A/N ~ YOOOOOOOOO! FINALLY! I've got a new chapter for you guys, and I'm so sorry it's took so long. Like I've said, I've got a lot of things going on right now so sitting down to write stuff is getting progressively harder. But your reviews - for all my stories - keep me going, so thank you all for that :)

Also, I've recently discovered that my story is currently longer than the Lord of the Rings book. Like...whoa.

Alright, so this chapter is shorter than I'd wanted it to be, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless :)

I OWN NOTHING AT ALL!

Enjoy!

Chapter 49

"Is this what family is like: the feeling that everyone's connected, that with one piece missing, the whole thing's broken?"

― Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society

Six hours.

Sparks flew, metal clanged against metal as Donatello worked in the last screw to the mechanical wing pack – of which he'd had to come up with on the fly (haha he made a funny), and wasn't exactly guaranteed to actually work once it was done with little to no time to plan and all, hell, even the blue-prints were pedestrian at best. He set his hammer down on the desk a safe distance away from his newest creation and hefted up the heavy pack with steady hands, brown eyes narrowed and calculating as he flexed the wing experimentally. Firm and steady; a good sign.

Five hours, fifty-nine minutes and thirty-two seconds.

Ignoring the sudden trembling in his hands, Donnie set the pack down, satisfied – sort of, not really, lord have mercy on my soul – and turned back to his glowing computer screen, skimming over the blueprints April had downloaded of TCRI nearly a month ago; if his memory served true from their last visit to that godforsaken tower (of Doom, haha, shut up Donnie) security was packed tight from the inside, but the outside had been pretty vacant aside from the occasional camera posted on the rooftops and above the doors –

Five hours, fifty-seven minutes and forty-four seconds.

Breaking in from the front was not an option this time; with the invasion underway and without Leatherhead's brute strength to back them up, the Kraang were probably expecting them to come barging through the front door blades blazing to stop them, so security had surely doubled if not tripled to counteract such an attack, and they'd end up getting blown to bits or worse so a different sort of distraction would be needed instead, yeah. Mikey had mentioned something about using Metalhead again, right, so why not give him a second go? Yeah it would probably turn south very quickly should one of the Kraang decide to take control oh god what if the Kraang tried to take control again –

Five hours fifty-five minutes –

"Donnie!"

BANG!

"SWEET CHRISTMAS!"

After said screech of terror, Donnie blinked and suddenly he was sprawled on the floor, his chair swiveling out of reach across the room leaving him staring up at the network of pipes on the ceiling dazedly. He blinked again, and Raphael was there, standing over him with his arms crossed and an annoyed – read: worried – scowl on his face. Donnie noted that his brother had adorned several belts and straps across his arms and chest, all filled with an assortment of small weapons, from knives to shuriken; he carried his old set of tonfa on his back, and pouches of smoke bombs on his hips – and where the hell did he find those knuckle-dusters?

Overall, he looked prepared, ready to go to war; if the weapons weren't enough proof of that, surely the fire in his eyes would attest to that claim.

And then there was Donnie, the leader of the team, the one Raph and Mikey looked to for guidance and instruction, lying on his shell.

Some leader, huh?

"Dude, I was calling you for the past two minutes," said Raph, uncrossing one arm to extend a hand to Donnie. "I tried, like, five times but you didn't hear me."

Donnie frowned at him, but took the hand anyway; never look a gift horse in the mouth, even if that particular horse was really an ass. "So you decided banging on my desk and scaring the crap out of me was the next best option?" he muttered as Raph pulled him to his feet easily.

Raph shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"

Donnie huffed, rolling his eyes. "You know – whatever, whatever." He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He didn't have time to play 'How Ticked-Off Can I Get Donnie' right now, nor had he the time to wonder just how little Raph seemed to care of the threat looming over their heads, how unprepared they – Donnie – was when they – he – had been expecting said invasion from day freaking one. Like, come the hell on, they were aliens for crying out loud, of course they'd invade; the Kraang were the very personification of that Sci-Fi cliché. So why, only now, were they scrambling around the lair getting ready to face what would potentially be the end of the world as they knew it, when they'd had months in advance?

Five hours. We've got five hours before the Kraang begin the invasion on our home, our city, our whole planet, we're the only ones who can stop it, and I'm not prepared.

"What did you want anyway, Raph?" Donnie sighed, unconscious of the fact that his hands, previously trembling, were now wringing themselves together anxiously. "I'm kinda busy preparing, y'know, for the freakin' alien invasion that's only five hours away, and I gotta finish off those gliders and get Metalhead up and running again, and I've gotta make sure that the lair is fortified enough to protect April and Splinter before we leave, and I've gotta test the gliders so we don't, like, freakin' fall to our deaths after we jump of a building likemorons, and then I gotta, I gotta –"

A firm hand on his shoulder froze Donnie in his frenzied train of thoughts; the resulting silence was almost deafening, and his throat felt raw, like he'd been shouting. Had he?

He blinked, looked at the hand, and then met Raph's eyes. Gone was the earlier sarcasm, the annoyance, even the fires raging in harmony with the oncoming cacophony of war; they'd been replaced by a different sort of flame, calmer and tamer, warm in a way that didn't burn and leave a scar. The hand tightened, and Donnie barely felt it. "Donnie," Raph said, his voice steady and sure as a rock against the tides. "Breathe."

And with a single word, Donnie heard much more than just a command. He heard assurance, he heard comfort…

Swallowing thickly, Donnie closed his eyes, inhaled shakily, and exhaled, though it came out more like a wheeze.

Raph nodded. "Again."

You're doing fine, Raph didn't say, you'll be fine. We'll be fine. We'll make it through this invasion, together. Quit stressing.

Donnie took another breath, and let it out slowly.

"Better. Again."

You're a good leader, Donnie. But you gotta calm down; we'll all be okay. We'll protect April and her dad, save the city, and save the world, together. We'll be okay. Just –

"Breathe."

With one final heaving sigh, Donnie felt his shoulders drop, the tension still there but no longer as paralyzing. He opened his eyes, reached up to clasp Raph's hand on his shoulder, and then smiled at his older brother. "Thanks Raph," he said, giving his hand a squeeze. "I needed that."

Raph returned the smile with a wide, white grin. "Anytime, Don. Anytime."

They stood there for a moment, with Donnie fighting the urge to cry from frustration and relief and Raph offering his unyielding support, as always, before Donnie let Raph's hand slide from his shoulder, and the older turtle took a step back.

"So," began Raph, casually looking around the lab, "we got about five hours before stuff hits the fan and everything goes to hell. We're up against a whole horde of god-knows how many Kraang, with minimal chances of survival, armed with only our individual skills, weapons that're kinda primitive compared to the advanced alien tech we're bound to get blasted to turtle-bits with, and – let's be real – reengineered garbage." He turned back to Donnie with a lopsided smirk. "You ready?"

Donnie chuckled. "Hell no."

"On a scale of one to ten, what are the chances of us winning this thing?"

"About 0.000003%. Meaning we're pretty much screwed, and then some."

"I'll take that." Grinning like a shark, Raph patted Donnie's bicep. "Finish up in here, I'll grab Mikey, and then we'll head out in three. Sound good?"

Donnie nodded, and despite the terror and dread and looming hopelessness he'd felt, despite knowing their chances were microscopic at best, he beamed at his older brother. He had every reason to worry, yes, every reason to want to give in to despair, to just let the Kraang have their way, there was no way they could win…

But he still had his brothers, his team. They couldn't hold his hand, but they had his back every step of the way. He could afford the hope and optimism with that knowledge under his belt, just this once.

"Yeah," said Donnie. "Let's save the world."

"And kick some ass?"

Donnie smirked. "And kick. Some. Ass."

When Michelangelo stepped into the dojo one last time, two hours before he and his brothers were to leave for TCRI, he found Splinter sat before the shrine, several wax candles lit around his unmoving frame, clawed hands braced atop each other on his lap.

Mikey watched his father, his back erect, his eyes closed, pointed ears barely twitching at the sound of his son's approach, and the freckled turtle had to wonder just how his master could be so calm at a time like this. Where did he get his strength from, his sense of peace? Was it the energy from the universe or whatever, was that why he meditated so often? Well, whatever it was, Mikey wanted – needed – some of it right then and there.

Because I'm scared. Because this might be the last time I ever see the dojo again…

Mikey quickly shook his head, averting his thoughts back to the reason he'd come to the dojo in the first place; it wasn't to say goodbye to Splinter just yet, since he and April were going to see them off – they'd let Kirby rest, the poor guy had been through enough already. No, Mikey had someone else to bid farewell before their departure to save the world (which now that Mikey thought of it, saying it out loud and meaning it was a heck of a lot scarier than he'd ever imagined it would be).

Making sure he didn't disturb Splinter's deep trance – though the rat barely twitched as the floorboards creaked under the turtle's foot – Mikey paused and bowed before the shrine, then reached out to pluck the bear from its seat beside the old photograph. Trotting a ways from where his father sat, the freckled turtle plopped on his rear underneath the tree, cross-legged, and placed the bear in front of him.

"Hey, Leo," he whispered, grinning down at the fuzzy brown face of the old toy that'd served as his companion – his, supposedly, only window to the brother they'd lost – for the past twelve years. "Listen, I know this might sound crazy and I don't think you'll believe it even if Donnie told you, but…there's gonna be an alien invasion in the next few hours. The whole city is gonna be under attack by the Kraang, and the three of us, me, Raphie and Donnie…we're the only ones who can probably stop it. Probably. We're gonna head out soon, so I thought I'd just stop by and let you know…"

Mikey hesitated, chewing on his lip and tapping his fingers against his kneepads. He long since knew now that Leonardo was alive, knew that there was no way, really, that his brother could ever hear Mikey's words through the old brown bear he'd given him all those years ago. But even so, either out of habit or by design, he still spoke to the bear regularly, telling him of all the things he'd done, all the things he'd seen, the battles he'd fought, the people they'd saved…the promise he'd made to bring him home no matter what.

He knew it was irrational, impossible, mere wishful thinking. But a part of Mikey still believed that somehow, Leo really could hear him through the bear, could feel his love, his need, his fear and pain and longing. Perhaps that was why he'd started to warm up to them, why he'd drawn so much closer to them, why he smiled without malice and endured the spontaneous embraces, why he'd allow himself to be dragged along in their ventures…

Mikey smiled, facing the bear once more as he laid his hand upon its head, thumb stroking the coarse, aged fur above the buttoned eye.

"I love you, Leo. I love you so much I have no idea what the heck to do with it all," he said, beaming and fighting the urge to cry, to give in to the thoughts telling him that he'd never see the bear – or his brother – again, that this was truly goodbye. "We're gonna go save the world now. And when we get back, I'm gonna tell you all about how much Kraang butt we kicked. Until then, Master Splinter and April will keep you company. Maybe Spike will even share a leaf with you if you ask nicely enough."

He sniffed, roughly scrubbing his face with his arm though his cheeks were dry, and he nodded firmly, more to himself than to the bear. "So…so this isn't really a 'goodbye'. This is…this is just 'see you later', okay?"

The bear, of course, didn't reply, but Mikey didn't expect him to. Instead, Mikey beamed wider, and hugged the bear to his chest, pouring every ounce of love he'd contained for twelve years into the old plush toy as he kissed its forehead. And though he remained unawares, Splinter, with his back turned from the whole exchange, swallowed his own tears behind a proud smile when his youngest child whispered –

"See you soon, Little Leo. I love you."

"Huh?"

Leonardo shivered, though not from the cold air of the early morning, and lurched to his feet, his eyes and head snapping this way and that. One hand braced around the hilt of a katana, Leo stepped off the edge and paced across the roof, senses on high alert, but his chest felt light, warm…kinda floaty, at peace…

"Who's there?" he growled through his teeth. "Show yourself."

He'd been sat alone at the edge of the rooftop for the past few hours on 'surveillance should the turtles decide to show up and stop the invasion' since he'd left Shredder's lair – in tears, so full of happiness and love and worth that he'd felt his heart burst – and hadn't heard so much as a pigeon flutter by. Then, out of nowhere…

I could've sworn I heard…

"Michelangelo? Is that you?"

Silence met his call. And upon deciding he was well and truly alone, as he had been for the past few hours, he lowered his hand back to his side and let loose a light sigh. "Must've been my imagination," he muttered, setting himself down on the nearest air vent to resume his lookout. It seemed plausible enough; he'd been near delirious with emotions before, perhaps they were causing him to hear things – people, dear ones, loved ones – that weren't there.

That sounds like a load of bull even to me.

But even so…he was sure he'd heard someone – felt someone, his baby brother, holding him close, showering him with all the love and warmth a single being could hope to give, whispering softly in his ear –

Leonardo quickly shook his head, brows furrowed in frustrated confusion as he laced his fingers together and rested his elbows on his knees. No, there was no time to dwell on imaginings. He had to look out for the real turtles, hope to catch them out in the fading darkness as the invasion drew ever closer, pray that he could complete his mission and help them, repay in full what he'd taken for granted or had cast aside with undeserved hatred for years...he had to focus.

Focus on the mission, Leo. Focus. Focus. Focus –

"…Little Leo, huh? Wonder where that nickname came from. Sounds familiar…"

Leo blinked.

Where the hell did that come from?

Great. Now he was losing his mind for real. He really should ask Tiger Claw for medication before it was too late.

Perched like a bird of prey along the pipes overhanging the abandoned subway line, Karai twirled her knife between deft fingers. The ninjas posted around her, in and out of her line of vision, were not quite as distracted as she, yet then again they had the 'hard' job; they had to handle the blasted M.O.U.S.E.R.S that Baxter had left behind after he'd ditched them – good riddance to that coward – and keeping an eye out for the girl and her father, or anyone else that decided to venture down their path uninvited. Karai was there to basically lead, taunt, secure, and look pretty.

Lips thinned, Karai restrained a growl. That girl. April freaking O'Neil…

She closed her eyes.

"…when I met April, it felt…it felt so nice, to find another person like you that I could talk to, relate to, and trust…"

Her fingers froze around the handle of her knife. She clenched her fist.

"What makes you so special?! You're the center of an alien conspiracy, protected by mutants, and trained by a great ninja master. Why?"

"I don't know! I flunk in trig…my friends are mutants…aliens got my dad –"

"– and I lost my mother!"

She bit her lip, hard.

Karai had wanted to enjoy this mission, have some sort of satisfaction of watching Splinter's little princess of a disciple squirm, helpless as a new-born baby against the stealth and strength of real ninjas. She'd wanted to watch as she trembled in fear, maybe even cried a bit when they handed her sorry ass over to the Kraang, wanted to smirk and bid her 'good riddance' once and for all. She'd wanted that.

But now…

Leo…

Karai hadn't realized just how much Leo cared about the red headed girl, or how it would've killed him…how it had tortured him, to answer Shredder's wishes to chip the girl's father. All Karai could do for him was hold him, whisper reassurances in his ear, calm him down before he tore himself – or someone else – to shreds as he cried against her shoulder. Leo had despised himself for what he'd done, how he'd betrayed the trust of the only other human he had to truly call a friend…

And despite how she'd viewed the girl at first – both as a wannabe kunoichi and through her haze of unchecked jealousy – Karai couldn't help but feel dirty for this as well.

She opened her eyes, staring at nothing.

April O'Neil, kunoichi in training under Hamato Yoshi…they had more in common than Karai wanted to admit; both fighting for what they thought was right, fighting for the honor of their clan (sort of, for the red head), both of them were loyal to their master – to Leo –and…

We've both lost something…someone.

Dammit all she really didn't want to do this. This girl was Leo's friend for god's sake, and Karai had sworn to allow Leo this happiness for as long as it lasted. And here she was, about to tear it apart again, only with greater consequences. Delivering the girl to the Kraang – the same creatures she and Leo had wanted to stop, to destroy – would not only break Leo's heart, but it would also be the end of the freaking world, somehow. And Karai couldn't disobey her father's orders, couldn't get away with sneaking away or feigning defeat like Leo could against his brothers.

Either way, Karai couldn't win.

Good god, Leo. You really know how to pick your friends. What the actual hell?

"Karai-sama."

Jolted out of her musings, Karai turned to the Foot Soldier on her right, who pointed downwards silently. Following his gaze, Karai spotted the two sets of red headed humans moving swiftly along the dead tracks.

She narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips. A few more steps…

"Dad, what're you doing? This isn't the way to TCRI."

Karai blinked. She'd caught on pretty quick. And she'd been to TCRI before, and lived? Huh.

Well, that didn't matter much now. She'd figured her father out, and had already attained a guarded stance, but she was too little too late.

With a firm nod to her team, the ninjas struck. With a burst of smoke, two Foot soldiers dropped down by April, surrounding her on both sides and grabbed her by the arms, forcing them behind her back even as she struggled. Despite how – sort of – bad she felt with this whole ordeal, Karai couldn't help but roll her eyes as she leapt down from the pipes along with two of the squealing robots; the girl must've learned how to break out of holds like that by now, what with Splinter training her and all, right?

Never mind that for now, she inwardly muttered, plastering a smirk on her lips when April gasped, finally noticing her. Time to put on a show.

"Hey there, princess," Karai said coyly, passing Kirby – his head down and hands stiffly at his side – and approaching April until the two were almost nose to nose. "Miss me?"

There was rage in April's blue eyes, cold and ruthless, but her freckled smile was sweet as sugar. "Yeah, actually," she said, "last time I saw you I forgot to give you this!"

April thrust her knee into Karai's gut, hard, and Karai tumbled back a few paces clutching her midsection with a wheeze. Son of a – that hurt! Well, perhaps she had gotten a little stronger since the last time they met. Still, she wasn't going anywhere any time soon. And that little stunt hadn't earned her any points for sympathy.

You might be Leo's friend, she groused as she glared at the smug redhead, but you're still a pain in the ass. And whether we like it or not, I've got a mission to fulfill.

Straightening from her pained slouch – because ow, that seriously stung – Karai turned to Kirby. "You've done well. Now take the message to Splinter." The man bowed his head, and without a word he marched back the way he and his daughter had come, the M.O.U.S.E.R.S by his side like metallic guard dogs. Not once, even as April called out to him desperately, did he even glance her way as he disappeared around the corner.

When the Foot soldiers tugged her forwards, April's gaze whirled back on Karai, filled with hate a fear and heartbreak, and it took everything in Karai's power to keep her from flinching at the sight. "You brainwashed him," April growled, leveling her with a glare that would've brought lesser men to their knees.

But Karai was stronger than most men, and only met her look with a lopsided smirk. "I know," she said, turning from the girl to head down to rendezvous point with the other soldiers awaiting their cargo. "Pretty cool, right?"

But as soon as her back was turned, Karai's smile vanished, and amber eyes trailed upwards, to the surface, where she was certain somewhere, Leo was waiting for a sign of the other turtles.

I'm sorry Leo. I hope whatever you're planning works…for all our sakes.

Another uneventful hour passed and Leo had been driven near to distraction, something he was not often prone to doing. He'd started pacing back and forth across the rooftop, hands clasped behind his back, brows furrowed and blue eyes glaring down at the floor as he allowed his mind to wander. And when they did, they wandered into…well, less than pleasant territory.

The invasion was just on the horizon, as was the abduction and trading of April from the Foot to the Kraang – and wasn't that just a knife in the back for the girl that'd given him her friendship, her trust. His brothers, of course, would undoubtedly find out about this and risk their lives to save her and the world…so how would they react when Leo, who'd been the one to chip April's father in the first place, who'd lied and cheated and had denied their blood for months, suddenly arrived and offered his assistance?

He hadn't even thought of that. Until now, whether he'd fully registered it or not, a piece of him had been broken, torn like the frayed ends of a grand tapestry. Now, with this reborn connection, this new love he felt for the younger brothers who'd fought and forced their way back into his life, into his heart, that frayed end had been sown, the broken piece slowly reattached and on the way to becoming whole again.

So how would they feel if he just showed up to help them, voluntarily, without denial or fear of getting caught, after all this time? What if they'd given up on him already? What would he even say when he approached them?

'Hey guys I know I've told you over and over again of how much I hate you but hey let's work together to save the world! Also I'm the one who brainwashed Kirby into selling his own daughter to the Kraang sorry okay let's do this!'

Oh yeah, that would go down so well with them.

Leo sighed heavily, shaking his head, forcing his thoughts to calm the heck down. He'd tell them the truth, of course; the deserved that much from him. He'd tell them everything he'd been holding back – his false hatred for them, his fear of the Kraang…his rekindled love for the brothers he'd missed so dearly…he'd come clean. But then what? Would they accept his apologies, just brush over the fact that he – and by extent, Karai – had inadvertently caused the imminent destruction of their whole freaking world and welcome him with open arms –

Scratch that, not welcome him; despite his loathing of Shredder and the Foot, he still had no intention of leaving Tiger Claw and Karai behind. They were his family too, the family that had raised him. His newfound love for his brothers would never change that. But still, he hoped…he prayed, that they would accept him into their lives once more, regardless of where he stood in the grand scheme of things. Of course it wouldn't be easy, but…

One has to hope, right?

Leo stopped his pacing just as he reached the edge of the roof again. Letting his hands flop to his sides, he drew in a deep breath through his nose, exhaling with a log sigh, and he felt a fraction of the tension leave his body with it. He clenched his fists with new determination, lifting his head to gaze up at the fading stars in the brightening New York skies.

I can do this. I have to. And if, in the end, they can't accept me…I'll accept their decision. I'll carry on.

"Turtles were born to fly!"

Leo started. What the hell?

A rush of wind swept over him, sending shivers down his spine and setting his mask and scarf askew until he quickly readjusted them and looked back up at the sky – only fir his eyes to pop open wide, his mouth hanging agape.

"EH?! Nantekotta i?!"

As predicted, his brothers had finally shown up. But they hadn't travelled on foot across the rooftops, nor had they taken that weird car thing – what was it called again, the Hellraiser? Shellraiser? Something corny like that. No, they'd apparently decided to take a different approach for this grand mission.

They had wings. His idiot little brothers had attached wings to their shells, and they were flying. Well, gliding to be precise, but they were in the freaking air.

Leonardo blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked again, rinse and repeat. Nope, he wasn't hallucinating. Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo were still very much in the air, gliding with surprising grace towards the towering TCRI building. That was not normal. Even for mutant standards, that was not normal. Turtles were not meant to fly. What the hell. What was he looking at. What is life right now. What.

Yet despite his bafflement, slowly, a grin both ecstatic and exasperated stole across the blue clad turtle's face. "Well…gotta give them points for creativity," he said with a breathy chuckle, ignoring the fact that months ago the very sight of the three turtles had boiled his blood with rage, yet now calmed and warmed his heart in ways nothing else ever could. And with said turtles in sight, on their way to save the world regardless of the perils that undoubtedly lay ahead, Leo's mission had begun.

Okay Leo. Time to get going.

With a final deep breath to settle his heart and calm his nerves, Leo tugged up the scarf over his snout and leapt across the rooftops to catch up to his brothers who flew on overhead, unawares.

They were going to save the world. What a terrifying prospect that was when you say out loud.

A/N ~ OOOOKAAY! Let's get the Invasion rolling! Also I've been wanting to bring the bear back for ages and I finally did! I hope you enjoyed it, more are on the way, and reviews are writer chow!

Next Time: Leonardo confronts his brothers with an offer they could refuse - he hopes they don't - and Splinter receives a message from the Shredder with an offer he can't. In the meantime, the invasion has finally begun...