Author's Note: Welcome back to the enthralling 7th chapter of A New Start. We are picking up right where we left off, with the brothers venturing deep into enemy territory. Much awaits them the further they go in, will they complete their mission, or will everything fall apart, find out by delving into one of the final chapters of this story and hold on tight, it's gonna get crazy. Happy reading and see you at the end. :)

A New Start Chapter 7

The brothers dash through the twisting corridors, their feet thundering on the stone floor, the echo of their steps reverberating in the dim fortress passageways. They form a single-file line, following Leo as he expertly navigates through the ever-expanding maze. Minutes pass by, and a growing sense of anxiety fills the air. The brothers feel a sense of Panic start to set in, every passing moment feels like they are getting further and further away from succeeding, yet Leo remains steadfast and composed.

(We're going in circles; I've seen that same wall pattern three times.)

Raph abruptly comes to a halt, causing the others to skid to a stop ahead and glance back.

(L) "Raph, we can't afford to stop."

"Leo, we're going in circles. We need to split up. Even if just one of us finds the portal, it's better than none."

"Raph, this place is a maze. If we get separated, we'll fail the mission, and I guarantee you there will be hordes of Krang droids guarding that portal. How's one of us supposed to handle them all?"

"Leo, we're already lost. That wall pattern over there, I've seen it three times!"

"Raph, we don't have time for this, and I can't waste time arguing with you. I know where we're going, okay? And it's a stone wall, you're going to see similar patterns."

"I'm trying to help."

Leo brushes off Raph's concerns and sprints down the corridor, with Donnie and Mikey close behind. Raph pursues them but notices an upcoming corridor. Cool air brushes against his face, and he senses this is the way.

"Leo, we need to…"

"Raph, enough."

Raph feels his face heat up with irritation, his fists clench tightly into a ball.

(If he won't listen, I'll have to prove it to him.)

Raph decides he'll navigate the corridor alone, he watches as the corridor slowly approaches and when the time comes, he stealthily sneaks down the passage, trying his best to stay light on his feet. After he gets a few steps down the corridor, he pauses, giving a momentary glance backward, half-expecting his brothers to be tailing him, but they don't. After a few seconds, he starts running down the corridor, following the passages that push out more air. The rushing air intensifies with each step until finally, he comes across a giant archway leading out into a courtyard. Without hesitation, he runs outside, his eyes adjusting to the newfound brightness. When his eyes finally adjust, he is immediately met with the portal, it towers above him, casting a shadow over him. He scans the surrounding area, anticipating an army like Leo had warned about, yet the place was eerily deserted— or so he initially believed. Suddenly, a swarm of droids emerge from every opening, converging on the portal. Caught off guard, Raph stands momentarily stunned.

"Ah, crap."

Locked in a gaze with the droids, Raph knows he fucked up, he has just made himself one big target for hundreds of enemies to fire upon, and as they begin charging up their blasters, they unleash a barrage of plasma beams down upon him. With desperation now in his mind, he scans for a place to run to cover, finally, his eyes spot a stack of metal sheets. He crouches behind them, only to realise that perhaps it wasn't the best option. The beams ricochet off the metal, generating a deafening and disorienting noise that rings out through his head.

"Damn it, what the hell was I thinking? Ahh Leo was right; I can't do this alone."

Raph scans for an escape route, feeling pinned down by the relentless fire. Each time he attempts to peek his head out, a barrage of beams hail down upon him. But then, an abrupt silence falls, leaving only a loud swinging sound above him. As he gazes up, he spots a crane, it is similar to the ones used in New York, but instead of the normal crane head, it carries a giant magnet, likely for moving these metal sheets that he's hiding behind.

"Right, now how the fuck do I get up there."

Before Raph can ponder up a plan, a familiar voice interrupts his thoughts.

"Raphael, wandering into my domain wasn't the wisest choice. You're outmatched here."

"Piss off, Kanz. I don't have time for you."

"Oh, no time for me. That's quite disappointing. I still remember when you used to obey my every command. Ah, it feels like just yesterday."

"Never gonna happen again."

"Is that so… Where are your brothers? I swear they came in here with you."

"Like I would tell you anything, Krang."

"No matter."

Kanz snaps his fingers, commanding ten droids to sprint into the fortress, blasters in hand.

"I'll send my men to find them, and when they do, I'll kill them right in front of you. Or perhaps I'll make you do it. So, who's your favourite brother? I want to make this hurt the most."

"You ain't gonna find them and if you think a few Krang droids can bring my brothers in, you're just as stupid as I thought."

"Perhaps not, but you still can't see the full picture, can you?"

"You don't even have a plan, Kanz. You're making it up as you go along."

"Well, I know your plan. It's not that hard to figure out."

"Yeah right, you're nothing but a manipulator, Kanz. Your threats mean nothing."

"My threats will mean something in a minute when I find your brothers and skin them alive in front of you. I don't usually play around, Raphael, but messing with you is so fun. Say, haven't you wondered why I haven't caught you yet? Why I haven't taken that little device off your arm? Why I haven't crushed your shell underneath my foot? Well, let's just say I like to play my cards right. I'm waiting for the perfect moment, the one where you can cause the most damage, and create the most chaos."

"Pfft, lame."

Raph pushes Kanz's taunts aside. He needs a plan, and he needs it fast. Frantically he scans the fortress, his eyes searching for anything he can use to scale the massive wall. Finally, he spots his way out: across the yard, tucked into a corner, an infirmary is placed, and hanging up on the wall, on a single hook, holds one remaining grappling hook. All others are gone, but this one remains, seemingly waiting for him.

(What are the flipping odds.)

"So, Kanz, how are you going to feel when I destroy your portal?"

"I won't feel anything because it's not gonna happen."

(Oh crap, he's getting too close.)

Raph listens intently as Kanz slowly closes the gap, his metallic feet clicking on the stone path. Panic starts to take hold of Raph's body, he feels sweat pour down his face. He can't stay here; Kanz will tear him apart. But if he bolts for the infirmary, he's likely to get shot. Raph knows he has no other choice.

(Ah, screw it. Now or never.)

Raph listens as Kanz inches closer, almost upon him. Timing is critical; if he messes this up, he'll fail. But if he gets it right, Kanz will be distracted long enough for him to reach the infirmary.

(One.)

Kanz's footsteps synchronise with Raph's counting, striking the floor in rhythm. Just a few more seconds until Kanz arrives.

(Two.)

Raph contemplates taking a blaster hit. Maybe getting hit by a blaster wouldn't be so bad. It might slow him down though, ah who was he kidding they hurt like hell, and his brothers might have to come to his aid… again. Is he worth saving though?

(Three.)

Thoughts of his brothers flood his mind. Maybe he should've stuck with his brothers. At least then, he'd be with them if the world ended. Now he has no clue where they are or if they're even safe.

(Four.)

(Enough thinking. I just have to follow through with the plan.)

As the metal sheets go flying into the air, Raph sprints off without looking back. They crash to the ground and collide with the wall, Kanz sifting through them in search of Raph. The blaster fire erupts again, but Raph dodges through the beams with practiced precision. He ducks and leaps over the beams, inching closer to the infirmary. Raph had been in situations like this countless times, but the fire had never been concentrated on him alone. He then feels a burning sensation radiate from his arm, he looks down to see a scorch mark, he tries to dodge the beams but that one hit has started a chain reaction and now he no longer tries to avoid the beams. He begins just letting them hit him, scorching his body and slowing him down. But he presses on, ignoring the pain, pushing through it. He sprints towards the infirmary. And finally, he reaches it.

(YYEESS!)

Raph bursts into the infirmary, skidding to a halt. He rips the grappling hook from the wall, before swiftly darting under the counter. He fiddles around with it trying to get it ready, when his eyes start to scan the infirmary. He spies the empty grappling hook spots but notices that everything else is perfectly intact and what is more confusing is that the amount of grappling hooks missing is three. Could this have been his brothers?

(No surely I would have seen them… right?)

Regardless of what this was, he finishes preparing the grappling hook, and without wasting any time aims it out of the infirmary and up the wall, slowly he feels it ascend until he feels it click onto the side of the wall. Raph gives a few good tugs on the rope to make sure it is in place and then runs outside and presses the retract button, causing him to go flying up the wall. The droids shoot after him, he runs across the wall to try and avoid their fire, but that is the least of his worries, looking down back towards the ground he makes the discovery that Kanz is quickly crawling up after him and the gap between them is slowly growing smaller. As Kanz slowly approaches him, he tries to reach for Raph's legs, seconds go by and Kanz inches closer, grazing more and more of his foot. Raph pulls his feet up with each attempt Kanz tries but Kanz has another idea, he makes a giant leap after Raph and places himself directly on top of him, blocking the sun from Raph's view. Slowly Kanz descends upon him, it all seeming to happen in slow motion. Raph tries to move but he doesn't have time and as Kanz gets closer, his hand inches closer to Raph, but that doesn't last long. Suddenly a foot comes into contact with Kanz's face and kicks him away, causing him to tumble down the wall. Raph's world slowly comes back to normal speed, he tries to see who saved him but they are blocked by the sun, and eventually, when Raph can finally see, he is surprised by who is standing there.

"MIKEY!?... WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?"

"The back entrance. Turns out Leo did know where he was going, but you ran off. We had a plan to sneak in here, but you kinda ruined that."

"But…but."

And just as Mikey had, Leo and Donnie join in with their brothers, slowly ascending the wall along with them. As Raph looks over at his other two brothers he can see that they are rather annoyed at him, Donnie has clearly had enough of him and Leo simply just death-stares him, burning a hole into his face.

(L) "Raph what did I say, God, you can't just trust me can you, I had the whole thing figured out."

"Well, why didn't you tell me the plan."

"Have you seen yourself lately, you don't listen, you are running off by yourself and you think you can do everything by yourself, so if I told you the plan, I didn't know what you would do or change or add to it."

Raph stops for a second to think about this, did he even have a reason for doing all this or even being angry, perhaps he did, and even though he didn't want to admit it out loud, he had no choice.

"I'm sorry, I was just… scared."

Mikey and Donnie look at each other shocked, while this hadn't been the first time Raph had admitted to being scared, it was still always shocking when he did. Leo on the other hand wasn't having it, he just simply stared at Raph, waiting for him to go on.

(R) "This thing with Kanz was getting to me, I couldn't think straight, I know I have been hard-headed."

(L) "Have been?"

"Ok I am hard-headed; I have been for the majority of my life. But that still doesn't take away from the fact that I was scared, I couldn't help it, and because I felt like I could do everything by myself I didn't bother telling you guys. I'm sorry, Leo you're my Leader and I promise to follow you, no questions asked."

Leo takes a second to consider what Raph had just said, he looks up to his three brothers and they all give him a slight nod, indicating that they are willing to follow him. Leo takes another few seconds to think of what to say, while looking back down at the portal.

"Alright look, my old plan can still work but Raph I need you to accept that you are going to follow it."

"I promise bro, I'm in no questions asked."

"I'm trusting you Raph, please don't mess this up, we have one chance, one..."

(M) "Yeah, messing things up is my jig."

(D) "Don't think that's something you should be proud of."

(L) "OK here's the plan. Raph when we get up to the top you are going to get into the crane and hover it over the portal. It isn't going to be powerful enough to pick up the portal, but it should be powerful enough to pick up the Krang droids. After that, we follow the same plan as before, and a recap for Mikey, that's where we three go down and distract the droids, while Donnie short-circuits the portal before it can start up, it's going to take a few minutes so we need to give him time. After he has short-circuited the portal, I'll shoot it away into the black hole and then we signal for the other Krang and hopefully, we can then deal with Kanz."

Leo looks over to Raph and nods, noting that they will deal with Kanz, one way or another.

(D) "And if none of that goes to plan, because let's be honest nothing ever really does, then what do we do?"

(L) "We improvise, regardless of how we do this, it needs to be done, we have to stop that portal, regardless of what the cost may be, this is bigger than just saving our home, it's saving our planet."

(R) "As long as I get to smash in some Krang, I am all for this plan."

The brothers finally reach the top of the wall, and as soon as their feet touch the floor, their off towards the crane, not wasting a single second. They run along with each other, surveying the situation ahead of them, there are a few droids here and there but not enough to hinder them too badly. The brothers unsheathe their weapons before plunging towards the enemy, striking them down with minimal effort. Raph beamlines towards the crane, ignoring the droids around him, they try attacking him but he simply runs around them. As the brothers continue to fight off the droids, Raph reaches the crane and jumps inside, his brother calling out for him.

(L) "Raph, get that crane moving! We need to buy time!"

"I've got it, don't worry."

Raph slams the door shut and starts up the crane, it roars to life, his skin coming up in goosebumps. He pushes a lever forward, causing the crane's arm to move, he places the arm over the edge and pushes another lever, causing the magnet to assent down towards the portal. As it descends toward the portal, he can feel the entire crane vibrate, finally, it descends no further and he activates the magnet, causing metal to start attaching itself. Once the sound of clinking stops, Raph pulls the magnet back up to see if the plan has worked, and when it finally arrives back at the top, the sight is rather ghastly. He watches as the droids try to free themselves from the magnet, but no matter how hard they try, the power of the magnet is too strong, so strong in fact that when the droids try to move they tear their own limbs off, causing fluids to spill everywhere and the ground to become almost a murder scene.

(L) "Swing it over the other side."

Raph pushes the lever over, and slowly the magnet moves to hover over the outside of the fortress wall, and just before he can lower them down to the ground, he hears a loud gut-wrenching creak burst from underneath him. Panic begins to circulate through his body, he swings open the door and looks down at the floor, the bolts and metal sheets begin uprooting themselves from the concrete, the weight of the droids is just too much and it is beginning to tip over the edge. Raph bursts out of the crane, hurtling to safety as the colossal crane goes tumbling down over the edge, along with the Krang. The brothers quickly peer over the edge as the crane falls to the floor, it only takes a few seconds for it to hit the floor and when it does, metal and Krang goo go flying everywhere. This isn't what they wanted to happen, and it causes a sickening feeling to gnaw at their insides.

(M) "That was horrible, their little bodies just exploded everywhere."

(R) "Yeah, I mean that was just gruesome."

(D) "Well they did just have tonnes of pressure placed onto their bodies, they should have died pretty much instantly, and even if they didn't, they most likely would have horrible injuries that they will eventually succumb to."

(M) "Dude… Why would you put it like that."

(L) "OK enough, we don't have time to worry about this we ne…"

Suddenly the entire fortress begins to violently shake, causing Mikey to lose his balance and fall over the side. Raph rushes over and grabs Mikey by the wrist, he struggles to hold onto Mikey while the building shakes, but soon the shaking smooths out to a heavy vibration and Raph is able to pull Mikey back to safety.

(R) "What the hell is that."

(D) "It's the portal!"

The three brothers look over to see Donnie looking down into the courtyard. They rush over to him and to their horror he was right. The portal was slowly coming to life, bits of the middle starting to form into a pink portal.

(M) "Oh no, dudes, we're too late."

(R) "No, we're not, we can still do Leo's plan… come on Leo, if you said your plan can still work, then it can still work."

(L) "Alright let's do this, Donnie get the device up and working, and once it's done fire at the key points on the portal, I feel it's going to take a few hits to fully shut it down. Mikey, Raph, you're with me, let's go."

And just like that, Leo is off, firing his grappling hook and swinging down into the courtyard, Mikey following behind him. Raph stares back at Donnie but Donnie is to concentrated on starting up the device that he doesn't notice.

"Don?"

Donnie looks up at Raph, shocked that he's still there.

"Raph what are you doing?"

"I need you to be careful, I don't know where Kanz has gone, but he isn't going to let this happen."

Raph then fires his grappling hook before Donnie can respond and jumps after Leo and Mikey, leaving Donnie alone. He quickly descends to the floor and is instantly placed in the middle of a giant battle, lasers are being fired in all directions and he can't find his brothers, but he doesn't need to, he knows what he has to do. He starts taking out droids left and right but their numbers never seem to drop off, he eventually runs into Leo and they start fighting alongside each other. Over the volume of the battle, they try to talk to each other.

(L) "NOT QUESTIONING MY PLAN YET?"

"NO, IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING, THOUGH THEIR NUMBERS DON'T SEEM TO BE GOING DOWN."

"YEAH, I FEEL THAT TOO."

"OHHH, NOW YOU WANNA BELIEVE SOMETHING I SAY."

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"REMEMBER WHEN I SAID, OH ISN'T IT WEIRD THAT THEIR NUMBERS ARE DECLINING THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE FORTRESS, OH YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S BECAUSE THEY ALL CAME IN HERE!"

"WE ALREADY KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, WE JUST DIDN'T WANT TO TELL YOU."

"WHAT..? SO YOU LEFT ME OUT OF ANOTHER PIECE OF INFORMATION, HOW MUCH SHIT ARE YOU GUYS HIDING FROM ME?"

"WE DON'T WANT TO DO THIS, BUT WE HAVE TO, IT'S FOR EVERYONES SAFETY."

"NOT MINE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW WHAT I WAS RUNNING INTO."

"YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO RUN INTO IT IF YOU HAD JUST LISTENED TO ME, AND PLUS WE THOUGHT IF WE TOLD YOU THE PLAN, AND KANZ MANAGED TO GET HIS HANDS ON YOU, HE WOULD KNOW OUR ENTIRE PLAN, WE COULDN'T TAKE THAT RISK, AND EVEN NOW WHEN YOU KNOW THE PLAN, YOU POSE A MASSIVE RISK."

"HE SAID HE ALREADY KNOWS THE PLAN; I THINK IT'S PRETTY FREAKING OBVIOUS WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO."

"AND YOU BELIEVE HIM?"

"HE MAY NOT KNOW OUR SPECIFIC PLAN, BUT IT'S OBVIOUS WE ARE TRYING TO DESTROY HIS PORTAL… AND KANZ AIN'T TOUCHING ME, FUCK IF I EVER HAVE TO DO WHAT HE SAYS AGAIN, PIECE OF SHIT."

"YOU SURE YOU AREN'T GOING TO DO SOMETHING THAT MESSES THIS UP, LIKE GIVING THE ENEMY OUR WEAPON?"

'WHY THE FUCK WOULD I GIVE THE ENEMY THE WEAPON."

"I DON'T KNOW, YOU'VE JUST BEEN OFF LATELY I DON'T TRU… NEVER MIND."

"LEO BRO, I'VE GOT THIS."

"WELL LET'S STOP THIS PORTAL THEN."

The brothers split off again, taking out as many droids as they can, Raph notices a few are beginning to climb the wall, he runs up to them and strikes them down. Suddenly a beam strikes the portal, causing the floor to shake, Raph looks up to where it was fired from and sees Donnie standing on the edge holding out the gun towards the portal. The droids stop for a second and look up at the portal, but Raph doesn't stop, he continues to take out droids, and then the battle resumes. Minutes pass by and Raph is still taking out droids, slowly it begins to tire him out, they are relentless and don't seem to stop. Raph can't remember the last time he had to fight this many, in fact, he doesn't think he has ever had to fight this many, time is running out and he runs into Mikey.

(R) "WHERE'S LEO?"

"SAW HIM A FEW MINUTES AGO, HE'S FINE."

"I'M GLAD YOU DIDN'T FALL."

"WWHHAATT?"

"NOTHING, DON'T WORRY… HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR DONNIE TO FIRE."

"I DON'T KNOW, THEY WOULDN'T LET ME NEAR IT."

"I COULDN'T IMAGINE WHY."

"I KNOW RIGHT, I AM SUPER RESPONSIBLE… WELL JOKES ON THEM CAUSE I STILL HAVE MY SECRET WEAPON."

"YOU HAVE A SECRET WEAPON, WHAT IS IT, A STICK?"

"THE THING I SHOWED YOU EARLIER."

"YOU MEAN THOSE MARBLE THINGS."

"THERE NOT MARBLES."

"WELL WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?"

"YOU'LL SEE, I'M SAVING THEM FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT."

And just as before, Donnie fires another beam at the portal, causing the whole ground to shake, the portal's progress slows down, but it continues to open.

(R) "I DON'T THINK IT'S WORKING."

"LIZ SAID IT COULD TAKE UP TO THREE ATTEMPTS BEFORE IT WORKS AND EVEN THEN, WE ONLY HAVE A SMALL FRAME OF OPPORTUNITY TO BLAST IT AWAY."

"WELL DONNIE BETTER HURRY IT UP."

Raph looks up at Donnie, he watches as Donnie slowly walks around the edge of the fortress, waiting for what Raph assumes to be the blaster charging up, but something else catches Raph's eye, crawling up the wall towards Donnie, is Kanz and he is getting closer and closer.

"SHIT, MIKEY FIND LEO, TELL HIM I'M GOING AFTER DONNIE."

"WHY?!"

"KANZ IS AFTER HIM."

Raph fires his grappling hook, booking it up the wall as fast as he can, but Kanz has already reached Donnie and it isn't going too well, Donnie is trying his best to dodge Kanz, but he isn't doing a very good job. Kanz reaches out and scratches Donnie, leaving behind long scratch marks across his arm, blood pouring down his arm. Raph runs faster up the wall, but it feels like an eternity. All he can seem to do is just watch as Donnie has his ass handed to him, he is no match for him, and Raph can't help him. Finally, he reaches the top and beamlines it to Kanz, on the way he sees the blaster on the floor and it is fully charged, he picks it up along the way and aims it at Kanz, but it's too late, Kanz has Donnie. Kanz forces Donnie onto his knees and places him in front of him, his hand tightly gripped onto his shoulder and his other hand around his neck. Raph looks at his brother, he is covered in blood and badly injured. Raph points the gun at the portal and hovers his finger over the trigger.

"Hand over my brother or I fire it."

"You fire it and I kill your brother."

Raph's hand shakes as he tries to hold up the gun. He then points it at Kanz.

"What if I shoot you with it then?"

"You'll kill us both and honestly if I can die and take out one of your brothers at the same time, I am just fine with that."

"I'll do it."

(D) "NO, you'll kill me."

"I won't I promise."

"RAPH, just fire it at the portal, destroy it so Leo can zap it away, he can't do it while the portal has its shield up, do it."

"Don I promise you I ain't going to hit you."

"NO, that weapon is designed to have a giant blast, you'll kill me and it will be for nothing, you have the chance to destroy the portal so do it."

Kanz stabs a knife into Donnie's Shoulder and twists it around, grinding it up against his collarbone. Donnie lets out a pained scream, causing Raph to drop the gun and take a step towards his brother.

(R) "NO STOP!"

Kanz stops and stares up at Raph, not a single expression on his face.

(R) "A trade?"

Kanz removes the knife, causing Donnie to wince at the pain.

"A trade.. what kind of trade would you be willing to make Raphael? Because honestly, my patience is running thin."

"You let my brother go, and I give you what you want."

"And what would it be that I want."

"You don't need me to tell you that."

Kanz takes a few seconds to consider.

"I also want the gun…"

Raph looks down at the floor and then back up to Kanz.

"No, you get one or the other, not both."

Kanz sarcastically giggles at Raph's answer.

"After all of this, you still think you have any power here, how about I just kill your brother and take the gun, HOW ABOUT I JUST DO THAT."

"NO, OK JUST WAIT JUST… wait."

Raph stands in front of Kanz unsure of what to do, then something catches his attention, out of the corner of his eye he can make out the silhouette of one of his brothers hiding over the side of the fortress, waiting to see what is going to happen, and then, he has a plan.

"Fine, and the gun… you get what you want… and the gun."

(D) "Raph no, what are you doing?"

(K) "Shut up!"

Kanz digs his entire thumb into Donnie's shoulder, causing Donnie to wince from the pain, blood pours from his wound, covering the front of his shell.

Raph deeply frowns, his hands ball up into deep fists.

"Stop hurting my brothers, this is between you and me."

"No, this also involves them, you brought them into this."

"Do you accept the trade or not, answer me you fucker."

Kanz releases his finger from Donnie's wound and stares over at Raph, his eyes piercing into his soul. He stands Donnie up and signs for Raph to come over, Raph has no choice but to agree, Kanz is done playing and Raph knows it. Raph picks up the gun and slowly walks over to Kanz, in the distance Raph hears Leo calling out to him, he stops a few steps in and waits until Leo is only a few feet from him, Leo stops and draws out his weapons.

(L) "Let my brother go."

(K) "I was just about to, but you interrupted a trade."

"A trade? What trade, we made no trade with you."

"You didn't, but your brother did."

Kanz looks over at Raph, Leo following his gaze. Leo's arms drop to his side when he sees Raph holding the gun, this was yet another time Raph had gone against his plan and his orders.

"Raph..? I trusted YOU, you said you would follow me no questions asked, well what the hell is this, you're giving the enemy the one thing we have that can stop them, what has gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry Leo I have no choice."

"NO choice, there are so many other choices you could have made, not just in this moment."

"I'm trying to choose the one that saves Donnie's life."

"So giving him the gun is the answer."

"…Yes."

Leo stands in disbelief, Raph turns back to Donnie and slightly smiles at him, but Donnie doesn't smile back, in fact, he looks away in shame.

"Alright Kanz hand my brother over to Leo and you get the gun."

"And the other thing."

"Yeah, and the other thing."

(L) "Raph, our home, our friends, our father, the whole of the earth, you're killing every single one of them by giving him the gun."

Kanz throws Donnie over to Leo like a rag doll, the two collide, with Leo attempting to try and catch him. Leo helps Donnie to his feet and they stare at Raph disgusted. Raph walks over to Kanz holding the gun, he gets inches away from handing him the gun when he looks back at Leo, sadness covering his face, a single tear gliding down his cheek.

"I told you Leo… I'll follow you with no questions asked, no matter what the costs may be."

And just like that Raph chucks the gun over the side of the fortress, they all scream at him, they watch as it falls over the side, when suddenly Mikey swings up with his grappling hook and snatches the gun, firing it down at the portal. The beams hit, causing the machine to scream angrily, it does this for a few seconds before completely shutting down, and everything goes silent. A 20-minute timer appears above the machine.

(All) "ALRIGHT!"

(L) "Raph… you… I."

"I know."

(D) "Raph look out!"

Raph spins around and is met with a fist to the face, he goes flying and almost tumbles over the side, but manages to jam his sai into the side and stop his descent, he holds on with one hand and looks down at the floor below. Above he can hear a commotion going on, and he quickly scales back up the wall. When he reaches the top Kanz snatches him and slams him into the floor, holding him there with so much force that he can't breathe, and it was at this moment that Raph finally realised Liz was right, he was taking it easy on him, only using a slight amount of his strength.

"I AM DONE, DONE PLAYING GAMES, I DON'T EVEN CARE IF THE PORTAL OPENS AT THIS POINT, I JUST WANT ONE OF YOUR BROTHERS DEAD, AND YOU ARE GOING TO DO IT! I told you Raphael, the full picture."

Kanz reaches for the device on Raph's arm and Raph is helpless to stop him, he looks for his brothers but they are too occupied with fighting Krang droids that had scaled the fortress and protecting Donnie at the same time. He had no one to save him, and his brothers wouldn't be there to bail him out, not this time, and honestly, he was ok with that, but he wasn't ok with the outcome that may ensue once the device is removed from his arm, and so as Kanz finally peels the device from his arm, he feels the world around him spiral from existence, his will power draining from every inch of his body and everything around him, including his brothers, fade into nothing.

(K) "You… are… mine."

This is the end of chapter 7; I hope you enjoyed it. I love leaving things on a cliffhanger, it just makes you want to keep reading on, and if something is really good, it's all you can think about, though I don't think my writings give that kind of feeling :). Sorry, it's so late, had exams on and needed to do that, I feel there are only about 1 or 2 chapters left of this series and I'm unsure of which it will be, I have an idea of the ending, well I guess you can say two, and now all I have to do is just decide how I want to end it, do I want it to be a more heroic ending or do I want the gruesome ending… hhmmm, guess you'll see. Happy reading and see you next time.