Hey all! :D Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry it's been awhile, but here's the long awaited chapter!

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Chapter 22

Leo squeezed his eyes shut as Keith's forearm pushed harder and harder on his neck, trying to wiggle out from underneath him, but it was no use. He was pinned down too hard. He could see his vision starting to go black as it became increasingly harder to breathe. His struggles slowly started to become less and less. Thoughts started to race through his head, coming quick, hard, and fast. Not good enough. Failed. Disappointment. But mostly the failure. The failure to protect his family, to save them from the Foot, to bring them to the safety of a new home, of actually leading leading Keith, who worked for the Foot, to the lair. To their home. There was nothing he could think of that could have been a worse failure. Nothing.

The weight on his neck suddenly lifted. Slowly, then suddenly he could breathe. His lungs burned, resisting the sudden oxygen quickly filling his lungs. He choked, then gulped hungrily at the air. The sweet sweet air. Two familiar hands helped him sit up. He blinked, trying to regain his vision. After a moment he turned to look beside him.

Don watched him with a worried expression, his arm hanging in that sling in front of him. His other helping to support Leo.

"Raph..." Leo rasped.

"Shh... no talking for you either until I look at your throat," Don scolded quietly. He looked over to the right. "Rai's helping him. That blow Raph took knocked him a little senseless. He'll be fine. So will the others."

Leo blinked and rubbed his throat, wincing slightly as he did. He looked back at Don, then around the room, a big question in his eyes.

Don nodded. "Yes. Keith's out. For now. I couldn't have stopped Rai from knocking him out if I'd tried."

Leo sighed relieved. But he wasn't fully relieved. There was still the matter of Shredder and whatever ninjas that were left. He slowly got to his feet with Don's help and finally looked over to where Rai and Raph were. Raph was standing as well and pushing Rai away. Rai didn't look too happy but pulled away. The two were just starting to join Leo and Don when Leo cringed. A high pitched girly scream pierced the air. Leo spun, knowing the sound of that scream anywhere.

Mikey was hanging upside down in Shredder's grasp, face pale. The dozen ninjas that were left surrounded Shredder and Mikey.

Splinter was picking himself up off the floor, his eyes narrowed on the tall tin man before them. "Let him go," he said slowly.

"Now that is something I can't do rat," Shredder growled. He pulled back his arm. "But you will watch his death with your own eyes tonight."

Leo stumbled forward, but knew he would never make it in time. The only one closest to Mikey was Splinter. And he still had a broken leg, not to mention the few ninjas still standing. He would truly loose his brother tonight. And Leo's heart felt as heavy as stone.

The lights flickered twice, slowing the actions of those in the room, then shut off.

"What? Again?!" Shredder bellowed. "No matter. It won't help this time."

A crack echoed through the room. A sickening sound, sending an icy chill down the back of every single person in the room. Then a hard thud and an uneasy moan. And a very loud crash thundered through the sudden silence. A few more things that sounded like metal and plastic lightly crashed before the air settled back into silence. A deathly silence.

Leo's heart raced. He stumbled weakly around in the dark. He could feel Don close behind him should he fall over from exhaustion. He could hear Raph and Rai's footsteps behind Don's. But what he couldn't get his mind off was the fact that Shredder didn't care about the lights. That crack was all that echoed through Leo's mind. Over and over without stopping. Never mind that the room was still silent. Or that his footsteps could probably be heard by everyone else in the room. He only cared about getting to Mikey. To know that he was still alive. But every logical thought in his head told him he would not find his brother alive this time. It was just simply not possible. He continued forward a little more, sure that he was where Mikey was hanging from Shredder's grasp, when he tripped over a lump. His heart fell even more, crushed. He scrambled to his knees. Felt the familiar cool, smooth skin. The pads on the elbows and knees. The broken arm. A hand squeezing his. Leo froze. A hand squeezing his...

"Hey bro," Mikey whispered.

"Mikey!" Leo gasped barely above a whisper.

"Yep." Mikey squeezed his hand tighter. "I'm ok. Help me up?"

Leo pulled him up and felt like he was going to nearly fall over himself. Mikey and another set of hands steadied him. Don's hands. "But Shredder... The sound..." he rasped.

The lights flickered on. Shredder was no where in sight. Though a gaping hole in the wall nearby suggested he had flown straight through it. No door for him! And the ninjas were unconscious on the floor, laying at Rai and Raph's feet. Leo blinked. They had been behind him and Don.

"We were just checking them," Raph said, as if reading Leo's thoughts. His arms crossed. "Sensei knocked them out." He eyed them, looking as if he'd like to kick a few of them just for good measure.

Splinter stood on one leg next to Leo, his other leg slightly off the floor as he leaned on a tall piece of smooth metal. "We must leave my sons."

Leo nodded. He wanted so much to go home. But they had no home. No where to rest. Or to heal. They would never make it safely to Casey's farm house. The battle shell was toast. There was April's van... but he knew they had to get fixed up first. He just some how doubted things would turn out all right. Too much had gone wrong. Too much caused by his own failure.

"Hey, where's Case," Raph asked looking around.

"Over here." Casey stepped out around a few boxes. "Some ninjas decided to drag me from the fun. But showed them a thing or two." He smacked his left hand into his right, a grin across his face.

"You did?" April came out behind him, eyeing Casey with one eyebrow up.

"Ok ok. She did. But I still got in a few good whacks," Casey protested.

Raph shook his head.

"Is he out?" Mikey asked, staring at the hole wall.

They all turned to gaze at the hole in the wall where Shredder had been thrown through.

"I do not know," Splinter said. He started limping for the door without another word.

"I'll find out," Raph muttered and headed for the wall, jumping through the wall before anyone could stop him.

"Raph!" Leo rasped out anyway.

Don squeezed his shoulder and shook his head. "Shh..."

Leo glared at him and went over to the hole in the wall, peering through.

"Looks pretty out to me," Raph said, kicking him in the leg.

The leg twitched.

Raph growled, taking his sai out of his belt and raising one of them, about to slice into the twitching leg.

Slowly both legs twitched, then started to stand. The whole body stood.

Raph's arm slowly lowered. He stumbled back a couple steps.

Shredder glaring at them with a fierce hatred. "You think throwing me through a mere wall would be enough to finish me and ruin my plans?" he growled. "Pathetic."