A/N: Yay, Polaris-land is seeing sunny skies again! Looks like the pickle incident is behind us… =) Thanks to all my reviewers who made everything a little brighter. As always, here's a response to my anonymous:

Starfire201: "Trouble" between them is one way to put it, LOL. But oh boy if you think they're having trouble NOW… heh heh heh…

Pig: Yeah, Bishop's a twisted little cuss. Glad you like the plot, cause Donny sure doesn't. ;-)

Sara: Thanks!! I'm really glad to hear that you can "see" the situation, because I really try to make that happen. It's always great to be successful. I hope you continue to enjoy!

So, on with the story! This chapter takes us back to the other turtles initially, but don't worry… methinks Donny will be making an appearance as well.

"My son?"

A gentle hand on his shoulder. The feeling of someone shaking his arm lightly. Another hand, a different one, prodding him more urgently.

"Yo, Leo! We ain't got time for dis. Come on, get up!"

An admonishing sound. Leo could imagine the look that Master Splinter was probably giving Raph. He sighed, not wanting to open his eyes, but knowing he would have to soon. Never again… he was going to swear off jumping from rooftops forever.

"Leo!"

"Alright!" Leo snapped, rolling onto his side sluggishly. "Alright, I'm up." Opening his eyes blearily, he recognized the Lair, as well as the three familiar faces staring down at him. Splinter's old face reflected worry, while Raph and Mikey, masked once again, showed relief and a certain sense of impatience. But where was…

"Donny?" Leo whispered, dread filling his mind. His fears were confirmed when his two brothers glanced at each other sadly before looking down. Leo closed his eyes again. So he had failed after all. Everything he had done… the best he could do… just hadn't been good enough. Figured.

"They got 'im," Raph answered. Leo sighed, the weight of leadership settling heavily on his shoulders. He was supposed to have protected them… he was responsible for his brothers… he was supposed to have kept them safe.

"What happened?" Leo asked finally, forcing his voice to remain steady. With an effort, he sat up, ignoring the protests from his aching body. "And are the rest of you ok?"

"We're fine," Mikey answered in a small voice, seeming almost apologetic. "They didn't come after me… You've been out of it for about an hour, though. What exactly happened to y-"

"Donny's in Shredder's Tower," Raph cut in bluntly. "Or his shell cell is, anyway. We ain't got a clue what happened though."

"There was an explosion…" Leo mentioned. Raph shook his head.

"Someone got to da Battle Shell. It's… well, it's completely gone. Ain't no way to salvage that t'ing. But Donny couldn'a been inside it, or his phone woulda blown, too. I guess the Elite guard musta grabbed him… I only had one of dem after me." He cracked his knuckles. "What I wouldn' give for a fair fight wit' those mot-"

"Monsters," Leo finished, frowning. "But, the other three were following me… they thought I was Don, so they couldn't have grabbed him. Shell, who did, then? It couldn't have been the Foot soldiers – they couldn't have taken Donny down on their own."

"Who cares who did it?" Raph growled. "We gotta go get 'im!" He looked pained. "I wanted to go after 'im myself, but…" He trailed off, not meeting Leo's eyes. But I picked the wrong blinking dot to follow and had to carry you back instead. Somehow, there was just no good way to say that, and for once Raph realized this before he opened his mouth to try.

Not that he didn't care about Leo – but Leo wasn't the one they needed to worry about, and both of them knew it.

"But, you're ok, right?" Mikey broke in, saving Raph from having to finish. He looked hopefully at Leo. "So, we can like… you know, go get Donny now, right?"

"Yes," Leo answered firmly, catching Splinter's eye. The old rat nodded wordlessly, knowing there was no time for planning or recuperating. From the look on his face, Leo assumed Raph had filled their master in on the conversation they had overheard. "We're leaving right now."

Respectfully, he bowed to Splinter. "By your leave, Master Splinter."

"Go, my sons," Splinter responded with a sigh. "Find your brother and bring him home."

"Don't worry, Masta Splinter," Raph growled. "We ain't comin' back without 'im." He turned to his oldest brother. "Oh yeah, before I forget…" He held out Leo's katana and sheaths. "T'anks, bro."

"Yeah," Leo sighed, taking his weapons back. Too bad he had lost Donatello's bo for nothing. Strapping the sheaths back in place on the back of his shell, Leo forced an optimistic smile to his face. It wouldn't fool the naturally cynical Raph, but it did a world of good for Mikey and it wouldn't hurt Master Splinter, either.

"Ok, let's go get Donny!"

Mikey perked up immediately, happy to be moving in a forward direction again, before slapping his forehead suddenly.

"Wow, totally forgot, dudes! I gotta go get more 'chucks! I kinda doubt old Shredder will just give me mine back if I ask him real nice."

"Go ahead," Leo grinned.

"We'll meet you in the sewers, Mike, just hurry it up," Raph suddenly said, motioning for Leo to go ahead. Leo glanced at Raph quizzically as Mikey nodded and dashed off towards the dojo, but Raph just stared pointedly back at him. Shrugging, Leo turned to Splinter and bowed again before the two exited the Lair into the cold sewer.

They trudged along in silence through the dark tunnel for less than a minute when Raph stopped and turned to his brother.

"Leo… I jus' wanted to say…" Raph trailed off, rubbing his head in discomfort. Leo waited, wondering what his brother could possibly have to say that was so hard for him, and which he obviously didn't want Mikey around to hear.

"What I mean is…" the red banded turtle continued. "Well, when it was just me an' Mikey, an'… an' I had to pick which one o' you we should go after…"

He stopped again. Leo set a hand on his shoulder, still confused.

"I'm not mad that you were hoping it'd be Donny you got to first, if that's what you're worried about," he tried, but Raph shook his head. "I would've told you to get him before me. I mean, it's Donny, you know?"

"Nah, it ain't that… I sorta figured that's what you'da wanted me to do… it's just…" Raph looked away, shrugging away from Leo's hand. He'd never been good at this sort of thing, but he had already started… he was obligated to finish now.

"It's… I get it, now," he mumbled quietly. "I know I ain't always the best one at listenin' to your decisions, but… I know how hard they can be for ya sometimes. I know it ain't easy. An'… I'm… I'm… sorry."

To Raph's relief, Leo didn't laugh as he almost thought he might. A look of sudden comprehension crossed his brother's face as he finally got what was really bothering the other turtle. Taking advantage of Mikey's absence, Leo reached out and gripped Raph's shoulder again.

"Raph. Listen to me. You did the right thing. That was an incredibly difficult decision that you were left with, and either choice could have turned out wrong. Don't let yourself start to wonder what might have happened if you'd done something different, because you will never know for sure, and you'll just drive yourself mad, trying. There was no way to know where Donny was, and you made the most logical decision. You did what I would've done, if that's any comfort at all. With any luck, it'll turn out for the best."

Leo let go and turned away, checking behind them to see if Mike had caught up yet. Raph was still quiet behind him.

"And by the way," Leo added, a smile crossing his face. "Apology accepted. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Raph couldn't help but chuckle at that, even as he secretly felt a bit of relief.

oOo oOo oOo

"Why does this feel like it's all been way too easy?" Raph muttered under his breath as he constantly scanned the corners for moving shadows that would give their enemies away. Finding an entrance to the Tower had been much more difficult than usual this time. Usually, they'd have Donny running some sort of technological surveillance type… thing… and he could tell them where the all entrances were, how to access them, and what sort of security they'd be facing.

How, no one but him would ever understand.

This time, though, they were running around blind. After some time-consuming, old-fashioned scouting, they'd ended up simply taking an old access way through the sewer itself, which had taken them into the deepest and darkest of the Foot Tower sub-basements. Now, it was just a matter of working their way up the levels of the Tower until they found their brother, hopefully without running into too many guards or tripping any alarms that they had no way of knowing of.

So far, that part had been a cake walk, which was when the ninjas started to worry.

"We ain't seen a single guard in here, Leo," Raph muttered. "Somethin' ain't right."

"I know," Leo answered in a low voice. "Shredder had to know we'd be coming. Why is there no one here?"

"You know this is probably a trap."

Leo looked at him sadly and nodded. "Yup."

"You know Shred-head would expect us to keep comin' even if we knew it was a trap."

"Yup."

"We goin' on anyway?"

"Yup."

Raphael nodded in satisfied agreement, pleased at this odd show of recklessness from his normally overly cautious leader. Let them come, he was ready to bust some more heads!

"Hey, dudes, we already passed the floor with the dungeons," Mikey pointed out quietly as they continued walking, always scanning their surroundings. "What if he's… ya know, not here anymore?"

"I checked for his phone's signal already," Leo answered, keeping his voice low still. "Whoever had it must have realized we could trace it and turned it off. There aren't any guarantees here, Mikey."

"Wait… you tellin' me we might be walkin' into Shredder's hands for nothin'?" Raph growled, throwing up his hands. "Well, ain't that great?!"

Leo glared at his brother, motioning for him to keep his voice down. "Raph, we just got done saying this was most likely a trap. It's not like you don't know the score. Besides, I doubt they'll have moved Donny. Shredder wanted him here, remember? I'm sure he's around here somewhe-"

Raph threw out an arm, cutting Leo off as he held both his brothers back. All of them froze, listening with all their might. The corridor they were in was silent and empty, but Raph felt his nerves tingling with furious energy. Something… or someone… was up ahead.

Leo felt the presence of someone else as well, but it confused him. It felt… off, somehow. Familiar, but completely alien to him at the same time. Pushing aside Raph's arm, Leo led the others forward with the complete and utter silence of a trained ninja, and peeked cautiously around the corner.

There, with his shell to them and his head lowered, was the missing Donatello! He was kneeling in the corner, presumably hiding from any guards that might be following him, though he didn't seem to hear his brothers coming up behind him.

"Donny!" Mikey yelled, stealth forgotten in his relief. "You got away! We've been looking for… for…"

The youngest turtle trailed off as the three watched their brother stand up and turn around. Only now did they see the helmet that was on his head and the sword that was in his hand. Mikey gulped, glancing at Leo to see what he made of the situation.

"Don?" Leo ventured, suddenly unreasonably afraid. Swallowing his fear, he stepped forward. "Bro… can you hear me?"

"Leo, I ain't likin' this," Raph growled behind him. Something about that helmet… something about the way Donny's mouth was slack, his posture drooping… something about the fact that Donny was carrying a blade… something was wrong. Very… very… wrong.

"Donny?" Leo tried again, cautiously taking another step and reaching out.

At the speed of light, Donatello suddenly tensed up and brought the sword slashing down at his brother's head.

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