Staring down at the twin katanas on the floor, Raph felt a sinking sensation in his gut, a dread he hadn't felt since the Krang invasion. Leo would never just leave his weapons, and certainly never let an enemy take them… unless he was unable to resist.

This is bad. This is really bad.

Looking around, Raph could tell everyone else was thinking the same thing. One after another, each of them looked at him. Waiting… for reassurance, for some direction of what to do. Closing his eyes, the eldest turtle took a deep breath.

Keep it together, Raph. Your family needs ya… your brother needs ya.

Releasing the breath, he looked at Donnie, relieved to hear his voice come out steady.

"Donnie, is th' signal still here?"

He saw his genius brother's face harden, regaining control, before turning back to the tracking screen.

"I don't get it… he should be here…"

Casey scanned the room with narrowed, analytical eyes. They settled on the grimy, cracked window nearby.

"Maybe there's something out there," he said quietly.

Raph nodded.

"Right… we'll check it out. Careful."

But the group had barely taken a step before the window shattered with a loud CRASH! A familiar figure hurtled through it in a blur of green and blue, letting out a pained cry before landing hard on the wooden floor. The others were frozen with shock for only a few seconds, then Raph was the first to leap forward.

"Leo!"

He heard the others' running feet behind him, but all his focus was on his blue banded brother lying motionless in front of them. As he dropped to his knees, Mikey knelt on Leo's other side and lifted his head off the floor.

"Leo! Leo, wake up!"

"Is he alive?!" Casey demanded, racing up beside Raph. His hard survivalist exterior had slipped, and he was a scared kid, terrified that he had lost a loved one all over again.

Fighting to keep his panic at bay, the snapper lowered his head so his ear hovered over Leo's mouth, then gave a tense nod.

"Still breathing… but it's rough."

He scanned Leo's battered form with frantic eyes. The signs of a fight were clear in the myriad of bruises and lacerations, but his eyes quickly moved to the slider's left side. His hand weakly clutched a spot near his ribs, and Raph's alarm only grew when he saw red. Carefully, he lifted Leo's hand and his stomach dropped.

The ugly gash cut clean through the shell just under the rib cage, bleeding heavily. From the look of it, Leo had barely dodged in time; mere inches had kept it from being lethal. Raph placed a gentle hand on the younger turtle's head and ordered himself to keep his voice calm.

"Leo? Little brother, can ya hear me?" His brother's eyelids twitched, and a faint groan escaped his clenched teeth as they fluttered open to reveal pain-glazed eyes.

"Leo, what happened?" Raph urged. "Who did this t' you?" The slider blinked, clearly struggling to focus, but before he could say anything, Donnie was kneeling beside him as well.

"Move your hand!" he ordered Raph without looking at him. "Let me see it!"

The eldest turtle obeyed, his heart twisting at the blood staining his hand. Donnie's brow furrowed even deeper as he examined the wound, his mouth tight.

"It's deep… I'm not sure what could've caused it, but it almost looks like a claw mark…"

Before he could finish, a sharp exhale drew everyone's attention to Casey. He was frozen in place, eyes wide and face pale.

"Casey, what's wrong?" Mikey asked, his own eyes full of fear. For a moment the teen didn't seem to hear, then he swallowed hard.

"I… I've seen this before." The raw fear in his voice sent a chill down everyone's spines.

"Where?" Donnie demanded. Casey tore his eyes away from Leo, and Raph saw them move to him. When he realized what the teen was looking at, he suddenly felt as if his veins were filling with ice water. Reaching up a trembling hand, he ran it over the damaged portion of his shell. Phantom pain throbbed through it at the sensation.

"No…" he muttered. "No, that's… that's impossible…"

He stood and was about to move to the broken window, but Leo's hoarse, weak voice stopped him cold.

"R-Raph, no… wait…"

The snapper turned to see Leo lifting a trembling hand, and immediately moved to kneel back down. His brother took hold of his arm, prompting him to lower his head.

"H-he's… back…" Leo rasped. "The… Shredder."

Raph felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Though a small part of him was relieved Leo hadn't said 'the Krang', the rest was filling with a cold dread. How was that possible? They'd defeated Shredder, the mystic armor was gone… they all saw it with their own eyes! But before he could say anything, Leo cringed and let out another groan as his eyes closed and his hand slipped from Raph's arm.

"Leo!" Mikey cried, his voice shrill with panic.

"Shh!" Donnie hissed. "Whoever it is, they're out there now!"

He'd barely completed the sentence than sounds began coming from outside: menacing hisses and growls. Raph felt a chill run down his spine… he knew those sounds. Standing again, he moved to the broken window. Back pressed to the wall, he looked out. He was pretty sure what he would see, but still cursed softly.

"Raph?"

The eldest turtle looked at the others.

"Foot. Looks like they're all around th' building… a some Krangified ones and a bunch of new guys. Not as many as before, but still the last thing we need now."

He saw the same look of stunned fear come to their faces, except for Leo, whose eyes were shut tight as his chest rose and fell with labored breaths.

"Shell," Donnie muttered. "How'd they even recruit more members like that?"

Mikey's eyes were stretched wide, his voice trembling as he looked from the window to Leo.

"W-what… what do we do?"

Raph's eyes moved to his blue-banded brother too, then took a deep breath. With Leo down, that left him in charge.

"We gotta get Leo out of here, fast. Donnie, you got the schematics?"

The genius turtle stood, typing on his wrist device.

"As if you need to ask."

He might have sounded snarky if his voice wasn't so tense. Punching a button, he pulled up a blueprint.

"Got it."

Leo's weak voice spoke up again.

"I can… portal us…"

Donnie directed a glare at his twin.

"Absolutely not, Nardo. You're in no condition to be draining yourself more."

"B-but…"

"Don't even think of pullin' the Fearless Leader card, Leo," Raph interrupted, his voice stern. "We agreed when you're outta commission, I call the shots. Pretty sure this counts as out of commission, so I'm calling 'em now, an' I'll order ya to zip it if I've gotta."

Raph saw Leo's mouth twitch and suspected the slider would be laughing if he could. The eldest turtle couldn't help smiling himself, though that thought also doubled his fear. He hadn't seen his brother this badly injured since they pulled him from the prison dimension all those months ago, and the memory of what a close call that was still haunted him.

"Just take it easy, buddy," he continued in a gentler tone. "Leave it t' us."

Before he could go on a loud cracking sound interrupted, clearly that of the door being kicked in. Raph whipped out his sais and looked at Casey, who tightened his grip on his own weapon with a look of determination. None of them were letting those Foot goons get anywhere near their leader and brother again.