#oc lolly

“We’re gonna knock ‘em out.” Leo held up a few bottles from his stash of stolen medicine. “Mikey, wanna help me spice these?”

Mikey’s eyes lit up. “Yeah!”

They were ready pretty quickly. They collectively decided to wear their matching black pants – they’d gone all their lives without clothes, but now it felt weird. And Donnie’s pants had the pocket spell. Leo and Mikey played mad scientist with medicine while Donnie and Raph collected everything they wanted from the room – Donnie’s grimoire, Raph’s kinetic toy, Mikey’s paints, Leo’s extra medicine supplies. They stuffed everything in Donnie’s magical pants.

“What else do you have in there?” Raph asked.

“Nothing! Definitely nothing dangerous or semi-lethal!”

Raph sighed.

Leo explained the plan. The first part was fast. When they were ready, Raph banged on the bedroom door until the owl stuck his head in. Leo unleashed Mikey and Donnie, who launched themselves and bit every part of the guards they could reach. Leo and Raph climbed the guards’ backs and cracked two bottles of Instant Sleep Potion under their noses. Raph nearly got smacked in the face with Oswald’s wing, but he’d dodged worse in the arena. He dug his fingers into the feathers and all but smacked him in the face with fumes. Leo did the same to Jerry. The goons dropped like rocks.

Mikey wriggled from under Oswald, sitting out a few feathers. “He doesn’t taste like chicken,” he decided.

“Great, great, we gotta move!” Leo said impatiently. He took off down the hallway, Donnie at his heels. Raph scooped up Mikey and ran after the twins.

Raph recognized some of the turns they took as the way to the Healer’s ward, but then Leo took a hard left and suddenly everything looked different. The walls looked like they’d been painted gold and they passed lots of conference rooms with long polished tables.

Then they got to a hallway with paintings of yokai everywhere. They didn’t look like fighters. Raph thought they looked kind of like Renaissance paintings of stuffy old guys. Some of the paintings had stands with glass cases under them. Raph couldn’t see what was inside.

He caught up to Leo. “Where are we?”

“Big Mama brings investors here,” Leo panted, barely loud enough to hear over their pounding feet. “Don’t look at the cases.”

“Why not?” Mikey asked.

“Just don’t.”

“But –”

“Shh!”

They reached a corner and Leo slowed to a stop the rest, of them piling behind him.

“No guards?” Raph whispered, looking around.

“No need. Donnie.” Leo gestured to the space in front of him. Donnie stepped forward and touched a claw to the air. Light rippled outward, revealing a sigil that spread across the entire hallway, vibrating ever-so-slightly like a spider’s web. Raph shivered. Donnie opened his mouth –

“Well, well.”

A shape materialized off the wall. Raph, Mikey, and Leo immediately grouped themselves defensively around Donnie. The shape resolved itself into a yokai. He looked halfway between a chameleon and a toad, draped in dark green robes. His head was absurdly huge. His skin shifted from matching the golden walls to the pattern of a slimy rock. His eyes rotated independently, one fixed on Leo, the other clearly checking for guards. His split its lips to sneer, and his mouth was nearly as wide as Raph.

“What do we have here?” he asked, stepping slowly closer. His long tail curled towards them and Mikey snapped at it. “Escapees? Appetizers? I recognize you, little morsel. Big Mama’s favorite.”

Leo scowled. “We’re not escaping, we wanted a snack and got lost.”

One of its eyes glanced behind Raph at Donnie. Raph bristled. His sneer widened. “Well, don’t let me stop your little urchin brother. A little birdie told me there are some very interesting things down this hallway. In the meantime, perhaps I should put Big Mama’s little doll back in its dollhouse.” The yokai reached for Leo’s face.

Leo smacked the arm away. “Excuse you, I’m an action figure. Don’t touch me or you’ll learn the difference.”

“You heard him,” Raph growled. Mikey climbed up on Raph’s head and hissed. Behind him, Raph heard Donnie frantically muttering under his breath.

The yokai practically oozed closer. Raph half-stepped in front of Leo, teeth bared, eyes flashing. He didn’t like hitting things, but he’d have no problem hitting this creep. The way it talked to Leo set Raph’s teeth on edge.

The yokai leered at Leo. “Action figure? Ha! The way she dresses you up and parades you around, while you smile like a fool…you know what she calls you?”

Leo stiffened. “Shut up.”

“Why not? You’re her wretched little pet –”

Suddenly there was a purple flash so bright it felt like lightning. The yokai shrieked, covering its eyes. It didn’t hurt Raph, Leo, or Mikey; they’d all been facing away. By the time it recovered, all four of them were sprinting down the hall.

“YOU LITTLE –!”

Raph felt the breeze and shoved the twins down right before its tail snapped at the air where they’d been. The tail swept sideways and hit Raph instead. Mikey tumbled off of his shoulders. Raph went flying and his shell hit one of the stands against the way. The glass case shattered, raining shards down his arms.

“You wanted a midnight snack? So do I!”

The yokai’s toady mouth opened wide, wider, unhinging, showing four rows of barbed teeth. It dove for Mikey. Donnie launched himself at Mikey, already curling over him. Raph scrambled up, but he was slow, way too slow –

Leo landed on the yokai’s massive head, jamming something long and blue into his bulging right eye. The yokai squealed with rage and pain. Raph landed on his back, pinning his arms to the floor. Leo tumbled off but took his weapon with him, leaving the eye wound spurting blue-black blood. Leo pulled out his Instant Sleep Potion and poured some straight into the thing’s mouth. It gurgled, then slowly collapsed.

Raph let go of the squishy arms and backed away towards his brothers. Mikey made gasping noises and popped into his shell. Donnie scooped him up. Leo was frozen, staring at the yokai. In his hands was a long blue feather, dripping with dark blood.

“Leo?” Raph asked. He reached out to touch his brother’s shoulder. Tremors ran up and down Leo’s arms. He dropped the feather. It looked silvery now, not blue, and it made a small thunk when it hit the floor.

“I –”

Donnie gasped and pointed at the case that Raph had broken. “Look out!”

Among the shards of glass was a large, mummified claw. It was right under a painting of a falcon yokai. As they watched, dark purple smoke began to pour from the claw. It billowed upward, forming the shape of an enormous falcon so huge it was forced to duck against the ceiling. Its beak was curved like a razor-sharp scythe. It let out a shrill cry.

Raph stumbled back. “RUN!”

He grabbed all three brothers and bolted. Another web-like sigil glowed in front of him. Donnie shouted something. It cracked like glass and Raph smashed through it head-first. Red-hot nails dragged over his scales, like the broken ward was still trying to grab them. Then they were through and Leo was shouting directions.

“Left! Left! Go straight! Run straight at the door, it’s an illusion, keep running!”

Raph could hear the magic smoke-falcon gaining on them. He heard the sound of wingbeats in a too-small hallway and even more crashes. Donnie broke two more wards as they ran, but now Raph was starting to hear shouts. The hallways wouldn’t stay empty for much longer.

Something huge stabbed down into the marble floor, cutting between Raph and Leo. It was a heron, with a long beak and blank, ghost-white eyes. Leo let out an awful scream. For a panicked, white-shock moment, Raph thought the heron had stabbed his little brother. Raph spun and punched the beak as hard as he could.

It was made of smoke, but somehow his fist connected. The heron actually staggered into the wall. Its beak was bent at a funny angle and it shook its head, but Raph was already reaching for Leo. Leo was sprawled over the floor. He was so pale that his red stripes stood out like blood, but he was fine, he was fine, there wasn’t any blood –

“MOVE!”

A huge purple hexagon shot overhead and smashed into the smoke monsters behind them. Raph felt the falcon’s wings brush his scalp. Mikey was all but slapping Raph to get his attention, and Donnie was yanking Leo to his feet.

Something flashed past Raph’s face. Another feather. For a second, Raph thought it was from the smoke falcon, but it was a very recognizable blue-green. It danced through the air like it was blown by the falcon’s wings, spiraling around his head and then up to the ceiling.

“We gotta go up!” Raph shouted, following the feather.

“There!” Donnie pointed. Up ahead, on the ceiling, was an inset square that looked like a maintenance vent. The vent opened and a pair of familiar paws reached through.

A smoky tail tipped with spikes suddenly lashed around them. Raph hopped it like a jump rope and glanced back. At least a dozen massive, smokey shadows filled the hall behind them.

“Hot potato!” Raph called. Mikey popped into his shell. He dropped Donnie and Leo, then spun for extra momentum and launched Mikey’s shell at the vent as hard as he could.

One of the falcon’s smoky purple wings came down on the floor like a club, cracking the stone, but Raph had already leaped for the nearest wall. He and his brothers parkoured their way up, their claws scoring the golden walls. Mikey’s shell had already reached the vent and Lolly had pulled him through. Donnie reached it next. He fell a few inches short but Mikey caught his wrists. Leo leaped after them, narrowly dodging the foot-long fangs of a massive smoky cobra. Raph landed on the cobra’s hood and leaped up at the last second. Leo and Lolly pulled him through.

The vent was barely tall enough for Raph – Lolly had to crouch – but it was plenty wide enough. Lolly shoved the vent back in place. The smoke monsters slammed at it, but they were too solid to fit through. That didn’t stop them from trying. Lolly pushed the four of them in front.

“Go, go, follow the feather!”

Then the five of them were half-running, half-skidding down the smooth metal surface. Lolly’s blue-green feather was still ahead of them. It barely glinted in the gloom, but a word from Donnie and suddenly it shone like a miniature star.

“We’re dead, we’re dead, we’re dead,” Lolly panted.

“Not helping!” Leo yelled back.

“Run faster!” Raph gasped. Mikey tripped and nearly went down. Raph caught him and tucked him under one arm like a football.

Leo dropped back to Lolly. “Can you get us to the wards?”

“Are you crazy? You can’t get past those!”

“Yes I can!” Donnie huffed.

“Ugh – fine! Jump!”

“What?”

“JUMP!”

There was an opening on the left side of the tunnel. Lolly jumped through. Raph and his brothers followed. They fell through darkness and open air. Raph opened his mouth to yell and then realized he heard rushing water. He took a breath just as he plunged into a fast-moving river. He didn’t let go of Mikey, but he doubted his youngest brother had known to take a breath. He fought to get to the surface only for his shell to scrape stone. A tunnel? Some kind of sewer? Those could go miles without breathing spots!

Before he could panic, the tunnel shot them out into slower-moving water and he bobbed to the surface. He lifted Mikey as Lolly and the twins surfaced around him. Mikey’s head popped out. He was coughing and half-choked with sobs.

They’d been swept into a river that passed just outside the Battle Nexus walls. It was nighttime, with just the faintest glow from the cavern moss high above. The Nexus itself was quiet. Most of the windows were dark, and only the occasional lantern lit the top of the wall. When Raph glanced back, he saw a large pipe leading from the Nexus wall to the river. It was sort of like the sewage system back home. Raph had a weird sense of vertigo from the familiarity.

His eyes traced the river. It flowed into the Hidden City. It was only Raph’s second time seeing it, and it was dark now, but it was still cool. It was full of mish-mashed building styles thrown together on narrow cobblestone streets. Some of the taller wooden buildings with curled roofs were strung with soft white lights. There were some iron street lamps here and there. It looked almost like a human city. Did that mean there was a sewer they could hide in?

Wait – they were outside the walls! Did that mean they had made it outside the wards? He felt a second of relief before his shell hit something invisible. Donnie and Leo grunted – they’d hit the same barrier. Lolly drifted right past them. So Donnie had been right. At least one of the wards was just for them.

Donnie tried to claw at the wards, but he was struggling to tread water at the same time. “I need a better grip on this –”

“Over there!” Leo called, swimming. There were purple posts marking out the boundaries of the wards. There was a little piece of the opposite shore just inside the posts. They could climb onto it while Donnie did his mystic stuff. Raph swam towards it. Mikey stayed perched on Raph’s shell. Lolly followed close behind. They pulled themselves onto land.

Then noises caught his ear. He pulled himself onto the land and looked back. Goons were running around at the top of the Nexus wall, yelling and waving their hands. It didn’t look like they’d been spotted yet.

“Last call to back out,” Lolly whispered.

“No.” Donnie dug his claws into the air. Sigils lit up around his hands. There was instant uproar on the roof.

Lolly cursed and threw something. Raph barely caught the glint of more blue-green feathers before they hit the wards at multiple places, lighting up the glowing walls of magic that surrounded the Nexus. The feathers morphed into shapes – round, turtle-like shadows that flitted and flickered at the edge of the light.

Leo’s eyes widened. “Decoys!”

Lolly gave a crooked grin. “Buys us a little time.”

Raph eyed the goons nervously. It looked like some of them were readying weapons. “They’re gonna shoot us! Donnie!”

“Shut up,” Donnie hissed.

Raph shut up. When Donnie’s claws first touched the air, three layers of wards lit up – orange, yellow, and white. Donnie whispered under his breath, scratching new purple sigils on the walls before plunging his hands in. The circular sigils of the innermost ward blurred and rotated like gears, slowly rolling back to form an opening. Too slow. Raph huddled closer, squeezing his fingers together.

Something whistled. An arrow plunged into the water at their feet. Mikey yelped and Raph pushed Mikey behind him.

“Donnie!”

“Shut up!”

Donnie started on the second layer of wards. Another arrow hit the surface, even closer. More lights appeared on the wall. When the hole was barely big enough for Raph to fit, Donnie pulled white chalk out of his pockets and jammed them in to hold the sigils in place. The chalk lit up purple – and so did the marks on Donnie’s shoulders. Leo hissed and leaped forward to cover them with his hands. Lolly pulled out paint and started slathering Donnie with it.

There was a shout from the wall. Raph looked up and saw the unmistakable silhouette and gleaming eyes of the owl goon, looking straight at them.

“I-it’s okay, Mikey!” Raph squeaked. He stank of fear. Mikey whimpered.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” Donnie hissed. The lights on his shoulders were flickering between Leo’s fingers, throwing Donnie’s frown into harsh shadows.

Doors were opening along the Nexus wall.

There was a purple flash and an opening appeared in the ward, barely wide enough. Donnie stood back, hands still pressed to the ward. “Now! Go!”

Leo was closest. He scrambled through and yanked Mikey after him. Raph went next and nearly got stuck, but Lolly dumped the paint pot on his spikes and Raph got through. He reached back and grabbed Donnie’s wrist, yanking him out.

They all but crawl over each other trying to get through. Raph goes last and grabs Donnie’s wrist, yanking him out. Donnie hit the ground and his magical chalk snapped. The second ward sealed shut. An arrow hit it from the inside and exploded into a net. They all leaped back on reflex. Raph dragged Donnie with him.

“Left…extra instructions…on the bio-keys,” Donnie mumbled, staggering against Raph. “No one through for…ten minutes.”

“Impressive, kid,” Lolly said shakily. Donnie managed a grin. “Alright, let’s go. Quickly. Might as well be refugees together.”

They slipped into the shadows of the nearest alley, along a wall, then another alley. It really was like the human city – there were bags of trash and weeds and even something that looked like an alley cat, except for the extra tail. Lolly was fast, but Raph, Mikey, and Leo had no trouble keeping up. Donnie stumbled sometimes, so Raph held onto his wrist to keep him from tripping or falling behind.

“Can’t we – use the sewer?” Raph panted at some point.

Lolly shook his head. “Alligators. They’re territorial.”

The neighborhood started to change. The mismatched houses turned into small, multi-story buildings with bamboo walls. There were fewer street signs. Was it a neighborhood? The streets got wider and the trash got less stinky. They stuck to the shadows, but there were more lights on, so they had to go slower. They heard rustling noises from the street. Raph caught the distinctive whiff of Big Mama’s goons – a combination of shoe polish and cologne. His stomach tightened. Donnie flexed his fingers.

Leo waved to get their attention and pointed to the roofs. Lolly nodded. Mikey and Leo climbed carefully up to the first level of roofs. Donnie was still tired, so Lolly helped him up first, then Raph. He climbed smoothly after them. The way they had climbed up, Leo was in front. Lolly pointed in a direction. Leo started walking. Why was he walking? They needed to run! He could hear the goons on the street, they were practically right next to them!

But Leo walked, and then paused at the corner of the building to check before jumping. It’s like crossing the street, Raph thought crazily. They jumped, carefully, from roof to roof. And then kept walking. In front of him, Donnie was getting fidgety, flexing his fingers and silently gnashing his teeth. That made Raph even antsier.

They’d only made it three houses when one of the goons walked straight into an alley below them.

They all froze. Raph leaned back as much as he dared, trying to make himself smaller. Had the goon found them? Could he smell Raph’s fear stink? Would they have to fight? The goons had caught them before. But Raph had fought a lot since then. He didn’t want to, but he knew how to fight a lot more now. Raph could leap down on him. He could punch him in the head until he passed out, and he’d do it fast, so the goon wouldn’t try to scream, he and his brothers could get away –

There were a few bags of trash sagging against a building. The goon shuffled them around. A few rodents popped out and squeaked at him. The goon muttered and left.

Raph’s heart was pounding so hard he felt light-headed. He wanted to cry. He was so scared. He’d nearly hit someone on purpose and it sort of felt like he actually had. He wanted to curl up in a ball with his brothers and never move again.

The faintest spark of light caught his eye. Donnie was twisting his fingers together and the smallest bit of purple sparked through the paint on his scales. Raph smacked him upside the head. Donnie glared at him. Raph glared back.

Lolly waved at them both and pointed. Leo had started moving again. Donnie threw a nasty look after the goon and reluctantly kept moving.

Raph focused on watching his brothers ahead of him. His heart was still pounding, but if he didn’t think about it, it felt like those few times Pops took them up to the surface. Just alleys, roofs, and little brothers goofing off. Raph had to keep an eye on them. He had to keep them moving, make sure they didn’t fall.

They made it three more blocks and another close call before the neighborhoods started to change. The tall, angular houses gave way to buildings that were flat and wide. It almost looked spacious, except that each building had so many doors that there were probably lots of people inside each of them. The roof tiles looked different, too. Noisier. Lolly motioned them back to ground level.

Fruit trees grew everywhere, some planted at street corners, some growing at random from cracks in the street. The street lamps were covered in colonies of softly glowing moths the size of Raph’s hand. Bird nests clung to the eaves of each house. Overlapping murals covered most of the walls. At least, Raph thought they were murals. They were definitely flat, but he saw a bird fly out of a mural of corn and straight to one of the nests.

Finally they turned down a small alley. It dead-ended in a fountain. It didn’t have any water, just a bunch of trees growing up in and around it. A hammock stretches between the two thickest trees. The walls are covered in overlapping murals and tags. There was a big mural of four shapes surrounded by waves and sand dunes. It was smudgy and clearly unfinished. Raph didn’t look too closely. The biggest shape had a lot of scars.

He pulled Mikey a little closer. “Where are we?”

“Is this your hideout?” Leo asked, looking dubiously at the hammock.

“Nah, the hammock’s just for some neighborhood kid. I bet he’s hanging out with that courier friend of his. Too bad he’s not here, he’s a big fan.”

Mikey made a weird little noise and latched onto Raph’s arm. “Why isn’t Daddy here?”

Lolly rolled his eyes. “Because you escaped in the middle of the night. No one knows where Rat Jitsu hides out.”

“But we need to find Daddy!”

Leo shook his head. “No, we need to hide. Big Mama’s goons are still out there. This place is practically in sight of the street!”

“Not the important bits. Watch.” Lolly gestured and suddenly there was a feather between his fingers. He tossed it into the fountain. The stone glowed for a moment, then vanished, trees and all. Raph could just glimpse a wooden staircase spiraling down.

Donnie, who had been swaying on his feet, perked up instantly. “Mystics! Fascinating!”

Lolly grinned. “Alright, everybody in the hole!”

Leo glanced at Raph uncertainly. Raph knew what he meant. They liked Lolly, but it was still a hole in the ground. They didn’t know what was down there. They didn’t want to end up somewhere worse than Big Mama.

“Raph’ll go first,” he said. He started down the stairs. Mikey grabbed his hand and followed. He felt Leo and Donnie hold the spikes on his shell. Lolly brought up the rear.

The tunnel was short and ended in a spacious burrow. The bottom was slightly curved. Pillows covered most of the floor. The little space leftover held a snack cabinet and cardboard boxes stuffed with paint supplies. A forest meadow covered part of the wall, dotted with little blue birds. Written in cursive above the mural was the word “Matlalihuitl.” Little glass balls were strung along the ceiling. The painted birds seemed to glitter in the soft white light.

“It’s…cozy,” Raph said, surprised.

Leo looked around. “It’s hidden.”

“Can Daddy find us?” Mikey asked, anxious.

“Uh, no.” Lolly waved a paw. “Don’t worry, I’ll find him instead.”

Mikey looked dubious, but Raph rubbed his head and he tucked himself into Raph’s side.

Raph nudged him toward the paint. “Go on, Mikey, why don’t you paint something? Uh – if that’s okay?” He directed the last bit to Lolly.

“Go for it.”

Mikey glanced at Raph, double-checking, then scooted over to the boxes. He picked out a few yellow pots. He paused, then began sorting the pots instead, arranging them all by color and then by shape.

Lolly gestured at the ceiling. The fountain sealed above them, but the little glass balls provided plenty of light. He flopped down on the pillows. “Eat, drink water, whatever. I gotta lay here for a minute. You kids gave me a heart attack.”

“Sounds good,” Donnie said, and promptly collapsed.

Raph gave a startled cry and moved forward, but Leo got that first. Donnie smacked at Leo’s face.

“’M fine. Tired. Go away.”

Lolly snorted. “I’ll bet.”

He reached into his snack cabinet and started tossing out snacks. It was mostly granola bars. Actual, human granola bars. Raph caught his and stared at it. It was even a brand he recognized. Apple-flavored. It was something they’d eat at home without a second thought.

Suddenly he felt exhausted. He sat down heavily.

“Where’d you get these?” Mikey asked eagerly, tearing into his.

“What, human stuff? You’d be amazed at the food waste on the surface. It’s easy to snag extra. Go on,” he said, tossing an extra bar to Donnie. Leo caught it for him. “You gotta eat. You pulled off some major mystic mojo.”

“Ha…parent-age…approval…” Donnie was halfway to snoozeland already.

“Are we safe?” Leo asked, peering up at the ceiling.

“Oh sure. The fountain’s real, we’re just in a pocket dimension.”

Donnie stirred. “Love a good pocket dimension,” he muttered, just before Leo shoved the bar in his mouth.

Lolly grinned. “Hey, same! I got hideouts all over the city just like this. The only way to get in is with my feathers, and those dissolve pretty quickly. The ones I used for distractions tonight should already be gone.”

Mikey squeaked and quickly rummaged in his shell pocket. He pulled out Lolly’s feather and sighed with relief. “Still here!”

Lolly rolled his eyes. “Not those, duh. I left that one for you. I left one for Stripes, too. They were gifts; those won’t fade.”

Raph was having trouble following the conversation. He forced himself to open the bar. Pulling the plastic was difficult; he couldn’t get his fingers to grip it hard enough. He felt sore all over, like he’d just finished an opening act. He gave up and passed the bar to Mikey, who stopped sorting and tore it open with his teeth.

Leo had been making sure Donnie ate his snack. At the mention of the feather, he turned sharply to glare at Lolly. “Why did you leave one for me? How did you know we’d escape tonight? Why did you help?”

“Why not?” He shrugged. “I steal from her all the time. She’s building an empire. I’m stealing her toy blocks. It’s pretty funny.”

Leo looked vaguely sick. “You – you can’t steal from Big Mama.”

“Sure you can! You just can’t get caught.”

Raph frowned. “That’s not how that works,” he said. Or tried to say. The words slurred and Leo threw him an anxious look.

Lolly grinned. “Sure it is! I was hoping to steal something else tonight when you made your play. Now that was a surprise. I thought you guys liked it there.”

Donnie muttered, “Derisive scoff” and Leo actually snarled. “Oh, yeah, we love fighting for our lives.”

Lolly held up his hands. “You looked like you did! That’s all I’m sayin’!”

Mikey pouted. “Leo told us to! Tell him, Raph!”

Raph frowned. Thinking was hard. Sleep tugged at his brain, but he forced himself to stay awake. “Leo said you knew about Dad,” he said slowly.

Lolly shrugged. “I mean, ninja rat shows up the same time you do, trying to break down Big Mama’s door every time you’re on screen –”

“If you knew why didn’t you help?” Mikey demanded.

“I just said I thought you liked it at Big Mama’s! For all I knew, Rat Jitsu was worse.”

Donnie scoffed. “Worse than Big Mama?”

“She’s no saint, but there are plenty of people worse than her. They just don’t have the power to show it. And you four seemed to enjoy the Nexus, so for all I knew it was better. That was a good strategy, by the way,” he told Leo. “Playing like you were happy. A lot of people try to cheat Big Mama’s rules and lose. You actually stayed in the game. I thought she’d spring real fights on you on day two.”

“She tried,” Leo muttered, still shoving granola down Donnie’s throat.

Donnie batted him away. “What do you mean, your feathers dissolve unless they’re gifts? Does intent matter? How do you do that without drawing sigils or spell circles? What about your lair, is it just a bigger version of the Orellius pocket or did you use an Umibōzu spell? How –”

“Easy!” Lolly laughed. “No wonder you learned ward theory in just two weeks. It’s an Orellius pocket, it regenerates fresh air. Mystics are pretty neat, huh?”

Mikey tugged Lolly’s sleeve. “I want mystic powers!”

Raph cracked an eye open. When had he closed them? “You gotta eat your vegetables.”

“You do not!” Leo and Mikey snapped at him. Mikey looked hesitantly at Lolly. “…Do you?”

Lolly shrugged. “Eh, couldn’t hurt – oof.”

Mikey had launched off of Lolly’s arm in a mad scramble to get to the pantry. His face fell. “There’s no vegetables! You don’t even have spices!”

Lolly rolled his eyes. “I was going to do a food run tonight. I got distracted when one of you found my feather and then used it for their own weird spell. Leo, right? What did you do?”

They all looked at Leo, who looked down at the floor.

Lolly frowned. “Wait, was that you? Did you find it or not?”

“I found it,” Leo said dully.

Donnie struggled to sit up, pressing close to Leo. “He stabbed a yokai in the eye with it.”

Lolly sat up, too. “You’re kidding.”

“It’s not his fault!” Raph growled. “The guy was gonna eat Mikey and Donnie!”

“Ah. Yeah, that’d do it.” Lolly gave a weird laugh. “That instinct or what, kid?”

Leo was still looking at the floor. “Tigerclaw,” he said quietly, “showed me how.”

All traces of laughter fled Lolly’s face. “Well. Shit.”

Raph was so tired his whole body hurt. He ignored it and crawled over the pillows to get to Leo. Leo didn’t move, just kept staring at the floor, but Raph pulled Leo into his lap anyway. Leo was always quiet about stuff he really needed. Raph heard him anyway. He wrapped Leo in the biggest hug ever and squeezed as hard as he could, trying to crush as much love and comfort into his little brother’s body. Donnie squirmed into Raph’s lap and tucked himself in front of Leo, pushing his shell against Leo’s hands. Mikey wriggled half-in, half-out of Raph’s lap, curled around Leo like a cat.

Leo let them. He felt so small, all folded up like that. He was small. And really, really brave. He’d been brave when they were fighting and brave with Big Mama and brave when he hurt the yokai, because he’d only done it to protect his brothers. Raph was the biggest and strongest, but nobody was braver than Leo.

“Love you, Leo.” Raph tucked his head down right by Leo’s ear. “We’re almost back to Dad, and you won’t have to be brave anymore. You did good. Raph loves you forever.”

“Love you, Leo!” Mikey chirped.

“Ditto,” Donnie added.

Leo didn’t say anything, but he turned his face into Raph’s plastron. Raph could feel him trembling.

“Aw, hey…” Lolly leaned over and put a hand on Leo’s head. “You’re okay. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He likes it when you rub his head,” Raph offered.

Leo jerked his head away. “No! I don’t want it from him! I want it from D-Dad!”

“I’ll find him tomorrow,” Lolly promised.

“He might go back to the human world between fights,” Donnie pointed out. “If you can’t find him, just get us to the New York sewer system. I have the whole thing memorized.”

“You’re scary in many ways, kid,” Lolly said drily, but he threw Donnie a wink as he got to his feet. “Speaking of, I should check on Mickey. And I really do need a food run. You kids, uh, want anything?”

“Fish,” Donnie said at once.

“Vegetables,” Raph added.

“Candy,” Leo and Mikey finished.

“All part of a balanced meal,” Lolly said drily. “Alright, stay put, go to sleep, don’t wreck the place. I’ll be back quick and we’ll track down your dad tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Lolly,” Raph said dutifully. He nudged his brothers, who repeated after him.

Lolly gave an informal salute and then leaped up to touch the ceiling. For a second the ceiling became transparent. Raph saw the fountain and the still-dark cave ceiling above. Then Lolly was gone and the ceiling was solid again.

Raph didn’t let go of Leo, but he craned his neck to check the ceiling. “Could we get out if he doesn’t come back?”

Donnie eyed it. “It didn’t look like he used a spell. I think we just need to touch the ceiling.”

He nodded. “Raph is tall enough, you could stand on my shoulders.”

Mikey yawned. “I’m tired.”

“I’m not,” Donnie muttered. This was not convincing, because he was currently pancaked under Leo with his eyes closed.

Raph sighed and shifted so that he was sitting back against the wall. Leo was still front and center in his lap. He stretched out a leg so Donnie could pancake on it. Leo curled up against Donnie immediately. Mike stayed curled on Leo’s other side. Raph usually lay down on his stomach to sleep, but he didn’t want to let go on his brothers.

Raph started rumbling. Mikey chirped and snuggled in deeper. Donnie somehow got even flatter. Finally Leo’s shoulders started to relax. Raph scratched at his brother’s shell, and Leo let out a shuddery sigh. Raph let his eyes close, still scratching at Leo’s shell.

Raph was so tired it felt like he weighed a million pounds. But his brothers were here, and they were together, and safe. Everything would be okay.

He had a second to think, We’re gonna see Pops tomorrow. Then he was asleep.

Something smashed Raph’s head into the wall. He barely had time to wake up before a shadow fell over his face. He registered his brothers’ smothered cries and the shuffle of multiple bodies. He turned his head to bite instinctively at whatever was attacking him. He got a mouthful of feathers before someone shoved a sack over his head.

“Ow! OW! He bites, he bites!”

“Gag ‘im!”

“I ain’t findin’ Lolly, boss.”

“Forget it, get the turtles.”

Raph thrashed. He was swung upside down, kicking and tearing at the bag. He could still hear his brother’s yelling. Someone kicked Raph from outside the sack and Raph snarled, kicking back. He could feel himself lifted up and panicked, thrashing harder.

“Let go!” he shouted. “Raph’s gonna bust your heads in! Mikey! Leo! Donnie!”

“Shaddup,” the fox said sharply. “Oscar, Louis, forget findin’ the dog. Get the portal up.”

There was a whooshing, crackly noise. Purple light shone thrown the bag. Leo’s screaming got louder. Raph’s claws found a snag in the bag and he worked at it, scratching and tearing at the tough fabric. He was mostly upside down and the swinging made it worse, but he tore until he had just enough sack to grab with his teeth. He snapped the loose threads full, dug his claws in and tore as hard as he could.

He fell on his head, hard, landing on horribly familiar fabric. Raph looked up.

They were in Big Mama’s office.

A dozen uniformed goons formed a half-circle around Big Mama’s desk. The fox and the owl goon stood in the middle of the circle. His brothers were shouting and yelling, still stuck in sacks next to Raph. A buffalo goon had been holding Raph’s sack. Before Raph could push himself up, the buffalo shoved him down again.

“Hold still,” he grunted. “Big Mama, we got ‘em.”

Big Mama’s chair turned slowly. Her eyes glinted like knives. “Tsk, tsk. You four biddly-tots gave Big Mama quite the scare!”

“We were just exploring!” Leo shouted, but it was muffled and panicked. Mikey cried harder.

Raph snarled and turned to bite the buffalo, but it just reached over and shoved Raph beak-first into the carpet until he could barely breath. Big Mama said something else, but the buffalo was pressing down too hard and Raph was getting dizzy. He heard Leo shout something and Donnie hissed. One of the yokai picked Mikey’s bag and started shaking it. Raph’s vision went black and white and he surged up, but the buffalo clamped a huge hand around his beak and forced him back down. Raph tried as hard as he could to shake him off, but he couldn’t get his arms and legs under him and he was getting really dizzy –

“Enough,” Big Mama said coldly. The yokai stopped shaking Mikey. Raph kept struggling, a muffled growl rising in his chest.

“He’s a biggun’, miss,” the buffalo panted.

“Positively monumentalous,” she cooed. Raph bared his teeth as much as he could. She laughed. “And still so snapificated! Perhaps Ruby needs a new role in our opening act.”

“NO!”

Raph had never heard Leo’s voice sound like that.

Big Mama tutted. “Not to worry, Lapis. Big Mama has plans for you, too. Take the little tottlings to separate cells. I have a new series to write.”

“Ma’am.”

The buffalo let go. Raph gasped for air, but another bag scooped him up before he could move. He still couldn’t breathe. It was swinging and bouncing too hard. Raph tried to shout for his brothers, or even chirp, but something stabbed him through the bag and he screamed. The smell of burning cloth and scales nearly made him throw up. He heard a sizzling noise before the burning thing stabbed him again. He tried to shout but everything was turning gray and his head spun.

Mikey was still crying. His littlest brothers were still crying, and Raph couldn’t reach him. Black static flooded his brain. The last thing he heard was Leo’s voice, desperately calling for Big Mama.

Um. Reminder that this does have a happy ending?

Trigger warnings include slight gore - Leo stabs a yokai in the eye. Child captivity and kidnapping - the turtle tots are chased, nearly caught, later caught and thrown in bags, claustrophobic descriptions of being trapped in the bag and partially suffocated, use of shocking weaponry against Raph.

Happy ending...eventually...

They were in a big room, like an office, but really fancy with carpet and a huge window behind the desk and couches off to one side. There were a lot of alien-animal guards standing around the walls. They wore matching purple uniforms with shiny yellow buttons. He heard his brothers dumped out of the sack behind him. He could smell Raphie’s fear stink. But Leo didn’t dare look away from the woman in front of him.

She was tall, with a purple suit and fluffy lavender hair. She had wide glasses and long, painted nails. She looked human. But Leo knew she wasn’t. She didn’t smell human. All the alien guards were focused on her. That meant she had to be their boss. She’d called herself Big Mama, like she ran a gang. Her eyes were bright, hard, and calculating. Like she wanted to squeeze Leo until he popped and then eat whatever was inside.

Leo thought hard. It was like Jupiter Jim. They were outnumbered and out bad-guyed. Donnie had grabbed Leo and his claws were digging into his arm. He could hear Mikey taking a deep breath for a really loud cry. But the lady wasn’t dad. Crying wouldn’t work. They needed something else to keep them safe. Raph started to growl, but before he could –

“You’re beautiful,” Leo breathed.

Big Mama blinked. Then she laughed. It sounded weird, but it was definitely a happy laugh, even if it felt like her laugh had claws. “Well, aren’t you a diddly-darling! And so rare. How did four little kappas appear out of thin air?”

Donnie hissed. “We’re not caps, I’m –”

“Ninjas in training!” Leo said quickly.

“Apalone spinifera!” Donnie finished loudly, and dodged Leo’s attempt to bonk him on the head. “And you’re a bitch!”

Leo went cold all over. Raph looked equally horrified, but for a completely different reason.

“Donnie! You said a bad word! You gotta give us your last slice of pizza when we get home!”

“Home?” Big Mama purred. She stepped closer. Leo stopped trying to bite Donnie and looked up. Something was definitely wrong with her silhouette. “Big Mama thinks you are home. You four little clover-crumpets will be the star of my opening show! Far better than scrounging on the street. Aren’t I generous, my turtley-boos?”

She leaned forward and pinched Leo’s cheek, hard. He met her eyes and didn’t move, so he saw the moment when she was impressed. A weird feeling filled Leo’s head. She didn’t want to eat them anymore, and he knew it, and she knew that he knew it. She liked him and that meant he’d won.

She let go of his cheek. “Send these four lucky charms to our finest suite,” she commanded.

The guards closed in again. Raph bristled, and Donnie tried to bite them, but they were whisked down the halls anyway and shoved through a heavy-looking door. It slammed shut behind them.

The room was…big. Half the size of their big den room at home. The carpet was a deep, rich red, and so plush they sank a full inch into it. A chandelier hung from the very tall ceiling. There was a huge four-poster bed supporting a massive purple canopy. The canopy was covered in little pearl beads arranged in some kind of pattern. The bed was mounded with pillows, so many that they spilled around the bed and onto the floor. There was a big desk, a dresser, a wardrobe, and an open door that looked like it led to a bathroom. A big purple lava lamp stood in each corner, taller than Raph and glowing a cool lavender.

“Whoa,” Raph breathed. “It’s like we’re in Lou Jitsu: Royal Ramen!”

“Ramen!” Mikey cheered, somehow already perched on the bed’s canopy.

Donnie didn’t say anything, but he was staring down at the carpet with his mouth hanging open, slowly wiggling his toes.

“Mikey!” Raph called. “C’mon, come back down! We shouldn’t be – is that a life-size bear plushie!?”

Leo let his brothers explore. He was on a much more important mission. He turned and walked the perimeter of the room. He checked behind all the furniture, picking up every pillow and funny-looking glass bottle. The dresser was loaded with bottles. One looked like a tiny elephant, and whatever perfume sprayed made Leo’s nose sting. He stuck it in his pocket.

It didn’t take long for Mikey to tire. One minute, he was climbing the beads on the bed’s canopy. The next, he was sliding down the flowy veil-thing, yawning hugely.

“I got him, I got him!” Raph abandoned his pile of plushies and practically somersaulted to catch Mikey (which, given Raph’s spiky shell, left deep gouges in the plush carpet.) He caught Mikey by the ankle, which made both of them laugh. Raph slung his catch over one arm like a sleepy banana. “Alright, let’s…uh. Leo? What’re you doing?”

Leo stuck his head out from behind the lava lamp. “Looking for spy cameras, duh.”

Donnie’s eyes lit up. “DidyoufindanycanIsee –”

“Quit it, Donnie,” Raph snapped. “And Leo, quit being weird! We gotta get out of here.”

“Can’t,” Leo said smugly. “We’ve been kidnapped.”

“We haven’t been kidnapped,” Raph scoffed. Then he and Donnie looked at each other. “Oh my shell we’ve been kidnapped.”

“We can just use the sewers,” Donnie said firmly. “We gotta find a bathroom and we can fit through the pipes.”

They went to the other doorway. It led to a bathroom, but it wasn’t full of big pipes, like their home was. It was a human bathroom. It had a tile floor, a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub so big it looked like a small pond.

Raph peered over the lip of the tub. “Hey, I think we could all fit in this! We could have a warm bath, with bubbles, just like TV!”

“Raph, focus!” Leo snapped his fingers. “Since we can’t fit through the sink or the tub drains, we’ll have to use the doo doo drain.”

“Doo doo!” Mikey giggled. He leaned over the toilet, opened his mouth, and about fifty little pearl beads dropped out. Donnie yelped and clambered up Raph’s shell – Mikey’s slobber was sticky. Leo watched with interest as some of the pearls splashed into the bowl. The bowl grew teeth, chewed, and swallowed.

All four of them shrieked and ran. Raph slammed the door behind them.

“Okay, nobody panic!” he shouted. “The toilet has teeth! Nobody panic! LEO, DONNIE, QUIT PANICKING! YOU’LL SCARE MIKEY!”

“Quiet!” Leo snapped. “Look, this is just like being lost, okay? We gotta stay put. Dad will find us.”

“Dad doesn’t know there’s a hidden city,” Donnie retorted. Then he paused. “Unless he does. Unless he’s actually a rat alien and he’s from here. Or we’re from here. Which means –”

“I wanna go home!” Mikey wailed.

Raph glared at Leo. “Maybe we’d be home right now if someone didn’t play kiss-up to Big Mama.”

“I wasn’t kissing up,” Leo said flatly. He hesitated, glancing at the door. He hadn’t found spy cameras, but there could still be spies. “It’s like Jupiter Jim,” he said slowly. “When he got captured by the lizardmen in Jupiter Jim XI: The Fourteenth Return of the Reptiles. We’re Jupiter Jim, and Big Mama’s the lizard queen. Okay?”

Donnie brightened. “Are we talking in code? I love talking in code!”

“You can’t say we’re talking in code or it doesn’t count,” Raph scolded.

Leo imagined punching his brothers in the face, repeatedly. Before he could make that a reality, Mikey gave the most pitiful littlest-brother chirp ever and peeked at Leo over Raph’s arm.

“Are we gonna die?” he asked in a very small voice.

“No!” All three brothers said at once. Leo swooped in to hold Mikey’s cheeks – and then switched to holding his shoulders. Big Mama’s fingers on his face were cold and sharp in Leo’s memory. “Jupiter Jim has like, a million sequels. And we’re all Jupiter Jim!”

Mikey sniffed. “I wanna be Lou Jitsu.”

“Okay, you’re Lou Jitsu. Come on, let’s try the door again.”

It was still locked. They looked for exits, like windows or vents, but there weren’t any. The room was suddenly much less friendly. They ended up clustered in the middle of the room. Donnie had found a really long sewing needle from somewhere. Raph was so unnerved that he just let Donnie keep it.

The four of them climbed up into the huge round bed. Donnie hid the needle under a pillow. Raph made a nest of all the blankets and plushies. Raph lay on his plastron, Mikey was tucked under his chin, and Donnie was curled into Raph’s side. Leo lay with his head on Raph’s arm and his legs over Donnie’s. After a few minutes of inactivity, the chandelier began to dim, until only the soft blobs of the lava lamp lit the room.

Raph and Mikey fell asleep pretty quickly. Donnie stayed awake for a long time, but eventually he fell asleep, too. Leo was the last one awake. His stomach was starting to hurt. He lay on his back and stared up at the beads. That’s when he recognized the pattern. A web.

She caught us, Leo thought. There was a creeping horror to the words that he couldn’t explain, even to himself. He thought of the hunger in Big Mama’s eyes. He didn’t feel like he’d won anymore. He wondered if, somehow, she’d already eaten them.

They woke up early the next morning from noises in the hallway. Only Mikey and Leo were early risers, but today even Donnie woke up fast. A few quick signs from Leo and they all climbed to the top of the canopy, each hiding behind a different post. (Except Mikey, who sat on Raph’s shell, ready to be used as a brother ball.)

The noises got louder.

“Guys, fellas, that was a prank! What’s a harmless mustache shaving between friends? I shouldn’t have to – wait – HEY!”

The door slammed open and a body hurled inside. It hit the foot of the bed and slumped as the door pulled shut. The figure groaned and sat up, rubbing its head.

They were tall and skinny, and sort of animal-looking, with a long snout and floppy ears. But they were covered in dark gray skin, not fur or feathers. Their bellhop uniform looked like a mess. The purple pants had yellow spots on the cuffs. They wore the jacket like a cape, with the sleeves braided in front. Their white shirt was covered in so many paint stains it looked like a soggy rainbow.

They looked around cautiously, then peeked under the bed.

“Heeeere, kappa, kappa, kappa…”

Mikey giggled quietly. Donnie pinched him.

The figure looked around a bit more, then relaxed. “Welp, guess they’re not here. Joke’s on them, I’m sleeping in five more minutes!” They flopped backwards over the bed, heaved a deep sigh, and looked straight up. Where he saw their silhouettes through the fabric.

Leo tensed.

“…Huh,” the guy said. They reached slowly into their pocket and pulled out –

“CANDY!” Mikey bellowed, and dropped from Raph’s shell. Donnie and Leo launched after him, teeth bared. Raph yelled, and the guy –

Was gone? The four of them landed on the bedspread and whirled in a tangle of bedsheets. The guy was sashaying across the room, waving his lollipop.

“Oh, this?” he said casually, and then took about ten pillows to the face. Raph bellowed and charged. He hit him, Leo was sure Raph hit him, except suddenly the guy was gone again. Leo’s head snapped up and the weirdo was hanging by his knees from the bed’s canopy.

Leo leaped to his feet. “That’s our hiding spot!” he cried indignantly.

“Mmm. Too bad.” He gave a slow slurp on the lollipop and pulled out another candy. “Don’t mind me, I’m just enjoying my breakfast.”

“You can’t have candy for breakfast!” Raph shouted.

“Unless we can, too,” Donnie hissed, flexing his claws.

“Hungry,” Mikey growled.

“Get ‘im!” Leo shouted. He grabbed Mikey’s shell. Mikey popped inside. Donnie grabbed Mikey’s other side. The two of them launched Mikey into the air. Raph took a running leap and smacked their brother straight at Public Enemy No. 1. Mikey’s shell hit him squarely in the face.

Donnie screamed. “DIRECT HIT!”

The guy dropped to the bed and they were on him instantly, digging their hands into his jacket, his shirt, his pockets.

“Where’d – where’d it go?” Leo asked, baffled. “Was that it? But I can smell more! What about the two pieces he was still eating?!”

“Who, me?” the guy asked innocently.

Raph stood on his skinny chest and crossed his arms. “A’ight, wise guy, where’s da goods?”

Mikey grinned toothily. “Yeah! Da goods, see?”

Leo face-palmed.

Donnie’s head turned slow and smooth. “We haven’t had food in hours.”

The guy shuddered. “Okay, that one was actually creepy. Out of self-preservation I confess I do, in fact, have more candy. But!” He held up one paw. “It only appears when you say, ‘please.’”

“PLEASE!” all of them shouted at once.

The guy grinned and flicked his right wrist. A practical fountain of multicolored candy spilled out on the floor. Chocolates, hard candies, caramel chews, sugar skulls, mochi. Leo had a split second to think, No way! before his brothers were devouring the pile. He dove to claim his share.

Despite the bounty, it wasn’t much to split between four mutant turtles. They scarfed it down and turned back to the bed. The guy was lounging on his side, head propped on one paw, like he found the whole thing incredibly entertaining.

“Well?” he said innocently.

Mikey and Donnie chimed, “Please!”

The guy flicked his other wrist. Instant treats. This time Leo ignored the booty and climbed onto the bed.

Instantly the guy was somehow across the room, sauntering over to the dresser with the big mirror. “Nice place you four have. Deluxe. You mind?” He pulled something else out of his sleeve and began setting something up. There was a series of tiny glass clinks.

“Hey!” Leo jumped off the bed. “How’d you – what’re you doing?”

“What’s it look like?” The clinks had been a series of tiny ink pots full of brightly colored paint. The guy had pulled a paintbrush out of nowhere and was painting a series of bright yellow dots up his forehead. He wiped the paintbrush off on his shirt. He flicked his wrist and a little azure pot appeared in his paw. He dipped the brush in and kept painting dots, this time under his eyes.

Mikey’s head popped up and he gasped. “You got spots like me!”

“Sure do, little ayotl.”

Donnie squinted suspiciously from where he’d been stuffing candy into Mikey’s shell. “What’s ‘ayotl’? Is that the same as a kappa?”

“Who cares?” Raph stood up and wiped candy wrappers from his face. Leo was pretty sure he’d eaten a few with the wrappers still on. “Alright, we ate, now we need ta get outta here.”

“Why?” the guy asked, and he sounded genuinely curious. “Aren’t you happy here? It’s warm, it’s clean, you have a positively gorgeous bed, all the food you could eat –”

“What food?” Leo snapped.

“Big Mama’s, of course!” The guy finished painting a line of dots above one ear and turned, smiling. “That’s why you’re all here. Turtles like you are quite the prize. Big Mama likes to keep her prizes close by. Fabulous gifts, sharing her stadium box, lavish meals – I hear breakfast this morning is a five-course procession of fish, rice, pickled vegetables, five flavors of soups, several steaming egg dishes…”

Leo’s mouth was watering. Donnie had gone very, very still. Mikey’s stomach rumbled.

“I’m still hungry!” Mikey wailed.

Raph hesitated. “What if it’s a trap? Like in the movies?”

“Nah. Big Mama’s practically swooning over you. Four adorable, incredibly rare kids show up on her doorstep? No wonder she went to Town Hall first thing.”

“We didn’t just ‘show up,’” Leo said sharply. “Her goons brought us here in sacks.”

“They’ll do that.” The guy shrugged and turned back to the mirror. “I’m feeling sunflower-y today. Is that a word? It should be a word.”

Donnie stepped very slowly closer. “Fish,” he hissed quietly.

“Uh – easy, easy!” The guy moved quickly away from Donnie, which Leo knew just increased Donnie’s prey drive. “They’ll come and get you, alright? I was just sent in to get you ready. Because, if you haven’t noticed, you’re all extremely naked.”

Mikey sniffed. “Dots?”

“Clothes,” the guy said, and he sounded so exasperated that he sort of reminded Leo a little of Dad. The thought did something funny in his chest, but the guy was already pointing to the wardrobe. “In there? With all the fabric?”

“Dots, please?”

Another flick. A Swedish fish hit Donnie in the face just before he leaped. The guy grinned. “Clothes first, then dots.”

They got dressed in matching black pants, and then they got dots. Mikey liked the dots. Lolly, the weird candy yokai, painted the four of them in different patterns. He even rolled up a sleeve and let Mikey paint a pattern on his arm. Mikey did blobby swirls of purple and green with little yellow flowers.

Mikey did not like the goons. There were two of them, an owl and a fox, and Lolly said they were going to take the turtles to breakfast. They were big and scowl-y. The fox kept almost-hitting Mikey with his knees until Raph very pointedly switched places with Mikey. His spiky elbow was perfect for stabbing, and the fox reluctantly backed off.

Leo whispered to Donnie out of the corner of his mouth. “If I say, ‘bite,’ go all-out.”

Donnie grinned very wide. “With pleasure.”

Mikey giggled and Raph looked like he might join Donnie. That made Mikey feel better. He wanted to bite the guards anyway, but he didn’t want to ruin his paint, so he just stuck his tongue out and held Raph’s hand as they walked.

When they reached the breakfast room, Mikey’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. The place was huge! It could fit their whole lair inside, probably! The floor was shiny with swirls of black and white. The high ceiling was criss-crossed with translucent lavender banners. Long sets of purple curtains hung along the walls, three on each side. A goon stood next to each of them.

Most of the room was filled with a long wooden table. Mikey and his brothers could have laid down head-to-toe and not reached both ends. It was set with plates and lots of little spoons, but it didn’t have food on it. Mikey started planning how loudly he should throw a tantrum in a place this size. Then he saw Big Mama at the other end. She looked almost the same as yesterday, except that her fluffy purple hair had been styled with turtle-shaped jewels.

Her eyes lit up. “My turtley-boos! My, my, don’t you all look scrumdiferous!”

Leo’s painted dots accentuated his crescents, with dazzling scarlet swirls across his scalp and splashed across his shoulders. Raph’s paint was a flurry of white and pink flower petals that curved around his left eye and down his cheek. Donnie’s purple dots ran up his arms, growing into geometric fractals completed by his natural purple markings. Mikey’s dots almost looked accidental, with vibrant saffron spotting his scalp and hands, but a closer look showed that they were overlapping suns, each encircled by a rainbow halo.

Mikey beamed. He let go of Raph and bounded forward to show off his suns and rainbows. “I’m a sunshine!”

“You are!” Big Mama agreed, practically leaping around the table to catch him.

“Ahp-up-up!” Raph caught him by the shell. “No eating the nice lady!”

“Can we eat her goons?” Donnie asked, glancing back at their escorts.

Big Mama tutted. “But then who would bring in the food? Chop chop!” She clapped her hands.

The goons sprang into action. In a suddenly whirl of purple, the four of them were seated at the table. Mikey and Raph were seated together, with Mikey on Big Mama’s left. Donnie and Leo sat across from them. Another blink, and more goons were setting out mountains of food. Fish – eggs –

“ORANGES!” Mikey cheered. He grabbed one and tried to bite it like an apple.

Raph pounded the table. “Meat! Meat! Meat!”

Donnie and Leo both dove for the fish. “Leo if you so much as touch my tuna I will end you –”

“Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Big Mama laughed. “So lively this morning! And such appetites!”

Raph swallowed, bits of scrambled egg clinging to his scales. “’Course we’re hungry, you locked us in!”

Mikey’s good mood sank a little. He’d sort of forgotten because of the paint.

She chuckled. “Well of course! I wouldn’t want you turtley-tarts getting lost!”

“We wouldn’t get lost!” Donnie snapped. “We didn’t even get lost the first time, you just kidnapped us!”

Big Mama tutted. “I’d hardly call a luxury suite ‘kidnapped,’ my snookly-sweetums. And offering you a full-course breakfast! One could say you owe me for scooping you off the street.”

Raph scowled. “Those goons just got the drop on us. But we showed ‘em!”

Big Mama’s eyes glinted. “Indeed! You four made quite the spoodles of my guard.”

“That’s ‘cuz we’re ninjas!” Mikey jumped in, grinning in all his gap-toothed glory.

“Ninja,” Donnie corrected. “It’s both plural and singular. Like fish.”

Big Mama giggled. “Ninja, really? I can’t imagine you know more than a toddly-twinkle!”

Raph stood up. “We know tons, watch! NINJA SMASH!”

He punched down on the seat next to him. It cracked in half. The back of the chair hit the table so hard it broke several tiny spoons on impact.

“Raph!” Leo yelped.

“My, my,” Big Mama cooed. “What a splendiferous display!”

Raph blinked. “It…is?”

Mikey and his brothers looked at each other, stunned. Then all four of them leaped to their feet.

“Big Mama, watch this!”

“No, watch me!”

“Check this out!”

Chairs, spoons, and scrambled eggs flew everywhere. Raph started punching everything that would hold still (and some of the goons, who took evasive action.) Donnie grabbed a broken piece of chair and began whacking Leo, who parried with a series of tiny spoons, which he then started to juggle. Mikey scooped up orange after orange and shot Leo’s tiny spoons out of the air. A few of them hit Raph, who promptly ate them and dove for Mikey. Mikey leaped up on Raph’s shell with a giggle and then started running laps around the table, leap-frogging off the backs of the remaining chairs until Donnie whacked him to the floor.

Big Mama laughed and clapped her hands. “Marvelous! It’s been ages since I’ve seen such charming bumbilosity. Not since my darling Lou Jitsu!”

Mikey practically teleported to her side, along with his brothers. “YOU KNOW LOU JITSU?!”

Big Mama’s eyes actually sparkled. Her cheeks turned bright pink and her eyes shone like they’d just given her a Silver Age Lou Jitsu Action Figure. “Why, of course I know Lou Jitsu! I met him on the set of Crouching Shrimp, Hidden Tiger Prawn. He did all his own stunts, you know! And he was the longest-running champion of the Battle Nexus!”

Raph gasped. “You met Lou Jitsu!?”

“What’s his favorite color?” Mikey demanded.

Donnie shoved Mikey aside. “Did his punches really exceed 100 miles per hour?”

Leo shouldered in front of Donnie. “What’s the Battle Nexus?”

“It’s the most exciting place in the Hidden City, where yokai of all kinds fight to the death for glory and fame! I think if you trained hard enough, you could be just – like – him!” She booped each one of them on the beak.

Mikey squealed and started racing around her chair, chanting, “Nin-ja! Nin-ja!”

“I wanna be like Lou Jitsu!” Raph shouted eagerly.

Big Mama leaned forward, two fingers cupped gently under Raph’s chin like she was petting a kitten. “Would you like to see where Lou Jitsu fought?”

“YES!” all of them shouted.

“Fabulominous!”

She herded the four them towards the door. Raph and Leo immediately latched onto her hands. Donnie darted back and forth in front of her, while Mikey grabbed the tail of her purple jacket. She laughed her tinkling laugh. “My, what precocious little princes! Oscar, prepare my booth – and bring extra popcorn!”

The four of them cheered. Big Mama shifted to squeeze Mikey’s hand and his heart swelled to bursting. She knew Lou Jitsu! They were gonna be ninjas! And get popcorn! This was gonna be the best!

The five of them (followed by goons) headed out to another hallway. This one was wide with swirly tiles and a heavy purple rug down the middle. There were statues of animal-people on either side and a really high ceiling. It was like they were royalty! Mikey got so excited that he let go of Big Mama’s hand to do cartwheels. Big Mama laughed, so Leo and Donnie had started climbing Raph’s shell and dramatically leaping to the ground (if Raph didn’t catch and throw them.) Big Mama looked delighted at their roughhousing. The Goons just looked annoyed, which made it even better!

Then they passed a new hallway on the right. A bunch of Goons stood there, waiting for Big Mama to go by. One goon was pushing a cart with a bunch of covered trays on top. Mikey probably wouldn’t have noticed except for the feather at the bottom of the cart, resting on its empty lower shelf.

The feather was nearly as long as Mikey’s forearm. It was cobalt-blue at the bottom and vividly green at the tip, and it glittered like it was covered in tiny stars. Mikey’s breath caught. The colors were so bright that he wanted to eat them. It was the most beautiful feather he’d ever seen.

At that exact moment, Leo tried to jump off Raph and Raph caught him by his ankle instead. Raph hung him upside down and started swinging him wildly. Leo was laughing, Donnie tried to catch Leo, and the Goons tried to catch all the statues they were knocking over. Mikey slipped to the side and then dove for the cart. But then the cart started to move and the feather flew up! Mikey scrambled onto the bottom shelf and spun awkwardly, trying to catch it as the feather leaped and twirled around him. And then he caught it, because he was a ninja!

But also now he was riding the cart. No one had noticed him, but when Mikey peeked out, the hallway he’d come from was definitely gone.

Hmm.

He pouted, trying to think. He could yell and scream? And cry a lot? That worked when he got lost in the sewers. And his older brothers were hogging all the attention. So crying was definitely a good idea. And he could show them his feather! Except they couldn’t touch it because they’d been ignoring him.

Satisfied, he opened his mouth and took the deepest breath he could.

Bam!

The cart shoved through two massive doors Mikey hadn’t seen coming. He squeaked and ducked. His eyes went round.

It was a kitchen that seemed to stretch forever. The walls were crammed with ovens, fridges, and cabinets. Four long counters took up the center of the floor, with enough space between them for Mikey and his brothers to lie side by side not touching. Above the counters hung racks of pans, knives, spatulas, spoons, and utensils that Mikey had never even seen before. (A couple of them changed colors or even blinked at him.) The counters themselves were used for slicing and dicing more food than Mikey had ever seen in his life. People in white coats and funny hats walked around each other, yelling or talking, carrying big trays or heavy pots brimming with multicolored smoke. It was like a big, complicated dance.

Someone was rolling a tray full of food towards him. Mikey abruptly realized that he maybe wasn’t supposed to be there, and they might try to make him leave. (Mikey wasn’t sure whether Little Brother powers would work on other people.) So he scampered quickly to the wall, scaled a fridge, and slipped into the cabinet above.

The cabinet was full of interesting bottles, all glass with metal caps. The bottles had lots of smells. Curious, he reached for the nearest one and opened it. It was full of lots of little black granules, like burned sand, but it smelled sweet and sort of…silvery? Mikey sniffed until his eyes crossed. Then he giggled. Smelling was fun!

He reached for more bottles until he’d smelled them all. Some of them made his eyes water. Some were so bitter it made his toes curl. He tried eating a rainbow one, but it didn’t really taste like anything, it just made all the other smells stronger. Interesting. He put that one in his shell pocket, along with the feather. Then he made a small game of organizing the bottles by color. Then by smell, then by color and smell.

Suddenly the cabinet opened. A spotted lizard thing stared up at him.

“’Ey, yer not s’posed to – oi!”

He popped into his shell with a squeak. He shut the lid of his shell tightly. There was a lot of shouting. Someone took him out and shook him. He opened the lid of his shell and hissed.

“Sounds like a bad tea kettle,” growled another voice. There was a pop and one of the spices was held right in front of his shell – a really bitter one. There wasn’t enough air inside his shell to breathe around it so he popped his head out with a gasp. The lizard shrieked and Mikey tried to jerk free, but they pinned him against the nearest counter instead. The counter was cold against his plastron. He looked around. There were a bunch of cutting boards between him and the spice cupboard. On the other side was a hot stove full of bubbling pots. Lots of people were starting to cluster around them.

A big, black cat was looking down on him, sharp eyes narrowed, one paw still curled around the bottle. She had a really big white hat.

“’E was in the spices, Chef Saoirse! Coulda nicked somfing!”

“Nu-uh!” Mikey piped.

The lizard rattled him again. “Smell like mystics, you do! Got somfing in your shell? Hmm?”

He scowled. “I was just borrowing! It’s pretty!”

“Going to try it on something?” Saoirse picked him up with one paw and smiled with lots and lots of teeth. “You would make excellent turtle soup.”

Mikey rolled his eyes. If she really tried to do that, he’d just scream and Raph would come running. But her threat was so cheesy he couldn’t take it seriously. “You’re not doing the evil voice right. Or the soup. It smells so weird!” He popped out an arm and pointed to the nearest pot.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Oh?”

“Duh! It smells, um, cold? It needs to be hot!”

“You mean spicy?” a seahorse person offered. Saoirse glared at the seahorse and they cowered.

Mikey brightened. “Yeah! Hang on –”

He popped his legs out and swung, twisting. If Saoirse had used her claws, it wouldn’t have worked, but the pads of her paws were barely rougher than Raph’s. Mikey knew how to break that grip. He dropped to the hot stove and scampered across the counter. Several people shouted and grabbed for him, but he dodged them all and scampered up the fridge. He’d just organized the spices. He knew exactly where to find them all. He was in and out in less than a second.

“Here!” he said brightly, holding out two bottles. One was the crinkly black spice and the other looked like little grains of blue sand.

“Correct,” Saoirse said slowly.

Suddenly the seahorse person gasped. “Your feet!”

Mikey looked down. Oh, right. He’d run across the cutting boards where they’d been chopping vegetables. He’d run right over the knives.

“I’m fine! See?” He lifted a foot to show them. His foot really was fine! Except that a thin red line appeared when he lifted it. Then the stinging hit. He yelped and hopped on one foot. “Baby slice! Papercut! Ow ow ow ow ow!”

“I got him, I got him!”

“’E needs the first aid kit!”

“I’ll get a lollipop!”

“You dingbat, kids don’t like lollipops, they like chocolate!”

Suddenly everyone was rushing to help him at once. Mikey giggled, a little anxious. It was nice attention but it was a lot at once. He glanced at the big cat chef. She stepped back to allow everyone to help, but she kept her eyes narrowed and locked onto him. His shoulders relaxed a bit. She still looked mad but she definitely wasn’t anymore, like when he snuck Donnie cups of Dad’s coffee after a fight and Donnie forgave him without saying it. So Mikey grinned his most adorable grin and held out his hands for uppies.

It took a while for things to settle back down. Saoirse had banished him to a particular part of the counter, except it wasn’t really banishment because she kept coming over to let him taste-test. The seahorse person, Naomi, was teaching him to chop vegetables. Naomi also gave him a hairnet to wear, like all the other yokai. (Mikey learned that all the animal-alien-people were called yokai.) It wasn’t just for hair, she said. It was magical, so that nobody shed fur or scales or anything else while they were working with food.

“And you use a blade like this – all wrinkled on the sides, see? That keeps the carrot from sticking to the blade as you chop don’t put your thumb there!”

“Sorry,” Mikey said, realigning his hand on the carrot. He was frowning in concentration and his tongue stuck out of his mouth.

Saoirse walked past and slapped his head with her tail. “Relax, turtle, you’ll get too stiff to chop. If you’re useless I’ll throw you in a pot for dinner.”

A shark yokai smirked. “Didn’t you use the same threat on me?”

“The threat is still good, Lodi. Chop faster. Jorge, give the boy your pea shells when you’re done. He needs a snack.”

Mikey had gotten lots and lots of snacks. Some were scraps and some were little treats stolen off of trays before they went out of the kitchen. And he learned lots! Saoirse was crabby like Donnie but she was a lot like Raph, because she rotated her staff so they could all take breaks with Mikey. He helped use his super-sniffer to fix recipes and he learned the names of different spices and how to measure and then back to chopping.

Lolly finally came by to pick him up. By the time he sauntered in, Mikey had moved on to parsnips, slowly chopping them into perfect paper-thin slices. Saoirse was cooking next to him, her hands moving so fast with her own work they were practically a blur. Mikey wanted to be that fast, but she’d told him it was better to start slow. It was hard to cut rolling things, though. He almost didn’t notice when the Lolly came in, except that Lodi the Junior Chef hissed a warning.

“Head Chef! Lolly’s back!”

Saoirse looked up. Her face went from stern to scowling.

The yokai grinned at Mikey. “Well look at you, scamp! Running off to play with sharp things. What’ll your older brothers say?”

Saoirse and Mikey threw him identical glares.

“I’m not a baby, I make tons of meals at home!” Mikey snapped.

“He’s your charge, then?” Saoirse growled. “I wonder how on earth a little kappa came to find my kitchen, Lolly. My extremely well-warded kitchen.”

“There were wards?” Lolly asked innocently.

Saoirse called him a bad word. Lolly let out a fake gasp. Mikey let out a real, very delighted gasp.

She crooked her knife at Lolly. “Laugh all you want, I know you set this up. It’s got your tie-dye pawprints all over it.”

“I would never! I’m just here to pick him up for dinner. Unless you were thinking of making turtle soup –”

Saoirse threw her knife at him. Lolly dodged, scooped up Mikey, and ran out the door, both of them giggling hysterically.

“She wouldn’t really have made me into soup,” Mikey told him, grinning and curling his arms around Lolly’s neck.

“’Course not, or I wouldn’t have led you there. What were you doing on the counter, anyway? You planning on becoming a gargoyle?” Lolly swung Mikey up over his head. Mikey landed with a squeal, both feet on Lolly’s ears, their hands clasped so Mikey wouldn’t fall. Mikey hunched over and blew a raspberry at him. Lolly grinned. “That’s what I thought! Kitchen gargoyle in the making. I bet Lucy and Tabitha will poop all over you.”

Those were two of the kitchen porters. Mikey made a face. “They’re not real birds, dum-dum! They’re yogurt!”

“Yokai?”

“Yeah!” Mikey bounced a little on Lolly’s head. Lolly had pretty good balance and didn’t break stride, even though they were turning a corner down another hall. He was so steady it was kind of like sitting on Raph’s shoulders, but taller. “I met a bunch of yokai! They were really nice! I had tons of snacks, except I couldn’t fit them in my shell to give to my brothers. Can you teach me how to fit snacks in my sleeves, too?”

“I could, but maybe later. If I stuffed my sleeves with snacks you wouldn’t have room for dinner.”

“I’m hungry!” Mikey demanded, because he really was. “Are my brothers going to be there?”

“Yep. Big Mama had to run to Town Hall today, so she sent them back to your room. We’re going to swing by and pick them up on the way to dinner. Good thing, too. I don’t think I’ve got enough lollipops left for four hungry turtles.”

Mikey gasped. “Oh oh oh! Is your name Lolly, because you like lollipops?”

“Hmm? Oh, totally, totally.”

Mikey squinted down at him. “You sound like Leo when he’s lying. You’re not really named lollipop!”

“How would you know? Maybe my name is actually Lepidoptera. Or Lolita. Or lolly-gag. Because lollipops make me gag.”

“They do not.”

“Do, too!”

“Do not!”

“Do, too!”

Mikey play-growled and tried to kick Lolly in the head, just a little. But Lolly suddenly ducked and Mikey half-dropped until Lolly caught him again, swinging him by a wrist and then a foot and then upside down even as Lolly kept strolling down the halls. Mikey laughed until he couldn’t catch his breath.

Donnie crouched on top of the canopy, in the middle of a play-fight with his brothers. They were waiting for Mikey to get back. That was fine with Donnie – he wanted to reenact every fight they’d watched.

The Nexus had been amazing. The fighting, the pomp, the theater! The big loud announcements and commentary! The costumes! Oh, sweet Ruth Benerito, the costumes! They’d watched everything from Big Mama’s box. It was pretty high up, but they could see the whole arena. It had felt like watching Lou Jitsu live and in person! The fights had been amazing!

Well. Most of the fights. The one with the two-headed hippo-scorpion had been kinda boring. The yokai fighting it just poked at its thick hide, then played dead after it smacked him with its tail.

(He probably hadn’t been playing dead, actually. But that’s what Leo told Raph, and he sounded so certain and bored that Raph believed him. Donnie didn’t bother saying otherwise.)

It had been weird watching without Mikey, though. Raph had gotten worried, but Big Mama said there was no way to leave the Nexus without her permission, so he couldn’t get lost. Raph asked if Lolly could find him and she’d said yes. Then Leo distracted everyone with commentary on the next fight.

They watched fights all day until Big Mama said she had to go do paperwork before the nighttime programs began. Paperwork sounded boring, so Donnie didn’t object when Lolly brought them back to their room. He said he’d taken Mikey to the kitchens and went to get him. That left Donnie, Raph, and Leo arguing over their favorite fight of the day, then reenacting all of them to prove who was right.

Donnie’s favorite, of course, had been a yokai that looked kind of like a praying mantis, except that its forearms had been modified into mystical weapons. He’d even made something similar by dismantling part of the dresser. It looked like a slingshot crossed with a canon. He was using breakables for ammunition – light bulbs, glass bottles, whatever made a good shatter.

Donnie slipped down from the canopy and onto the bed, crouching behind some pillows. He waited with predatory patience while Raph and Leo rolled around on the floor.

“Komodo Dragon Slide!” Leo cried, and slid between Raph’s legs just as Raph lunged for him.

Donnie leaped out from his cover, weapon aimed at Leo’s plastron. “Eat hot perfume, suckah!”

He fired, but Leo smacked it like a volleyball and it hit the bed next to Donnie. Donnie grabbed it and reloaded. There was a few seconds in which the perfume bottle became a blur in the air between them. Unfortunately, in that heated exchange of mortal combat, Donnie forgot about Raph.

“SNEAK ATTACK!”

Raph yanked the covers off the bed. Donnie shrieked and slipped, then realized that he was still being dragged toward Raph. He rolled to avoid his brother’s grasp, then scrambled up the nearest bedpost to the canopy.

Suddenly the door swung open. Lolly came in, carrying Mikey in his arms.

“Leo!” Mikey chirped, and practically threw himself out of Lolly’s arms. Leo scrambled to catch him.

“Ah-HA!” Donnie crowed, aiming his weapon (now loaded with a tiny porcelain soap dish). “I have you now, Komodo! Victory is mine!”

“Oh yeah? Double-Dragon Combo!”

Leo threw Mikey at Raph. Mikey, expecting the next part, popped into his shell. Raph caught him and threw him at Donnie as hard as he could, roaring like a dragon. Donnie saw his too-short life flash before his eyes (sewers, Halloween candy, Leo wrecked Donnie’s toaster again). Mikey’s shell hit Donnie squarely in the plastron and the two of them tumbled to the bed.

Mikey popped back out and sat on Donnie’s shell. “I win!” he cried.

“Mikey!” Raph leaped onto the bed, landing so hard that Donnie and Mikey bounced a few feet in the air. Donnie hissed but Leo tackled him. Raph caught Mikey, both of them grinning hugely. “Lolly said you went to the kitchen today. You missed all the fights! It was like a movie in real life!”

Donnie rolled over Leo. “KARATE KICK OF –”

“JUSTICE!” Leo said, and stomach-kicked Donnie. Donnie grabbed a pillow and attempted to suffocate his twin.

Mikey pouted. “Aw, I wanna see real fights, too! Brother fights are boring.”

“Mm-ffmm!” Leo said, from under the pillow.

Raph reached over and plucked Donnie up by the back of his shell. Donnie, feeling like he’d successfully worked out all his inner evil, let him do it.

“Don’t worry, Mikey! You can do ninja training with us tomorrow. And then we’ll all get to be real ninjas, in real life!”

Mikey gasped. “We will? How?!”

“Yeah, how?” Lolly asked, leaning against the doorway. “C’mon, kids, time for dinner with Big Mama.”

“Dinner!” Raph jumped off the bed, Mikey still in his arms. The five of them headed out. Donnie side-eyed the owl and fox goons. They’d been following them around all day, even when they were with Big Mama. They’d been stationed outside their bedroom door, too, and – yep, they were following them. Donnie scowled.

Mikey scowled, too. “I don’t want dinner. I already got lots of snacks! I wanna see a fight!”

“It’s okay, Mikey!” Leo practically bounced next to Raph. “You know how Big Mama said we’re her opening act? I had an awesome idea! We’re gonna do a ninja obstacle course in front of the whole city!”

Mikey’s eyes lit up. “We are?!”

“That’d be so cool!” Raph gushed. “It’d be like ninja training at home, but better!”

“I wanna fight with the mantis guy!” Donnie said eagerly. “We could exchange weapon designs!”

Raph nudged him with an elbow. “I thought you didn’t like magic stuff? You keep saying it’s not real when Leo does his coin trick.”

“Maybe I just like actually cool magic!”

“Ouch,” Lolly said, and Mikey giggled.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Guys, I said obstacle course, not fights. What if we got someone totally boring? Like that guy who fought the hippo-scorpion thing. One hit and he just played dead! What a dummy.”

Donnie laughed way too loudly, looked away, and accidentally caught Lolly’s eye. He looked down at his toes as they walked. The guy probably hadn’t been playing dead. He knew that. But that’s what Leo told Raph, and he sounded so certain and bored that Raph believed him. Donnie didn’t bother saying otherwise.

…Maybe fighting wasn’t a good idea.

“I wanna fight with magic!” Mikey shouted.

Leo sighed with exaggerated patience. “Mikey, obstacle courses are better. Just like Lou Jitsu and the Seven Deadly Ladders of Doom.”

“But you guys got to fight! I wanna fight!”

“We only saw fights, we didn’t actually –”

They reached the dining room doors. Mikey shoved his way through, ran right up to Big Mama and shouted, “I WANNA FIGHT LIKE LOU JITSU!”

She laughed and booped his beak. “Do you, my little scrumpet?”

Leo fake-karate-chopped Mikey’s head. “No, he doesn’t.”

“I do, too!” He tried to bite Leo’s hand. Leo tripped him, then sat on him. Mikey yowled like a wounded cat.

Ohhh, a brother fight. Donnie took a seat to watch. Raph edged closer, wary.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Sorry, Big Mama, he can’t fight. He’ll just sit there and cry.”

“I will not!” Mikey snapped.

Leo gave him a sharp look. “Don’t think about dead baby birds.”

Mikey burst into tears. Raph leaped forward instantly, scooping up Mikey and scolding Leo. Donnie went very still. He stared at Leo, who sat down next to Big Mama and started talking about obstacle courses.

Leo had made Mikey cry.

The owl and fox goons took up stations by the door. Lolly had vanished. Raph had his hands full of a sobbing Mikey. Mikey cheered up when more goons started bringing in food. He even waved to a few and started pointing out which dishes were what to Raph.

Donnie kept his eyes on Leo. Thinking. Leo kept up a constant chatter with Big Mama, and folded Mikey into it when he finally stopped crying. There was something about Leo’s face that kept catching Donnie’s attention. Like the time they found an actual alligator in the sewers, and they had to be very, very careful to get away.

It made him remember that they’d been brought to Big Mama in bags.

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