Chapter 5:

(3rd:)

"Raph!" A voice proclaimed excitedly when they arrived back at Casey's base, leaving the turtles to look up as none other than Mona Lisa, herself, ran up to take Raph to the floor in an embrace.

"Lisa?" He asked as his brothers laughed at his shocked expression, "What are ya doin' here?"

"She wanted to come," Splinter answered, displaying a clear smile in response to his son's position.

"And look who I brought," She piped in as she jumped back to her feet to retrieve something from the beach where she'd been waiting for them.

"Spike," Raph proclaimed excitedly, rushing to see his beloved pet for the first time in too long, "Hey, little buddy," He coed softly as he took a small turtle into his hands.

"Are you sure he's not still being controlled?" Mikey whispered into Donnie's ear, making his brother grin.

"And I brought someone for you too, Mikey," Lisa added sassily, motioning back toward the bench where a small animal carrier was still waiting, which caused Mikey's eyes to bulge to the size of half dollars.

"No," He proclaimed, before running over to look inside, "Klunk!" He cried with happiness, moving to open the carrier and hug his little friend.

"So, where's Leo?" Lisa asked with a smile, looking around them toward the door as if expecting him to walk in any second, which understandably caused the room to go quiet.

"He'll be here soon," Donnie finally answered, though she was well aware by this point that something was very wrong, clearly no one had told her of the circumstances, "I need to work on something," He added quietly, before moving down the hall, leaving Raph to gently place his arm around the female mutant.

"Come on," He offered kindly, leading her toward a room so they could talk, "We'll fill ya in."

…

"I don't believe this," Lisa proclaimed once they had finished explained the situation, before whacking Mikey angrily, "Why didn't anyone tell me this was happening?" She demanded sternly.

"I didn't know you were here," He countered quickly, "And why does everyone always hit me?" He whined, earning another of said motions from Raph this time, who promptly smiled at his little brother, clearly enjoying himself.

"My sons, sense the subject has been breached, what plans do you have to locate your brother?" Splinter asked then, bringing everyone back down to earth.

"We don't know," Mikey answered solemnly.

"Well, you know how to free him now," Lisa put in truthfully.

"Yeah, but – we still need ta find him," Raph countered, causing her to look at the ground as she remembered that little detail, "I can't even sense him," He admitted sadly. "He's probably wearing one a those suits," He explained, motioning toward the suit he himself had been wearing until he'd been able to remove it mere moments ago.

"Perhaps Donatello has a plan?" Splinter announced, which was a good possibility, considering how quickly he had gone off on his own, "Perhaps you should see if he needs your assistance?" He added, causing the two turtles to nod in agreement before getting up to find their brother.

However, as they walked through the doorway of the room that Donnie had been using to gather information, all they found was Zira looking curiously at his computer.

"Where's Donnie?" Raph asked, causing her to look up at him.

"I just got here," She told him, before looking back at something on the screen which caused the other two to quickly walk over to see it for themselves; only to find a message.

I found him.

"Shit," Raph swore, before sitting at the desk in an attempt to get more information from the computer, but he wasn't the wizard Donnie was and the thing promptly refused him, "Damnit," He yelled; pounding his fists into the desk angrily, causing Splinter to rush into the room.

"What is wrong?" He demanded sternly.

"It's Donnie," Raph told him as he got up to leave again, "He found Leo, but he went after him alone."

…

(Donnie's POV)

I stood quietly with my eyes closed, preparing myself for what was about to happen as I awaited Leo's arrival. Sending a message to Shredder from the equipment Raph had had on him was simple enough, as, in the end, I'd just decided that tracking Leo down would take too much time and so I'd have him come to me.

Convincing Shred-head that his army had been defeated wasn't too difficult, however finding and reprogramming Leo was a bit trickier and admittedly left me with a slimy taste in my mouth. But my new-found ability allowed me to manage it in the end and even at a much faster rate.

At this point it would take a while for Raph and the others to discover what I had done and follow, which would hopefully give me enough time to free Leo before they got here, which was how I found myself on a roof top somewhere around where we had found Raph, watching a slight shadow move closer to my location, until finally Leo was standing on the other end of the roof.

"Hey, bro," I greeted him quietly as he calmly took me in; clearly trying to figure out what was going on, for according to his programming, Raph was supposed to be the one waiting for him.

It didn't take but another second of him to seemingly come to the conclusion that I had tricked him and so began to walk closer, unsheathing his swords in the process as he prepared for our fight.

Like the rest of us he had been decked out in a black suit so it was impossible to sense him, but those swords were all the proof I needed to know it was really him. Why Shredder had decided to let us keep our weapons was beyond me, though it was likely because he saw the potential in allowing us to continue welding tools we knew so well.

"Leo, you don't want to do this," I told my brother, but my words were clearly not heard, for he promptly charged me and I was forced to bring my staff out to block his weapon as he went for a killing blow.

"Leo, you can fight this, you did it before," I growled at him as we got up close and personal, but I soon had to pull away again to avoid another attack, "Please, don't make me do this," I begged quietly, but the fact that he wasn't even talking proved that he was under a much stronger control than either Mikey or Raph.

Neither one of them had been programmed to out right attack like this. Mikey was just a messenger and Raph seemed to be more on the defensive, fighting only when someone attacked him first. But Leo was clearly influenced differently. He's main purpose was to do Shredder's bidding and he would take out anyone that got in his way.

"Leo –" I tired again as he forced me back with several strikes that made my bones ache as I blocked them. He may not have had the shear strength that Raph did, but his intense training made him just as dangerous.

'You tried,' A voice in my head declared after a few minutes and I sadly had to admit that it was right, and so I quietly made some distance between us so I could instigate my next plan.

Leo wasn't like the rest of us, he didn't allow his emotions to surface and nothing I did was going to change that, so there was only one thing I could do to draw him out.

"Leonardo," I said sternly, causing him to look at me again, clearly curious to see what I had in store, but I doubt even he was prepared for my next words, "I strip you of your command."

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