that helmet head thing back," she deadpanned.

Leo snickered. "What? It's the truth!"

"No it's not! I do not have a helmet head!"

"Oh, no, you're right. It's just a horrible reminder of your Naruto phase you put us through when you were eleven."

"N-no! I just liked the hair –"

"What was her name again? Was it Lady Hikari or something?"

"…Lady Hinata…"

"I KNEW IT!

"SHUT IT, LEO!"

The debate came to a halt when the sound of footsteps and the familiar metallic rattling approaching the dojo. The two quickly got up from the floor and stood side by side to attention, just as the dojo doors opened to reveal The Shredder himself, his hard glare on the two of them as he stepped closer. "…I heard a lot of commotion that did not sound like training in here," he growled lowly, looking at Leo in particular. "What was going on?"

"Nothing, father," Karai answered nonchalantly, "just showing Leo here who's on top of the food chain."

Leo snapped his head towards her and glared embarrassedly. Karai didn't even look at him as she smirked smugly. Payback, three-toes, she thought triumphantly.

Shredder, however, was not amused at all as he sharply cleared his throat, making the two teens snap their heads back up to him. "This is no game, Karai," he growled warningly. "Remember what you represent as heir to the Foot Clan. I do not want to see this happening again. Is that clear?"

The girl nodded and lowered her head in respect, her hand clenching into a fist at her side to hide the nervous twitching. "Yes, father."

Shredder then turned to the turtle, who continued to glower up at him without signs of fear. Narrowing his eyes, he held out his hand which held a small blinking device; it was some sort of small tracking device. "I am sending you out on your first official mission, Leonardo," he said. "Hamato's disciples have been found near Central Park. I have already sent out several soldiers to take care of them, but I am sending you alone as backup should they fail."

Leo's eyes widened slightly in surprise as he took the tracker from Shredder, and then shared a look with Karai. She shrugged with a smile that said 'What did I tell you?' and Leo smiled softly back at her.

"Go now, Leonardo," Shredder announced as he turned his back on them, folding his hands behind his back as he made his way to the door, "Make haste, and do not fail me…"

He stopped just as he reached the exit, and he turned halfway to slide a glance at Leonardo. "…though I highly doubt that you will once you see them…" he said, his voice tinted ominously, before he left the room.

As the ninja master left the two of them on that note, they shared a confused look. What was that supposed to mean? And why was he sending him alone? It would be far more efficient and practical to send at least Karai or Tiger Claw with him as well. Unless this was going to be some sort of test? Well, there was only one way to find out. Leonardo walked over to the bench to retrieve his blue scarf and draped it around his neck so that the tails were behind him. "Well…I'd better get going then," he said with a smile, "Don't want to miss out on my first mission."

Karai nodded, walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. Good luck out there Leo. I'll tell Tiger Claw where you went in case you get back before he does."

Leo nodded back, bumping his forehead against hers in a sibling-like manner, before lifting his scarf over the bridge of his nose like a second mask, and then quickly making his way out of the dojo. Karai watched him leave, and although she remained cool and collected, she felt a twinge of doubt inside her.

Something was going to go down tonight. She knew it. She could hear it in Shredder's voice and see it in his cold eyes before he left the room; he knew something they didn't, and it was unnerving. Was he planning on getting Leonardo killed? No, he couldn't do that. He wouldn't. Though she knew very well of Shredder's dislike of Leo, and Leo's utter disgust for her father, even Shredder knew how powerful Leo was; killing him would mean losing a valuable warrior.

But there was always Tiger Claw…

With worry brewing down deep in the pit of her stomach, Karai quickly grabbed her sword, sheathing it in her belt as she put on her metal mask and setting off after Leo. She would simply follow him for now, and not intervene unless he truly needed the help.

But something told her he would.

By the time Leonardo had reached Central Park, running along the rooftops and following the blinking light of the tracker in his hand, he arrived at the entrance to find that all of the street lamps had been turned off, plunging the whole garden area in an eerie sort of darkness. Confused, Leo quirked a brow. He thought the lights were always left on in the dark. Well, it didn't matter to him; he wouldn't need the lights on anyways. After all, ninjas worked best in the dark. He looked down at the tracker screen to find that the blinking red light was in the centre of the park. Oddly enough, it was the darkest part of the park right now, with all the lights turned off that is.

Those three Hamato ninjas would probably have a good chance since it was going to be an uneven fight…but that only depended on if their numbers could match his skill.

Nodding to himself, Leo dashed into the darkened park, his feet making no sound as he hurried swiftly and silently through the grass. With a leap, he then took to the trees, jumping and bouncing from branch to branch with instinctive grace and precision, just as if he were an agile cat...and rightly so, for he had learned from the best in that regard.

No sooner had he neared his destination did he hear it; the sounds of triumphant laughter. Leo cocked his head to the side as he listened, adjusting his position on the branch he sat upon as he peered through the leaves. Though he couldn't clearly see them dude to the darkness, he could just catch a glimpse of their outlines from the light of the moon breaking through the trees. One of them he could definitely tell was taller and lankier than his other two friends. They sounded like they were only kids no older than he was. What were a bunch of humans doing still walking around at this hour…?

Wait…they couldn't be the Hamato ninjas, could they? Seriously?! They were just a gang of teens?! They weren't even practicing the most important skill of the ninja: silence. In fact, they were about as loud as a flock of geese. Was this some kind of joke? Leo fought the urge to sigh as he rolled his eyes skyward. These were the guys that had managed to take down both Bradford, Xever, and over a dozen Foot Soldiers? He found that very hard to believe. They hadn't even sensed his presence for goodness –

"Hey…do you guys feel that?"

Leonardo froze.

He had spoken too soon, for it had appeared the smallest one out of the three had sensed him.

"Feel what?" one of them barked. He had a gruff edge to his voice when he addressed the small one, which Leo assumed meant he was the type with a short fuse. He could use that to his advantage.

The smaller one shrugged, eyeing the trees. He had big blue eyes for a human. "…I dunno. Like, someone's watching us, or something," he said with a nervous edge.

The tall one stopped as well. "…I think you're right," he said slowly, "I sense it too."

The three of them then became deathly silent as they quickly glanced around them, standing their ground. Their hands were reaching for their weapons at their sides. Leo narrowed his eyes. Looks like there was no time left. Securing the scarf around his face, Leo gathered some power into his legs as he prepared to leap.

Time to move in and take care of business.

Without warning, he leapt from his hiding place, a burst of leaves flying everywhere as he drew out a single Katana whilst still airborne, bringing it down upon the smallest one. He only had time to turn around and gasp as Leo's shadow fell upon him.

"LOOK OUT!"

The small one was roughly pushed out of the way, and Leo's blade met the left shoulder of the gruff voiced one, who let out a shriek of pain as the blade sunk deep into his flesh. Despite himself, Leo already felt a twinge of sympathy for the unfortunate boy, but it was gone again in the next instant as he applied more pressure, sinking the blade deeper and causing the boy to let out another pained cry as he heard a sickening crack. It was strange though, because it didn't feel like he went through bone. It felt as if there was some kind of armour on his chest that was preventing him from going down any deeper.

Almost like a shell.

"GET OFF OF HIM!"

He felt a stinging pain as something solid and wooden smacked him across the face, sending him stumbling to the ground, but instead of falling, he managed to roll along the ground and set himself on his feet again, just as the taller one with the Bo staff charged him, spinning it furiously as he brought it down upon Leo. Leo sidestepped his attack, appearing behind him as he bought down his katana, but the staff wielder spun around in time to block him, and them the two of them engaged in an onslaught of hard, swift blows. For an amateur, he was surprisingly skilled. However, though Leo still couldn't see him clearly in the darkness, he could feel the rage radiating off him in waves. He narrowed his eyes. "You shouldn't be so quick to let your enemy see your emotions," he chided smugly, "it makes it easier to read your movements, even in the darkness."

He then proved his point by launching his knee into his opponents' stomach, followed by a hard head-butt that sent him sprawling backwards to the ground on his back. Before he could get up, Leo planted a foot on his chest – again, what were they wearing – to keep him pinned to the ground. He raised his katana and prepared to bring it down. He heard the boy gasp in terror, but forced himself to overlook it. "It's nothing personal, trust me," he said evenly through his scarf, "I don't want to do this. It's just business."

Just as he was about to swing it down, he heard a whooshing sound of a metal chain coming his way, and he turned just in time to see a Kusarigama chain propelling towards him. He quickly unsheathed his other sword and let the chain wrap around it, and then tugging it so that the boy on the other side came flying towards him, and then he delivered a kick that sent him flying back again. He leapt off the staff wielder and made a dash for the smaller one instead, and the two engaged in a heated battle. He could see fury in the small one's eyes. "You just made a big mistake, dude," he growled, "No one hurts my bros!"

Leo's left eye twitched at the mention of brothers. "That really doesn't concern me, dude," he spat back.

Quickly getting to his feet again, though he was still slightly dizzy, Donatello looked up to find that Michelangelo was now facing off with their attacker. That left him with just enough time to get Raphael out of harm's way, and then help Mikey take him out. Not wasting any more time, Donnie hurried to where Raph lay on his side, clutching shoulder and groaning in agony. It was too dark to see the damage properly, but he knew already that it wasn't going to be pretty. The guy must have cracked his shell. "Raph, are you okay buddy?" he asked worriedly, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice as he carefully helped Raph to his feet.

Despite himself, Raph latched onto Donnie to steady himself on weak legs. "…n-no," he managed to choke out, cursing himself inwardly for stuttering, "B-but I'll live. Donnie, we've g-gotta get the lights on again..."

Donnie nodded despite his worry, and he looked back to where Mikey was still holding off their attacker. He was holding on for now, but he couldn't for much longer. He had to get to the power box and fix the wires, but after what Raph had done to them after ambushing the Kraang (and then fighting off some of the Foot again) that was going to be difficult. Grunting as he hauled Raph along with him, he made his way to the power box on the other side of the battle field and after setting Raph down again, he opened the box and set to work, his hands no longer shaking as he focused. The fight behind him sounded like Mikey was losing now, and he pushed himself to go faster, but he never worked well under pressure –

"Donnie, hurry it up!"

"BE QUIET!" Donnie snapped, "I'm working as fast as I can here!"

Raph growled angrily. Mikey was almost done for against that crazy guy. He couldn't sit around and wait for that to happen. Forcing himself to his feet and ignoring the pain in his left shoulder, he raised uninjured arm and clenched his hand into a tight fist. "Oh for the love of Pete!" he yelled, and before Donnie could protest, he slammed his fist on the box, causing sparks to fly. Donnie let out a yelp as he was zapped by electricity as the street lights suddenly flashed on, lighting up the space like a Christmas tree. All of them let out a cry of pain as the light nearly blinded them with its intensity, and they covered their eyes to block out the gleam.

Once Donnie's eyes adjusted, he sent Raph a glare. Raph just grinned. "Hey, the old-fashioned way actually worked this time," he chuckled.

Donnie shook his head and stood up, quickly unsheathing his Bo staff as he turned and prepared himself to go and help Mikey before –

He froze.

His eyes went wide and his staff slipped through his fingers as he stared at the one who had ambushed them.

Raph was just the same as he too fixed his eyes solely on him, his green eyes going wide with both horror and utter disbelief.

It…it couldn't be…It was impossible…there was no way he…

Standing just inches away from his opponent, Mikey's baby blue eyes widened to the size of saucers at what he saw, his nunchaku slipping from his hand. He held the blue scarf he had managed to rip off the other one's face during the battle, revealing his face to the rest of them…

He had to be dreaming…it wasn't real…this was just his mind playing tricks on him after so long of dreaming, wishing, pleading that he could change everything…

Because there was no way, no way in hell, that standing right in front of him, in the flesh and cold blood, with wide, ocean blue eyes that were as wide and filled with tremor as their own was…was..

"…L..Leonardo…?"