By the time Leo got there Don was fighting Shredder again..alone.
Hun and the Foot were lying on the ground in general stages of unconsciousness. Don must have used the same attack used by Wick on the mercenaries before, though the general absence of blood and brains leaking out on the ground told Leo that his brother must have used a less lethal version of the attack.
Don and Shredder were trading punches and it was clear that if something didn't happen they would be at it for a long time. Leo was concerned, the longer Don wore the metal suit the bigger the risk was that he wouldn't be able to take it off again. Shredder might not have been able to hurt him, but the suit most certainly could.
Don must have realized the same thing because he picked Shredder up and tossed him into the fence that separated the giant electric turbines from the rest of the world. The fence broke under the impact and it and the metal clad villain hit the ground with a rattle and a thump. Don was upon the villain before he could recover, he grabbed one side of the fence and folded it over the villain. While Shredder flailed angrily and tried to get loose Don continued to roll the villan up in the fence until the entire length of fence was wrapped around him. A thing green light came from the top of the gauntlet welding the fence in place, leaving the evil villain completely trapped. Shredder continued to struggle, growling at Don in fury.
Don simply turned and walked away. Leo ran to meet him.
"Take it off now Don. You've got to take it off." He said urgently grabbing Don's arm.
Don was staring at his gauntleted arm, his eyes focusing and unfocusing on it, as if he were lost in some internal battle. The metal around his body turned into liquid silver and slid back down into the gauntlet..but he continued to stare at it.
"Donnie look at me, whatever it's offering you, whatever it's saying..it's not worth your life. Take it off, please!"
Don turned his head and he stared at Leo.
"Remember what it did to the human Don, it will take control of you and it will destroy you and everyone you care about. Let it go." Leo said putting a hand on Don's shoulder and squeezing.
Don looked back at the gauntlet, and then squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth he grasped the gauntlet and pulled. It didn't seem to want to come off at first, but after a second it did. Then it was as if Don had been a puppet, and someone had suddenly cut his strings. He fell to his knees, dropping the gauntlet and clutching his right hand to his body. Leo immediately bent to help his brother putting his arm around him and holding him steady. He could see two pinpoints of blood at the base of his brother's neck. He grimaced at the sight. "Don, talk to me, are you okay?"
The black masked turtle was breathing so heavily Leo was afraid his brother was having some sort of heart attack, then gradually his breathing calmed.
"Yeah.." He said breathlessly after a time. "I feel..I feel empty..like a battery that's been completely drained." His head was bowed, and his eyes were squeezed shut, he was hunched up on his knees in a ball still holding his hand to him as if it caused him pain. Together they looked down at the gauntlet lying in front of them.
"Kill it Leo, please just kill it." Don whispered.
Leo nodded and standing he picked up the gauntlet. He expected it to attack him, bite him or try to take over his mind..but nothing happened.
"You have to put it on for it to do anything. It relies on people to use it, so it can use them." Don said.
Leo scowled and walked over the now exposed turbines. He looked back at his brother, who was looking up at him. Don nodded.
Leo turned and tossed the gauntlet onto the turbine.
The instant the metal touched it, it lit up in a bright flair of electricity causing Leo to put his arms in front of his face and back away. A high pitched wail filled the air for the barest of minutes and then as the brothers watched the gauntlet began to shake. Bits of metal began to fall off of it until all the metal around it was gone, and then the black mass that was left began to disintegrate. The wailing fell to a muffled whine and then ended with an abrupt pfft..and then the gauntlet fell into a little pile of ash on the ground. The electric turbines fell silent once more.
"Let me see your hand Don." Leo said gently pulling at his brother's arm.
Don didn't want to at first, but he finally relented. Leo gasped when he got a good look at Don's limb. Don's hand had shrunk to two times smaller than his normal one, Leo could practically see the bones underneath the skin. The skin was a sickly yellowish green, and his fingernails were bleeding red blood.
"It'll go back to normal, in a few days." Don wheezed softly.
Leo sighed. "What did it say to you?"
Don shook his head. "It already tried talking to me, it knew I wouldn't give in..but it was in my mind searching for him." He said the last word in a whisper. "It was trying to bring him back, put him in control. It thought maybe he would be easier to influence."
"Did it find him?" Leo asked with concern.
Don nodded. "He's still here, somewhere. I can feel him, in the back of my mind."
"What did he say." Leo asked even more concerned.
Don looked up at his brother and grinned. "He told it to go to hell."
Leo blinked for a second in surprise, gave a half grin. He helped Don to his feet and leaning on one another they made their way towards the street where the battle shell was just pulling up, and April, Casey, Mike, Raph, and Splinter were piling out.
"I feel like I could sleep for a month." Don sighed as they stumbled towards their family.
Leo gave a short laugh. "So could I Don, so could I."
"You know there's more of those out there Leo. We've only won a battle, but there's a war coming." Don said softly.
Leo looked down at his brother and held him closer. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it Donnie. There's nothing we can do now but rest."
"Rest, yes." Don said. " Rest."