Karai felt like she was being rocked. That was her first thought. The second was that her face hurt. And thirdly, she inhaled a deep breath and even with her pitiful human nose, she recognized the scent of the being carrying her as he ran across rooftops. She stopped trying to figure out what was going on, reached her arms around his furry neck and whispered, "Father."

Splinter's arms tightened around his daughter as he ran.

He and Raphael had received the emergency call from Leonardo's T-phone and he had wasted no time in deciding to accompany Raphael on this mission. They quickly dropped the kids off next door with April and then took off using the new tracking systems Donnie had put in each phone which allowed everyone to converge on the teammate in trouble without Donnie needing to be at his computer at home.

Raphael pushed away his grogginess and stiff limbs as shock set in when they found only an unconscious Karai on the rooftop. Their only other immediate clues were that half of Karai's face was purpling already in a nasty bruise and one of Leo's katana lay next to her open palm. After checking her over for other injuries, Master Splinter lifted Leo's T-phone, found clipped to the belt on her pants, and showed it to Raphael.

Raph didn't sense Leo nearby, but he left Master Splinter with Karai while he searched the rooftop anyway. He found Leo's other katana and picked it up carefully, turning it over gently in his hands as if there would be a clue on it. He found Karai's sword as well, broken in two. But no Leo.

Members of the Foot arrived next and Raph figured Karai must have called them when the T-phone alert had been sent. They tried to take Karai but Master Splinter scooped her into his arms and snarled at anyone who came near them. They wisely backed away but remained nearby on the roof.

Donnie, Mikey and Casey landed near him moments later. Raph picked up Leo's other katana from the ground near where Master Splinter now stood with Karai and gingerly handed them to Casey who quietly slid them into the case he wore on his back.

If it wasn't for the katana strewn about, which Leo never would've left behind willingly, they wouldn't even know for sure that Leo was missing. But Raph knew he'd been taken. Karai was still knocked out and therefore completely useless. The Foot soldiers' silent presence nearby pretty much ruled them out.

He looked again at Karai and the nasty bruise she was developing. Whoever had hit her had been strong. Like one of the monsters they'd been chasing.

Or maybe like someone made of stone. He fought back the panic in his chest as he wondered why the stone creatures would want his mate. Instead he turned to some members of the Foot nearby, "Lead us to this Winters guy," he said.

They were still following the Foot when Karai awoke in Splinter's arms. He heard her whisper "Father" and he gently responded, "I've got you, my child."

She clutched his neck tighter and then stayed there, feeling safely cradled for the possibly the first time in her life. But soon her thoughts turned to why he would be carrying her across rooftops and she pulled back so she could see her father's face. Only one eye would open properly and she winced through the pain in her face as she croaked out, "Leo." She saw a flash of red and realized Raph was now beside them as well as they continued to move.

"Who took him?" Raph demanded.

"Stone generals," she responded. "I think they're going to try to pass him for the last monster."

Raph nodded. Then at least they were heading in the right direction.

They quickly scaled the wall surrounding Winters' estate and headed towards the main building where they came upon a circle of cylindrical cages.

"Whoa!" Mike said, falling backwards off a cage after he determined that the creature that tried to attack him through the glass was definitely not his big brother.

Master Splinter gently and somewhat reluctantly set Karai down on her own two feet. She clutched her head and teetered sideways, steadied by one of Splinter's paws.

"Perhaps you should take cover," Master Splinter said to her.

"No," she said, shaking her head, which she soon realized was a mistake. "I couldn't help Leo when they took him. I'm not sitting out now."

Raphael jumped up onto another cage and peered inside. "Leo," he whispered and then felt his blood boil at the sight of an unconscious Leo crammed into the tiny space. "This one!" he called out and stepped back so Don could attach a device to disable the door. It popped open with a loud crack and Raphael was immediately crouching into the cage.

Karai watched Raphael carefully cradle Leo's face in his hands. It looked sweet, but she knew he was actually checking for a pulse. She grimaced at Leo's bruise-covered neck. She didn't want to tell them she'd had to watch Leo be strangled by pure stone hands and found herself silently pleading with whoever would listen to let him be ok.

Raph's hands were shaking and he was having a hard time finding a pulse in Leo's neck. He fought the panic again and leaned his face into Leo's face, hoping to feel Leo's breath on his skin at least. "Come on, babe," he whispered out and he nearly laughed as his palms clutched Leo's face in a tight grip when he heard Leo softly growl at him.

Leo's eyes slowly opened and he managed a smile when he saw Raph's green eyes staring back at him.

"We really need to work on our schedule so that we're both awake and asleep at the same time," Raphael murmured to him as he pulled Leo up out of the cage and gingerly set him on his feet. He kept a tight grip on Leo's upper arms, even when it was clear that Leo would remain standing on his own. His eyes narrowed in on Leo's neck and he growled as he slid one hand up to lightly trace over the massive bruise.

Leo just smiled at him gratefully and slid a hand up to Raph's face. He forgot for a moment that they were in a dangerous situation and remembered only that it had been over two days since he'd seen Raphael awake. He closed the space between them and kissed Raph, letting his own weight rest against Raph's strong frame. He kept the kiss short though and moved his face into Raph's neck for a moment before pulling back.

"You weren't expecting that, huh?" Casey asked, elbowing Karai in the side despite Master Splinter's look of disapproval.

"Actually," Karai said, smiling over at the red- and blue-clad turtles, "Leo and I had a little heart to heart earlier and it might've come up."

"What kind of heart to heart?" Raph asked, narrowing his eyes at Karai.

"The kind where he snapped my sword into two pieces during a spar."

Raphael rumbled out a laugh and heard his other two brothers trying to muffle their own laughs. He pulled Leo back into his plastron and murmured down to him, "Its fun to do things my way sometimes isn't it?"

Mikey nudged Casey and nodded towards his back.

"Oh, right," Casey said, taking a step forward and pulling Leo's katana out to hand them over. "Yer gonna need these."

Leo nodded and took the katana, happy to feel the weight of them back in his hands.

"Karai," Winters said, approaching them. "Am I seeing giant turtles?"

"They're my brothers," Karai said, and behind her three of the brothers, not including Leonardo, exchanged surprised looks. "They've been helping me track the monsters. But your stone generals tried to pass one off for the final monster."

"You mean we don't have all thirteen?" Winters asked, looking suddenly stricken as the portal behind them opened and a swirling vortex rose towards the sky.

"Well, that can't be good," Donnie said.

"Why would we want to give up immortality?" one of the stone generals asked as he came up behind Winters, the other three trailing him.

Winters turned to his stone generals and began speaking to them. Leo could hear the shock in his voice and knew he was being double-crossed by the stone creatures. He turned to his team and with a lowered voice, handed out the orders.

"Casey and Karai, I need you to go get that last monster," he held up a hand to fend off their protests. "Mikey, you're our best tracker, go with them and bring that monster back before this portal closes."

Mikey nodded, an uncharacteristic look of seriousness on his face as he grabbed an arm of each of the two humans and began to haul them off with him.

Karai managed to give an order to one of her elite Foot and Leo watched the Foot soldiers turn to him. Leo nodded, thankful for the back-up. He wasn't thrilled about going up against the stone creatures again.

They turned back to watch Winters continue to argue with his generals.

"I hate to see families fight," Donnie said.

"Unless it's together," Raph said, squeezing Leo's shoulder again. "Yer sure yer up to this?"

"Are you?" Leo countered, his eyes searching Raphael's face for leftover signs of the tranquilizer's effects.

Raph nodded. "Let's just do this and go home. Kids are worried."


Leo saw the van speeding into the building before the others and lunged forward to knock Master Splinter and Donnie out of the way as the giant monster who had been chasing the van – how had they missed that guy roaming the city? – tried and failed to skid to a stop before he slid right into the portal.

He lifted himself up, pulling Master Splinter and Donnie with him as he searched out Raphael. He found him a few feet away and crossed the floor to him. He ran his hands over the skin of Raph's upper arms, noting areas where new bruises were sure to pop up later. But otherwise assured himself that Raphael appeared fine, energized even. Raphael grinned at him when he raised his eyes to Raph's green ones, waiting for Leo to finish his check-up before pulling him close to kiss him.

Mikey popped out of the crashed van first, a huge smile on his face. "Donnie, tell Casey that I'm an excellent driver!" he exclaimed.

Donnie smiled tiredly and shook his head. He thought about how grateful he was that Raphael would be the one in charge of fixing up the crashed party wagon, instead of himself.

Mikey toppled off the side of the van as Casey shoved him from below in order to lift himself up and out as well. "That's why the van is on its side right now, Mike," Casey said, his eyes scanning over Master Splinter and the other turtles to make sure they were all ok.

"The important thing is that I got that thing to chase us," Mikey said.

Karai lifted herself from the floor of the backseat and was met at the open window by Master Splinter's outstretched paw, ready to help her climb out. She didn't need the assistance but she took his hand happily and was soon out of the van as well.

They turned as they heard Winters begin to laugh. He smiled and thanked their group before losing his immortality and turning to glittery dust before their eyes.

Master Splinter looked to Leonardo, who gave his father a small nod, before turning back to Karai, "Do you want to come home with us?"

Karai dismissed her Foot soldiers and turned to the others with a small smile. "OK."


A/N: I hope you're not disappointed that the entire "stone generals fight with the turtles/monsters sent into the portal" scene was not included. If you've seen the movie, please just imagine that's (mostly) what happened here as well. I just didn't feel like typing it out. Wanted to get to the emotional good stuff.