You Thought This Was An MLP Blog, Didn't You?

Lotus followed closely behind her mentor on her motorbike. The two women escaped the fire in the junkyard. They left their mutant targets behind due to the flame’s hostility. The women zipped through the New York traffic as they headed towards their next destination. Along the way, they scanned the streets for the van that the Purple Dragons would be hauling their prisoner in.

The women came up to a backstreet and rode down the cramped aisles behind the buildings. At an end was the truck they were looking for. The oncoming lights of their motorcycles signaled the Purple Dragons to exit the vehicle. When they were able to confirm it was who they thought it was, they lowered their arms and relaxed outside the vehicle. The Mistress and Lotus took off their helmets and approached the van. Johnny stood up straighter to ensure he would not anger this woman.

“Where is rat?” she demanded in English. Johnny took a brief step back and opened the rear passenger door. The Mistress cocked her brow. When she stepped towards the vehicle, the third member of the Purple Dragons got out of her way. In his haste, he realized he stood closer to Lotus than he would’ve liked. He jerked himself  over again, trying not to laugh nervously or make eye contact with her. Lotus hid her smile behind the full plated mask she wore.

“Right in here Ms. Mam.” Johnny announced. There he was, still in the same outcold position he was. The Mistress took a step back and looked towards Two-Ton. She pointed at him and then back to Splinter.

“He come.” Without hesitation, Two-Ton reached over to slump Splinter back over his back. The Mistress led with Lotus right behind her and the rest of the crew lingering behind. 

“(I’m surprised they still have him.)” Lotus commented in her native language. The Mistress agreed.

“(So am I.)” She looked back. All three were startled at first that she was looking directly at them. It was as if she did not care that they were squirming under her gaze, unsure of what to do. They acted funny and dressed funny. “(these people don’t seem real.)”

“(As if we are to say with what we are up against).” The Mistress cocked a brow to her student. She couldn’t see her face but she knew she was giving the same knowing look back.

They approached a door in which they had stopped. The Mistress knocked and announced herself. Another voice called for her to enter. The door opened and in front of them was a small spread. Karai sat before them, enjoying her meal on her knees as she would traditionally do. She motioned them to sit with her. The Mistress and Lotus kneeled before her and bowed.

“(We couldn’t get one more mutant?)” she stated bluntly. The Mistress rose to explain.

“(Apologies. Our enemies started a fire. Required action was taken.)” Her voice was not shaky. It was stern and honest in delivery. Lotus has only shadowed some jobs that her mentor has taken her on, but this was one of the few times a failure occurred. Her sensei never sounded an emotional mess with her apologies. It was always poised, professional, and sincere. There was a pause. Karai was thinking.

“(With the rat still in our possession, the others will come back.)” Lotus added. Her neck was pushed down by her mentor. She stopped her force before her forehead hit the floor.

“(Silence.)” It happened so fast even the Purple Dragons behind them flinched in fear that they too had done something wrong by just being there. “(We have failed you today. Our humblest apologies.)”  Karai reached into the side of her robe where her walkie talkie was. 

“Come take the Purple Dragons to holding.” She asked. A member on the other line agreed. Instantaneously, Foot clan members appeared out of nowhere. The three members were quick to interject, asking what they did wrong and getting scared of a punishment. “You are taking and guarding our prisoner in holding” She explained further. The boys calmed down, and went off with the Foot Clan members. The last member took it upon himself to close the door to leave his master alone with her business. Immediately, The Mistress took off her black hood from over her head and pulled her yellow scarf below her chin. Lotus followed behind, pulling her metal mask from her face. She looked back up at Karai who was indifferent to this change.

“(Anything else to report?)”

“(We have injured them greatly.)” The Mistress began. She placed a hand on Lotus’ knee to address her. “(She was able to inflict damage to their leader.)”

“(Impressive.)” Karai commented. She stared at Lotus. She was unsure whether or not she is supposed to continue staring as she is or if she was to look away. “(Despite your failures, you have still pleased me. You will be called on later.)”

“(Thank you, Master Shredder.)” The Mistress bowed once more with Lotus following her. The black hood and yellow scarf came back on and so did the mask. The two women politely left Karai to finish enjoying her meal. When they got far enough down the hall, Lotus began:

“(Shredder? How did she become the Master?)” The Mistress abrasively took a step in Lotus’ way to cause her to stop abruptly. She looked into the eyes of her student to be clear.

“(Hold your tongue. This is a contract for you and that’s all you should be concerned about.)” she warned. Lotus could do nothing but stand there and actually heed to her sensei’s words. She knows it's true but can someone really go through the majority of their life so nonchalant? Is that what it is to be a kunoichi? Her mentor took an opening step and continued down the hall. She wanted to take the time to actually look at the creature.

She may have been up close in battle but the commotion of the night didn’t give her the time to examine the creatures thoroughly. They entered where they kept him. The Purple Dragons met them at the door. With few words, the Mistress ordered them to stand by the door. She wanted to study the creature with minimal annoyance. Splinter was still out cold and chained to a wall. This time he had the ability to stand up but the rest of him was weighed down in chains. He lay sprawled on the ground for him to wake up in one of the worst positions for an elderly animal on the worst surfaces. Lotus squatted down  to study his finer features.

“(What do they say these things are?)” His whiskers flickered for a moment. “(I don’t believe they could be lab experiments gone wrong.)”

“(It is what we are told.)” Her mentor took her foot and got it under Splinter’s tail. It was heavier than she thought. When it slipped off of her foot when she lifted it, her body shuddered. “(This is supposed to be a rat.)”

“(It wears a hair tie.)” Lotus pointed out. Indeed Master Splinter was wearing his usual style. Most of his silver tresses were wrapped up in what used to be such a neat bun on top of his head. After two days of being held captive, it told its story of distress. “(Very peculiar. Am I going to be seeing more things such as this?)”

“(Maybe on this job. I can honestly say that I am stunned by what I am seeing.Kunoichi are far and few inbetween and you will be called for multiple types of jobs. You will see things you had not thought possible.Things you don't want to believe. This, I believe.)”

The older woman watched as her student reached out her hand to properly touch the creature. Her fingers brushed back his rogue hairs from his face. They were twirled between her fingers until she removed them to twist and secure them around his hair bun. The Mistress sighed in distaste.

 “(Don’t tell me you’ve developed a liking to this creature. How unsanitary.)” Lotus almost choked from what she was accusing her of. All she could do was shake her head. Slowly, she began to stand. The Mistress stood much straighter as it seemed that her student was going to give a possible sermon. She wanted to know what could be going on in that child’s head. It was always something different with her.

“(I saw humanity in the creature I fought. What is to say its downfall is similar to the ones I’ve played with in the past? If I am not mistaken, it is also the great leader I ‘injured greatly’.)”

“(It is disgusting.)”

“(Sensei, it is a skill you refuse to utilize.)” She got her there and she had to agree. The Mistress cracked a smile under her mouth covering.

“(With that thing, you are absolutely correct.)” She referred to that green monster her student was able to fend off. When it was time to leave the building from that fire, the Mistress did what she could to escape from the majority of the family and find her student. She didn’t see the fight but she did see her straddling the thing. Other small hints such as how she was smiling was a tell-tale sign. She’s seen her do this before with other victims. “(What happens if it does not work?)” Lotus gestured towards the rat on the ground.

Michelangelo already had his playstation up and running in the living room. The farmhouse lacked a TV before 2007 so he ‘borrowed’ one from the truck. Truthfully, Raphael helped him snag it as he wasn’t too sure about how fun or long farm life was going to be. 

“You’re up early.” The commenter was Mona Lisa. She walked hunched over and drowsy. Mikey paused the game.

“It’s like noon.”

“Still.” She continued her path towards him. He scooted over on the couch for his sister to be beside him. The lizard lady sat with a huff. Her loose baby hairs floated for a moment before settling annoyingly on her face. Michelangelo used his large hand to wipe those hairs back. Her head tilted upwards and she smiled. “Ah. Waking up to the sun. Even if it is too bright.”

“Yeah, no. It’s weird.” The game was unpaused. Mona gasped in disbelief.

“What do you mean ‘It’s weird’?”

“Waking up and there’s light everywhere?! Not a fan.” Right. Those boys have lived in the sewer for the majority of their life. Some people, or mutants, grow up differently and develop different perspectives. “I need it darker. I tried to close the blinds but it wasn’t enough.”

“Put blankets up in the windows like Angel does.”

“I guess that could work.”

“Is anyone else up?”

“Not a peep from anyone.” Mona sat up. She stared at Mikey, but he wasn’t too concerned to look back at her. “I’m not expecting anyone to be up. Even Leo.” 

“Are they asleep?” She asked. The orange clad terrapin was quick to nod, but Mona was quick to interject.  “No, Mikey. Are.. they.. Asleep?” The turtle continued playing until the idea became more clear. The game paused.

“Shell.”

The two mutants hustled quietly to where their family were resting. By default, Venus was ok as Mona actually took the time to check on her siblings when she woke up. Understandably, the female turtle wanted to continue resting. Mikey knocked on the door and opened it. He looked around the room before giving Mona the clear to come in. She moved quickly to get to Raphael’s side.

“Yeah, you deal with his stank breath.” Mikey half-whispered as he made his way to Donatello’s bedside. He slept on the side that wasn’t hurting with pillows stuffed under his plastron. His mouth was open, making his jowls large as he breathed in his sleep. “Don don don don donnn…. Donnie….” he whispered in his ear. As soon as there was an inkling of him waking up, Mikey was quick to warn. “Don’t move. You’re hurt. It’s over here.” First, he pointed to where it hurt but then he thought that maybe his brother didn’t see him. His glasses weren’t on afterall. In an attempt to help, he thought maybe he can lightly touch the surrounding area to help him get a better sense of where it was. He didn’t want him to move too fast and hurt himself. A fractured rib sounded terrible.

“Ok don’t touch. Don’t touch.” Donatello winced. Mikey drew his hand back quickly.

“Did that hurt?”

“Reflexive,” he admitted. “Thank you.”

“Ewww…” Mikey’s whines caught him off guard. Donnie may have one of the worst visions to exist, but he can tell those two shapes were his brother and his girlfriend. Mikey’s commentary also helped fill in some context clues. “Mona’s way too pretty to get greeted like that.” He mumbled to himself as his brother continued with his morning kiss. Mikey turned his attention back to the brother he wanted to care for.“Do you wanna sit up?” Donnie shook his head.

“Not yet. Let me sit here for a sec. Can you grab my tablet for me?” He pointed off to where one of his bags was still sitting. He didn’t want to bother trying to unpack. He was in so much pain and so tired from having to sit on that car ride up here. As soon as he was given a bed, he was out for the night. His younger brother went over to retrieve it to him.

“Imma sit too.” Raphael added as he grabbed Mona’s hand to imply that she stay with him.

“If you are, can you grab my headphones too.” Donnie asked and pointed to the same bag. The young turtle found what he needed and handed the items to his brother.

“Here, man.” Donnie smiled and put on his headphones to not hear whatever those other two were gonna go on about. When it seemed ok, Mikey took the chance to go check on his last brother.

“L-l-l-l-leeeoo.. Leo..” Michelangelo used the same approach as he opened the door of his eldest brother. Unbeknownst to him, Leonardo was already up. He had been up for hours. His leg was keeping him up and he had to sleep so awkwardly to aid his leg and conform to his anatomy. Truthfully he would have rather liked to be ignored and pretend to continue sleeping, but Mikey getting closer and closer to his ear with his harsh whispers were enough to make him crack. 

“Mm?” He responded. Mikey gave a big sigh and clutched his cowrie shells.

“You alive?” he smiled. He wasn’t sure for a second there since there was so much delay.

“Pretty sure.”

“Ok good. Imma lil new to the super nurse thing so.. Sorry I didn’t check on you sooner. I actually wasn’t up for too long-.”

“It’s ok.” Leonardo cut him off before the young turtle could drone on.

“You wanna get up?”

“I don’t think I want to.”

“You need anything? Hungry?”

“Not yet, thank you. Can you close the door?” It was his signal to get him out of the room. Mikey was quick to take the hint but wasn’t hurt by it. He knows broody Leo all too well.

“Yeah, yeah.” With that, the orange clad turtle fulfilled his wish and exited the room with the door closing behind him. Leonardo leaned deeper in the bed, groaning. 

He wanted to get up so bad. He wanted to fight someone. He didn’t want to be here. It is yet again another instance where they play with their father’s presence in their lives and the mission to get him back was a failure. It has been years since Splinter was first on the brink of death when the Shredder and his Foot clan stormed their childhood home. Leonardo has grown since then. He briefly reflected on how he would go out of his way to find him. He thought about how he would scratch and claw to get back his father. He had to be less childish, less reckless. His sensei means everything to him, but it has been made clear that somebody in this family is required to keep them all together. If he were to be so reckless, he would not only be hurting himself. Then there were the teachings of the Ancient One.

“If it’s not your fault, then why do you treat yourself as if it is.” Just at the thought, this line did not settle well into Leo’s mind. He knows what the Ancient One is intending to say, but he couldn’t get over the guilt he was feeling. His lack of a plan failed. For once, he felt confident enough in his family’s abilities to overpower their enemies. The Foot Clan were generally fierce but as of late, they didn’t have such powerful connections. How were they able to obtain warriors such as the ones he’d seen? Not the typical Foot Soldiers. The women. That woman.

If he hadn’t underestimated her even the tiniest bit as he swears he treats every villain with the same amount of care to defeat… He was slipping. Making no plan was way too out of his character. Had he gotten so comfortable after so much ‘quiet time’? A good leader wouldn’t allow that to happen. It’s not like they never stopped training, but had his attitude changed towards their enemies? Does his team think similarly or is it just him? How do you even bring something like this up to your team? It was already too embarrassing to think that such a simple staple that Leonardo lives by to a Tee was forgotten. 

Let's try to stop thinking about that. Besides, he already got the most annoying turtle out of the way. The others shouldn’t bother him too well today anyways. Especially if he continues to pretend to sleep when they come in at a bad time. Leonardo bit his lower lip and tried to redirect himself. He’s hurt and they’re hurt. Splinter is missing and it is frightening, but what can be done? He had to accept that at this point there was nothing that he could do. This fractured ankle is not doing him any favors. The doctors told him to stay off of it anyways. Therefore, he sat there trying not to think and hearing every other word of Michelangelo playing video games downstairs.

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“I want to go back to the projects.” Mikey muttered as he first gazed upon the farmhouse. It wasn’t bad but by an inner city new yorker’s eyes, it was old, run down, not at all flashy, and old if I didn’t mention it. The home was visibly white but that’s only if you can see it past the overgrown flora that dried up and stained the walls. Donnie hobbled past him. The end of his staff met the back of his younger brother’s head.

“Be grateful we have a safe place to go.”

“New rule, since I’m helping take care of you guys, we refrain from hurting me.” Mikey declared.

“We’ll see who hurts who.” Raph threatened as he pulled some of their bagged up items out of the truck. Casey had successfully driven the six large mutants and their luggage through the city and into the deep woods for them to recover in. Despite Raphael wanting to do it all on his own to show he was fine, he still assisted by setting some bags near the edge for the red clad turtle to retrieve it or throwing it on the ground himself. Venus was at the door using the key April had given them before their departure from the city. The door creaked eerily and revealed a very underwhelming atmosphere. Most people refer to farmhouses as cute and quaint luxury. Here, it looked plain with dreadful earth tones and simple decor. Nothing in there reflected luxury. If anything, it looked just how it sounded. Abandoned and not regularly used.

Mona in good strength allowed both Donnie and Leo to use her to get up the steps on the porch so that they could enter. Donnie was far more observant than Leo. As the purple clad terrapin hobbled and looked around their new home, Leonardo gave the place one good glance before keeping his eyes glued to the floor. He hobbled over to the couch, custom boot in tow, and sat down. A light cloud of dust dispersed around him, signaling how long it truly has been since the last time it was in use. Donatello and the female reptiles equally cringed. Mona bared her teeth and took off presumably to find cleaning supplies such as a vacuum. Raphael entered and looked more in amazement.

“Holy shit we’re on the Little House on the Prairie.” he commented. Venus shook her head.

“You city boys are something else. It’s just a bit dusty is all.”

“It’s a bit ugly too.”

With some of their bags, Casey entered the home. He was actively trying to take out his cell phone as he stood in the middle of the living room.

“Listen up kids, April said this place has limited space but you should be able to share since it’s four rooms. There’s a gas station store about 6 miles away on that main road we crossed. If the lights don’t turn on, there’s a backup generator in the back of the house. She’ll be over within the next few days to bring you guys more groceries and the doctors will return to recheck you all in a week unless requested sooner.” 

“The real question is, who’s gonna room with Mikey?” The orange masked terrapin clutched his cowrie shells from his biggest brother’s remarks.

“What makes you think I want to room with you?” He pursed his lips, eyeing him up and down.

“The same reason nobody else wants to room with you.” Typical of Raphael to say and typical of him to already start checking out the cabinets for something to eat. With a jolt of optimism, Michelangelo tried to take control of the situation.

“Donnie wants to-.” Donatello interrupted with short and low spurts of him clearing his throat and indefinitely looking away in outer space. Mikey paused, then continued when he saw his other brother.  “I mean Leo-.”

“No…” He turned the end of his statement into a whistle. Venus pushed on him in disgust. 

“And I’m rooming with Mona.” Raphael chimed in. Peanuts don’t go bad right? Raphael believed so when he couldn’t find the expiration date on a jar of Planter’s Peanuts. They didn’t taste too bad.

“No, you’re not.” The lady reptile returned from one of the small rooms with a tiny handheld vacuum in her hand. Raphael furrowed his brow. “I am staying with my little sister.” She placed her hand on the shoulder of her sister who glowed from her warmth. Raphael wanted to protest but he can’t compete with that. He came over to Donnie who was still looking away to show his disinterest in engaging in the conversation until the Mikey problem was resolved. Raph gave him a little smack on the cheek to wake him up.

“You’re with me.” He declared. Although Raphael wasn’t his first choice, at least he was out of the running for the problem child.

“You mean Leo and I get separate rooms? To ourselves?? Bet!” Before anyone could say anything, the younger turtle took off in the house to possibly scope out his new room.

“We should’ve thought that through.” Donnie commented. Turning away rapidly, Raph’s shell accidentally bumped into the injured dork.

“We gotta get the better room!” He yelled as his big frame shook the house with each step he took. The remaining reptiles and human became somewhat worried about the merit of the floor as it took a beating from two insanely large and solid mutants running on top of it and were probably fighting at some points to get the room that they wanted. Venus and Donnie began sentences on top of eachother then stopped as soon as they heard the other. Both exchanged looks with intelligegible but obviously worried gibberish before getting up and running off in the direction of the bulkier mutants. They truly tried to deescalate the problem and counteract their actions on the house’s foundation. With that thought Casey turned his phone off and returned it to his pocket.

“I’ll be back later with April, call if you need us.” He instructed and he backed out of the room. The mutants collectively thanked Casey Jones and said their goodbyes as he closed the door behind him. Mona walked over to the couch. She crouched down some while extending her hand to the leader. Leonardo waited a second before attempting to get up. Thankfully he was strong enough to lift himself up by one leg so that the injured ankle did not have to bear his massive weight. Mona held tight as he got up and adjusted himself.

“Might as well find a room we like.” He said. The two other mutants nodded knowingly. Before he and his sister could take a step, he halted her and came from under her arm. The terrapin winced but he stood up straight and proceeded to walk over through the hallway on his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Go ask him! Ask him!” a member of the Purple Dragon’s egged on his associate. There were three of them in the immediate space. Another handful were stationed in surrounding areas as extra security, although this was more of the gang’s choice rather than the one’s of whom they were hired by. The Foot clan steps on every New York gang’s neck but as they began to cut recruitment numbers for care in the quality of their soldiers, rival gangs would be “hired” for various gigs. In this instance, Johnny smiled smugly over at their prisoner. Sitting on the cold ground with cuffs around his rat feet kept him from being able to stand. His hands were also handcuffed behind his back, leaning him against a pole. The bandana around his eyes kept him from seeing his surroundings. The rat was immobile and did not know where he was or what was to become of him. As time went on, all he can tell was that he was in the presence of idiots. Johnny stepped in front of him and bent over with his hands on his knees to ask Splinter to his face.

“Do you know a Charles Entertainment Cheese?” Immediately as he spoke he began to laugh. He did not care that his spit splattered onto the face of the rat as he laughed directly in his face. His other buddies found it just as entertaining as he did. As they should as they wanted him to ask. He kept whooping and hollering. It kept occurring so close that it hurt his sensitive ears. He couldn’t escape it, but he kept his cool. This was nothing to him. He’s gone through far worse. He’s a single father of four boys.

“We got -” The initial alarm of the walkie talkie being used pierced Splinter’s ear but not as much as the shock of feeling the building shake. All three gangsters came together and stood at the ready. Immediately after, the walkie sounded off again.

“Explosives set off at the entrance!” someone warned in distress. Johnny took a breath.

“They’re here!”

“What’s the plan?” Two-ton asked. SPlinter could hear him get closer as the large man was not shy about hiding his steps. He was proud of allowing people to see him coming to get after them.

“We move. Our flank’s covered.” That’s right. The Foot wanted to handle the mutants themselves. In all honesty, the Purple Dragons don’t have the best track record with defeating these mutants. Instead, they could just maintain an already captured enemy. Splinter does not remember his captors, but Johnny did when they traded the rat in for their care. Those women were bad. He himself felt like his life could end at any moment in their presence. They met with a full machine gun in his hands and he still felt unsafe. Wherever those women came from, he knew they were not the ones to play with.

The memory of it made Johnny shudder. He then snapped and pointed back at Splinter. “Sorry about this old man. Two-ton, hit him!” Instantly, Splinter was hit by an electric prod by the larger gangster. It didn’t take long for him to go limp from loss of consciousness. “Wrap him up, let's get him out the back.”

Splinter’s arms were uncuffed from the pole and immediately re-cuffed behind his back. With such a job this big and higher ups so scary, the Purple Dragons wanted this to be their best job. Two-Ton transported the rat out the back. Their walkie talkies went off narrating what was going on. There was a fire by the entrance. All of the mutants showed up. Their vehicle was under cover, hiding behind a hill of trash, next to a path that leads to a backroad exit. He ran with the rat bumping harshly on top of his back. The man couldn’t care how smooth the ride was for his prisoner. The group finally got to their getaway van. 

Splinter was thrown in the back seat. They did not know if they should or should not buckle him in his seatbelt, so the job of the third member was to figure that out as Johnny and Two-Ton got in the front seat. Johnny got them out of there as the van sped off out of eyesight. Two-Ton and Johnny both constantly looked behind themselves to make sure they weren’t being followed by anyone. Once they got onto the freeway, they knew they were in the clear. By then, the third member had Splinter lying on his side with his head hanging off on the door side of the back seat. His choice of seatbelt placement was to use the middle and outside belts to straddle his body down while he got the whole other third seat to himself. Just cuz he a thug don’t mean he don’t wanna be safe himself. Johnny saw it in the rearview mirror while checking behind himself and cracked a smile of relief. Two-Ton had his whole body turned around to look at the job. He sighed.

“Why do we even have this guy?”

“The Foot want the turtles. This poor guy is just a pawn.”

“‘Wonder what it is to them?” The third member asked. He was both creeped out and fascinated by the creature sleeping next to him. “Food?” Two-Ton turned his body all the way to look at him again as if it was a stupid thing to say. In his defense, he just wanted to think outside the box. Obviously this thing means something quite important to those giant turtles. But what could a giant rat mean to some giant turtles?

“I don’t know dude, but I’m down to get some.” Johnny added as it was both the truth and a smooth way to redirect Two-ton’s attention to something less conflicting.

The smoke was starting to cloud their lungs. Each mutant did their best to cover their nostrils whether it was an article of clothing or their hand. Leonardo, somewhat immobile and trying to assist Mikey in holding him by grabbing him back, dug his face into the back of his mask as cover. Even coming from the inside and now outside, the smoke was still prevalent and damaging. Donatello was already on the shell-cell, however Casey was more than ready as he swerved up to them with his eyes wide open as they were fixated on the burning building. All six mutants piled into the truck in a messy fashion.

“What happened to ‘stealth’? Where’s Splinter?” He yelled as he switched gears and started to gas up.

“Dude, we’re hurt! Get us out of here!” Mikey yelled as he sat down in order to let Leonardo down. Leo winced in pain from his ankle and brought it up so that he could try to examine it while it sat in his hands. This hurt more than any sprain or twist he's ever had. The leader bit his lower lip and took a deep breath. Upon its release, he looked around to his team.

“I can’t believe they got me again.” Venus groaned. She held her side in a similar place where the Foot had harmed her with a pole years ago. Mona moved her hand, which was covered in blood and replaced it with a cloth she had found.

“At least it isn’t as bad as it was before.” Donatello commented.

“Oh, Donnie!” Mona exclaimed. Venus took over holding her side with the cloth and let Mona attend to him. She inserted pillows behind him as he was slouched against the side of the truck and tried to keep him stable.

“How many of you are hurt?” Leo demanded. Donnie took a short breath in order to aleve the pain.

“I have a fractured or broken rib.”

“How the shell did they get my nose!?” Raphael yelled angrily. He sat up front with Casey who was making his way to the much smoother streets than having to toss the wounded warriors any further. The brute outlined his nose with his hands as it slowly dripped down to his lap. “Ain’t shit to hit!”

“We still have cartilage.” Donnie commented. So much did Raphael want to say something back in anger, but using his facial muscles were not helping his nose problem. He quieted down and tried to lay back in the passenger seat. Leonardo was mortified. He had no idea that his team was wounded.

“Are you ok, Mikey?” The young turtle turned over with his eyes up to the ceiling.

“I’m still winded from when that chick tripped me. She was worth more trouble than I thought.”

“Yeah, so was the one I was fighting. They were incredibly strong for such small women.”

“That’s what we get for underestimating the enemy.” Mona chimed in, still holding fast to Donatello so that he didn’t shift too much. “Where do we go from here? We have no Splinter, the “no-plan” didn’t work, and we’ve got real injuries. It will be near impossible to get all of you back down without causing further damage.” She referred to how not only was it already going to be a challenge to move their big, injured bodies all the way down and past the sewer system, but their way home was designed to show some athleticism to get to it. 

“I think you guys should go to the police station.” Casey suggested. “We’re nearby and maybe they have ideas for you all.” Leonardo nodded.

“Ok, take us there. Can we also get April to meet us there?” Mikey reached into his pocket.

“On it.” He dialed the number and put the shell-cell to his ear as it rang. Leonardo breathed with some relief as some of his team members were taking the initiative to fix this situation but he was also stuck on himself. 

Mona was right. He didn’t make a clear plan and only did it on the go. It was very uncharacteristic of him, but he knew why it occurred. Leonardo was so focused on getting his father back that he was clouded. It didn’t matter what exactly they did as long as they were able to get Master Splinter back. Now look at him. He was injured, his teammates injured, caused a crime scene and still without their goal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Doctor, I’m fine. It’s my family who needs all this help.” Mona stomped in frustration as the in-house physician checked her over.

“I understand but you may be experiencing symptoms that are unseen right now. Adrenaline is easy to mask this.” They explained as they felt around her arm, looking for pain.

Casey had brought them safely to the police station. Since they called ahead, the back was cleared out from those who had no clearance and the mutants were escorted into a board room. Mona sighed as she let them continue their job and gave vague answers to their questions as she looked at the rest of her family. Leonardo was sitting on a sturdy table. He had a depressed expression as he stared down to his now booted up foot. The turtle had a broken ankle. A small woman really broke his ankle. It was unbelievable! That was running in his mind on top of his own thoughts of carelessness as a leader. Venus was sitting on the floor all patched up from her side. In her lap was Raphael, whose nose was also patched up but since he was experiencing a major head ringing Venus had him laying face down in her lap (her crossed legs keeping his nose from being touched) and used what she called her “healing hands” in order to relieve him. Donatello was still being checked out, but they could hear that he received a fractured rib in his midline and they were going over aftercare for his treatment.

Mikey came back into the room holding April’s hand. Casey sprang up from his chair to greet her.

“So, uh…” Her expression paused his train of thought as she looked up to him. “What are we doing?” Mikey put a hand on the man’s chest to move him back.

“Hey dude,” He lifted up the arm that still had April’s hand in his. “She’s with me.” The woman smiled to herself and shook her head.

“I mean what are we going to do about this? Your injured brothers.” He replied snarkily. Mikey nodded and sucked his lips into his mouth.

“They can’t go back down home and they pose too much of a risk to stay at police headquarters. It’s way too often that civilians come around here.” April explained. Mona overheard and took a step towards their direction.

“We’re going on vacation!” He told her, which was much to her dismay as she was taking this far more seriously than him. Upon seeing this and not wanting any further ridicule going towards his misunderstanding, she pushed the young turtle behind him.

“You guys are going to my family’s old farmhouse. We haven’t been there in years, no one visits, and you’ll be safe.”

“How safe?” Mona questioned.

“You won’t be in the city anymore. All wilderness so you’ll be alone. You’ll be some miles away from where Yujin and Nan are. That’s how far.”

“See, a vacation plus your pretty ponies!”

“Mikey! It’s a safe space for all of you to heal up and rehabilitate. Is donating supplies for you all, casting and bandages, everything. Even if you run out, we’ll make the drive to deliver.”

“You’re not coming, babe?” Mikey stuck out his bottom lip.

“I have a job here. And I refuse to let Angel be alone for however long I’ll be gone.”

“I won’t have my babe or my bestie?!” he cried “Why don’t you just leave me at home?” Mona grabbed his arm.

“Because it is our responsibility to heal this family. We are the only ones who aren’t hurt. This is a job for the both of us and it’s also the time to show how responsible you can be.” Mikey slowly nodded as he realized this was going to be one of his more defining moments as not being a screw up.

“Ok.” he agreed. April seemed impressed too. Double points!

“We can ship you guys out of here as soon as they are done examining everybody. Casey, they’d like to start loading up supplies into the truck. Would you like to drive it over to the nearest hospital?”

“I’ve got it.” With that, he left the room immediately.

“Angel is already heading to the sewer and I’ll be meeting her there. If there’s anything in particular that anyone wants, just text us, ok? We’ll be grabbing clothes, blankets, anything essential.”

Mona stuck out her arms to which April walked into a hug.

“Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.”

“So you didn’t think sensei wouldn’t get hit by that… whatever! Fire!” Leonardo burst at Donatello and Raphael just like the building. They had caught the two hi-fiving each other, basically snickering at their success.

“What kind of person stores their hostage by the entrance?” Donatello shrugged his shoulders and squinted his already very small eyes.  “Come on, we gotta go get him!”

“So much for a stealth mission.” Mona commented until she led the run to ambush the site. 

“Nobody knows we’re even here.” Mikey added before brushing past Leonardo and then stopping in his tracks when he saw Mona almost trip on herself. Before them, a good dozen of Purple Dragons came out from a side door.

“They do.” Donnie spoke before the men screamed and came after them.

“Aight, no use for being quiet.” Rapheal cracked his knuckles and started walking towards them. “Come here! Come here!”

Raphael shoulder checked the first two and went after them like a wild dog on chickens.

“We’re gonna go for Splinter!” Leo skipped past them through a narrow opening between them and his brother. The Purple Dragons were too involved with Raphael to care for him. It was survival for them at this point anyways as the large brute basically ate them up. While one jumped on the brute’s shell, a clawed hand squeezed him on the shoulder and yanked him off of the turtle.

“I’ve got you!” Mona heaved as she yeeted the thug a few feet.

“C’mon, let’s go!” The leader called his team to follow over the loud blaring and the fire beginning to gain some ground from the initial blow.

“Are we just going to go door-to-door?” Donatello asked as he tried to keep up. He was never the fastest of the group, or at least just in front of Raphael’s footwork.

“I hoped for recon. Even if somebody knows we’re here I don’t want to open a door full of worms.”

Venus reached out and grabbed Leonardo back.

“WAIT!” Just before he could take another step, a small pick axe gripped at the ground just near where his next step was to be. The rope attached to the weapon pressed against his body after he had stopped himself just in time. Their eyes followed  where the origin was from and a woman in black jumped from an opening in the roof. She wore a yellow hood which seemed to accentuate the glow of the fire behind the turtle family.

“Not another step.” She warned, pulling her axe out of the ground but not without keeping a battle ready stance. “Looking for your father?”

“Where is he?” Donnie gripped his bo staff. He pressed the button that extended it and kept the end of it pointed at her.

“You the broad that flipped Casey?” Mikey commented. The woman took the rope in both hands and created a long slack in it until it resembled a jump rope that ended past the bottoms of her feet. She then swung it over her head and had it reach the back of Michelangelo’s knees where she then tugged on it with all her might and pulled him down. “I take everything back.” With the rope still under him,  she jumped up and pulled on the rope. As Mikey tried to sit up, he lay back down just in time to watch the woman fly over him and kick at the side of Donatello’s bo staff. Luckily for him, she only caught the staff but she was not done fighting with him. 

She got up from the ground and threw the chain end of her kusarigama  towards his feet. Donatello jumped, but they ended up wrapping around his staff instead. The woman had advanced towards him at the same time, thus when he tried to bring his staff up for defense, it was cut short as her ax was in the flooring and kept the bottom portion of the staff still. It exposed a weakness, which was the reliability of his staff and she had used it. 

“Leo! You need to go ahead and find him!” Donnie cried as he kept defending himself from the woman.

“I don’t know, you guys don’t look-.”

“Just go! We can hold them off!” He exclaimed, although it was true that even though the Purple Dragons were not much to worry about but their overabundance, fighting off a true warrior, and the Fire was not helping. However Donnie was right, they needed to get Splinter out of there. Away from the Foot & away from the fire.

Leonardo took off. The smoke in the air was starting to form a little thicker so he used his hand as best he could to waft it away from him. The building was lit up in orange that it was a little disorienting knowing that the flames were starting to grow stronger and that they are much faster than this turtle. Maybe Splinter might be met with the flames before he gets there? Maybe the smoke could get too thick where he is and whoever took him is just leaving him to hang dry? Nothing but undesirable thoughts filled his head as he raced against time.

Something was thrown in front of him. Before he could react, a burst of light temporarily blinded him. Leonardo stumbled back but kept his footing and shielded his eyes. Although the thing was no longer flashing, the incredibly bright light ‘stained’ his eyes in which he saw it’s light faintly each time he blinked. Then, a rope dart coming from a similar direction striked. It came just past his face and he barely dodged it by flinching. On the opposite end, a woman pulled herself with her feet headed first to him. Leonardo tried his best to regain some normal vision and was able to grab her foot. The woman used it to her advantage by switching her attack to the other leg and using her knee to check him in the jaw. Upon impact, Leo threw her as far from him as he could. Creating the space was the only way for him to get himself together. She rolled some but was able to roll back up into a defensive stance. Leonardo blinked some more to get the illusion of light out of his head until it cleared. Now that he was able to see, he took a look at his opponent.

Through the fire and smoke he saw the young woman dressed in black leather armor with a hood over her head. She wore a mask that covered her entire face, but the giant red foot clan symbol on it broke her entire black color scheme.

“Whoa.” he whispered to himself.

“Kame ninja wa kage kara!” She yelled unsheathing her katana from its encasing  with her thumb. Leonardo was frozen. Woman or not, she was definitely a smaller opponent yet she really got him off his game with not only the flash bomb but with such a powerful kick as well. She saw his awe and lifted up her mask some to where only her lips were 

visible. “Sono yōna ikimono o taosu no wa tanoshīdeshou.”

“Was that… Japanese?” Leo asked, but she gave him no time. The woman lunged at him, but Leonardo was quick to retaliate and defend himself as she went after him. She was fast and slick. He couldn’t remember fighting someone like this since his training with Hamato Miwa. She was good. Like, scary good. What was even scarier was that she was so small and agile he was afraid she’d somehow be sticking that katana into him at some point. Her defense was as strong as her offense. Tactful and not at all risky. Each move crafted with precision and ease of the blade. Every strike was intentional and meant to make damage and not at least scar him or disarm; all was to hurt him. Ultimately, this is his first foe whom was a swordsman trying to make real damage. How exciting.

The Mistress was having her way with the rest of the family. Her Purple Dragon and Foot clan mashup was keeping up the tempo of distraction where she could seek out her target and strike when they had become fatigued and strike at their lowest. Venus was keeping the best of her bargain as she realized what the Mistress’ plan was with the thugs coming after her, but still they were evenly matched and being beat up the most in the process as the most attacked. However, the Mistress knew she could not keep this up forever as the fire was beginning to eat up more of the building and that authorities would be on their way soon.

Leonardo and the woman were perfectly matched. She was very aggressive with her offensive side, but unlike Raph she did not dare to make a risky move. The precision she had with just one katana kept up with his mastery of wielding two. She made a strike, in which Leonardo stepped to the side. He raised both arms and focused his two blades on her own, then used his weight to bump her with his shoulder. The blow sent her and her katana flying backwards. So much so that he noticed that her mask had fallen off of her face. She began coughing. It was probably from both the blow and the smoke. The blue clad turtle began to approach her while she was down, but then he stopped dead in his tracks. She looked up at him. Her eyes were like hot blades as the fire around them showed the color of their blue hue. The look on his face was dumbfounded as he continued to stare. She slowly lifted herself off the ground. Her katana stayed down by her side as if she did not want to engage in any more fighting.

“Kawairashī kao ga anata o tomemasu ka?” Her smile was sly under the shade of red on her lips. The woman walked over nonchalantly to pick up her mask from the floor. Although seemingly off-guard, Leonardo couldn’t help but stay on his as he kept one katana by his shoulder and the other at an angle to split her body in half. The mask was pressed back up to her face and she took the time to tie it up nicely. “Sore wa anata no owari ni narimasu.” She brought her fists up. Feeling as if he should level the playing field, the turtle replaced his katanas into their sheaths behind him. She nodded before she came flying into him.

A right hook. An uppercut that made contact, but Leo had a hard jaw and moved with the blow.

“Nice moves.” He commented. She threw a punch but it was caught in Leonardo’s hand. She threw another but it suffered the same fate. “Not good enough.” He smirked.  Next thing, she jumped up and jammed her heels into his chest. The explosion broke her away from his grip and with the momentum, she grabbed his belt and swung herself down. She kept her legs open as she fell down and then slammed her legs closed against his ankles. Leonardo groaned and dropped to the floor, propped up by his shell. He lay there grimacing as he wanted to bring his knees up to take hold of his injured ankles but the pain was just too unbearable. The woman stepped to him, watching him crumble underneath her. Leonardo felt helpless as he saw her dark figure just stare at him as she stood over his legs. She pulled her face mask down and let it hang on her neck. He could see her just enjoying herself as she marveled at how she best him. Leonardo was still amazed himself that he was taken down by such a small human being. The woman squatted down and leaned forward on him. With a dagger from her pocket, she unsheathed it and pressed its blade against Leonardo's neck. The turtle was exposed and kept his eyes shut.

“Zan'nen'na ‘Love Boy’.” she murmured. With the blade still able to slice his throat, she used its power to press onto him and peck him on the lips. The blue banded terrapin did not return the favor and remained still, but that didn't stop the assassin. A couple seconds passed until she paused. “Omocha de asobu no ga suki desu.” she whispered. Leo understood ‘toy’ and it unhinged him. The woman giggled to herself.

She drew her arm up quickly and Leo flinched again as he watched her deflect a fan. She did it again but this time the kusarigama chain whipped her back and off of the leader. The woman ran to retrieve her katana. Leonardo looked up and in his blurred vision he saw the two mutant sisters along with Michelangelo. Upon picking up her fallen weapon, she was stopped by a familiar voice.

“(Lotus! It’s time to go!)” it was the Mistress yelling as she threw her rope down by her protoge’s feet. She rolled her eyes and grabbed on for the Mistress to pull her up and take off into the rafters.

“(What was that back there?)” The Mistress demanded as the two made way or the exit. Lotus placed her mask back on.

“(The beast has eyes; although a creature he is still a boy. Let me toy with him. It gave me an advantage.)” If the Mistress could see through the mask she would see a scheming girl. Lotus did always like to toy with people. Whatever string she had to someone she would drag them along and then snap it. It was always a fun game with her, however the Mistress was not a woman of games. 

“(Young and stupid, you are.)” She commented. Lotus shook her head.

“Bah!”

 Mikey ran to Leo’s side as quickly as he could.

“You good bro?” he asked knowing good as shell that the leader wouldn’t be down for so long if he was. Just as he did for himself, he took his brother’s mask off of his eyes and slipped it over his nose.

“Something in my ankle isn’t right.” He tried to move his legs but now the pain has travelled all the way up. He grimaced and laid back down in his little brother’s arms. “Shell no, that hurts.”

“Come here fam.” Mikey called. He bent over and picked Leonardo up so that he was being carried. “Leo’s out for the count, fall back!” he yelled. Mona and Venus were going to help Mikey until Donatello called.

“We’ve got to get out of here now!” Raphael came by his side.

“This place is gonna kill us all.”

“What about Splinter?!” Venus grabbed Leo’s hand, taking up for his opinion as well. Raphael shook his head.

“How the shell you get beat up by two broads, bruh?” Raphael punched Michelangelo in the shoulder as he yelled in Casey’s face. With his breath kicking, the human had reason to push him in the chest.

“She had a SWORD!” He yelled. Mikey went quiet, but he folded his arms and rolled his head. “Can you guys stop trying to put me down and focus for a sec? Splinter was captured by two women who are, definitely not by mistake, NINJAS!”

“Or some women with a sword.” Raphael mumbled. Casey turned and pointed.

“It looked just like Leo’s, not just some medieval-type stuff.”

“If we can deduct anything from this they’re probably female Foot soldiers.” Donatello added whilst he was sitting on top of the dumpster with Venus. Mona stood up from her crouched position from where Casey had previously laid from where they found him. She cocked her hips to the side with a single hand on them.

“It’s about time they pressed the issue of gender equality.” She mumbled. Venus slid off the dumpster.

“What could they specifically want with Splinter?” She questioned. Casey reached into his shoe. A card was poking out of it. She gripped it and handed it to Leo who took it without hesitation.

“This is the card she threw at me.” Casey pointed at it as Leonardo studied it. It was plain cardstock, smooth but not glossed. That’s why it was written by hand and not printed. The handwriting itself was small and obviously rushed. It could be deemed as a “come-or-don’t” invitation. “Think it’s legit? Like, a legit location?” The blue banded turtle quit looking and tapped the end a few times on his opposite fingers.

“Set-up, possibly.”

“You mean ‘set-up, definitely’.” Donatello added while Mona Lisa pointed at him and nodded in agreement. Casey groaned. This was all too frustrating and too fast. Leonardo blew a raspberry.

“We’re going to have to outsmart them if we are going to spring Splinter out of there.” Raphael cocked his brow.

“Assuming he is there in the first place.”

“Aight.” Angel stood up from where she was sitting, which was the middle of all of this whilst listening quietly. She clasped her hands and made various goofy faces to show them she was ready. “What’s the plan?”

“I don’t know,” Leo grabbed her by the shoulder.  “but you’re not in it.” The young girl got into the leader’s face with a big thumbs down.

“Boooo!” 

“Go home Roger.” Donnie called. Angel made a stank face by crinkling her nose. She crossed her arms in a big huff.

“Ya’ll never let me do sh*t.” She muttered.

“You tryna die? Go ahead.” Raph was never one to be subtle. Her attitude changed immediately. 

“Aye imma head home real quick.” Her thumbs pointed to behind her as she stepped back from the middle of the group. Raphael nodded, knowing that she wasn’t going to be down with the real deal.

“Good call.” He whispered as he watched her fall back.

“What’s the real plan?” Venus butted in.

“No plan!” Everyone jumped back as he proceeded nonchalantly. “We Wing it! Probably won't work but I said it with a lot of confidence.” He nodded before turning away from the group and went to climb up the building a little bit away. The family were frozen, watching him. No plan? No way. This is Leonardo, the mastermind of planning.

“Wait. Are you serious?” Mikey chortled as he broke the silence. Leo paused and looked at the ground.

“Yeah.” Mikey’s smile vanished.

“Well, that’s just lazy writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why am I stuck being the driver? I thought Vern was the driver.” Casey complained. Although it was pretty cool getting to drive the tartaruga truck. So many attachments, so large and in charge. Quite a badass for a garbage truck. Raphael swung up to the front of the truck where Casey and Leonardo were seated and held on to the handle above their heads.

“Oh, let me check the truck.” Casey waved him off with his hand. Leonardo chortled silently, shaking his head as Raphael went back to his station. “Quit bitchin and drive.”

“What’s really gonna happen when we get up there?” Casey checked the side mirrors. “I know the floor plan but it ain’t much. I’m not helpin’ out at all?”

“Driving is something.” Leonardo assured. “You are capable of a lot but this is what we need you for right now. You’re the cover, a human being, and one shell of a driver.” Casey nodded in a cocky agreement. “Relay anything you see outside. If you can handle it, handle it. We have to do all the stealth work. Splinter was taken by some unknowns. Right now I’m focused on bringing him back home and collect data on them as we go but first we need sensei out of that building.”

“We’re coming up. I suggest parking over there.” Donatello pointed to the direction where they should move the truck when he looked up from his projections that came out from his wrist. “The building is inside the junkyard so we’re gonna have to take a walk.”

“You guys remember coming out here before we met with April?” Mikey commented as Casey proceeded to park just outside of the junkyard fence.

“What were you guys doing here?” Venus turned around in her swivel chair. Mikey lit up and looked over his shoulder to talk to her.

“Unlike you and lizard lady who got the access to silks and fish…” the sisters rolled their eyes in amusement and listened as he continued. “We boys had to forage for supplies. Once April came around we said bye bye raggedy quilts and hello 1,000 thread counts.” The young turtle grabbed the tail ends of the sweater around his waist and nuzzles his cheek into it as if it weren’t raggedy itself.

“I sometimes still make rounds here for supplies for my lab but I’ve pretty much acquired as much as I need so I haven’t been here in awhile.” Donatello chimed in. “To think someone probably settled in here since the last time we visited…. the yard is barely managed so it wouldn’t be hard to find use of the building.”

“Time to get in there. Let’s go.” Leonardo unbuckled and exited the vehicle and his family followed in suit. The leader came over around Casey’s window and leaned on it. “Hang in tight, keep your phone on.” Casey gave him a nod where Leo returned with a pat to the truck door.

Donatello and Leonardo led the troop. The purple clad turtle had his holograms up to be alarmed by any means of repercussions such as cameras, traps, anything to stop them. Getting inside was easy. From multiple trips, the family already knew how to get inside without using the main gate. Along the fence line was a large hole that never was repaired. Besides, there was no need to actually break into a junkyard at this point of near abandonment. Raphael lifted the flap so the family could go through unscathed. Once the last of them came through he shoved his large body through and followed them behind a pile of junk. 

“Alright, I’m calling a split. You guys know how come of these piles are tall enough to let you look in through the windows? Use the night vision on the Tphones to report what you see. Splinter is out main goal. Mikey, you’re with me.”

“Whyyy?” He whined.

“You don’t wanna be with me?”

“I wanna go with Raph.”

“I’m pairing brains and brawn right now. I know you guys are a super team but that’s not what I need for right now.”

“Oh, so just cuz y’all radios weren’t working and couldn’t hear us the last time we can’t be together no more?” 

“I’m doing this for better execution of a stealth mission. You two aren’t stealth, agree on that?” Mikey took the time to think while the rest coordinated.

“Mona, you’re with me?” Raphael grabbed her hand gently and guided her towards him.

“Actually, can you go with Donnie?”

“There Leo go hatin again!” Mikey whispered loudly.

“Mona is the brawn Venus needs.” He addressed the turtle girl. “Not that you two aren’t brains and brains, but you’re definitely the best stealth team out of all of us.” Venus held up her necklace with her thumbs, acting like a playful showoff. “I’m placing you with Donnie.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Michelangelo rolled his eyes whilst whispering “hater.” Everyone heard it, even Leonardo, but now was the time to focus on bigger things.

“I’m thinking the best entrance would be-.’

“I hope it’s somewhere not around the building.” Mona interrupted.

“Huh?” Everyone said collectively, their eyes veered towards the lizard lady as she looked over towards the backside of the pile. She was locked on something as she continued.

“A colorful batch of colored arms just came out.” The family crawled and tip toed to either sides of the pile to see. Sure enough, a nice sized group of colorful gangsters with guns and bats exited the premises. They showed no sign of leaving as they purposely loitered around the building, which included any types of entries.

“Purple Dragons.” Leo whispered.

“Purple Dragons?!” The family tried to shush Raphael, in which he continued but in a harsh whisper. His eyes were wild. 

“How in the shell Casey get beat up by some Purple Dragons?”

"I’m putting him under April in the reliant list.” Mikey commented.

“Ok, ok.” Leonardo put his hand up to signal both of them to shut up. “I’m thinking. We need to get them away from the doors. If we can we can have entries by the main door, through that open window, and possibly on the side where they keep the scrap metal piles. Donatello began to squeal with low murmurs and hums while making a little step dance.

“I’d like to do the distraction. Please.” He bursted in the quietest way he could.

“Because…?”

“I know something by the warehouse and if it’s still there I would like to use it, please.”

“If it was so cool, why didn’t you bring it back home.” Venus questioned. Obviously he was very excited about it and he would usually have it already in his possesion if it was that cool.

“You’ll see.” He giggled underneath his voice. “Just please, let me do it. It’ll work for sure.” Leonardo tried to weigh his options quickly in his head.

“Alright. Take Raph with you.” Donnie’s fists jerked quickly in front of him as he celebrated a quick victory. “Make the distraction, we’ll follow as we see it fit.”

“Yes! Let’s go Raph.” Donatello looked off the side of the pile and began to sneak off from the group. Raphael followed but he did so with more caution as an excited Donatello frightened him.

Time had passed for a while and the family continued to wait for the distraction they were promised or a return of their two family members to tell them that it was not going to work. Mona sat down as the wait was getting to be too tiresome.

“What do you think Donnie and Raph will do for a distraction?” She posed. Venus shrugged.

“Who knows.” Leonardo joined in.

“They’ll probably, like, you know, make a noise, or throw a rock. That’s what I would do.”

At that moment, the ground shook as a big burst shocked their ears and a red light showed around the outline of the pile they hid behind. Not long after, a big blaring alarm came on. The family jumped up to see all of the commotion. The main entrance of the building was on fire. The Purple Dragons scattered. Some were helping those who caught partially on fire while others ran away.

“Or they could do that.” Mikey pointed out.

“To my…surprise… I SAW YOU IN MY EYES!” Splinter gazed upon her underneath his hood as Casey had him by the arm to better guide him under his disguise in the bustle of the marketplace. “The nights… I cried… REPENTED OF THE LIIIIEEESS!” Angel had not one care in the world as she belted out from underneath her earbuds.

“We got it after the first couple times you already sang that song, cut it out!” Casey asked in spite. Angel spun around, her lips pursed as she eyed him up and down.

“You feelin’ the burn fam?” She smiled with a brow raised. The man blinked sarcastically and continued to move forward with sensei in hand. They passed her up, in which she jumped behind the old rat and tugged on his sleeve. “Splinter enjoys my music, right Kakashi sensei?” She joked. To his amusement, he loved that she called him that. Not that he had any connection with the name and the show but it was something Angel loved to call him, so it had meaning to him from the young girl. He gave a slight nod.

“Maybe the first time, I did.” He gave in but only for her amusement. He did not pay much mind, especially not as much as Casey did. Instead, he was preoccupied by looking for groceries for his family’s future celebration.

“Ha! “ She yelled. A local jumped from her exclamation and moved with annoyance. “Approval by a great and noble warrior.” Splinter chuckled low. Angel laughed with him as she walked up to a window of a bakery amongst the market. Just for the farmer’s market, the store had a open window to take orders. People really got a kick out of how “old-fashioned” it was. The girl comfied herself by leaning in on the countertop as a young man not too far from her age leaned in as well. “Hey, how’s it going? Imma need like five cakes.”

“Big party?” The boy asked. He was incredibly nice with his warm smile and inviting demeanor as he reached for his pencil and pad.

“Nah, I just need to feed my kids.” She joked.

“You look really young. Kudos to you.” He replied back, laughing underneath his breath.

“I’m younger than them but still I gotta look out for my babies.” Angel winked; both of them were very amused.

“Ah, I feel ya. Run-em-down for me. Flavors, colors, messages, size, cake-by-cake, are they different?” His fingers twirled around each other as he listed the options to her.

“All different but all of them say ‘Happy Birthday’ but can you do individual names for each cake?” He raised his pen and pad to give her a shrug.

“Sure thing.”

“Aight. I think this is a good enough size for all of them and I like that design. Imma need a dark blue one, the name is Azure. An Orange one, name MC Mikey. A red, Twin Saiz, you catching my drift?”

“Yeah, yeah, keep ‘em coming.” He rolled the butt of his pen.

“Light Blue, MPChi; Purple, Dj Donna Tell’em, and a Pink, Velociti. And lemme make sure you got the spellings right on those.” Angel leaned over the counter and the boy brought the paper towards her to proofread. Casey clicked his tongue, catching Splinter’s gaze.

“She’s crazy.” He commented, but he gave a slight chuckle between his crossed arms. A rat finger nodded towards him.

“You are not wrong.”

“Please! Please help me, sir!” Out of nowhere, a woman alarmed Splinter and grabbed him by his sleeve. He tried to keep his robe together to keep his secret but she was insistent that he move along with her. “My daughter!” She wailed. The tears streamed down her eyes, lining her cheeks in black from her eye makeup. “Please help me!” She continued, basically dragging Splinter along. Casey tried to help by holding sensei back, but the rat tried to move forward with the woman.

“What is it, child?” He asked. Clearly she was in need of any type of assistance necessary. Disguised or not it was not his way to let someone be in danger, or at least until he allowed the family to actually help people “publicly”.

“I don’t know! Just please help me!” She continued to drag him in which he followed. Casey bounced quickly, deciding whether to help Splinter or go over and tell Angel what was going on. Within the second, he went off with the rat. Angel could figure it out at some point.

The woman continued to cry uncontrollably, causing a little scene to the people they brushed past so swiftly. Splinter tried to calm her by asking her to try to breathe so that she could be better able to lead them and for her own safety as well. Casey followed shortly behind as she brought them down the dark corridors of the alleyway. The daylight could not keep these tight spaces lit as the tall buildings shadowed it. They were deep in it but he noticed something. A quick twitch in his ear heard the sound of slight whimpering. Before long, a girl’s body was on the floor of the alleyway. Around her was a slight scratch of a little blood that looked more like a skid mark rather than a life threatening injury. However, the woman pulling him towards her would not have been so desperate and probably the girl would be standing up if that was anywhere near the case. The woman let him go as they approached her. The lady kneeled by the girl’s head. Splinter kneeled as well while Casey was in audience.

“What the hell?” he said under his breath, running a hand over the top of his hair. Splinter looked around her body. Her face was covered by her arm so he tried to look for the blood must have come out of.

“What is troubling you, child?” He asked tentatively. Her whimpers ended abruptly as she slowly tried her best to roll over and face her rescuer. Her hand was held up to her mouth in a fist. There was pain in her closed yet strained eyes. The place where the blood came from showed from a slight stain from her white tee shirt. Splinter observed it. He did not want to just start looking at her body for the cut but rather let her tell him where she was hurting. Her whimpers started back up again, this time more agitated while a sudden puff of red flew from her fist.

“Gah!” He shielded his eyes but to no avail. The red dust made it through the membranes of his eyes and nose. He had no idea what it was but it was definitely a problem. Little time passed before he fell to the ground in record time. Splinter lay on the floor, sweating profusely and having a hard time breathing. 

“What the-?!” Casey didn’t finish as he ran towards Splinter. The woman who was crying earlier jumped in front of him. He paused as she wielded a long katana in her hand.The “hurt” girl stood up slowly. She appeared strong and with no sickness at all.

“I am so sorry.” She looked down at Splinter as she opened up her fist. A small cloud of red dust fell from her palm in which she was hiding it. Her face was still and showed indifferent emotion and she spoke calmly. “I must have passed it on to you.”

“What did you do to him?” Casey strained his voice out of the disbelief.

“We’ll be taking him now.” The girl grabbed the katana back from the woman as she bent over Splinter and grabbed him instead.

“Not on my watch, lady!”

“You don’t have a choice.” She lifted her katana up to Casey as the woman picked Splinter up and hoisted his small body over her shoulders. Casey had never seen Splinter so vulnerable. His tail dangled and only the tip dragged as the woman began to leave him. The girl kept her blade between herself and Casey as both her and the woman turned around to make their escape towards their original entrance. “We’ll be here, waiting for you to pick him up.” With her opposite hand she threw a business card at him. He wasn’t a good catch and fumbled with it. “And please, don’t be shy and bring some backup with you.” After that, there was not much time to actually read the card when the girl turned the blade around and used the butt end of it to sock him in his stomach. Casey went down fast. She smirked as she flipped the blade from between her fingers and back to her side as she and the other woman made their move.

“Y’all foil for just leaving me with all them cakes bruh.” Casey didn’t know how long he had been down. He’s been hit in the stomach numerous times but the end of that katana was something serious. However, he was relieved to a point that Angel was making her way over. He could tell that she was nowhere completely concerned or had even seen him yet in terms of her vocal tone. She was coming in closer. “I had to ask them to hold ‘em until I could find y’all cus I ain’t about to walk around NYC with six cakes with my lil self. Bullies love to find me.” By the time she was finished she had seen Casey. He remained on the ground, hoping to gain some type of momentum to at least sit up and tell her what happened. Before that, Angel was already by his side in a squat. “You for real just schlept on the ground? Thas nasty.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Aye, Mikey we gon’ need yall to get out here fam!” Now that time was looking a little different now that she got the whole scoop from Casey. He was still on the ground but sitting up this time and stretching his abdominals to make a quicker recovery to standing. In light of things, she knew she had to call up the kids.

“What’s up?”

“Casey got his ass whooped and now somebody done stole Splinter.”

“Cancel the human torch, sensei got rat-napped!”

“The what?”

“We ain’t got time for questions! Where you at?”

She stood outside of the headquarters, shivering some as she kept her hands cupped to her face to warm her in the night. A few Foot soldiers stood around her as security in the chance anybody was watching. Karai nodded as the car she was told to come approached the exact spot she asked of it. The meeting was arranged secretively as a new weapon was to come to the Foot’s aid. A dark chameleon colored car smoothly stopped meters away from the woman. Next, the engined hummed quietly and the headlights went out. The door opened. A hand gripped the top of the Aston Martin DB11 as a guide to help pull the individual up and out of the vehicle. It was a woman. Cloaked in black with a hood and a yellow cloth wrapped around her mouth, it all concealed her identity with the exception of her eyes. She moved smoothly, as if every step should be silenced as she made her way towards the powerful woman. 

“(I see the trip overseas went well.)” Karai bowed only her head as the woman did the same in a slow fashion. “Yōkoso.”

“(It has been a long time.)” She spoke through the muffle of the cloth around her lips. As she spoke, you can see the small movements of her mouth underneath it. “(You have grown so much, my child.)” Karai sure did grow some the last time she had seen her. It was not too long ago the young woman left Japan with her father after her brother Eric made a name for himself in the Big Apple, yet she did mature some. She could tell especially with how she carried herself and how strong the Foot presence had echoed in the city. She could not be any more impressed at her growth.

“(I am pleased to see you as well.)” Karai tried not to make it too obvious to looked past her and glimpse at the car silenced behind the mysterious woman. “(Is she with you at the moment?)” The woman did not turn her head as she rose her arm towards the vehicle behind her.

“(I left her in the car to make sure we can speak without her.)” She assured.”(What are your employment options for her? There’s a thin line that she’s able to work proficiently and I’d rather speak with you before she retaliates to say she can do a specific task yet clearly cannot due to her experience.)”

“(How young is she?)” Karai inquired. She saw her raised her brow under the little facial characteristics she could admire.

“(Her past is very limited, but as far as I know, she’s late teens to early twenties.)”

“(A ripe age, excellent. As far as her duties go, I would like her to do damage control.)”

“(How much damage?)” Her voice was low and critical. Karai’s head danced back and forth as she tried to drum up the right words to tell her. It was not exactly an easy situation to explain.

“(We have a pest problem with six turtles.)” She spoke nonchalantly. The mysterious woman’s expression softened. She began to apologize and keep herself together as she excused herself by turning around and covering her face with her hands. “(Don’t laugh, I am serious.)” The woman looked back at her, this time not hiding her amusement of the situation.

“(I thought you brought us here for real troubles.)” She struggled to keep quiet. Karai huffed, closing her eyes and regathering herself. In her pocket, her hand reached in and grabbed the black flip phone. The woman became more intrigued while calming herself down as Karai began searching through the mediocre device.

“(If I said I had troubles with a pig and a rhino…)” She began before flipping the phone’s small screen to the other woman. “(This is what I mean.)” The woman held herself together, squinting as Karai presented her a low quality video of Bebop and Rocksteady at the Foot headquarters being themselves as they and other soldiers were moving trucks. Her brows furrowed as she tried to watch in disbelief of what was presented right in front of her eyes.

“(What’d you do?)” She asked in a whisper.

“(They are former henchmen of mine. We had lost contact with them since my father disappeared.)” Karai closed the phone and placed it back in her pocket where it belonged.

“(Your brother?)”

“(Caught during one of our operations by the water. Now he’s in higher security and away from New York.)” Karai still had no feelings for Sacks so her answer was more information of an annoying topic rather than the loss of a family member to justice. The other woman was still trying to piece herself and the truth together even after the footage was taken away from her.

“(But when you mean turtles you mean-?)”

“(Just like that. Six of them.)” Her hand went to her forehead.

“(Aren’t they slow? Or only live in the water?)” She just couldn’t hold a grip on anything as she drilled her with questions. “(They’re the reason of Sack’s capture, aren’t they?)”

“(All is a no. Police took my brother away and these are ninjas)

“(Comic-book stuff. Talk of fairy tales.)” The woman laughed nervously. “(They are that much trouble, huh?)”

“(More than trouble, a terrorizing nuisance of our plans.)”

“(And you want her to take on this assignment.)” She pointed towards the phone in her pocket.

“(I was hoping so but I would not ask you to push her to do so if she is not ready.)” Karai confirmed. She knew how much she meant to her; it was her student after all. “(I know it is not my place.)” The woman nodded in agreement while staring down at the pavement.

“(She is in the car. Come.)”

She watched them as the two older woman turned and walked towards the vehicle. She finicked around, trying to settle her hands to look calm, collected, and professional before they wanted to come speak with her. At the last second, she crossed her legs before her mentor approached the door on the side she was on.

“(Lotus, open the door.)” She asked through the glass. So much for opening the door themselves. The girl pulled the handle and exited the car slowly, She tried not to look at Karai dead-on as she noticed that she was inspecting her as more of her left the sanctuary of the car.

“(Lotus Blossom.)” She addressed her, now gaining the attention from her eyes. “(I am Oroku Karai)” The young girl quickly bowed using her entire body.

“(I wish to serve you and your organization by any means.)”

“(It is wonderful to hear,)” Her mentor urged her to stand straight again, Using her hand as a guide to lift her slowly. “(but that is only if you are definitely able to execute the task at hand.)”

“(What is she implying, Amaya?)” Lotus inquired. The woman asked Karai for her phone. She redistributed it and went through it. She knew exactly what she was asking of her.

“(We are hired only if we are able to protect them-.)” Karai pressed the play button. “(From these.)” The phone was shown to the girl. Her reaction was less humorous as of her mentor. Mostly for the fact that no one was nowhere near smiling at the footage.

“(Fantastic beasts, but not photoshop?)” She asked. A head shake came in return. “(Interesting.)” She continued to stare at the low-quality video, intrigued by the incredibility.

“(This is not them but it is very close.)” Karai began. “(They are powerful warriors, great in skill. Although it is bothersome that they are only children.)”

“(Of what age?)” Lotus took her eyes off the phone and Karai began fixing it back to its original place. She toyed with her head a bit as she had to guess.

“(Old enough to be adults but with childish tendencies.)” She answered.

“(Almost like those of my own age.)”

“(Only you are not.)” Her mentor wrapped her arm around her torso, pulling Lotus in close. “(Would you accept this task? Defend the Foot Clan from these beasts alongside me?)”

“(What do I have to lose?)” She shrugged. The answer came with a harsh squeeze on er body. It was brief but it sent the message. Compose yourself. “(I accept the offer, Miss Oroku.)”

“(Excellent.)” Karai extended her hand. Lotus was the first to shake it. It felt amazing to do so of such a powerful and respected woman. “(We are already moving forward as we have planned.)”

“(What would that be?)” Amaya question as Karai reached for her hand.

Nobody really knew when they were born. Splinter had always known his age given the biological qualities of a rat and a person in comparison. Whatever age the boys were was all a guess. They were barely crawling upon mutation; he assumed they were barely a year by human age standards and guessed as they went through developmental milestones. The only way they could determine a birthday was by calculating when red eared slider turtles would hatch after the breeding season. Henceforth, the family would just celebrate their birth on the first day of June because babies of their breed would hatch in the early summer. It wasn’t approximate but it was a time for them to collectively celebrate their new coming of age. 

The sun was out and peeking through the cracks of the sewer. Usually at least one of them would be up in the early hour given that their prime time had become the night when they would work, but they truly listened to the NYPD’s wishes to enjoy their time off from work and indulge themselves for the day. This time, the two usual cerulean-banded sliders were sound asleep in their own rooms. However, sleeping in was a disgrace in one’s eyes, especially since he was well known in this field of irritation and annoyance. The orange banded turtle woke up with a passion as he turned on the faucet water to wash his hands.

“I can’t believe they still sleepin’ when they know our birthday is today.” He mumbled to himself, turning off the water. “I got something for them though.” He huffed. From the kitchen, he grabbed a metal pot and ravaged the drawers for a wooden spoon. With each in hand, he set off for the main hallway. How they arranged their rooms was different this time around as they continued to update their home for the ever-growing children. On the opposite side of Splinter’s quarters, the rowdy bunch were stashed in separate rooms within a T-shape hall. No longer were they in open rooms or up in their circular, lifted quarters, but now a garage door gave them the privacy they wanted when they needed it, much like their old bathroom. They were grown enough for it anyways. However, they normally kept it cracked open up to their calves so that the family could alert them if there was an emergency, but Mikey had a different use to go through. Leonardo was in the first room down on the left side, so his door was opened up first. Every loud, creaking industrial noise a garage can make while being violently pushed up as produced. Michelangelo had no intentions to be quiet at all as he went through and opened up  next. With his door lifted up, Mikey began to scream and bang the spoon on the pot. “Ey! Ey! EY! Wake up! Get up! Get up! Get-Up!” He screamed, then he made a break for the other side of the hall to open up the rest of their doors. “Get up! Get-Up! I ain’t get no sleep so you ain’t gonna get none either!” The last room was Mona’s and he entered hers since Raphael’s large body was missing from his bed when he went into his room. Without fear, he approached her bed and banged loud against the head of his sleeping brother. Due to the size of the mattresses and how they’re able to sleep on them in the first place, his body engulfed hers as his arm pinned her down in slumber. It was actually pretty comfortable for the both of them despite how large he was compared to her. He cracked an eye open to look up. Mona sounded disgusted and tried to hide underneath his body. “Get up! Get up! Get-up-get-up-get-up-get-up-get-up!” Gaining a response, the orange banded terrapin stopped briefly.

“Bro, I know you lying.” Raphael groaned under his forearm.

“Ya’ll just nasty.” their brother replied in disgust.

“I fell asleep.” Raphael defended why he wasn’t in his room for the night. The young turtle ignored him as he jumped over the bed. His foot touched down on the mattress, shifting the two sleepers to that side and growing even more mad than before. No permission, he opened up her drawers and began digging.

“Guess what I got for yall….” From them, he pulled out the recognizable pink garments she wore on a nightly basis. “Clothes! Get up!” He threw the two-piece at the two in a ball. The young turtle sprinted out the room and began doing the same thing to everyone else. “This is what you wearing.” To not waste time, he only threw shorts or pants (whichever was easier to find, he just wanted them to get dressed) at his remaining two brothers and sister.  “This is what you wearing.” He came back in Mona’s room. Raphael was sitting at the edge of the bed, handing Mona her stuff although she’d rather throw her blanket up over her head. “I got something for you too.” Mikey pointed at his brother from the entrance. Then, he threw a pair of his black shorts at him before disappearing again. “Come on, and wake up!”

“I wanted to sleep in. That was my dream for my 18th.” Donnie muttered to himself. His upper body slouched over till his elbows hit his knees. Sitting at the edge of the bed and contemplating why he was listening to Michelangelo in the first place kept him there wondering how long he would choose to sit there till he got up. I mean, dude’s tired. Why don’t we not get up and just sit here like this. This is fine.

“Wellllll MLK,” Mikey stuck his head out from under the doorway. “that don’t fit into mine! C’mon! Get up! Angel finna be here to turn up so get up.” The turtle scooted to his room to do whatever else he could to make the morning more obnoxious. Before he disappeared, he gave a little hip swinging dance with his arms above his head and swung them abruptly. “My best friend finna- get up right now!”

Leonardo got up first (surprise, surprise).  He hopped off the steps from the hallway and towards the kitchen.

“Sensei!” He called. Dad!” A little louder. Nothing came back. Not a word or a subtle appearance.

“Ah, he left to go shoppin’.” He jumped when Michelangelo grabbed his shoulder and hung off of his older brother. His weight pushed him forward into a stumble.

“Getting stuff for us? I’d hate for him to go alone and carrying stuff around.” As he should. Aside from being a mutant, sensei was getting up in his years every year. Yes, he could definitely take on his sons easily (less as time goes on), but a son worries about his father just as much as the other way around.

“He got picked up by Casey. Don’t worry, Angel came too so they’ll have some muscle.” He winked and gave him a knowing click of the tongue before pushing down on his shoulder to jump off of him. The eldest brother smirked and followed the family into the kitchen.

Donnie and Venus were promptly joined by Michelangelo at the table. When Leonardo walked in, Mona Lisa sat atop the counter as she watched Raphael open up the kitchen cabinet.

“We did it boys.” Raphael spoke loudly which startled the crowd. 

“Huh?” Donnie placed one earbud over his ears to dampen his tone. The rebel turtle closed the cabinet he was getting into and pulled out a new box of Lucky Charms.

“We actually lived for another year.”  He pulled out a bowl and poured over half of it inside. He was a growing boy afterall.

“For real, the stuff we be doing I’m surprised myself.” Mona nodded in agreement, then took the box and grabbed a handful of the cereal before stuffing herself. Raphael began to list as he ventured over to the fridge:

“Guns, thugs, poison gas, evil magicians-.”

“ alien invasions, manhunts, robots, and potential health concerns…” Venus finished before getting a collection of confused stares. “Don’t tell me he doesn’t eat too much pizza.” She pointed directly to Michelangelo. The turtle felt attacked as he gasped softly while clutching his chest. However, the air hung for only so long until the family agreed.

“You right.” They agreed in differed responses.

“Speaking of….!” He sang. In no time he tiptoed away with his back arch backwards slightly. “I’m gonna go dial the place to serve the ‘death of me’.” The young turtle picked up his phone and began dialing but not before sticking his tongue out at his so-called “family”.

“I’m gonna use the livingroom to meditate for a sec. That alright?” Leonardo asked as he got to fixing himself a kettle of tea.

“Sure, go for it.”

“I was gonna back back for a nap anyways.” At the end of his sentence, Raphael yawned. His hands went over his face and rubbed his brows up and down, avoiding to keep his nose out of his bowl.

“Me too.” Mona added. Michelangelo yelled: “Ya nasties!” much to their dismay. 

The clan began to disperse. The lovebirds returned to Mona’s (with that unfinished cereal), the besties kept in the kitchen, Mikey was still on the phone with the pizza people (which is crazy since they’re open in the morning anyways), and Leo took himself to the living room. The rushing water from the slide was always loud but it had noise-blocking capabilities from the family’s shenanigans as Splinter discovered. The match cackled as he lit it up and placed the flame on a few select candles. It would take time for the aroma to even make a hint of its appearance due to both water and sewer smells, but that was not their job anyways. It was all for the mood. Splinter had so many candles because he would often stare into them to reach his point of relaxation. The movement of the flame entertained him and slowed down his body functions into a state of relaxation. For now, Leonardo used it as mild stimulation as listening to subtle, environmental sounds kept him in a spiritual state.

He kneeled down on the rug that sat at the epicenter of the arrangement of candles. His legs intertwined with one another as he sat down. To start himself off, he began with deep breathing. The first held breath refreshed him as he exhaled. Inhale, exhale. His system began to slow down and his focus sharpened.

“Lucali! Yeah, I wanna whole pie plus the calzone.” Leonardo’s body twitched. His right eye cracked open and began to search around. Far out of his eyesight, Michelangelo was on his shell-cell.

“Lemme tell ya, how ‘bout you put all the toppings on.” The eldest brother shook his head, closed his eye, and tried to tone his young brother out. “Nah fam, for real, put everything on it. I swear, it finna be good.”

“Mikey.” Leonardo muttered to catch his attention.

“And no anchovies, and I mean no anchovies! You tryna be funny and put anchovies on it and I’m deeming you dead to me.” Suddenly, a tall candlestick holder was hurdled towards the orange banded turtle. He shrieked as the holder smacked him on the arm.

“Michelangelo!” Leonardo’s voice echoed throughout the entire lair, making everything stop and stare. Mikey kept the phone to his ear as he locked shocked eyes with his eldest brother.

“That’ll do.” He continued in a shaky voice before hanging up the phone.

“Please!” Leonardo pleaded. Mikey surrendered and began to back off.

“Yeah, yeah. Do your thing. I’ll join you in a bit, how dow dah?” 

“Huh?” but before he could get an answer, Mikey had already high tailed out of the room. His answered confused him, but he needn’t dwell on it too long. Time to take advantage of the silence. Inhale, exhale. Multiple times needed to bring back that refreshed feeling. Inhale, hold, exhale.

“Bouncin' around, bouncin' around, bouncin', Bouncin' around, bouncin' around, bouncin'

Scrunchin' their eyes with your name in their mouth and Bouncin' around, bouncin' around, bouncin'...” From the moment the music started, Leonardo’s trance was fatally interrupted by the booming of the speakers. His eyes locked onto the weird sight in front of him. Michelangelo was not not alone as he and Donatello danced vivaciously to ‘Lemon’, taking no care to Leo’s previous demands.

“Do y'all not see me trying to meditate?” He asked rudely, but with good purpose.

“This is like meditating!” Mikey mocked.

It’s been a while. You know, since something was going in the Purple Dragon’s way. The organization was thriving as of late and the gang members were flourishing in their goods. There have been a few time where they’ve had some run-ins with the police and their larger-than-life watch dogs, but not all was lost. Most members were able to sneak away and hide their merchandise flawlessly into their headquarters. That’s exactly where we find ourselves today:

“Soon, as I land on the Lear,

Piguets, they wet, tears,

488, hit the gears,

Suicide Doors, Britney Spears…”

“Ok Waxer, I see you.” A young man with blue hair commented as he heaved with his associate, lifting a box onto a rack.

“Didn’t know I got bars, did ya Johnny boy?” The other smiled behind the box that hid his face; his voice portrayed much of the strength into his legs and not as much through his throat. Nearby, a much younger girl stood with her arms crossed. She smiled while shaking her head.

“Y'all play too much.” Her long curls brushed her face. The two men went to their toes to lift the box slightly higher so that they can set it on top of another.

“You know you want Cardi’s part.” Waxer commented as they carefully lowered it down. The girl cocked her head, which pulled the curiosity of the two men who waited for her reaction. A smile crossed her face.

“Why would I hop in some beef? When I could just hop in a Porsche?” She used her deepest voice to perform, earning much appreciation from the two men.

“Thought so.” The girl tried to hide her blush away from them and waved them off.

“Ayo! Somebody come over here and help me lift this!” Another shouted. “Two-ton!”

“Yeah yeah?!” A very large young man bellowed from around the bend.

“Get over here!” They saw his waving hand over the tops of the stacks. The large man made his way over. The other three kept behind him to see the two struggling boys trying to lift another box up to a higher platform. “Help us lift this up on here.” Two-Ton’s calloused hands rubbed vigorously before bending down and lifting the box from the bottom. His power was much needed as well as his extra height as the burden lightened up. The heavy box was set on edge. The sound of the wood sliding was a smooth reward as the pain of lifting went away. The girl put her hands on the edge of the platform and a foot on a lower ledge. Bouncing only once, the momentum brought her up. She stood up and pushed the top off the box they had just set down. Small pieces of wood cracked from the light glue holding the lid down. Underneath was a layer of styrofoam peanuts that unleashed its once masked scent. Carefully she reached her hands into their embrace. She needn’t go too deep to grab hold of a hard, item. Satisfied, she grasped it and pulled it out of the box. The peanuts spilled from the crevices as she pulled a large machine gun for everyone to see.

“Awww yeah, this gonna look good strapped on me.” Her smile grew as she fixed up the strap. When she deemed it somewhat feasible, she brought it through her curls and around her arm till it hung on her shoulder.  “All we missin’ is some live ammo in this b*tch.” She commented as she put a good grip on the machine, acting as if she were ready to use it. Seeing the scope, she began to play with it; looking through it, she pretended that her associates were her prey.

“Easy, Jesse.” Waxer smiled as she saw him through the scope. She giggled but continued to play with the scope and its settings.

“Power of the Dragon.” Johnny chuckled as he watched her play. “We need some type of slogan.”

“We don’t need some slogan, we got the symbol, das all we need.” Two-Ton spit on the floor.

“This ain’t some scouts club. F*ck outta here ‘bout a slogan.” Jesse cursed as she spun around and toyed with other compartments of the gun. Johnny waved his hands in front of his, head low and shaking.

“I’m just sayin’ ya know, like… I don’t know....” He paused for a moment. “Purple Power!” He boasted. “Or somethin’ like that.”

The ceiling exploded. Or, at least that’s how it felt after having a sudden heart attack. Above them, the air conditioning pipe burst open. What came out of it were very green. The red banded terrapin fell from the sky, splitting the group apart and centering himself in the middle. The thundering plod was doubled as he was joined by the orange masked one as well. The larger one already had his sais out and ready to spear someone.

“Green Power, mother lovas!” He bellowed as the debris from the pipe fell on top of his head. Michelangelo crouched low with his nunchucks ready as he backed up slowly towards his brother.

“Dang! It's the crazy ones!” He said with a toothy lisp; his eyes bugged out as he stared down the villains before him. Raphael noticed the girl on the platform. That was quite a gun she was holding there.

“Loca! Drop it!” He commanded with his sai directing her. Bullets or no, she’d keep it as intimidation. Yet, she knew these guys. Bullets bounce off of them, so it would hit everyone else around her. Blindly, she shook the strap off and let the once appreciated gun drop like trash before her feet. Raphael kept the grit in his teeth as he reached over his shoulder to the walkie-talkie on his strap. “Blue Leader, bring em in!” Michelangelo began to chortle, then sang.

“Bad boys, bad boys,” Raphael joined in, both keeping their weapons ready in case anybody wanted to try something funny.

“Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” Their defeated faces only prompted them more to keep up their fun. Into the next verse, the larger turtle started beatboxing while his younger brother tried his best to keep it going.

“Nas sanappa a boon ba sniffin ma hay”

“Dude, you gotta learn the words.” He sighed.

“We usually just do the chorus.” Raphael reached back to his radio after not receiving a response.

“Blue leader, hit -em.” On the other side of the line, blue leader and purple dork were hiding on the rooftop of the building. There was no glass ceiling but rather a sky light. The window distorted the bottom floor incredibly and with the roof being so high, it was really hard to see what was going on. Donatello and Leonardo stood by to kick through the window when their brothers gave them the call.

“What he say?” Donatello whispered. Leonardo shrugged and put his hand to the radio.

“Repeat your transmission.” He asked. Nothing else came through. He called again but this time to the third team on standby. “Blue leader to Alpha, continue relay.” The ground troop of the female ninjas and the police department did not return the call.

“Where’s backup?” Michelangelo tried to remain in control of the situation, but was definitely worried.

“Blue leader, hit em, bring em in!” Raphael called more aggressively. Michelangelo took it upon himself to listen close to his walkie-talkie.

“Dude, I’m only getting static.”

“Piece of sh*t radio.” Donatello curse as he smacked it. When it wasn’t giving a clear signal, he used a laser piece off his wristband and opened up to radio.

“Hurry, Donnie!” Leo rushed.

“No, I’m gonna go really slow about this.” He replied stressed yet full of sass. Leonardo sighed, throwing his hands up.

Onlooking at their failing plot, Two-ton began to chuckle maniacally.

“Oh, you think this is funny?” Raphael approached him slowly, pointing his sai at the large boy’s throat. Beads of sweat began to form as the large metal came near his face.

“Dude, where are they?” Mikey repeated. Seeing opportunity as their plan was unravelling, the girl made an unsure yet brief eye contact with Johnny. In a split second, the girl tried to take off and run for the exit. However, the orange banded terrapin had tripped her and kept his foot down on her back to secure her. However, during that quick timing, Johnny had unravelled a large knife that he kept concealed in his pocket. While Mikey was looking down and apprehending Jesse, Johnny brought the terrapin down into a headlock with the knife blade pressing against his throat. Everything was just so quick that even Raphael hadn’t caught on yet as he spun around with his sai pointed in their general direction.

“Woo!” he called “Looks like we got ourselves a situation.”

“You ain't gon do nothing.” Johnny taunted as he was breathless from apprehending the young turtle and began to pull him back with his feet dragging. Michelangelo tried not to breathe because the blade seemed so close that with a breath could scrape his neck.

“You think having a knife to my brothers’ head ain't gon mean I'm not gonna have your entrails all over the place?”

“That's what I'm thinking.” The young turtle commented, his throat nearly choked as he was yanked backwards. Finally, his foot was off of Jesse but the girl stayed down from the pressure from earlier.

“What you don't know is that my brother came here ready to die.”

“Sh- shell no!” He screamed.

“You ready to die, ain't you Mikey?”

“The shell I wanna do that for?”

“Scared ain't ya boy.” Johnny whispered into whatever he thought where that turtle’s ear was.

“We gon do this in two ways. A. Tell me where you got those new guns, let my brother go, and I'll just leave a mark on your shoulder. Or B. I just stab you in the chest.” His eye went met to the very center of his chest, imagining it uncovered by his brother and open for attack.

“Or C. Where we could talk and de-escalate the situation.” The young turtle pleaded, trying to keep as calm as possible.

“See, my bro using them spiritual teachings our Sensei teaches us, but I ain't about that life.” He yelled louder and began to spin around to make sure everybody else knew that his sai was coming their way too. “I prefer seeing trash on the ground.”

“Raph, the man has a knife to my head.” He cried out quite choked up as Johnny held him tighter after losing a grip for a split second.

“I bet he'll put it down when there’s a metal spike in his eye.” He bellowed.

“Just calm down, bro.” He tried to keep from using his hands to talk for Johnny was take it as rebellion and use that perfectly placed knife of his. It sure is hard to stay calm and not get too comfortable.

“I'm calm, I'm calming down EY! Whoa! Whoa! I am way too unstable for all that.” He spun around again after someone in the corner of his eye flinched. “Stop all the movement! Everybody stop movin!”

“Y'all need to listen to him.” Mikey began to preach in a whining and desperate disposition. “I tried the best I can but he crazy. He got emotional, anger issue problems.” As he gave him sermon, Raphael began to count out loud. “He go to bed early for this.”

With eyes up in the sky once more, Michelangelo took a chance by grabbing the arm withholding the knife. With great force, he pulled it away from his throat and pulled Johnny over by rolling off his shell and landing hard on his back. He flinched repeatedly in pain, Which Mikey didn’t think twice about as he grasped the knife out of his hand.

“Where the shell were you?” Raphael yelled in the leader’s ear.

“Not the time.” He tried to ignore his brother’s complaint as he unsheathed his sword. The size of the large knife intimidated the few around them. It was pointed at Jesse, who was still on the floor. It took everything she had to not give a tear as she saw that thing pointed at her by a skilled swordsman. She was frozen in fear as she gazed at her own reflection of the shining metal. Doors of the facility imploded on themselves as the police force came in screaming with guns pointed. The few Purple Dragons around them became even more apprehensive than before and kept their hands up in the air to resist arrest. They were called to fall to the ground, slowly to their knees and down to the ground until the cops could give them a pat down and cuff them. Following behind them were the two mutant sisters walking in confidently and calmly aside from the rush.

“How come everytime I turn around you in trouble?” Mona Lisa outstretched her arms as she and Venus approached the boys. Her eyebrows furrowed with her question.

“Stop turning around.” Raphael answered monotone. In respect, Mona gave him a quick yet playful slap behind his head. An officer managing the operation adjusted his cap as he regathered with the team of mutants.

“We’ll be looking around for anything that can give us an edge towards who is supplying them their weapons. You can use them for questioning.” Raphael rubbed his hands together.

“My favorite.” He grinned sinisterly. Venus leaned over towards Donatello.

“This poor guy doesn’t know what’s coming to him.” He whispered back:

“Pretty sure he does.”

“I can’t believe this! This fool pulled a knife on me! On Me!” Michelangelo screamed in rage, pacing back and forth. Splinter had been really pushing forgiveness on him recently but this was just too much. Forgive and forget, forgive and forget, but after that? How can you forgive and forget that? Brotha was gonna die! “I can’t do this! Maaaaaan!” He whined before setting his sights on the handcuffed man who did him wrong. 

“Don’t kill me, don’t kill me!” The man tried to roll over in his handcuffs in an armadillo position.

“It’s just… with the knife… and them bullets.” Michelangelo breathlessly explained to the point where it seemed tears were going to escape from their ducts. He turned away from the man for a second to gather himself.

“You aight, man?” Leonardo asked. The young turtle kept his shell to his family but put a hand up to ask him to drop it. The leader nodded understandably. The young turtle began to knock about his head with the palm of his hand repeatedly.

“Aye, I owe you…” He turned around to speak but it was just as broken and tired as his speech was before. “It was just that.. You.. you know…. Was disrespect-.” he paused. “But that don’t give me the right though...excu-.” He turned around as if to hide his tears, but it turned into a 360 spin kick to the fallen man’s body. “Wassup!”

“Dude!” Donatello cried out.

“The man had a knife to my head!” Raphael grabbed the back of the man’s shirt and yanked him up till he was sitting up. Johnny still winced in pain and grunted.

“The interesting thing is he ain’t the one pissed off.” He nearly whispered to him before standing straight up.

“I don’t know nothing.” Johnny cried out, this time tears were shedding in the building.

“Aye, whoa! I didn’t ask you no question yet!” Raph bellowed.

“I know nothing!”

“You lying to me already?!” He pointed his sai aggressively. Johnny kept repeating his pleas. “Stop lyin’! STOP LYIN’!” Mona caught how the aggressiveness wasn’t gettin them anywhere. She pushed him back gently to call him off. She gave enough space for Venus to kneel down before the man. Unlike Raphael, there was no searing scowl or violence within her presence.

“Do you know anything? I’m being nice about it; do you know anything?” The man was still crying but he didn’t look away from those gentle eyes of hers.

“Aye, loca. What you know?” Michelangelo had already moved on (especially since he was tired of dealing with that man in the first place) after taking the time to cool off a reminisce on his payback.

“Don’t kill me, please.” Jesse balled up with her knees tucked into her chest.

“I won’t,” He got down on his knees to reach her level. “but that don’t mean you’re safe from everybody else so just tell us what’s up.” She turned her head away from him, trying to keep from looking in his eye. He leaned forward more but her neck branked further. Suddenly, her face whipped around and released the watery substance from her lips and let it splash into the face of the questioning turtle. “Ooh, she just spit all up in my-.” Michelangelo jumped up and began rubbing at his face vigorously in disgust. “Y'all better get her,” he pointed. “and somebody come get me!” With a quick jump signalling them, Mona and Donatello jumped out to grab the young turtle. He continued to fight even when he was elevated from the ground and in their grasp. Maybe this was enough emotions from Michelangelo today. The two began to carry him off until he couldn't see any of the suspects within their sights. With Raph’s method failing and Venus trying to speak to the other man still, Leonardo took responsibility. His katana pointed in her general direction as a form of mild intimidation.

“Where did you get the new guns?” He spoke calmly, a disposition that didn’t match the violence of what a large sword had brung.

“I don’t know nothin’ about it! Johnny sets all this up, his sh*t is in his office!” Her voice was shrill, trying to avoid the blade.

“Where is it?”

“Here.” An officer brought out a few files from a room they had raided. “We found receipts up in the office. Our analyzers can try to track these obscure vendors.”

“We’ll have Donatello jump on it-.” He was cut off by a hand.

“Oh no. I know you guys love to help us out but we have this. That and I know you’re trying to work during your time off.” Which was true. Anytime the department would allow them a vacation, the family refused to back down. Basically employees of a special degree, they were truly dedicated to their work.

“Are you sure?” Leo replied. “It wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“We have this.” The officer nodded, and folded the files underneath his arm. “You guys can go home and celebrate, ok?”

“Yeah, celebrate.” Raphael nodded at his older brother’s comment. The officer turned to regroup with his team.

“Happy Birthday, to all of you.”

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