Chapter 4:

(Donnie's POV)

It took no less than 20 minutes for Mikey, Splinter and I to make it to the city gate were a large group was preparing to attack anyone that tried to get inside, and not only that, but from what I could see, they had some pretty scary hardware to do it with.

"Officer Frank," I called as we neared the front, where I could see the man who had arrested us when we first arrived in the city.

"Oh, not you again," The man complained before walking away, but I quickly rounded him to stop his retreat, "If you haven't noticed we're busy," He growled at me sternly.

"I have noticed that actually," I informed him as Splinter and Mikey joined me, "But I need to you hold off, the person leading that army is my brother."

"Really?" He asked in a tone of voice that told me he already knew that.

"Please sir, he's being controlled," Mikey added desperately, causing the guy to face him next.

"It that right? Oh, what a shame," He proclaimed with fake sympathy, "You know if I had just kept you four contained in the first place, none of this would have happened," He yelled loudly.

"Yeah – maybe," Mikey agreed with a nervous little smile.

"Sir," I put in then, walking closer to speak face to face with the man, "I understand your distrust, I do, but if we can reach him, I –"

"And let you join forces, no thank you," He interrupted seriously, causing me to narrow my eyes at him as he pushed his luck just a bit too far.

"Officer – I am not asking for your permission," I informed him seriously, "We are going to get our brother back, whether you're with us or not. I'm just giving you a heads-up so your men don't get hurt."

"Is that a threat?" He growled at me bravely. I really had to hand it to the guy – he had guts.

"If it has to be," I informed him, making sure to keep eye contact as we stared each other down for several moments until he finally sighed.

"Fine, you got 15 minutes," He proclaimed sourly. "You don't stop that army by then, I'm leveling in the place."

"Thank you," I offered quickly, turning back to Mikey as he stepped up to go with me. "Father," I added looking toward Splinter and he nodded in understanding.

"I will help where I can here," He told me sternly, "Go, save your brother," He added and Mikey and I promptly bowed to him in response before rushing though the open gate and into Hell's Kitchen.

…

"So what exactly are we going to do if when we find him?" Mikey asked as we made our way through the trees in an attempt to circle around to where one of Casey's men had spotted Raph.

"Free him, the same way I freed you," I informed him quietly.

"What if they fixed the worms?" He countered.

"I don't think they're even aware that we've escaped yet, Mike. And, according to Casey; Raph's been out here for days. They just haven't been able to get close enough to catch him."

"I hope he's okay," He added with concern and I quickly informed him that everything would be fine, however that was before we ran into a bit of a road block, in the form of rather large and very deep river.

"Where did that come from?" Mikey proclaimed in shock as we took in the high concrete walls on both sides that were going to make scaling it rather difficult.

"Come on." I called as I quietly led the way further into the trees in the hopes of finding a way to cross.

"Well that looks – safe," My brother declared sarcastically when we located a bridge which took the form of a large tree root which had grown over the top the road.

"Do you think it's Raph," Mikey asked; as I carefully leaned forward to test the bridge, discovering that it was no ordinary root.

"Yeah," I answered quietly as our instincts screamed at us that something was not kosher here, but we didn't have much choice, we were running out of time, "You ready?" I asked and he nodded in complete understanding of what I meant.

Though this was barely my first real opportunity as leader, our teamwork was still perfectly in sync, and though he may have chosen to forgo it, he was still a full-fledged second-in-command. No matter how unpredictable the circumstances, we could face them.

And so we carefully started making our way across the bridge, even though we were fully aware that it was a trap, and we were not disappointed, for when we reached the middle of the root, movement from all around quickly alerted us to the fact that what we were walking on was very much alive.

"Oh shit, that's big," Mikey complained truthfully as the snakeweed rose up to see what pray had fallen into its trap.

"Damn it," I agreed, as I got a better look and realized it wasn't the weed-mutant I had been expecting, but it's much larger and more violent cousin; the creep-weed.

"Jump!" I ordered as it charged us and we didn't waste a moment pushing away from the weed's grip to drop into the rushing water below where we had more of an advantage.

However, though the last second action did help us to avoid being eaten, the current soon proved simply too strong for us to fight and it wasn't long before we were helplessly washed down the river and deeper into the trap.

…

"Mikey, you okay?" I called to my brother when we could finally surface again after surviving not one but two waterfalls only to find ourselves in a giant bowl.

"Yeah, I think so," He answered as we reached out to hold onto the walls, but they were slick with algae; that left us with no leverage to get out.

I was aware that this was yet another mechanism used by the creep-weed to catch it's pray, as the plant mutant was quite a bit smarter than its smaller cousin. It would now likely take its time to get here, allowing the trap to completely exhaust us before coming in to collect its dinner.

"Well, look what I caught," A voice called suddenly and we looked up to find the pond surrounded by ninja, and at their head was –

"Raph?" Mikey asked excitedly, only to frown when he realized that it may have been our brother's body, but it certainly wasn't his mind, "Hey, bro," He added nervously, causing Raph to just narrow his eyes at us before turning to start issuing orders to his troops.

"What are they gonna do?" Mike whispered in my direction as we watched the exchange, trying to figure out what they were saying, but they were too far away.

"Classic mouse trap," I proclaimed quietly as I looked around again in an attempt to find a way out of our predicament, as well as learn what else was down here besides water.

"We're not mice," Mikey pointed out unnecessarily.

"It's a figure of speech," I informed him, "A long time ago people used a bucket and a stick as a mouse trap. They would put a piece of food on the stick, drawing the mouse in and causing it to fall into the water. Eventually it would drown," I explained distractedly as I tired to get a better look at the bottom of the pond, but it was pitch black.

"But – we're not mice – right," He repeated nervously, leaving me to look at him sympathetically.

"We may not drown,but once that creep-weed gets here, it's not gonna matter," I proclaimed causing him to pout, "But I got an idea," I added swimming over to whisper something in his ear.

"And that's gonna – help?" He asked in response.

"To be honest, I'm kinda working this out as I go along," I admitted with a smile, which he returned – kind of.

"You think that's what Leo does too?" He asked curiously and I shrugged.

"If he does, he'd never admit it," I muttered truthfully, causing him to make a face that clearly said 'True,' before moving to bring his nunchucks into his hand, releasing both of them into their chain-scythe forms as I kept an eye on Raph, praying that he wouldn't leave before Mikey was ready.

"Okay," He told me after another minute and I nodded before moving over to let him brace himself against my back so he could take aim and started whipping the connected form of his two weapons around like a huge lasso before finally letting it fly just as our enemy became aware that we were up to something.

This left Raph in just the right position to be captured in the loop at the end.

"Oh yeah, sign me up for the rodeo," Mikey crowed as I moved around to grab the chain myself.

"Pull," I called quickly, and using the wall to brace ourselves as we did just that. Pulling with everything we had; knowing our brother had been taken off guard and would need a second to activate his full strength.

If we could out muscle him within that small window of time, we could pull him into the pond. If not, then he would likely pull us out, either way we could move on with the second part of my plan.

Thankfully, the goons around him didn't seem to be programmed to do anything without their leader, so they didn't even attempt to help him as we finally managed to pluck him from his high perch and watched as he fell nearly 2 stories.

"Ow, that had to hurt," Mikey winced as our brother hit the water, but we weren't able to pity him as we quickly took out our weapons and tackled; in an attempt to control him before he found his strength.

In a way the trap had worked in our favor, for, in the water, his power was nearly cut in half, so together Mikey and I could actually take him. However, that wasn't to say he didn't put up a fight.

"Come on, you selfish bastard, break free," I insulted sternly as we surfaced again allowing me to put the other half of the plan into motion; causing him to bore down on my staff which nearly forced me under the water until Mikey jumped on his back.

"What's this, Raph, you actually like working for Shredder," Mikey added as he danced ridiculously on his back, forcing our brother to retaliate again as his temper clearly started to rise.

"Lackey," I called next as Mikey dove into the water to avoid him and Raph immediately rounded on me with eyes as white as paper, "Pawn," I added with a smile, leaving him to growl at me as I pushed one last button, "Puppet."

"Damnit, Donnie," He suddenly swore as he brawled into me, trapping me against the wall where he threatened to punch me, "I swear if ya don't shut up, I'm gonna – oh shit," He added abruptly, before appearing as though he was about to throw up.

This allowed me to quickly tackle him myself and force his mouth open as I poured the contents of a little bottle down his throat to kill the worm before it could take him over again.

"Get off!" He grumbled as he pushed me away again, but not so hard that I felt that he wasn't in control as he made a face full of clear disgust.

"Sorry, I didn't have enough time to work on the taste," I apologized, rubbing a spot on my plastron where he'd gotten in a lucky hit.

"No, no, that's okay, I probably deserved it," He muttered sourly as Mikey swam over to hug him with a smile plastered across half his face, clearly he had enjoyed insulting our brother just a little too much.

"Did ya just call me a selfish bastard?" Raph counted suddenly, quickly turning to point an accusing finger in my direction.

"No," I said in such a way that made me look as if I didn't know what he was talking about, leaving him to raise a questionable eye-ridge before Mikey brought our attention to something else.

"Uh, guys," He said, motioning toward the ninja; who were still watching us from all directions. Though they clearly didn't have any intention of attacking, it didn't appear that they were going to help us either.

"Hey," Raph called up seriously, causing them to move as if to accept his orders. "Throw me a rope," He commanded and one of them quickly went about doing just that, allowing us to finally escape the mouse trap.

"See, I told you it would work," I told Mikey as we reached the top.

"Yeah, right," He muttered disbelievingly, "What about the weed monster?" He added, which was suddenly answered with the loud roar of a creature that was clearly not happy with the loss of its breakfast.

"Maybe this is a bad time ta point this out –" Raph began as we listened to the weed charging through the forest nearby to attack again, "But I don't have any control over that one."

"Not a problem," I answered simply, before rushing over to intercept the large glowing head that had zeroed in on us, despite my brother's complaint.

Now that we had found Raph, there was no need to hide my secret weapon, and so I quickly got the creature's attention, in order to inform it of a few things via a long lost language that I was admittedly not too skill with, but it was enough to earn a loud growl from the creep-weed, before it angrily stormed away again – thankfully, without eating us.

"What?" Raph asked in shock as Mikey's jaw hit the ground.

"I studied with Olcadan for 5 years, did you really think I wouldn't know how to handle a giant plant?" I asked sourly, causing them both to just stare at me in shock and I sighed before looking around at the ninja; who were all standing around waiting for Raph's next word, "Now – what are we gonna do about them?"

"What?" Raph asked again as he took in the men as well, clearly having forgotten that they were there for a minute.

"Frank's threatened to level this place if they stay here," I proclaimed, looking back toward the entry, before checking my watch to find that we were swiftly running out of time, "I'd be the first to say how much they probably deserve it, but that doesn't mean we can just let it happen," I admitted sternly.

"Right – hang on," Raph proclaimed thoughtfully before walked over to the group again, "At attention," He ordered, causing them all to stand up straight, "Abandon all weapons," He added sternly and they immediately drop their guns as well as anything else that might be considered a weapon.

"Raise your hands," Raph ordered now and they all obeyed once again without question as my brother turned to point toward the entry portal where the city's protectors were still waiting, "Now – march!"He added and they promptly proceed through the forest ahead of us.

…

"Whoa!" I called out when we reached the entrance, only to find a whole line of people pointing their guns as us, "Easy, they're not going to attack," I informed them as Raph turned back to his troops.

"Surrender," He ordered, causing them all to fall to their knees with their hands on their heads as Raph scoffed and walked away, leaving his army lost and motionless without their captain.

…

"Father?" Raph said in shock once Mikey and I had led him through the ally troops to Splinter's location, leaving the rat to quickly walk up to hug our previously missing sibling.

"My son, it is good to see you are safe," He spoke genuinely as I walked up to Officer Frank who had folded his arms in a huff to regard me with a stern expression.

"25 minutes," I told him as I looked at my watch again, "You waited?"

"Meh," He mumbled dismissively and I smiled.

"Thank you," I offered him respectfully, causing him to finally look at me.

"I owed you," He stated, suddenly leaving me to narrow my eyes in confusion, "You helped my sons, Tyler and Falcon," He explained and I smiled again. Now that he mentioned it I could certainly see the resemblance, "But that doesn't mean I trust you," He added sternly and I nodded in agreement.

After all we had developed a – complicated relationship, who were we to mess with what worked?

"So, where's Leo?" Raph suddenly asked, causing me to stop breathing for a second before looking back at him sadly, leaving him to sigh in understanding, "Ya haven't freed him yet?" He answered himself solemnly.

"We don't even know where he is," Mikey admitted sadly.

"I do," Raph put in and we all looked at him in shock as he turned his eyes to the ground, clearly not happy about what he was about to say, "He's Shredder's Second-in-Command."

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