NEON - A Separated Siblings AU

by TheOvidians

Summary:

For sixteen long-ass years, I have believed that I was the sole surviving creation from one of Draxum’s greatest failed experiments. At least, that’s what Pops had always told me.

Now color me surprised, when I found out that there are three other turtle mutants and they have lived in the upper human city, all this time.

This revelation is just the beginning of my story. It’s one full of chaos, explosions, existential dread, pizza, parental issues, drinks, double-triple betrayals, and generally bad life choices that make me question where I fit into this world. Maybe there’s a great destiny waiting for me out there or maybe I'll get myself killed while I’m still figuring it all out. At least, it seems that I’ve found a new place I can call home and that counts for something...right?

(This fic is loosely inspired by AU designs by Shanzepoo on Twitter and a few scrapped concepts for seasons 1 and 2 of the series // Looking for an AMA, update info, or preview snippets? Then take a peak at the Tumblr blog: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/neonseperatedau)

Chapter 1: All-Access Sword Upgrade

No matter if it was lighted up brightly and crowded or dimmed and misty, the hidden city is the most beautiful place I know.

Well, to be honest, for most of my life, it had been my whole world. You see, I grew up here. In this bright neon place that I knew like the back of my hand. So obviously I REALLY wanted to leave it and explore the city above.

New York. What a town.

Full of this weird and monotone species in their weird and monotone concrete blocks that had no idea what was going on under their feet.

Maybe now you can understand how excited I was when Draxum told me I had to recover something for him ‘upstairs’. I was standing in his lab, back straight, my expression grave. I tried to look as if I was listening to his blabbering even though in my head, I already made a bucket list of the things a definitely had to try out before I returned ‘ASAP’.

“Come back with the agent as soon as possible,” he had roared knowing I would not catch his orders the first time he was giving me them.

Thanks to my trusty portal sword I could jump from one place to the other in no time at all, at least theoretically. Draxum had manipulated the sword before giving it to me and until this day I could only reach places that were within the realms of the yokai world. But now, now things would be different, he would finally lift the ban.

I assured him I understood the mission and I handed him the sword. Its blue handle had been wrapped in a paper seal with ancient markings.

You don’t believe a piece of paper can be this powerful? Trust me, I tried everything to remove it without my father noticing it, but nothing worked. Putting it in a sink and washing it for hours? Nope. Trying to burn it? Nope. Throwing it in a pit of sulfur where the stone gargoyles always chill? Nope. And the gargoyles even complained afterward that I shouldn’t throw my trash in the middle of their bathrooms.

Draxum made it look easy, he poured one of his elixirs over the handle and just like that took the seal off.

“Under my guidance, you have mastered this mystic weapon. You will use your strength and knowledge to annihilate your enemies and aid my endeavors,” he said solemnly.

“Our current situation demands me to move forward in your training earlier than expected. I trust you that you use the full potential of your sword only in my interests. After all, that is what I prepared you for all these years, Leonardo.”

Despite my excitement, I felt the gravity of Draxum’s words and their implications. I nodded again and received my weapon back. He had just ripped off a piece of paper from the handle, but the sword felt sharper and heavier than before. I examined the shining blade and the face of a turtle covered in a long blue shawl, with a scar running through his left eyelid and blue and black battle gear looked back at me.

I just knew that this moment set something in motion, something big. I just wasn’t sure if this grand event would be me trying a taco or going to a human public toilet for the first time or something entirely else.

Either way, I was sure was ready for it.

“I won’t disappoint you, Pops.” I said and at the time Draxum started replying “Don’t call me Pops,” I had already zapped through a portal into the heart of New York City.

Chapter 2: A Cloak, A Mask and An Iron Rod Meet in New York City

The job Draxum had appointed to me wasn’t as easy peasy lemons squeezy as I had initially assumed. Also, side note, squeezing lemons isn’t really an easy task, to begin with.

‘Focus,’ I told myself. ‘You’re not here for lemons but to hunt down an agent of the council of heads.’

What? Have you never heard of the literal stone-faced yokai who always argued with my dad? Never mind then.

All you need to know is that they had their usual disagreements that ended with the warrior scientist dramatically storming out of the room. The council must have been more worried than usual because they sent out a small but powerful yokai who possessed similar powers to those of my mystic sword. The agent could zap around places as quick as lightning, which made him a real headache to track down. They had even managed to sneak into Draxum’s lab and retrieve a sample of his current project, but we noticed him before he could return to his superiors. We assume he is now trying to cover his trail before going to the council so we won’t have anything to prove that he ever infiltrated Draxum’s lab.

I started my search on one of the biggest roofs in the city center, it was probably in the middle of the night since the streets weren’t completely clustered with humans as I had expected. Time in the hidden city was measured differently so I had only a rough understanding of how it worked up here. The sounds were still difficult to process; cars, music, animals, and humans all seemed to try and make as much noise as possible. The markets of the hidden city can be loud, but this was on a completely new level of annoyance.

Honestly, I had believed I could just jump right into the wild city life and have a chance to do everything I always only read or heard about. Seeing the tiny moving dots quickly passing by and the concrete streets stretching out as far as I could see, I didn’t feel excited by endless possibilities, I simply felt lost.

It would do me no good to go down there and try to ask my way around, I knew that much. While crouching on the edge of the roof and staring into the lights on the ground, I decided to focus on my mission first and figure out the rest later.

I wrapped myself in a cloak (hey, Draxum had enemies everywhere so you couldn’t be too careful) and put on one of those masks that were popular during the festivals on my home turf. It was a very simple mask with only three lines, two for the eyes and one that suggested a mouth. Then I put out my sword and held it horizontally in both hands.

If I concentrated hard enough, I could sense if something or someone was nearby that had a similar energy pattern. The only problem was, I sucked at concentrating for longer than two heartbeats. I tried my best to drown out the constant sounds and lights and focus on the electric energy surging out from my blade and into me. It’s difficult to describe what I was actually looking for. Maybe you could best describe it as a flicker of energy that would interrupt my own mystic pulse IF it would be near enough.

Some time went by, and nothing happened. I felt stupid for just standing there and hoping for a lucky find from the get-go. I figured I would try the same but from several building tops in different directions.

The sky had already begun to change color when I finally picked up on something. At this point in time, I had lost track of the number of rooftops I had occupied. It had been too many that’s all you need to know. In my mind a yellow lightning bolt popped up, it was faint but tangible and, most importantly, I was sure I could portal into the area where it came from.

I landed in some random, mostly empty streets and I couldn’t immediately find the agent. I looked around carefully, avoiding any humans, who seemed in the dawn like creeping shadows. I got the sense that the few figures that came near me weren’t interested in anything but to quickly pass by.

I glanced into every corner and side street and was greeted only by some small critters and bad smells.

My cloak was heavy, and the mask was also restricting vision, which made moving around tedious and, increasingly, annoying. Usually, I’m quite proud of my sneaking skills. The times I gave Hugin and Muninn heart attacks when they were supposed to keep an eye on me, and instead, I would vanish for hours. Fun times.

Just when my focus on the energy signal wavered, I heard some rumbling in one of the side streets. I moved closer, keeping my sword ready but hidden under the cloak.

The signal definitely got stronger again, but there were also voices?

I could distinguish a female and several male ones. Were they yokai or human? The worst-case scenario would be that the council send more of its agents after this one and they had already found them.

I reached the end of the narrow street, and it opened to a large area. I had seen enough pictures of the human world to know that I was looking at a construction side. Humans loved to repeatedly destroy and build up their houses. I know. It doesn’t make any sense to me either.

The energy surge got more distinct.

I scanned the area and noticed a group of…beings standing near a scaffold. If humans found the yokai and mistook him for a pet it wouldn’t be too hard to just grab him and run. I moved forward, the group had their backs to me.

The closer I got the more uncertain I was if these guys were actually human. One seemed really tall and I’m pretty sure humans didn’t come in green. I stopped and for a second didn’t know what to do. One of them finally sensed my presence and looked up. This one was with 100% percent certainty human and the female voice I had heard earlier also belonged to her.

“Hey, who are you?!” the human girl asked in a high-pitched tone.

She completely swung around and I could see the yokai agent cuddled up in her arms.

How dare they look so comfortable. The other three figures also reacted and as they ganged up around the girl, I could confirm that they were definitely not upper-city beings.

They also didn’t look like any type of yokai that I was familiar with. Their skins had varying types of green and their sizes also differed greatly. They wore some basic battle gear and weird headbands – I think they were called bandanas since they had eye holes – in distinct colors. The bulky one with the red bandana stepped protectively in front of the others.

Meanwhile, I still tried to make sense of them and didn’t budge.

Maybe they were kappa? Nah, if so, they would have ponds on top of their heads.

“My friend asked you something. Who are you? Do you belong to this little guy?” The biggest one tried to sound tough but his voice wavered slightly.

I again ignored the question. The more I looked at the three yokai the more...familiar they seemed. They clearly resembled turtles and their anatomy was more human than most yokai.

But that was impossible.

There shouldn’t be someone who was, well, who was like me.

“He is creeping me out guys,” the smallest one with the orange bandana said.

The agent in the human girl’s arms got more restless, just like I sensed his energy structure he could sense mine and he wanted to zap out of here. I had to make my move.

“Give me the yokai and nobody gets hurt.”

To underline my words I pulled the hand that held my sword out of the cloak and pointed it toward the agent.

“What are you going to do with Mayhem?” The human didn’t seem frightened, I had to give her credit for that.

“Nothing that concerns you,” I returned. That obviously hadn’t been the answer she was hoping for.

Then I noticed something else.

“Wait, you named him Mayhem? They aren’t a human pet, you know.”
The agent purred in protest as if they were saying that they agreed with the name and, even more so, the attention.

“Listen, if you defend this yokai you will be enemies to Baron Draxum. You probably heard of him, haven’t you?” I tried to persuade them with one of my most effective tactics: threats. It seemed to have zero effect.

They just looked confused at me.

“Draxum? What is a Draxum?” the one with the red bandana asked.

“You never heard of pops...I mean, the warrior scientist, greatest one there is in the hidden city?” I made a mental note to be more careful with calling Draxum ‘pops’ out in the open…

“Those are a lot of words that don’t make any sense but that part about the scientist is interesting,” the one with the purple bandana said, his voice was calmer than the others and had a slightly arrogant tone. His gear was the only one that was made of metal. I had heard a lot about human technology though staying awake during Draxum’s lectures about the actual details had always been impossible for me. I felt I had to particularly observe this one. He might hide some surprises under his purple shell.

Mayhem (fine I will also call him that) got even more nervous. I decided to make the first move now and charged the group. Maybe it was my disguise, but they hadn’t expected an attack even though they all had some impressive weapons with them.

First, I went against the smallest. His reflexes weren’t bad, he dodged my sword and got out his two nun chucks. I recognized them from seeing something very similar in Draxum’s personal weapons chamber. He sorta had a thing for martial arts, just don’t point that out to him.

“I got this,” the orange one told the others with confidence.

He began to swing his weapons, these could be troublesome. I went into a defensive pose and waited for his attack.
It never came.

The only one he seriously hurt with his nun chuck was himself.

I snorted.

“I never had an enemy who would do the job for me. Thank you, excellent work,” I mocked him. I wanted to continue with some great puns but the red one charged me from the left while ahead the purple one prepared some trick of his own.

I am sure the big and bulky yokai was tough and if he got hold of me could easily crush my bones, but it was also obvious he didn’t know how to use his own strength. He had sais with him that also weren’t the perfect fit for him.

“Woah there,” I called out as I moved out of his way. “Aren’t those sticks for barbecue?”

That made him even more careless, and it was easy to sidestep his next attack as well. Not only that, he couldn’t stop in time and ran into a nearby truck behind me.

“Wow, you guys are really efficient in this self-pummelling thing.”

I had a run now, the jokes and bruises basically created themselves.

What about the purple one?

What appeared to be a simple staff had turned into a giant two-sided hammer. As I expected, this one had some tricks up his sleeves.

“Witness the genius of a true scientist,” he cried and activated the thrusters on both sides of the hammer. They began to spin at an insane speed. He threw this monstrosity at me. I’m not going to lie, if it had reached me, I’m not sure if I could have reacted in time.

Alas, the purple one seemed to have miscalculated the rotation of his own ‘brilliant’ invention. They flew up in the air without coming near me at all. His weapon was quickly out of energy and crashed without any flourish to the ground.

This was too much, I began to laugh hysterically.

“Oh man, that is too much. You guys are hilarious.”

After a few more moments in which I tried to recollect myself, saying “okay, okay” before having another laughing fit. Then it dawned on me that besides the turtles, we were missing some people.

During all this, I lost sight of the human girl and my prior target. I had assumed she wouldn’t dare to move. When I scanned the area, I couldn’t see her anymore.

“Where is…” I began but before I could finish the question something hit my head from the right. This something was made out of metal and very, very tough.

I heard a violent ‘crack’ and I’m glad that it wasn’t my skull. The girl had managed what all the others couldn’t: She had landed a hit on me and with nothing but an iron rod that she must have picked up from the construction site. The agent stood on top of her left shoulder.

I stumbled to the left, pain dominating all my senses. Luckily, she had hit my mask and not my face so only my right cheek was throbbing intensely. I touched my mask. A good part of its right side was gone, and the other part was splintered. If I left it in this state, I risked getting the loose pieces in my eyes and mouth, forcing me to remove what remained of it.

“Very good,” I said and I meant it this time, “using the yokai’s power to sneak up on me was very clever.”

I don’t think she appreciated my words. Her face turned from resolution to shock.

The strange yokai who were still recovering from their attacks looked frozen in their movements. They were just as surprised to see a face so similar to theirs as I had been just a few minutes ago.

I tried my best to appear like this was not a big deal for me. I pulled back the hood of my cloak.

“I know, I know. This must be a total mind-blow for you. Another yokai who looks like me but is way more handsome? Like what are the odds, am I right?”

As they continued to stare at me, mouths open and brains obviously not processing what they saw, I carefully moved a few steps closer until I stood between the human girl and the three turtle yokai.

“But believe me, there is a totally logical explanation for this,” I said, pointed my sword downwards, and created a portal underneath us that drew everyone in before any of them could realize, that I wouldn’t provide any explanation.

Obviously, I didn’t have any myself, but that was about to change soon. I would make sure of it.

Chapter 3: Is This The Answer You Were Looking For?

Notes:

I want to thank everyone who already left kudos or bookmarked this fanfic. They make me incredibly happy and I hope you will continue enjoying this story! - Jazz

My portal spat me out into a dark corridor, while my involuntary travel companions landed at a small distance from me. Between us were prison bars made out of the sturdiest organic material Draxum had ever created. I heard a lot of grunting noises and some decent curses that assured me all of them had semi-safely portalled right to where I wanted them to be.

I reached into the darkness where I assumed a wall and the light switch.

Found it!

With a ‘click’ the area was ablaze in bright artificial light.

“Welcome to our very own prison floor,” I announced. “I hope you will enjoy your stay.”

Of course, I didn’t tell my new inmates that they were the only ones in the whole area. (They would figure this out when they would eventually try to scream for help) We had a newer complex nearby Draxum’s lab and most of the yokai we had kept here had already been used up in his experiments.

That fact that I brought them here was no coincidence, I wanted to have a private chat with them after all. Plus, it gave me time to decide on my next moves without these yokai possibly running away into some back-alley streets never to be heard of again.

“Woah, what was that? Where are we?” the girl asked.

“Was that magic?” the orange one said with a irritating glimmer in his eyes.

“Or some kind of alien technology?” the purple one hypothesized. He had moved his goggles over his eyes, and I assumed he tried to analyze the prison cell.

‘Good luck with that’, I thought.

“Hold on a sec, where is my bo-staff?” he added and looked frantically around.

“Your weapons are safe with me,” I said and pointed at them lying nearby and out of their reach.

“You promised us some explanations,” the red one reminded me while purple dramatically screamed ‘not my precious creation’ behind him.

“Yeah, about that,” I leaned on my sword, I felt exhausted and distracted from all the contradictory and nonsensical thoughts that rushed through my head. I kept them at bay for now though that took some energy out of me. (I also got hit with an iron bar just recently but let’s quickly forget about my less epic moments)

“I don’t really have any,” I shrugged.

“I knew it,” the red one shouted triumphantly in return.

“Though I am serious when I said that I intend to find some. And you are going to help me with that.”
With these words, I sat down and after a moment of hesitation, everyone on the other side of the bars did the same.

We all knew this might take a while.

“Here is how it goes. I’ll ask the questions and you’ll give me answers. Then I’ll decide if I’m in the mood to turn you into test subjects, kill you or set you free.”

“What thrilling options,” purple remarked.

The girl pinched his arm.

“Owww,” he cried reproachfully.

“Would you stop it with the sarcasm for one second,” she scolded him in a sharp tone. Clearly, the human was the most level-headed one of the bunch.

“Ignoring that,” I said and moved on.

“I know that some yokai prefer to spend their time in the human world but where do you originally come from? You must come from a district of the hidden city? Or maybe one of its branches in another country?” I asked and couldn’t completely suppress a pleading tone.

“Again, no idea, what you’re talking about,” the red one said.

“We’re New York natives, a’ight?” the orange one offered, though it was difficult to discern with all the strange words he used.

“We know no other place than the beautiful concrete jungle,” the purple one paraphrased, that was just as useful of a phrase to me as the previous one.

“But isn’t it dangerous for yokai to just wander about in one of the largest cities of the upper world?”
I thought of how overwhelmed I had felt last evening.

“Well, most of the time we live in the sewers,” the red one explained.

Immediately the other three glowered at him and screamed ‘Damn it, Raph!’ in almost perfect unison. So, the big one was called Raph, that is at least some kind of new information.

“You can’t just tell the evil twin where we live?!” purple one said and pointed at me several times.

“But I didn’t tell him where exactly our home is,” Raph tried to defend himself.

“Woah,” I cut in, “evil twin? We are nothing alike,” I protested.

They didn’t hear me. They were still focused on arguing with each other.

“How about you draw a map for every freak of nature we meet so they can follow us right into our lair?!“ purple continued.

“I get it, Donnie,” Raph returned, “I shouldn’t have said that, you don’t always have to rub it in like that.”

“Great, now I already have two of your names,” I said nonchalantly, and that finally got their attention back. I enjoyed the expression on their faces, the realization that while they had tried to prevent one piece of information to leak, they had just given some more to me for free.

I pointed at the orange one, who seemed strangely calm and airheaded even as he sat on the floor of a damp prison.

“And you are?”

“I’m Mikey,” he replied without hesitation, “I like the red tattoos around your eyes.”

While the others now turned to the smallest, shouting ‘Damn it, Mikey’ in harmony (each time they got better at screaming in unison), I had the urge to laugh again. I sometimes enjoyed laughing at the demise of an enemy, especially when I had developed a personalized method for their torture. This was different. It came from somewhere inside me that, until now, I didn’t even know existed.

“Those are no tattoos,” I corrected, “it’s just how my species looks.”

“But,” I took my sword and pointed it into the prison, making sure they understood that I could easily hurt them even with the bars between us, “let’s try this again. I ask, you answer, understood?”

“Hey, where is Mayhem?” the girl asked before I could say another word. My amusement faltered, soon I would seriously have no patience left.

I sighed, created a small portal, and pulled out a head-sized ball that contained the yokai agent.
“This is a special containment so they can’t zap away,” I explained and hoped the human would be satisfied. On the contrary...

“Let the poor thing free,” the girl screamed, and I was impressed by her authoritative voice. She must be used to ordering the three yokai around and with all the chaos they constantly created that certainly was no easy task.

“Can’t do,” I said and pointed at the vial around his neck, “he has something that belongs to us, I told you that already.”

The girl shot me glances filled with pure hatred. I figured I had to continue my interrogation under her silent ‘attacks’.

“Anyway,” I dropped the ball carelessly, “what do you mean, you live in the sewers? Is this some special hideout for yokai?”

“Why do you keep calling us yokai?” Raph asked but could read in my expression that it wouldn’t be wise to simply counter a question with another question.

“The sewers are where our home is and we always believed we were the only ones who were like us, well, except for pops.”

“You have a dad?” Now, this was interesting.

“He is a rat, and he likes infomercials.” Donnie said with a tone that added ‘I know how ridiculous this sounds’.

This information was difficult to process. I had hoped that they had been part of a yokai community, maybe not native to this part, but just some weird travelers who by coincidence were similar to me.

That was surely the case. A simple coincidence. Hilarious even.

Who am I kidding, this wasn’t all that likely. Okay, let’s be honest, it didn’t make any kind of sense…

“This is hard to believe,” I said and for once nobody protested. I didn’t even consider that they might lie to me. Except for the purple one, they seemed too honest for that.

“You never even heard of yokai before?” I made sure, “You live in these...sewers, in the human world and you have been never somewhere else?”

“Well,” Raph seemed to think about what he could add to that but soon gave up, “yeah,” he simply said.

The thoughts I had tried to keep at a distance by hoping for another kind of solution now came rushing in.

Anomalies, it spouted out.

No yokai of any traditional kind.

Existing completely isolated from any kind of community.

Exceptions.

Strangely similar to human anatomy.

Unclear origin.

Artificial.

Upper world turtle species.

Experimentation.

Beta-Experiments.

Years ago I was…

“Hey, what’s up with you?” Raph asked.

I looked up. I hadn’t noticed that I had gotten lost in my thoughts and my past.

I shivered and it wasn’t because this area had always been cold and damp on purpose. I was glad I still wore my coat, otherwise, the others would have noticed it as well.

“I…” I couldn’t keep my cool, couldn’t explain.

I was upset and strangely numb.

My gaze met theirs and something of myself gazed back at me.

I felt exposed, and I hated that feeling more than anything in this realm or in any other.

“You shouldn’t exist,” I said in a hollow voice. To whom? I don’t really know either.

“I need some food,” I decided and stood up. These were surely not the words they or I had expected. It was just the first thing that came to my mind that could get me out of here.

“Stay put,” I said to them with the full awareness that they had no other choice anyway. I picked up the agent in his containment.

“Hey, as a New Yorker I know my rights, you will be sorry,” the girl shouted.

“Can you at least bring us some take-outs as well?” Mikey added but I was already one step in my portal and my mind had rushed forward to some different places and different times.

Chapter 4: Always Take Some Advice From Your Local Rabbit

Ah yes, the good old bustling streets of the hidden city.

After experiencing the upper world for the first time, I gained a new appreciation for my home turf. The flickering lights, excited and hushed voices where all kinds of trade happened or some stories were shared, and the smells from the open kitchens mingled into a familiar hodgepodge of smells, sounds, and colors.

I automatically made my way toward a very special stall. Stools were placed along a slim counter that directly opened to the street and steam that rose from giant pots covered most of the kitchen behind the counter. There was only one other guest and I sat down on a stool at some moderate distance from them.

At this moment, the chef of the kitchen just returned from his storage with a whole basket of fresh ingredients. He was a rabbit yokai but don’t let the pink nose and the beautiful white fur foul you. Underneath it, you will find him cluttered with scars. He was especially proud of the one that drew a cut on the right side of his mouth, which turned every smile of his into a vicious grin. (Don’t ask him about it though, he will either mince you on the spot or will tell you stories about it for hours...both options I wouldn’t recommend)

He was one of the sturdiest yokai I knew, one of the best fighters as well. He just happened to slice and dice some vegetables when he wasn’t doing that with his enemies.

Perceptive as ever, he immediately took notice of me. The rabbit set down his ingredients and leaned over the counter.

“If this isn’t a familiar ragged face, how are you, Leo?” he asked in a calm yet casual tone.

“Rough night, Usagi,” I said and that surely wasn’t even half of the story.

“I see,” he nodded. We had been sparring partners for years now, probably ever since he and I still had been little, so we understood each other without having to exchange many words.

Come to think of it, everything I knew about wielding a blade I knew from him. (You didn’t expect that only Draxum had trained me, didn’t you? The scientist knew many things, but the way of the sword wasn’t one of them.)

“So you are here to eat then? The usual?” he asked and already got a bowl.

My stomach felt shrivelled up. I couldn’t imagine getting anything edible into it.

“Not today,” I returned.

Usagi observed me with his eyes that were as sharp as his weapons (and cooking knives).
“You seem out of balance,” he said and began rummaging behind the counter. Shortly after he set down a ceramic cup in front of me.

“What is that? You want to try out a new poison on me?” I asked half-jokingly.

“If I would want to do that, I would mix it in your soup. It’s much easier,” Usagi said dead serious. “This is herbal tea, it will calm you down,” he explained.

“Why not just get out the good stuff? Some sake maybe?”

Usagi shook his head in slight disappointment.

“You are still no adult, at least,” a playful spark appeared in his eyes, “you don’t seem to act that way, yet.”

“Yes yes, rub it in,” I said while sipping on the tea. (The taste wasn’t strong but the warmth flowed down my throat and my stomach didn’t feel as tense as before.)

The truth was, Usagi and I had met when we were around the same age, but as we grew up it became more and more apparent that we aged differently. Recently, Usagi seemed maybe four years older than me. It was around that time when I had learned that Usagi is what you could call an ‘authentic’ yokai, while I was ‘artificial’.

A fake.

“I told you that my origin is different from the rest,” I said after remaining silent for some time. Usagi meanwhile had begun to chop up some ingredients in preparations for his famous soup.

“Yes,” he said without taking his eyes from his vegetables, “I told you that it doesn’t matter.”

“I know,” I looked at the masses of yokai walking by the restaurant, “I thought so, too.”

“But now,” As I hesitated to continue my sentence, I saw their faces before my eyes, the strange similarities despite them belonging to different species.

“I think Draxum hasn’t told me the whole truth.”

Usagi stopped his work and looked up, he probably traced something in my voice that was unusual for me.

“What makes you think that?”

“It could be possible that before his last lab exploded, Draxum succeeded in creating more yokai,” I said in a lowered voice. You could never be sure who was around.

“More yokai? Like you?” he whispered back.

I nodded.

Usagi’s face was unreadable. He leaned back and returned to his work.

I drank the tea, weighing my options to go back to the prison cell and try another round of interrogation. Or maybe I could use the yokai agent, whom I had put into a safe space with my portals.

I had lost my sense of time and finished my second refill of tea when Usagi suddenly turned to me again.

“Isn’t that a good thing then?” he asked, and the question surprised me. My brain had been tracing off for a while and at first, I couldn’t grasp the meaning of his words.

“If they have the same origin, then they are like you,” he added when seeing my puzzled expression, “then that’s a good thing.”

“They’re nothing like me,” I snorted. “One is bulky and doesn’t know what to do with his own strength, the other seems like a scientist with too big of an ego and the third is an air-head who doesn’t stop to think for even a sec and...What is it?”

I knew the look on his face all too well. He always had the slightest of an amused smile whenever I would make a stupid mistake during practice.

“I have never seen you talking about another yokai with such an interest,” Usagi said and his teasing tone really annoyed me.

“Seems to me like you understand them very well already, there must be a connection, after all. It’s a fortunate encounter indeed,” he mused.

“That’s a huge load of goblin poop,” I said and finished the rest of the tea in one gulp. I would never tell Usagi that, but I took his words seriously. Even though, in this case, it was difficult to do so.

A fortunate event?

Knowing that your creator had lied to you for your whole life?

I’m pretty sure Draxum didn’t just forget to mention that there had been four instead of one turtles that he had used in his mutation experiments like ‘Uuups, you’re right, I didn’t count them properly, you can easily mix up these numbers, huh. One or four, it doesn’t make a difference anyway, hahaha’.

As if.

“You know I’m right, just like always,” Usagi said and shrugged, “so listen closely when I give you this advice.” He pointed a spoon that he had just cleaned at me, it had the same effect as if he had used one of his swords.

“Stop following this mad scientist blindly. You need to think for yourself, see everything for yourself, and judge things by yourself.”

Then he pointed the spoon at my sword that I had casually leaned on the counter beside me. “This is a powerful sword, with it, you could go anywhere you want and yet it seems to me you can go nowhere.”

I thought I was used to Usagi’s honesty, but those words hit a different string than usual. It was as if he had taken away my shell and had turned my entrails inside out.

I needed to touch my plastron to make sure it was still there, still keeping me together.

“You sure you don’t want to change your shop from kitchen to fortune telling?” I managed to reply as a joke.

Usagi didn’t say anything in return, he polished some bowls as if he polished some weapons. I fixed my eyes on his movements and my mind got lost in the past.

I saw myself proudly presenting my first captive to Draxum. It had been a type of raccoon yokai known for their clever ways to fool an unlearned eye. He had been impressed and had presented me with a long blue shawl that I had worn ever since. I thought about my frequent training practices against some of Draxum’s other goons at the time when I had just started to be able to lift up a sword. I also thought about distant fragments of memories. They had always involved a trench and needles and hours of pain creeping through my whole body. Draxum’s ‘check-ups’, to ensure that my mutation had been stable.

Then, all of the other emotions like confusion, anxiety, and uneasiness – take your pick –  made way for a strong surge of pure and polished anger.

How much of what Draxum had told me over the years had been lies?

The answers to this question were seemingly infinite.

“That’s a good look on you,” Usagi said even though he was standing with his back to me, “you can pay for the tea next time you come around,” he said and waved.

“Thanks,” I returned, grabbed my sword, and made my way to Draxum’s lab.

Chapter 5: If I Say Run, You Say

I found Draxum in his lab. This was not surprising since he spent every waking hour tinkering on his projects. Seriously, this guy was the definition of a workaholic, I don’t think he even knows what the word ‘holiday’ means. (And I only know because Huginn and Muninn taught me about it when we were sure he wasn’t listening)

“We need to talk,” I said. I had no patience for greetings.

“Oh, you are back already?” he returned in a disinterested tone.

“Did you…”

Before he could finish the question I made a small portal, retrieved the mystic sphere that contained a desperate-looking yokai, and tossed it to him.

“Excellent,” Draxum caught Mayhem and studied him. I’m pretty sure he wondered if he would better use the yokai for tests or for bribing the council.

Usually, such a comment from him would have filled me with pride. I had been useful to him, I had proven my worth as his exceptional experiment.

I had been basically measuring the success of my work based on the quality of his approval.

What had I been thinking?

“As I already said,” I started anew and allowed some of my anger to be audible in my tone and visible on my face, “we need to talk.”

Draxum continued ignoring me, he simply waved dismissively in my direction.

“Not now, I need to concentrate on my latest mutation project. They are almost ready to be released in the human world.” During his last words, his voice had raised in excitement.

I wanted to scream, seize, and force him to confront me. I probably would have done exactly that if Huginn and Muninn didn’t show up just this moment.

“Hey Boss! We have a problem,” they said and hurriedly flew past me.

“Oh, hey Le-Man,” Muninn said to me before joining his companion. Both of them seemed out of breath and on their edge. To be fair, if you work for Draxum that was a pretty common state of life: always behind schedule, always in fear of the severe consequences.

“What is it? Can’t you all see I’m busy,” he returned and each word expressed more distinctively his wavering temper.

“Yes, yes, of course, but I think you need to hear this,” Huginn assured in an apologetic voice and since Draxum said nothing to that he hectically began to explain.

“We don’t know who exactly they are, but we think a group of yokai must have broken into the lair. We noticed some of the doors are wide open and in disorder as if someone had been searching them for something. The vault to the weapon’s chamber is also wide open and some items are missing.”
“What?!” I shouted.

My surprise was authentic even though for everyone else it must have looked as if I was shocked by the fact that someone supposedly ‘broke into’ the lair. That, of course, wasn’t true. I knew that these ‘intruders’ had been inside our research complex for some time, all because of me.

But how did they manage to escape? And why were these idiots searching the place instead of escaping it as fast as possible?

“Were you able to trace them down?” I asked and it didn’t matter if my tone was harsh. They must have thought I was angry at them since they hugged each other and Muninn answered in a pleading tone.

“No, we have no idea where they are. Based on what they stole we just assume they must be more than one being. Please don’t portal us to the boiling isles again!”

Draxum sighed in disapproval and walked to one of his experiments. It was a giant stone golem that he had crafted after reading some human literature that, he claimed, had inspired him to create life with stone and clay. I couldn’t make out what he was exactly doing but the next moment the statue came to life with a thunderous rumble. I was mildly curious what kind of literature had imagined that monstrosity, human imagination can be pretty wild I guess.

“For some extra protection,” he explained, “I can’t afford to lose my experiments when I’m this close to completion, not again.”

“About that,” I tried to force him into a talk even in the middle of the emerging chaos around us.

“We will look around some more,” the two gargoyles offered. I guessed they just wanted to avoid one of Draxum’s tantrums and got nervous by the golem’s presence, who was ready to smash anything that came too close to him.

“We need to find these intruders immediately,” Draxum barked.

I was THIS close to begin shouting as well, though due to a very different reason when a door on the upper floor burst open, and three turtles plus a human girl stumbled right into the heart of the lab.

I can never properly explain to you what I felt for the following heartbeats. Confusion was certainly very dominating, yet there was also still a strong flame that was fuelled by my rising anger, maybe there was also curiosity. What I didn’t expect was this intense surge of jealousy. It seemed like time was moving slower as I was looking back and forth between the yokai and Draxum, both just for the timespan of a gasp unsure of what they were actually beholding.

While the group was more shocked than anything else, I saw in Draxum’s eyes this glitter of scientific interest, of pure admiration. He had never regarded me with such an expression.

“Who…?” he started, but was interrupted by Donnie who was the first to notice me and very subtly pointed at me while screaming “You!”

Beside me, Draxum mumbled: “It worked, after all, they are magnificent.”

I pointed back at Donnie and looked at my creator defiantly, though he was to my escalating frustration transfixed on the ‘intruders’, who stood some length away from us.

“Explain,” I demanded, “you know them?”

“I didn’t expect them to survive,” Draxum said and that was no answer. Why didn’t anybody seem to understand that when I ask a question, I want an answer to my question and not some random nonsense? I really needed to polish my interrogation skills…

“We came for our friend,” Raph declared and waved with a weapon each in both hands. Those weren’t the sais he had used before.

“Wait, are those our mystic weapons?” I asked in disbelief. For once, the gargoyles had been right, they must have found the weapon’s chamber by accident, and naturally, they had taken the weapons that had glowed. (I can’t blame them, I mean, who wouldn’t have done the same?) Even the human girl had found a club that had been infused with a highly unstable substance.

The girl raised the club against me as if she was asking ‘Want to get hit on the head again?’.
“Where is Mayhem?” she asked out loud and right after she had said those words she saw the yokai on the table behind Draxum.

“It must be fate that brought you back to me,” he said. The yokai scientist didn’t care about the group’s battle-ready stances. Suddenly, he looked at me and I could read nothing in his face than mild annoyance and a silent threat. Now, this was the same face that had looked at me ever since I can remember. I felt small and there was no room for defiance.

“Capture them, but keep them alive. Those are your fellow test subjects after all,” he commanded.

“We don’t know what is going on here, but our friends always come first,” Mikey declared and playfully swung around the kusari-fundo. This mystic weapon was even more difficult to master than nun-chucks (even if you ignore the fire yokai that possessed it) but he seemed to have a natural talent for it.

I threw away my cloak (it would only hinder me now) and got ready for battle, though I wasn’t sure whom I should attack. Why should I listen to him anymore? But what should I do instead? What would it mean to NOT do what Draxum said?

I was frozen in my stance and just looked ahead as April charged forward with a battle cry.
“Aaaaapril O’Neiiiiil,” she shouted and I thought, ‘well, at least I finally know her name now, too’. She didn’t get far as Huginn and Muninn attacked from above and took her with them. She bravely thrashed around while shouting ‘Let me down’, followed by various insults.

The others observed the whole spectacle worriedly.

“I think we can leave this to April,” Raph said though it sounded more like a question than a statement and the three started running in our direction with their weapons up and ready.

“What are you doing? Capture them already,” Draxum repeated as he realized that I had lowered my sword.

Next, I did something I had never even considered before. I asked: “Why should I do that?”

My question visibly shocked him. Finally, I got him to meet my eyes and he must have seen something in them that hadn’t been there when he had told me to go and look for the yokai agent. His lips strained in disgust, he clenched his hands into fists. Then Draxum turned away from me and ordered his golem to attack instead.

The giant construction charged and the floor vibrated. Raph and Donnie had to quickly jump out of the way to avoid getting stomped. Mikey had been quick enough to get past him before the golem had noticed him. He was directly coming at us, and the orange sphere rotated at high speed. The next moment it came to life, which didn’t shock me. Mikey, on the other hand, lost his momentum while screaming “My weapon is on fire?!” The sphere should have stopped on the spot, instead, it whizzed forward like a cannonball that had been shot from an invisible weapon. Now it was Mikey who was hurled around by the sphere, and he hold on to the chains for his dear life.

Despite the fact that my trained eyes had been able to observe all this as it had unfolded in this short instance, I had still been too stiff and unprepared to get out of his way as the ball flew towards me and hit me right in my stomach. You believe that was the worst of it? Not by a long shot. The weapon was cackling, I assumed it was happy to be finally used in a battle, and it went completely crazy. Somehow the chains wrapped themselves around my waist and the sphere continued to fly around the lab with me and Mikey as its unwilling passengers. We zigzagged through the air, past the golem who had a hard time hitting its tiny targets as well as April who had managed to wrestle down Muninn and was now aiming at Huginn as he tried to keep them both afloat.

“Look out,” Mikey tried to warn us as we were in direct collusion with the wall. Too late. The kusari-fundo and most importantly, we along with the weapon, crashed into solid, unforgiving stone and metal. For a while, I was only able to hear a terrible ringing in my ears and to see black dots before my eyes, the pain pulsated up my back and to my head. I could still hear the mischievous laughs of the fire yokai somewhere in the distance. I swore to myself, that after this whole situation would be over, I would take that thing and portal it into the deepest trash pit of the hidden city.

When my eyesight gradually returned, I could at least make out Mikey nearby who was holding his head and looking disoriented. I wasn’t sure if his brain had taken any permanent damage from the hit but I felt lucky enough to try asking him some pressing questions anyway.

“How did you escape?” was the first one that came to my mind.

Still rubbing his forehead, he waved in the direction of the stone golem whose attacks shook the whole lair.

“Donnie installed some kind of remote control in his staff and you left it near the cell, so he could pilot it right to us,” he told me, his voice slightly high-pitched from the pain. I was trying to locate Donnie in the other corner of the giant lab. I had failed to notice it before but contrary to the other two, he hadn’t taken a mystic weapon from our collection. He had still his own staff, though after witnessing its potential, I could guess why he would prefer it. Donnie had changed the staff’s form again. At this moment, it was a hammer that could release an impact strong enough to break one of the golem’s legs. Draxum meanwhile had summoned some of his vines that he was able to control with small hand gestures. Raph fought against them with his brute strength, ripping them out of the ground like he was a gardener with anger issues, but they regrew too fast.

“Hey, what is this strange yoyo? It’s awesome,” Mikey said excitedly and pointed at the kusari-fundo in his right hand. He must have picked it up again, but the sphere was silent now. (Maybe even the weapon was dizzy from that crash)

“It’s trash,” I said and the sphere began to flicker dimly as if it had been offended by my words.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll keep it,” Mikey said and observed the glowing ball.

I intended to stand up when his words stopped me in my movement.

“Wait a sec,” he said and looked me up and down. “I couldn’t see your shell before.”

“So what,” I returned, unsure what to make of my opponent’s comment.

I sat back down. I mean, it wasn’t like a huge fight was going on around us. I observed in the corner of my eyes, that April had managed to pummel Huginn as well as Muninn into submission and was now biting one of the roots that pushed Raph back. It had also become apparent that the golem’s sluggish movements would be its eventual downfall. Big chunks of its arms and legs were already missing, the rest would crumble down soon.

“Shouldn’t you help them?” I asked Mikey but he was currently searching through the pouch that he wore around his shell.

“Nah, I’m sure they have it under control,” he said. I was pretty sure nothing was under control, but I didn’t say that to him. He stopped rummaging and asked:

“Why is your shell so battered?”

My right hand instinctively moved up my shell to the gap on the left upper side, then it felt over the many deep scratches that covered everything else.

“Raph has a gap in his shell as well but it doesn’t look THAT nasty,” Mikey explained.

“Gee, thanks,” I returned, “it’s a good thing a look hideous, I guess?”

This whole conversation felt unreal and yet, it was like it had single-handedly managed to remove a splinter that had stuck in my mind and that had kept pressuring me to focus on Draxum.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just...I have a deeper scratch too, here.” Mikey pointed at his shell where some kind of tape covered it. He was unexpectedly observant since he saw instantly in my expression that I had no idea what he meant.

“My bros put a band-aid on it and said that it would heal it. Humans use such things to treat their wounds, you know.”

“I don’t get it,” I admitted.

“Let me show you,” he said and took out a strip that looked like the one on his shell from his pouch.

Before I could process his movements. he came near me and pressed the weird tape over one of the deepest scratches on my shell. I looked down at myself, the tape looked awkwardly out of place. Maybe this is all a trick and it will explode any moment?

“I have no idea what you just did,” I said blatantly.

“The band-aid will help, Mikey-guarantee,” he said as if everything has been explained now.

A deafening sound got both of our attention.

The stone golem had collapsed under Donnie’s repeated attacks. Raph and April were not so lucky. Even though Raph had also learned that his tonfas had some mystical juice in them, he could barely draw out their potential. Draxum had almost cornered them. Before I could think things through (which in retrospect, I should have), I got up and ran towards the desk in the middle of the room. Nobody paid me or Mikey, who was closely following me, any attention.

I took Mayhem, who was still imprisoned in his bubble and cut through the cage with my sword. It disappeared in a flash and the agent immediately zapped away from me and reappeared on top of Mikey’s head.

“Take the agent,” I said, “he will be able to portal you back to New York.”

“You are helping us?” Mikey’s voice and eyes were so cheerful, that I questioned my own sanity.

Why was I doing this exactly?

‘I have no idea,’ my mind answered, and I thought ‘definitely a sign that I’m going crazy.’

A boulder landed nearby, another one almost crashed into the desk before us. The golem was falling apart all over the place.

“Quick, take the others and get…” I said to Mayhem, but they were gone before I could finish my sentence. “You ungrateful…” I cursed under my breath and watched as the agent portaled himself and Mikey near to the others. Especially April seemed for a moment truly glad and hugged the yokai dearly.

I ran to Draxum’s side before he could look around and process what had happened.

“The small one had escaped with the agent when I wasn’t looking,” I said and made my best effort to appear determined to continue my fight against them.

“Boss, I think the golem is destroying your other experiments,” Huginn and Muninn shouted from behind and we turned in time to see another stone crashing into the giant glass veil that had contained all the prepared organic injectors with the mutation formula.

Did you think that up to this point every of Draxum’s experiments had been successful?

That was far from the truth.

The gargoyles and I could smell an explosion long before it would happen. It was a necessary skill in order to survive all the times that something destabilized in his lab and he wouldn’t care if you could get behind a cover in time. So, when I say something looked ripe to burst into flames and shreds any moment, you should run.

Draxum should have known that as well, but he didn’t move. He was just standing there in disbelief, repeating the words ‘not again’ several times.

“We need to go,” I said and searched the room for the yokai and the girl. Mayhem had zapped them out of here. I couldn’t say for sure if I was disappointed or glad.

Draxum still showed no intention to leave his project behind.

I was tempted to simply jump into a portal and leave him there. After today, it seemed the right thing to do. As the control panel for the central glass container exploded in several violent bursts, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I thrust my sword into the ground and a portal opened that transported me along with Draxum und Huginn and Muninn, who flew to his shoulders just in time, to a nearby hill at a safe distance to the lair.

The ear bursting bangs and the scorching heat disappeared in a heartbeat.

“Oh man, that was close,” Huginn said in relief.

“Too close,” Muninn agreed.

This was Draxum’s cue to fully process what had happened and to determine that it all had been my fault.

“I didn’t order you to portal us out,” he snapped at me.

I shrugged, I couldn’t care less about his so-called ‘scientific loss’.

“You would have rather died in there?” I asked and nodded into the distance where the tall construction was engulfed in flames and slowly crashing down.

“I will gladly portal you back if you want,” I offered coldly.

“Your sarcasm is uncalled for,” he returned and added, “and if you would have fought them like I said you should, this wouldn’t have happened.”

I shrugged again. Exhaustion crept into my body. It was only now that I noticed how long I had been awake. It must be over two days now and without a proper meal as well.

Draxum stared at the ruins, you could see a green cloud escaping from inside. Where those…

“Ah, at least they survived,” Draxum said in a calmer tone as the cloud of countless wings rose higher and higher until they disappeared. I was sure this would turn into a problem later, but for now it didn’t concern me.

“We need to rebuild all of it again,” the mad scientist declared. “We cannot stop until we complete my goal.”

The gargoyles sighed but didn’t protest, this wasn’t a new scenario for them.

He turned to me, same old expression, same old commanding tone.

“You will portal us to our other hideout and then you will explain to me why you disobeyed my orders.”

Instead of worrying over Draxum’s possible punishments, I wondered if it was too late to try a human world taco or maybe even pizza.

“No,” I said, and it felt good. I was reminded of the warmth of Usagi’s tea. This word had a similar, soothing effect. “No,” I repeated, one of my hands clenched my sword while the other touched the band-aid that stuck awkwardly on my shell.

I had enough of the hidden city, of Draxum, of all these conflicting voices in my head that simultaneously looked back- and forward. I just had enough of everything, and I was tired.

Without looking back at my burning home and my enraged father, I disappeared in a blue flash.

Chapter 6: Drinks for Free Privileges

Welcome to the thrills and wonders of the Battle Nexus!

One of the most popular forms of entertainment known to yokai kind, at least, as long as you remain on the side of the ring that is relatively safe. Beyond a dozen mystical boundaries lies a dusty and relentless stage where legends are made, and death might just be a quick cry for help away. Yokai who turn from spectator to spectacle often belong to particular types of creatures; they are either desperate for fame or wealth, extraordinarily stupid, or otherwise got tricked into it. Most yokai are not aware that, in fact, only just a handful enter the stage of their own accord.

This was the card that I played out against Big Mama when I appeared at her doorstep and asked to participate in the Battle Nexus in exchange for some high-class lodgings. Sure enough, she provided me with a room, but it was more of a storage room with a mattress on the ground. I swear something else lived in there, even though I never actually saw it, I’m sure I heard it crawl around on the ceiling in the night.

I could not complain, or she would have noticed that I had been getting desperate. Never tell this to anyone, but after leaving Draxum I soon realized that I had no idea where I should be going. Most yokai I had known all my life were close associates of Draxum and I couldn’t bring myself to ask Usagi for help. I would rather eat my scarf than come crawling back to the rabbit after making such a cool exit.

The human world, I soon also had to admit, was a smelly, loud, and nonsensical mess of a place. I spare you my first New York food adventures or how I spent the nights wandering around until I nodded off in some side streets. All you need to know is that one night, I found myself looking up the concrete walls to see a bright neon sign nearby that read “Grand Hotel Nexus”. I remembered how Draxum always complained about Big Mama, whose influence was even more far-reaching than the stone-head council would like to admit. If you needed a dirty job done right, you would ask Big Mama and her prices were not only high, they always came with the fine print that nobody cared to read and would come back to haunt you, literally.

Draxum would expect that even I wouldn’t be stupid enough to go to her for help, which is why I did exactly that.

The spider lady didn’t trust me one bit, she knew I wasn’t honest with her. In turn, I knew that she knew, and she knew that I knew that she knew. But I was also aware that she struggled to make sense of me: A former henchman and experiment from Draxum who suddenly decided that he would align himself with one of his greatest enemies?

Yeah, I wouldn’t believe that either.

Either way, we all went along quite well as long as we didn’t trust each other and I won my battles in the Nexus.

The cheering of the crowd long echoed in my head when leaving that place. The excitement was running through me like an electric shock. In the back of my head, a voice tried to remind me to not get too comfortable, these yokai would cheer at a rubber duck as long as it would not be incinerated in the first second.

Some time passed, and my hotel room got more comfortable (my weird invisible roommate stayed with me, though).

Drinks for free privileges were graciously given.

Life was good.

Then, the rumors started.

Yokai were sighted in the city, they came out of nowhere, acted outside the ancient code and even humans were occasionally aware of their existence. Sometimes I heard Draxum’s name drop in a hushed conversation. It was widely known that he liked to create artificial yokai in his spare time or any time really, so some yokai were smart enough to see the connection there. I imagined that he would not exactly be thrilled if he heard of the news that the results of his experiments ran wild in the upper world.

There were other rumors as well, of three kappas who tried to contain the damage done by the other new yokai. It was obvious that those were red, purple, and orange. So, they had managed to escape from the lab and were now tracking down Draxum’s experiments.

This was all the info I could gather from hanging around lobbies and hotel bars. Then, after a night of successful battles, I was sitting in the lounge room and wondered what exactly the color-coded idiots were up to. Why are they making the other yokai into their problem? They couldn’t reverse the mutation, could they? Then again, as long as I stayed here, I would never see them again. It was better to stay away from this whole mess in the first place.

I guess these thoughts jinxed it all because when I was musing about all these things and absent-mindedly glanced at the elevator to observe who was coming up, it was none other than red, purple, and orange. And not only that, but they were with Big Mama herself.

My drink suddenly burned in my throat, and I tried to suppress a cough. I jumped behind the counter and ignored the protests of the octopus barkeeper.

What were they doing here?

Did they know I was hiding at the hotel?

I glanced over the counter, Big Mama apparently gave them the grand tour. She gestured to the big screens broadcasting the Battle Nexus and the three yokai looked around impressed and a bit hesitant.

It was obvious they took all of this in for the first time.

Since this wasn’t the first time I had observed similar scenes, it quickly dawned on me what was happening here: Big Mama was spinning them into one of her traps and they didn’t even notice.

“Sir,” said the barkeeper, “Sir, I must really ask you to move away from the counter.”

I mean, why should I care?

It doesn’t affect my deal with her and if she asks if I know them I could still play dumb.

“Sir, you are blocking the ice machine, could you please move,” pressed the barkeeper again, though I was still not listening.

The most sensible thing to do would be to ignore them.

Out of sight, out of the mind, or something like that.

It would be stupid to get involved.

I got involved.

Big Mama was showing the turtle yokai to the elevator that went straight up to her personal office. That could only mean trouble. I mean, I could at least follow them to figure out what Big Mama was planning to do with them. Maybe I could use this against her, just in case.

I waited until they had disappeared behind the shut doors of the elevator and went into the next one making sure I was alone with the page yokai.

I let him move to different floors until I felt it was time to move to the upper floor and also right before the employee with me lost all of his patience.

Passing floor 42 I knocked the yokai page unconscious and dragged him into one corner so he and I wouldn’t be visible from the outside.

The mechanical bells chimed, the doors opened, and I could see glimpses of Big Mama’s half-lit office.

“Ah, just in time,” a voice as overly sweet as one of those gummi bears coated in sugar said, “and remember our deal, turtly dearies.”

“You can count on us, ma’am,” boomed another voice that was near the elevator.

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all had their backs to me when they entered the elevator and waved in good spirits back at Big Mama. When I pressed the button to close the door, time slowed down for a second in which we recognized each other, and expressions of confusion wrestled with those of disbelief and anger. Raph jumped for the door, but the elevator was already in motion and I blocked the panel. Donnie grabbed Mikey. He pulled the smallest one behind him and several metallic arms sprung from his shell. Mikey was the only one who didn’t seem ready to beat the crap out of me even if we were in a space where none of us could move around really.

“Oh, come on,” I said and leaned back on the expensively decorated wall, “you are not happy to see me?”

“YOUUUU,” screamed Donnie and pointed with all of his robot arms at me as if he could make me disappear through this mere act, “do you know through how much trouble we went through after we escaped from this freak show of a place?”

“People got mutated all over New York City all because of your stupid ooze-quitos,” Raph added in a calmer voice than purple but his anger was still very much tangible.

“Ooze-quitos?” I needed a second to make sense of the word. “Oh, you mean the experiments that escaped? Yeah, that didn’t go exaaactly according to plan. But it’s not my fault you decided to wreck the lab.”

I pushed another button on the panel to make sure that it didn’t suddenly stop on the next floor.

“Our fault?!” Raph took out the mystic tonfa and hold them up in a ready-to-strike pose, “you are the one who abducted us in the first place.”

As an answer to their threatening stances, I pulled out a small hidden knife from my left glove.

You thought the mystic blade is the only weapon I have? Actually, if you are my enemy, it would be beneficial if you believed that.

“I have no business fighting you here,” I said, and the sharp blade added a silent ‘but if you insist on it, I would be ready’.

“What did Big Mama tell you? Did you make a deal with her?” I asked and their faces immediately gave me an answer.

“No matter what she offers you in return, you shouldn’t do what she asks of you. Big Mama almost never upholds her end of a bargain.”

“Yeah right,” Donnie said and rolled his eyes, “as if the evil twin is more trustworthy than the giant spider lady.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” I returned. I was starting to get a real headache. I forgot how much their presences irritated me.

“Donnie is right, you kidnapped us, put us in prison and you clearly belong to that evil sheep-dude from the lab. Why should we trust you?” Raph added.

Pure rage flowed over my back like ice-cold water. I hold the knife up, ready to attack and I could see in their eyes how they expected that I would target one of them. I swung the weapon in a curve and rammed it deep into the elevator wall to my left side.

“I don’t BELONG to him,” Each word was like a hiss that escaped through my gritted teeth.

For a second only the silent rumblings of the elevator filled the room, then the jingle played, which seemed to echo much louder than usual, and the doors opened to the ground floor.

For another second no one dared to move.

“We...we have our mission and we need to fix the mess YOU helped creating. So, if you have no intention of actually helping us, you should stay out of our way.”

Raph’s tone was serious and steady and for the first time it dawned to me that he was definitely the oldest of the bunch.

“Come on guys,” he said, and everyone followed him out of the elevator. Before the doors closed again, I could see Mikey briefly gazing back at me. I let go of the knife, which was probably going to be stuck in the much ornated wall for a while.

The elevator began to move up and I dialled the floor where I currently lodged.

I heard the page yokai moaning in pain behind me as he regained consciousness but my mind was still fixed on orange’s expression just now.

I recognised it from the arena, some yokai would wear the same expression when their favorite candidate lost to me.

He had looked betrayed and disappointed.

Chapter 7: Life-Saving Hair Products

Cheers and confetti, blood and sweat, drinks, and tears. All these things and more you could find in the Battle Nexus. At first, it’s intoxicating but after a while, it becomes just another familiar scenery.

I was standing at one of the podiums, resting after a fight whose outcome had been decided too close to my liking. While sipping on my usual drink, I leaned on the railing and looked down at the ring. Two bulkheads I didn’t know were trying to throw each other around. Not exactly the most exciting match. My mind drifted off to my encounter with purple, red, and orange some weeks ago. I didn’t hear many rumors about them since then.

Maybe they listened to me after all?

I felt strangely relieved at this thought, though I wasn’t sure why. After all their well-being was none of my business.

The match ended in a draw. Well, stupid equals stupid, no surprise there.

I slurped at my drink and threw some side glances at the other Nexus winners, some talked as if they knew each other for a while, some just stared at their weapons in silence, and some looked as if they wanted to cut you open as soon as you give them a reason to do so.

Yikes, nobody seemed like they would appreciate some of the jokes I have been working on.

“Wasn’t that some good old Battle Nexus action?” The voice of the commentator shouted from somewhere above, “And now a new intermission program, please welcome with me these three new…volunteers to the stage.”

My stomach tightened. I got a bad feeling about this.

The gate slowly moved upwards. Some yokai also moved to the railing and asked amused, “now what kind of clowns did Big Mama catch this time?”

And there they were.

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were pushed by two guards into the Battle Nexus. They looked confused and overwhelmed. The crowd roared and threw random objects into the ring. The yokai beside me whistled, “Wow, look at their faces, they’ve no idea what is going on! At least the big one seems like he can take a punch but the rest…”

The gates on the other side opened and a chimera sprang out and into the arena.

The commentator announced: “We forgot to feed Freddy for a few days! Sorry, our mistake! But now he should be really glad we got him some snacks?”

The crowd chanted: “Snack time! Snack time!”

Raph shoved Donnie and Mikey behind his giant shell. None of them had their weapons with them, I registered. It was clear Big Mama had wanted to make sure these three didn’t survive today.

The chimera slinked towards, down on all four with his teeth shining in the mystical lights.

I clenched my drink so hard that its glass began to crack.

‘Idiots,’ I thought, ‘morons. They didn’t listen to me at all! Instead, they had gone off to do exactly what Big Mama told them to do.’

Of course, they would.

‘They would never trust my words, why should they?’ said a voice inside me. ‘Why did I even try?’

As Raph readied himself to face the chimera, the others slowly took their stances beside him. They were determined to go down together or not at all. It finally dawned to me that they really were a family, these three had grown up together, had cried and laughed together, had accepted that human girl as one of them. Their bond was so strong. It made me sick to my stomach. I felt similar to when I had decided to talk to Draxum about myself and my…our origin.

More yokai came to the railing, they pointed and laughed at the three, while the chimera started its first attack. Raph managed to block him. The lion head snatched at Mikey and he could only avoid getting his own head snapped off by completely retracting into his shell.

“Oh man, that is too good,” laughed one Nexus fighter, “they try to hide in their own shells! Crack them open Freddy!”

“Crack them open,” echoed the stadium as Donnie tried to move around the chimera but was greeted by his snail tail which was just as deadly.

I had been standing in the arena dozens of times and even if some fights had been tougher than others, I had always felt I was in control of the situation. I had never lost my temper and kept the crowd on my side. This was the first time I felt angry at the Nexus and disgusted by anyone involved in it.

The glass in my hand shattered but I clenched my fist with such force that I pressed the small shards deep into my skin. Two yokai had noticed my reaction and turned their attention to me.

“Hey, you kinda look like these clowns. Are you related?” said one of them.

“Must be glad to get rid of them, huh?” chided the other.

I released my fist and grabbed with the same hand, the head of one of the yokai. The shards that were stuck in my palm now also bore deeply into the yokai’s face. The other yelped and more Nexus champions looked at us.

I was not only angry. I was mad with every fibre of my body.

“Say that again,” I said in a calm voice that was dripping with rage, “and I will leave your face in shreds.”

From behind my fingers, I could see the yokai’s eyes growing large with fear. That satisfied me enough to draw my hand back, which must have been pretty painful for both of us, and I looked down again.

Somehow Donnie still had full-on DJ equipment that he used to hypnotize the snake. As random as this looked, it actually seemed to work on the snake. On the other side, Raph wrestled with the lion part and Mikey was sitting on one of Raph’s shoulders and tried to poke the lion’s eyes. They were crazy enough to not lose the fight, yet. The cheers turned more diverse. Some had begun to support the three, while others still wanted to see them turned into a three-course meal.

“Looks like Freddy doesn’t have fast food today, how about we give his sister Stacy also a chance to grab a bite?”

The crowd agreed with louder cheers and the next gate opened, letting another chimera in. Stacy looked very similar to her brother, except for her fur, which shimmered in different brown colors as she gracefully tiptoed toward the others.

“Now isn’t that a magnificent intermission, turtly-boo?” said a voice from behind, and the whole crowd at the podium turned around to see Big Mama approaching us just as deadly and elegant as the female chimera. It was very unusual for her to come down from her personal lounge. Something was up and in order to face her I needed a cool head. I tried to breathe in and out slowly and to hide my bloody left hand.

“You think so, Big Mama?” I said and leaned with my back against the railing, “I don’t consider it a fight if they don’t even have weapons to defend themselves. It’s pathetic to watch.”

Big Mama snickered and as she moved to the railing next to me, everyone else kept their distance.

“Soon you will be an only child,” she said, “yet again, you didn’t know your seepy siblings for very long, I presume?”

I had expected that she knew more than she had led on, but this was a lot to take in. She basically knew everything there was to know. I swallowed and had to focus on the pulsating pain in my hand in order to keep my voice casual.

“Only because they are also turtle yokai you assume we are siblings? Isn’t that kinda racist? I don’t assume you are related to every spider in the upper and lower city?”

She was still watching the fight, but her eyes turned a bit sharper.

“You would be surprised,” she mused in a sing-sang kind of tone. “Certainly, we weren’t created in a lab, weren’t we?”

I shivered but managed to shrug. “Wouldn’t make a difference, as long as one wins.”

From a tray nearby I took another drink, it was just an automatic gesture purely for the sake of covering up my growing anxiety.

“Yes,” Big Mama said and lingered on the word, “the Battle Nexus favors those who win no tedly matter who the champions are. But look at them,” and I turned around again to the arena.

Raph was clearly worn out from exchanging punches with both chimeras. He evaded their attacks impressively for his size. Mikey had sneaked around to find some blind spots but that was almost impossible. Donnie had run out of power for his spontaneous DJ performance and had reverted back to the running-and-screaming-tactic.

“Wouldn’t you say they are clearly corrupted?” Big Mama asked, “they had lived on the surface for too long. They weren’t brought up like other yokai. You are the best example of that. You were trained by us so you stand on this podium while they” she pointed at them again dismissively, “are down there. It’s the neatly natural order of things.” She giggled like a small child.

There were many things I wanted to say. How growing up under Draxum sucked, how much I envied the others, how wrong her twisted perspective was. But in the end, smart words and clever rhetoric failed me.

“Screw you,” I said and emptied my whole drink on top of her head. For a moment even Big Mama looked surprised, while juice dripped down her hair and glasses. Then her face told me I just had written my own death sentence.

“Seize him,” she screamed.

I threw the glass at the first bodyguard, then grabbed my sword, and jumped from the podium. I landed in a crowd of spectators. I hopped down again and landed in another row. I shouted, “champion coming through!” and “everything is all right, we rehearsed this”.

Then, finally, the arena floor was near enough for one last leap.

By then the whole Battle Nexus was in chaos. Big Mama’s voice shrilled from above. Fans were unsure how to react to fights that were happening in their own ranks instead of the arena.

Even the chimeras turned their attention to me as soon as I landed.

“More food!” they cheered in unison. “Oh, great,” I said and cursed myself for not thinking this through, like, at all.

Behind them, Donnie pointed at me and screamed, “YOUUUU!”

“Seriously, can you stop doing that each time you see me,” I screamed back at him.

“This one has a sword, let’s finish him first,” Freddy’s snakehead suggested.

I lifted my sword, but it felt unusually heavy since I couldn’t grab it properly with two hands.

“Great, are you here to kill us off, too?” Raph shouted and his voice made clear that he was still bitter from Big Mama’s betrayal. I rolled my eyes.

“Hey don’t roll your eyes at me,” Freddy’s lion head said.

“He was clearly rolling his eyes at me, stupid,” said Stacy.

Classic sibling rivalry.

That gave me an idea.

“I must say, up close Stacy’s fur is really way prettier,” I said judgmentally.

Stacy, who just looked ready to attack me, stopped in her movement.

“What did you just say?” she asked.

“Well, some yokai up there had this poll going on about who had the most beautiful fur. I said, Freddy clearly had the better hairstylist, but many of the others were convinced that you used the best hair products to get the shine of your fur just right.”

Both now looked at me very eagerly.

“So,” probed Stacy.

“Who won?” pressed Freddy.

I scratched my chin and waited to answer just a few more seconds, enjoying the moment way too much.

“Well, you see,” I said acting all torn and indecisive, “it was a tie and I was the only one who didn’t cast my vote and at first I wanted to give it to Freddy but now up close I think I would rather go with Stacy.”

Stacy proudly shook her mane. “I expected this result,” she said.

“Did not,” said Freddy and tackled his sister. He bumped into her, but not with a lot of force.

Stacy growled at him.

“Get away from me with your nasty ball of grease you call hair, you really need to wash it more,” she said.

“Excuse me?” he shrieked and sounded deeply offended. “Maybe I would shower more if SOMEBODY would not steal my shampoo all the time?”

That was my cue to slowly back away while the chimeras began fighting over their hair products. I sneaked towards the others who hadn’t decided if they were still in danger or not.

“Quick,” I said to them in a low voice when I got close enough. “This way,” I pointed to one of the gates that was half-open.

“Wait,” Raph said, “I got an idea.”

I wanted to tell him that we didn’t have time for any of his nonsense, but before I was able to open my mouth Raph had raised his right fist and punched the ground as hard as he could.

The earthy floor shook, and dust blew up, covering almost half of the arena.

‘That had actually been no-nonsense,’ I thought.

I gestured to the others to follow me and while there was a cascade of screams beyond the dust, we quickly made our way to the gate that was just a loose construction of metal wires.

When I started battling here, I checked out how the machinery behind this place worked. You never know when you’re going to lose a fight and need to make a quick escape. It was then, that I noticed that if the gates weren’t completely closed you could easily lift them up. On top of that, this one wasn’t massive as some of the others and you could even see through to the other side.

I pulled on one of the chains and said, “we can escape through here.”

Donnie hesitated a moment, then figured that listening to me would be at least better than staying with two hungry and cranky chimeras.

I was figuring out my next steps when Raph grabbed the gate from the other side and pulled it up.

“Hurry,” he said. The first thought that rushed through my head was: What if he is letting go of the gate right when I crawl through it? I couldn’t simply trust him, could I?

But, didn’t they trust me right now?

I looked up and fixated on Raph’s eyes and I felt overwhelmed by the honesty with which they glowed. There seemed not even an ounce of doubt.

It should have reassured me but instead, I took a step backward.

I knew that when I would crawl through the gate and go with them, my life would change.

Weren’t they just strangers I met a few times?

Was there really some kind of connection between us?

Sometimes looking at them was like looking at a mirror and in the next moment, they seemed completely alien.

I glanced at Donnie, who seemed conflicted (though most of the time his expressions switched between annoyed and skeptical so I’m not sure if it was any different than his usual face). I looked at Mikey, who was afraid, but it was also clear that he was expecting me to go with them. Without being aware of my next action, my right hand touched the band-aid he had given me, and he noticed the movement as well.

‘What was the difference between you and me?’ I wondered.

With one swift movement, I cut the chains with my swords and the gate crashed down.
Raph yelped but managed to pull his hands back in time.

“What were you thinking?” he shouted from the other side of the gate, “You could have squashed my fingers!”

“Please do me a favor and don’t get caught this time,” I said dismissively.

“What about you?” Mikey asked and I wasn’t quite sure if this was a genuine worry I heard in his voice.

“Portal-sword, remember?” I said and swung the blade around.

I heard the chimeras roaring behind me, the dust had almost settled by now and the arena was still excepting a spectacle.

Raph wanted to say something, but he didn’t find the right words as he opened and closed his mouth several times.

“You can thank me later,” I said, “and it will be pricey, hope you guys have a lot of cash on you.”

I smirked.

“Nobody said anything about the payment,” Donnie protested.

“Are you kidding me, you only did that for money?” Raph chimed in. Now the gate appeared to protect me instead of them.

Mikey grabbed both their shoulders.

“Donnie, Raph, we need to go,” he pulled them away from the gate.

“See you later,” he said cheerfully, and I knew he truly meant that.

I turned around as well. Glad that at least Mikey didn’t catch my lie.

The Battle Nexus was surrounded by powerful mystic barriers. I could use my sword within the Nexus, but I couldn’t create a portal to the outside.

In other words…I was trapped.

I walked into the arena where beyond the dust I could only see silhouettes and hear screams and curses that were trying to outmatch each other. I had never been this excited to see what awaited me in the Battle Nexus.

Chapter 8: Dropping Or To Be Dropped

Back in the arena, I was greeted by the two chimeras. Apparently, they had settled their argument on who had the better hair stylist and instead had agreed on a collaborative turtle-snack. But they weren’t a serious challenge, so were the dozens of guards sprinting at me at once, and let us not forget Big Mama herself, who got thrown out of her own Battle Nexus ring. Within mere minutes I walked freely out of the arena.

As if.

Of course, that didn’t happen, what did you expect?

But the truth is quite embarrassing so let me just have this for a second okay?

To be fair, I did hold my ground against Freddy and Stacy. I created several portals and managed to pop in and out so quickly that they couldn’t keep track of me. At one point, Stacy’s snakehead got impatient, and she tried to bite my head off with quick consecutive attacks. Right before her teeth would reach me, I stepped out of the way to reveal one of the dozens of small portals I had created, and this one, in particular, led to Freddy’s lion head.

Both of Stacy’s faces looked rather surprised as she heartily bit into Freddy’s upper left side.

Freddy howled.

“Watch it,” he scolded her.

“Mmmpp,” answered Stacy’s snakehead.

“Did nobody teach you that you shouldn’t speak with your mouth full?” I asked, though, in the chaos that had erupted in the arena, my joke wasn’t much appreciated. Bulky yokai appeared on all sides of the arena. Some of them ran into each other via the portals that I had set up for the chimeras. For a moment, I felt in control of the impossible situation, yet I was too busy defending my bare skin to think about a proper escape plan. If I was stuck, then so was everyone else. The regret of my refusal to go with the others stung in the back of my mind like mosquito bites.

I felt like I needed some extra eyes on my back and on both sides, heck I would have needed dozens of eyes to keep track of everything that was going on at the same time. So, you can’t really blame me that I couldn’t see the attack before it was too late. I shot a fellow champion who thought it clever to try and get a hit on me into the audience when from behind I heard a giant spider barfing.

Large balls of sticky webs hit my shell with such force that I was flying towards a nearby wall along with the spider webs where I kept sticking like a squashed fly.

I tried to press myself against webs, but they were insanely strong, and the more I struggled the tighter the goo stuck to my body.

“You put up quite the unexpected show for us, turtly-boo,” said the sugar-coated voice that belonged to the gross spider-lady.

“Knew you would like it. I think you need to pay me double for tonight’s performance,” I returned mockingly.

When Big Mama was in her real form, it was difficult to tell if she was angry or amused or maybe both.

“Never done with the quick witty-wit, I see,” she said and changed into her human disguise.

Her hair was still damp and stuck awkwardly to her face. That made me grin.

“You still think you have any reason to smile?” She asked and moved closer to me. Her eyes shimmered like perfect stainless steel and seemed just as cold.

“I will erase that trinkly-inckly smile of yours permanently.”

And that was it. She taped my mouth with some more of her webs and then I was carried away and thrown into a pitch-black room where all I could do was thrash around the floor like a helpless worm. (Some advice: Don’t try to bite your way through extra-thick spider goo, the taste alone makes you want to lose your lunch.)

When I got too exhausted to wiggle around, my mind started running instead.

The elevator had moved pretty high up, which meant I must be in one of Big Mama’s private offices. I guessed she was still interested in using me for one of her schemes.

‘What about the others?’ An annoying part of my mind asked.

‘Long gone by now,’ another part answered and wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Then I heard the familiar jingle of an elevator door opening and light flooded the room though I couldn’t see its source.

“You sure we are on the right floor?” asked a voice that I easily recognized as Raph’s steady yet slightly unsure tone.

“Tenth time is a charm,” chirped Mikey.

“This is the only floor left where Big Mama could possibly keep the ooze-quitos…Hey, I think that’s a giant safe door,” said Donnie in his usual skeptical voice.

I lay in the room’s shadows, trying to scream but through the webs, it sounded like the hum of an insect.

“Jackpot,” Donnie said and a deafening noise filled the room. What is that idiot doing? It sounded as if he was trying to cut his way through a thick metal wall.

Suddenly light flushed the room and I could see from an awkward angle how Big Mama entered through another, secret door. She walked like someone who was sure they had everything under control and the whole world was at their fingertips. She briefly glanced at me, then to where I assumed the other three yokai. At least the terrible sound of Donnie’s metal saw had stopped.

“Trying to steal from Big Mama?” she said sweetly and then sourly, “everyone knows you should never try to steal from me.”

I moved on the floor as much as I could until I finally managed to roll around and saw Raph, Donnie, and Mikey standing in front of the most well-guarded and precious vault in the whole hotel.

“You,” said Donnie and for the first time, it didn’t sound like a curse and rather like a tired sigh. The other two looked back and forth between me and Big Mama with a swirl of fair and confusion. Seeing their wild expressions made me feel ashamed. After running my loudmouth and acting all strong and independent, here I was, a helpless bundle of turtle neatly wrapped in spider goo and at the mercy of Spidey grandma.

Their best option of survival is to back off quickly to the door, but they made no attempts to do so. Whatever they wanted to retrieve from the safe seemed worth any risk.

“Tough luck, Big Mama,” Raph returned, scraping up all the courage he could muster.

“We won’t go until we get back the ooze-quitos! You should have guarded our weapons better, now it’s time for some serious payback!”

Mikey began swinging his kusari-fundo and it erupted in flames. I could tell he had the weapon much more under control than the last time I had seen him. Donnie’s worryingly gigantic chainsaw turned into a hammer of equally worrying size.

The air felt charged with animosity and determination, but none of them dared to make the first move.

My eyes caught Mikey, the only one who wasn’t focused on Big Mama even though he tried to observe both of us at the same time. With his weapon, he could easily cut me free, and my right hand still tightly clutched my sword, which had been doomed to get tied into the webs along with me. I tried to nod at my right side in the hopes Mikey would also see the tip of the sword.

‘Cut me free,’ I thought, as if I could communicate with him telepathically, ‘cut me free and we can all get the heck out of here.’

I tried to convince myself that Mikey’s eyes agreed with me.

Then he shouted “Cowa-“ and charged Big Mama.

“-bunga!” answered his brothers and jumped over me right at the boss lady, who turned into her original form and greeted them with demonic screams and giant, hairy claws.

The fight escalated throughout the whole room, though from my unfortunate position, I couldn’t see much of it and had to rely on screaming and grunting sounds, some curses, Raph’s battle cries, and weapons hitting the floor and walls, in order to figure out what was happening.

Big Mama’s henchmen would be here soon, she had a short temper and even if this fight entertained her for some moments, I guessed she would order a whole army of strong yokai to storm the floor as soon as she was done playing. While I was calculating my chances of escape, I heard a ripping noise and felt the spider goo loosening up at the back of my shell.

Someone was cutting through the webs. In a matter of seconds, I was able to move my hands, and shortly after I could even rip off the nasty stuff around my face. I would need a whole tube of toothpaste to get the taste out of my mouth.

“Finally, orange, I thought you didn’t see me lying there,” I said and turned around. It wasn’t Mikey who knelt beside me.

“Purple?” I said in serious disbelief as Donnie changed his bo-staff from a sharp knife back into its original state.

“At least learn our names, jeez, you sound like dad,” he said and got up.

I wanted to ask him why he would help me, out of the three, he seemed the one who hated my face the most.

“Heads up, I mean, heads down!” Mikey shouted and we just had enough time to duck as Big Mama flew over us. Tied in the chains of kusari-fundo she swung in a huge arc across the room and slammed ironically into her own safe door. The metallic walls didn’t budge one bit.
“The password of the safe is one,” I told Donnie, who in turn just frowned at me.

“What do you mean ‘one’? Just one number?”

“No, it’s all the number one, the whole combination,” I said and disentangled my feet from the remaining webs.

“So one one with several zeros or several ones and no zeros?” Donnie asked and I wondered if strangling him was still on the table.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

He rolled his eyes at me as an answer and made it for the safe. I was glad he didn’t ask how I knew the combination. I preferred to keep some of my secrets always to myself.

I tried to figure out our current situation. Raph and Mikey looked pretty beaten up at this point. Big Mama, on the other hand, was already recovering from the crash.

“You will regret this,” she hissed, and I was sure she was about to call her buffest underlings, maybe even Guss. Instead, the windows exploded inwards and big, violet vines stretched into the room like tentacles of a Kraken. I would recognize those plants anywhere.

Draxum appeared in the hole his vines had created, arms crossed, brows wrinkled.

“Big Mama,” he growled, “I heard you have something that belongs to me.”

The giant spider pointed with three claws at me.

“Gladly, take this one back, he caused nothing but trouble,” she said and even though she was now my mortal enemy and all, I felt slightly offended.

Draxum threw a condescending look at me. My mouth went dry. I had frequently thought about what would happen if I ever saw him again. I had imagined I would crack some jokes while showing off my impressive skills and maybe a small group of hench-yokai of my own. Instead, I was standing there with a bleeding hand and spider webs still sticking on my shell and got pointed at as if I was a stray cat that nobody wanted to take care of.

“Hey Leo,” Huginn said from one of Draxum’s shoulders and waved. “We saw you in one of the Battle Nexus broadcasts.”

“I especially liked the part where you splashed that drink on Big Mama, that was hilarious!” agreed Muninn.

Big Mama howled and sprang towards Draxum who defended himself (and his gargoyles) with his vines.

“Are you done playing?” Draxum said and I knew those words were addressed towards me.

“Who said I was playing? You’re talking to a Battle Nexus champion,” I returned and hated how petty I sounded.

“Don’t make yourself even more of a joke than you already are,” he returned.

Even more vines erupted from the ground and formed a protective wall around the warrior alchemist.

No smart reply came to my mind or any of those great lines I had prepared that would have shown him how much I didn’t need him. They were all gone.

I turned away and saw the turtles exiting the safe. Raph carried a big jar that emanated a green light and by closer inspection, I finally realized what the glass bowl contained. It helped me to fully realize what the source of this whole mess was.

They had been hunting Draxum’s lost experiment, the insects full of mystical ooze, which was also the origin of the new mutants appearing all over New York. Big Mama must have tricked them into handing them over to her and so their noble intentions had backfired. They were making their way towards the elevator, and I readied my sword to create a portal. Before I could even move the blade, one of the smaller vines slung itself around my left foot and lifted me upside-down into the air.

“Hey,” I protested, “let me go, Sheep-freak.”

“You’ll come back with me,” Draxum insisted, but he needed to split his attention between me and Big Mama, who crawled vertically on the walls around him looking for a blind spot.

“Boss, I think the other turtles escape with the ooze-quitos!” Huginn shouted and both yokai stopped fighting at once to shift their attention towards Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, who were all hectically pressing the button at the elevator.

This diversion was enough to give me a chance to get free. I crunched with my upper body upwards and tucked at the plant until I got my ankle out. I didn’t stick the landing though and bumped my head on the floor.

A web flew across the room and hit Mikey’s left hand, which got taped to the wall.

Donnie flung around and shouted, “Fine, it’s time for some payback!”

His bo-staff shifted into turbo hammer mode and he jumped at Big Mama while Raph tried to get Mikey free. Vines snatched up the big snapper turtle into the air and the jar full of trouble tumbled to the ground.

I saw my chance and ran for it.

Mikey freed himself and did his best to help his brother.

“You’ll regret that you gave me the first positive reinforcement of a parent or adult figure ever!”

Donnie declared and pulled some impressive technical secrets out of a small suitcase that he had probably also taken from the safe.

Raph meanwhile got thrown around by Draxum’s vines. Mikey ran towards me when his repeated attacks had no effect on the plants.

“Come on,” he said encouragingly, “together we can take him down.”

I looked at the small turtle in surprise.

“Why should I? As far as I’m concerned, I’m out of here,” I said before my brain could completely catch up with my mouth.

Mikey’s eyes shifted from sparkling hope to dim disappointment and it was as if my mouth was again shut tight with spider goo.

‘Don’t look at me that way,’ I thought.

The more rational part of myself was telling me: ‘What are you waiting for? Just go!’

But I didn’t go anywhere.

Draxum knew that as well and he commanded: “Give me back my experiments!”
I cut through some of his vines and evaded the next assault. Mikey had decided to first help Donnie and left Raph to me.

“I didn’t agree to any of this,” I cursed through my teeth. Before I sprinted towards them, I divide under some vines and webs and grabbed the jar that was just then tumbling around the room. Clumsily holding on to the cold glass, I cut Raph loose with one swift swing, which left me wide open for Draxum to wrap around his plants around my waist and hurl me towards the room’s window side.

With one hand holding my blade and the other clutching the jar I uncontrollably rolled into and out of the hole in the wall. When I realized what was happening and the world stopped spinning, I was already through the ‘new’ window and out in the cold city night. I saw the dazzling city streets under me, the cars were the size of insects and humans appeared from this height as a mass of swarming dots. My stomach made a summersault right at the moment when gravity started pulling me downwards.

My brain had difficulties understanding the situation and just repeatedly certain words.

Fall.

Big fall.

Sword?

Portal!

That was all it could manage.

Something closed itself tightly around my neck and the streets stopped getting nearer.

My scarf had saved me by almost strangling me. I looked up to see that the piece of cloth had been caught in one of the sharp edges of the broken glass above.

I breathed in and out, in and out. Paralysed.

The already wounded hand hold on to the sword AND the scarf with such intensity, new blood tripled through my palm and down the Nexus Hotel building.

How could I pull myself up when I still hold on to that stupid jar?

I heard the ominous sound of wool ripping, inch by inch by inch. The scarf wasn’t going to hold me much longer.

I could make out a figure appearing in the window hole that was looking down at me.

“Go away!” I screamed.

“Do you want to die so badly? I could help with that,” Draxum said calmly.

“That’s none of your business,” I returned and the scarf around my neck was making it more difficult to get the words out with each moment.

“Hold on to my experiments. That’s an order,” Draxum snapped back.

A vine wrapped itself around my hand and arm that held my scarf and slowly pulled me up.
In the meantime, the word “orders”, echoed through my mind.

Nothing but following orders for most of life. Wasn’t that a miserable way of living?

Huginn and Muninn moved from his shoulder and circled around me.

“Uuhh, Boss,” said Huginn.

“He doesn’t have the jar,” said Muninn.

Draxum looked down at me from the window.

“What? Didn’t you have it just now? Tell me where it is, NOW,” he shouted.

“The jar?” I said with an almost innocent tone, “oh, that old thing? I must have dropped it. Wasn’t very decorative after all.”

That was the truth, I had let it go when it had dawned to me that I would just please Draxum if I would keep it.

“That was just what I wanted, idiot,” he said dismissively, “good job, you can go if you like,” and the vines let go of me. My scarf would rip for sure now and I would need to create a portal in time before my face would painfully get to know the city road.

Just as suddenly as the yokai had let go of me a giant, glowing arm reached out of the room right beside Draxum and grabbed me like I was an oversized can of soda in a cooler.

My stomach didn’t enjoy being continuously swung around that high above the ground.

“I’m gonna hurl guys, just let me go!” I shouted but the arm was already rushing upwards, and I found myself in Big Mama’s office again.

Raph seemed even more taken aback by his abilities than I and he stared at the red exoskeleton in disbelief while it gradually disappeared.

“I didn’t know I could do that,” he mumbled.

“You and me both,” I offered, and this pulled him back to the present. He looked at me skeptically.

“Where are the ooze-quitos?” he asked.

“Dropped them,” I shrugged.

“You did WHAT?” Raph looked out of the hole as if he could still make out the jar somewhere.

“I thought you knew,” I said sheepishly.

I investigated the chaos left in the office and noticed two things almost at once.

First, Draxum was gone. He got what he wanted, anything else wasn’t important enough to pay any attention to.

I felt the need to throw up again, but for very different reasons than just a few moments ago.

Second, Donnie and Mikey had somehow managed to trap Big Mama in her own spider webs. (I had to admit, I was quite impressed)

“Got the ooze-quitos?” Donnie asked and ran towards us.

Raph pointed at me judgingly.

“He lost them,” he said and definitely considered throwing me out of the window himself.

“Why am I not surprised,” his brother sighed.

“That doesn’t matter now,” Mikey intervened and stepped between me and the others.

“He helped us out in the Battle Nexus, didn’t he, I’m sure he also has a perfectly good exp-“

“No, I just dropped them to piss off Draxum,” I interrupted Mikey.

Orange threw a glance at me that was saying ‘Come on, I’m trying to help you here!’

“I would love to argue with you for longer, but this office will be soon stormed by Big Mama’s yokai, so let’s get finally out of here,” I said and left out the part where I seriously wondered if there was even a shadow behind a dumpster left where I could hide from two of the most powerful forces in the yokai world.

“Wait,” Mikey said when I was about to swing my sword.

“We finally found you again. You need to give us some answers this time. How about some pizza? I know a place,” he offered.

“Michelangelo,” Donnie said in a sour tone. He placed a left hand on Mikey’s shoulder and leaned closer as if to whisper though it was more of a slightly repressed scream.

“We have been over this. We don’t invite mortal enemies over for dinner.”

I saw the elevator doors sliding open in the distance and decided to cast a portal right under all four of us.

“Pizza sounds good, tell me the details later,” I said and gave none of them, including myself, time to reconsider. Raph had only time to say “Not again” before he was pulled into the portal along with the others.

The last thing I saw from the grand Nexus Hotel was Big Mama screaming at her underlings and several of her pitch-black eyes glaring at me. It was as if they were piercing right through my shell and were leaving me with the promise that the day would come, I would regret ever stepping a foot into her hotel.

As I was disappearing in the blue mystical light, all my pent-up frustration helped me to answer her gaze. I hoped she got my silent message: “Come and get me if you dare.”

Chapter 9: Four Slices of Pizza – Oops, One Fell of the Table

Notes:

Hey guys, long time no chapter! I apologize to everyone who started reading this fic and realized that it just suddenly stopped. Life got busy and with new friends, I moved on to different interests. But then the trailer for the movie came out and I was much more excited about seeing this chaotic family again than I would have ever expected it! I even started re-watching the series and then remembered that I had some fics going on back in the fandom days, especially this one. I skimmed through my old notes and decided to continue writing ‘NEON’ as an expression of my love for this series. I am not sure how long the fic will turn out to be, but I hope I will be adding chapters until it will match up with the season 1 finale. To anyone reading this, to veteran ROTTMNT fans and freshly new ones, thank you so much and happy reading! - Jazz

Draxum always said that yokai had been the greatest gift to this world. But that wasn’t only a super cheesy – pun intended – statement, it was a straight-out lie.

Pizza.

Pizza was the greatest gift.

As I was already thinking about ways to convince Usagi to introduce pizza to his shop and take over the culinary world of the hidden city, Raph rudely brought me back to the table we all four shared and asked, “so, uh, now that we escaped all kinds of horrible deadly scenarios and showed you Run of the Mill Pizza…can we talk about this whole situation?”

I didn’t stop shoving pizza into my mouth. I had noticed that the orange one literally inhaled the stuff and figured I would have to eat fast or not at all. This is a battle I couldn’t lose, so with my face still stuffed with cheese and dough I simply said: “What of it?”

Donnie, who was currently not part of the pizza-eating competition, chimed in: “Well, you kinda saved us. Not once, but TWICE in a row. Not really classic evil henchman behavior.”

I pointed my next pizza slice at him like a weapon, taking my sword would have been more intimidating, sure, but then I would miss out on precious seconds of not eating.

“Hey, first of all, I’m no henchman, m’kay? Second, who said I was helping you, some people just happened to piss me off while you were also present.”

Mikey flushed down all the pizza he had been eating with enough water to refill the pacific and said: “Awww, come on. I think beyond that tough shell is a soft, squishy heart that is just waiting to hug the whole world. Here, let me show you how to start,” and he pulled me into a side hug. I was definitely NOT okay with someone being so close to me and I tried to push him back almost immediately. His grip was surprisingly strong.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I said, “personal space. Respect the personal space, will ya?”

Donnie and Raph eyed Mikey nervously as he refused to let go of me and kept on talking about the magical powers of hugs or something like that. It dawned on me that the other two expected me to snap any second, do something to hurt him or set the whole restaurant on fire. I decided, at least for the moment, to not struggle against his hug and let it happen. I needed to gain their trust after all. So instead, I put my free hand on Mikey’s head and petted him, hoping that would be enough.

“There, there,” I said awkwardly. Mikey seemed elated. “It is already working,” he declared and squeezed me even tighter. The other two shared a confused glance before Raph continued: “Anyway, doesn’t matter why you did all that back there. What’s important is that you and Draxum didn’t really, how to put it, ‘agree’ on a lot?”

As I was drinking my coke in one big swoop, I thought of the past few weeks. Weeks of realizing all the lies I had been told, fighting meaningless fights, and feeling as empty as the eyes of my enemies after my previous boss had been through with them.

“Yeah,” I said swallowing hard, “you could say I just noticed how much of a wolf in yokai-sheep skin Draxum actually is. Don’t ever trust him, is all I’m saying.”

“And why should we trust you to not trust him?” Donnie threw the question right back at me.

“Because,” I wavered for a moment. What I would say now, would determine everything else.

“Because he might be our creator. But WE are family.”

You could feel how time stood still at our table all while around us the restaurant kept on being busy and bustling. Mikey finally let go of me. Donnie’s, probably fake, eyebrows rose impossibly high, and Raph’s expression derailed so much I swear I could hear him screaming inside his head. The moment expanded and stretched impossibly long like mozzarella.

“Waaaiiit, wait, wait,” Mikey was the first to shout, sounding more excited than anything else. “You don’t mean what I think you mean?”

“What in Murphy’s law are you saying?” Donnie whispered, though his face told me he had it all figured out already.

I am not gonna lie. It was hilarious to shock them like that after I had much more time to work through my own existential crisis.

“You guys knew it too, at least, to some degree,” I said and laid the four remaining pizza slices in a line next to each other, “we are all not just some experiments created at different times in different places. We share the same DNA, the same prototype ooze. Like pieces of the same pizza. It’s only that,” and I took one pizza slice and gestured to the rest. “One piece fell off the table while the others were swooped away all at once.”

There was some bitter undertone in my voice that I didn’t know was there until the words come out of my mouth. As if I wasn’t aware that I had been left behind. Draxum didn’t save shit and he certainly didn’t save me. I had been the only one who hadn’t been kidnapped or saved (depending on your perspective) by whatever or whoever had snatched the other three.

Since they were also just staring at the rest of the pizza, I decided to eat it while waiting for them to process all of that.

“Do you remember, how pops told us he found us in a gutter while looking for food and that as a rat he thought it only natural to raise three mutant turtles?” Raph looked at the other two in disbelief. His voice was slightly shaking.

“I mean, Mikey believed for a long time we were all brought by a giant pigeon so, of course, those were all lies,” Donnie said.

“Hey,” complained Mikey, “pigeons are awesome, and they are everywhere. Just makes sense that they would also deliver turtle babies.”

Purple rolled his eyes and added, “well, no matter how many of his stories did NOT make sense, we could never get the truth out of him. We haven’t even told him about Draxum or of the ooze-quitos because we were sure he would act like he knows nothing, like always.”

“I am not sure how much this pops of yours really knows, but I would be curious to ask him at least some questions of my own,” I said, aware that this wasn’t the truth but close enough.

“Great, we should bring you with us to the lair then. You have lost your hotel room because of us anyway,” Mikey exclaimed. He had these kinds of big, starry eyes again. I just couldn’t understand his endless optimism.

“Hold on,” Raph interrupted him, “you can’t be seriously suggesting bringing him with us to our home. Our home, that is secret and if it is no longer a secret all kinds of bad guys will search for us there? That home?”

“I have to agree with Raph,” Donnie added, “we shouldn’t bring an evil twin back to the lair when we cannot discern whether he is telling the truth or not.”

I was still debating with myself if it would be smart to interrupt their discussion when Mikey said something rather unexpected.

“I don’t care if he is telling lies. He helped us. Back in the hotel, he warned us about Big Mama, and even after we didn’t listen to him, he let us escape. At this point, if he’s family, he at least deserves a chance.”

Despite being the youngest, I could tell that the others respected his judgment of character. They stopped arguing and their eyes moved between me and Mikey, back and forth for a few moments. Their common sense lost a battle against their trust in one of their own. Witnessing that made my stomach turn a little.

“You are asking a lot, Mikey,” Raph sighed, “but Dr. Feelings is often right, so I say we give it a try, how about you Donnie?”

Donnie eyed me as if I was a wrong pizza order: he got something he didn’t like, and he was determined to figure out how to get the order right.

“Fine,” he finally gave in, “but when – not if but when – he will betray us, I will have ‘I-told-you-so’ rights for life.”

For the first time after portalling out of the Nexus Hotel, I felt the weight on my chest. A small voice inside my head continued to scream things like ‘what the hell are you doing?’ and ‘you will be a dead turtle if you go with them.’ Another part of me just wondered if there would be more pizza. I liked that voice better than the others so I said:

“Awesome, now that we sorted that out, can we maybe take five pizzas to go and get going?”

Chapter 10: The New Jersey Fam

For a second, let us get ahead of ourselves to consider Splinter’s point of view. A human-turned-mutant-rat whose days were usually scheduled according to his favorite tv channels because the predictability of the programs gave him comfort. Don’t get him wrong, he was used to his sons causing all sorts of troubles that would not exactly line up with commercial breaks. But on this particular day, when he went to retrieve some snacks from the kitchen and walked past the underground skateboard ramp, he would have never in all his life expected to see a fourth mutant turtle to try his first ollie.

To be fair, I also never expected to meet my ‘genetical’ father in this way. I had thought about this day and how it would play out – a meeting between the hated kidnapper of most of the beta experiments, and me, the sole experiment remaining. In the darkness of my previous bunk bed, I had pictured it over and over and over again, even though I had no idea what he had looked like before and after the ‘incident’ besides being a male human. Depending on my mood I would imagine slicing off his head on the spot and proudly presenting it to Draxum. Occasionally, it would involve more slow-paced torture methods. And in the darkest hours of the night, I would see a stretched-out hand that pulled and led me far away, similar to how I have seen some yokai parents take their kids by the hand on the crowded streets of the hidden city. This last one is super embarrassing though, so if you consider telling others about that I will make sure to practice my other more recurring fantasies on you.

Now, seeing this…rat, I couldn’t be sure what to feel. He was round and small and covered in unkempt hair. Some human resemblance remained but if Draxum had chosen him because he had been a prime human specimen, I could honestly not see it. His face was powdered by Cheetos’ crumbs that he had just stuffed into his face and spat out the moment he noticed me.

“Boys,” he shouted, with a tone used to command in a parent-like manner, “what did you do this time? Did Donnie try to clone himself again?”

Raph hastily ran towards him as I waited with the others on top of the ramp.

“No, I mean, yes, no, maybe,” he rambled. In between crossing the sewers and introducing me to skateboarding the big guy apparently hadn’t had the time to formulate any sort of believable excuse.

“You see,” he started again, “what happened is…” but he couldn’t even present his improvised story. I decided it might be time to take matters into my own hands and with the lent skateboard still tucked under an arm, I jumped down. My instincts told me to not underestimate him, and to proceed with caution if I intended to have any chance of taking him down. But that wasn’t really the point. I went for a kick to the head, not a killing blow but the high jump gave it quite a hefty momentum. The rat-man blocked it easily enough and it pushed him slightly back, though I could also tell he tried to hold back. I turned the kick into a backflip and landed right beside Raph, who stared at me as if I had gone cuckoo. I just laughed.

“Impressive block,” I said laid-back, “I would expect nothing less of my uncle.”

“Uncle?” his voice also cracked as if he was THIS close to completely losing it. “Who me? Your uncle?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I assured him, “you are famous among the New Jersey turtle fam. All your nieces and cousins are so excited to finally meet you! Though for now, it’s just me, cousin Leon.”

The rat knew that was a lie, I knew that it was a lie, and the others knew it was a lie, but what I hoped for is that he would nonetheless have to accept my bullshitting. He didn’t know the others are already aware that we had all been lab rats – no pun intended.

I saw the indecision in his expression. He certainly considered the possibility of the investigative questions of the other three in case he would admit it's impossible for extended family to come by for a casual visit. He clearly wasn’t ready for that talk.

“Oh right, I remember now,” he finally said, “the New Jersey branch, what a funny bunch of…uh…turtles.”

“Yep, all part of the big turtle family,” I agreed.

I could see Raph gesturing at me behind the rat-man. I refused to make an effort and figure out what he was trying to tell me.

“So, what brings you to New York, blue cousin?” he tried to ask as casually as possible.

“Just checking out the area,” I returned, “I have never been outside Jersey and the others were so kind to show me around, uncle.”

“You can call me Splinter,” he offered being (to my delight) embarrassed by that whole ‘uncle’ title.

“Uncle Splinter,” I returned innocently, “so great to be your guest for some time.”

“Oh yeah, and what do you mean by ‘some time’?” Splinter asked not even cloaking his distrust anymore.

“I don’t know yet. I have some business in town, plus I wanna spend some time with my cousins over there.” I pointed at Mikey and Donnie who were still watching from the ramp, also making all kinds of ‘I-can’t-believe-this-guy’ gestures at me.

“Good good,” Splinter nodded absentmindedly, his eyes were still locked on me. “I will leave you boys to it then. It is good meeting you, Leon.”

I gave him a grin that he could interpret in many ways, most of them weren’t pleasant.

“Thanks, uncle Splints, I will see you around,” and with that, I pulled Raph back to the others.

“Don’t look back,” I suggested in a quiet and even tone, “and show me that backflip trick again will ya?”

---

The rest of the day (or evening, it was difficult to tell the time in the sewers) went by without any other accidents. It was weird having no schedule, no expectations, and no responsibilities to keep tabs on. It was even weirder hanging around my past enemies or at least, let’s call them, ‘acquaintances’. They tried their best to not ask me more questions and just roll with my pretending as long as Splinter was around. He had vanished into his tv room for most of the time and I didn’t mind that.

It also wasn’t like they had completely let their guards down either. Donnie had several security cameras on me, surveilling my every move and Raph’s left eye wouldn’t stop twitching. Only Mikey acted like it was just another typical day, maybe for him, it really was?

Just when I had mastered the ollie, Mikey yawned and they, without sharing many words, decided it was time for bed. For an awkward moment, they actually forgot I was still there as they turned to their respective rooms just to stop a heartbeat later. At this point, I was just sitting on my skateboard and tried to figure out the layout of the lair.

“We never really have someone over for a sleep-over,” Mikey explained in an attempt to ease the tension.

“Well, except for April,” Donnie added, and I made a mental note that I should try to get on that human’s good side as she seemed to be the secret boss around here.

“I guess we have enough rooms that we don’t really use. Like that second garage,” Raph offered.

“No, he can’t have that, I need that room to work on my drill,” Donnie protested.

“We don’t even know what your drill does yet, and you could still use the room during the day,” he returned, and his bro quickly gave up arguing – it had been a long day (night?) after all.

“Fine, let’s do that until we figure out something else or until you decide to leave,” Donnie said, giving me the stink eye.

“Talking about being subtle,” I said playing the uber dramatic theatre kid, “but I can take a hint, I will not overstay my welcome. You will see I will be gone never to be seen or heard of again, sooner than you think.”

“Right…” Raph said still looking skeptical, “didn’t you say you had some questions for pops? And now you acted like you were a cousin. I just don’t get you.”

I simply shrugged as a reply and thought to myself ‘good, because it would really be a problem if you would.’

---

When Donnie showed me the lair, I expected the tour to be pretty straightforward and short but the more we walked around the more I felt like I was trapped in a maze. To make matters worse, Donnie pointed out way too many rooms that he declared as ‘off limits’.

“It would be easier to show me just the parts I am actually allowed to enter,” I snarked at him at one point. Donnie rolled his eyes and kept on leading me through narrow tunnels that I guessed belonged and connected to his personal lab. I was really fearing that I would never find my way out of these tunnels ever again when he stopped soon after and gestured to one of the few open holes.

“We are here,” he announced as he switched on the lights and revealed a quite spacious room that was empty except for some mechanical tools lying about. It was definitely a downgrade from my Nexus Hotel suit but better this than being torn apart limb by limb by Big Mama, I guess.

“Great,” I said and added an extra portion of faked enthusiasm. “Bare, concrete floors are my fav.”

“Don’t make yourself too comfortable,” Donnie said. Throughout the last hours and encounters, I started to understand that Donnie almost always sounded annoyed, so it was challenging to figure out whether he just ignored my sarcasm or if he had decided that the best way to respond to that was to return the favor.

“Right,” I walked around a bit more, “I mean it’s fine but do you by any chance have a spare blanket or something?”

I have no idea how it was physically possible, but Donnie pressed one button on his staff and a blanket and cushion appeared from inside of it.

“What is wrong with your stick? Like seriously, what kind of magic did you enchant it with.” I took the blanket and cushion, and both felt nice and soft like they had just been thoroughly washed.

“Don’t insult my tech with your magic non-sense,” Donnie said now sounding seriously appalled. “Anyway, tomorrow we will need to figure out how you can talk to dad without us having to explain how we got into these stupidly dangerous situations and how you’re connected to said stupidly dangerous villains.”

He pressed another button and a cup with something hot inside popped out of the staff. He leisurely took the cup. ‘This is getting ridiculous,’ I thought but decided to not press the matter with the staff.

“Right,” I said and threw the cushion on the floor where it looked rather sad.

“Well, we will figure it out tomorrow and no worries I’ll not kill you all in your sleep, so you don’t need to leave any robot guards right outside my door,” I pointed at a drone that had been flying behind us the whole time. Donnie obviously didn’t believe a word I was saying but he pressed another button, and the drone flew away – or keeping at least as much distance that I wouldn’t constantly see it.

“Greeeaat, if you could now switch the mode from super-lethal to spa-treatments, I would really appreciate it.”

Donnie had left the room before I could even finish my sentence.

---

Under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to find any sleep, but what even counted as ‘normal’ anymore. My sleep schedule had been a mess for quite some time now. In the Battle Nexus, you could never know for sure when it would be your time to enter the arena. So, when I made my great escape with the others, I had already been awake for some time and afterward spent a few additional hours eating and goofing around. At this point, I had just been running on a weird mixture of pizza-induced anxiety, the adrenaline from my recent near-death experiences, and all eight of Big Mama’s eyes that were haunting me whenever I blinked for too long. Even all those things combined couldn’t prevent me from dozing off at times.

You are wondering why I wasn’t getting my proper beauty-zs?

The answer came sneaking into my room hole maybe two or so hours later with careful steps that told whole tales of practiced ninja sneakiness. He moved with incredible speed and efficiency as he circled around the room until I was sure that he was right beside me. I swear I could feel something cool and metallic near my face just a moment before it swished through the air. I quickly opened my eyes and grabbed the small blade that seemed to aim for my face.

The arc of the weapon had been quick though rather imprecise, and the good news was that I could stop it with my left hand. The bad news was that I stopped it with my BARE left hand and that was a damn sharp blade.

Thanks to the dimly lit hallway (and having no door on my room, because duh), I could make out the silhouette of my attacker. They were small, round, and puffs of fur stuck out through their black mask and jumpsuit.

“Aren’t old people supposed to go to bed early?” I gritted through my teeth, feeling the warm blood dripping down my hand as the blade cut into my palm.

He tried to pull his weapon free, but I tightened my grip despite it cutting even deeper as a response.

“Shouldn’t teens like you sleep at least until noon?” Splinter returned and his voice was muffled by his ninja-style ‘disguise’.

“Not when we expect to be lynched,” I spitted back.

“It was never my intent to kill you, I just wanted to make sure you will not hurt my boys,” he said, and to emphasize his words he didn’t try to pull his blade back anymore, just kept it loosely in one hand.

“Your boys, huh.”

Blood trickled down my upper arm. I didn’t let it completely go either.

“Always has been a family of four, hasn’t it?”

“Did Draxum send you?” he asked ignoring my last question.

“I know Draxum but we had, you could call it, a fall-out and honestly I’m just trying to turn a new leave here. Preferably one that gets me gar away from that guy.”

I probably don’t have to tell you that the best way to tiptoe around the truth is to get as close to it as possible.

Splinter hesitated, I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear his breathing getting more slow and steady.

“I want to believe you,” he said after some time passed in silence, “but you also need to understand that Draxum is a ruthless monster, and anything related to him is very very dangerous. If he would ever get his hands on my sons, I would never forgive myself.”

My left hand thumbed numbly echoing the beating of my heart. This rat-man sounded so earnest, his words were soaked in the care and love he had for his family. I felt dizzy and nauseous. I tried to make myself believe it was all that pizza, but I knew it was much more than that. I tightened my grip around the blade with my left and pushed myself a bit more up from the ground with my right elbow.

The momentum caused the tip of the sword to cut into flesh, right under my left eye leaving a diagonal cut where I already had a horizontal scar that had sliced through my eyelid and never completely healed.

It happened too fast for Splinter to react, and I kept on slowly pressing the blade inch by inch with no hesitation in my movements. All this time, I stared directly at him and even though he must have had similar troubles seeing me in the dark he stared right back at me with eyes wide open.

I didn’t flinch, I didn’t blink, ten seconds passed in which in addition to the small stream trickling down my hand, blood now also flowed from my cheekbone to the neck and further. Then I finally released the weapon and Splinter used this opportunity to take a few steps back.

“Are you crazy?! What were you doing?!” he whispered in a not so much quiet and much more panicky tone.

“You wonder what would happen if Draxum got his hands on your precious sons?” I asked him not even trying to lower my voice. It vibrated with the same insanity I felt building up inside of me – a paradoxical whirlwind of emotions that were in no way lessened by the pain of the various fresh cuts. As if I would be bothered by such shallow wounds. As if what I had endured over the last few years had not been much much worse.

“You‘re looking right at it.”

Chapter 11: Big Turtles Can Take Care of Themselves

He didn’t shout, he didn’t point at me screaming ‘youuuu?’, he didn’t even deny it or question my words. Whatever reactions I had thought made sense for this reveal, they did not happen.

There was just more silence and the not-so-complete darkness.

Rather than remaining on the floor and getting red stains on the cushion, I stood up clumsily. Just at this moment, Splinter disappeared, again demonstrating his impressively nimble fur feet.

I sighed and looked at my shredded hand.

‘Need to stop the bleeding,’ I thought.

First things first, I looked for a light switch, which might alert whatever tech Donnie had installed to tackle me when I moved around noticeably, but at this point, I worried much more about leaving a trail of unexplainable blood in his garage.

Looking at the wound in some artificial light (after I stumbled around and just had to guess what the correct button was) I wished I couldn’t see the cuts across my hand in such detail. I scanned the room and there was nothing I could use to treat them except for the blanket, so I picked it up and mumbled to myself, “it will NOT be fun to explain that to the others.”

One part of the sheet I bit down tightly, the other part I pulled at with my unstained hand and I started to slowly tear it apart.

“What are you doing?” Splinter asked behind me and I probably never had turned around so quickly in my life. There he was, still wearing his black jumpsuit. He must have ditched his mask somewhere on his way back here. Instead of a sword, he now held a small box in his hands with a red cross on it.

“Stop that and sit down,” he commanded in full-on parent mode, “and spit out the sheet.”

I tried to think of clever ways to disobey him, but since the sheet tasted terrible and with my other options already exhausted, I slumped down cross-legged.

Splinter did the same opposite me, opened the box, and took out some proper bandages.

He reached for my bloody hand and without touching it directly, he carefully pulled my hand in his direction to examine it.

“Not as deep as I feared,” he determined and rummaged for a small spray and several clean wipes.

“This might sting a moment,” he warned and began cleaning and disinfecting the cuts. I was used to taking care of my own wounds and I had picked up a few tricks during my training with Usagi, but Splinter worked with such precision and efficiency I had never witnessed before. Maybe this was the result of being a parent and having to deal with all the bumps and boo-boos for over a decade. As he was bandaging my hand and the quiet became too much to bear, I said: “You seem awfully calm about this situation.”

For only a heartbeat, Splinter paused. He kept his focus on my hand.

“You are still young, so you might not understand. When you have lived as long and seen some pretty crazy things as I have, it will take a lot to surprise you.”

He cut the bandages and tied the ends together into a little knot that looked like a butterfly. Then he turned his head up for the first time and studied my face.

“We also need to take care of the wound on your cheek. I will need to come a bit closer for that.” Splinter didn’t formulate this as a question, but a ‘are you okay with this?’ was implied. My first instinct was to nod, then seeing how weirdly adorable his last bandage turned out I answered:

“It’s fine, I can take care of this by myself, just give me the box.”

He didn’t seem offended by that answer and more like he had expected something like this.

“Yes, yes, big turtles like you can take care of themselves, eh?” he returned in a mocking tone and chuckled a little. He helped me nonetheless by giving me everything I needed to clean the cut and told me how to properly put on the band-aid.

“There, all done,” he said sounding satisfied, and put utensils back into the box. I examined the bandages on my hand and thought of the care with which Splinter spun them around, trying to cause as little pain in the process as possible. It made me realize a thing or two.

“I really believed you snuck in here to get rid of me,” Splinter stopped in his task and his ears moved back and forth as if they were not sure they had heard me correctly. Before I could stop myself, I continued: “But now I know that I have been wrong. You didn’t swing your weapon to attack me, you just unsheathed it to have it ready.”

He finished packing everything up and studied me as if he was searching for something on my face and I wasn’t sure he found it.

“Admitting mistakes shows strength in character. I must say I have also misjudged you. I thought you were all talk and no action,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what exactly he meant by that, and I didn’t want to press the topic. (I also enjoyed taking the compliment too much to potentially oppose it.)

So, there we were. A rat-man and a banged-up turtle sitting in a garage. Many questions came rushing into my head and I tried to order them and figure out what it was exactly I wanted to know when Splinter decided to be the one to start.

“I remember you,” he said, clearly struggling with finding the right words and expressing them out loud. I didn’t immediately catch on to what he was trying to tell me.

“You mean in the Battle Nexus? Are you watching the matches regularly?” I asked.

“What? No!”

My question must have caught him off-guard because he implored with a frightened undertone: “Have you been to the Battle Nexus?”

And right after he waved his hand dismissively and added: “Wait, that’s not important now and I’m not sure I want to know.”

He shifted around switching from sitting on his knees to cross-legged. I clenched his hands into fists and opened them again. I could tell he was readying the words in his mind so I pressed my lips together and waited.

“You probably don’t remember, I mean, how could you, you were so small,” he said wistfully, and his gaze went through me focusing on nothing in particular as he recalled the past.

“You all kept me company in my cage while Draxum had worked on his evil masterplans or whatever it was he attempted to do.”

He pointed at my face and said: “I could never forget them. The red stripes on that tiny turtle’s face. I called you ‘Green Number 1’. Red was ‘Green Number 2’, purple was ‘Green Number 3’, and orange, well you get the idea.”

With my right hand, I moved to the area around my unharmed eye while my thoughts went into hyper-mode. Draxum had never told me that before the mutation, the test subjects had already met or, even more unbelievable, that Splinter had such attachments to them…to us?

The more I thought about this the more frustrated I felt.

A question that had been pushed into a secluded section of myself now flooded my mind and came rushing from my lips like a tidal wave.

“Then why,” I said, and I tried to interlock his eyes with mine because I wanted to witness his reaction and not miss even a second of it. “If you knew there were four of us, why did you leave with only three?”

His face revealed several emotions, not in a clear-cut order and more like he couldn’t grasp either of them. There was surprise (probably because he thought I hadn’t been aware of that), there was shock (as he recalled the events leading to his mutation), there was doubt (I assume he considered the possibility of me inventing all this on the spot), and then there was sadness.

Finally, there was defeat.

“It all happened so fast,” he said in a mournful tone, “and you had been all scattered around. In the few moments I had, I couldn’t find you in the rubble. I…”

I could tell he wanted to apologize and that was the last thing I wanted to hear right now. Mostly because I would’ve no idea how to handle something I had believed impossible for such a long time.

“I don’t care about that,” I interrupted him, and I couldn’t convince anyone including myself that that was true.

“As if I would have wanted to grow up in some sewers, hiding from humans all the time.”

I knew my words were razor-sharp stabs that hit him exactly where they hurt the most, but my brain went on autopilot and didn’t care for any casualties.

“We both just confirmed that someone we thought was dead is still alive, nothing more, nothing less.” I couldn’t even meet his eyes. Instead, I looked at my odachi that was lying near my pillow.

‘I could always vanish,’ I thought, ‘leaving before this whole mess gets too complicated.’

“If this is how you see it, I will respect your decision,” he said, and the awful thing was, he sounded so sincere, I had no doubt he really did accept my godawful response.

He also must have followed my eyes since he continued: “That is some fine weapon, you got there. The boys keep complaining that my lectures are – as they call it – ‘boring af’. Maybe having you around will motivate them to take their training more seriously.”

I was grateful that he changed the subject and even tried to sound more cheerful (well, as cheery as somebody could seem after such a conversation).

“I’ll see if I can cram it in between my skateboarding lessons,” I returned in my own attempt to let this matter rest for now.

“Good good,” he said and got up. “Keep the box, I get the feeling you are one who gets himself into trouble quickly.”

I grinned mischievously and waved at him tellingly with my bandaged hand, “whatever gives you THAT idea.”

Splinter looked at me one final time. He smiled back, but the smile didn’t go beyond that. His round eyes shimmered as if he had to hold back tears.

He turned abruptly and as he left the room switched the lights off. In the dark, I just lay on the floor for a long time, replaying the talk we just had in my head while subconsciously feeling for the band-aid on my cheek before I finally fell asleep.

Chapter 12: Lessons in Breakfasts, Heroisms, and Food Preparations – In That Order

Notes:

This fic is now just a few views away from reaching 5000 hits! That is insane! Thank you all so much!! This chapter turned out much longer than I anticipated and is quite a change of pace from the previous one. I tried to challenge myself to write something that feels more like an actual episode from the show while still following my AU prompt. The next updates will be more original and shorter, I hope :,D Either way, I hope you enjoy reading them!

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead,” a voice abruptly pulled me away from dreamland back to the hard bare floor of reality. Mikey hovered over my face and pressed something cold against my unharmed cheek. I struggled to get up and as I sat upright, I realized it was a ceramic bowl that was to the brim filled with something that was suspiciously colorful.

“I brought you froot loops cause I wasn’t sure what you would like if you are someone who likes more savor breaky or sweet or just some coffee so I thought ‘everyone likes froot loops’ can’t go wrong with that.” It was amazing how this explanation bubbled out of him in one single breath.

I took the bowl, still examining it skeptically. I had been aware of the most common human foods even if I had never tried them before. This one I had never heard of and honestly, it looked more like an art experiment gone wrong. I lifted the spoon to poke at some of the colored rings floating on top.

“And you are sure this is edible?” I asked. Mikey acted as if I had just told him something so horrific and unbelievable that he had to sit down to process it.

“You never had froot loops? You poor guy! Your taste buds don’t even know what they have missed until now,” and he pushed his own bowl uncomfortably close to my face.

“Oh please, froot loops are not even that good,” Donnie said and walked into the garage, himself holding another cup with a different design than the one yesterday.

“I don’t want to hear that from bros who only ever drink that yucky brown bean juice,” Mikey returned and frowned hard at the cup.

“Oh yeah? At least coffee is a natural product, nothing like those artificial loops that could as well be made out of cardboard,” Donnie returned similarly offended though it was obvious that this is a skit they had performed a million times and weren’t really serious about.

“Let’s let Leo decide for himself what he likes,” Mikey said and looked again at me expectantly. I still wasn’t 100% sold but I took a spoon and shoved it into my mouth. They weren’t bad per se, but they were a sugary overkill that made it hard to chew normally. I had a hard time swallowing and one loop almost got stuck in my airway causing me to cough a few times.

“Oh he so hates it,” Donnie commented contently between coffee slurps. A robot arm popped out from his back, the claw holding another cup and the metal arm extended towards me.

“Flush it down with some REAL breakfast treat.”

“Hey,” Mikey protested, “you are just using him to win this argument.”

I took the cup and since I still coughed, I gladly took a mouthful of it. The literal sugar coat on my tongue got instantly flushed out of my mouth and was replaced by a bitter aftertaste that reminded me of burned wood and some sort of black tea herbs. It was one of those contrasts that really didn’t go well together because of their intense aromas.
“Well,” Donnie said expectantly.

“What do you think?” also pressed Mikey.

“I think…” I said as I put down both the bowl and the cup trying not to gag, “I think that froot loops and coffee don’t go well together.”

“Oh, come on,” both moaned.

“Serves you right,” Raph’s voice came from the door sounding amused. The heavy eye sacks told me that he also didn’t get much sleep.

“You tried to settle your argument with April once and she said the same. Just let it go. Plus,” he added super quick, “sandwiches are the way better choice because you can eat them any time of the day.”

Mikey and Donnie now circled the big guy and countered him by saying things like “sandwiches don’t count as breakfast,” and “eating in the morning is so inefficient.”

This argument went back and forth for a few more minutes during which I remained sitting a bit off to the side and munched the loops (they got better the more I drowned them in lots of milk). I also used the time to move the pillow over some blood drops on the floor and the sheet over the red cross box.

But, of course, there were some changes I knew they would eventually notice. Raph, with the breakfast discourse still ongoing, looked up, squinted at me, and was the first to ask: “That band-aid in your face, that wasn’t there yesterday?” He made his observation sound like a question, and I used the opportunity to ask in return: “What are you talking about? Of course, I already had it.”The other two now also paused their brotherly argument to look at me.

“And I’m pretty sure your left hand wasn’t bandaged,” Donnie said in a rare agreement with Raph.

“I got hurt during my last Battle Nexus fight, haven’t you noticed?” Instead of hiding it, I stretched out my hand as if to say: ‘See? You just didn’t have a close look at it’.

“Well,” Donnie said and opened on his arm-pad thingy a sort of see-through screen. “my security cameras showed no suspicious activities in any of the hallways and the motion sensors also didn’t pick anything up. He didn’t leave his room and I don’t keep any spar band-aids in my garage so he must have had it before.”

I slurped the rest of my breakfast milk thinking that a) Splinter must know a way to sneak by all of Donnie’s security setup, b) they still haven’t figured out that I could portal anywhere I wanted anyway and c) that the sugared milk had been the best part of Mikey’s breakfast treat. But who am I to contradict them on such a perfect setup for a lie.
“See, I told you,” I said as I got up and went to pick up my sword, “you worry about nothing. So, what’s on today’s agenda?”

Two hours later, I wished I had never asked that. We were over one hour into a stakeout and even though the container was almost empty it still smelled so bad I believed my nose would never be the same after today.

---

“Remind me again, why are we cramped into garbage bins in the middle of town?” I asked Raph with whom I shared my bin, the other two had taken the container next to us.

“I told you, we are here to confirm sightings of a new mutant in town. Donnie saw several local reports that say something weird is going on in that circus,” and as he said that raised his head out of the container and pointed to the colorful tent whose many flags waved above the treetops of a nearby park. I couldn’t make out much else as it has already been dark outside when we moved out of the sewers (I guess they really were usually awake at night and slept during the day).

“That much a gather,” I said and squatted back down into the garbage stink. “I still don’t understand what that has to do with you all?”

Raph gave me one of his ‘I-am-so-done-with-you’ looks that I started to receive on a regular basis.

“You got a lot of that ‘extra evil apple juice’ as a kid, huh,” he shot at me.

“Nah, I just got fed years’ worth of torture and sarcasm,” I fired back. It was intended as a joke, but Raph got a weird look on his face and said:
“Anyway, we are the ‘Mad Dogz’. We are heroes in the making. We try to do good and we do good by taking care of mutants like us and by…STOP LAUGHING.”

I had giggled through his whole explanation and had to catch my breath before saying in-between laughs: “I can’t help it! ‘Mad Dogz’ is such a dumb name for a group of turtles. Who came up with that?”

“I did,” he said in a huff, “and everyone thinks it’s a rad team name.”

“Sure,” I said in a tone that made clear that I ‘totally’ thought so, too.

Before he could say anything more in defense of his really not so ‘rad’ team name, Donnie’s voice came from – what I had learned was – a walkie-talkie. It was some kind of magic machine that transmitted voices, similar to the mythic shards through which yokai could communicate with each other.

“My scanners just picked up two unusually big heat signatures that left the tent to the east,” the walkie-talkie announced.

“Great job, Don,” Raph said into the device, “that means they take the long way through the park, let’s catch them before they reach an open street.”

I didn’t really care about chasing after some humans or mutants or whatever they were, but I was glad that this meant no more stomach-churning stink. We tumbled out of our hideouts and moved quickly towards the direction Donnie pointed us at. Everyone tried to move in the shadows provided by the night and the scarce park lanterns and while Mikey and Donnie made an impressive effort, Raph definitely stuck out more simply because of his sheer size.

We rushed through greenery that was mostly abandoned during this time of night when Donnie stopped and put on his glasses or ‘goggles’ (as he would later correct me).
“They are just ahead,” he confirmed.

“Perfect,” Raph motioned for all of us to come closer to him.

“We will circle them, Donnie and Mikey will go ahead, I will sneak up on them along with the evil twin.”

“Your naming conventions need some serious work,” I complained but followed red through the bushes and up in the treetops. Only a short period of time later, we caught up to them. I thought at first, they were just two very bulky humans before noticing the yellow and red shells covering their bodies, the pinchers they had for hands, and the horizontal eyes popping out of holes in their shellheads.

“Looks like they mutated with some sort of crab,” Raph hushed nearby me having made similar observations. We moved in closer waiting for Donnie and Mikey to give us a signal upfront. This sneaking around and waiting started to get on my nerves, so I moved closer to the branch that Raph was hiding at and whispered: “Hey, what did the wandering crab say when it made its way back to the ocean?”

Raph had never looked at me with such disbelief. “Please don’t tell me you are making puns right now?!”

I just laughed quietly and said: “Long time no sea!”

I was sure the big guy wondered how hard he needed to smash his head against the tree to knock himself unconscious.

“I’m just crabbin’ ya,” I nudged him.

“I swear if you do not stop – duck!”

“Ducks are no crabs, that’s not really funny,” I said before realizing that something flew directly towards us, and it was merely by instinct that I let myself fall down from the branch and landed somehow safely on the ground. Raph was hanging from the branch and being the worried turtle that I was called up to him:

“Looks like you are in a pinch, haha get it?” and receiving no immediate reaction, I said: “Just let go, dude!”

I only heard some grunts in reply. Not far from our position I saw the two crab mutants running in our direction. They must have shot at us with whatever it was that we had just narrowly avoided.

“What are you? Giant turtles walking on two legs?” One said in a high-pitched voice.

“That’s just weird,” the other agreed in a deeper crackle.

“The pot calling the kettle,” I said dismissively, and in the corners of my periphery, I saw Mikey and Donnie sneaking up behind them.

“Going for a late-night walk in the big city? Not dressed like that I hope?” I asked to buy them some time.

The two were obviously offended by that and gestured with their pinchers at their outfits. “Those are our performance outfits! They are fabulous! It’s not our fault they don’t fit anymore cause we now look like THAT,” and they pointed at each other’s faces.

Orange and purple had readied their weapons, so I said, “Need some getting used to, huh. Maybe this will help,” and I took a step back as Mikey threw his kusari-fundo-chain in a long circle around the crab duo. When they screamed “what is doing on?” at almost the same time, they were already wrapped up nicely.

Raph finally jumped down from the tree and shouted proudly, “nice work, Mikey!”

He drew the mystic chains tighter and beamed, “couldn’t have done it without you two’s distraction.”

Raph and I threw a glance at each other, unsure how to reply at first. I did him a favor and agreed, saying “sure, exactly how we planned it,” and gave red a clasp on his spikey back.

“We are not done yet!” The slightly more cranky crab-man declared. They pushed with such brute force against the chains that Mikey couldn’t tighten them fast enough and as soon as they gave way, they jumped out of their confinement with impressive agility.

“We don’t know what your deal is, turtle freaks, but we decided we don’t like you,” said one.

“Yeah, and we think your puns are stupid,” the other added.

I drew my sword and pointed it at them, “how dare you! Maybe you are just too stupid to appreciate them!”

“You need to learn to take criticism because you clearly suck!” They said again in unison. They held their arms up, their pinchers detached from their arms, and flew with insane speed toward us.

“We need a new plan,” Raph said as we all dodged and jumped around for our dear lives.

“Right, right,” I said, and with a swing summoned a portal beside me.

“Is this part of a plan?” Donnie asked before getting hit right in the stomach, which looked rather painful.

“Yeah, sure,” I said and grabbed into the blue swirl. I pulled out a can of soda and while avoiding the pinchers made my way to a nearby tree. Taking cover behind it, I leaned against the trunk, opened the can, and took a sip.

“Ah, that hits the spot,” I said satisfyingly.

“Are you for REAL?” I heard Raph screaming from somewhere nearby.

“I was thirsty!” I protested as the others joined me for cover behind the tree, “and besides, this is YOUR mission. I’m more like…a new apprentice, and I am very new to this ‘hero’ thing. So, I will be just watching for now, alright?”

I chucked my soda. At this point, I was ready to call it a day, and if I would have it my way, I would cut up those two into nice chunks of seafood and be done with it. But I already knew enough about the ‘Mad Dogz’ to assume that they would not be okay with that kind of plan.

“I guess that makes sense,” said Mikey, “could I also have some lemonade?”

“Sure,” I made the portal again, grabbed a can, and threw it to Mikey.

“Awesome, thanks,” he said happily before flushing down the whole thing.

Donnie had sat down and was fiddling with his mystic…no wait…technology-based arsenal, also appearing disinterested in this whole situation. Raph face-palmed himself, took a few deep breaths, and then asked: “Does anyone have any ideas how we could catch them?”

Donnie groaned theatrically and summoned from his – totally magical – staff a net. “We could try it with this, it’s designed to weigh ten times more once you have thrown it,” he said sounding not very enthusiastic about his own suggestion.

“Awesome,” the big guy attempted to encourage him, “us three will try to distract them while you fly up with your jet-pack to get this on them!”

At this point, I had a sudden realization: there were no pinchers flying past us anymore. I leaned further left to take a peek from behind the tree. When I finally registered what was happening the two crab mutants had already vanished completely and I could only point at the orange portal on the ground right where I had last seen them until that also closed in a red flash.

“Where did they go?” Mikey asked frowning and walking up to the spot that was now just plain-old regular grass.

“Okay, that’s not funny,” Donnie sighed.

“Yeah, where did you take them?” Raph asked and since I had been lost in thought wondering who had access to portal-tools that could be responsible for this, I didn’t immediately realize that they were indeed talking to me.

“You mean me?” I waved first at myself and then at the area Mikey inspected, “you seriously think I did that?”

“Based on a simple process of elimination it can only be you,” Donnie explained.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, sure as if I’m the only yokai who can summon portals, you know how common one-time summoning chips are in the hidden city?”

“No, why should we know that? You could also tell us anything about the hidden city and we would need to take your word for it, which in general, I don’t,” Donnie’s voice got more and more dismissive.

“I thought you were the smart one,” I returned more and more irritated, “what would I gain from randomly portal them out of here, plus the mystic hue was completely different.”

“We don’t know why you would do that, but you also don’t give us any reason to take your word for it,” Raph replied in Donnie’s turn. My pride was taking all these blows not all too well. A part of me had enough and wanted to turn to my old comfort zone, that being winning by exploiting my enemies’ weaknesses or just getting the heck out of here.

“I don’t need nor want your trust, if you don’t believe me that’s YOUR problem,” I returned.

“I see you like to pass any responsibility on to others as soon as a situation gets hairy, so you don’t have to deal with it,” Donnie sneered at me.

I swung my sword in a flourishing arc until its pointy end was only inches from Donnie’s face, whose expression turned from self-complacent to shock in the blink of an eye. I admittedly felt some vindication when he flinched as I cut into the air right beside him to create my own portal.

“Fine, I will investigate that red portal by myself then, keep playing heroes up here all you want,” I said and was one step into the portal when a hand more than two times my size grabbed me by the wrist.

“Wait,” Raph said, and his tone was not commanding, not demeaning, not accusatory. I didn’t close the portal, but I stopped in my track and turned around.

“We went too far. Please stay,” he said in a disarmingly honest voice. I got myself out of his grab – to be fair he also didn’t hold me as tight as he could have – stepped away from the portal and let it close.

I looked down at my left hand, at the bandage, and thought of the bad aftertaste I still got from lying to Splinter and that had a way worse and more persistent flavor than coffee or froot loops.

“I also,” I began and gulped. This was way harder than I anticipated. From behind red and purple, I could see a little orange head nodding encouragingly at me.

“I also went too far. I didn’t take this seriously and that was wrong, I guess.”

Mikey gave me two thumbs up without the others noticing and I had to concentrate hard not to blush from embarrassment. Donnie looked up from his devices for once and his constant skeptical frown eased a little. Raph, I began to understand, was a fellow who openly carried his emotions around with him. He gleamed proudly at me and gave me a clap on the back, similar to the one I had given him, only that his one almost knocked me off my feet.

“Becoming a hero is not easy, we all have lots to learn,” he said and shot an ‘especially-you’ look at Donnie.

“We will investigate this tomorrow together,” Raph emphasized the last word and added, “if you know a good place to start just let us know.”

---

Back in the lair, there wasn’t much that I could do with everyone going their respective ways for the rest of the night, so I returned after getting lost a few times (please don’t tell Donnie) to my garage home and went through some of my old training units. The routine and the physical exhaustion helped me to get my mind off things for a while and I was in a much better mood when I ventured into the lair again to look for a shower. On my way, I met Mikey who carried another bowl with him.

“Just the turtle I was looking for,” he said.

“Please don’t tell me those are more froot loops,” I said and made a grimace, thinking that I have had enough sugar for the whole week.

“Nah, just veggies,” he turned the bowl so I could see what it contains, and it was full of carrots, onions, tomatoes, and other fresh greens that I did not recognize.

“As your personal advisor, Dr. Positive, I highly recommend some cooking to bond with the whole family,” he put on some big and round glasses and a more serious tone.

“Dr. Positive? What? Who? I, uh, I was actually just looking for a shower,” I said pointing in several directions at once since I had no idea where exactly I was and what Mikey’s whole deal is.

He just nodded and said: “That’s alright, I will show you the showers and once you are finished you can come to the kitchen right away, they are pretty close to each other.”
Half an hour later I stood in the kitchen, holding a knife wondering how and why I got there. “Can you take care of the vegetables? Just cut them into small cubes,” Mikey said while rummaging through the various cabinets collecting pots and other ingredients.

I was sure I had never agreed to this. I was also sure I would never be able to talk my way out of this, so I grabbed a tomato and diced it.

“I sometimes help out in the restaurant of an old friend of mine,” I said whimsically after I had moved on to the peppers, thinking back to my last visit to Usagi. It felt like years.
“That friend of yours is a cook? I would love to meet them someday!” Mikey said. He stirred a big pot of pasta and hummed a tune to himself.

“Maybe you will, he might be able to help us with our current problem,” I said. I had considered going to him earlier today but disappearing without a proper explanation wasn’t a good idea right now. My mind wandered further off and for an instance, I returned to the moment I opened that portal after I had argued with Donnie and Raph.

‘Why did I stop?’ I wondered to myself. ‘Why did I stay?’

In the back of my mind, the beginning of an answer started to take shape, but I couldn’t wrap my fingers around it.

“I really didn’t do it,” I said in a slightly softer tone. I didn’t stop with my task and continued, “that wasn’t my portal, but no matter how many times I tell them that, they won’t believe me.”

“I do,” Mikey said without missing a beat while adding all of my already prepped vegetables to a pot, “and they will, too. They just need more time.”

I absent-mindedly stirred the tomato sauce that the little guy had prepared and smelled really good. Mikey must have noticed my expression because he said proudly, “looks delicious, right? It’s my veggie Bolognese special. I stopped adding any meat months ago and they didn’t notice. You just need to know how to spice it up. I even add some of the carrots that Raph hates so much,” he hushed the last words and wore a smile that lay somewhere between pride and mischief.

I really started to like this one. There was much more to him than I had previously expected.

“So, you keep adding the carrots because you believe Raph will one day actually like them?” I asked him and saw that he got the double meaning.

“Yeah,” he said throwing into the pot a final pinch of salt and pepper, “I’m sure of it.”

Then he shoved a handful of plates and cutlery into my hands and said: “All that’s left is to set the plates and call the others. It’s time for a family dinner!”

Chapter 13: Fist Bump - It's a Mutant Thing Now

Notes:

(The author of this fic has gone through some character development of their own and has realized that their writing can be easier read when separated into small paragraphs and text lines with spaces in-between. She apologizes for any inconvenience the previous design might have caused and hopes that through this minor yet significant formal change the reader will find the text more enjoyable. These changes will retroactively also be applied to the previous chapters. Sincerely – Jazz)

No, I will not elaborate on that dinner. Despite Mikey hyping up the event, it turned out to consist of small talk, lots of chewing in awkward silence and Raph examining his portion closely each time he noticed some small orange bits in the tomato sauce.

We better fast-forward to the next morning when we met at the skating ramp to decide on our next moves in the portal-napping case.

“Come on Leo,” Mikey urged me on in an overly understanding tone, “share with the group what you told me yesterday.”  

“I would have come to that, sheesh,” I said feeling only mildly self-aware. “Anyway, most of my contacts are a no-go but there is one yokai who I’m sure could have more information and who hates Draxum’s guts just as much as we do so chances are that he won’t rat out us.”

Donnie and Raph looked at each other, it was clear they had a talk after the last mission and reached a decision.

“Alright, and where do we find this yokai?” Raph asked warily.

“Where do you find any yokai?” I asked back and without waiting for an answer grabbed my sword, “in the hidden city of course.”

---

 

“Home sweet home,” I declared when my portal spat us out at the outskirts of our designated district. Even more than the dizzying colors, sounds, and smells that were so familiar to me, I took in the others’ reactions. After all, they were entering the city for the very first time (Draxum’s lab didn’t really count in my opinion).

“This is insane,” Donnie gasped.

“It’s like one of those street art projects come to life,” Mikey said with eyes sparkling with pure wonder.

Raph just nodded in agreement since his mouth stood wide open.

“Cannot give you the full tour now,” I said and scanned the alleyway for anything suspicious allowing them to be amazed for a little bit longer. The streets in the distance were full of yokai going about their day but nobody took notice of us, for now at least.

Mikey clearly wanted to sprint right into the crowd and see everything there was to see, but he shook his head instead and unzipped his backpack.

“I figured we would need some disguises,” he said with a flourish, “so I packed us some color-coded hoodies!” and he pulled out some clothes in varying hues and sizes. He distributed one to each of us. Mine was in a dark blue and reached almost to my knees. Despite the enormous size, it fitted my upper body well, which I hadn’t expected considering that they were tailored for shell-less humans. The hoodie had a logo printed on the front that read ‘New York Daves’ with a face of a human man in the middle and right under it said: ‘I am Dave.’

“I have questions,” I said while the others were changing and complimenting Mikey on his fashion taste. He himself was sporting – to nobody’s surprise – an orange hoodie with some kind of horse printed on the back that had a shimmering horn (this confused me since I was pretty sure upper-world horses had no such things).

“It looks good on you,” Mikey nodded in my direction and gave himself a pad on the shoulder, “what is it you wanted to ask me?”

“Well, I am just wondering. Who is Dave? Is he like…the owner of New York?”

Donnie and Raph burst into shrill laughs like I had told them the best joke of the year.

Mikey pierced them with a look before answering: “It’s a basketball team, they’re called the ‘Daves’ because, well, it’s a bit complicated.”  

“You have to pronounce it right,” Donnie interjected being the first to recover from their laughing fit, “it’s baskÉtball.”

“Bas-,” I began to repeat the term, but Mikey quickly put his hands over my mouth shouting “no!” to me and turning to Donnie said: “Don’t teach him wrong things!”

“Scoff,” Donnie said instead of making a scoffing sound.

“Quit fooling around and hoodie up,” Raph scolded all of us but Donnie in particular.

“Try to not get lost in the crowd and keep a low profile,” I told them, pulled my hood as deep into my face as possible, and motioned them to follow me.

---

Usagi’s stall hadn’t changed a bit. I mean, why should it? Since my last visit it had only been a few months at best, but to me, it felt like years. Very, very long years. We had to wait at a moderate distance until four seats were unoccupied. We sat right at his counter keeping our hoods up and nervously wiggling around on our stools. The yokai around us didn’t mind us much and except for the occasional eyeing of our unusual get-ups, we seemed to blend in well enough.

You couldn’t fool Usagi though. The moment we sat down, he placed a cup of my favorite tea in front of me and gave me a short nod that was both understanding and commanding. In Usagi-talk this meant: ‘I roughly know what is going on’ and ‘We will talk later’.

I gestured that we would take four house specials and grabbed in my side pockets for more than enough currency (courtesy of Big Mama). Seeing that much money seemed to irritate him so I gave him a wink hoping he could see it in the shadow of my hood, and he swiftly swiped the gold from the counter.

With speed and efficiency that never ceased to amaze me, Usagi readied our orders. Freshly made noodles, soup stock, and fried pieces of unidentifiable but tasty chunks on the side came together for a culinary experience. As he was digging in, Mikey made noises that shouldn’t be possible for any living being. Raph explained in a hushed tone that those were Mikey’s usual sound effects when he ate something that was especially tasty.

Usagi collected our empty dishes with a satisfying look and walked into the back of his kitchen shouting, “Neka, I will take a short break, take care of the next orders.”

From the backdoor came a cat-yokai. Her black and brown fur was well-kept and had a natural shine to it. She wore the shop’s uniform: a short black kimono that had the restaurant’s title in calligraphic strokes on the back. Her large eyes contrasted her pupils which were just thin, black slits.

“Sure thing boss,” she purred and with almost the same elegance as the rabbit turned to the counter to serve the new customers.

Usagi vanished into the door where his assistance had come from. Mikey made a move to get up, but I signaled him to wait a bit longer.

Counting to thirty in my head I glided from my stool and passed through the crowd in a zigzag line, up and down the streets. We took a confusing detour just to end up at the other side of the one-story house that had Usagi’s restaurant on the opposite side. Knocking our old signal on the wall, a window slid open, and we jumped in. Raph barely passed through the window without making a new hole in the wall.

Light only seeped through the stained glass from which we had entered the room. Otherwise, there were some stools and a cupboard that was not just collecting dust and cobwebs but contained – as only I and a selected few were aware of – his most precious weapons. Some had been in his family for generations. Yokai only knew them through whispers and black market fabulations, as mere legends among legendary metal work.  

I pushed back my hood and couldn’t suppress a crooked smile. The rabbit’s whole posture changed, from upright and alert, to relaxed yet cautious. The corners of his mouth curled slowly upward.

“When you said you wanted to confront your master, I didn’t expect you would blow up his lab and move to the world up top,” he said mockingly.

“Well, you know how it is with these things. You want to have a talk and in the next moment, everything is on fire,” I returned equally amused.

“Becoming a Battle Nexus’ champion, insulting Big Mama in front of her own audience, and disappearing again was also all part of your plan?” he asked and leaned against the wall behind him eyeing all four of us.

“Someone in here kept track of me,” I said tiptoeing around his question. I put one hand on Raph’s shoulder and the other on Donnie’s and continued, “anyway, let me introduce to you Draxum’s other beta experiments.”

Red and purple also pushed their ‘disguises’ back and waved hesitantly.

“It’s great to make your acquaintance, Usagi, Sir?” Raph said not doing well under his razor-sharp gaze.

“Fascinating, they look like you but also, different.” Usagi looked them up and down then something swished past us so quick I couldn’t even make out what it was. Raph, Donnie, and I moved our heads in sync to the left and saw a small dagger stuck in the wall right beside Mikey’s hand.

“This one tried to touch my things. Tell him to not do that,” he said steely. 

Judging from Mikey’s position he had just been about to grab one of the ornate handles on the cupboard. Without turning my back to Usagi I walked to Mikey, and gently pushed him away from the antique.

“That one is just curious, you know, like the raccoons from district one,” I said and laughed disarmingly, but he simply kept staring at me unamused.

I cleared my throat and continued: “Long story short, I am lying low at these guys’ place for now and help them out in return. We are looking for someone who can create orange portals that spark with red energy. Anyone or anything coming to mind?”

The rabbit got lost in thoughts for a few heartbeats. I fiddled with his dagger, its blade was as sharp as my friend’s mind. If he didn’t have a lead, my other contacts – who I didn’t trust squad – would have been useless anyway.

“Red sparks you say, that is curious,” he mused.

“Yeah, nothing like those portal-chips. It also felt more powerful than common one-way tools,” I added.

“And you are sure that Draxum,” Usagi began and knew he didn’t need to finish the sentence.

“Not that I know,” I affirmed.

“There have been no new cases of portal-jackers recently as well,” he added.

“Portal-jackers?” Donnie asked like both words didn’t make much sense but together seemed even more ridiculous.

“Pain-in-my-a-jackers, that’s what they are,” I groaned and explained: “They are like thieves, who tend to steal from you right when you go through a portal. They intercept the mystic wavelengths and… “ I realized this might all be a bit too much and would not help my attempt in showing them that I don’t have much to hide.

“The energy was way off,” I said to Usagi directly again.

“I’m sorry,” he said firmly, “in that case I cannot help you. But…”

“…you will keep an eye and a floppy ear out?” I finished his sentence.

“That would already help us a lot,” I said not adding that aside from this case, I had been itching to have a direct informant in the hidden city.

“Take this then,” he said and from the inside of the long sleeves of his working uniform produced something shiny that he tossed to Raph. When the big guy held it up, I recognized it as a communication shard.

“With the money, you gave me just now that’s the least I can provide you with.” The suggestion of a smile returned.

“Awesome, thanks,” I said and looked it over as Raph had passed it on to me. I pressed it uncomfortably close to Donnie’s face.

“See this? This is way better than your talkie-walkies.”

“It’s walkie-talkie,” Donnie said unimpressed and turned his head away, “still not as flawless as my tech.”

“Be careful when you are moving around,” Usagi waved at the ceiling, “up there. Just yesterday, I heard rumors of humans who were interested in mystic artifacts.”

“Aren’t there always reports of humans who come close to some yokai secrets?” I asked. I tucked the shard away in one of my pouches after showing it to Mikey.

“Yes, and it’s a good thing they always either go insane or disappear before they get TOO close,” he said gravely.

I whistled.

“The Council of Heads is keeping busy, huh? Not that this concerns anyone of us,” I said and shot Usagi a meaningful look.

“I need to go back to my kitchen,” was the only thing he returned and gestured to the window.  One by one we made our exit.

I was the last one to leave and I watched him until it was my turn.

Usagi hadn’t moved from his spot, but I could tell that there were still many things he wanted to ask me. I could tell because I felt the same.

“We will keep in touch, alright?” I asked and threw his dagger back at him. For anyone with fewer skills, this could have ended very badly. But he snatched it mid-air and twisted the blade in his fingers.

“Yeah, don’t let your weapons get dull when you don’t have me around to sharpen them,” he said and pointed with the dagger not at the sword at my back but at my head.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten,” I said and as I swung myself through the frame added, “thanks for the tea.”

---

After finding a lonely spot in some shady back alley, I portalled us back to the lair.

“Well, that was a bust,” Donnie groaned and handed his disguise back to Mikey.

“That soup was DELICIOUS though,” orange said. He seemed overall to be quite satisfied with this trip.

“It was worth a shot,” Raph said, “and who knows, maybe he will contact us soon?”

My mind had taken a stroll into several places at once when Raph asked me that, so I needed a moment to collect myself before answering:
“Yes, he will let us know. Usagi hears all kinds of rumors at his shop and now he knows what to look out for,” I said and checked out my lent hoodie.

“Hey, can I keep this?” I asked trying to not sound too hopeful.

“Sure,” Mikey said and added, “that one was from Raph’s old stash, and it doesn’t fit him anymore.”

Despite his red bandana, Raph’s blush was clearly visible.

“It’s not my fault I only get more muscles from those HIIT exercises,” he mumbled.

“That gives me an idea,” Mikey said ignoring Raph’s fluster. “How about some basketball? The playground must be empty by now!”

“Don’t you mean baské-“ I attempted to pronounce it as Donnie had done but again Mikey and Raph jumped at me before I could finish my sentence.

“It’s catching on,” Donnie said with smuggish enthusiasm.

---

Let me tell you. Skating had been fun and all, but basketball is where it’s really at.

Donnie very soon lost his smug when it dawned on him that while I had only moderate successes in skateboard tricks, I seemed naturally good at throwing stuff with dead-point precision. Sure, Mikey had to pause the game dozens of times because I kept forgetting the rules – I would like to see them more as ‘suggestions’ – but overall bouncing a ball around, figuring out a way to move around the other team, searching for good spots to dare a throw, that just felt ‘right’.

When Mikey told me I scored the most out of them all, I held up the basketball like a mighty weapon and declared: “Now I’m the ruler of all the ‘Daves’!”

“Still not a thing,” Donnie protested who had collapsed on the floor. He had also said that he would not move from this spot and that someone needed to carry him home. I wasn’t sure if he was serious since the others just let him lie there.

“That was amazing,” Mikey complimented me, “you were like a blue flash!”

“Blue?” At first, I didn’t know why he would call me that and I wanted to instinctively reach for my blue scarf before remembering that I had lost it during our tete-a-tete with Draxum and Big Mama.

“Because of your clothes?” Raph suggested.

“Oh, right, right,” I felt stupid for forgetting about the hoodie so quickly.

“But you know what else could be blue?!” Mikey asked in a tone that got giddier with each word.

“Oh no, you don’t mean…!” Donnie protested still not moving from the ground.

“A bandana!” Mikey shouted and made a frame with his fingers to look through the square at me. Probably estimating what I would look like with one.  

“We could make you a blue bandana, so you would really look more like a not-so-evil twin!” he said ignoring the others’ skeptical glances.

“No thanks,” I said determined to avoid any eye contact and so instead focused on the basketball and the question if I could balance something big and round on one finger. “You have your cute color schemes going on, but that feels a bit much for me.”

Rather than looking conflated, Mikey shrugged and helping Donnie finally up said: “Eh, you will come around to like it. I will prepare one just in case.”

I was pretty sure I would never come around to it, but I left it at that.

---

On our way back to the lair, we mostly walked in comfortable silence. I practiced dribbling the basketball and after a while, Donnie and Mikey talked about stuff I didn’t understand so I strolled behind them along with Raph.

Having his eyes on purple and orange, he asked rather promptly: “You know what a fist bump is?”

“Uh no, is that some kind of fighting technique?” I tucked the ball under one arm so I could better focus on our conversation.

“Nope, it’s like, huh, it’s difficult to describe. Here, make a fist like that,” and while he said that held up and clenched his right hand. I mimicked the pose.

“Yeah, like that, and now you simply bump them together,” Raph said and did so.

I bumped my fist against his in return, “huh, weird and what does it mean?”

“Something like ‘Hey, good job’,” he explained being aware that he wasn’t a grand master of explanations.

“Hey,” I said while my mind was still negotiating if it was a good idea to change the topic, “I was wondering. Yesterday, you held me back when I was about to leave. I mean, I wouldn’t have been gone forever or anything. It’s just, I didn’t expect you to do that.”

I tried to keep my voice down so Mikey and Donnie couldn’t hear us, thankfully they appeared to be wrapped up in a heated debate about aliens.

Raph scratched his head and his eyes darted left and right while thinking about an answer.

“Well,” he said unsure how to start, “I kept thinking about what happened at Big Mama’s place. I ignored your warning and got my fam into a big mess because of it. I feel like I’m not really good at trusting the right people. And then I figured I shouldn’t trust anyone so I can better protect my bros, but I realized that is also not an idea.”  

I nodded and wanted to tell him that it was only natural to not trust anyone when he pointed at my left hand.

“I know that was dad, you know,” he said also in a hushed tone.

I held up my hand and looked at the bandage, then back at him, and tried to keep my voice down when I asked: “How?”

“I would recognize dad’s butterfly knot anywhere. I hurt myself a lot as a kid, much more so than the others, that’s why I could tell,” he said and his words implied that there was much more to it, but I didn’t press him. It was already a lot to process.

“Whatever you and dad talked about and lead to that injury, I figured you reached some sort of agreement because you were both still here the next morning. If dad was okay with you being in the lair, I also wanted to give you a chance.”

I let the words sink in and tossed the basketball up in the air a few times as we walked.

Raph proved to be much more perceptive than I had given him credit for. Just like Mikey, there was more to him than met the eye and I wondered if Draxum had ever considered that this is how his experiments would turn out and, in case he would know, if he would be proud of them.

“And you didn’t tell the others?” I asked just to be sure.

“No, it should be up to you to tell them…us…whenever you feel ready,” Raph said and for the first time I understood why he was the ‘big brother’ of the bunch and it wasn’t only because of his size or age.

I nodded, signaling him that I would think about it, and made a fist again.

“That fist bump,” I asked, “is that a human thing?”

“Yes, but now it’s also a mutant thing,” he smiled proudly showing his snaggletooth. I grinned in response.

Chapter 14: I Involuntarily Kiss the Ground a Lot

“Okay, I think I get it,” I said in deep concentration, “so when I say ‘Cómo estás?’, you say…”

“Estoy bien, gracias,“ April answered and wrote the phrase down on her homework sheet.

“I see, ‘gracias’ means ‘thank you’,” I mused while balancing one of her pencils on my fingertip.

“With that, we have three tasks down and only one to go,” April nodded and just began to read the next exercise instructions when Donnie appeared in the doorframe of the living room with his usual black bean juice.

“Morning, April,” he said yawning, “morning evil twin,” he added and took a sip that turned into a cough the moment he realized what he had just said.

“April? Since when are you here? How do you know each other?” He stammered.

“I texted you guys that school ended early today and that I would come by,” April said not taking her eyes from her sheet, “I figured you were still asleep, so I let myself in just to find this one chilling at the skate ramp.”

“Hola,” I waved at Donnie.

“And he speaks Spanish because…” Donnie pointed at me with his mug.

“We are doing homework together,” I said nonchalantly, “I didn’t know there were so many different human languages!” I poked April with the pencil she had given me, but she was too engrossed in wrapping up the final homework exercise to notice, “you humans are such overly complicated beings, it’s so funny.”

Donnie had walked over to the kitchen table that was covered with school stuff and glancing over her shoulders said to me: “I do wonder, how could you ‘chill’ outside your room without my tech alarming me, but maybe we should have this talk another time?”

His tone was on the verge of being a thread that I knew wasn’t serious enough to not ignore.

“Isn’t it a good thing April didn’t have to be alone until you would wake up?” I returned and copied some phrases on a spare sheet.

“When Mikey kept sending me updates while I had to suffer through my term finals telling me all about you adopting one of your nemeses. To be honest, I didn’t expect him to be interested in the evil intricacies of school homework,” April said and added a missing punctuation mark in my nodes.

“Gracias,” I thanked her and kept scribbling.

“Hey, Don, have you seen April, she sent us a message saying she is on her…what is going on here?” Raph’s ‘freak-out’ voice came from behind our table.
“Apparently,” Donnie elaborated, “April is teaching Leon Spanish.”

“Shell yeah! April is in the house,” Mikey called, ran up, and hugged her from behind.

“Hey Mike, so glad to see you all after surviving my tests,” April chuckled and padded orange.

I eyed the two. It was curious how two so completely different species could be so close. I had grown up with yokai bedtime stories where evil humans always ended up capturing and almost eating innocent yokai before they could make their last-ditch escape. It didn’t really surprise me that hidden city children’s books had overgeneralized much.

‘Yeah, right,’ I thought as April proudly showed off her finished tasks, ‘totally the kind of vicious creatures Draxum had feared so much.’

“Good to see you all being so energetic in the morning,” Splinter had entered the living room, presumably to make some of his morning tea. I glanced at him and tucked the paper with my Spanish nodes into one of my side pouches. The rat-man noticed my presence at the same time and instantly moved his attention to April.

My wounds from our first ‘talk’ had almost healed up by now, but their implications were still left undiscussed between me and him and the others. The only thing we had done was to expertly avoid making any progress in that department.

After everyone had wished him a ‘good morning,’ Splinter continued, “how about using all that enthusiasm for some training, eh? April, you can join, too, of course.”
“Awesome,” April packed up all the markers, books, and other things that had littered the kitchen table.

“Now come,” he gestured for us to follow him to the adjacent room, aka his favorite place, aka the tv room, “you all are still green behind the ears. So, we will watch and learn from a classic today.”

I wanted to protest that his saying made not much sense since we had no visible ears and even if we had some, they would indeed be green, but Mikey pulled me along before I could say anything or ask him what exactly would happen now.

We huddled in front of the projector. I had learned in the past few days that this contraption showed recordings of humans to other humans. Sometimes they would relay information or news or try to convince you to buy all sorts of trash. More exciting were these so-called ‘movies.’ They were like made-up stories that humans performed for other humans. The night before, Mikey had talked for hours about the plot of his favorite one from a whole series of recordings that focused on someone called ‘Japiter Jupe’ (I almost fell asleep halfway so there’s a chance I didn’t remember everything perfectly). Despite my general confusion, I was pretty excited to finally see a movie myself.

Mikey motioned me to sit between him and Raph, while Donnie and April flanked the group on one side each. Splinter took his place on his own couch behind us.

“Now watch closely and learn all the intricate movements of the legendary ’Crouching Shrimp Hidden Tiger Prawn’,” he announced, and everyone, except for me, nodded gravely.

The movie started and a young, very fit human jumped into the frame shouting ‘HOOOOT SOOOOUUUP’. I blame the fact that I hadn’t been used to this kind of technology for taking painfully long to recognize him. Just when I stuffed my mouth with a ‘corn’ snack, it dawned on me, and I almost spat out all of the popped corn.

“Lou Jitsu?” I gasped, and everyone turned their eyes away from the screen and to me instead.

“Do you know him?” Raph asked before I could beg him not to do exactly that.

“Yeah, no, I mean, in New Jersey, he’s also famous, yes,” I answered, which didn’t fool anyone, but what else could I have said? The truth? That this guy had been THE greatest Battle Nexus champion? That you couldn’t work under Big Mama or walk around in the hidden city without noticing murals, posters, and pictures of him? With the rat-man present, it was impossible to talk about any of these things.

I dared to look behind me but when my eyes met Splinter’s, who apparently also stared at me, I quickly moved my head to the front again.

It just didn’t make any sense. Who was that human? Why was he famous above and underground? Was he really as strong as all the tales tell?

There was nothing gained from pondering these questions now, so I set them aside and tried to focus on the projection again. The story started to turn a tad confusing to me. ‘Crouching Shrimp’ revolved around sentient shrimps who terrorized humans. They could even shapeshift and at one point Lou Jitsu had to fight several badly dressed clones of himself. But some of them had a change of heart and fought with him against the evil mother shrimp.

No matter how much this all didn’t make an ounce of sense it was still entertaining to see Lou Jitsu fight and for an hour I got lost in the make-believe. It still left me wondering about one thing though.

When the last shrimp had been defeated and catapulted into the sun (again I will not even try to figure all this stuff out), everyone cheered.

“Man, Lou Jitsu is just the best,” Raph said jumping up and punching the air.

“A classic for the ages,” Donnie remained seated but had a rare smile on his face.

“Soooo, how did you like it?” Mikey nudged me.

“Liked it? I loved it,” I said and stretched my arms. I hadn’t even realized I hadn’t moved during the whole thing.

“Tomorrow, we will watch the second part, that’s a personal favorite of mine,” Splinter decided.

“Cool, so when is the training going to start?” I asked excitedly.

“Uh, this was training,” Raph said while he switched the projector off.

“Huh?” I stared at them.

They stared back.

It slowly dawned on me.

“You mean the movie?” I asked again to be sure.

“Yes,” Mikey affirmed.

“You can’t be serious,” I said half-laughing. Everyone eyed me curiously as if my questions made as much sense as the movie’s plot.

“Maybe training means something different from where you come from, cousin, but this is how we do things here. Learn from the best, observe, and reflect,” Splinter finally looked at me for the first time as he explained his teaching methods.

“How about some actual combat?” I still didn’t want to accept that this was really all there was to it.

“I rather don’t want to hurt my sons every day only to teach them lessons that can also be gained through movies and not-hurting,” Splinter remained firm in his answer.
I opened my mouth to protest, then closed it, and decided to switch tactics.

“Are you even strong enough to hurt these guys? I mean look at Raph, that’s one sturdy turtle,” I said and punched his shell as a demonstration. I hardly put any strength in it and except for a thumbing sound and Raph being confused about the whole situation, nothing happened.

“See?” I said, “And that’s not all. I bet you are just afraid that they could beat you. Or, even more embarrassing, that a newbie like me could best you.”

Splinter sighed. He didn’t fall for my obvious provocations, but he could certainly also tell that I would continue to annoy him for the rest of the day if he wouldn’t give in.

“Does that mean you challenge me?” He resigned.

“Yeah, why not? Just you against me? Can’t hurt to try, can it?”

---

 

A rat tail wrapped around my upper body and hailed me against a wall. The impact pressed all the air out of my lungs, and I nearly fell unconscious. I blinked the black spots out of my eyes just in time for his next attack and jumped to avoid his claws. The world turned upside down and I used the precious moment I had between attacks for a windmill kick as I was flying headlong through the air. I felt an impact, a short sense of elation, then something grabbed my foot and hurled me around to the ground.

“Time out,” I pleaded, hearing my limbs and shell crack in places where they shouldn’t be able to make such sounds.

“Oh, is the New Jersey cousin already tired?” Splinter mocked me but stopped his attacks.

 “No way, I just wanted to give you some time to catch your breath. We can keep going,” I added hastily and got up to my feet – admittedly not in the most elegant way. I stretched my aching limbs. It’s amazing how one could suffer so many bruises but no severe injuries.

“You are a master in beating up your opponents without really beating them up,” I expressed my thoughts out loud.

“It’s a hard-earned ability, also lots of natural talent,” Splinter visibly enjoyed the fact that I needed a moment to right myself.

I readjusted my belt and made sure my shell was still intact, then moved into a stance Usagi had shown me a few years back.

“Twelfth time’s a charm,” I said as a half-assed battle cry (not the first one of this training session) and charged.

A few moments later I got flung through the air and involuntarily kissed the floor again.

I scrambled to my feet. Now there were two Splinters? That was definitely weird, but I didn’t let it confuse me.

“Again,” I stammered and somehow got into my initial position.

“Just let it go! You cannot win against Splinter,” Donnie shouted from the side-line.

“Great effort though,” Mikey said in his expectantly encouraging tone, holding a towel that was, I assumed, meant for me.

“Yeah, Pops might be lazy most of the time but he’s crazy strong,” Raph agreed.

Splinter puffed up his chest, he was fired up by his sons’ words. It equally fired up my desire to punch the gratification right off his face.

I breathed in and counted to ten. I breathed out and counted to twenty. My body stopped shaking and my vision cleared, gladly the two Splinters merged into one.

“One more time,” I demanded. I didn’t move into the previous form. I didn’t clench my fists and lifted them in front of my face, instead, my hands and front arm were outstretched. I imagined them to be like long blades that were just as unwavering and sharp as if they were made of metal.

Splinter stroked his whiskers, pondering my stance but he was too pumped up from the others’ presence and inadvertent praise to not eventually accept my invitation.

He struck first, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye, and attempted a grab, probably to hurl me through half the lair for the thirteenth time. I wouldn’t have been able to see his attack coming if this would have been our first rodeo. Thankfully, I had become used to his speed by now and avoided his attack with a short but effective side-step. My hands followed Splinter’s movement, imitating the spiraling motion with which he had tried to get hold of my wrists, and that seamlessly extended into my attempt to do the same. To our both surprise I actually got hold of him, but before I could make a snarky comment or try anything further, Splinter jumped while in my grapple pressed his feet against my chest, and pushed with such impact against my shell that I had to let go and fell backward on the ground.

“That was a good try,” Splinter nodded.

“Really?” I rubbed the back of my head that had hit the ground pretty seriously this time.

“No,” he said and couldn’t entirely hide his self-satisfaction.

“Very funny,” I moaned as I got up.

He laughed at his own cheekiness then added with a more serious voice: “Your last form, where did you learn it?”

I paused for a moment and moved my hands along my arms: “That was just what came naturally, I think...”

“Curious,” the rat-man returned seeming now lost in thoughts. “It looked so familiar, but I cannot warp my mind around it.”

“You got so close with the last one,” Mikey cheered me on and threw the towel around my neck.

“Yeah, you almost had him there,” April said and seemed quite astonished by my efforts.

“I kinda expected you would be a more professional fighter, like in general,” Donnie probed how much he could say without saying too much in front of his father. (You need to remember that they believed Splinter had no idea who I was or…well…except for Raph who had a wild guess about who was aware of what at this point.)

“I have been in a lot of fights,” I protested, “just not with my BARE hands! I’m a civilized mutant from New Jersey, I use swords and daggers and those small razors I hide in my boots and sometimes I dip them in poison beforehand and – ”

“We get the idea,” Raph said and covered Mikey’s head with his relatively giant hands. His big brother instincts told him that this just went to places not meant for the youngest’s ears.

“I feel we should talk about your obsession with cutting things up but maybe this is better suited for a 'mature rated' one-shot,” Donnie remarked.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, like ever,” I frowned at purple.  

“This concludes the lesson. I hope you understand now why we learn from the movies first. You are clearly not ready for more,” Splinter declared and made his way back to the tv room.

In hindsight, it was a good thing I didn’t have my sword with me at this moment.

Feeling all my bruises pulsing and with my irritation maxed out I grabbed the next thing I could think of – one of April’s pencils that I had put in my side pouch – and threw it across the room aiming for his head. With a satisfying ‘clonk’ it met its target. Splinter flinched and turned around with his teeth visibly grinding.

“You don’t get to tell me whether I’m ready or not,” I said trying to sound calm but with each word, my voice got more guttural, “and you cannot decide that for anyone else either.” I motioned at the others. Raph waved his hands in both directions, probably trying to think of ways to de-escalate the situation. Mikey and Donnie looked back and forth between us in a mixture of awe and shock. April just cocked her head and kept her eyes on me.

“I can and I will,” Splinter said equally pronounced, “they are MY boys and I know what’s best for them.”

“Oh yeah? But guess what, the world out there doesn’t give two shits about what you think ‘is best’. Reality doesn’t ask kindly if you feel like facing it.”

As I was saying all of this, I felt like I was ripped from the present and moved back in time to a younger version of myself, who had similarly argued with Draxum until I had gotten tired of it. This version existed around the time he would let me accompany him to missions to seek rare ingredients and secure test subjects. At first, he would command me to take on smaller tasks. Most of them were harmless in nature. But soon enough I proved myself worthy to go on some of these errands alone and as Draxum’s experiments turned out to be more ‘demanding’, the tasks appropriately called for more ‘goal-oriented’ methods. Nobody had asked me if I was ready, only why something had not been delivered in time or to his satisfaction. It had never occurred to Draxum to ask me this. But what made me even madder is it had never occurred to me. Why should it then be something so completely ‘normal’ for somebody else?

“First,” Splinter was now visibly trembling with anger, “don’t curse in front of minors. And second, don’t act all mature and grown up when you have no idea of what the actual world is like. You couldn’t even hit me once so what makes you believe you could handle yourself out there.”

“Oh right,” I sneered sarcastically, “as if every enemy would always make sure to only fight you with their fists and also pull their punches. Very realistic.”

“Aren’t you just angry that I beat you fair and square? Maybe you are not familiar with the concept of fairness where you come from,” he returned and folded his arms behind his back as if to say he wouldn’t need to get into a defensive position as long as it was me who he was facing.

“You are the one who is not familiar with many things,” I huffed.

I had to fight every ounce of my body not to reach for my hidden razors in my gloves and boots. Instead, I forced myself to look at Mikey, then at Raph, and said: “Even in the short time, I have been here, it has been painfully obvious that you believe you know your sons so well but guess what, you don’t, and you don't seem like you even want to get to know them because you are afraid of what you might learn.”

I could hear Donnie curse under his breath and felt Mikey softly putting a hand around my upper left arm. Splinter inhaled sharply, presumably preparing himself to give a hefty lecture when Raph moved up to us and a decisive step in front of me.

‘Well, that’s that then,’ I thought, and I steeled myself to be thrown out of the lair.

But Raph didn’t address me, he was speaking to the rat-man.

“Pops,” he said in a probing tone, “Leon is right about one thing. We keep telling you that we want to be heroes and you think we are just playing pretend. We are not, we are serious, and we are strong enough to handle ourselves.”

I couldn’t see Splinter from behind Raph and could only guess his reaction since he also didn’t answer the big guy.

Donnie joined Raph, facing his dad and crossing his arms defiantly said: “We are ready for more, dad. We have been for some time.”

“Why not hear them out Splints? The guys have done some amazing things these past few months,” April pleaded and moved nearby to Mikey.

In front of me loomed the backs of red, purple and a human. Despite standing literally in their shadows, it wasn’t an oppressing presence. Rather the opposite. It felt comforting.

“You…” I could hear Splinter say, “you are all way over your heads!”

We all groaned in unison. All that resolve we had felt a moment ago seemed gone and replaced by frustration.

“Until I say otherwise, you are all grounded,” he decided with the tone of someone who had usually the last word. It sounded way too similar to the one Draxum had used whenever I would disagree with his commands – which, let’s be honest, had happened on almost a daily basis – and this realization was the last straw.

I scrambled up Raph’s shell as if climbing up a mountainside. Towering over red’s head and while making some fairly rude gestures in his direction I said: “I don’t know what that means, and I don’t care! But if you threaten them, I will -”

Donnie pulled me from Raph’s back, and I let him push me along while they turned to walk out of the room: “You are in time out,” he said to me and to Splinter, “and I really expected better from you.”

“Please think about it, dad,” Raph pressed him one last time and trotted alongside us. The big guy sounded defeated.

I dared one last glance back and I saw the anger leaving Splinter’s body, his head slumped forward, and he seemed much smaller than this morning.

As I was still being tugged by Donnie through some corridors, I asked the group, “where are we going? What does it mean that you're ‘grounded’?”

Donnie pulled out his main talking device, a ‘phone’, and typed something on it with his free hand. “Being grounded includes you, too. Also, first lesson in being grounded: Figure out a way to un-ground yourself.”

“And how do you do that?” I asked musing whether this process would include dirt or digging or something else ground-related.  

“That’s where lesson two comes in: Sneaking out! I don’t know about you guys, but I could go for some world’s best lemonade right about now.”

He threw a telling glance at Mikey, whose eyes lightened up like shooting stars.

“You don’t mean,” he shrieked and jumped up and down like a basketball.

“Leteth us pay a visit to Todd,” Donnie declared with much theatrical splendor and led us through the sewer systems towards our next destination.

Chapter 15: Ready or Not, Here We Come

Notes:

That movie huh??? I was totally blown away and when I look at the insanity that is happening in the fandom ever since the release, I think so was everybody else! I wrote a one-shot where I develop an idea based on the movie called “I’ve got you brother” that you can also check out if you want! (It’s mostly Mikey first-person POV, which was challenging for me haha) Anyway, for now, I will focus on this fic again and I promise not all updates will be as long as this one. I just got overly excited to flesh out my ideas for this particular section of the story. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and let’s all keep the Rise hype going in the hope of more official ROTTMNT content in the future! - Jazz

During my solo excursions through the lair, I had already passed the turtle tank once or twice, but little had I known about its interior design that was just as magnificent as its shining outside.

Vehicles weren’t all that common in the hidden city. Sure, we had blimps and boats, but the streets were mostly too narrow and crowded to do anything but walk. As we propelled out of a huge sewer entry into New York it was difficult to sit tight and not stick my head out to take in the city skyline rushing past us.

“And you still want to tell me that this is all based on human tech?” I asked Donnie who was occupied with his phone – in fact, no one actually drove this thing, which I have to admit, made me slightly nervous.

“Yep,” Donnie confirmed but it was clear that his thoughts lay somewhere else.

“That’s weird, Todd doesn’t answer any of my messages,” he mumbled.

“He usually replies right away with cute doggie pics,” Mikey also leaned over Donnie’s phone.

“Maybe try to call him?” April suggested.

“In this time and age? Impossible!” Donnie returned offended and April and Raph threw some ‘don’t-be-so-complicated’ looks at him.

“Fine,” he gave in, dialed in a number, and through the tank’s speakers, we all heard a beeping sound that went on for seven painfully long seconds before a voice answered in a melodic tune:

“Hellohello! This is Todd speaking, who am I talking to on this wonderful of wonderful days?”

Donnie and Mikey had beforehand described Todd to the others who had never met the fella. He was also a mutant, a human fused with a capybara, who Mikey called ‘the nicest being on the planet’. I had difficulties imagining the guy but hearing him on the phone I already started to understand why orange would give him that title.

“Hey Todd, it’s Donnie and Mike! You know the turtles who helped you with the dog park?” Mikey had snatched the phone from Donnie.

“Oh, it’s you guys! How lovely to hear from you!” he chittered.

“We were wondering if we could come by your place? We had kinda a bad day and we could use some of your liquid sunshine,” Mikey asked as our representative.

“Oh, you are too sweet!” Todd answered, “But I’m not home right now. I’m with a bunch of new friends.”

Donnie and Mikey exchanged a glance. I couldn’t guess what was going through their heads.

“That’s great, friend,” the younger one said, hidden under his usual enthusiasm I detected some hints of worry. “Just out of curiosity, who are your new friends?”

“Oh, they are such a colorful group! I’m making my famous lemonade in the foyer for them right now. Some seem a bit grumpy and I want to turn their frowns right upside-down,” he said and cackled heartily.

“That’s great Todd,” Mikey agreed and wanted to say something further, but right then a different voice shrilled through the tank.

“Hey, Todd. The boss is about to start his pitch. Come back to the conference room.” Despite the minor static, there was no doubt that this was Huginn.

“But bring this delicious-looking lemonade with you,” Muginn added.

“Sure thing,” Todd assured them and to us over speaker added, “I’m sorry but I have to go. Please come visit any other time you want, okay byeeee.”

The call ended. The car kept driving through the city as we all stared at the blank display of Donnie’s phone.

“Wait, were those…” Raph began.

“Huginn and Muninn,” I affirmed.

“But if they are with Todd,” Donnie hypothesized, “that means sheep-man cannot be too far.”

He turned in his seat and stared at me inquisitively.

“Yeah,” I said and without wanting to, grinned. Raph eyed me with visible concern from his boss-chair.

“Maybe we should go back home. We are not sure what is going on and we don’t have our weapons with us,” he considered.

“But what if Todd is in trouble? What if he got todd-napped by Draxum’s goons?!” Mikey countered.

I stood beside Raph and put my hand on his left shoulder. “Mikey is right, we might not get a chance like this again.”

Donnie pointed to one of his holographic screens (slowly but surely, I not only learned Spanish but also ‘Donnie-tech-lingo’) and explained: “I tracked Todd’s phone after our call. He’s at a motel in one of the outer districts not far from here.”

Raph heaved a heavy sigh then turned to me and asked: “Are you sure you are alright with this? With seeing him?”

My grin got deeper to make him less worried but possibly, to the others, I rather seemed to go a tad crazy: “It’s all good, big guy. Lots of things are different now. Plus, I still owe Draxum for our last dance.”

“That,” red said, “is not reassuring, but okay. Let’s go rescue, Todd!” he decided, and we drove high-speed towards certain doom.

The motel’s parking lot was almost empty except for seven lonely cars so we parked far off the side and left the tank not worrying about human disguises. In the lights of the early evening, a few windows of the complex were on, and the streets were so empty that we could hear the sound of cicadas coming from nearby bushes.

“So what’s the plan?” April asked. She had a notebook under her arm that she said, worked great as a substitute weapon.

“Well,” Raph swiped some sweat from his bald head, and I assumed that this was not only caused by the humid summer night breeze, “we go in, rescue Todd, and smash our way out.”

“That’s swell and all,” Donnie remarked, “but you forget that we left our weapons in the lair, so we need to be smart about this.”

“Oh no,” I said.

“What is it?” Mikey asked me.

“It just dawned on me that you really do just wing it most of the time,” I said as if this was a big revelation.

April whacked my head with her ‘lethal weapon’ and sighed: “I’m beginning to understand why you call him the ‘evil twin’.” 

Ignoring our shenanigans Raph asked Donnie: “Where exactly is Todd, Don?”

Purple checked his hologram, pointed at one of the windows of the motel, and said: “Right there.”

As we followed his gesture, a deafening explosion shook the ground and ripped a hole in the building. Vines sprung like water from a fountain from the gap and ravel spat in every direction. Carried by his mystic greenery Draxum hovered in the air out of the demolished motel room. He shouted something I couldn’t entirely make out and from inside the building came cheers.

Instinctively I wanted to grab my sword then remembered we didn’t have our weapons with us and started – to nobody’s surprise – to regret rushing into this situation.
Draxum still had his back to us, and his exclamations resounded in the night air: “Now my evil league of mutants, we will wreak havoc on the surface!”

Some more celebratory cries were heard, and more vines busted through the motel’s walls. This time half of a window flew in our direction, and we had to find cover behind one of the few cars.

“What the Hawkings is going on?” Donnie hissed at me.

“How should I know?” I returned while ducking to avoid some debris hurling over our heads.

“But you know what? I will just ask him,” I spontaneously decided and sprinted into the motel’s direction before anyone – including myself – could tell me that this was an awful idea.

From my position, I could finally also see the origin of the other voices: several yokai-like creatures were looking out the hole while Draxum was holding a speech:
“…will be our priority,” I heard when I had crouched closer and further, “and once we secured every lemon stash in the city, we will be unstoppable!”

More claps and sounds of approval. Once I was near enough, I took a deep breath and shouted up to them: “Should I feel offended that you would try to substitute me with all these knock-offs?”

Draxum shook his head before spinning around. 

“I don’t need to substitute something that wasn’t doing its job right anyway,” he shot back, and his vines lowered him a few arm lengths towards me.

“Ouch,” I said and winked at him mockingly, “so don’t you want to introduce me to your new friends?”

“Only if you do the same,” Draxum sounded almost amused when his vines gestured towards the others who had also abandoned their cover and had taken defensive positions.
“Hand over, Todd, Draxum,” Raph demanded in a heroic tone, “we know you are holding him hostage.”

Draxum cocked his head. From the remains of the motel room, a capybara-human hybrid popped out and waved at us.

"Hey friends, great you could make it,” said the one I assumed was Todd, “these are the new friends I mentioned. They really love my lemonade, and I told them ‘gosh that is too kind of you’ and then this handsome fella began to sing about his evil plans, it was great.”

“That’s enough Todd,” Draxum commanded hastily, but it was too late I was already snorting and pointed at him:
“You? Sang? I thought you only did that once for a yokai charity fair?” 

The others couldn’t refrain from laughing too now and I mean, the others on both sides.

“Enough!” the sheep-man thundered, “if you are already here, you can make yourself useful and be a target practice for my new highly-specialized league.”

“How about ‘no’,” I suggested and stuck my tongue out at him.

“You ungrateful piece of…” Draxum couldn’t finish his sentence that would have surely ended in a rather unkind expression. Raph, April, and Mikey threw pebbles at him and had just hit him with a quite large rock at his shoulder.

“You rats,” he snarled at us and to his new companions said, “my evil league of mutants. Show them what you are made of and capture those specimens.”

“What about the girl,” the familiar unpleasant sound of one of the crab mutants echoed throughout the car park.

‘I guess, that explains where these two disappeared too,’ I thought and wondered where Draxum had bought his new portal device from. There are not many sellers of that kind of rare mystic power.

“Do with her as you please,” the yokai alchemist waved dismissively and the crab-duo jumped in a wide arch from the demolished motel room down aiming for April.

Donnie and Raph intercepted their attack just in time. They blocked their sharp claws but were pushed to the ground from the sheer impact. Mikey attempted a stylized somersault aiming for one of a crab-mutants just to be hit in the face by a fist that I believed for a moment was flying around on its own. In fact, it was a worm with a loud hairdo that was attached to it and who kept on blabbing even though nobody seemed to care. I didn’t have any time to get involved in the skirmish myself since a rather fancy-looking hippopotamus creature sailed towards me throwing several metal circlets. I fell to my knees and bent my upper body backward to slide right under the whirling discs.

“You all look so weird, if you are called a ‘league of mutants’ I assume you are no yokai?” I asked him while I got up and circled him to look for an opening.

“Excuse me, I’m not weird. But yes, we are all distinguished mutants,” my opponent said in a polite voice.

“Oh good, just wanted to affirm my suspicions before I beat your face into mush,” I said and exploited a blind spot to get close and punch him in the guts before he could even see me coming. The mutant wretched and coughed, mumbling something about ‘following not the proper etiquette for hero-villain banter’.

“No! What are you doing to Hypno?” someone exclaimed but sounded as if he was quite far away. I scanned my immediate surroundings and spotted the worm who had a piece of what looked to be armor, attached to him. My interest was piqued by the intricate design of the metallic fist.

“Where did you get this?” I asked the worm while walking toward him.

“I didn’t find Charlotte, Charlotte found me,” the critter announced. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I couldn’t peel my eyes from the hand gear.

“Oh, oh no! Incoming!”

Donnie’s shout forced me to blink, and I only avoided a collision with Raph by taking an awkward step to the right and losing my footing. Raph zoomed past us and crashed into a van some miles away. I lost my balance from my improvised evasion maneuver and fell butt-first to the ground. Only when I heard a horrifying scream that got cut short, followed by a squishing sound I realized I had just landed on the worm mutant.

“Ewwww,” I got up to my feet again and examined with much disgust what remained of the creature. Thankfully, before I could start worrying if I actually butt-killed the thing, the worm sprung to life again.

“You dare to crush Warren Stone with your gigantic butt, turtle boy?” he spat at me and made rude gestures with his out-of-place metal fist.

“Yeah, no, this is getting too weird even for me,” I decided and scanned the chaos around me to look for my color-coded group while ignoring the worm.

Mikey was currently taking on two enemies at the same time. A pig and a mantis mutant tag-teamed against orange yet the small guy held them well at bay by popping into and out of his shell to prevent being grappled and to punch them when they least expected it.

Donnie and April stood back to back, they had collected some nasty-looking selection of stones, splinters, and other debris that they aimed at the crab-duo.

Raph was still a bit further off, rubbing his head and crawling out of the giant dent he had made in the car behind him. I made my way to him past rocks flying left and right, random vines shooting in my direction, and claws that snapped at me.

“Hey big guy, you good?” I asked him and helped him up.

“We’re getting our butts kicked here,” he stated the obvious.

“I hate to be the one saying it but maybe a tactical retreat is in order?” Saying this out loud was even worse than just thinking it because it would be the second time, I had to accept defeat within the span of 24 hours. That didn’t happen in like…ever. It also fuelled my desire that if we couldn’t count this as a win, I would make it everyone else’s problem.

“We can’t leave without Todd,” Raph determined, and I nodded. Not sure if Todd was here voluntarily but these guys were awful influences for sure.

“I will distract the sheep-man, you send someone into the motel to retrieve him,” I said and threw a side-glance into Draxum’s direction. He hadn’t moved from his spot from which he could observe the car park. He just occasionally sent some vines out to help the mutants and smiled with great satisfaction at the performance of his new ‘league’.
Turning back to Raph it was obvious he struggled to make the right decision. The fights of the others’ got more desperate, so there was only one option available to him really.
“Okay,” he relented, “but don’t get caught, alright?”

“Me? Never! Remember I was the one who caught you guys not the other way around,” I gave him an overexaggerated shrug.

“Yeah yeah,” Raph said probably reconsidering this plan already, “signal April on your way that I need to talk to her.”

I gave him a thumbs-up and it was a good thing we had finished hatching our plans because the hippo and the worm had recovered and came rushing in our direction.

I made it for April and Donnie, whose left eye seemed swollen. I did my part pointing at Raph and making some signs the human hopefully understood correctly. She nodded and called in Spanish to me: “Vale!”

I continued my hurdle race, past the pig mutant swinging a spiked hammer at my head and more crab-claw-missiles. I prepared my blades that were always carefully tugged away in the inside of my gloves and rushed towards Draxum. He had lowered his pedestal almost to the ground to help capture Mikey. The youngest yelped but expertly avoided all of his plant-based attacks. Despite being occupied with this, he had noticed my approach and vines wrapped themselves around my wrists long before I could strike him.

Keeping my arms outstretched and lifting me up, I realized he had immobilized me without even being focused on me. I wrestled against the constraints to no avail. When Mikey noticed what was going on, he locked eyes with me. Without making a sound I formed just one word – ‘go’ – and orange understood, turned on his heels, and sprinted to the rest of the group. Only then did Draxum finally shift his attention to me.

“How long do you intend to play this charade?” he asked me as if he wasn’t aware that several battles were still raging around us.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m simply on a break from my very successful career as a Battle Nexus champion,” I said and gave up to free my hands from the vines.

The blades, one in each hand, had no hefts and I would only cut myself if I would hold on to them, so I let them go. My feet were dangling freely though and that gave me an idea.

“As if! Big Mama will have your head the moment you give her the chance,” he sneered at me, and my restraints got a little bit tighter.

“But I see you were busy, got your hands on some portal magic. Not as easy to find if you have to do it yourself, is it?” I probed.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Draxum warned me, “I always have my means to get my hands on the things I need.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I sighed, “you will stop at nothing to fulfill your dreams of an ideal yokai society, yadda yadda yadda.”

While I was talking, I reached with my feet for the ground and got hold of one of the blades I had dropped. I grabbed the metal between my two toes, lifted my leg, and rammed it into Draxum’s right thigh.

The warrior alchemist screamed, and the unexpected attack loosened his control of the vines allowing me to tear myself free. I picked up the other blade in my hand, so as to hide the weapon in my palm.

“In my time up here I come to realize that all your talk about humans being a danger to yokai-kind is bullshit,” I told him and charged him while he was still holding his leg. I was readying a left punch and, as expected, he did try to block me with his elbow. The hit itself was harmless but when I moved my hand back my second blade had almost vanished in his arm. Draxum yelped and I moved so close to him that our faces were only an inch apart. Looking him dead in the eye I said:
“Don’t try to justify your megalomaniac plans as some sort of altruistic agenda. You don’t need to lie, you know. It’s okay, I understand now.”

Draxum didn’t have the chance to process my words. Without both of us registering, Raph had managed to tackle one of the crab-mutants and had tossed him, which in theory would have been great if he didn’t accidentally aim his throw at us. The crab slammed against me and I in turn head-butted Draxum, which was much more painful for me than for him due to the sheepman’s sturdy mask.

I scuttled free from the yokai-mutant pile before the other two could regain their senses and ran to Raph.

“Sorry, that was me,” red admitted seeing that I wasn’t amused at his intermission of my ‘talk’ with Draxum.

“It’s fine,” I sighed and avoided a grapple attack from the mantis-mutant who had decided to make us his next targets, “we were just wrapping up our conversation. How are things at your end?”

In a moment of respite, we scanned the area. We saw Donnie waving a small white sheet and running in circles to avoid further damage to his already bruised face, and Mikey apparently had inherited April’s notebook and had slammed it into the pig mutant’s left side.

“See, real fights are never fair,” I said considering our best options of retreat in the meantime.

I expected Raph to disagree with me on that but he said: “Maybe not, but that just means we also need to adapt to our situations, just like Lou Jitsu.”

When I took my eyes from the skirmishes and turned them to the big guy, I could tell he had figured out something.

“Do you remember in the movie, where the shrimp clones turned good?” he asked.

“Yeah, what of it?” I took a step to the left to let some metallic discs fly by.

“You think you still remember the move that hurled the shrimp queen back into space?” Raph said in an unexpected mischievous tone.

I had a cocked grin on my face when I answered: “I like where this is going.”

We made our way to orange and purple, defending them as we were at it. Together we backed up, creating some space between us and the mutant league.

To be fair, both sides were NOT looking fresh. Most of us had bruises and smaller cuts. With satisfaction I noticed Draxum being treated and bandaged by his gargoyles a bit off to the side.

“We all know that dad isn’t always right,” Raph addressed his team, “but he’s not wrong in teaching us the Lou Jitsu way. Let’s show them what we got!”

Mikey hurriedly moved us into a close circle and placed his left hand in the middle: “Oh yeah! The legendary shrimp hurricane!”

Donnie put his hand on top of the youngest: “I want to emphasize that I still prefer my combat tech but for the sake of the moral lesson I guess this works.”

Raph was the next to add his giant hand to the pile: “Let’s make pops proud. Leo, would you do us the honors?”

All three turned to me expectantly. I was glad I was green-skinned, otherwise, they might have seen me blushing slightly.

“Fine,” I relented and put my hand above Raph’s, then called out: “Hoooot,”
The others smiled and responded in synch: “Soooouuup!"

Now, I cannot describe the move in detail to you. For the sake of your own safety but also because I mostly followed the movements of the others instinctively and afterward wasn’t sure what exactly had happened. What I can tell you is that we turned into a cyclone of punches and kicks that pulled in and handled the entirety of the mutant league. There was no escape from the pull we had created together and when thoroughly pummeled, the mutants got spat out of the hurricane and flew sky-high into different directions.

As we came to a standstill again only Draxum was left standing. I had anticipated him being furious. Against all odds we had decimated his league the day he had established them. Yet, his eyes shined with recognition? Even awe?

“Where did buffoons like you learn such an advanced Lou Jitsu move?” he asked and took a few steps in our direction.

“From Lou Jitsu obviously,” Raph said and crossed his arms satisfied.

“You know him? When did you meet?” the yokai-alchemist pressed further. I couldn’t understand why this would work him up like that.

“From his movies, of course,” Mikey said cheerfully, and we fist-bumped before he added, “are you a fan, too?”

“What no,” Draxum was appalled.

“Maybe he doesn’t know what movies are,” I suggested, “they are recordings of humans. They are quite impressive.”

“I know what movies are, you idiot.” I could tell Draxum was close to losing it. He got hold of himself before that could happen though and continued instead in a calmer voice:
“I KNEW Lou Jistu. He was the human I used for the beta experiments. His DNA and my ooze gave you life,” he announced, and the world as we knew it turned, scrambled, fragmented, and readjusted itself.

Suddenly, a lot of things made so much more sense.

All four of us turned to each other, mouths gaping and with eyes wide open. Heartbeats passed during which I had no idea what was going on in everyone’s heads.

“Oh,” Raph stammered, “OH ME GOSH GUYS! LOU JITSU IS OUR DAD!”

Mikey beamed like the brightest moonshine, “I always told you guys you kinda look like him!”

Donnie had put on his goggles and closely examined orange: “The connection is not just emotional, it’s biological!”

While they celebrated this revelation, I wasn’t done with Draxum and didn’t take my eyes off him. Even if this all sounded kinda cool, it only created more questions.

The yokai read my expression and addressed me specifically: “I never told you because I feared you would simply try and imitate him. After these three vanished I lost track of him anyway.”

“Yeah well,” I returned, “Regarding that, I might have an idea.”

Even with his mask on, I knew he raised his eyebrows. He looked around him, probably for the mutants he had just hired and having no success with that said:
“Won’t you reconsider?”

The trio stopped their victory dances and observed both of us cautiously.

“All of you,” he motioned at us, “you could still join me. I would properly teach you and we could – ”

This is as far as he got with his speech because right at this moment a pink and crimson shining summoning circle appeared under him and swallowed Draxum whole.
Mikey screamed pointing at the spot where he had vanished. He grabbed me by the shoulders and began shaking me: “Where?” he said in a panicked tone, “Sheep-man?”
“I don’t know, why do you guys always think I know everything about every portal,” I said while being jolted back and forth by him.

Mikey thankfully stopped when Donnie pushed us apart (for both our sakes) and said: “These continuous portal cases are indeed curious, but I would suggest we focus on getting out of here before the human police arrives and leave everything else for later.”

Right on cue, the turtle tank sprinted across the car park and April appeared on top of the vehicle waving at us. “I got Todd, let’s jet!”

Later, as we drove Todd back to his home, April told us how she had evacuated the motel guests and employees to safety on the other side of the building. Nobody had been seriously hurt and as thanks for the rescue (that hasn’t really been necessary, but we shouldn’t focus on details so much), Todd prepared a round of his legendary lemonade.
I can confirm it tastes like sunshine. No idea how that can even be a thing, but we also pulled off the shrimp tornado move so only for today, I believed anything was possible.

We drank our liquid sun and the guys chatted excitedly about their favorite Lou Jitsu movies and theorized about any personality traits or facial features that might be similar to him. I couldn’t offer much to the debate, so I simply listened to them, sipped my drink, and despite feeling the dozens of bruises that covered my body felt like today had been a victory after all.

Dropping April off as well we returned late back to the lair. Late in like, the sun had already been up for some time. Splinter was nowhere to be seen and we decided without much discussion that we would talk to him in the morning.

“We will ALL apologize,” Raph repeated for the fourth time and for the fourth time threw a glance at me.

“Yeah alright,” I assured him, “but I need some shut-eye before we do that.”

“How can I sleep when Draxum had just dropped such a bomb?” Mikey complained.

“You will manage,” Donnie sighed. His metal arms grabbed the smaller turtle and pulled him towards their rooms.

I waved at them and went to my garage quarters.

---

Of course, I was also lying awake for some time. Mikey had been right. As if anyone could sleep after something like this.

I let my thoughts wander to my one-on-one mock battle with Splinter, my face-off with Draxum, how despite my doubts teamwork and Lou Jitsu branded moves had saved the day, and to the curious portal that had appeared out of nowhere.

I took the communication shard out of my pocket and activated it. Shortly after the familiar face of a disgruntled yokai-rabbit glimmered on its smooth surface.

“You decide to call me at a curious time,” he greeted me.

“It’s been a long day,” I yawned, “we need to talk, can I come over?”

“The restaurant is closed right now so I can make some time, just try to portal INTO the right room,” he chided.

“That was ONE time,” I complained but I was already on my feet grabbing my sword that had been uselessly lying around in my room the whole day.

I put the shard away and envisioned Usagi’s stall and the back entrance, focused on the details of the cupboard and used them as pointers for my mystic sword.

Two seconds later I was standing in the hide-out in the middle of the hidden city. Usagi was leaning against the wall as if he hadn’t moved from this spot since the last time I had seen him.

“You look awful,” he snorted, which as far as his greetings went, was one of his kindest.

“This is how you look when you spent most of your day getting pummeled,” I groaned and sat down on a stool.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Always straight to the point with this guy.

I leaned on my sword. “I believe I figured out the previous portal magic case I told you about. Draxum somehow had managed to find a tool to hunt for mutants on the surface.”

Usagi stroked his whiskers: “That is worrying nonetheless, and I assume you had the pleasure of meeting him to confirm that?”

I nodded. “We had a little…talk. But then he was portal-snatched himself and I don’t think he planned on doing that.”

The yokai-rabbit let the words sink in and began pacing the room.

“The timing…It all adds up,” he muttered, stopped walking in circles, and said to me: “I’ve reported sightings of Baron Draxum. Not even half an hour ago he was seen with the group of humans we had our eyes on for weeks.”

It was my turn to shoot up from my stool and process his information: “The ones you said got close to mystic artifacts recently?”

“Yes, they target metal that comes from the hidden city in particular, but they also hunted for some other magic items,” Usagi elaborated.

“Where was this sighting?” I asked him. He nodded towards a table where he must have laid out a map only recently. It wasn’t an outline from the hidden city but the upper world, New York.

He pointed to a red dot. It was nearby a complex of mostly larger buildings. Maybe factories? Or living condos?

“My sources told me they saw them around here. Only briefly though. I was considering sending them in, but we are currently unable to estimate their actual numbers and it might be too dangerous to approach them yet.”

My body wasn’t moving an inch, but my mind went on a record-breaking race.

Usagi’s ears twitched back and forth: A sign he saw something he either really liked or really hated.

“That’s quite the look you’ve got there,” he said, and his words pulled me back into the present moment. The ideas, however, had already seeped into all corners of my brain like thick mist into the city.

“How about,” I began and only faltered for a second knowing that what I intended to do could change everything, “you let me handle this.”

Usagi simply observed me with arms crossed and eyes piercing me.

“You ask for a lot,” he said not even blinking (was it even possible to not blink for that long?).

“I know, but I have a plan,” I assured him, studying the map in preparation.

“Also, if Draxum is with them it’s easier for me to portal to them. The better I know someone’s mystic wavelength the more accurate I can portal and no matter if I like it or not, I know Draxum’s like the back of my shell,” I explained and picked up my sword. The blade’s edge fizzled with my own blue energy.

“I know you are telling me all this to make me feel better about this insane idea, but I also know you will do as you like anyway,” Usagi said. He threw a glance at my sword, then at me before completely giving in:

“Fine, I will tell my contacts to retreat and keep reports to the council sparse and whatever you do, you need to keep me updated.”

“Understood, boss,” I said mockingly to cover up how I actually felt at this moment.

I made a fist with my right hand and held it up.

“Let me show you a gesture I learned,” I said, “first you make a fist like this.”

The rabbit was visibly uncomfortable with my request yet followed my instructions slowly.

“And then you bump them like this.”

We fist-bumped kinda awkwardly and before he could ask me what that meant I swung my sword and opened a portal based on Draxum’s mystic energy and the map I had memorized in parts. It wasn’t optimal but I just hoped it would get me to where I wanted to be.

“No takebacks,” I said to him but also to myself and stepped through.

On the other side, it was dark. As if I moved suddenly back into the night that was only lit up by a few scattered light sources. My eyes needed a second to readjust. Each time I blinked, I could make out more figures. Dozens of humans in dark uniforms, then two with flames on their heads and then another with the meanest look I’ve ever seen, all of whom surrounded me. Right beside me so close I could hear him breathe in sharply and curse under his mask was my old master, Baron Draxum.

At the very least, this had been a perfect landing.

Chapter 16: Typical Double Spy Procedures and Other Lies

Notes:

This chapter is dedicated to my writer moots Mej and Ossa! Thank you for being the loveliest (and most talented) of people!
Also, please note that this chapter is also structured slightly differently. It simultaneously recounts what happens right after the end of the previous chapter – these parts are in italics – and what occurred the day after – this is where we start this one. Hope you enjoy - Jazz

It must have been two or so hours since I went to sleep when one of Donnie’s metallic grappling arms poked me unlovingly awake.

I shot up from my place on the garage floor, feeling the drool on my right cheek and forcing the black spots that flickered inside my eyelids away.

Even though I had woken up in weird places before I had never felt more disoriented.

“What…what?” I mumbled, then processing one of the first things I noticed said: “Coffee?”
Donnie sipped from his cup, observing me and slurping audibly.

“You look like you need some,” he commented drily.

I rubbed my forehead and got up. The concrete floor wasn’t the kindest place to lie down after all and I needed to stretch first before every limb felt like it was in the right place.

“When you’re done with your beauty routine, Raph and Mikey are already in the kitchen preparing food. We’re all making an apology brunch enchiladas for Splinter,” Donnie explained, turned on his heels, and still flushing down his caffeine intake walked out of the room. He expected me to follow him without complaining, such character development.

I rolled my eyes and considered messing with him by just disappearing but eventually decided to trod to the kitchen as well.  

Raph and Mikey greeted me much kinder. The youngest one, shoved a knife in my hand – I started to think that this became a sort of routine between us – and gave me instructions to slice and dice some vegetables. While everyone chitted and chatted, I went about my task slowly getting my brain to turn its sleepy gears. At the same time, I began to process what had happened yesterday – and no, I do NOT refer to our battle with the ‘loser league of mutants’. I mean the events after I jumped through a portal from Usagi’s base of operation right into the eye of a storm.

I stopped chopping the greens and eyed the knife. It was fairly similar to the one this ninja lady held at my throat the second I had appeared besides Draxum. She seriously had zero chills.

---

The steel felt cool around my throat and then something warm ran down my neck. The instant I had turned my head to look up to Draxum a human, young, female, buzz-cut, and eyes like razor-sharp darts had appeared right in front of me and held a kunai threateningly close, aka too close, at one of my most vulnerable body parts. I didn’t dare to gulp but the adrenaline that kicked in and rushed through my mind felt good.
 
“Woah,” I said, mindful not to move my jaw too much, “a normal greeting would have worked just fine. Something like ‘hey’ or ‘hello’ or ‘how ya doing?’”

The weapon remained where it was. Everyone else was at a kind of standstill, unsure what to make of me and my sudden entrance for a variety of reasons.

It was now or never.

“Hey master,” I croaked, “wouldn’t you tell our new acquaintances to relax? It’s difficult to report to you when Miss Go-Hard-Or-Die is cutting into my vocal cords.”

I couldn’t see Draxum’s face, but I was close enough to hear the shift in his stance, how his posture tensed up.

I guessed he was still debating what to make of me and, well, everything that was related to me when the two dudes with flames on their heads pointed at me. The more slender one said in a voice as if he had swallowed tons of dust and never ever flushed it down with water: “That guy with you?”

“Yeah, what’s going on here and how did he know where we are?” The one beside him reminded me of those daruma statues you could see around the hidden city.  

I grabbed the overenthusiastic ninja by her arm and wanted to push her hand and kunai back, but she wouldn’t budge. What an insane strength. At least I could prevent her from cutting any deeper.

“Didn’t my master inform you? He told me where we would meet so I could get acquainted with all you lovely people later,” I stated and moved the point of my sword downwards until it tapped the ground. Even the girl who had threatened me couldn’t react in time before a blue swirl zapped into existed right under us and we fell in together.

I allowed the portal to spat us out just a few feet away and made sure the human would be thrown out first so I would land on top of her. This resulted in her hitting the ground face down while my own fall was cushioned by her body. I was sitting nonchalantly and cross-legged on top of the cursing and struggling ninja when I further said: “So far your welcome lacks some – how to put it – flair.”

“I didn’t tell you any of the sorts,” Draxum finally exploded. I jumped up fearing the human would poke me in my sensitive parts when I would use her as a cushion for too long and summoned another portal. This time I appeared behind the two flame dudes.

“Don’t humble yourself, master. I feel kinda hurt you didn’t mention me to our new friends but maybe you just forgot you told me ALL about these humans. How else should I have found your super-secret spot of secrecy?”

To my satisfaction, the slender, as well as the compact human, flinched when they heard my voice so near them without actually seeing me.

“You shouldn’t go around telling all your henchmen about this place Draxum,” the one with the raspy voice chided Draxum. I couldn’t suppress the slightest of slight smirks.

“He’s not…well…not anymore…he’s…” the warrior scientist stammered. Such a rare sight. That and noticing his bandages in the places I had left some sharp greeting cards on his thigh and arm earlier this day served as great sources of motivation to up my game even more.
 
“What the mighty Baron wants to say is,” I interrupted him in my most stage-worthy tone, “I’m no mere henchman. I’m a spy and I’m currently working under-cover for him.”

“This is all very confusing,” shouted the female ninja. Maybe ‘shouting’ isn’t the correct verb because I got the sense her screaming at the top of her lungs was her normal mode of talking.

“Please it’s not that difficult to understand,” I waved at her and scanned the room further. Hundreds of candles illuminated what I guessed was a storage house. The lights lead up a set of stairs that opened to a plateau. I was still too far away to make out what might be up there. I was however sure that at least two or three dozen humans dressed in dark from head to toe surrounded the stairs and waited for orders in the depths of the shadows.

“Just look at me,” I gestured at me walking upwards one step at a time in the meantime.
“Seeing many turtles who are proficient with mystic weapons around?”

“More than you would think,” the big flame dude scoffed.

“Exactly,” I agreed.

I put up one of my three fingers for each of them as I counted them down: “Red, purple, and orange. They’ve been a bane in my master’s eyes for quite some time and in yours too I assume. Instead of getting rid of them the traditional way, we figured my similar appearance would help me infiltrate their group and effectively sabotage their operations.”

Maybe I had chosen the wrong vocabulary. The two who I had singled out as the semi-bosses of this whole operation just glanced at me emptily. Buzz-cut scratched her head. I was getting too far away from Draxum to estimate his reaction.

“Put in simple villain speech: I just pretend to be one of the turtle mutants so I can report on their plans to the warrior scientist down there,” I sighed and added some extra arrogance to my voice.

“Ooooh,” the daruma one finally got it.
“That’s diabolical,” the smaller one commended and to Draxum continued, “I had my doubts you were really villain material, but I’m impressed. Double-crossing mutants by using your own mutants, now that’s evil.”  

The sheep-man surely had readied countable protests and insults with my name on them but it was already too late. These humans had readily eaten up the story. The logic was sound, and its presentation more than passing (if I dare to say so myself).

“I always tell him, he’s the most brilliant mind of all yokai-kind,” I said sweetly.

All eyes were on Draxum. I used the chance to move even closer to the plateau.

His growls were audible in the whole building. The next words he said would determine who of us two was the fly and who the spider. ‘Come on,’ I thought riding high on my performance, ‘make your move’.

---

“Move,” Raph called from the oven, balancing on his adorable cat-shaped mittens the result of our combined effort. He safely got the cheese-covered enchiladas to the kitchen table where Donnie had set the plates and cutlery with pre-programmed precision.

“We’ve really outdone ourselves,” Mikey praised us.

“Now we just have to decide who is looking for Splinter,” Donnie reminded.

“Looking for me for what?”

Splinter had sneaked up on us without anyone noticing the rat mutant. We all jumped back a few steps except for Raph who was placing down a jug of water and was too nervous to move.

“Dad, we, uh, we thought you would like a family brunch.” It was always a rather odd sight when someone like Raph was nervous when he was talking to someone so small as Splinter.

“We made your fav enchiladas,” Mikey added and made some flourishing gestures towards to table.
 
The rat-man still seemed disgruntled. He eyed all four of us successively. Of course, I got the longest stare. I exhaled audibly and gave in to the pressure.

“Fine,” I said and took a step forward, “we, and that includes me, are sorry for what we said yesterday. We, and again that includes me, realized that Lou Jitsu moves are not useless and that studying him might be beneficial.”

I struggled to meet his eyes. By the end, it was obvious he hadn’t been mad at us anymore, just naturally skeptical about what we were up to.

His face and posture went soft. His ears dropped.

“I, too, am sorry. Being a parent, it’s not easy and I just want the best for you,” Splinter said profoundly. “And you see, as a single father, the responsibilities…”

“It’s all good, pops,” Raph interrupted him, “you don’t have to give us the whole parent speech.”

He pulled the rat-man into a big bear hug in which he lifted Splinter up from the ground and squeezed him tight. Mikey tackled both of them from the other side and Donnie, even though looking unmoved, laid his arms around the trio.

I remained where I was observing this odd make-shift group that could watch movies together, laugh and cry together, eat brunch enchiladas together, fight and hug it out later.

Even if curious chances had created them, at this moment there was no doubt that they were and would always be a family. I felt like an invader of this scene, an observer passing by who had no significant context for what occurred before his eyes.

‘It was good to remain distanced,’ I told myself.

Some bridges shouldn’t be crossed because once on the other side there might not be a way back and especially now, I needed to stay right where I was.

The three turtles released their rat-dad from their embraces since he complained about his back hurting from Raph’s tight grip.

As we all went to sit down at the table, Splinter walked past me and padded me on my back shell. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t look up to me, but it was without a doubt a fond gesutre. To me, it had a similar meaning to Raph’s fist-bump, telling me: ‘You did good’.

---

 

Draxum’s mouth distorted into a grotesque smile. The kind he would pull whenever he needed to talk to some form of authorities who wanted to inquire him about his work.

“You did exceptionally good, my henchman,” he said, and you could ALMOST think he actually meant it. Maybe he intended the ambiguity of his words and was also congratulating me on my ruse, acknowledging the mad brilliance of my plan. Though maybe, that was just wishful thinking.

“I know,” I returned without missing a beat. We were now both committed to the bit.

He couldn’t disagree with my explanations without losing his face in front of these weird humans and it seemed like he was scheming something together with them. Whatever Draxum planned was dangerous, whatever a group who had avoided the eyes of the council so well for so long planned was super dangerous, whatever those two parties planned together was – you guessed it – ultra-super dangerous.

I still slowly made my way up to the plateau, one step at a time. Finally, in the dim light that the dozens of candles emitted, I could make out a silhouette. Something metal shined in the unsteady flickers of the small fires. Something human-shaped but not quite right.

I didn’t dare to stare longer at it than half a second. I focused on my audience again and added in an attempt to truly cement myself and my role in all of this: “So you see, it’s all just pretending. Typical double-agent business to ensure that your villain plan will go off without a hitch. That’s the Leo-guarantee.”

The two humans in charge were sold, but to be fair, despite having actual flames on their heads, they didn’t seem to be the brightest.

Young, angry, and ready-to-slice-and-dice narrowed her eyes. She apparently wasn’t as easy to impress as her superiors.

Draxum, having accepted that if he wanted to keep this meeting going, he had to play along, addressed the humans: “Returning to your proposition you made before one of my personnel so rudely abrupted us. It indeed sounds like a good deal to me. Finalizing the armor will benefit us both and with our spy here we can make sure no one intervenes with its completion.”

I gave a thumbs-up, then turned to what Draxum presumably just referred to while he continued his speech. Like pieces of a silver skeleton, the clearly unfinished armor had the rough shape of a human, yet it felt distorted and just wrong. The outline was too big and broad, the pieces that they had already collected were spikey, and one of its feet was already present and oddly claw-like.

I went to touch one of the looser pieces around the upper body that stuck out like a misplaced rib. The metal felt smooth and cold, almost icy, and pulsated with a faint but present mystic energy. Or maybe not mystic? Something more foreign.

“Hey,” the voice was too close for it to be so loud. A hand grabbed my wrist just when I had moved to another armor piece. The female ninja stood beside me, pushing me away and I let her, while I switched something from my left hand to the right and into my pouch.

“Don’t you go around touching our lordship, the most SACRED of sacredness!”

“Sheesh, can you maybe relax for like one second,” I attempted to appease her, moving my sword from one hand to the other a few times just to keep her distracted.

Down the stairs, the two flame-head-guys and Draxum were looming over a piece of paper. Huginn and Muninn had flewn in from somewhere carrying a pencil and wax.  

“What are our bosses doing?” I asked her. Always good to have some proper henchman-to-henchman gossip.

She shot me a glance that she probably also used when discerning the trash, she had to take out. After an awkward silent half-a-minute she answered: “They are making a contract. We need to speed up our work and we have observed this creature for some time. He’s powerful and will AID US IN BRINGING A NEW AND BETTER ORDER TO THIS WORLD.”
 
The last words sounded throughout the whole building. Since nobody reacted to it, I figured that human was always shouting villain speech in the dead of night.

“Great, guess we’re all lunatics here,” I said and noticed the army of masked humans moving closer.

Figuring I did well for my first performance, I portalled down the stairs to move behind the warrior alchemist, tabbed him on the arm – of course, I chose the wounded one – and announced: “I’ll take my leave now master. I’ll keep an eye on those pesky turtles so you can go about your evil doings as you please, bu-bye.”

Huginn and Muninn, oblivious as they always were, also wished me ‘good-bye’. I cut through the air and jumped through a portal. I hoped nobody would have a last-minute change of heart and stab me in the back until I would be safe on the other side.

---

I turned my back to the others as I collected the plates to bring them to the sink. Good food truly helped to lift the general mood and maybe for the first time ever it hadn’t felt weird to sit at a table with everyone.

I took a mug and feeling the z’s catching up to me poured myself a cup of coffee (Donnie always kept some extra around). Leaning against the sink and turning to the table I listened to Raph recounting some funny story about them dressing up as Lou Jitsu for Halloween. Mikey stood up abruptly: “Dad! That reminds me! You wouldn’t believe what we found out!”

I almost spat out my coffee. Raph and Donnie also looked in disbelief at orange. Without explicitly talking about it, three of us had agreed to keep that bit of info a secret, but one of us had different plans. Or plan at all. I could never be sure with Mikey.

Splinter also wasn’t sure what to make of our reactions. “And what would that be my son?” he asked sitting up straight.

“Lou Jitsu,” he announced with the greatest delight, “is our dad!”

The rat’s mouth dropped, and his eyes were wide open. “How did you…”

“That’s not important,” Donnie stuffed Mikey’s mouth with a spare napkin and explained: “What he wanted to say is, Lou Jitsu is our biological father.”

Splinter relaxed a little. His sons didn’t see the whole picture yet. From my vantage point, though, I already saw it. He was a powerful fighter. He used a clearly fake name. He must have been around Draxum’s lab during the beta phase. Lou Jitsu sat at this kitchen table right now. Hairier and older but it was unmistakably him.

‘How long would it take for the others to realize it,’ I wondered and his eyes met mine by chance across the kitchen. Just when he had felt safe again as he noticed the three believed him unrelated to their DNA donor, he knew with the same certainty that I had figured it out.

In a non-verbal response, I took a sip from my mug and winked at him.

Raph drew his attention away from me as he said: “But we want you to know. No matter where we come from, you will always be our dad.”

Splinter sniffled a little and was moved to the brink of tears by the big guy’s words.

“My sons,” he toned with gravity. He didn’t immediately say more than that. He gazed around the table, to the sink where I remained and eventually was turning to Mikey:
“I feel like it’s time to show him what you worked on, Michelangelo.”

For once, I had not the slightest idea what they were talking about. The turtle however understood but wasn’t all that happy about his father’s suggestion.

“I’m not done yet,” he protested.

“Then you can work on it together,” Splinter countered with the countenance of someone who will not be further persuaded. “Look at him, he’s tired and now he takes up Donnie’s bad habit of drinking coffee all day long. He needs a proper bed.”

Mikey’s shoulder sank. “Okay, guess that works, too.”

He turned on his stool to me and said in an unusually serious voice: “Grab your stuff from the garage. I swear it’s not ready so keep that in mind.”

Orange refused to answer any of my questions. I followed his order and met the three turtles at the skate ramp. More ridiculous instructions ensued. I needed to give Mikey a piggyback ride and he covered my eyes with his hands because otherwise ‘it wouldn’t be a surprise’ (his words not mine). We swayed back and forth like this: Me in total darkness and the others telling me where I should go until I had no idea anymore in which part of the lair I was. After a handful of minutes, they finally told me to halt.

“Again, it’s not finished but we hope you like it anyway,” Mikey said and moved his hands off my eyes.
What I saw was a room. Two empty shelves, a small wardrobe at the back, and some light bulbs hung from its high ceiling. It had a real bed, but that wasn’t what I stared at.

I was transfixed by what was behind it. The concrete wall showed a painting of the skyline of the hidden city. The neon colors from signs, lanterns, and windows felt like they shined through the wall into the room. It wasn’t a totally accurate depiction, but it gave me the same feeling I had felt when looking at the city from above.

“Is that…the hidden city,” I hushed moving closer to the wall.

“So, you recognize it?” Mikey sounded delighted. “I wanted your room to feel more homely, so I gave it a paint job. Not super satisfied with it, but maybe you can give me some pointers?”

“My room?” I had trouble wrapping my mind around this.

“We couldn’t let you sleep in that garage forever,” Raph chimed in.

“Yeah, and I need that extra space for my next project anyway,” Donnie shrugged.

“That doesn’t mean we force you to stay here,” Mikey added, “but dad wanted you to have your own space for as long as you need it.”

Splinter hadn’t accompanied us to the room and had excused himself to go watch some TV. Now I wished he would also be present.

“I…” I began but didn’t know how to continue. I felt honored, but also embarrassed, that was new and strange to me.

“Urgh,” Mikey moaned, “I cannot STAND the painting like this any longer! The more I look at it the more I see stuff I want to change and add. Let me grab my paints! Be right back!”
 
He rushed out of the circular door frame and the two older turtles chuckled.

“Always the restless artist,” Donnie said amused and noted he would also go to his lab to work on a few gadgets.

“This is…” I made a second attempt, but it was again difficult to get anything comprehensive out.

“It’s alright,” Raph prevented me from further making a fool of myself, “just make yourself at home. I guess that’s easy when you just have your sword and a pillow.”

I nodded and then moved my eyes back to the painting.

Despite (or maybe because of) it being incomplete I thought it was the most beautiful thing and only with reluctance, I would agree to let Mikey further work on it.

We spent the remainder of the day experimenting with color palettes and adding buildings I would describe to him. During that time yesterday didn’t matter at all. Yesterday was far away. That was, until yesterday would catch up to me, but that was a story for another time.

---

 

From the villain’s hide-out, I didn’t return to the lair or to Usagi’s base right away. I didn’t spend much time thinking about my destination either and ended up rather randomly at the dumpsters where I had joined the other three for my first stake-out.  

Being removed from the scene I felt like I could finally breathe again. The more I focused on inhaling and exhaling, the more erratic and quicker the intervals turned.

All the emotions I had kept behind an enforced gate rushed passed all boundaries. It was a swirl of anger and triumph and fear and gratification. It overloaded my mind and I let out a hysterical laugh, which was the only sane response that I could manage.

With my left hand, I shakingly rummaged through my pouch. I pulled out a shard. Cold, almost icy, metal. It was faint but it was emitting unique mystic energy of a kind I had never sensed before. I wished I could have gotten more pieces, but that lady ninja had already almost caught me stealing this one.

‘This whole elaborate ruse, just to get this?’

Shivers run through my whole body. I stumbled back, bumped against the dumpster, and slid down to the ground.

‘What are you doing?’

I had no answer.

‘What do you hope to get out of this?’

No answer.

‘What if they find out?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ I thought to myself. ‘And if they do, I will just disappear, it’s that easy.’

I put the shard back into an extra pocket that I reserved for things I didn’t want to be found even if I would be searched.

I gazed up into the cloudy sky.

It was dusk.

“It’s not that easy,” I said out loud and it resounded much louder than expected in that empty alley, “not anymore.”

Chapter 17: First Rule of the Hidden City Black Market

Notes:

Thank you everyone for over 500 kudos and 7500 views!! I never expected this fic to grow so much and I’m happy people are still tagging along for the ride! This chapter is not based on any episode and contains several references to tmnt related content, can you find them all?
Among those are mentions of a few Rottmnt OCs that my fic writer moots created. Black Pearl and Hel belong to Ossa_Deauratas_Angst_Villa, Ash to ash_treee, and Akane to Mej2235. Thanks for allowing me to use them, guys! Ash is currently working on a fic that focuses on these OCs (also featuring one of my own) and if you’re interested in them, I’ll let you know once they officially publish more information.

Anyway, this is also the first chapter of a two-parter, so please bear with me and my slow pacing, I hope it will pay off with the next update! – Lots of love, Jazz

“Knock knock,” April announced herself and walked without waiting for my answer into my room.

“Who’s there?” I greeted her and got up from my bed.

She stopped mid-motion to ponder my set-up. She got a wicked smile on her face when she answered: “Tank.”

I already chuckled knowing where this one was going: “Tank who.”

April bowed with much flourish and said: “You’re welcome.”

We grinned like idiots being proud of our combined comedic genius.

I waved at her with the comic book I had in my hand, “so now that we have all the proper greetings out of the way, what’s up?”

“What issue are you at?” she asked rather than answering my question first and nodded towards the one I was currently holding.

“23, where Jupiter Jim strands on a planet ruled by super-intelligent dinosaurs,” I said. It had recently been my assignment to read my way through a literal mountain of magazines – courtesy of mostly Donnie and Raph – that depicted the adventures of a ‘space hero’ called Jupiter Jim. I kept calling the guy wrong and the others couldn’t stand my ignorance any longer so they ordered me to ‘educate’ myself with the proper source materials.

“That one is so good! He meets an old sidekick there, but it turns out his friend is a spy for the dinosaurs and,” April stopped abruptly and pushed her glasses up, “uh, sorry, don’t want to spoil it for you.”

“No worries,” I shrugged, “I could see that plot twist coming from miles away. A fun read though.” I returned the comic to the top of – what I liked to call – the ‘comic tower’.

April had noticed the wall painting and her eyes were fixed on Mikey’s and my combined efforts.

“Cool, huh?” I said with a hint of pride. The past week had been quiet, and we had some free time to further work on the mural. If you know your way around the hidden city you could recognize some of the sights, like the witches’ village, the mountain where the council of heads resided or the crying titan.


“Yeah,” April agreed, blinked, and apparently remembered why she came here in the first place. “Actually, we want to hit the city today, the upper city I mean. Donnie and I would go for some shopping, maybe to the arcade later. You haven’t seen so much from New York proper, so we wanted to ask you if you want to tag along?”

I raised my non-existing eyebrows. “For real? You and Don want ME to go with you?”

“It was Donnie’s idea, I’m more of a messenger,” April corrected me. I couldn’t help but suspect some ulterior motives and then chided myself for reacting first with suspicion and only with genuine interest second.

“Huh, okay, and how are you shopping in the upper city when we look like this?” I gestured at, well, everything.

She had this expression that said ‘I-know-you-would-ask-that’: “It’s already dark outside and we will use some human outfits as disguises. Don’t you have a hoodie?”
 
“Mike put it into a washing machine, I think,” I scratched my head. That reminded me I haven’t seen my hoodie for a few days, which slightly worried me.

April suppressed a laugh, even turning her head to make it less obvious.

“What so funny?” I pressed her.

“It’s just,” she said trying to calm herself down but failing miserably, “it’s adorable how you give everyone nicknames. Goes against your whole bad-guy routine.”

I huffed, “shut up, April O’Neil.”

“Oh noooo,” she posed dramatically as if recoiling under my mere presence, “the ‘evil twin’ is not giving me a cute nickname, how can I go on with my life?”

“Keep telling me how sweet I am, and I’ll show you how ‘adorable’ I can really be,” I warned her but there was no appropriate tonality to follow the threat, so she just rolled her eyes and we both ventured into the lair to secure some hoodies.

As April also explained to me, humans usually wore pants, which is why she got some for me. Not that easy to find the proper sizes for turtle-human hybrids but the dark-blue jeans she had chosen for me fitted unexpectedly well (guess she had experience picking up clothes for unusual body types).

Mikey gladly threw my freshly-washed hoodie at me and was tearing up when I had put on the whole outfit. ‘Like a moma seeing her child all grown-up’ he had said and let’s just leave it at that, okay?

Donnie wore a similar get-up to mine: a purple hoodie, black jeans, and a brown satchel bag. As usual, he was tipping away with insane speed on his phone.

“We’re ready to roll, Donnie,” April declared and stood expectantly before purple.

He was a lot less touched by my ‘disguise’ as Mikey had been and motioned at my odachi, “that one might be a problem.”

“After what happened at the motel, I’m not a fan of leaving it behind,” I admitted.

“A baseball bag might work, I was designing one for April recently,” he was eyeing the weapon, taking its measures. From the unexplored depths of the lair, he produced a bag that perfectly fitted my sword. I wasn’t sure how this sport called ‘baseball’ worked, but I was grateful that I didn’t have to openly carry a large-ass blade through New York.

“How do we get around the city, that, uh, tank is a bit too big for a shopping stroll isn’t it?” I wondered while we followed Donnie through parts of his lab.

“Ah, now that’s a good question,” he almost complimented me, and signaled to us that we should wait in front of some large curtains that automatically opened with the press of a button.

“I not-so-humbly present to you, the shell hog,” he boasted, and in the hall that appeared behind the cloth stood two beautiful vehicles both with only two tires each.

“Now those are two beauties,” April said, and let he hand glide across their shining exteriors.  

Donnie looked very satisfied with our reactions and held his chin up high. With an air of superiority, he said to me: “Careful, or you drool all over the bikes.”

I realized I was gaping and quickly closed my mouth. “I was just thinking that those are pretty decent.” I cleared my throat, “so, who is driving what?”

“Oh, I will be. You guys need some driving lessons before I trust you with my babies. They are designed for two people even if one of them is Raph so three medium-sized passengers will also fit on one just fine,” Donnie explained and was juggling with some keys. I had the strong urge to snatch those and try out one of those shell hogs myself, but the potential that he might tease me for being so interested in his invention was far too great. In the end, I settled for the ‘backseat’ behind the other two and we speeded off into the city.

I have seen a variety of streets, alleys, building complexes, and even a few monuments during my first strolls up here. Right after my spat with Draxum, I had wandered the concrete labyrinth until settling at Big Mama’s place. I haven’t been in many of the buildings though and I had never had any motivation to enter them either. Let’s just say, I was ‘medium’ curious to actually go and explore the insides of these endless rows of stores with the shining signs and large windows that had all kinds of useless stuff on display.

To my dismay and because we were working through Donnie’s shopping list, the places, we hit first were not exciting at all – I mean what did I expect? – and after a while, the tour turned into a monotonous scramble for second-hand tech parts. I remember it as basically a hodgepodge of wires, metals, buttons, chips, and other pieces that Donnie bargained for in shops that were mostly empty except for a grimy human who would glare at us from behind their counter.

“Are we done yet?” I complained after we exited the ninth (or tenth? Eleventh? I had lost count) building that had promised ‘SUPER SALE on all hardware’. I fell over the bike like a towel over a clothesline. My listlessness seemed to grow to the same proportions as Donnie’s mood improved. At this point, he was humming a tune and adding his latest acquisitions into the compartments of his battle shell – earlier when he had explained to me how this artificial shell worked I had called it a ‘fancy backpack’ and I had been certain he had been THIS close to throwing me back into the garage.

April, to my surprise, agreed with me for once: “Yeah, I’m getting tired, too, Donnie. You always go overboard when you look for spare parts. There are just so many screws a girl can look at before she’s beginning to think her own are loose.”  

Donnie stopped with the humming. “Already? We haven’t even visited the actual junk yards! I also haven’t found anything that could help me with my ooze-quito-radar, yet.”

I got up from the bike and turned to him, “you’re building oozequito-related tech?”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, reflecting on the many potential reasons why I would ask him something like this. To him, my sudden enthusiasm was nothing but suspicious.

“Yeeeah?” he said after a quick pause, “we still need to find the remaining ones and ideally, a large-scale radar would be a great help. It’s difficult to home in on a mystic energy signature when you work with human tech, y’know.”   

I clasped both his shoulders and squeezed them tight, “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” I asked, all of my sluggishness gone in a heartbeat.

“Because I didn’t think you would care what I’m working on?” Donnie suggested and wiggled himself out of my grapple.

“I mean you’re right, I don’t care. BUT,” I opened the bag and retrieved my sword, “when you need something mystic-related I know just the place.”

I drew a circle right above the pavement where we stood, and a blue portal opened up under our feet. “Next stop, the hidden city black market,” I declared.

“Did you just say black maaaaa” April’s question ended in a scream as we fell from upper town into one of the most hidden places within the hidden city.

My favorite means of transportation threw us on top of some barrels that either crashed or tumbled and rolled away from our impact while we all got to our feet padding our bruises. Not the most comfortable way of getting here but definitely the fastest.

I moved to the entrance of the side street we had appeared in and scanned the area briefly. I pushed my hood back and told the others: “Coast is clear.”

Donnie still recovered from the fall, he was rubbing his back shell when he filed his complaint to me: “Would it hurt to warn us when you do that?”

“No, but the landing wouldn’t be any softer either, so where is the fun in that?” I grinned.

April walked past me and into the main market area. “Woah!” she said, twirling around to take it all in and turning to us two decided: “Quite bickering like old grannies, and let’s go explore!”

Donnie pouted for a while but when he also took in the place, even he couldn’t prevent himself from being visibly impressed.

The hidden city black market is an open secret. There are parts, like some areas at the docks, that the police can see and administer from afar, and as long as nothing too illegal is getting passed around everyone is happy. But that’s not where the interesting stuff happens.

The actual black market is a system of tunnels built from planks and other wooden scrapes that had been scavenged from ships, crates, buildings, and basically, anything that nobody would notice was missing. Many said that the constant creaking sounds of the different types of woods made you feel like walking in the hull of a gigantic boat. The light mostly came from long glass tubes that hang from the ceiling at different heights. They were filled with enchanted liquids – courtesy of the local witches – in all the colors you can and cannot imagine. The stalls themselves also used candles and lamps, so many you should never agree on a bet to count them all. This had been a mistake I had only made once in my life…

“So the first rule of the black market is that there is no black market. The second rule is, there are no rules,” I elaborated while April and Donnie tagged along behind me. We passed a wild array of offerings. Items that were sharp, poisonous, stolen, broken but still useful, alive, not visibly on display, or definitely not of this world.

“Also, don’t try to haggle over the price too much or you might lose a few body parts,” I thought about how this has been another mistake I had only attempted the first time I had been here.  

“Uh, twinsie?” April called and caught up to me. “I have still my eyes on him but we kinda lost Donnie like some time ago.”

“We did what?” I turned in the direction she was pointing at and saw the turtle inspecting a stall in some distance that had vials on display all containing questionable potions.

I groaned and we trotted back to purple.

“…and you’re telling me this is more powerful than a hundred gallons of human gasoline? How’s that even possible?” Donnie was mid-way interrogating an old hag. The yokai reminded me of a smaller bear, round, hairy, and not in a good mood. She just blinked slowly at him.

“Ya buying or not buying?” She asked in a voice as slow and stretchy as molasses and extended her open palm towards him, either to take back the vial or take the money for it.

“Oh, I’m so NOT buying anything. ESPECIALLY that your potions have any scientifically feasible effects,” Donnie thundered and put the potion back. April and I were flanking him on both sides as this conversation went down. The hag first threw a curious eye at the human, then at me. I deliberately kept my sword out and was casually but very presently leaning on it. That was enough of a threat for her to not spat some curses – actual and literal ones – back at us.

“Come on, big brain,” I tugged him more into the crowd.

“I need materials to work on actual machines, not whatever this is,” he complained. “Why did you bring us here?”

“Jeez, you’re so welcome for the help,” I said trying hard to keep my language polite.

“Last time I checked, I didn’t ask for your help,” he was flinging his arms around and didn’t care to keep his voice down. I groaned. He just knew how to irritate me to no end.

“Oh, ExcUSe ME for making myself useful when YOU wanted me to tag along. At least, here I don’t go insane from looking at another hundred identical screws.” I hissed at him.

“If everything I do is so unbearable to you, why did you even come along in the first place?” Donnie crossed his arms and he pointedly looked away from me.

“I actually don’t know anymore, come to think of it that was stupid of me,” I was shouldering my sword and added in a sour tone, “not as stupid as your tech obsession, though.”

His head shot up and his expression lay between hurt and fury and, yes, that stung a little.

“Cut it out, you two,” April pushed us into opposing directions and took a stance between us.

“You,” she sounded like a grand authority as she was addressing me, stern yet not aggressive, instructive yet not judgmental. “You seriously need to learn how to communicate better.”

“And you,” to my delight she turned her attention to Donnie, “are on time-out. We didn’t even properly explore the place and you’re already judging it. At least give it a chance.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and between scoffs said something like an agreement. Putting his hood back up, he started walking through the market at a brisque pace. April and I followed him at some distance.

“I just don’t understand that guy,” I said to her in a lower voice pushing past yokai and other mythical beings.

She didn’t answer right away. Her eyes were locked on the purple hoodie in front of us when she told me: “Donnie is brilliant. He can figure out anything he sets his mind to, except for, uh, people. That doesn’t mean he cannot show that he cares, it’s just different from what most would expect.”

“Great, do his amicable expressions include complaining?” I received a dangerous side-eye for that remark and took a step to the side as a precaution in case she wanted to hit me on the head or something.

Donnie slowed a bit and started to browse the stalls. He wasn’t engaging with them but from time to time he would slow down to almost a halt and ‘totally’ inconspicuously inspect them from afar.

“You’re not so different,” April continued, also browsing a few items, now that we didn’t have to constantly worry about losing him in the crowd.

“What do you mean? That we’re the same age? Similar shades of green?” I dug deeper.

“Maybe that too,” she admitted, “but I mean something else. You both don’t like for anyone to see what you really think or feel. That’s why you have to figure out your own ways of expressing yourself and hope everyone else understands.”

I stopped at a wide array of apparels. Not really taking in all the bling-bling but rotating April’s words around in my mind.

“What if I don’t need anyone to understand,” I countered.

“Everyone needs someone who gets them,” April said firmly. Nodding in Donnie’s direction, who also stood at a shop nearby, “brilliant scientists need them”. Then she nodded to me and added, “not-so-evil twins need them, just as much.”

I picked up a mask and held it in front of my face. It showed a fox, beautifully drawn on wood: “Enough of your wisecrack, small human,” I toned.

Through the eye-slits, I could see her snorting and choosing a mask as well. Hers depicted a green Oni: “How dare you talk down on the great demon! My wisecrack is the stuff of legends!” she boasted in her deepest possible voice.

We had a good laugh, and I was glad I had apparently disrupted our conversation. My attention also drifted to something else that the same stall offered. Silks and cotton shawls in various colors hung from its ceiling. Similar kinds to the one I had owned previously.

I picked out a dark blue one and tried it on. It had been odd living without one after I had lost mine in the Nexus Hotel. At this moment, it felt even weirder having the cloth around my neck again.

April wore a thoughtful expression: “I totally forgot you wore a shawl when we first met you.”

I didn’t tell her that the previous one had been the only personal gift that Draxum had ever given to me. Or that I felt more ambivalent about wearing one than I had expected. Maybe getting strangled and almost falling to your death made you less affectionate about a shawl.

“You can always go with a different type of statement piece,” she suggested – reading my silence correctly – and was holding up a kind of thick silver necklace. Its sheer size and solid frame reminded me of a collar. I shivered inexplicably. “Somehow I get the feeling this wouldn’t suit me all that well.”

I held up a black shawl, much thinner than the one I had owned previously. Maybe this one would be the right mix of different and similar. “This one,” I decided and ended up buying it.

Donnie was still stuck at another shop. He dared not to touch anything but was focusing hard on the jewels they had. They sparkled and pulsated in individual intervals and hues.

“Those could be useful,” I told him, keeping my distance.

He blinked a few times. And that’s it. That was his whole reaction.

“How so?” he eventually wanted to know.

“See the yellow ones? Those can be trained to detect mystic patterns. Good for a…variety of jobs. Also, a potential…”

“…ooze-quito detector,” Donnie interrupted me and finished the sentence himself. From the side, I saw, maybe for the first time, his eyes glimmering – similar to the precious stones in front of his – with actual and unrestrained fascination.

“How much?” I asked the yokai behind the counter and fumbled for my pouch.

“I don’t accept bribes,” purple protested.

“It’s not like that. Your human money is worth squat here or do you have a pile of hidden city coins tucked into your backpack shell?” I counted the amount the vendor told me. I still had so much of my prize money left, covering the cost was easy.

Donnie didn’t reply to that and when I pushed the biggest yellow jewel they had offered, into his hands, the unfiltered passion for anything of his interest was gone but his eyebrows didn’t draw themselves together to a constant frown either.

In the meantime, April had been haggling, despite my warning, with a group of pirates. They had barrels full of weapons, all ‘temporarily borrowed’ from their previous owners. She held a piece of wood in her hands that was spiked with dozens of metal needles. Despite lacking elegance, it was clear that the thing could distribute some serious hurt.

I didn’t interfere with their talk which seemed to be surprisingly friendly, with the sea-weathered pirates giving her some tips on how to effectively swing her weapon right at her enemies’ weak spots. I found a few small shaft-less blades and stocked up on those, keeping one hidden in each of my gloves. In the same container, a fan caught my eye. It was made of steel and its curve, when opened, was as sharp as any blade.

“Hey April,” I interrupted their conversation and waved some air into my face with it, “how about something like this?”

The girl wasn’t pleased in the least.

“Not much of a fan, ey?” At the very least tried to get a good word pun out of it.

The pirates groaned and told April: “We will give you the needled bat for free because you have been the loveliest company we have had in a long time AND if you agree to get that moron who thinks he's funny away from here.”

“I just bought some blades from your colleague, I’m a valuable customer, too” I countered. April thanked the yokai pirates and motioned Donnie and me to get going.

“So where to next?” She asked me. I tried to get a good view by gazing above the crowd and hoped to recognize some of my go-to shops. That’s when I saw her nearby. Towering above her surroundings was a bat yokai with a sly smile, bright red eyes, black hair with brown stripes, and some mean blades hanging from her hip.

“Shit,” I hushed and put my hood back on. I grabbed the other two each by an arm and tugged them to the backside of a stall.

“Uh, what are we doing?” April was getting into a battle position with her new weapon just in case.

“Don’t look too obvious in her direction,” I advised, “but if you look glance around the corner, you can see a slender yokai with big ears covered in bandages. That’s Black Pearl, one of the Battle Nexus champions.”

“That’s not good,” Donnie made a painful expression. I assumed he would also prefer to keep his evening spider-free.

“That’s putting it mildly. If she’s here, her crew is not far. Ash, Hel, Akane, the rest I don’t even know the names of. You could say they are Big Mama’s bad bitch squad.” I had never been formally introduced to them in my time at the hotel, though the rumors had been plenty… plenty gory that is.

“As charming as they sound, maybe now would be a good time to jet and get back to the surface?” Donnie tucked the yellow jewel into a pouch of his hoodie and his face almost disappeared inside his hood.

“Best idea you had all day,” I said, and it came out more sarcastic than I had intended. Going through the usual procedure, I got us back right to the opposite walkway where we had left the shell hog.

As Donnie rummaged for his keys to get the vehicle unlocked, I had some time to myself, and glancing about I noticed the windows of the building to the right of us being toned thus reflecting our surroundings. I was observing myself in the makeshift mirrors. The jeans looked dope, and the hoodie was a tad too big, but I liked the color. Only my new accessory clashed with the whole get-up.

Like it belonged to a different person with a different style during a different time.

It hit me that this was exactly the case.

But then, again. What did that make me?

I didn’t feel like I had changed much since I had lost my previous shawl. I was still me…right?

I was about to take off the apparel when April reminded me to keep my hood up. She also asked if she could borrow my bag to put in her newly acquired aid for future villain beat-downs and said cheerfully: “I don’t know about you guys, but I could go for something to eat right now, should we hit the arcade for pizza and games?”

“Yes please, in that exact order,” Donnie passed us our helmets and we raced off. At this moment, I still believed I had avoided any potentially dangerous situations and complimented myself for not ending this shopping trip in an all-out black-market brawl. (Those were fun but could go on for hours, a solid 7 out of 10 experience.)

That was before I would realize that our little trip hadn’t gone unnoticed, and more eyes were keeping tabs on me than I had ever anticipated.

Chapter 18: Restrooms Were Sought, Games Were Played, Mistakes Were Made

Notes:

TWs for this chapter: Mentions of blood and graphic violence.

Edit Notes: I’m currently editing/proofreading every chapter of this fic starting with the earliest. The changes are mostly corrections in terms of grammar, typos, or names. Some dialogue was altered to make the plot more cohesive. If I would add or remove anything more than a sentence or two, I will leave a comment at the beginning to let you guys know.
Now on to part two of our little shopping trip! - Jazz

“Okay, next round: pineapple or pears and what else?”

“Pineapple and mozzarella cheese,” I said.

“Pears and walnuts,” Donnie said.

We shot a contested side-glance at each other.

April was sitting in the booth opposite us and was deep in thought.

“One point for blue,” she decided.

“Hell yeah,” I took a piece of pizza. The other turtle sighed and threw his arms up in defeat.

“Your turn,” April passed on the baton.

It was on me to think of the next two pizza toppings. The other two would choose one of the suggested ingredients and add another topping. I could then choose the combination I liked most. The winner got the next piece of pizza. April had invented the game to divide the food fair and square.

“All right, how about, popcorn or froot loops, and what else?”

Since Mikey had been in charge of ordering most of the pizza, I haven’t been all too familiar with its varieties. Which is why I randomly decided on two foods I felt were very much ‘human’.

“Eeewww,” Donnie gagged. “Those are both horrible!”

“Popcorn and pretzels,” April said quickly.

“That means she wins by default,” I declared and motioned for her to take a slice.

“Your loss Don,” she poked her tongue out at purple.

“I get the feeling you guys are ganging up on me with your equally weird ideas on what qualifies as food,” Donnie slurped his soda and took a slice even though it was a severe violation of the table rules. We didn’t protest since Donnie had lost all of his rounds.

“Nah, we just have better taste,” I said and leaned at his shoulder simply because I knew it would piss him off.

The other turtle continued to munch his pizza and moved with his upper body to the other side causing me to fall over.

“But speaking of taste,” I got up to my seat again and reached for my new shawl.

It wasn’t all too visible under the hoodie, yet after seeing my reflection, just knowing it was there had become an odd sensation. While I had thought of my original shawl as a source of comfort, this one was like a restriction. I took it off and felt the smooth fabric in my hands.

“I think this was a bad purchase. Anyone want a shawl?” I tried to make it sound like it could be either a joke or a potential offer.

The other two eyed me probingly. I couldn’t make out the details of Donnie’s face, but April wore a curious expression that lay somewhere between concern, skepticism, and as if she was scheming something.

“Not that I want it,” she said tapping her chin, “but can you pass it over for a moment?”

She also ran her thumbs over the cloth and then held it up around the same height as my head.

“Don’t you think, Donnie, in terms of width and material, it’s fairly similar to Mikey’s bandana?” she asked the turtle.

“I know what you mean,” Donnie agreed, gulping down his last bite.

“You have something on you to make some holes in there? With like typical Donnie-pin-point-precision?” she suggested, but also added towards me: “If that’s okay with you?”

For one last heartbeat, I considered taking the shawl back.

I reminded myself of how my stomach churned whenever I felt it across my neck and gave them my blessing.

Donnie didn’t have his staff with him. That didn’t mean he couldn’t produce mind-boggling gadgets out of thin air. He twisted and swirled around in his fingers a hand-sized device: “Good thing, I always have my Swiss-army knife with me.”
 
“You call that a pocketknife?” April scoffed.

“Well yes, it’s simply a ‘Donnied’, in other words, improved version of it,” he pressed a button and a measuring tape sprung up from its mysterious inside.

They took measurements of my eyes and wrapped the shawl around my head to determine how much we had to shorten it. With a heated mini-razor, purple cut two holes, took some fabric from both ends, and with that, turned the shawl into a bandana. It had been that easy.

We took in the finished product. It was like it had never been anything else.

April held it up proudly, “look what you guys can accomplish when you’re not constantly butting heads.”

Without wanting to we crossed our arms in synch and leaned back in our seats.

“A fleeting and exceptional moment,” Donnie toned.

“What he said,” I added and took a sip from my lemonade.

“You’re such knuckleheads,” April passed me the bandana, “that’s why I will take the rest of the pizza.”

“No fair,” we said, again our words almost perfectly overlapped.

In the end, I let Donnie argue over the remaining food and instead pondered my new-new piece of clothing. A few weeks ago, when Mikey had offered to make me a blue bandana, I had no qualms telling him off. Now we had spontaneously created one after all. Just not blue. Black. Odd. And oddly fitting.

I wondered how I best explained this to the youngest. I can imagine him pouting because he wasn’t there to witness its creation. I slurped my drink lost in these thoughts when a shiver ran down my spine. And no, that wasn’t an emotional epiphany. That was my survival instinct kicking in and they were telling me someone or something was watching us. I mean many humans had eyed us curiously throughout the whole night. This was different. This was the kind where someone is keeping tabs on you while avoiding ever looking in your direction. Or let me say it this way: It was the dangerous kind.

I tried to figure out where that sensation came from or if I could determine anyone around us who stuck out. We weren’t the only ones by a long shot who hanged around here, but it also wasn’t crowded. Humans that I estimated to be almost or already adults chatted around tables, strolled around to get refills, or exited the sitting area to hit the arcade.

“Are you not hungry anymore?” April forced my mind back to our booth. I noticed I was clenching the bandana in a fist and forced myself to open my hand again.

“Yeah, nah, I’m full,” I said in a singsong kind of tone, “you guys share the rest.” At the same time as I was saying that I knew this wouldn’t be enough to put them at ease, and the bandana gave me an idea.

“Hey, I want to try this on, but that might be difficult with my hood up and all the humans around. Is there a restroom or something?”

She pointed at one of the doors and told me: “Sure, but they’re a bit far away. You take that exit and walk down the corridor. Go up the stairs, the ones on your left side, and you should be there.”

“Cool,” I thanked her and had to suppress the impulse to grab the bag with my sword in it. I was just scouting, going to the toilet, trying on some bandana, what could go wrong?

Apparently, a lot.

Right after I left the food court some guy on a nearby table also stood up and walked in the same direction I was. But something didn’t feel right. Just in case I put the bandana in the pocket of my hoodie and fingered for my freshly purchased blades (that wasn’t easy because the gloves were tucked up inside my fluffy sleeves). When I was reaching the stairs, the human didn’t follow me and went into a different door.

I allowed myself to breathe again. Maybe I had been wrong. Could be that seeing Black Pearl had put me on edge and I worried about nothing.

Since I had already reached the toilet, I figured I can do what I told April and try on the bandana.

At first glance, the facility was thankfully empty. Sliding inside I went to one of the sinks and pushed my hood back.

Now, where did I put… in the decisive instance, I didn’t grab for the fabric as I initially intended but for one of my blades and hurled it around to meet my ambusher. The fox yokai must have waited in one of the stalls for me to arrive and had almost managed to sneak up on me. Emphasis on ‘almost.’ He blocked my left swing and went with his drawn-out claws for my face. I stumbled back hitting the sink. My right hand behind my back began fumbling for the tap.

During the moment the yokai readied his next attack I could take his appearance in. He was a few inches shorter than me and wore a porter’s uniform, unmistakable courtesy of Big Mama. At his belt, he wore a whip that he put in both his hands.

“I will take a hard guess. Your orders are to bring me back alive to the spider queen?” I attempted to make conversations with him.

“If possible,” the fox churred, “but she also said she wouldn’t mind to only get your head for her trophy wall.” I finally twisted the tab in the right direction. Behind my back, I cupped my hand to let it fill with water.

“Awww, It’s kinda sweet how much she cares about me,” I said with too much heartfelt affection.

With one quick swoop, I threw the water in my hand right at his eyes. The yokai yelped, more in surprise than hurt, but the seconds it granted me were enough to make a run for the door. I threw it open and was greeted by a human, definitely bigger than most with half-open eyes and a stern expression. They had the same uniform as the yokai behind me.

They pushed me back, walked through the frame, and closed the door. Activating their brooch, the magical disguise faded and an owl yokai appeared from behind the mystic facade. The pen in their hands turned into an iron staff that they used to block the handle of my only way out.

“Look hoot it is! I take it you guys wouldn’t be interested in some hidden city coins and then would call it a day?” I asked, now trying to figure out if I could use anything else nearby to my advantage.

“Nice try. Big Mama promised us a promotion if we bring you to her, so do us the favor and PLEASE shut up,” the fox said and came at me with his whip. The room was too small to swing it effectively, so he tried to jump and strangle me. With a sidekick, I catapulted him into an open stall. That however also meant I couldn’t avoid the big one, who went for a grapple from behind wrapping their feathered arms tight around my upper body.

They heaved me off the ground and I kicked wildly with my feet.

“Stop. Struggling. Wannabe. Champion,” the yokai said audibly strained. Their voice was thin and more like a whisper, so their head had to be close to mine to make sure I heard them. That was a mistake on their part. I moved my head forward then erratically backward and headbutted the owl from behind. Their scream was like a high-pitch chirp, and they lost focus on their ‘hug’ allowing me to struggle free. The back of my head hurt, yet the pain was eased by knowing it had hurt my feathered fellow much more.

I knew I couldn’t match the yokai in terms of brute strength, but I was used to that. In a desperate swing, I took one of my knives into my left hand and hammered the short blade into their upper torso, awfully close to where I estimated their heart was, causing more animalistic screams.

My blood pulsated with quick-paced intensity. It was like my own heart wanted to burst out of my chest. My mind was as clear as a night sky after a storm had passed by. It was driven by just one task: Survive.

I hadn’t felt like this in a while.

This thought made me smile. A smile without joy that didn’t reach the eyes. Instinctively I readied my other blade and turned my attention toward the fox.

He had scrambled to his feet and been ready to take me on, but his friend’s cries rattled him. His eyes moved from his friend to me. I was considering which weak point I should aim for.

“The rumors were true,” he said breathlessly, “you really ARE insane.”

“I just feel a bit nostalgic, that’s all it is,” I returned and lunged at him.

The fox matched my pace. He ducked when I audibly cut the air, aiming for his right eye. He blocked my follow-up punch to his temple. He avoided a kick to his gut by stepping to the left. Years of combat allowed him to effectively counter every attack I threw at him. Similar to the owl, I knew he was ahead of me and I couldn’t land a direct hit. That’s why I was slowly pushing him back into the stall behind him with every third or so move.

The decisive moment came. A step was cut short when the yokai was bumping against the toilet and muttering an appropriate “shit,” he realized my plan too late. I jumped and kicked him against the chest, and with nowhere left to go, my attack finally connected. The fox gasped, the air being forced out of his lungs. He hit the flush system, the porcelain cracking in several places, and slumped down on the toilet seat.

I didn’t waste a second. I jumped again grasping the upper rims of the partitions on both sides. That allowed me to escape the other bellhop’s strike and prepare my counter. Pushing myself off the edges, I flew towards them, and my feet met their face. Thanks to the additional momentum, I sent him flying.

“Wanna hear a knock-knock joke?” I landed in a crouched position, “I know some pretty good ones.”

“I’m not interested in your nonsense,” the owl yokai said and got to their knees.

I knocked on the open stall door, “You will like this one…Knock knock.”

“Screw you,” the yokai tried to silence me, their shout more like a loud hush.

“No, you need to say ‘who’s there’ and then I would say ‘banana’, it’s such a great set-up. You don’t get it,” I sighed and further approached him, twirling my blade in one hand and having the other arm outstretched to protect myself if needed.

They were stumbling and visibly struggling to get back up. That made me too cocky, and I didn’t see their punch coming. A ball of claws and feathers rushed towards me and hit me hard on my cheek. I backed up and shook my head. The left side of my head pulsated. Even worse my mouth tasted of iron. I had bit my tongue in the instant of his last attack.

My body was getting heavy, and the pain made me slightly delirious. I let out a definitely-not-human shout and channeled all my remaining strength into an all-out assault. The bellhop had gotten back into a fighter stance and easily blocked my first few punches. I kept going after him mercilessly, pausing not even for a fragment of a heartbeat. He had no opening to do anything but defend himself.

A whirling kick from the right hit them near to where my blade still stuck out. That one must have stung. The yokai blindly scratched at the leg that had pressed against their upper body and tore into my jeans and the flesh underneath.
 
I hastily withdrew and next aimed for a weak spot at their spine knowing such a move would leave me wide open. My opponent and I hit each other at the same time. Their punch rattled through my whole body, but thanks to my plastron I could withstand it. The owl didn’t have the same luck, I struck a weak spot in their nerve tracts and send them into dreamland.

The massive body swayed before falling over and almost buried me underneath them. I pushed them aside and got up, catching my breath and checking on the fox yokai. He had also gone limp and was sitting on the toilet as if he fell asleep while doing his business.

I spat a whole chunk of blood onto the ground.

What a bunch of asses. Didn’t even let me tell my knock-knock joke.

I began running through a list of post-battle tasks that I had created when I was working for the sheep-man.

First things first, I searched them for anything valuable and useful. The owl just had some hidden city coins on them, those I put back. Their main weapon must have been the rod that was still blocking the door. The fox offered a more interesting haul. He had a yellow jewel, uncomfortably similar to the one I had purchased for Donnie. (I had told you guys that they were useful for locating objects or people, right? This is a good demonstration of that.) I put the jewel in my jeans pocket and took the whip as well.

The second step in dealing with your leftovers after a successful fight: Make sure they won’t bother you or anyone else for a while. I pulled the owl into the same stall where the fox took his involuntary power nap and positioned them so they would sit back-to-back on the floor. Using the whip as a rope I tied them neatly together.

Finally. With one swift pull, I retrieved my weapon from the owl’s body. I was glad they didn’t wake up from that.

I gazed at the bloodied blade.

I gazed at the two yokai.

I knew what I had to do.

It wasn’t like this was the first time something like this had happened.

Yet, instead of getting it over with, I stalled for more time.

I went to the washbasin, the one where I had left the tab open, and water had continued to pour out in an even stream all while our little skirmish had gone down.

I held the blade under the stream and washed it thoroughly. I watched the red liquid swirl around and mix with the water before it disappeared. I licked my lip, it had a stale metallic taste so I rinsed my mouth and splashed some more into my face. As I straightened up, I beheld my face in the mirror before me.

What stared back at me wasn’t pretty.

The left cheek was slightly swollen and slowly turned a darker shade of green. Through one eyelid and the red slider marking ran the familiar scar, another horizontal one had joined it not long ago, creating a plus sign on my upper cheek. My droopy eyes made me appear as if I was always disinterested in the world. The upper part of my shell was scratched and chipped in a few places. Water dripped slowly down from my chin.

I wondered if they would notice the bruise if I put my hood back up. Probably not with the arcade being mostly dark and all. These thoughts brought me back to the bandana. I plucked it from my pocket.

Over pizza, sugary drinks, and April’s and Donnie’s presence, this had seemed like a good idea. Now I wasn’t exactly in the mood to try it on, but it would be suspicious if I would return without it. Having no other feasible options, I fumbled with the two ends to make a knot at the back of my head (which also still stung a little) and picked at it here and there until it seemed to be in place.

April had been right about one thing, Donnie cut the eye holes with on-brand precision. Theoretically, it was similar to Mikey’s except that his bandana had a short knot, and mine was so long the loose ends even reached my shoulders.

I stared at the mirror.

What did I expect? That if I looked more like them, I would automatically feel more like I belonged?

I was such an idiot.

The only thing that I saw in the mirror was a cheap copy.

I was no ninja.

I wasn’t part of the family who wore these bandanas with meaning and purpose.

I had spent most of my life with Draxum in the hidden city.

I was a left-over experiment, a henchman, a spy, a bodyguard, a murderer.

Nothing noble, just your typical scum from the underbelly of society.

Putting on a bandana couldn’t erase that fact.

In the reflection, I could see the general fatigue in my eyes solidifying into sorrow. The kind of pain that was usually buried deep in one’s soul.

I slapped my cheeks by cusping my face in both my hands. That hurt one side hurt a lot more than the other, but it had its desired effect.

‘Get a hold of yourself,’ I warned myself. I controlled my breathing, blinked a few times, and the pain I felt was only physical again. I spewed out more bloodied spit into the sink.

To distract myself, I forced my mind to focus on the leg scratches. They were only superficial and hadn’t really bled. The rips in the jeans were gladly more inconspicuous once I had tucked the pant legs up a few times (which also meant you could see a little bit of my green skin…not the best solution but the only one I had right now).

I couldn’t help but throw another side-glance at the mirror. This would definitely need some getting used to. Didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Small steps,” I said out loud, turned off the tab, and picked up my blade.

There was no need to ‘get this over with’.

That’s not how the Mad Dogz rolled.

So, I returned the weapon to its usual place inside my glove. Then closed the door of the stall where the two goons were sleeping peacefully, removed the rod, and walked out of the restroom into the quiet corridor. At the end of the stairs, I stumbled over a sign that read ‘Closed for Maintenance’. I got to hand it to Big Mama’s personnel, they had thought of everything.

I pushed my hood back up. With some luck, they wouldn’t suspect a thing. I can always say I got lost and that I had to wait a while until the toilet had been empty.

Turning the corner, I saw a familiar silhouette in a familiar purple hoodie.

Well, sh –

Alarmed by my footsteps Donnie had noticed my approach. He had leaned on the right wall and stood up straight as I came closer.

“Took you long enough,” he noted.

“I couldn’t find the way first, these human buildings are even more confusing than your lab,” I returned.

Donnie didn’t accept my invitation for some friendly squabble. He gestured with his head towards the big door that lead to the arcade area.

“Come, we need to talk,” he didn’t sound as if this was a suggestion, and reading my lack of response wrong added: “April is busy defending on Dance Dance Revolution record, we got some time. Oh, and she took your sword and her new bat with her.”

No way out of this.

I followed him into the main game area. We had briefly passed through it before getting pizza, which is why it wasn’t as overwhelming to my senses as before. This didn’t mean I didn’t have a rough time adjusting to the dim light and the cacophony of bleeps, beats, and explosions. We passed all kinds of games, some based on sports, some to sit down in a make-believe car, and some for which humans wore weird black glasses and headphones. Donnie must have a specific one in mind. He made his way through the labyrinth of electronic boxes and people until we reached a relatively old-looking one.

“Ever held a gun?” he asked me and offered me one of the two mechanical devices that were connected through a wire to the main consoles.

“I’ve only ever seen them in pictures,” I said and took one. It was heavier than expected. The closest weapon I knew to this was the cross-bows and even that seemed like a far stretch.

Purple showed me the basics. How to pull the trigger and aim at the screen. Only when he was sure I got the hang of it did he throw in a human coin, first in the machine before me and another in the identical one to my right.

The screen sprung to life and the title read ‘Strawberry Zombie Mania’.

“The rules are simple,” Donnie held up his gun intently at the screen. “You shoot at all the strawberries that are zombies, so the green ones but not the red ones. The winner is the one with the highest kill rate.”

I flinched at the word ‘kill’. It was obvious he meant the abstract and harmless-looking angular things that the game machine showed but I was still jumpy from what had just happened.

I mimicked his stance and pulled the trigger. The green square exploded into smaller squares. I got a point. Another point. Some shots didn’t hit their intended target on the first try. The game was distracting but not to the point that I forgot that Donnie brought me here to ‘talk’. Competing and obviously winning was just a side-effect of that. Since I had no idea what direction this conversation was supposed to go, I kept on shooting and left it to him to start it off.

“While you were looking for the bathroom, April said something pretty reasonable,” he said in between the ‘bang’ sounds, each scoring him more points.

“Oh yeah?” I noticed my arms getting tired from holding the gun up for so long. I had been exhausted from my fight and this was really pushing the limits of my stamina.

“She told me to ignore the annoying things that continuously come out of your mouth and focus on your actions,” Donnie elaborated.

“Wow, I feel really flattered so far,” I shot some sarcasm in his direction and digital ones at the swarming strawberries.

Purple paused our talk for an uncomfortably long moment.

“Thing is, I’ve already done that.” he lowered his voice a bit and it was challenging to pick up on his tone. Was it threatening? Was it sarcastic? Was it meant to be a joke?

“To be precise, it’s the only reason that prevented my security protocol from throwing you out the same evening you moved into the lair.”

I lowered the gun and stared at him. Under the hood, I couldn’t see his face and he was focused on the screen ceaselessly increasing his hit score.

“W-what? Why should it throw me out?” I could finally see where this conversation was going, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“Your – how to call it – conversation with Splinter. I don’t know what you both talked about because I couldn’t implant a microphone in time but when he went to look for some band-aids I was THIS close to going red alert,” the turtle told me this with the same calmness as he instructed me how to play this game. A game that I had already lost, by the way. The strawberries had overrun my screen and the scream read in big letters ‘you lost’.

Great, now I felt attacked at two fronts at once and my brain registered something else that was maybe important.

“You DID install secret cameras in that garage!” I pointed the toy gun at him. Not as a threat, merely to undermine my words.

“And you were intently searching that room for them. Was quite satisfying to watch you try and locate my bugs without any success,” Donnie snarked.

I groaned. I looked up and directly into one of the dozens of multi-colored spotlights above us. Considering the circumstances under which I had tricked my way into their home, I hadn’t trusted myself to stay for long. Shouldn’t come as a surprise that the brains of the team would have a well-placed distrust in me as well.

“I cannot blame you,” I resigned. “You had all the right to doubt my intentions.”

“Huh, I gave it a fifty-fifty probability that you would agree with me, still kinda unexpected you did.” Donnie blasted strawberries at an eye-watering speed. He must have split his brain into two pieces to be able to play the game and respond to me at the same time.

“I still have no idea where you vanish to when you go on your little portal trips. The first few times I was awake through the whole thing, trying to figure out if you would stay away or bring anyone else with you. But you would always come back and go to sleep, and it would be like nothing ever happened.”

I imagined him sitting in his room, staring at his screens for hours. I should feel angry, offended, or at least a bit petty, but if anything, I was empathizing with him. I had been on too many scouting missions where I would do nothing but sneak around and wait for something to happen. It could drive one close to madness.

“The day before you switched rooms,” he continued while he was reaching – as the screen declared – the final stage of the game. “I had come to notice another thing about you. My brothers tend to not think about the danger they get themselves into, but you’re on a whole other level.”  

The last square exploded. A jingle resounded.

‘You annihilated all strawberry zombies. You won a fruit salad’, the machine congratulated purple. I could see a hint of a smile from under his hoodie. He turned to me and tapped the tip of his gun on my right shoulder and said:
“You returned super late that night and had a fresh cut on your throat, in addition to all the bruises you already had. What was even more infuriating, you didn’t even care to clean the wound or cover it up. Really sloppy work, you can be glad only my genius intellect took notice of it.”

I was thinking back to this particular evening. He was right, that female ninja had pocked me with her weapon, and I had forgotten about it the second after. I had had enough problems as it was. Like trying my best to get out of there alive after snatching the armor piece, that was still tucked away in my side pouch.

I twirled the gun around my finger. Donnie put his one back in its original place and was signaling to me with an outstretched hand to give him back the mock-up weapon.

 “I made some enemies,” I offered as a form of explanation instead of handing him the toy, “quite sure they won’t stop coming after me anytime soon. If you are intent on keeping your family safe, I should leave.”

I had always been prepared to disappear if necessary. Donnie knew too much to keep him in the complete dark anymore and I wasn’t stupid enough to believe Big Mama would bury her grudge anytime soon. Making a fool of her in front of her audience had been my accomplishment, made only sense to receive and distribute the punches that came from that action. I didn’t like the thought of others getting wrapped up in the messes I had created.

“Curious. That’s a whole lot of BS, even for you,” Donnie said unimpressed, and snatched the gun from my hands to put it back. “Stop fidgeting, you’re making me nervous,” he complained and switched to more serious matters: “The lair is my turf, it’s Donnie-proved and even the failsafe has a failsafe. It’s already flawless, but I guess you could help me by telling me who the people are that my security system should look out for.”  

Under all the self-praise was a serious offer to talk and collaborate. That was more than I had ever expected from this one. Despite getting used to Raph and Mikey, I had always felt as if I had been caught in a sort of stalemate when it came to Donnie.

What he had admitted to.

Shared in such detail.

It meant that some of his cards were now on the table.

It was an understatement to say that this changed a lot, and I was certain of two things:

1. I sure as hell couldn’t tell him about my double spy career that was just taking off. Or, maybe, let’s at least put this on hold for an indefinite time.

2. I needed to respond to his honesty adequately.

Point two was not much better than point one.

“This was fun, getting my digital ass beaten by you but we should get going,” my smile was strained, and the tone wasn’t as carefree as it was supposed to be.   

Donnie, catching up on that, audibly raised his eyebrow. “What did you do?”

“There might be two of Big Mama’s henchmen. In the restroom. Unconscious and tied up,” I said sheepishly and with too many pauses.

“The restroom you came out of?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t believe the humans already found them?”

“The goons put up a ‘closed for maintenance’ sign, so I think we’re good.”

“Until they wake up, which could be anytime! Dammit, Leon!” Donnie face-palmed himself.

“I was keeping you guys out of my business! At least I took care of them, didn’t I?” I had expected that this would be his reaction, yet I couldn’t help but to try and defend myself.  

“That’s your idea of ‘taking care’ of things?” He retorted in the ‘I-regret-everything’ kind of tone.

“Well, yeah,” I said helplessly and flailed with my arms.

“Let’s get April and go home. I think I cannot handle one more of your adventures,” Donnie started to make his way to another area of the arcade. I matched his quick pace. The turtle’s words might have been harsh. His body language though wasn’t as angry as he made himself sound to be. I could tell he wasn’t as awkward and on constant edge as before.

“Hey, are there also cameras in my new room?” I pondered, seriously wondering about this.

“Of course not,” he protested maybe a tad too quickly.

“And I assume you wouldn’t tell me even if that wasn’t case…” It was my turn to sigh dramatically.

It seemed like our banter wouldn’t stop anytime soon. At least, it had lost its sharp corners and bad aftertaste. For one round of ‘Strawberry Zombie Mania’ this was a definite win for both of us.

“Now you’re getting it,” Donnie said amused and for once I was sure that he hid behind his hood a genuine smile.

Chapter 19: Destinies Are So Overrated

The train station was empty except for a few husks who were on their way home late or just heading out. The main hall with its antique vibe was quite a sight. The moonlight softly shined through the glass ceiling throwing shadows from the iron frame that kept the whole construct together. Opposite the entrance to the metro, stairs led up to another floor with small vendors and shops (all closed by now) and a walkway that allowed for a pretty good view of the whole area. I was sitting on the handrail and waited for something to happen.

Heavy footsteps announced someone ascending the tiled stairs. I had a wild guess as to whom they belonged.

Shortly after, a gargoyle landed on my right shoulder: “Look who it is,” said Huginn.

“It’s the double spy,” Muginn made himself comfortable on my left shoulder.

“So cool,” Huginn added.

“Badass,” Muginn agreed.

“And now he even wears a bandana, going totally with the turtles’ aesthetic,” Huginn noticed and fiddled with one of its ends.

“Double badass,” Muginn corrected himself.

And then he was standing next to me at the balustrade. The warrior scientist himself, arms crossed behind his back and looking forward as if he’s taking in his personal kingdom.

My mouth felt suddenly dry, and I was itching to pick up the sword that was leaning beside me and jump into my trusty mystic gateway. My grip around the handrail got tighter. I HAD expected to see him here, but only after the humans he was working with would also arrive to look for the next piece of their precious armor.

Thinking back, we hadn’t been alone together like this since his lab exploded.

Man, now I felt even more awkward remembering how I had stormed off that time.

“Hey pops,” I started, figuring he would rather drink a cup of pure acid before being the one who would initiate a conversation.

Draxum sighed, it was more on the ‘I’m tired, leave me alone’ than on the ‘I’m going to murder you any second’ spectrum, which made me hopeful.

“I preferred it when you called me master,” he said.

“That’s reserved for paid performances,” I insisted.  

The atmosphere was so thick, that you could cut through it. Even Huginn and Muninn, who are usually as dense as chunks of wood, felt the tension rising exponentially and hastily said they would check out the shops, maybe they could steal a slushy or something.

“What are you doing here?” He asked with his eyes still transfixed at the deserted station below us.

“Well, the humans – how are they calling themselves? Foot faces? Anyway – they told us during our last meet-n-greet to come here in order to retrieve an important part of the armor. They sure are late though,” I said in a whining tone.

“I don’t mean that, you imbecile,” the sheep-man chided me.

I knew what he was actually referring to. Just couldn’t help but push his buttons and also hope for the unlikely case of getting out of this conversation without having to admit to anything. I could hardly remain silent when he is directly addressing my stunt and I have thought about what I could tell him ever since I first performed in their villain headquarter.

Getting the words out was difficult though. I was weighing what he needs to know while I was speaking which made my sentences fragmented and I paused a few times in-between: “The council had their eyes on these humans. They were about to infiltrate them. Potentially taking out the whole operation. Just when you were joining them. Have to admit that was a bold move from you. You cannot…shouldn’t get caught by the stone-heads another time, they’re mad at you as it is. So, I volunteered to keep an eye on you. And on the foot faces, too.” 

Far from the whole truth, yet close enough. Being a double spy meant not pledging allegiance to any side. Loyalty would only make me more suspicious.

“And who are you reporting to on the other side?” he further inquired after letting the words sink in.

My mouth remained shut.

“Is it that rabbit?”

I braced my whole body to make sure I couldn’t flinch. I wouldn’t even allow myself to blink.

Draxum audibly breathed in and out.

“It doesn’t matter. Your misplaced concern will not affect my plans.”

“Yeah right, nobody will ever catch the great Baron Draxum, and his plans surely NEVER fail,” I said sourly.

“I keep forgetting how insufferable you can be,” he growled.

“Learned from the best,” I immediately shot back.

We were dangerously close to going for each other’s throats.

‘To what end?’ I wondered. I wasn’t confident that I would be able to take him on by myself (I had never won any of our practice battles), not without any trump cards that I could pull out of my imaginary sleeves.

“Did you know I’ve my own room now?” I asked, shifting the topic.

The warrior scientist wasn’t impressed, “you had your own room at the lab, didn’t you?”

“It’s not my ‘own’ if it’s a bunkbed in someone else’s quarters,” I countered.

That seemed to irritate him more than anything else I had said.

“How many times have I told you that she’s gone? She left the lab before you were even created.”

“You never figured out where she went. For all we know, she could still be out there living her best life since she doesn’t have to deal with you all the time,” I wasn’t sure if I felt sentiment towards the alpha experiment or should curse her for ditching me without knowing it.

Unexpectedly, Draxum didn’t cuss at me or push me over the railway. He moved his arms from his back to grab the balustrade and slightly leaned on it. I might have glanced at him a tad too intently. He turned his head in my direction and saw my probing look. His eyes narrowed as if he was focusing on an especially challenging science project.

“And what exactly is that in your face?” He asked disgustedly.

My first assumption was that he meant the new scar under my eye, but then remembered he cannot see that because of the bandana. I also figured that my second guess, the bandana, had been a more likely option from the get-go. I guess I was still getting used to wearing it.

“A fashion statement,” I said like someone would show off their new bracelet or hat that was purely meant to be pretty and not loaded with emotional baggage.

“You’re trying to imitate them,” he determined, “you want to play hero? Or do you really believe this makes you one of them?” 

“Oh, it DID help me to realize something important,” I pondered not even beginning to answer all of his questions.

“And what would that be?” I could hear him rolling his eyes.

“That we’re both stupid fucks,” I said as if I was telling him tomorrow’s forecast.

“If that’s your way of starting another fight I’m going to…”

“I’m not finished yet,” I channeled a similar kind of authority with my voice as April had done when she scolded me. To my surprise, it kinda worked and he pressed his lips together instead of going off.

I continued more confidently: “Recently I had the chance to finish off someone. They were Big Mama’s goons, they would have deserved it. But I didn’t.”

“You’re getting soft, if anything I’m disappointed,” Draxum in turn had the same tone he had always used when telling me I hadn’t completed a mission to his satisfaction. I could feel myself getting more nervous, yet I forced myself to keep going.

“So what?” Despite it being just a narrow line, I stood up on top of the balustrade.

I was thinking about what April told me about him showing his concern in his own way. I was thinking about the agreement between Donnie and me and that we sensed we had reached a basic understanding of each other. I was thinking of the face in the mirror and how I acknowledged that it couldn’t change overnight.

“I chose not to kill them. That was my OWN decision. So, the answer to all your questions is ‘no’. I’m not imitating anyone and I’m no hero,” I swirled around to face him. Since I was standing on the balustrade I was, despite his impressive height, looking down on him when I added: “Not when I have a 'master' like you.”

I jumped down from my vantage point and noticed Huginn and Muginn flying back and forth in some distance, not daring to approach us. They carried several slushies, one in each hand (it was adorable that they apparently were considerate enough to bring both of us also one). I took my sword, put it on the sash around my back shell, walked over to them, and snatched the blue one.

“Thanks, guys,” I said and gave Huginn a high-five.

I wondered what Draxum thought about my declaration. If he had something to say to me at all. As far as I could tell, he didn’t move and had no intention to follow up on it. I half-suspected that he was only hesitating because he was preparing himself for the most efficient way to strangle me.

My phone rang and while slurping I fished for it in my pouch. Having a human device took some getting used to. After our shopping trip, Donnie built me an actual working model from some second-hand tech parts, several used phones, and a lot of skilled tinkering. He claimed it was his promise to not keep me under constant surveillance anymore. I suspected it was a tracking device, either way, so I tend to ‘forget’ it when I went to places, he shouldn’t know about.

I had several new messages. I opened up the group chat that included all five of us, four turtles, and a human that I had named after my preferred system of reference.

Orange: Heyyyyy April, are you at work today? Just asking cause we plan to binge-watch Lou Jitsu latr

April (Human): Yep ;-; Late shift on my first day. Pray I’ll survive…

(Those were followed by a dozen praying hands from Mikey)

I also got one directly from Mikey dated around the same time.

Orange: April’s at work :D Operation Support the Best Girl in Town is a gooooo (the text included  symbols whose meaning eluded me entirely and a few hearts, stars, and fireworks)

Then ten minutes later, Donnie wrote me.

Purple: Did you forget we wanted to surprise April at her new workplace today??? Get your [peach symbol] back here.
…
We’ll go ahead. Just come when you’re around, here’s the address.

I opened the attached snapshot of a map with a pin in it. I enhanced the image and recognized the place being fairly nearby the arcade. This means it would be easy to portal there.

I figured they wouldn’t really need me here, maybe I could disappear before the foot faces even came.

“Finally,” Draxum groaned.

Now it was too late for that plan...

I returned to the handrail and peeking over could see a homogenous mass of people storming into the main entrance. All of them were dressed identically, except for the two flame heads: They went by Captain and Brute, as they told me in our second meeting. The female ninja was missing today, I wasn’t too sad about that. Her all-or-nothing attitude was a tad too much for me to handle.

I crooked my head a little. “The shoes are a new thing.”

In addition to their usual get-up, they all wore some kind of…puffed-up sandals?

“Whatever it is they are wearing, they’re making fools of themselves,” the yokai hissed as the group swarmed out to sweep and search every inch of the place.

“Shouldn’t you go help?” Draxum asked me. I finished my icy drink (almost got brain freeze) and threw the cup with a perfect three-point field goal into a nearby trash can.

“Nah, got more important business and looks like they have it under control. With so many new recruits present, one of them is bound to find it…eventually,” I mused and glanced at the crowd, wondering where they had gotten all those humans crazy enough to wear such a ridiculous get-up. Among those lazily strolling around or making a half-assed effort, a masked individual stuck out. Smaller and rounder than the rest. Unexpectedly agile, too. The figure talked to another foot soldier. Medium size, but slender. Dark curly strands of hair stuck out from their mask.

I halted in my motion to get my portal sword ready. That puffy recruit…they stepped to the side, and something stuck out of their uniform. Not hair. No, it was much weirder. It was a tail. A rat’s tail.

“What in the titan’s name are they doing here?” I said, unable to control what my brain kept to itself and what came out of my mouth.

“Still looking for that piece I assume, this could take a while,” Draxum said displeased. I was glad he misunderstood the question.

I tried to think of any feasible reasons. Any at all. But this time, the puzzle pieces seemed to be just random shreds of ripped paper with no way of knowing what initially belonged where. If these two are whom I think they are, and the others assume that April is at her new workplace… 

But even more importantly. In case my suspicion was correct, those two shouldn’t see me here under any circumstances.

Ugh, why is my life so complicated?

Oh…right…that’s my own damn fault.

“Gotta go,” I said absent-mindedly and zapped from the train station to the pinned location Donnie had sent me.

I didn’t land exactly in front of the place. Since I was more familiar with the area a few streets away from the location, I had to walk the rest. The casual stroll turned after two steps into a power walk, then into a jog, and finally into a sprint.

I had not my hoodie with me today, which forced me to scamper from one alley to the next until I reached the back entrance of the store April was supposed to work at.

“Anyone heeeere?” I whispered into the growing shadows of the night. Someone tucked on my bandana from behind and I suppressed my reflex to greet whoever approached me with my blade.

It was Mikey, winking wickedly at me. I felt like he was still salty about my bandana being black and that he hadn’t been there when we had decided on it. He will deny it if you ask him and act like his typical bubbly self, but I could feel it…the judgmental look of someone who thought I could do better than this (aka accept his suggestion to switch it to blue) and it was making me a bit self-conscious every time.

“Took you long enough,” Donnie also moved closer to us typing on his phone.

“Got stuck in traffic,” I explained, knowing full well that it made no sense and it would be too much of a bother to further inquire about.

“Did you already find April?” I asked hoping, that my eyesight got bad or that I had hallucinated things.

“The store seems closed,” Raph walked around the corner, scratching his head.

“Oh, she replied,” Donnie updated us, keeping his eyes glued to the screen and reading the messages out loud. “Splinter wants us to know that he’s proud of us, huh?”

“Is she with Pops? I thought he was at home as usual,” Mikey attempted to take his brother’s phone away from to have a look himself.

“Cut it out, if you would for once let me type in peace I’ll ask her,” Purple protested keeping the youngest away with a metallic claw that popped out of his mechanical shell.

Raph squinted hard – a sign he was thinking and worrying about something at the same time – and said: “This makes no sense.”

Wow, true genius over there. But I was no better. I was standing there all stupid being torn between letting them guess what was going on until the next dawn and actually doing something that could potentially benefit several people.

I tucked at one of the ends of my bandana myself. I casual reminder that made my decision clear.

Swirling my sword unnecessarily a few times to get their attention, I proposed: “I could try and track her.”

Donnie joined Raph at the squinting-real-hard contest: “Since when can you do that?”

‘Since never,’ I thought and with much fake confidence said: “If I know a living being well enough, I can trace their mystic energy signature.” That last part was true. The detail I left out of my explanation was that this only worked with beings who had naturally strong mystic energies and humans usually didn’t possess those.

Just for the heck of it, I twirled the blade a few times and closed my eyes. I counted to fifteen in my head before telling them: “I can feel her, she’s not too far.”

I opened my eyes again and made a solemn expression to make the act seem more realistic. I felt a sting in my chest when I looked at their faces and for once they not only listened to me… they trusted in me and my abilities to help them. They all nodded at me, and I needed to face another way for no particular reason whatsoever while creating a portal to the place I had left only a few minutes ago.

I didn’t want to pop up right beside Draxum, which is why I decided to rather arrive at the entrance of the train station. The foot soldiers had swarmed out and, in the distance, I could make out the ninja I believed to be Splinter talking to the two chiefs of idiocy.

“Are those…” Mikey began.

“…the foot?” Raph finished.

“That’s weird, I’m sure April must be here somewhere,” I chimed in innocently.

“We need to look for her later. Right now, it’s pummeling-villains-o’-clock,” the big guy decided and took out his tonfas. 

“Whatever these flame heads are doing here, it cannot be good,” Donnie elaborated, believing I had ever only heard of the foot clan and never had the pleasure to get to know them personally.

I shrugged, “well if you guys say so.”

Our enemies had in the meantime also taken notice of our entrance. Captain and Brute personally approached us, appearing as annoyed by our presence as I had hoped for. On the downside, I had lost sight of Splinter.

What was that rat planning?

“I hope you’re here to catch a train or something. Can’t you turtles let us work in peace for once?” The captain asked in his typical raspy voice. I was pretty sure the question was more intended for me than the others.

“Sorry, but our own work is to prevent evil from doing evil like…25/8,” Raph boasted, but it sounded so improvised both sides were staring at him.

“Dude, we really need to work on your hero speeches,” I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t think you of all people are the most qualified to give him advice on hero-ing,” Donnie didn’t hesitate one bit to zing me back.

“And you, Mister Evil-Genius, are one bit better, huh?” I retorted and tapped Mikey beside me on the shoulder: “Hey Mike, wanna try out that Jupiter Jim move you showed me yesterday?”

“Do I?” Orange got starry eyes and jumped happily up and down.  

“Foot ninjas,” the smaller flame head commanded, “stop searching and get the intruders!”

Dozens of figures with puffy and squeaky sandals rushed at us from all sides. Donnie readied his bo-staff and transformed it into his good old jet-assisted hammer.

I winked at Raph and told him: “We need another player to pull this off, big guy. You in?”

There was the typical probing glance of a big brother who was warry by instinct. I’ve come to accept this expression and not take it too personally.

“Come on, it will be fun,” I pushed him and with Mikey cooing the word “fun” behind me, he finally relented.

“Fine, what’s the plan?” He asked while punching the first two ninjas to reach us so hard they took free-of-charge flying lessons.

“You need to throw Mikey as far up in the air as possible,” I said and turned to the other turtle, “ready?”

Orange gave me double thumbs up and got lifted by Raph.

“Let’s go, baby,” he squealed as a battle cry while his brother excellently tossed him high up into the air.

I made a portal right above him and opened another in quite some distance in the right corner of the station. Mikey was carried by the momentum of the throw and swirled his weapon in long arcs around him. He caught several ninjas at once who were thrown around like leaves in the wind.

Before he reached the floor, I made another portal in which he shot into and got spat out on the ceiling where he was drawing circles with his chains like a flaming hurricane. I let him vanish into the ground and reappear in another part of the station a few times, keeping him basically in a loop where he fell towards the ground from different angles and heights.  

Donnie and Raph made some progress of their own. They fought their way through an onslaught of enemies, who were clearly not well-trained. I kept telling the foot faces that they should have a stricter training regime, but they never listened. Well, that’s what happens when you focus on your Starbucks order instead of disciplining your evil ninja army.

It didn’t take longer than reading a JJ comic that most of the sandalled fighters lay scattered across the station, groaning and moaning about their injuries and only three figures were left standing. During all this chaos Splinter had joined the two semi-leaders again. I was curious to see his reaction to all of us getting involved and messing with his plans.

“What’s with the little guy?” Mikey had gotten out of my portal-loop and landed nearby us.

“Is it bring-your-son-to-work-day?” Donnie added mockingly.

“Apparently, it is,” said Splinter through his mask and I thought the exact same thing.

“Prove yourself to the foot, new recruit, and defeat those pesky turtles,” the Captain demanded, and judging from the others’ chuckles, they hadn’t recognized the rat-man…yet.

I had flashbacks to the last time I fought against him one-on-one. That session had left me with some serious bruises, and I wasn’t eager to relive the experience anytime soon.

“Maybe we should…” I started but it was too late. Raph already rushed the little guy and as quickly as he had approached Splinter, he got thrown against a decorative tree pot. Donnie tried his luck by boosting himself with his hammer. To no avail. Purple landed on a bench. Mikey hoped to catch him off-guarded while he was distracted with his last victim. As if. Splinter grabbed the chains and used the weapon against his owner by pulling him closer and kicking him right in the plastron. With that, orange was also down.

Raph had gotten up back up quicker than I expected and picked leaves from his head.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s get him!” He said to me, and I reluctantly circled the rat-man along with him.

“Two against one, huh, now you’re starting to be smart about this,” Splinter laughed, visibly enjoying himself.

We had no time to rush him. An explosion from the entrance to the metro made us all turn and witness purple vines reaching into the main area. From within the greens, Draxum entered the area.

First the motel and now this. What is it with this guy and destroying everything for the sole sake of making an appearance? Such a drama queen.

“Draxum? Why are all villains we know at the train station today? Do you hate public transportation so much?” Donnie asked rhetorically and rubbed his right arm. That last hit he took will probably leave quite a mark.

The sheep-man moved slowly his head to take all of us in. He brushed over me and instead his eyes settled on the flame heads.

“It seems we have a mole,” Draxum announced and I gotta be real. I forgot how to breathe for a second. I totally expected him to blow my whole mission out of spite.

I only allowed myself to carefully inhale when one of his vines presented a wrapped-up ninja. The figure kicked, struggled, and shouted insults. That sounded like April all right.

“This one stole the armor piece and was on their way to take the next train far away from here,” Draxum controlled another vine to show the metallic shard that had caused this whole chaos to begin with.

It all slowly came together. What April and Splinter were doing here. Why the human had vanished from the scene… Only the motivation behind all this sudden charade was still missing.

The sheep-man pulled the struggling figure’s mask away to reveal the familiar face of a human girl.

“April???” Orange, red, and purple shouted, pointing at her. I wasn’t as shell-shocked and tried to at least seem confused, which was easy because I definitely was beating my brains out about this whole situation.

“You’re working for the foot?” I asked her, leaning on my sword and glancing at her inquisitively.

“Of course not! I was…going undercover to prevent them from getting their hands on something dangerous!” She thrashed against her violet-green confines while she explained herself.

“Oh, you could never even start to comprehend how dangerous! Good work, Draxum,” the Captain regaled at this turn of events. So much so that he even complimented the warrior scientist.

“What kind of weird alliance is this, anyway,” Donnie pointed with his staff first at the yokai, then at the foot faces.

“Oh, I’m afraid that’s a villain-only matter and not something the likes of you would understand,” flame-head returned and retrieved the shard from Draxum’s vines. He passed by April and got awfully close to her face.

“Didn’t you also work at our shoe store? Well, consider yourself fired,” he told her, and the girl groaned.

“And in the foot clan, being fired means you get executed,” the Brute added, and April’s minor complaints turned into high-pitched whimpers.

The Captain snapped with his finger and from somewhere, we will not elaborate from where exactly, his partner produced a short blade. Nothing fancy, but it would do the job. They tossed it to the small ninja in disguise.

“You did amazing fending off those turtles. The honor is all yours.”

Splinter, as one could expect, didn’t seem thrilled. Against my expectations, he picked up the weapon and got into an appropriate stance anyway. I was also readying my odachi.

The disguised rat-man jumped high up in the air. Raph and Donnie screamed the girl’s name and ran towards her.

At first, he could have made anyone believe he aimed for April’s head until he changed the blade into his other hand so that it sailed into Draxum’s direction instead. The shift was effective yet subtle enough to remain unnoticed by most. It was that kind of an impressive move.

Maybe two seconds before impact, Donnie and Raph tackled their own father left and right. All three landed on the floor and the turtles were having a really hard time wrestling Splinter down who shouted: “Red! Purple! Let me go! Careful, my back!”

The two stopped and released him in slow motion from their grapple. Judging from their looks, it was obvious they had finally recognized him. No one had a bad back AND called them like that.

“Dad?” Raph wheezed. The whole station didn’t move. I swear I could hear Huginn slurp his slushy from the balustrade above us.

Donnie stumbled away from him: “Dad what are you doing here? And with the foot?”

Mikey even dropped his kusari-fundo by accident. The smallest one was even too shocked to get any words out.

I used the general confusion to fall into a portal and zap myself to Draxum’s left, aiming at his arm. Nothing lethal but potentially pretty hurtful. His reaction was slow. Just as I hoped for. He had to cover his arm in vines, which took most of the damage but also forced him to focus on blocking. The gash was deep nonetheless, and the attack could have taken his whole arm if he wouldn’t have been careful.

I circled around to exploit the opening I had created. I aimed for his head with an air kick that I intended to follow up with a slice to his shoulder. He was ready for my move this time and did something I hadn’t planned for: With a wave of his hand, he shoved the vine that was holding April in front of him. Like Splinter, I was in a direct course of collision with her. Unlike Splinter, I couldn’t redirect my attack.

In this instance, my eyes met hers. They were wide open, her mouth distorted to let out a scream, but she forgot in her shock to let out any sound. I heard her voice in my head, telling me the latest knock-knock joke or teaching me some Spanish she had to repeat for school.

I couldn’t…

There was only one way I could think of. I let go of my sword in mid-air and braced myself to crash into her. The impact ripped her out of the roots that held her, and we both fell and rolled uncontrollably over the marble floor.

The world was spinning, and it had no chance to right itself as a vine wrapped around my right ankle and lifted me up to let me dangle headfirst. Upside-down I saw the turtles and Splinter rushing to April to free her completely.

“Weak,” I couldn’t make out Draxum from my position, sadly I heard him all too clearly, “look what your decisions lead to. The only thing they did was to make you weak. Yet, you also believe you can always stay ahead of this little game you play. So, let’s make things a bit harder, shall we?”

The others had probably not heard all of that. They had turned their attention back to the foot faces. Everyone appeared determined to continue this fight and take the shard home as a prize. No one as much though as Splinter. He had taken off his mask and his ears flopped back and forth, which I took as a sign of him being attentive to every single thing within the train station.

“Let him go, Draxum.” He didn’t even add the ‘or else’, his aura already did that for him.

“Who are you to command me?” He provoked the rat-man even further by swinging me back and forth with his vine as if I was a bell or something.

“Someone who thwarted you once and I’ll more than gladly do it again,” Lou Jitsu said and jumped right at the two flame heads yelling: “HOUT SOUUUUP!”

“It can’t be…” Draxum gasped. I started to really wish I could see his face. It wasn’t every day that he sounded so taken aback. Even the mighty warrior scientist, a legendary figure in the hidden city, could’ve never foreseen his previous DNA donor to be alive and kicking. And on top of that, he had turned into a fuzzy rat mutant who fostered three of his other experiments.

A glowing flash passed close by me. I heard a grunt and a body crashing into a wall. Something giant grabbed me and tore my ankle free.

Raph was gently dropping me to the ground. His arms were engulfed in red mystic energy.

“You’re getting better at these,” I commended him, padding the mystic armor he had created.

Raph answered me with a crooked grin. In the next moment he seemed to have a total mental breakdown. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently (like I wasn’t still dizzy…): “Leo did you know what this means??? Dad is Lou Jitsu? Lou Jitsu…THE Lou Jitsu,” he kept repeating the name as if it would start making more sense when he kept saying it.

With much effort, I pushed him aside: “Yes yes, I know, a truly shocking turn of events, but maybe let's focus on getting out of here alive before you guys can ask him for autographs?”

To my left, the flame heads were getting their asses handed to them by Splinter. Even as a tag team they were on the defense, and to make matters worse, Mikey and Donnie chimed in from time to time hitting them with everything they got.

Believing the others had the situation mildly under control, I scanned the area for the odachi.

A few feet off, Draxum had recovered enough to walk in our direction, and not only that... It looked so wrong, seeing MY blade in his hands.

He knew I was watching.

The warrior scientist smiled maniacally at me and didn’t break eye contact when telling Captain and Brute: “We have what we came for, let’s settle this another time.”

He drew a perfect circle and a blue portal popped into existence. Unlike my own, its frame pulsated violet reflecting the mystic energy of its current wielder.

‘He wouldn’t dare,’ I thought. Immediately another part of me screamed: ‘Of course, he would, especially after that grand speech you gave earlier!’

Draxum turned his attention to Splinter who rushed after the retreating foot faces. Those of the recruits who had regained their consciousness, hobbled after their chiefs as well.

“I want to say it’s an honor to meet the great Lou Jitsu again but after seeing what became of you that would be a lie,” he snarked and let the two flame heads run past him into the blue-violet swirl.

For a decisive moment, the rat-man had faltered. Draxum took that to be his cue to follow them. Not before he gave me one last look. My eyes shot daggers at him, though he didn’t seem bothered by that.

“I’ll be taking this.”

Before stepping into the portal himself, he casually waved at me with my sword. The weapon that had been mine ever since I could even lift the damn thing, that was my ticket to any place at any time, that was the manifestation of my strength and freedom, and he took it with him as if he had grabbed the favorite toy of a toddler.

I braced my whole body and sprinted towards him. I ran faster than I had ever before and still…

…my hand moved through the dissipating remnants of his mystic energy, feeling the last pulses on my fingertips before those evaporated, too. Unable to control my dash, I smashed into a banner, fell on the floor and black dots appeared and swirled before my eyes for a second time today. 

“You okay there, Leon?” April called from across the station. I stared up at the ceiling lying outstretched on the cold marble floor and gazed up at the glass ceiling. If I wouldn’t have been a naturally cold-blooded mutant (no pun intended), my head would've turned as red as Raph’s bandana. Embarrassment flushed through me like a torrent. I buried my face in my hands.

“Shit,” I shouted, “shit, shit, shit!”

In the periphery of my vision Splinter appeared. It was weird that from my perspective he was the one who was towering over me for once.

“I know you’re mad about your sword,” he sounded dejected, “but I also have to accept that tonight is a severe loss for my clan. So, at least, we share in that.”

His rat tail wrapped itself a few times around my arm and gave me a push to get my sorry ass into a proper sitting position. He searched my eyes and could probably tell that they weren’t really looking at him or anything in the train station. They were fixated on something I knew I had to get back.

No.

Let me rephrase that.

Getting my sword back wouldn’t be enough.

For the move he pulled, Draxum had to pay.

Splinter sighed heavily. It was the sigh of someone who knew they couldn’t keep running away. The past had caught up to him at the worst possible time.

“I need to tell you all something. About me, you, and the Hamato family.”

Chapter 20: A Thousand Years' Worth Of Bad Days

Summary:

I can’t believe this fic actually passed 10k hits! Thank you everyone so much!! This story as chaotic and a spur of spontaneity as it is, has become something quite dear to me, and knowing there are people out there who read every update feels like such a blessing! As thanks, I’m currently preparing a sort of ‘special chapter’ that will be released next week. Anyway, thank you again so much and I hope you will enjoy this update! – Jazz

!!TW for this chapter: Mentions of child abuse, torture, and drowning. I keep things vague but please be aware that the tone of the chapter’s later half is a bit darker than usual.

Mikey lay with his face down in a pile of loose papers, crayons, pencils, and eraser bits. Raph paced around the room because he had given up on sitting forever mumbling to himself stuff like ‘it’s gonna be fine’ and ‘we’re gonna be fine’. Donnie held up a pile of drawings and I basically mimicked him. We were standing in front of Splinter who had reclined on his couch. The tv had been turned off for once.

“Okay, let’s take it from the top,” Donnie started and picked from his pile a rough sketch of the armor. Mikey had done his best to follow Splinter’s instructions to depict the most important bits, they were mostly symbols and objects to help everyone better understand what all of this mess means.

“Your family has been assigned to prevent this Kuroi Yoroi from ever getting reformed,” he waved with the paper. The rat nodded.

“For this sake, its pieces were all scattered and hidden, but the foot clan has been searching and collecting them in order to resurrect a being called the Shredder.”

Another serious nod.

“You’ve neglected your duties, however, and instead became a movie star,” Donnie switched the drawings to show an impressively detailed portrait of Lou Jitsu.

Splinter regarded this one a bit longer, then nodded again.

“Stuff…happened? And you got turned into a mutant rat all while saving…well, three of us from Draxum’s lab, and you had ever since forgotten about the armor.”

Now it was my turn to show an image of Draxum’s previous evil lair. Despite only seeing it that one time, orange had captured the enormous size well. ‘It had been almost as enormous as that yokai’s ego,’ I mused.

“And because of incredible coincidences, you found out April worked at a shoe store, that shoe store belonged to the foot, so you went there and started a spontaneous undercover mission to prevent them from getting their hands on another piece,” I added and showed a drawing of the foot 'logo' while I was wondering what April’s perspective was on that whole matter. She had to leave early because of school, which was a crazy thought in itself. 

“Well, that worked out f to the tastic, didn’t it?” Donnie threw the papers he held behind him. More than anything he was mad. Not really because Splinter had kept all of this a secret, he had been more aware than the others that his dad had expertly avoided talking about himself. No, Donnie was mad at himself for having no fool-prove invention that could stand a chance against the odds he might face soon. That much was clear ever since we got back to the lair.

“It would have worked if you hadn’t interfered,” the rat-man tried to justify himself.

“We just wanted to look for April, how should we have known she was tagging along with your crazy mission,” Raph now joined the blaming contest.

While their banter went further back and forth (not for the first time this evening…or morning, to be more precise) I moved through the drawings and stopped and stared at a relatively simple one.

It was a circle with dots in a specific pattern and divided into equal sections.

“Doesn’t that remind you guys of a pizza?” I asked. The only one who heard me was Mikey who rolled his body a tad to the side to glance up at his creation.

“Now that you say it,” his narrow eyes shot wide open.

“Dad,” he called over the banter, “why is the Hamato symbol looking like a pizza? Is that also…destiny?” He seemed to like that idea a lot.

The others paused in their arguing and finger-pointing to move their attention to the youngest.

I held the drawing in question higher up. There was a moment of silence in which we all acknowledged that, yes, the Hamato clan’s sacred symbol kinda seemed like the rough sketch of a pizza.

“I can’t do this,” Splinter said and sounded like he was on the verge of really losing it. Rubbing his tired eyelids, he decided: “We all need a short break I assume. I’ll go make some tea.”

He skulked away to the kitchen leaving us to stare blankly at each other while being surrounded by strewn-around depictions on which the fate of humanity depended.

I fished for the one with the armor. I was the only one who had seen the actual thing and I wished I could tell Mikey that it was a lot scarier than his vision of it. I seriously never had the intention of getting involved in something so…serious. Sure, the flame-heads and especially that female recruit had always screamed about ‘world domination’ or whatever but I had taken that to be empty evil rhetoric. The side pouch with the shard I had stolen felt a lot heavier than yesterday.

“Did you know anything of that?” Donnie probed me, reading my expression one way or the other. I was so close to showing them the armor piece. At the same time, I was wondering if I simply wanted to do that to unburden myself. Letting someone else handle this mess always sounded like a good idea. Then again, as things are right now, their messes can easily become my mess. Our management of messes was, well, messy.

I grabbed some more of the papers on the floor as I answered: “Nope, no clue. I also think Draxum isn’t aware that Lou Jitsu’s original name was Yoshi Hamato. He saw a strong human, he snatched the human for his experiments, that’s it.”

“This doesn’t really change anything anyway,” Raph determined. “We always tried to prevent the foot from doing harm whenever we could. It simply means we need to double-triple our efforts.”

“Your math doesn’t make sense, but you’re right,” Donnie offered as an agreement.

 Mikey sprung up and went into the kitchen, shortly after he returned along with Splinter with five filled-up cups. We settled down on the floor and took a sip. The tea for the most part tasted indeed like boiled leaves. It also had a weird aftertaste though. Like plastic? And something else? I couldn’t really place it.

“Now you know the whole story,” Splinter broke the silence, sounding a lot calmer and steady again, “I’m sorry you had to learn the truth this way. I wanted to renounce these parts of my past and focus on being a good parent for you. I had never believed that the old prophecies my grandpa told me when I was young could ever become reality.”

We stared into our cups. The fact that the action star they had idolized from a young age is their rat-dad should’ve been a reason for celebration. To be fair, nobody seemed as if they had properly processed this fact, let alone what heritage came from being partly made of Hamato DNA.

“It’s okay, dad,” Mikey said reassuringly, “we also weren’t always honest with you. Like that we knew the foot and Draxum and,” he threw a side-glance at me, “where we had met our cousin.”

“Nobody ever believed that stupid lie, Mikey,” Donnie sighed. The other turtle was clearly shocked by this reveal.

“Yeah,” I said hesitantly, “Splinter and I had an agreement to keep quiet about each other.”

“No way,” Mikey protested, “Raph did you know that?” He hoped that at least the big guy would be his ally.

Raph disappointed him by stammering: “I kinda had my own suspicions…”

Mikey threw his hands in the air and by doing so splashed himself accidentally with tea: “Betrayal!”

“That’s a good cue, Miguel,” Donnie finished his own cup and placing it beside him looked me dead in the eye. “Why would Draxum take your sword? You know you never told us how you ended up at the Nexus Hotel after the lab exploded. What weird relationship do you two have?”

Wow, getting all the attention wasn’t something I wanted right now. I almost choked on my tea since I didn’t expect to be suddenly the one who was being interrogated.

After all this time of keeping everything about me as vague as a plot of a Lou Jitsu movie, I figured the time had come to ascertain a few things.

“You know most of it already,” I assured to them, sloshing the rest of the tea in my cup around. “Draxum kidnapped Lou Jitsu aka that rat over there to try out his mutation experiments for a second time. The results of the first try-out hadn’t been…to his liking. During the process, his human specimen broke out and took those of the experiments with him that he could find.”

“But what happened when his lab blew up when we were there?” Raph pressed me to keep going.

“Well, he was getting on my nerves. Always telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. Keeping secrets from me and generally being a pain in the ass. I felt inspired to try my luck elsewhere. That’s when we crossed paths again, the rest is pizza and history,” I finished my story and my cup in one go and gagged. That was much worse than Donnie’s coffee.

“You’ve been with us for only a few months,” Splinter toned and we all simultaneously turned our heads to him, his voice could carry a room if he wanted to, “I don’t demand of you to feel responsible for any of this.”

His eyes moved from me to Mikey, Donnie, and Raph while he continued: “I cannot ask that from any of you. The Hamato family’s legacy is my burden to carry.”

Raph eyed the rat-man who was so much smaller than him with a mixture of shock and pity. He gestured to his brothers, stood up, and kneeled in front of Splinter: “Dad, this is a lot to take in and I’m not sure I understand it all, but one thing is for sure. We are one family and if this means kicking the foots’ butt then we also do that together.”

“My son,” Splinter choked, tears forming on the fringes of his eyes.

“Yeah, no, I just wanna slit Draxum’s throat open,” I said and ruined their touching moment. 

“I swear to Einstein, if you don’t learn to read the room, I’m going to…” Donnie pointed menacingly at me with one of Mikey’s pencils.

I answered in the most mature way possible and stuck my tongue out at him.

“That reminds me,” Splinter mused and to the others said: “I need to have a word alone with…what is your whole name exactly if it’s not cousin Leon?”

I shrugged and said: “You can keep calling me Leo or Leon. Full name is Leonardo. I personally like NeonLeon.”

“The last one is not going to happen,” Donnie asserted.

“How come you never told us your full name?” Raph wondered, picking up the empty cups.

“You never asked? You rather stick to your stupid nicknames,” I returned in a judgmental tone.

“Evil twin is a well-beloved classic,” Mikey agreed while holding in his arms all his arts and crafts materials.

“It’s not,” Donnie and I shot back almost immediately.

“Either way, we need to have word,” Splinter broke up the conversation, and one by one they left the tv room.

Raph was the last to go. He eyed me worryingly and said to Splinter: “We’ll try to get some sleep and talk more over breakfast, okay?”

Splinter agreed that this sounds like a sensible idea and red trotted away allowing some of his fatigue to show.

“If this is about the popcorn stash, I swear I saw Raph take two packages the day before,” I snitched when I was sure Raph could still hear us but was too far away to admit he was attentively listening.

“So that’s why the popcorn is always gone,” Splinter stroked his whiskers, halted in this motion, and turned directly to me.

“Wait, that’s not what we should discuss right now,” he collected his thoughts. I took gratification in managing to confuse him. It was a bit of a payback for him pulling none of his punches against all four of us back at the train station.

Joking around also helped to ease my anxiety whenever we were alone. Hearing Hamato Yoshi’s life story, I came to the realization that leaving me behind was just one of many of his regrets that he had to carry around with him each day. In contrast to many pieces of his past though, I have returned to haunt him and his good conscious. I had initially liked the idea to partly blame him for how all our lives had turned out. Thinking about his other burdens, I wasn’t too eager anymore to add to his load even more.

“Before I come to my proposal. I need to emphasize that this is not bribery,” he said, “this shouldn’t influence your decisions.”

“You know most briberies begin with stating that they aren’t one,” I threw back at him unimpressed.

Splinter grunted something like ‘the sarcasm is even worse than purple’s,’ then he stood up and signaled me to follow him. We moved to one of the adjacent rooms. I had actually never been here before. You could say, they were his private quarters, with an untidy bed, snacks all around the floor, a shelf that was bursting with small keepsakes and gadgets, and another storage shack that the rat-man threw upon.

Inside was such a grand collection of weaponry it would have made even Usagi at least a tad envious. Wooden staffs with and without a blade on one end, tonfas, brass knuckles, non-chucks, ninja stars, kunais, and swords in all shapes and sizes filled the cabinet to the brim.

“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I said as a half-joke.

Splinter really didn’t like the glimmer in my eyes. “I think I’ve made a mistake showing you this.”

As he began rummaging through the stash of pointy, shiny, and sharp objects he told me: “I’ve come to notice a few things about you during the two beat-downs I gave you.”

I registered that he used the word ‘beat-down’ instead of something like, I don’t know, practice matches, battles on equal footing, or close-to-winning face-offs. Curious to see what he was searching for I kept my biting commentary to myself.

“First, when you sprinted to Draxum, you were incredibly fast. What you lack in strength you compensate for with speed. Because it’s so heavy your odachi doesn’t work in your favor. It makes you slow, and you need to make up for that with your portals.”

I found myself agreeing with him. I usually didn’t think too much about it and I haven’t been used to much else, but the sword was heavy and even if I would regularly hit the gym with Huginn and Muginn I had to accept the fact that all three of us would never turn into a buff guy like Raph.

“Second, do you remember during our first practice match, how you just once moved instinctively into a stance?”

I shrugged, “yeah, what of it? You still wiped the floor with me.”

“That was a good time,” Splinter chuckled, cleared his throat, and continued more profoundly: “It reminded me of one of the traditional stances taught by my family. My clan focuses on four weapon types: Staffs, non-chucks, sais, and dual swords.”

He produced two swords from the cabinet. They were roughly as long as my arm. The handles were decorated with black-and-green leather netting. I expected him to maybe hand me one of them, instead, he placed them both in my hands.

“Dual? As in two swords at the same time?” I repeated, unsure how to hold the blades. They were definitely lighter than a longsword. I put one in each hand, which felt alien at first. I feared, I had to be careful they wouldn’t be in each other’s ways the whole time.

I moved the blades up and down a few times each. They made a very pleasing sound as the metal cut through the air.

“Yes, it gives you a few advantages in battle, like blocking attacks more effectively, targeting two different points at the same time,” Splinter observed my awkward swings with concern.

“We should start with a basic stance, like this,” he moved into a position that I recognized to be indeed awfully similar to one I did a few weeks back. When I mimicked him it not only reminded me of our practice battles but holding the two swords while doing it just felt…right.

With his tail, he pulled at my back to straighten it an inch and to bend my left arm a tad more. I repeated the stance, and he gave me a nod of approval.

I wanted to feel good about my quick progress, but of course, my own concerns would never let me have something nice.

“You shouldn’t teach me these things if I haven’t decided yet whether I would help in your fight against the foot.” I believed after showing me his badass weapon collection that was the least amount of straightforwardness, he deserved.

Splinter shook his head and gave me a good knock on my head with his tail.

“Owww,” I complained. He just chuckled and told me: “As I said, I don’t do this to prepare you to fight for the Hamato clan. I’m simply worried you will go and try to reclaim your sword on your own and I want to give you something else you can focus on. Still, there’s no guarantee that you will be here when we wake up and I had come to learn as a father to accept my own limitations in these matters…However, this doesn’t prevent me from trying.”

Listening to his reasons, I twirled around one sword at a time. No doubt these were excellent weapons. No doubt he had got a point about me wanting to go after Draxum right this instant.

“Don’t get me wrong. These are great and all, but I’m not sure I’ll ever stand a chance against Draxum with mere swords. I need my portals to match him and for those, I eventually need my portal-sword back,” I insisted.

“Purple was right. For someone who acts as if he’s so clever all the time, you can be quite dense,” Splinter ascertained.

“Excuse me?” I was not only offended by his words but even more so by the fact that Donnie had apparently talked to the rat-man about me. Faster than my eyes could keep track of him, Splinter disarmed me and held the blades close to my throat.

“A fight isn’t decided by how sharp one’s blade cuts. It’s by how well its wielder can adapt,” he said and with much unnecessary flourish handed me the swords back, “all I ask of you is to try it. You might be surprised by what you’re capable of.”

It took me a moment to get a hold of myself and grab the handles. I believed to see, for the very first time, the rat standing opposite to me for who he was, and I couldn’t help to feel some form of respect toward him. Registering this, I grew self-conscious, and to shake these thoughts off I went back to the basic stance.

“I could really go for some enchiladas tomorrow, how about you?” I asked him.

Splinter’s fuzzy chest puffed up. “That sounds indeed like a good idea.”

---

Training until dawn was exhausting as hell but also meant you could have the main bathroom all to yourself. After Splinter had drilled all the basics into me, I took a quick shower to get the sweat and grime from the long day off and went over to the big bathtub. Initially, I had thought Donnie had installed a whirlpool in here just for the heck of it, only to later notice that the size was just tailored to Raph. The big guy loved hot baths, Donnie (I figured) too but was convinced showers were more efficient and Mikey for some reason avoided them if possible. And me? I had only ever known showers and those had always calmed me down even if my mess of a family had driven me insane. Having a whole big-ass tub filled with warm water? It was like the divine astral realm had manifested.

While the tub was slowly filling up, I took the communication shard out of my side pouch. I sat down on the rim of the tub and activated the mystic device.

A few minutes passed before Usagi appeared in its reflection. He wore just a casual t-shirt with his restaurant’s logo on it: “Do you have any idea, how late it is?” He yawned and massaged his temples.

“Lovely to see you, too,” I chirped being aware that calling him in the dead of night had become kinda a recurring thing, “some stuff happened, and I thought it best to let you know asap.”

Usagi shot me a ‘what-have-done-this-time’ look, which contorted into a confused frown. “What’s that sound at your place?”

“Just taking a bath, also drowns out the sound a bit,” I explained, and the rabbit signaled he understood.

During my last report, I told him about my conversation with Donnie and how he was aware that I was going in and out constantly. Ever since I got a bit more creative whenever I contacted Usagi.

 “Still,” he complained, “couldn’t you at least keep your gear on? That’s…unprofessional.” I could swear the tips of his white ears turned a shade of pink. Could also just be the multi-colored spectral reflections from within the shard.

“Please, it’s not like I wear human clothes all the time, plus I got a towel around my neck that counts for something,” I rejected his request.

He gave up on making this talk more respectable and changed the topic: “What’s your urgent status update?”

“Okay, so,” I braced myself, “disclaimer, my cover is not blown, and I feel I’m making really good progress. It’s only, I might need longer to go to places and such because, well, I lost my sword?”

Usagi didn’t scold or scream at me. It was far worse. He closed his eyes and I assumed he counted to ten. When he opened them again, he was visibly fuming even if his body remained unmoving.

“You ‘lost’ your sword? Like you dropped it, or it got destroyed in a fight or…”

“Not exactly,” I smiled apologetically at him, it wasn’t very effective. “Draxum took it.”

“Oh, for titan’s sake,” Usagi sounded like he was ready to do something you usually refrained from: cussing.

“Don’t worry,” I added quickly, “he’ll not have it for long. I plan to go and retrieve it, more soon-ish than later.”

“Oh yeah?” the rabbit grew even more irritated (if that’s even possible at this point), “how are you supposed to get to them if you cannot portal?”

“Public transport?” I suggested.

“And if you need to fight him, what do you do then?”

“I’m getting instructions in handling dual swords, ain’t that cool?”

“Do these dual swords have any mystic power?”

“Well, no,” I admitted.

Usagi groaned in despair.

“Look,” I tried to appease him, “it might not seem like it, but I’m fucking mad too, okay? Not much I can do about it right now. In return, I might have some important info on the mystic object in question.”

The bathtub had filled up nicely in the meantime. I closed the tap and got up from the rim.

“If you have new info then tell me,” Usagi demanded.

“That’s a bit too confidential for a communication shard,” I retorted, “I’ll look for an entrance to the hidden city and meet you there, all right?”

“All right,” he said after a pause. It was obvious he wanted the information without delay. Nothing much even he could do about it. Usagi hung up on me and I put the shard back into my pouch before finally getting into the tub.

The warmth was comforting, and I felt the exhaustion slowly creeping up on me.

My mind wandered to all kinds of places.

It revisited the train station obviously.

Then it went back in time a bit. To days when I was just getting a handle on my sword.

Seeing other yokai tap into their inherent mystic energy source made me frustrated and I wanted to give up on training countless times. Draxum had tried to teach me all kinds of mystic techniques. Shapeshifting. Creating shockwaves. Materializing objects. Summoning plants and other living things that would obey my bidding. Exploding and reforming. I sucked at all of those. No wonder I became obsessed with swordsmanship. You didn’t need any special powers for that and especially when I later got a sparring partner like Usagi I found my calling there.

To my dismay, Draxum would unwaveringly hold on to his belief that the sword is not the source, but a mere amplifier of my own mystic power. To prove this theory, he even…

I shook my head and drew my legs closer to my torso.

Do you ever venture out on a mental trip down memory lane and it’s like you step over a threshold and beyond that, you get sucked into parts of your past you like to avoid? 

One moment I was still looking at the steam rising up from the water surface before me, the next I was tied to a stool. I must have been around eight. It had been the first time that pops had hoped to unlock my mystic energy and all conventional methods had failed him. So now, he was attempting the Draxum-method: dangerous and untested mystic science.

My surroundings had been fuzzy, and I couldn’t blink the weird shadows away that kept dancing before my eyes. He had put something in my drink. That was something I could already determine from past experiences. I also heard him talking right beside me and it sounded like his voice was far away, not that I cared much for what he had to say either way. He was elaborating in great detail what he intended to do, assuring me it was relatively safe and for the sake of ‘improving’ me for the better. All that typical bullshit.

‘Man, I hate needles,’ the eight-year-old me had thought sluggishly, my mouth was too numb to say it out loud.

The first injection was near the neck, the second went right into the veins of my right forearm.

As I said previously, I hadn’t been ready for whatever came next.

Not for the pain that set my body aflame because it couldn’t handle the substance.

Not for my stomach turning and quenching so violently I wretched and finally lost my dinner.

Not for my wrists cutting into the chains that kept them tight up behind my back.

When I felt close to passing out, I was glad. Oblivion meant the experiment was over.

Only, this one time, it was just beginning.

When my consciousness made way for whatever lay beneath it, it wasn’t impermeable darkness. What I saw was more like a skyline, a blackness alight with glowing dots all shining in unique hues. Some bigger and pulsating, some smaller, and some so faint I could feel them growing too weak to shine for much longer. I remember thinking that they reminded me of the neon signs that alighted the hidden city and that indeed was what I saw. I beheld every being within the city as their manifested mystic energy, it was a beautiful sight.

I was in an awful mood when I woke up the next day for other than the usual reasons. For some time, everything I did was driven by the desire to revisit this place I had seen in my visions. To no avail. The only thing I didn’t try was to ask Draxum to inject me again. Whatever it had been that caused this vision, I wasn’t THAT desperate.

It would take additional three years until I would learn how to detect and make out mystic energies (like I did when looking for that pesky agent that now lived with April) and it would remind me so much of that sensation back then even if it was limited to tracing one energy signature that was near to me. I never really connected the dots there since I had believed it had been an ability inherent to my portal-sword.

‘You might be surprised by what you’re capable of.’

Splinter’s advice had crept into and taken root in my mind. It was such a mess in there already, which certainly didn’t help. Parts of my brain were rushing through the past while other parts were re-examining recent talks about clans and destinies that I didn’t know how to feel about.

There was so much noise.

I leaned back in the tub and stretched my legs out.

I breathed in.

I breathed out until I felt completely emptied out.

I let myself slide deeper into the tub, submerging myself completely until I was lying on the tub’s base.

There was something so reassuring about hearing your blood rush through your body and seeing the light only as a dampened shine through the water. I guess the instincts of my species were telling me this is kinda where I was supposed to be.

My heart slowed down to a rate that would have been impossible to maintain for humans and it took some time, but I pushed it all aside: The memories and hatred, the worries and confusion, strategies and lies until my mind became a quiet space. I closed my eyes.

And in the darkness, I reached out.

Without having my sword as a vocal point or any specific object I was looking for I wasn’t sure if and what I would find. For a while, it really seemed like there wasn’t anything there in this void besides me. Until it popped up in the distance like a single firework.

A white globe.

Not far from me came this hovering orb into existence, whose pulse was so strong and bright that I struggled to focus on it. There was no way you could tell from its vague round shape, but I was sure that was Splinter. Or, well, Splinter’s mystic energy to be precise. There was something ancient to it and unlike any of the yokai ones from the hidden city I had felt all those years ago.

Now that it had manifested itself it was much easier to find the others. I located a red one, strong and even. A purple one with precise edges and a simple form that allowed for many variations. An orange one…so much potential there, it had no definitive shape. All four shared the same basic wave pattern and I noticed another similarity. It was as if their energies weren’t completely connected to their beings, and more like the mystic essence was leaking out of them like a tab that wasn’t closed off all the way and so water kept trickling out.

On my spiritual stroll, I passed by each of their energy essences and was assured by how I could tell that they were all asleep at the moment. Not the most peaceful rest they ever had in their lives, though that comes to nobody’s surprise.

Just as my focus had extended to different parts of the lair, I drew it back. It had been attuned to the wavelength that originated from Splinter, at least, that’s how I try to explain to myself what happened next.

I realized there was another source of mystic energy, and it was awfully close. Close as in, it was in the same room as I had been.

Something was familiar about it and at the same time, its shape had properties I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. I homed in on it to try and figure it out. It fluctuated, appearing first violet, green, and silver. I mentally reached out to it being too curious to stop, being fully aware that this was a bad idea.

The instance during which I had approached it didn’t even last a second, but the images that resulted from that would burn themselves into my inner eyes, and even weeks after I would be able to recall them as vividly as back then.

I saw three beings, overlapping and distorted. The first one was of a vaguely human shape, a bulky armor with the most horrifying grimace I had ever seen. The second one was a human man, with a stern expression and Asian features. The third one was also Asian, long black ponytail, a woman.

They were all screaming in unison.

One shrill shriek.

It ripped me out of my stasis, and I forgot I was underwater. I tried to rapidly breathe in and realized too late I couldn’t. I broke through the surface and grabbed for the tub’s rims. I coughed and spat, hurling out so much water it collected into a small puddle on the floor.

Once my body had calmed down, I frantically looked across the room towards my belt, pouch, and other belongings that I had carelessly thrown on a rack. You couldn’t see it. That didn’t matter. Now that I knew what to look for, I felt the mystic energy pulse distinctly. How could a mere shard of the armor hold so much power?

Maybe it was because their voices had superimposed or maybe I had come so close to drowning that I had gotten delirious.

But I was sure the scream had paradoxically been both, a warning and an invitation.

Chapter 21: 10k Thank You Chapter - A Sudden Big Bro Promotion

Summary:

DISCLAIMER: This is a special chapter to celebrate this fic reaching 10k and is not essential for the main story. Instead of the usual Leo’s POV, we switch to Mikey, who gets to be the big bro for a change. This short story is inspired by a scrapped episode for the second season of ROTTMNT. I always loved the idea of Mikey having to deal with three turtle tots and I’ve added my AU dynamics to this concept. While writing this I realized that figuring out how small kids acted was actually quite tough, so I hope that it’s at least semi-convincing. The plot is also rather loose because it’s supposed to be simply a bit of light fun and comfort and a breather before I upload the next actual chapter. (From there on things will start to escalate quickly ;D) Okay, that’s enough rambling, thanks again to everyone for reading, kudo’ing, bookmarking, and commenting on this fic so far, I appreciate you all so so much! - Jazz

The longest day of my whole life began like any other day. I woke up, went to the kitchen to make myself breakfast, and then took my spray paints to continue with one of my latest artistic makeovers in the lair.

On that particular morning, the home had been oddly quiet. This should have been the first sign that told me something is wrong. I tried to check on dad as I was passing by the tv room. He wasn’t there and the beamer was switched off, which was a bit unusual but perhaps he went out shopping or hid in one of his other favorite sleeping spots.

I threw a glance at Raph’s room, and it was empty. I guess he went training and was in the shower?

I passed by Leo’s room. More careful than the previous one, I poked my head in. It was unoccupied as well. That was more concerning.

My last resort was Donnie’s lab. He was working during odd hours and should have been awake for some time now.

“Dooooon? Are you there?” I asked into the darkened area that was only alight with purple dots blinking and beeping unbothered by whatever was going on. That’s when I heard it. A cry, like the whaling sound of a small animal, and apparently it was coming from one of the side chambers.

“Seriously, Donnie, what is going on here?” I called as I pushed a button to open the room where I believe the sound originated from.

I almost stumbled over something that was like a ball with lots of spikes. 

“Bah,” made the ball and turned around. It had a face. A vaguely familiar one.

“Raph?” I stared down at the tiny turtle who immediately hugged my ankle. (Or did he try to tackle me? I wasn’t entirely sure.) From the old pictures dad kept around, I estimated Raph looked maybe five years old. Already quite the bulk but not much bigger than a basketball.

The room was even darker than the rest of the lab, so I searched for the switch first. The sight that offered itself when I turned on the lights was…something. Monitors covered one wall, and a desk with dozens and dozens of glasses in all shapes containing liquids in different hues took over most of the room. Some were strewn on the ground, most intact but also some were broken. Sitting right in the middle of that mess was a tiny version of my other brother, who examined the shards.

My eyes took notice of all that, but my mind couldn’t process any of it. I felt like my brain was about to explode.

“What…is…going…” I stammered and a high-pitched voice screamed from behind: “Ambuuuush.”

I felt small hands grab my neck. I fumbled behind me and stumbled around trying to get a hold of the attacker. Finally, I grabbed his shell, held him between both hands in front of me, and stared in disbelief at a tiny version of Leo.

I estimated him to be around the same age as the others, though, now that I think about it, I’ve never asked him how old he originally had been.

“Who’re you and where’s pops?” Leo demanded to know and wiggled helplessly in my grab.

“Pops?” I asked, needing a second to process his question.

Oh right, if they all actually reverted back to their younger selves that means…

“Pops’ busy right now,” I explained and smiled at him, “he told me to look after you and Raph and Donnie.”

The turtle stopped in his attempt to escape. He didn’t seem very happy either.

“Not again,” he complained, “and why did he put me in a room with other experiments?”

At the same time, Raph from right under me pointed at Leo and asked: “Who’s dish? And who are you?”

“That’s…that’s, huh, we’re your cousins,” I resorted to the original lie Leo had used when he first came to the lair simply because I couldn’t figure out anything else quickly enough, “we’re here for a visit. I’m…Orange? And this is Leo.”

Donnie glanced up from whatever he constructed out of the glass shards, not impressed.

“Leo,” I told the other turtle, “this is Raph and Donnie. They’re your playmates for today, be nice to each other, okay?”

He grinned at me for an answer. I was deeply concerned. I had no idea a small kid could grin so mischievously. The scars that covered his body and shell (some weren’t really visible anymore because they’ve also shrunk), didn’t help me feel more confident about putting him down.

Apparently, he and Raph sorta got to know each other already since they shared a nod and then walked over to Donnie.

In those precious moments during which they were occupied by calling each other ‘cousins’, ‘experiments’, or ‘experiment cousins’ I tried to figure out my next moves. Make a plan. Set priorities. My mind preferred to not help me with that and to resort to screaming instead.

Okay, Mikey.

Focus.

I was sure I needed to phone Splints. No matter where he was off to, he needed to know what was going on. Plus, HE was an actual parent. Maybe not a picture-perfect one but he was OUR world’s greatest dad.

I was also sure I needed to figure out what happened here. The only thing I could assume right now was that this was a Donnie-experiment gone wrong. Why else should they have been in one of his more remote test chambers?

And if that was the case there were two things that were super high on my list: Is there some kind of antidote? And if so, how am I supposed to find it?

This lab was a mess, too. Maybe cleaning it up would help.

I started to gather shards, beakers, tubes, and everything else that was lying around the floor. I placed them on the desk and made my way over to the small group.

Raph and Leo giggled and touched some of the shards that were placed in a specific pattern. Each time they did this, Donnie complained and told them to stop messing with it. That resulted in more laughs and messing around.

“Whatcha doing there, Donnie?” I asked him as he smacked away Leo’s hand which was touching and slightly moving another shard.

“It’s the molecular structure for glass, a SiO2 tetrahedral unit,” he explained as if this was very obvious and to Raph, he added in a whining tone: “Stop it, Raph, you’re ruining its perfect symmetry.”

I was, of course, concerned that the tot was using shards for his…whatever that pattern was. On the other hand, I was glad about anything that kept his attention. I continued to clean up the room, briefly scanning anything that I came across for any hints that would help me figure out this chaos.

“Hey, where’s Mikey?” Raph had gotten tired of disturbing Donnie and his project. Arms full of materials, I turned to him and hesitantly told him: “Your bro is with dad, I mean, Splinter. They’ll be home later.”

“Oh,” my big bro was satisfied with this explanation and was more intrigued by my collection of knickknacks.

“Ewww,” he said noticing something he didn’t like, “are those needles? I HATE needles.”

My head had been buzzing so I hadn’t even really registered that he was right. I unloaded all of the science stuff far away from them on an empty shelf and picked up one of the injections.

“Are you going to use those? Like pops?” my ‘cousin’ stared at me. Not with disgust like Raph, not with passive curiosity like Donnie. It was something else. Recognition.

“No of course not,” I said, trying to sound reassuring and putting the pointy thing away.

Leo’s face was empty and, in his eyes had something solidified and condensed that shouldn’t be in those of a small turtle. “Sometimes he pokes me with them and then it hurts, I don’t like it.”  

I had the strong urge to wrap my arms around the slider tot, yet I hold myself back because I had always had the sense that Leo wasn’t used to physical affection. In other words, I wasn’t sure how he would react to something as simple as a hug and I didn’t want to spook his younger version.

Among the stuff that I had picked up from the room were the bandanas, gloves, and gear of each of them. I even found Donnie’s battle shell under one of the tables. When they shrunk, they must have fallen on the ground since they were way too big for them now. I was glad that they hadn’t had their weapons with them at that time. That could have been SO much worse. Beyond that, it was a mess that made no sense to me. What broke when and why was impossible to trace back.

The sole being who could help me preferred to build weird chemistry symbols out of the leftover of his research materials.

I kneeled down beside him, watched him work for a while, and then said: “Hey, Donnie?”

No answer.

“Do you remember how you got here?”

He paused and squinted his eyes.

“It’s weird, I’m not sure.”

 “Do you remember…yesterday?”

While I asked him this, Raph and Leo tried to climb up on my arms, one on each side.

“We had ice cream? Or did we watch a movie? It’s all…fuzzy,” Donnie blinked at me with a confused expression. I think it bothered him that he couldn’t recall anything clearly.

What he said was interesting. Donnie and I didn’t watch a movie, but we indeed had ice cream late last night. Without agreeing on it officially or something, we had met up in the kitchen frequently these days sharing our thoughts and worries about that whole Hamato biz, about Raph being more nervous and on the edge because of it, and about Leo being generally enthusiastic about his sword training but also getting more impatient and dodgier when it was about anything else. Everything had seemed normal that night right until the moment we had wished each other ‘good z’s’ and went to our rooms.

“We’ve conquered the turtle beast,” tiny Raph declared proudly and forced me out of my train of thought. He and Leo had managed to get on my shoulders and were competing on who could climb on my head quicker.

“Hey,” I said as Leo stepped on my nose, “cut it out.”

It took me a hot sec to set them down on the floor again.

“We’re boooored,” Leo complained.

“Let’sh play,” Raph agreed.

I figured I wasn’t getting anywhere closer to a solution if I stayed in this cramped and dimly lit room.

“Okay, okay,” I relented, “let your big cousin clean this up real quick and we can go do something fun.”

Two were excited about these prospects, the third was NOT pleased that I destroyed his elaborate work by picking up the remaining debris.

“Sorry, D, but those are dangerous, and we cannot leave them lying around like this,” I tried to persuade him with little success.

A few shard pieces felt different from the rest. Sticky. The floor was slightly sticky, too. Under close inspection, you could see that the glass had a purplish tint. That must be the remains of some sort of liquid. Potentially, it was the liquid that had caused this.

I placed those pieces in a separate pile and hoped I could soon return to the room to have a better look at them.

The whining of all three of them got so loud I had to make quick on my promise, and I led them out of the room and into our main area where the skate ramp was.

I had always believed that from our original trio, I was the one with the most pent-up energy and durability. On some days I couldn’t even manage to drain my batteries over the day and my brain and body would go latch on to anything excitable for hours before I would suddenly pass out. When Donnie usually walked around like a tired zombie with his coffee refill or when Leo snoozed in a sun-lit corner as if he was some kind of cat – and to be honest we all saw him more as a stray cat than a turtle anyway – I could never relate to them.

So, picture me surprised when I felt super tired only after two hours of playtime with my ‘new’ younger siblings. I just couldn’t keep up. Like. At all.

First, they wanted to play ‘it’. Donnie would repeatedly give up the moment he became ‘it’ and Raph and Leo were so nimble and fast I was running whole marathons before catching them.

Then, Leo suggested ‘hide and seek’ but his maniacal laugh and promise he was ‘really good at that’ made me so anxious (fearing he would disappear for real) that idea got rejected.

I let them try to stand on a skateboard, which was fun and safe until they tried to form a ladder to climb up the ramp.

Everything we did, they always found a way to do it in the most dangerous version imaginable and a box turtle can only handle THIS many heart attacks.

It took me way too long to find something that calmed them down after so much running and laughing and screaming and the solution had been so obvious: I packed out my basic pencils, an old package of crayons and paper, and told them to draw whatever they liked.

Meanwhile, I was browsing through my own recent stash, from the Hamato clan symbol to the armor to Lou Jitsu and how I assumed what other clan members looked like. It made us all uneasy, knowing so little about our own ‘family.’

I put my artwork away and sat down between Donnie and Leo who had not spoken a word or tried to argue with each other for the last few minutes, a new record. They were both engrossed in their works. Donnie stuck his tongue out and I vaguely remember that he always did that when he was younger and entirely fixated on something.

“What are you working on?” I asked him and leaned closer.

Just then did my brother notice that I was next to him.

He proudly pointed at his creation: “A rocket ship!”

Don’t believe this was one of those cute drawings of a bottle rocket and a human with a helmet. In the short time he had, Donnie had sketched a prototype with the right proportions, detailed booster systems, and an inside look at the control panel.

“I need to design a space suit, too!” he said eagerly and got back to it. If he ever returned to normal, NASA might be interested in his drafts.

My head hurt from that design, so I moved slightly to the other side.

“And what are you drawing?” I asked Leo. He was leaning over his piece of paper trying to conceal it while also working on it. I found it mind-boggling that even as a small kid, he was notoriously keeping secrets.

“Will you show it to me? I won’t tell the others, promise,” I pressed him in a softer tone.

The small turtle was eyeing me conflicted. I could swear his head turned a darker shade of green. Was he blushing?

He seemed to come to a conclusion and sat back revealing a drawing that was naturally not as technique-oriented or detailed as Donnie’s but considering his age it was quite impressive. Realizing what exactly it showed made my stomach a little squeezy.

The picture depicted Draxum in all his glory, the small turtle himself peeping from behind one of his sheep legs, and with the two gargoyles flying over them.

“That’s Pop Pop,” he pointed to the yokai, “and that’s Huggy and Munny,” he explained with much severity. “They’re really funny, I like to prank them.”

Recently, I had often caught myself forgetting where Leo came from. Sure, his jokes were either super bad or really dark, but that wasn’t much different from Donnie. He got quickly provoked and liked to resort to violence, but Raph had in the last few years also on rare occasions struggled to keep his temper in check. Those were things we could understand. Only when we ran into Draxum or any kind of danger really, he became unpredictable and showed sides of himself that we weren’t sure how to handle.

‘Still, he tries his best, doesn’t he?’ I thought and told him: “That looks really good!”

The tot beamed, picked another piece of paper, and started another drawing.

I moved my attention to Raph. He sat opposite us and drew large circles in different variations of red over three sheets of paper.

“You good there, Raph?” I asked him and he nodded excitedly.

“I love red!” he told me.

“You sure do, bud,” I agreed and felt the exhaustion creep up on me.

Using that brief instance of peace and quiet wisely, I took out my phone to check it for new messages. Dad always forgets that he had a phone and so I wasn’t surprised to see my plea that he should come home soon had remained ‘unread’.

I had, however, received two messages from April a few minutes ago. A ‘shocking’ emoji as a reply to my text where I tried to explain the situation and followed by ‘school’s over be there soon.’

“I’m hungry,” Raph complained and shoved one of the crayons into his mouth. I quickly crawled to him and retrieved the red pencil from his mouth.

“That’s not food Raph, how many times do I need to tell you this?” I asked, not expecting an answer or that he would stop trying to eat random stuff.

I wondered if I should try and move everyone into the kitchen to look for appropriate food. I couldn’t just order pizza, could I?

I tried to recall what dad usually fed us, but they were mostly hazy memories of different kinds of gruel and vegetable mash. I wasn’t sure if it would be wise to try and copy that.

I typed another message for April: “Could you look up what turtle babies eat and bring some food with you?”

Shortly after I got a ‘thumbs-up’.

At this point, I literally owed her my life.

“A friend is coming over soon,” I told Raph in particular but also made sure the other two listened, “she will bring some food so be patient a little bit longer.”

The bigger tot nodded solemnly being the older sibling that he had always been, even though he also had pouty lips.

“Come here, big guy,” I lifted him up, made myself comfortable on the floor cross-legged, and placed him on my lap. I knew that he would do the same with me when he had gone through his first growth spurs while I had remained the smallest of the bunch. Hugging him from behind I bobbed us softly back and forth and thankfully it had the same effect it had on me back then and Raph relaxed visibly.

“I’m cold,” Leo moaned. He abandoned his second drawing to get closer to me and check if I’m warmer than him.

“You wanna sit on my lap with Raph?” I offered him.

“No,” he said vehemently, yet stayed near me.

“Do you want to join the hug-train?” I asked Donnie who was also eyeing us interested.

“Raph’s shell is spikey, so no thank you,” he rejected me blatantly and went back to his sketches.

Oh right, the soft shell. I figured it might be fine as long as we were careful, but I felt bad that not only myself but apparently also Donnie constantly worried about it. If his battle shell didn’t fit anymore, some clothes might help.

I slowly moved Raph off my lap and stood up.

“Your big cousin will look for some pullovers for you. I’ll be super quick. Until I return, stay here. Do you understand?”

Raph nodded, Leo as well even if it didn’t seem genuine and Donnie didn’t react at all.

Great.

Just great.

I rushed off to my room and rummaged through my stash of old clothes. After hectically throwing my more recent gear around my room I had successfully scavenged for a black sweatshirt for Donnie, a red sweater with a zipper for Raph, and a pink pullover for Leo. They’ll have to do.

Just when I grabbed a cushion that I could additionally wrap around my brother’s sensitive shell, I heard him shouting: “Big cousin! Raph is shoving all the crayons into his mouth and Leo is helping him.”

“Snitch!” yelled Leo.

I ran back to the main area with my makeshift outfits and heavily sighed at the scene that presented itself.

Donnie and Leo were rolling around the floor wrangling and grappling each other and shouting ‘snitch’ again and again.

Raph’s mouth was wide open filled to the brim with differently colored crayons. He was holding another trying to figure out how to stuff it in there. The moment he saw me he began choking and spat out most of them. Worried that he accidentally swallowed a whole pencil I made my way toward him.

“Hey, hey, are you okay? Get it all out, don’t swallow the crayons,” I told him and padded his shell.

While I waited for his coughing fit to end, I turned to the other two. My worry met frustration and my general exhaustion certainly didn’t help the situation.

“Would you two stop fighting for like one second!” I shouted at them in a much harsher tone than I had initially intended.

At least it worked and they stopped in their tracks. Leo was sitting on top of Donnie who tore at the slider’s mouth while the other tried to poke his eyes out. Both of their faces were bruised.

“He started it,” Donnie sounded close to tears. They got up and wouldn’t meet my eyes and in turn, it was difficult for me to see my older brother being so openly emotional.

“Only because YOU ratted us out,” Leo protested. He didn’t seem as fazed, probably because he got into a lot more fights like these. 

“Uh, you weren’t kidding, this is weird,” April was standing at one of the entrances, carrying one bag in each hand and staring at us.

“A human!” Leo screamed, sounding kind of excited and also kind of shocked. He sprinted in her direction.

“Awwww,” April observed the tot, “aren’t you a cutie!”

Something glinted in Leo’s small left hand. I couldn’t see it well from my angle and at first, I thought it was a crayon. Crayons are usually no cutlery, aren’t they?

“Leo, what you got there?” I called over to him, but he didn’t listen.

I followed after him.

“Death to all humans,” declared the small turtle, sprung and readied the knife to attack April.

Our friend had only enough time to shriek a “wait, what?” before I tackled Leo and prevented him from starting his war on all humankind.

I wrangled with him until I got hold of his weapon and afterward let him go. At least, it had really just been a butter knife, nothing too sharp. Either way, this brought up some concerning questions.

“How did you even get this?” I asked him out of breath.

“Found it,” Leo pouted with no intent to say anything further.

“But where? How long did you have this?” I waved the knife at him, realized that this wasn’t good role model acting, and quickly let it disappear into my pouch.

“It’s all good, Mikey,” April laid one hand reassuringly on my shoulder, “kids can be intense, you gotta remind yourself that they usually have no real ill intent.”

“I think in this case, he really wanted to stab you,” I countered feeling like I was seriously reaching my wit’s end here. At least Raph had coughed up all the remaining crayon bits and was hesitantly approaching us.

“Pop pop says humans are dangerous beasts,” Leo glared at her like a caged lion glared at zoo spectators.

“Pop pop?” April repeated and threw me a questioning look.

I mouthed silently ‘Draxum’ and April understood and went “oooooh, right.”

“Well, does your pop pop know aaaaall of the human in the whoooole world?” she asked tiny Leo and made exaggerated gestures to undermine her question.

The tot pressed his lips together. He stimmed with his hands up and down and seemed to think very hard about this.

“No,” he concluded, “he doesn’t let me go to where humans are, but I heard it’s a biiiig place.”

“Very big,” April agreed, “that means he doesn’t know if every human is bad as long as he didn’t get to meet them. Some are good, too, like your fav cousin April.”

“The world population has exceeded 7 billion. There’s no way someone knows every person on the planet, that’s just common knowledge and if you believe otherwise, you’re stupid,” Donnie snorted at him.

Leo might not have his knife anymore – and I prayed that he didn’t hide any other weapons – and yet he managed well to shoot daggers at the other turtle exclusively with his eyes.

“Your big face is stupid,” he told him in the most mature tone.

“Hey, hey,” April immediately stopped them, “get along. Or else, you won’t get any snacks.”

“Snacks?” their interest was definitely piqued.

April revealed what she had been carrying in her bags, producing a plethora of fresh greens. “I quickly read up on the internet about what most turtle species liked. I brought some of the top recommended snacks for pet turtles, like lettuce, carrots, and kale.”

“Yesh! I like the human,” Raph declared and took a whole salad. His face basically disappeared in it as he munched it.

Leo sniffed at his carrots and decided: “Doesn’t seem poisoned.”

I briefly wondered how he knew that and figured it best not to ask.

Even Donnie joined them slowly chewing on some parsley.

“So, you CAN get along,” April teased them a bit and added: “If you play nicely there’s even some dessert in it for you later.”

She had all their attention. I was amazed by how well she managed them within the few minutes she had been here.

“April, how do you do that? I was so close to losing my mind, it’s been chaos the whole day,” I told her and nibbled at the lettuce she had been handing me.

“Years of practice with younger sibs from my extended family, also the Alberto gig,” she chuckled.

I stared at her in awe. Raph had almost finished his salad and waddled over to us. A few leaves were left that he held high up in my direction.

“I want to share with, big cousin,” he told me.  

It was such a small gesture. Just a few leaves, but to me, they were more important than the highest-grade pizza. I accepted them and said to him: “Thank you Raph, that’s very considerate of you.”

I gave him a pad on the shoulder and the tot puffed up his chest proudly.

Leo and Donnie, having observed our exchange, couldn’t let him have the spotlight to himself. In impressive synchronicity, they each picked something from their own food stash, positioned themselves in front of Raph, and waved with their greens at me.

“Have some of my carrots, too,” Leo said eagerly.

“And from my natural produces as well,” Donnie added.

The honest glimmer in their eyes made me freeze up for a second. I had feared that after yelling at them they would be angry with me, but apparently, they had already forgotten all about it.

I took their ‘presents’ as well and padded them on their heads.

“That’s so kind of you, thank you,” I assured them and quickly addressed Raph to make sure he didn’t feel left out: “All three of you are very good turtles.”

“But I’m a bit better than them, right?” Donnie pressed me and Leo instantly protested. They bickered while finishing their portion of the greens and this time it seemed in good spirits, so I let them be.

“It must be difficult for you because you’ve always been the youngest,” April said as we observed them throwing the leftovers at each other, “doesn’t mean being the younger sib is any easier. But being the bigger and older one, that’s a role you need to slowly grow into,” she eyed the three with the fondness of someone who was used to being the one in charge and carrying the responsibility that came with it.

“It’s a lot, being the oldest,” I admitted and thought about all the times Raph and Donnie had been there for me. They made me feel important and safe and talented and appreciated. They had always cared in their own unique ways. And now Leo cares too, in his own…very unique…way...I hoped.

“It’s on me to return the favor for once,” I decided with renewed determination.

“Do you think you can occupy them while I search for a way to sort this mess out?” I asked her, knowing her answer already.

“You can count on me,” April said with a confident smile, and to the others, “who’s up for some of my nana’s banana bread?”

Everyone cheered.

I gave my fav girl some instructions on the clothes that I had found for each of the tots and vanished into Donnie’s lab. I first skimmed through the room where the accident happened. Except for super small remnants of some kind of liquid that I had already found previously I didn’t find anything else. I searched then the other parts of Donnie’s research complex, unsure what I should keep an eye out for. Out of ideas I sat down in front of his main console which consisted of several screens that were currently on standby and occasionally beeping.

I randomly typed with his keyboard and at least one of the screens sprung to life.

‘Enter password’ the screen demanded.

I groaned. Why did my brother have to be so thorough?

After dozens of wrong guesses, I spun around on his gamer chair and pondered what he could possibly use as a password. Something that he might be proud of or that represents him?

It dawned on me and with a grin, I entered his youtube username: ‘Bootyyyshaker9000’

Jackpot.

The screen showed the last file that was left open. I was very thankful about this circumstance since I had no idea how Donnie navigated his computer. It’s not like he used default Windows. Everything is custom-made, my bro was extra that way.

The file was a collection of notes. Most words didn’t make much sense. Some formulas were followed by a table showing numbers. A few phrases I did pick up: ‘plant growth’, ‘how to stop?’, ‘regeneration’ and ‘revitalization’. This could have something to do with D’s plant collection, some sort of fertilizer, perhaps.

I scrolled further and again the numbers swirled in front of my eyes, followed by a new section titled ‘duration’ under which he had noted: ‘around 12 hours, need to increase efficiency.’

I jumped from the chair. If these are the memos for the liquid that got splashed over the three, would that mean…

I hurried back to the others and slid into the room. I was surprised to not hear their voices and wondered if they had gone somewhere else.

I started to call for them when I saw April approaching me from the left making a ‘hush’ sign and pointing to a corner behind the skate ramp. We sneaked closer to behold a truly unique sight.

Raph formed the middle part as he lay with his tummy on the ground, his head buried in his arms, and his spikey shell bolstered with cushions. Donnie was on top of one of the soft paddings in a fetal position. Leo was leaning on the bigger tot’s side, arms crossed and head lolling to the side. They were all snoring. 

My heart got tidal-waved with warmth at the sight of the turtle pile. April had managed to get them dressed earlier and even if the clothes were a bit too big, they looked comfy.

April and I sneaked out of the room and into the kitchen before we said anything.

“How did you manage THAT?” I asked her, still keeping my voice down, just in case.

“A big sis does not reveal ALL of her secrets, let’s just say I kept them busy by letting them run FOR me,” April’s proud smile was something else.

“Brilliant,” I told her and made a short bow to show her my respect.

“How’s it going on your end?” she turned more serious again.

“I’m not super sure, but if my hunch is right, they should turn back to their actual age in around 12 hours,” I explained to her.

She pondered that information.

“And how long since they, well, turned into kindergarteners?”

I shrugged, “Not sure because I found them like this in the morning. It has been a few hours since then, so let’s hope we’re getting close to that?”

“Let’s hope so,” she agreed.

I made us some hot chocolate and since the three tots continued to snooze peacefully, April packed her now empty Tupperware and went home after a while. I promised to keep her updated on the situation.

When I dimmed the lights and the lair fell into silence my eyelids quickly became too heavy to keep them open for much longer.

I could only wait and hope for the best now. I leaned at the skating rank close to the turtle tots pile and dosed off.

I’m not sure how much time had passed. When I came back to consciousness the lights were still turned off. I was sure I had registered some sort of movement. From the shine that came from somewhere up top, I could make out silhouettes, definitely bigger than myself. Two were laying on the floor very much how they had fallen asleep. A third one was sitting upright.

He must have heard my fidgeting too since I could roughly see his head turn to me. I got the sense he was aware of precisely where I was and that unsettled me a bit. I mean, we secretly joked about how much he was like a cat, but he didn’t really have night vision, right?

“I just had a crazy dream where these two here and I were kids for a day again,” Leo said part-joking and part-pleading that I would confirm that it indeed hadn’t been real.

“I fear we had the same dream,” I told him and he groaned in a hushed tone.

Leo wiggled himself out of the pink pullover that covered only half of his shell and threw it in my direction.

“I feel like I’ll have the biggest headache tomorrow,” he complained, rubbed his forehead, and stood up.

I don’t know why I did say what would next come out of my mouth. Maybe it was because I had felt that for the first time, Leo had seemed like he was part of this family and not just a guest. Maybe I had hoped that the day he had spent with us would have also left a mark on him.

“You can stay here,” I suggested, “it’s like a sleepover with all four of us.”

There was silence, a moment of hesitation.

Maybe this was all just wishful thinking.

“I think I need to be alone for a while,” Leo finally said. His voice was quiet to not disturb the others, but I also want to believe it sounded a bit like a sigh.

And with that, he left to go to his own room.

I didn’t move for a long time. The events of the past months rushed in no correct order through my mind with the sight of my little brothers popping up from time to time.

I hadn’t realized that I had fallen asleep until I woke up again not long after. I heard someone switching the tv on and Splinter peeked into the main area from his light-flooded room. Seeing Raph and Donnie snoozing (he didn’t notice me from my position), he shrugged and went to his room. He had no idea what I went through today. Or maybe, he knew exactly what I went through, and this is why he was so chill about it.

I checked my phone because I had no idea what time it was, and I saw a message from April: ‘Forgot to tell you that all three were constantly talking about you when you were gone. They REALLY liked their big cousin ;D’

That made me smile uncontrollably and I replied back to her that they had turned back and it was all good.

The following day Raph and Donnie also woke up with headaches and some loose impressions of yesterday. Donnie confirmed my theory that the source had been a substance that was intended for his plants to help them regenerate. Raph and Leo had kinda sneaked up on him unintentionally and so he dropped the container all over them. They couldn’t really tell me what they had said, done, or thought during that day. This left April and me as the sole duo who would always remember everything that had happened.

Some time later I re-organized my stash of drawings and added Raph’s red circles and Donnie’s spaceship sketches to them. Leo’s were strangely enough gone and at first, I figured April must have accidentally thrown them away. That was until I would pass by Leo’s room wanting to ask him what he was up to. The turtle wasn’t there at this moment, and I took the opportunity to look at the mural we had painted together. His bed was in front of it and at its end, a piece of paper stuck out. I was sure that hadn’t been there before. When moving around to it, I could see two drawings hanging on the wall behind the bedstead.

One was familiar to me. It was his initial ‘family portrait’ that he had shown me. I hadn’t seen the second piece because he must have finished it when he had been with April. In the middle was the same small slider, but this one was flanked by two other tots. Raph was laughing and Donnie frowned and was packed into cushions back and front. While the Leo in the first picture looked more neutral, this one showed his teeth in a wide grin. I stood behind them, way taller than I had been in relation to them, and also smiled brightly. This version of me had his arms wide outstretched as if he was ready to hug the whole world or, what had been an even greater accomplishment in my opinion, to embrace three small turtles.  

Chapter 22: Cursed Birthdays and Ruined Salad-Saturdays

Summary:

Thank you, everyone, for your super sweet comments on that last chapter, I’ve been almost crying several times reading them ;_; After our break from the main story, we return to our good-old Leo POV in this one. The only warning, I have this time is that there’s some cursing here and there. I also changed the group’s ages a bit, mostly to fit the tone of the story, and also because I’m a stupid European who forgot how the US school system works and I had to adjust accordingly… I hope you don’t mind and have fun reading ~ Jazz

“Make way for the birthday girl,” Sunita cheered. We had entered Run of the Mill Pizza, THE yokai pizza place when we wanted to eat out. Most of the restaurant’s guests glanced briefly up before going back to their own conversations and food. 

“Hush, Sunita, you really don’t need to make such a fuss about it,” April chided her friend. Sunita wouldn’t have any of it.

“What ya talking about? Birthdays are awesome,” she insisted. I had known the goop yokai for only half an hour, but I found her to be quite entertaining. Apparently, she was attending the same school as the human girl, and they quickly became friends. Even more so when she revealed herself to be as ‘usual’ as the rest of April’s social circle. Sunita also had recently been attacked by the foot. The reason she had never managed to figure out.

April sighed. “My birthdays always end in some sort of catastrophe. I swear, they’re cursed.”

“Not with all of us here to make it the best day of your life,” Mikey boasted, “and we’re starting off with a classic!”

“A classic that, as far as I can tell, has no free tables left?” I scanned the room.

“Oh no! Raph did you forget to phone Hueso about our reservation?” Mikey was for a change the one who scolded his big brother.

“I might have?” Raph scratched his head. His tone was apologetic and light-hearted. Despite trying really hard, we all could hear the exhaustion in his voice. It had been almost two weeks since Splinter spilled the quite literal earth-shattering tea about his ancestry and connection to the dark armor. So far, Raph handled it not all too well since to him it meant more things, he felt the need to worry about.

Such an idiot.

Donnie sighed. “Well, there are always human pizza places. The four of us just need to be sneakier there.”

“Told your guys my b-day was cursed,” April wasn’t particularly angry, just reassured in her believes.

“We can’t give up so easy,” I determined mostly because I didn’t like to look for another place when I felt close to starving, “maybe we can convince someone to get their asses out of here.”

“No one seems to be ready to ask for the bill,” Donnie ‘encouraged’ me kindly.

I pointed at one of the bigger round tables at the back. Some hyena yokai occupied it and had a good laugh, clearly not with but at someone’s expense. “I feel like those might leave soon, let me ask them.”

I walked over to the group, fading out the others’ complaints about my great idea.

“Hey,” I leaned casually at their table.

The yokai stopped chatting among each other and threw me some nasty looks.

“What d’ya want, Kappa,” one with way too long sideburns said and another chimed in: “Yeah, can’t ya see we’re busy.”

“Heh, yes, or are you turtles too slow to understand us when we speak to you at normal speed?” Another asked and giggled. More laughter broke out at the table.

“Oh, I can understand you just fine,” I said sweetly. “And you see, it just so happened I noticed you guys are finished. My friends here and I are in need of a table, so would you kindly piss off?”

Thank the titan they finally stopped shrieking and eyed me to determine if I was serious or not.

“We’ll go when we like to go,” the one with the sideburns growled.

I shook my head in disappointment. I grabbed the pizza cutter that was lying on an empty platter and sat down on the edge of the round couch. I casually swung my arm around the shoulders of the yokai beside me as if we were close friends.

“That’s really a problem. D’you see that human over there?” I pointed my cutting utensil from the hyena to April and back and continued, “it’s her birthday and it would be too bad if it got ruined because you were too stupid to leave when you really should.”

Out of the four yokai, two already seemed as if they were ready to jump and run. The one I had half-grappled swallowed audibly. Of course, there must be always one idiot who was too proud to give in so easily.

“You’re all talk, ain’t you! Now, fuck off and pick someone as pathetic as yourself for your stupid routine,” the one with the half-cocked smile said.

“Sure, I’ll do that but first let me divide your friend’s face into equal slices,” I pressed the cutter right under his neck. This way they couldn’t see the pressure point, but they could tell from their friend’s panicked wincing that it must hurt, and it continued to hurt, and he continued to yelp. At this point, even the stupidest and bravest (those two things usually went together) among them saw the threat in my eyes.

“All right, all right,” they relented, “we’ll go, sheesh, no need to be so fucking serious.”

“Oh, I’m not. You four are the best joke I’ve witnessed all day,” I shot back and got up to let them go to the cashier and hurried away, inventing not-so-nice descriptions for me all the way to the exit. 

I gave my group a proud thumbs-up to signal to them they could come near now and take a seat.

They regarded me with a mixture of worry and uneasiness. With the damage already done, they reluctantly accepted my gesture.

As we fidgeted around the table, the owner of the place approached us.

“I appreciate your loyal patronage, but could you keep your niño loco away from my other customers,” the skeleton in his dapper suit said in a professional yet scolding demeanor.

“Sorry, Señor Hueso,” April attempted to defuse the situation, “he only tried to do me a favor because it’s my birthday.”

I was nibbling on a breadstick and shot him menacing glances, just for shits and giggles.

“If that’s the case, well, I can make an exception. Sunita’s father is, after all, also a much-valued entertainer for my establishments,” Hueso handed us the menus and only gave the green yokai girl a nod before he turned his attention to his other customers.

While April and Sunita discussed which pizzas to order, Donnie snatched the breadstick from my hand: “Did you have to go full-on killer mode with these yokai? We could’ve just waited until a table was open.”

“I was just trying to be the face-man. You know, face, like here and here and here,” I pointed at all the weak points around one’s neck and face. Depending on the species and what you used as a weapon the least you could do when hitting those was knocking someone out.

“That’s not how the concept of face-man works…” Donnie appropriately face-palmed himself.

“Where do you guys say he was from?” Sunita who was sitting to my right pointed at me inquisitively.

“They kinda picked me up from Draxum’s place,” I explained, summarizing a whole lot of fights, chaos, and physical and emotional damage in one sentence that could impossibly convey all of that.

“THE Draxum,” her goopy eyes grew larger, “that evil scientist extraordinaire? The yokai with the current highest bounty on his head? The…”

I shoved another breadstick into her mouth and told her: “Yes, we get it, shout his name a few more times and see how many enemies you can summon, will you?”

She kept staring at me as she began munching.

“Is everyone okay with lemonade?” April unwaveringly asked the table and we all cheered.

Food and drinks were ordered (the amount helped to lighten Hueso’s mood a little) and once everyone had a big glass of yellow bubbly goodness, we spoke our birthday wishes to April. I had been aware of these traditions, though as you might expect, my household hadn’t fretted much about these things. It was simply a date to keep track of one’s biological development. This is why I had to think for a hot second when April asked me how old I was.

“Sixteen, I think?” I swayed my head from left to right trying to count the years. 

“We are the same age?” the human girl said a bit taken aback.

“And also Donnie,” Mikey added, “I’m fifteen, and Raph is the oldest with seventeen.”

“Interesting, same as Usagi,” I told the big guy, who didn’t know what to make of that. After all, the rabbit yokai appeared to most as if he had always been a super-serous ‘adult.’

“That reminds me,” I switched the topic, “I want to visit him soon and I’ve no idea how without…well…” I pointed at my back, where now the two swords Splinter gave me hung.

“Right,” April understood and asked Sunita: “Do you know of any entrances to the hidden city?”

“Of course, two blocks away there’s a dumpster,” she didn’t have to think long.

“Great,” I groaned, “isn’t there also one where I can, like, keep my dignity intact as well?”

Sunita snorted, “yeah no, but let me know when you find such a thing.”

Pizza was served and we kept chatting back and forth. And that was it. That was all that happened on that day. April had been wrong about her birthday being cursed and nothing of any significance occurred.

…

Yeah, okay, I guess after you’ve heard my story so far you wouldn’t believe such an obvious lie or, to be honest, this is simply how I would’ve liked this day to go.

Anyway, we had destroyed the last remaining pizza crumbs and Sunita had insisted on ordering the brownie special so April could blow out some candles. Never heard of a ritual practice that involved wishing through cake candles, but why not if it meant free cake?

I sipped my second lemonade refill through a straw to flush down the pizza and make room for dessert and kept one eye on the illusionary entrance, simply to make sure the hyenas wouldn’t return with backup. While listening to some funny banter between Raph and April who told us how they first met a few years back (it involved the human believing she found weird alligators and the others freaking out and trying to scare her off with zero effect and they got beaten up by her instead), I registered a few yokai coming in to wait for a table or take their orders as take-out. A small queue even started to form. In that dense mingling, I didn’t see them at first since they blended perfectly into the other folk around them, but if you looked closer you would notice their rather strange get-up: A hypo in a flamboyant suit and turban (including feathers, pearls, and other diverse kinds of jewels) and a worm in a fashionable vest and with a strange blond hairdo who was sitting on his companion’s shoulder. They were casually chatting as they waited in the takeaway line.

Now, you need to understand, I’m not a resentful turtle. Even if they had been members of Draxum’s ‘evil league of losers’ I could hardly hold that against them. After all, what would that make me?

No, the reason why I kept staring at them was the worm’s accessory. I had found it odd during our first meeting at the motel and, after everything that had happened since then, I could finally confirm my suspicion. I was pretty sure that wasn’t just any spiky and way too big gauntlet that he dragged around. It was THE spiky and way too big gauntlet that was missing from the armor upon which the fate of humanity depended.

Just to be absolutely certain (because coincidences were rare but not entirely impossible) I focused on the piece of ominous metal and mentally reached out to it. Since my spiritual late-night exploration of the lair, I had tried this trick a few times. The success and precision varied depending on my surrounding, mood, and the distance and properties of the energy source I tried to visualize. I didn’t expect what it meant to tune and open my senses to a room full of mystic-apt beings and the feedback at first overwhelmed me. It was similar to when you looked right at the sun after exiting a darkened room. Just too much of everything.

‘Okay, stay calm,’ I told myself, ‘one spiritual step at a time.’

With my eyes transfixed on the gauntlet, I tried my best to blend out the other energy sources. I wasn’t stupid enough to approach it as I did with the shard. That had been an experience like when you touched a hot stove for the first and hopefully last time: It hurt, and you knew exactly that it would be wise to avoid any future direct contact. With the energy that this thing emitted I also didn’t need to come very close. It gave me indeed an identical vibe as the shard and glowed in the same three colors that weirdly swirled together. Thinking back to these screaming, contorted faces that I had seen made me shudder.

“Uh, Leo, you do know that your glass is empty, right? Helloooo? Leooon?” said a voice. Green fingers appeared right in front of my face and snapped a few times.

I blinked and the glowing orbs disappeared. I blinked again and saw Donnie pointing to the glass that I was holding. It contained chunks of half-frozen ice, and only then did I register that I had still the straw in my mouth. During my brief spiritual excursion, I must have inhaled my drink until there hadn’t been any left and then continued to loudly slurp at the ice, much to everyone else’s confusion and annoyance. 

“Yeah,” I said feeling a bit woozy, “just…just wanted to, I don’t know, speed up the process of the ice melting? I like iced water.”

The table raised a collective eyebrow at me. I was lucky that April threw a glance in the direction I had been staring at and also recognized the two mutants.

“Is that…?” She started and Donnie finished her sentence by saying: “Hypno and, uh, that worm guy? What’s his name again?”

“Worm guy? What do you mean worm guy?? Isn’t that Warren Stone the super famous news anchor?” April squealed his name and got half up from the seat.

Sunita groaned. “Please don’t tell me he’s one of those news people you’re obsessing over.”

“Sorry to disappoint you April. This is just one of those mutants we keep running into and by chance foil their semi-evil plans. You also might have met him at the motel,” Donnie tried to burst her bubble, but not with much success.

“Back then I had been occupied with rescuing Todd, remember? I didn’t have the time to take a good look at everyone who was trying to pummel us,” she shot back, rummaged in her jacket, and got out some kind of purse. She clipped it open to reveal dozens of cards, almost all identical with a picture of the human girl throughout the last ten years or so.

“I’ve been a member of his fan club for like ever,” she explained, “and I would always recognize his hair no matter what form.”  

“Okay, so that guy had been a famous human once. Wasn’t Meat Sweats also a cook in some show or something?” Raph wondered and Mikey gasped.

“He’s to this day the greatest chef to be alive! How dare you use the past tense,” the small turtle sounded deeply offended, which was an unusual sight to behold.

“I want to talk to him, maybe get his autograph, brb,” April decided, stood up, and squished herself past half of our group.

“Hold on,” Raph being at one edge of the round table tried to block her way, “they might not be very high on the ‘evil’ scale, but they’re dangerous mutants. Hypno once tried to make your whole school disappear.”

He looked at us for help and somehow landed on me, “you were there too, right?”

I was in the meantime fighting against a headache that might be a form of backlash from my mystic mojo experiment, so I was way much more in the mood to mess with somebody than to help them: “Nope, no idea what you’re talking about. Look, the bone-man just brought them their order and it’s TWO salads. What kind of villain orders take-out salad in a pizza joint?”

“The most twisted kind?” Mikey returned with such severity in his tone that I wasn’t super sure if he was tagging along to provoke red or if he seriously found the idea appalling.

There it was. A vein pulsated dangerously visible on Raph’s forehead. That eased my own pain just a little.

“It will be fine, Raph,” April tried to calm him down, “you can come with me as protection if that helps, the rest of you can wait here for the cake.”

Her suggestion was indeed alluring. Figuring out how to snatch the gauntlet from the worm held even more promising prospects.

“I’ll come too,” I invited myself, “looks cooler if we flank you from both sides.”

The human girl shrugged, and I moved to her left side. With the big guy on her right, we made our way through the restaurant toward the two mutants in question who were paying their packed-up order.

April cleared her throat to get their attention: “Excuse me, Mr. Stone?”

The worm was on top of their salad boxes and when hearing his name was first excited that someone knew his name only to be obviously disappointed when he recognized us.

“Oh, it’s you guys…can’t you leave us alone for today?” he snarled.

“Please, it’s Salad-Saturday and we want to be home in time for the Great British Bake-Off,” the hypo told us and made a ‘you’re-dismissed’ gesture.

“We’re not here to start any trouble,” Raph assured them, arms crossed and making himself look taller than usual.  

“Well, maybe a little depending on how much you’re willing to corporate,” I inserted and placed my left hand on one of the handles on my back.

April gave me a friendly push and said: “Cut it off. Mr. Warren Stone, I’ve been a HUGE fan of you since ever! I’m even the vice president of the Stoneheads!”

She produced again the purse with her membership cards to proudly show them off.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner? Always great to meet a Stonehead,” he said, and his ego visibly inflated, “you want a picture? Autograph? A picture WITH an autograph?”

“Yes!” April jumped up and down. She got out her phone and started making selfies with the worm. It was a weird sight, but anything for the birthday girl.

I slithered close to Raph who was trying his best to stare down the hypo mutant.

“Hey,” I hushed so hopefully no one else could hear it, “noticing anything strange?”

Raph whispered back: “You mean besides basically everything about this whole situation?” 

“Good point,” I admitted, “but I meant more specifically the bug with the blond hair. Don’t you find his gauntlet strange? Doesn’t really go with his character concept.”

Raph squinted his eyes, and I knew for sure he then made the connection. He moved his attention from one mutant to the other. April got her, probably, fifth autograph from the mutant, this time on her forehead.

“Oh no,” the big guy mumbled.

Finally wrapping up their meet-n-greet Warren hopped onto his companion’s shoulder, who was carrying their orders.

“Well, that was fun, see you turtles around. Next time we meet each other I’ll destroy you so beware,” he declared charmingly, and with the hypo petting him and his fabulous hair, they trotted away.

“I take everything back,” April joined us browsing through her phone to look at all the pictures she had taken, “my b-day isn’t cursed after all.”

“Weeeeell, that remains up to debate,” I made an apologetic face at her and asked red: “What should we do, let them get away?”

Red was clearly uncomfortable being the one who should decide such a thing. I could totally see him debating with himself on what to do. On the one hand, we had been searching for armor pieces for some time now with no success. On the other, it’s April’s special day and this might turn into a whole thing.

“We might not get another chance like this,” he said helplessly, and I nodded.

“What’s going on?” April pressed us.

“I’m super-duper sorry April, but we think your famous worm-friend has a piece of the armor,” Raph told her the bad news and considering the circumstances she took it quite well.

“You mean that was a part of it? You’re telling me that Warren Stone gave me autographs while wearing parts of the armor of doom?” she ruffled her hair buns.

“I know we should have cake first, but they might be gone until then. I hope it’s okay that your birthday gets a bit…derailed,” he made his way to our table as he spoke. We were closely following up behind him.

April padded his shell, “no worries, big guy, I get it. Plus, that means I can talk to Warren Stone even more.”

“All right, everyone! Pack up your things, we need to hunt down a worm,” I announced to the others who had watched us return with varied worried faces.

Raph explained to Mikey and Donnie what happened and about his suspicions. Sunita went on to apologize to Hueso that we will hopefully come back for the cake and pay up later. We all disorderly left the restaurant, though to no one’s surprise the two mutants were nowhere to be seen.

“Damnit,” Raph ran to another empty street corner, “we’re too late.”

“No, we’re not” I assured him, walking in front of him and pointing to the east, “this way.”

I started running in that direction and gave them no chance to catch their breaths to ask me uncomfortably personal questions. Truth was, it was much easier to concentrate on the gauntlet’s mystic wave patterns with not as many yokai around, plus it was close enough for me to trace it with at least semi-confidence.

It didn’t take long for us to catch up. Right before we turned the last corner, I stopped so abruptly that Mikey ran into me. We both stumbled over each other and fell to the ground.

“What’re you doing?” April asked me while we sorted out our limbs and got up.

Out of literally nowhere I had sensed a new kind of mystic energy popping up, very close to the ones I had been tracing. Even if I had never deliberately sensed his pattern or had access to the extent of my ability for long, I knew him too well to not be absolutely sure: Draxum had joined our chase, probably by using MY portal magic. The audacity of that sheep.

“I don’t want to alarm anyone,” I told them, “but up ahead is Draxum and I assume he’s after the same thing we are.”

Everyone got their weapons out, except for Sunita who was her own weapon and since April didn’t have her bat with her, she resorted to picking up the lid of a nearby trashcan. A shield and a frisbee, good thinking.

“How are you so sure?” Donnie probed me, always the skeptic.

“You know how I could tell where April was? It’s…like that,” I was using my typical formula of a 50-50 ratio of lies and facts that I know will result in only more follow-up questions. That was future me’s problem, though.

Raph gave a signal, and we rushed as one chaotic unit ahead. On the empty walkway, I made out our targets, and blocking their way was the sheep-man himself, alone this time as it seemed.

They were occupied with talking back and forth and it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. The hypo mutant set their takeaway on the ground and produced some sharp-looking ringlets, just when we caught up to them and blocked the other way.

Seeing us approaching, Draxum groaned, and I swear I could HEAR him rolling his eyes. 

“You have a talent for poking your noses in things that do not concern you,” he addressed us. The two mutants looked back at us in confusion, not sure how we were part of this equation.

Up close I could see my odachi on the left side of his hip, hanging from a belt. I felt my heart pumping quicker and my muscles tensing. Before I could say some pretty stupid things that we would’ve needed to censor for the general readership, April returned to him: “Don’t you dare lay a finger on Warren Stone’s award-winning hair!”

“Uh, April? He’s here for the gauntlet, just like us?” Donnie reminded her.

“That brings me back to my offer,” Draxum stretched his hand demandingly out, “will you give it to me willingly or do we need to resort to…more extreme methods?”

“I’ll never part with Charlotte,” the worm padded the armor piece lovingly.

“The extreme method it is,” he obliged and produced a ball from a pouch that also hung from his belt. He flipped it into the air and as it flew, the ball grew instantaneously forming something like a torso, then arms and legs and a head with two glowing eyeholes. Landing right in front of the hypo and the worm was a fully-grown golem who towered with their size and stature even over Raph.

“Get me that gauntlet,” the warrior scientist commanded them, and his creation made of mud, veins, stone, and mystic energy reached for the worm.

“We should split up,” Donnie suggested, “one group makes sure Dr. Frankenstein here is occupied, and the other grabs the worm.”

“Good thinking, Donnie,” Raph commended him.

“Everyone who wants to kick a sheep-butt, follow me,” I decided and waved my swords to signal them to get going.

Red yanked me back by grabbing me by my shoulder: “Hold on a sec. He always expects you to go after him.” 

I got myself out of his grip feeling irritated: “Yeah, well, I want my sword back and I know him best, so it only makes sense.”

“And he knows you best. Let us handle Draxum, you go secure the armor piece,” Raph insisted. The earth shook as the golem tried to punch the hypo who repeatedly got in his way. I wanted to protest and tell him off.

The part of me who was more rational than most of the others whispered to me that he was right, its voice was hardly audible inside my head. What actually swayed me, in the end, was Raph’s expression. He was looking at me as if he knew he couldn’t convince me. As if he was fighting a battle, he was aware he would lose. As if he didn’t believe in me making the right decision. My desire to fight my pops lost against my yearning to prove Raph wrong, which surprised no one more than myself.

“Fine,” I relented, sounding a tad salty nonetheless, “I’ll take Sunita and April, you guys need to send Draxum my regards by hitting him real good in the face.”

I really shouldn’t feel so much joy from that proud spark that twinkled in Raph’s eyes.

“We will,” he promised and all three ran in an arch around the golem and made their way toward Draxum, who had summoned his usual collections of vines not only to give him general cover but also to fortify his arms, so they looked like two compostable scythes.

“All right,” I turned to my own squad, “guess we take Warren and get out of here. Preferably we somehow snatch the gauntlet itself, though I get the sense he’s not eager to part with it.”

“If I remember correctly, Donnie once told me that Warren’s mutant ability is to regenerate, so we don’t need to worry too much about him getting squished. The hair, however, needs to be protected at all costs,” April informed us.

“Your priorities, girl, are sometimes really weird,” Sunita told her.

“Fair enough,” I said, “cut the worm, get the gauntlet, keep the hair intact, let’s go!”

The golem was definitely a problem, their movement might have been sluggish, but you shouldn’t underestimate their punches. They could turn you into an extra-thin pizza, easy. I was glad they were currently occupied with the hypo mutant, who tried his best to fend the giant off with his magic tricks. Even Warren did his best to aid his partner by punching the left toe of the creature.

April rushed in for the worm, which left me and Sunita to clash with the golem. I intended to get them off balance by cutting one of their legs. Halfway one of my swords got stuck in the thick mud and I pushed and pulled to get it free again. Like going for an annoying fly, they bent down to swat me. I jumped out of the way before they could grab me, giving up on my sword for now.

I cursed under my breath. If the swing would have been swifter, and cleaner, it could have worked.

Realizing they wouldn’t get me or Sunita, the creature reached to their other side for Warren. April dashed just in time in the foray, snatched the worm, and made it to us. 

All the way, the mutant complained in her arms. I couldn’t understand everything, but it basically consisted of demands to let him go and that they don’t need our help and so on and so forth. The only problem was that his partner had also registered what was going on and was close on April’s tail.

“Where you think you’re taking my roomie?” he shouted over to her.

“Hypno, save me,” Warren reached overly dramatic back to him.

That’s when the golem decided to jump. You don’t want to ever see a golem jump. They flew in a wide arc in our direction and crashed down behind Hypno like a meteorite. The earth shook. So much so that April stumbled and landed on the concrete in a way that seemed to hurt a lot. Being the girl who had her priorities straight she had closely wrapped her arms around the worm and tried to ease his fall.

Sunita and I approached them seeing that the other mutant was still on his feet and lifted the human girl by pulling her up in the air on her jacket. April tried to bite the hypo and violently kicked around with her feet. Our goopy friend had a brilliant idea. She extended her arms and told her: “April, pass!”

She immediately understood, our opponents however as well. As the human was readying her toss, Hypno snatched the worm. At the moment he let her go, April managed to get hold of the gauntlet. April clasped the armor piece in both hands and pulled. Sunita joined her in what developed into a very absurd version of tug-of-war.

“Let go,” both girls commanded.

“No, you let go of Charlotte!” Warren screamed while the other mutant wrapped his arms around him and leaned in the opposite direction.

“Graaaah,” said the golem to all of this and began punching. He missed the hypo only by a few inches. If we didn’t get the gauntlet soon, we would all be mush.

“You said it’s okay to cut the worm, right?” I wanted to assure myself and got into position with my remaining sword, which felt kinda awkward after just getting used to having two.

April and Sunita, holding on to the piece with their dear lives, said quickly in synch: “Yes, it’s okay! Do something!”

I ducked under an arm from the big creature that swung past us, focused on the worm arm that had already been ridiculously stretched at this point, and severed the mutant and the gauntlet with one precise swing (hair remaining untouched throughout the whole procedure). Both parties fell on their butts from the sudden release of tension and not a moment too soon. The golem’s foot slammed down on the two girls who rolled out of its way.

“Ewww,” Sunita pointed at something in April’s embrace and the human held up the remains of Warren’s arm that looked like gum that had been chewed for too long.

“Awesome,” she said enchanted by the severed limp.

“Outta the way,” I tried to warn them and blocked the muddy hand that came after them. My sword was not optimal for warding them off and I almost buckled under the brute strength when their palm clashed against my blade. From somewhere before me I heard Hypno asking his ‘roomie’ if he was okay. Judging from the impolite words the worm used to describe us and this situation, I figured he was perfectly fine.

Meanwhile, I was caught in a stalemate that I was slowly losing. The golem pushed and pushed, putting his weight on me and it was only a matter of time before my legs or my swords couldn’t take it any longer.

“Take that, mud-face,” April declared near me, and I couldn’t see her, but I could feel the sudden surge of mystic energy that flew past me and crashed into the golem. They withdrew their hand, flinging them around in confusion and grabbing at their face which was half gone. Big chunks of it kept crumbling down.

I turned to the human and saw her wearing the oversized gauntlet over her right hand and holding it up for extra support with her left.

“Bullseye,” Sunita cheered.

I didn’t have the time to ask her how she had managed to control that thing. In their anger, the golem stomped around in an erratic and unpredictable pattern, kicking the hypo and the worm by accident and sending those two flying into an alley on the opposite side of the street. I had to roll around to not suffer the same fate, stumbled inelegantly to my feet, and made my way in a zig-zag pattern through and under the giant.

Managing to reach the other side and get some distance between us, I could see Donnie, Raph, and Mikey in an intense skirmish with Draxum. The big guy’s bandana was ripped in one place, and he had a gash wound on his forehead. The two younger ones didn’t have any obvious injuries, though they seemed exhausted from doing their best to keep their opponent on the defensive. They did really well, and I decided the mud-creature remained the bigger problem, literally and figuratively speaking.

They had gotten used to having only half of a face and in a blind rage, smashed their fists on the ground where April and Sunita were. Running away during a local earthquake was no easy job. They attempted a similar maneuver to what I had done but with the golem being fixated on them, it was much more difficult and soon proved impossible. The golem had them cornered and there was no way I could have reached them in time. Sunita decided to resort to her ultimate attack.

Giving them the meanest look she declared: “Hey, happy birthday, asshole,” and exploded into thousand bits of goop right into their face (or at least what was left of it). I hadn’t seen her ‘family special’ for myself and I was so impressed I instinctively clapped. The golem howled in confusion and clawed at the green smudge that covered their remaining eye.

April fumbled to her feet and fell over repeatedly. She was holding her right ankle and based on her pain-distorted face it was at least a sprain, if not worse. She noticed me looking at her from behind the giant and the fire in her eyes told me she wasn’t done yet.

“Catch,” she told me, and with all of her remaining strength tossed the gauntlet to me. I caught it in a stupor. What was I supposed to do? Run? Sunita hadn’t reformed and the human clearly needed help and the others were also occupied with Draxum…it was a lot.

I regarded my remaining sword. I wasn’t ready to win this fight with one simple weapon.

“SHOT,” April screamed, voicing the thought that started to form in my head as well.

I glanced at the gauntlet.

I will tell you guys this. I was shaking just a little. I mean, who wouldn’t? This belonged to the same source from which the shard originated that had given me such a heart attack I almost drowned.

I looked up and saw the giant slashing around, throwing parts of Sunita everywhere. April attempted to crawl away. Way too slow. They would trample her eventually, that was certain.

Something in that small piece had warned me about exactly this.

Something simultaneously had invited me.

I decided to trust THAT part of the cursed armor for just this one occasion. 

I put the sword in the shaft on my back, held the piece of armor with one, and moved my left hand into its way-too-big opening. I was honestly glad it didn’t fit at all. My three big fingers hardly had space and my overall anatomy was clearly different from the human shape it was designed for. Similar to April, I held it, lifted it up, and pointed it at the golem.

I imagined a blast like the one that the human created. The instance I conjured up the idea, my mystic energy flowed up my arm, into the armor, and blue lightning shot from its tips. In contrast to April’s attack, it wasn’t an even stream, more like a condensed flash that exploded once it hit its target.

The golem had now a huge hole in its chest, too large chunks were missing that it could sustain itself any longer and they began crumbling like a cookie tower when Raph entered the kitchen (you had to be there to understand that reference, it was funny though, you need to take my word for it).

The thunderous bang that my shot had caused, had also caught the attention of the other fight that had been going on. Raph’s eyes frantically moved from me, the gauntlet, and to April.

“She’s hurt,” I shouted over to him while dodging the debris that came falling down around her and me.

“Retreat,” he called to the others, and roughed up as they were, they gladly obliged. Draxum lost precious seconds witnessing the final moments of his creation before it completely fell apart and then some more as he tried to locate the gauntlet. Holding the piece from the inside with one hand and from the outside with another, I hurried to Sunita who had collected at least most of herself and was not far away from the human. Raph scooped up April princess-style, trying to carry her as carefully as possible. Having reunited as a group, we quickly got some space between us and the yokai and ran as fast as our tired legs could carry us.

We ended up in an alleyway one block away from Hueso’s pizza joint by instinct. Not that we were in any mood for cake. We also hadn’t seen our two mutant acquaintances on our way here. I wasn’t feeling particularly sorry for ruining their Salad-Saturday.

“How are you?” I asked Raph while everyone else was catching their breaths.

The confused look that he gave me told me he wasn’t even aware of his own injury. Taking a few heartbeats to understand my question, he said: “It’s fine, just a cut, it’s not that deep. What happened to you, April? Are you okay?”

April shined a brave grin in his arms, “it’s not that bad, I sprained my ankle, I had worse birthdays to be honest.”

Her joke didn’t have the desired effect, everyone’s frown only deepened.

“Hey guys, look at the bright side. Nobody got squished and we finally got a piece of the armor and a big one at that,” she emphasized.

With that, all eyes shifted to me. I had absentmindedly held on to the piece. Pumped with the adrenaline of the fight and the desire to get the hell out of that situation, I hadn’t really paid attention to it.

When I lifted it up to show it to the others, something was wrong.

Suddenly it was much lighter. I didn’t grab its bulky interior anymore and my right hand was holding my wrist much tighter. Instead of the five entries for human fingers, it had only three that ended in claw-like extensions, its surface was smooth around the back of my hand and developed into an intricate scaled pattern as it reached almost up to my ankle. Its metal seemed in the shine of the moonlight and streetlamps as if it was a perfect-fitting glove made of pure liquid silver.

I waved with it at everyone. My mind had a hiccup and refused to process what had happened.

“It…no…what…it didn’t look like this when I used it,” April was the only one who wasn’t too freaked out to speak.

It was as if I was observing the body of someone else when I wrapped my right hand around the gauntlet to pull it off. A fear formed in the back of my head. It had crept up to me like a spider that had crawled up my spine and neck and was now nesting in my ear.

The shard had promised me this and it had been elated that I had accepted. The only thing it had forgotten to mention on the formal invite was that there would be no return from it.

I pulled so hard at the metal piece I was sure the skin around my upper arm would tear any moment. The others stared at me in absolute horror as I screamed in an effort of getting that damn thing off.

Those screams turned into a low chuckle as I slowly came to accept that it was stuck on me indefinitely and finally into a laugh that was dangerously close to sounding as if I had lost it for real (and maybe I was and simply didn’t want to admit it). I held up the armored hand and pointed with it, in a way too casual motion, at April.

“Turns out your birthday is LITERALLY cursed after all, who would have thought?”

Chapter 23: How to Not Have the Upper Hand

Notes:

TW for this chapter: Mentions of amputation, depictions of strangling.

“I don’t think he did it on purpose,” Raph’s voice resonated from beyond the closed door.

“Oh yeah? Taking the incredibly powerful artifact for himself and getting bind to it doesn’t seem to me like a dumb coincidence,” Donnie’s was lower, but I could make it out fine.

There was a pause.

“April assured us it was her who told him to use the armor. She thought it would be fine because she’d also shot at the golem with it and nothing like this happened. Maybe it works differently for humans?” I hadn’t expected that the big guy would be so intent on defending me. Then again, this might not be about me and more about reassuring himself that everything was fine (which was obviously not the case).

“Well, duh,” Donnie snarked, “and don’t move so much or the gash might open up again.”

When we returned to the lair, our number one priority had been to take care of Raph and April. Turned out the human ‘just’ sprained her ankle, which hurt but wasn’t something we couldn’t treat. Afterward, Sunita accompanied her home. The human had assured us her mom wouldn’t be super mad since she always expected something like this to happen on her birthday.

The second point of order was Raph. He and Donnie had disappeared into the area he used for medical treatments and had told me and Mikey that we should wait outside. Orange had disappeared somewhere, which left me to stand there all stupid. With nothing better to do, of course, I would eavesdrop on their conversation. It’s basically their own fault for not giving me anything better to do. I leaned with my back on the door and focused on the sound vibrations that came from the room behind me.

“It’s not like I WANT him to have any evil intent, it’s just…he doesn’t make this easy with how he acts. Like why was he laughing? Does he think this is all a joke?” Donnie’s tone was coated in frustration. Couldn’t blame him for that.

“I know what you mean, D. I like to believe his decisions tell a lot more about him than how he acts. He even agreed with my suggestion to leave Draxum to us, that was a big step for him,” his voice wavered a bit. It was obvious that he didn’t entirely believe his own words.

“That doesn’t help us with figuring out how to explain all this to Splinter,” purple returned, and you could hear the clanking of utensils being placed on a tray.

“Well,” Raph said not with much confidence, “that’s for the leader to worry about.”

“And that’s also a problem,” Donnie shot back immediately. With the volume of his voice also rose the irritation present in it, “you worry about this Hamato and dark armor situation 24/7 already. Don’t think we haven’t noticed the growing eyebags under your eyes. I really don’t like the idea of adding even more on top of that.”

‘Well, gotta admit that was true,’ I thought and recalled a few recent incidents where I also had the impression the big guy had been unusually jumpy, forgetful, or tired (not in that particular order, and sometimes all of these things at once). 

There was a silence that got more uncomfortable the more seconds passed.

“I’m sorry, Donnie.” At this point, Raph’s voice was almost too quiet for me to understand. “I know you and Mikey struggle with this situation, too. But you’re my brothers and I’ll always feel responsible for what happens to you, to us.”

‘Brothers, huh,’ I mused and scuttled and spun the word around in my mind like a basketball.

Their conversation continued.

I wasn’t listening anymore.

In the early hours of the morning, the sun leaked through the gutters into the lair’s main area. Especially above the rooms where the walkways spiraled up along the skateboard ramp are a few nooks and crannies that are ideal to chill and enjoy some peace and quiet. I settled on one of the bigger niches. The comic books and empty glasses were proof that this was one of my fav spots.

After the long night and today’s events, I finally allowed my body to relax and for the exhaustion to catch up.

I lifted my left hand up, stretched it out, and regarded the metallic monstrosity that had taken root there. I moved each of my three fingers, made a fist, and opened it up again. It felt perfectly comfortable and that was a big problem.

In some proper light, I took in the gauntlet’s design. What first caught my eyes was again the snake-like pattern that stretched up almost half my arm. The front of my hand was glazed with an intricate layout of fractured plates that allowed the metal to move seamlessly. The same was true for my palm, though there was also something else there. Right in the middle of the inside of my hand was a symbol. I was sure I knew it and suppressed one of my finest curses when it eventually clicked. It was the ‘holy pizza,’ the Hamato crest.

That was disconcerting and that in itself was an understatement. The claws seemed like sharp and pointed nail extensions. I feared it would be a real hassle to do any kind of daily chores with such death traps attached.

As soon as I started worrying about showering while trying to not claw my own eyes out, the metal retracted. It was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen. The metal melted like ice in the heat with the difference that it didn’t drip down and instead disappeared without a trace. My fingers remained covered in armor, only now it reminded me a tad more of a normal glove.

“That’s not creepy at all,” I mumbled staring at the gauntlet.

“There you are,” Mikey called from down below, jumped skilfully up to my hideout, and smiled as brightly at me as the sunlight from the upper city. There was just enough room for him and without waiting for my invitation he slumped down on the floor beside me. He was doing a poor job covering up some kind of weapon that he held behind his back shell.

“Watcha got there?” I asked him. Something proud and mischievous shined in the turtle’s eyes, which lifted my mood even before he revealed what he had brought to me.

“I snatched this when we ran away from Draxum. Thought you want it back. With everything else going on, I didn’t have the chance to give it to you earlier,” he explained and waved around with the sword that got stuck in the golem’s leg. Sure, I had briefly worried about it, but the others’ injuries and the slight inconvenience of having a piece of the world-ending armor stuck to me had kept me occupied most of the time.

“Thanks, that’s at least one thing I don’t have to confess to Splinter,” I sighed, and he passed the katana on to me. I placed it in its shaft and stretched my legs out to get the most out of the warmth that seeped into the lair. Mikey did the same and we sat there for a while enjoying the kind of quiet that expanded from the world into your body and mind.  

When I was feeling myself dozing off, Mikey asked me in a weirdly general manner: “How’re you?”

I tapped my armored hand on the ground a few times. “Well, I could really go for a nap right now,” I was telling him in all honesty and added while throwing a side glance at him, “but that wasn’t what you were asking.”

He didn’t say anything to that.

Yeah, thought so.

“It’s not bothering me much. I managed to retract the claws. Means I won’t rip anything to shreds by first contact,” I told him and showed the round fingertips.

Mikey stared at the gauntlet in amazement that was diluted with some healthy wariness.

“It’s okay to touch it, I think,” I assured him. It’s not like a virus that could jump hosts or at least I hoped that wasn’t the case.

Trusting in my judgment he poked the fingertips, then traced the pattern on the arm. He had the trained eyes of an artist taking in and appreciating the detailed mystic craft of the piece. I tried to avoid showing him the palm. I didn’t have any definitive answers to that symbol yet and the last thing I want is for him to start wondering about what it could mean.

Halfway through his examination, Mikey looked up and his eyes got wide.

“Totally forgot I had something else for you,” he said, reached for his bag, and produced a roll of white tape. The kind all of them regularly used to wrap up their hands and feet.

“I thought, well, maybe it’s stupid. I thought you might want to cover up the armor a bit when you go somewhere,” Mikey closely observed my reaction. I could tell he thought a lot about this before he came looking for me.

I had expected everyone to suspect me of going for the gauntlet on purpose or at least be semi-afraid of this stupid thing and how I would use it. Mikey was naturally careful, but only towards the armor and never when it came to me.

I began winding the tape round and round the cursed arm. Some of the silver was visible no matter how provident I packed it into the white cloth. The finished and rather hasty result could fool most to believe that it was wrapped for the sake of stabilizing some sort of fracture.

“That’ll make going to the hidden city a smidge easier,” I said, and we both considered the result of our combined effort.

“It’s not perfect,” Mikey didn’t sound very satisfied, “maybe I could look for some gloves or more tape in different colors or…”

I put the bandaged hand on his head. The memories were hazy, but I could swear I remembered him praising me like that when I had accidentally turned into a tot for a day, and I was also sure that it had been a good sensation. I tried my best to mimic that and padded him gently and felt very self-conscious.

“That’s already a great help,” I told him. To ease the awkward mood of this moment I added: “Don’t tell the others, but you’re definitely my favorite beta experiment.”

Mikey beamed, then he cocked his head a bit and echoed: “Beta experiment?”

“Yeah, that’s the official title Draxum gave us, there was the alpha line and the beta, those are the only two as far as I know,” I explained, and only then it dawned on me that I had never mentioned that name to anyone of them.

“I see,” he said, his smile strained a bit. I wasn’t sure how to read that reaction and withdrew my hand. He registered the movement and changed the topic: “That must make even you anxious. Not knowing how to get this thing off.”

“What makes you think that?” I pressed him.

Mikey fidgeted around with the rest of the tape while he picked the words like fruits from a tree. Each at a time.

“That might sound weird, but I feel like you always laugh when you’re nervous, and when you tried to pull the armor off, you laughed…a lot.”

It wasn’t like I had never been aware of this. In fact, there had been a time I tried to get rid of this habit. I knew how it could come across. There had been plenty of folks who had called me insane because of it. What was unexpected is to hear that observation coming from someone I didn’t see as someone who paid attention to something like that.

“Who are you? Shell-ock Holmes?” I teased him instead of giving him a proper answer.

Mikey knew that in my lingo this counted as praise and chuckled: “So you like those stuffy detective stories Donnie lent you?”

“Sure,” I confirmed and meant it. The language might be a bit challenging at times, but those murder mysteries were tons of fun.

“But more than Holmes I like those with the old lady. She got all the sass,” I mused.

“Somehow this makes so much sense,” the younger turtle returned and jumped to his feet.

“I’ll check on the others. The plan’s still good right?”

I nodded and the mere thought of standing up and going to the hidden city made me feel more tired. It had been my idea to travel there the old-fashioned way as soon as possible, which kinda made this my fault. Before we break the news to Splinter, I hoped we could find a solution some other way, aka the Usagi way.

Naturally, I would have preferred to go alone but there’s no way they would let me wander around on my own like this. Odd situations call for odd solutions or something like that.

---

Half an hour later, we sneaked out to search for the dumpster that was our ticket to the yokai underground. Thanks to Sunita’s detailed description it didn’t take long, though we agreed, glancing down into the gateway that had appeared on the bottom of the trash can, that we needed to figure out alternatives for future trips.

Only when we stood right in front of the window that was the official secret entrance to Usagi’s home did I pull out the shard and activated it.

“You’re calling during a decent time for once?” came from the mystic device as a ‘heartfelt’ greeting.

“If you’re already wow-ed by that, wait until I tell you where I am,” I said and pointed the shard at the others in order to make him aware I wasn’t alone.

Recognizing I was basically waiting outside his home, Usagi dejectedly hung up on me with a: “Should’ve known it.”

The window was pushed open, and we sneaked into the familiar space. The rabbit yokai was regarding each four of us as we entered. He wore a different get-up today. A black satin kimono with gold and silver embroideries of a moon on the back and a half-moon on the front and pampas grass on the seams. His ears were neatly tied together as if they were an upright ponytail.

“Why the formal get-up?” I inquired while taking in all the expensive details on his dress.

“There’s a family gathering today for the annual Tsukimi,” he explained reluctantly.

“The what?” Mikey was careful to not touch anything this time around, though based on his constant stimming that already proved to be quite the challenge.

“Moon-viewing,” I said, vaguely recalling Usagi mentioning this before, “a grand holiday for rabbit yokai.”

“I guess you’re not here because you’re interested in my family’s traditions,” he hurried the conversation along. I swear I could see the gears in his head turning as he tried to make sense of my extended visit.

“Yeah, no, sorry,” I said and unfastened the clip that held the ends of the bandages together.

“We got into a situation that got a bit, you could say, out of hand.”

Everyone in the room except for me groaned. Isn’t it nice when you could provide some bonding between friends because of how amazing your puns were?

The yokai’s reaction as the metal slowly revealed itself was something to behold. He was usually very aware of his own expressions and how to make sure he remained a book that was closed shut for most. The fact that not even he could suppress the growing horror on his face the moment he understood what I was wearing meant this wasn’t just a big deal. This was the greatest deal of all the great deals that regularly happened to him.  

Now came the tricky part. I had promised Raph and the others that I wouldn’t spill the beans on the dark armor to Usagi, as they believed he had no idea what this was all about.

“As you can see,” I started clumsily, “I got stuck with this mystic artifact, kinda by accident?”

The rabbit didn’t blink. He STARED. And he kept staring as he struggled to decide how to react to the gauntlet and my whole…situation. Surely, he had a lot of questions that he couldn’t ask me openly.

“By accident, you say?” was the first one he deemed save to pose.

I briefly thought about what Donnie had said back at the med bay and about his suspicions.

“Yeah,” I tried to sound forthright, hoping it would also mean something to purple who stood to my left.

“It didn’t latch itself on anyone else. We were just trying to keep it away from Draxum, and before I knew it this happened,” I stretched the armored arm in his direction so he could get a better look at it.

Usagi didn’t move. Somehow, I could tell he was internally screaming though his outer appearance remained as stoic as ever. 

“How in the Titan’s name do you always manage to get yourself in the most ridiculous and incredible situations,” he shook his head and continued before I could return anything to that: “No, don’t even try to answer that one. I would rather like to know why you were after Draxum in the first place?”

“We weren’t after him,” Raph took over and I gladly let him be Usagi’s target for once, “just so happened he was there as well. We…sorry we cannot tell you everything and it’s confusing, but we were after that gauntlet for our own reasons.”

I regarded red on my left. From behind his bandana stuck a big plaster that must have covered half his forehead. He was walking proof that whatever we had been through hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park.

“Leonardo hoped you could help us get it off of him,” Raph met my eyes, and I hastily looked the other way. Not sure why I did this. Maybe it had to do with him calling me by my proper name and it felt weird to hear anyone except for Draxum use it.

“I’m not sure I can do anything based on so little info,” Usagi’s eyes and mind didn’t leave the armor piece for even a second, “if it’s a mystic artifact as you say, it must come with a contract. They never grant power to their users for free. The rules for such bindings are as unique as the items themselves.”

“I didn’t sign anything,” I felt itchy even though that was the truth, “if the gauntlet has its own desire, it didn’t tell me.”

“It’s not as easy as that. Most powerfully enchanted items bind themselves to a user they believe fulfills their requirements. Figuring those out retrospectively is where the true challenge lies. Some ‘hosts’ had been used up without ever understanding the conditions of their contract,” Usagi told all of this in a calm and even tone, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt an imaginary cold breeze brush by their neck.

“Ain’t those wonderful prospects,” I tried to fight against my own goosebumps and my face distorted into a nervous grimace.

“In case you don’t know anything about its creator or whether we can contact them, all we can do is guess,” the rabbit concluded unperturbed.

“Huh, we don’t know who created the armor do we?” Donnie pondered and got a point there. Splinter hadn’t mentioned where and under what conditions the armor originated. Only that his family had been involved in it in some way.

“Still, I can ask around. Maybe there are any local legends that fit this…thing,” the yokai offered.

Everyone said their ‘thank yous’ and in between this overlap of voices was something that didn’t belong to anyone who was present in the room. Even though it didn’t exactly sound like a voice at all.

I walked over to the window and glanced outside. There was nothing there…

“You good?” Mikey joined me and peeped out much more obviously.

“Thought I heard someone,” I said and turned to the others, trying my best to seem casual about it.

“If that’s all then, could you leave so I can join my family?” This event must be important to him since Usagi was even brisker than usual.

“Hold on a second. There’s one more option we should consider,” even while I was talking, I was debating with myself if it would be wise to bring this up. Not that such reservations ever prevented me from doing it either way. 

I was tracing the symbols on my arm as I was saying to the rabbit: “We could solve this here and now, would be quick, too.”

My eyes switched from the armor piece to Usagi, and I told him: “You know what you would have to do.”

His right hand was reaching for the commode. He paused in his motion to grasp one of the handles on the upper drawer.

“I always try to take your ideas seriously even when they’re born from recklessness, but in this case, I don’t think you understand what you’re asking me to do,” he said in a monotone voice, though his left ear slightly twitched occasionally.

“The rabbit is right,” Donnie intervened in our back-and-forth. He also understood what I was getting at. “If you’re asking him to do what I think you’re asking…that might not be the best route to take here or any route really. I can run some analysis in the lab and try to decode it my way.”

“Technically, as long as it’s stuck on you, the foot has no chance of fulfilling its goal. That’s a good thing,” Raph was always the optimist or it’s simply his coping mechanism that ensured he wouldn’t completely freak out.

“Nothing preventing them from kidnapping me and cutting off my arm, too,” I countered. I began to wonder, what this would mean for my standing ‘on the other side.’ The rabbit seemed to have similar thoughts and said ambiguously to me: “I agree with the others, it’s indeed an advantage that you should recognize as such. Anything else would be too hasty, too risky.”

Their opinions might have been different if I had told them everything that I knew about the armor. The vision of the three faces, the odd sensation in the back of my head, the mystic energies that I had seen manifesting. But who had time to lay themselves bare like that? And maybe, just maybe, they were right.

Usagi pulled one of the drawers open and took out a beautiful sword. The waves that covered its grey surface reminded me of water streams and shined even in the dim indoor light.

“I promise you that if we all agree that we’ve exhausted our options, I’ll do what’s necessary and I can guarantee you it’ll be swift,” he swung the art made into a weapon in a circle through the air to underline his words.

We all had zero doubts that he would hold on to those words.

“All right,” I turned on my heels to the others, “since we’ve settled this matter, would you mind giving us some privacy?”

Donnie gave me a very odd look up and down.

Mikey drew a blank face, “why though? You can talk to us about anything, don’t be shy.”

His two older brothers pushed him towards the exit.

“I’m afraid this is something that’s usually shared only between two individuals,” I said with a suggestive grin.

“Jeez, we get it,” Donnie prevented me from elaborating on the subject any further, “just…don’t take too long, we’ll wait outside.”

Once they closed the window behind them, Usagi narrowed his eyes, and holding on to his katana he threatened me outright: “You make it really hard for me to not follow through with your stupid ideas after all.”

“What?” I shrugged innocently and walked over to him, “I promised you information and that was the only way to get them to leave without asking pesky questions.”

The yokai remained unmoving, even when I got so close that I was almost standing directly in front of him. With my right unarmored hand, I leaned on the furniture behind him and bend forward. Not towards his face, mind you, but to his ears.

“Donnie has the means to see and hear us either way, so excuse the circumstances,” I whispered and waited a moment for him to push me away. If I wouldn’t hear him breathing, he could easily pass as a statue.

“Okay,” I started, taking his lack of any retort as agreement, “I’m only gonna say this once. The armor that the foot clan is reconstructing is an incredibly dangerous spirit that was sealed away, and chance has it that my DNA donor is the only remaining descendent of a long line of protectors who should ensure that this never happens. Look into the Hamato clan, where they come from, and what their deal is, anything you can find should help because I get the sense, he didn’t tell us everything. Either way, purple, orange, and red are all ready to do whatever it takes to stop the foot and follow in the Hamato’s footsteps.”

I swayed back to look at his face. No change there, except for his nose that quivered. I can’t tell you guys what that meant because that had never happened before.

“And you,” he said in a voice so low I struggled to catch his words, “what about you?”

I made the mistake to meet his eyes and the round black dots were up close even more relentless.

“I wasn’t sure,” I admitted, taking half a step back, “but I figure this thing that I’m stuck with might answer this question for me.”

For a few heartbeats, we were both staring down at the gauntlet.

“I left something in your side pouch,” Usagi said and finally put the priceless katana back, until the day it might be needed.

I hastily padded the bag, “you mean, just now? How?”

My hand got hold of something that felt like an ornated coin and understanding what it was, I left it where he had initially put it.

“You let your guard down too easily,” Usagi lifted his chin up and visibly enjoyed my bewilderment.

I threw my hands up in defeat, “guess I’ve got a lot left to learn from the true master of deceit.”

Then I pointed to his ornate sash, “by the way, I put a tracker crystal in there.”

Usagi didn’t act visibly taken aback as I had. At least, his pupils shined with bemusement, and he moved a hand to where the crystal was hidden.

“Some of Big Mama’s goons tried to track me down with it. It’s still attuned to me so if you ever see the need to find me this should help you,” I said and moved backward.

The suggestion of a smile vanished from the rabbit’s face, and he told me pressingly: “If you’re giving me this, I figure you’re already planning something stupid again. Keep in mind that this coin is a one-way ticket. Please, use it carefully.”

“Careful is my middle name,” I told him and waved deliberately with the armored hand.

“I thought it was ‘crazy’,” he shot back starting to make his way to the door that connected this room to his shop.

“Why not have two?” I suggested with a wink and let myself out.

By the time I joined the others, Mikey had started to gather a crowd around an impro breakdance session. Donnie reluctantly provided some beats having transformed his battle shell into a DJ console and Raph acted as a bodyguard by keeping an eye on the growing audience.

These guys were, without a doubt, the personification of inconspicuous.

Involuntarily I had to smile and took the long way around to sneak up on Raph.

“Talking about keeping a low profile,” I said teasingly once I was standing behind him.

I took some gratification in how he literally jumped at my sudden appearance.

“Are you enjoying giving me heart attacks? Where do you even come from?” Raph half-turned around to me, splitting his attention between the show that was heating up and me.

I pointed vaguely at Usagi’s shop and moved even more into his shadow to cover myself from potentially prying eyes. I fastened the tape around the gauntlet and gleaned at Mikey and Donnie at times. Dozens of yokai were clapping and cheering. Two younger amphibious yokai had joined to extend the performance into a group dance act.

“Hey,” I said to him while his face was turned to the show again, “I didn’t expect you guys would be so reluctant about my last suggestion. If we could get this damn thing off me, it would make everyone’s lives so much easier.”

He snorted. “You make it sound so easy. As if you wouldn’t lose an arm in the process.”

“Yeah, so?” I returned without missing a beat, “I was taught to be ready for such things from a young age. I’m honestly surprised it took so long for something like this to happen.”

Suddenly, I had his attention and I hated how he looked at me with so much empathy.

“You know the worst part about what you just said is that, for once, you mean it.”

Can’t deny I felt slightly offended by that. I was making an offer that would benefit them much more than myself and they rejected it right out of the gate.

“I’m trying to be selfless here and you refuse to even consider it for a sec,” I protested, “what does a turtle need to do to do things the ‘right’ way?”   

Behind the big guy, the dancing crew had expanded, and they were attempting to form a tower out of yokai. The atmosphere was exalting. Like an invisible wall, it wouldn’t reach the street corner on which our talk went down.

“There’s no right or wrong,” Raph insisted, spiraling back to a topic we didn’t discuss for the first time, “but there’s a clear difference between finding a solution in the long run and cutting your own arm off on a whim.”

His words shouldn’t get me like that. Yet, I found myself grinding my teeth and crossing my arms for the sole purpose of keeping them in check.

“I thought this through and it’s a viable option or are you afraid I might blame you afterward? Is that it? You really believe I would be this petty?”

The second he hesitated I took it personally and as a confirmation.

“Doesn’t matter either way,” I spat at him, “we do things your way or Splinter’s or whoever feels in charge. Who cares what the one who is stuck with this fucking thing thinks, right?”

It was like the buzzing sound of an insect that flew close to your ear. Only I could hear distinctly the metallic screeching sound as the claws extended. I wasn’t consciously willing them into existence again. It reacted to my emotions and gave me accordingly suggestions to express them.

Even if was fairly mad at Raph and the world as a whole at the moment, I was freaked out by the gauntlet a lot more. I was praying red wouldn’t notice the nail extension from under the bandages. He appeared to be more occupied with digesting my words and finding the right counter to them.

“You know forget it,” I told him, and with each moment my head and heart calmed down further. As quickly as I had gotten mad, I found no reason to react so strongly. “Let’s look for other possibilities first and get back to amputation when I earned my ‘I-told-you-so’ rights.”

I was deliberately using a phrase Donnie liked to repeat around the time I moved from the Hotel Nexus to their lair. Raph got the reference and his solemn expression shifted to a disarming one.

“We’ll see if you get to claim those,” he said in a tone that swung like a pendulum back and forth between serious and light-hearted.

“Well,” I started and didn’t get any further. We both registered the roaring applause that erupted behind us and saw Mikey bowing to his audience and Donnie mechanically waving from the aside.

“Let’s get those two before the officials show up,” I advised him, “and we need to look for a way back to the upper city that doesn’t involve moldy banana peels and used coffee cups.”

“Now that’s a suggestion I’ll gladly consider,” Raph agreed. Without having to exchange another word we knew we had called a truce.

---

I stared at the recreation of the hidden city skyline and got lost in the neon signs and its starry sky. I was lying in my bed feeling tired as hell and yet I found it impossible to close my eyes. I should get up and switch my lights off…Nope. That also wasn’t happening. Even such a small task seemed impossible.

We had spent more than an hour finding an official gateway to New York City and an additional hour walking back to the lair. We didn’t speak much on the way. Our bodies grew tired, our wounds ached, and the abandoned side streets were boring as hell. The minutes had stretched into infinity. By the time we got home, no one was in the mood to face Splinter immediately and we made it tomorrow’s problem.

Before he vanished into his own room Mikey had told me to ‘take it easy’ and let them know when there were any changes with the gauntlet.

I rolled around to lie on my back shell and inspected the claws that hadn’t entirely retracted. Nothing gets past that cursed accessory…it knew that ‘taking it easy’ was no option.

I retrieved the portal chip from my pouch and looked it over. I had seen Draxum use those a few times, though for obvious reasons I had never held one myself.

I was curious about where that rabbit got it from. Maybe he tracked down Pop’s supplier and used them himself? It might seem as if such backhand deals wouldn’t suit him, but Usagi could be a lot more cunning than people gave him credit for.

I flipped the coin and caught it in a fist.

If I wanted to make the most out of this chance, I needed to act as soon as possible.

With much effort, I got up, readied my belt and the sash with my two katanas, and purposefully placed my phone on my bed.

I imagined the place I wanted to go to and swished the coin through the air. A red-blue portal zapped into existence and the coin dissipated.

On the other side was the familiar sight of the abandoned warehouse that had received an unnecessary evil-aesthetic makeover with too many candles lining the stairs and abandoned ninja stars and other weapons cluttering the floor. For the first time, there was no moonshine but the soft light of the late afternoon sun that had sneaked through the dozens of cracks and leaks in the walls and ceiling.

The majority of the clan only showed up in the evening when they were all done with their day jobs – because potential world domination doesn’t pay that well before it comes to the dominating part – and I merely noticed a handful of guards lingering around the main entrance.

I had however chosen to appear on the plateau, maybe two steps away from the armor and nobody was in my vicinity except for the two semi-bosses and the over-energetic recruit. The latter one threw her one-way coffee cup up into the air to clasp one of her kunais the instance I stepped out of my portal.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve to show up here, again.” She pointed with her weapon at me.

 “What? What did I do?” I asked her and visibly threw my hands up while showing off the gauntlet.

“To wear one of the sacred pieces, I’ll have your head,” the ninja declared and jumped at me.

Since I could see her attack coming from a mile away it was easy to block it and with my armored hand, I grabbed both her wrists, pressed them together, and held them tightly as if she was forced into a pair of handcuffs.

“Did you forget your anti-stress ball again? And maybe you should consider not drinking that much coffee, I think it only makes things worse,” I gave her some free advice.

“It’s DECAF!” she screamed, and I was glad she wore a face mask because otherwise, she would have spat all over me.

“Yo, what’s your deal? Draxum told us you snatched the gauntlet along with those other turtles and ran.” The Brute held in his right hand a half-eaten scone.

“Yeah, one thing led to another,” I waved dejectedly, “I would’ve also preferred to hand you the gauntlet with no pieces of me attached.” With the last few words, I let go of the recruit.

“No matter how this happened, I’ll gladly retrieve the gauntlet myself,” the female ninja offered with too much enthusiasm and an unsheathed blade.

“Wait a moment,” the Captain intervened, sipping at his own coffee in the meantime, “you said it’s just an act, but the last few times we’ve seen you, it seemed like you were on the enemies’ side. You even got into a fight with your master. After all this, why should we trust you?”

His words were very reasonable and equally predictable.

“Well, that’s what you get when your master is also your Pops. We tend to get into fights, I’m sure you also have those with your recruits, don’t you?”

The looks that all three exchanged told me that I was right. More confidently I continued: “Draxum simply wanted to teach me a lesson. I don’t agree with his methods, though that’s really it, a simple squabble.”

“If that’s the case then show us your loyalty by handing us the armor piece NOW,” the recruit demanded. This time her superiors didn’t object.

“The thing is, that’s not what the armor wants, and you want to listen to what the armor wants,” I pointed at them and allowed my claws to extend visibly further, “you see, it chose me for a reason, and until all other pieces are retrieved it would like to stay with me.”

My bullshitting was at max level. Even then, I wasn’t totally sure if there wasn’t some truth hidden in these wild guesses as well.

“Why would it stay with some green-skinned underling? I’m not buying it,” the Captain finished his bean juice, crumped the cup, and tossed it carelessly aside. (Littering was important for a proper villain reputation.)

That’s when it returned. The invisible spider that had settled in my ear and whispered to me. They weren’t words per se. More like abstract sensations or images that I couldn’t directly translate into words. All I can tell you is that I ‘listened.’

I sprinted up to the female recruit who got ready to block me. Expecting this I aimed for her feet with a low spin kick and threw her off balance. She fell backward to the ground and my metal hand grasped her throat. With my claws digging deep into the wooden floor I pinned her with the gauntlet to the ground. The grip was firm, but I made sure she could still breathe.

“We need to reach an agreement here,” I told them, avoiding the girl’s attempts to grapple me or her creative cussing.

“I can assure you that the gauntlet desires to be reunited with the rest once the time is right. Until then I’ll keep it. If your enemies believe the dark armor will remain incomplete as long as I’m with them, they might let their guard down and that’s when you can easily grab the missing pieces.” I hoped the prospects of snatching the other parts for themselves would be alluring enough. The Brute at least stuffed his face full of scone crumbs and seemed overall conflicted.

“That’s not enough. We take the gauntlet now or else we run the risk of you losing it to the other side,” the Captain insisted. His attention, however, wasn’t limited to my armor piece. He definitely worried about his recruit.

I decided it would be best not to let her go just yet.

The gauntlet decided it would be even better to tighten its grip.

I didn’t move my hand, not even an inch, but the metal pressed itself slowly against her throat.

“As I said, there’s a reason it wants to stay with me, I can be more useful if I have it. I keep the gauntlet. I’ll help you get the other pieces. This is my final offer,” I countered. I started to push with my fingers against the metal in a hopefully inconspicuous manner. It did little to stop its process of closing off the recruit’s windpipe. Her screams increasingly turned into wheezes.

Seeing her helplessly grasping for air, I started to panic. Maybe not visibly, but my heart pumped so hard against my chest that it seemed ready to burst out of my shell.

The Captain placed an arm on my shoulder, which helped me to regain my focus as well.

“It’s a deal. Now stop this at once.” His tone was neutral, but everything else about him betrayed his concern.

I yanked my hand back and it got easily free. The girl gasped for air and rubbed her throat in repeated motions. Her whole body was shaking.

I didn’t want this.

So, how could this happen?

The two flame-heads were too focused on their recruit to notice I was in a stupor.

The human got up with much effort and wouldn’t look in my direction.

“I’ll be useful,” I promised in a weak tone. Nobody agreed. Nobody opposed it either.

I walked over to the recruit and remaining at a safe distance I addressed here: “Hey, sorry about that. Do you have a phone?”

Those two sentences didn’t go well together, and she stared me down with understandable furry.

“I only want to give you my contact info, so I can write to you if I hear anything about any armor pieces your enemies track down,” I explained, hoping it would show my goodwill and cover up the insanity of what had just happened.

With the Captain signaling her to do as I said she fished out her smartphone. I entered my number and saved it under the name ‘Gauntlet’.

Tossing the device back to her, I left the clan to tend to their recruit. The last thing I took notice of before I turned around was the bruises that started to appear all around her neck.

I tried to ignore the looming presence of the unfinished armor as I made my way down the stairs toward the exit. This whole time, I had avoided looking at it directly, but the energy it was emanating was omnipresent either way. Pushing open the doors that led into the crisp air of an early evening, the armor was following me outside in more than one way.

Chapter 24: We Screw With A MET Gala Exhibit

Summary:

I cannot express enough how much you guys' regular comments mean to me and the fact that this fic has reached 15k hits! I recently had a difficult time having enough faith in my writing skills to continue this story, but I will do my very best to convey my ideas and I hope you will find them an enjoyable read.
Many thanks to H0nneeBee for the idea to use a can-opener (once you read the chapter you will see what I mean) and sending you all lots of virtual hugs - Jazz

I blinked sleepily at the several numbers that indicated things I couldn’t understand and how they went up and down in an almost hypnotic pattern.

“No changes?” I asked Donnie, not that he would explain them to me. Again. But I liked to pester him so he would at least roughly tell me what was up.

Purple’s face was glued to one of the bigger screens. Looked to me like he was searching for something specific and couldn’t find it. He was going through the daily readings of his gauntlet analytics. My metal arm was hooked up to wires and plumps and pincers that in turn connected to his main console.

“I mean, no, not really,” he said when I had almost given up on expecting an answer.

He leaned back on his chair and rubbed his eyes. “This would be so much easier when I would know WHAT to look for exactly. This thing doesn’t make any sense in terms of human science.”

“Well, in case you forgot, that’s a mystic artifact, it’s supposed to not make sense to humans or anyone else,” I bantered back, resting my head on my right ‘normal’ hand.

“Oh, that’s the problem? Silly me totes forgot about that,” Donnie’s normal tone already sounded so sarcastic he didn’t have to change it much to add an extra portion of it.

The beeping sounds continued and while he went back to his numbers, I waited for the examination to be over. The first few days during which we had done this had been more exciting. We had tried out all the means of getting the armor off me that were deemed safe enough to try. Those had included using oil to loosen it, burn it on several spots, cut into it, changing its molecular structure (don’t ask me how Donnie attempted that one), and putting it in ice-cold or boiling water. Nothing had worked. The metal appeared to be glued to my skin, almost as if it had merged with it (and I did wonder where my glove and the hidden blade I had worn on the arm, had disappeared to). That was a thought, however, I rather avoided further exploring.

“Hey,” I disturbed him again, “should we try Mikey’s new suggestion?”

Not stopping in his work, he clarified: “You mean when he asked us if we had already used a can opener?”

“Yeah, that one,” I grinned a bit thinking back on our last breakfast and how proud orange had seemed about that idea.

“Hilarious,” was the short and final deadpan retort that I got for that. Even if he didn’t show it, Donnie surely also thought it to be at least a bit funny.

Since we involuntarily spent more time together than before my ‘incident’ I got the sense I was gradually getting better at telling Donnie’s moods apart, which made it a bit easier to attempt small talk. At the same time, I was kinda neglecting my training with Splinter.

The rat had a rough time processing what had happened. Wasn’t every day that a mutant turtle you reluctantly allowed into your home returned from a birthday party with the thing attached that your family had been protecting for hundreds of years. Imagine your pet comes home one day and is stuck to a bomb that could go off anytime. As my mind revisited our confession and awkward explanations, I stumbled over the moment I had mentioned my idea to amputate. He had the weirdest look on his face, something between shock and awe. Since Raph had hastily insisted that this wouldn’t be a serious option it had only been a few seconds, but it had been curious, nonetheless.

This made me wonder what Donnie thought about it after all his tests had failed him.

“Purple-forehead,” I called and got no response. I continued knowing he was listening either way: “I know red and orange aren’t warming up to the idea, but after analyzing that damn arm for over a week, wouldn’t you also agree we should consider more radical options?”

Donnie stopped typing some sort of code and actually spun his chair around to face me.

“Did you know I’m recording everything that is uttered in close vicinity to me?” He asked me and I wondered what this had to do with my gauntlet. It freaked me out a bit that he so readily confirmed one of my fears and I suppressed my desire to ask him what exactly he meant by ‘close vicinity’.

“I had my suspicion,” I said, getting anxious.

The turtle turned around again and with a few light-speed clicks retrieved a file. A moment later I heard my own voice over his speakers.

“There’s one more option we should consider … you know what you would have to do.”

I allowed myself to breathe out, noticing the voice line was something we had talked about together and not from the part he wasn’t supposed to hear.

“I remember what I said, what does that have to do with anything?” I asked him, the whole picture eluded me.

Donnie pointed at one of the lower-hanging screens. It shined green and showed only one word: Truth.

“I cannot do this with large masses of data, but I ran a few bits of our conversation with Usagi through my lie detector,” he revealed, and I tried not to visibly panic. Several questions ran through my mind at the same time: That was possible? What else did he analyze? Is it always accurate? How did that even work?

“In most cases, especially when it comes to you and dad, it results in a fifty-fifty estimation. Unusable and indefinite,” Donnie went on, “this is an exceptional case. The system is 98% sure you were honest about this idea.”

“Well, of course,” I replied while handling the rollercoaster of emotions that I was trapped in, “or what did you expect?”

“I don’t think you realize what this proves to me,” purple went on and closed the audio file, “if you’re willing to go so far, you didn’t bind yourself to the armor on purpose. You don’t want this. That’s why I’ve prepared these.”

He clicked on another folder and an image popped up. They were digital blueprints showing several models of…

I pressed my lips closely together while I was riding my internal rollercoaster through dozens of spirals and upside-downs.

They were sketches of artificial arms. All measured according to my height and to mimic the real one as closely as possible. Two variations were a bit more buff, one had spikes that reminded me of Raph and the second one had a ‘shield’ function. A third model included a sword that could pop out of its inside, another was more versatile and had several parts that could be detached and exchanged.

“Those are just the first designs, making one of these would take considerable time. I also never worked on something that connects a machine and an organism so profoundly, and I would need to study and develop ways to connect your nervous system effectively to them,” his voice trailed off as he was getting lost in his thoughts.

All of this, he had done in the span of 8 days.

There was nothing about this that would benefit him.

I tried to swallow but my mouth felt dry as if I had just swallowed a portion of Donnie’s ground coffee.

Donnie took in my reaction with much satisfaction. “Really?” he teased me with one eyebrow raised to the max, “are you so astonished at my genius even your blabber-mouth doesn’t know what to say?”

Not that I would admit it, but he was right. I was awful at responding to things I didn’t expect, but only those that didn’t try to kill me, and this case was quite the opposite.
“It’s…a lot,” I finally got out, eyes transfixed on the prototypes, wondering what version would suit me best.

“Well, if I’m getting invested in a project it’s all or nothing,” Donnie shrugged and with a click, the file disappeared to make room for his gauntlet analysis.

“Speaking of which,” purple got up and under a pile of hardware bits, papers, and small flowerpots, retrieved a small device. He placed it on his desk and sat down so I could also see it.

“That’s the tracking device for the mystic shards I’ve been trying to build,” purple pointed at the yellow crystal that I bought him that served as its core, “and by now it should work but somehow, I cannot optimize its frequency to look for the metal. You seemed to know a lot about these things back at the market, so do you have any ideas?”

Donnie clearly wasn’t used to asking the advice of anyone. He had to forcefully press out the question between closed teeth. Was that…character development I was witnessing?

I couldn’t help but answer with a complacent grin. “The greatest genius of our generation needs MY help? Is that tiny crystal too complex for you to understand, eh?”

I could tell he immediately regretted bringing up the subject, so I added: “I think you simply need to give it an input, some sort of mystic pulse.”

He pocked his invention with a pencil in a not-so-scientific manner. “A pulse? How do I do that? Like an electroshock? Or soundwaves?”

“No, idiot,” I sometimes couldn’t wrap my mind around his way of thinking, “I mean you need to send some of your mystic energy into it. Just a bit is enough and with that pulse, you give it a mental image of what you are looking for. The better you know it the more effective the crystal can later locate it.”  

Donnie’s face distorted into a disgusted grimace. “Mystic energy? From me? Are you kidding me?”

“If you wanna find out why not run this conversation through your lie detector?” I threw back at him, feeling only a tad salty about his whole surveillance arsenal.

“No need, whenever you are that annoying you usually are telling the truth,” he sighed and looked at his detector.

“It’s all good, even someone like you has enough mystic energy to jumpstart something like it,” I assured him leaving out the part where I could see his energy source and it was so huge it was difficult to figure out the extent of its potential.

“Thanks for the boost in confidence,” Donnie said, but in his voice was also a hint of nervousness. He grabbed his device in both hands with his thumbs directly touching the crystal. I had assumed he would hesitate a lot more, but I guess his curiosity got the better of him.

“Materialize an image of what you want it to track. Think of yourself as the power source and the crystal is your phone you want to recharge,” I advised him, translating some of Draxum’s instructions (that had never worked for me) into Donnie-lingo. Staring for another second, he closed his eyes, and nothing visibly happened. I blinked three times and peeked at his mystic energy. I could see a purple stream from Donnie’s frontal plastron extending to his arms, his hands, and into the device.

‘Look at him succeeding on his first try, Pops would have loved to have him as his son instead of me,’ I mused, and the energy streams turned invisible again.

When Donnie opened his eyes again, the crystal’s hue had shifted from yellow to purple.

“Did it work?” he examined the detector from all sides and switched it on. Immediately it blinked in quick intervals. Well, that was no surprise with me and my gauntlet sitting in front of it (and let’s not forget the additional shard in my pocket). Purple walked with his invention away from me and the flashes got slower.

“Hu-fucking-ray,” I said with zero enthusiasm.

After circling around his lab to test its function to his satisfaction, Donnie came back to me. One of his claws popped out of his battle-shell and tapped at my shoulder.

“What’s that supposed to do?” I asked him, unable to escape it since my left arm was strapped to a dozen of wires.

“I…want to thank you for your help,” he said and avoided all eye contact.

“Woah, what’s happening and what did you do to Dee?” I teased him, but his gesture visibly lifted my mood.

Donnie had no doubt prepared several clever retorts. He didn’t have a chance to use any of them because right at this moment his main screen flickered red, and a shrill sound came from the speakers.

“Looks like my scanners found something that could be related to the dark armor,” he explained, moved to the console and the deafening sound stopped.

I groaned. It’s not the first time something like this happened. “Last time, your super-awesome scanners send us all the way to Jersey for nothing.”

Basically, Donnie’s system constantly searched the news for any mentions of armors, shards, the foot, or anything remotely related. Most of the time, what his systems found was…let’s say useless at best.

“First of all, scoff. Second, this sounds as if it could be worth checking out,” he showed me the headline of a newspaper that read ‘Japan’s Wonders Reach New York’, “it seems the MET gala intends to up its game again and will include some rare Japanese armor pieces into their costumes. Some it says are broken, yet beautiful pieces that will be worn as necklaces and earrings by some celebrities. Wow, in my opinion, Alicia Keys’ outfit was so underrated last year, I hope she gets to wear something…”

“Hey, you reached the point where I stopped understanding what you are saying ages ago. The short version please,” I interrupted him. I didn’t want to get stuck in one of his rants when I didn’t have any means of escape.

Donnie shot me a look but obliged: “Fine, the description of one of the shards they want to use in a dress for Sarah Jessica Parker is said to be unique, the metal slick and pointy and belonging to a long-lost armor. It could be a match.”

It was a long shot, for sure. But our searches have all been failures so far, couldn’t hurt to hunt for loose ends.

“Please don’t tell me we would have to break into the MET to get it?” I begged him. Even if my knowledge about human culture was limited, I knew that trying to get into one of the biggest museums in the world without being seen would be more than a hassle.

“We could intercept its shipment. It should arrive at the docks later today and they’ll move it tomorrow morning.” Pictures, data, and text flashed on the screen as Donnie figured out the specifics.

“Sounds like a plan,” I yawned and added, “until then, mind sharing some of your coffee?”

---

I was later glad for the extra caffeine kick because who knows how long we were gonna be stuck on this late-night search?

Donnie had proudly presented his new tracking device and had explained in unnecessary detail how he could see on a map the approximate location of a shard. This meant he didn’t need to rely on the crystal’s pulse as long as he would be near enough to track the piece.

This also meant that I had to walk behind Raph and Donnie at quite some distance in order to not jumble its readings. Mikey had felt bad for me and joined me in the second row. We were talking about my recent Jupiter Jim readings, and he impressed me with a free recital of one of his favorite speeches that JJ gave right after his thirteenth companion had kicked the bucket.

Passing container rows higher than some buildings and trailing behind purple and red, time passed on like that. I would sometimes check my phone as if to look at the time, praying for no new messages. Before we had ventured out to the docks, I had informed the female recruit of Donnie’s lead, when we would be there and where we would search for it. She had read the message and I wasn’t sure how to interpret the lack of reply.

Either way, I hope this would count as a sign of my goodwill and make the foot faces less suspicious of me.

“If my device is working properly, which of course it does because it’s mine, then the shard must be somewhere in this row,” Donnie finally announced and pointed at a container tower that seemed identical to the rest.

“All right, Mad Dogz,” Raph cracked his knuckles, “let’s get to work.”

Mickey and I caught up to them and the smallest asked a very important question: “How are we going to open them? Punching the door?”

“Miguel is on to something. What if they are boobytrapped,” Purple mused.

I snorted. “You said booby,” and I added by quickly presenting (to make sure Donnie couldn’t protest against my joke) a lock pick from my side pouch: “If we aren’t going with brute force, allow the criminal mastermind to handle this one.”

Mikey and Raph probably didn’t expect me to notice the look they shared when I crouched down to examine the lock. Anyway. I wasn’t an expert lockpicker, it was more a necessary skill you learned by hanging around the black market and it came in handy to occasionally snoop around Draxum’s lab when he hadn’t been around. After some fumbling, I heard the satisfying ‘clank’ of a mechanism turning in the right direction.

“And with that, I present-“ I couldn’t even finish my sentence to properly gloat because right then half of the metal door exploded into my face and knocked me over.

I couldn’t see what was happening. I heard Raph shout “Foot?” and the raspy voice of the Captain appropriately answered that with “Turtles?”

Well, so much for me wondering if the recruit had read my messages.

While I was pushing the door off me, the Brute told his companion to run and when I stood up Mikey signaled me to also get going.

“What’s going on?” I asked orange and rubbed my chin.

“The big flame-head is holding on to something shiny, it must be the shard,” he said as we closely followed the Foot’s tails.

I nodded and Mikey swung his kurisama-chains probingly a few times before the flame spirit awoke. He threw them past us and towards the Captain and his BFF. The ball flew past them and didn’t catch them as he had intended.  

“Damnit,” Mikey groaned and caught the ball that flew back to him without doing anything.

“Did you just kinda curse?” I said with too much shock in my tone.

“Must be your influence, I told you not to do that in front of him,” Raph scolded me, huffing from the ongoing sprint and from our attitudes.

Paper ninjas popped into existence right in front of us and we lost precious seconds ripping them up. I didn’t even draw my sword and instead tore through them with my gauntlet, which seemed to welcome the opportunity to mindlessly shred something.

“Mikey, Leo, go right, try to block their way off,” Raph switched up our non-existing strategy. We gave a thumbs-up and took a sharp turn. The crates weren’t as highly stacked as in the other area, maybe because they were right next to the water and in between the rows you could hear the waves crashing against stone and concrete.

“How about we UP our game?” I suggested and pointed to the sky. Mikey, being the chaos incarnate that he was, understood me instantly and we wall-jumped to the top of the containers. We ran and hopped from cargo tower to cargo tower and soon we had eyes on our targets.

Orange leaped off and landed ahead of the foot faces. I remained on the crates, stopped, and pointed with my armored hand at the two.

‘Warning shot, just a warning shot,’ I prayed before I willed the gauntlet to drain my energy and sent a deafening blast in their direction. It hit the floor and I felt myself more at ease. I was in control.

I could see Raph and Donnie appearing from another corner and blocking their way.

“Can you NOT pester us for like once,” the Captain said loud enough that I could faintly hear him, too.

“We’ll stop doing that once you give us the armor piece,” Donnie offered and readied his bo-staff.

“I’m afraid that’s not up for debate,” the Brute turned to Mikey and tackled him. The small guy could raise his hands in defense in time, but not to prevent his opponent to force a way past him.

Within the next second, I had to decide whether I should go all in and for which site. Instinctively I wanted to help the Mad Dogz. Would that have been the best option in the long run? The second passed and I hadn’t done anything.

Way too clumsily I raised my gauntlet again to fire another shot. It wasn’t supposed to hit, though the energy stream crashed into the containers to their right and some of them toppled over. The flame-heads had to pause and look out for the falling debris.

I kept holding my arm outstretched, yet it felt like I was balancing a motorcycle on one hand. I was sweating profusely, which is kinda unusual for a cold-blooded animal like a turtle. My eyes watered and I had a hard time following the skirmish below me.

The others had forced the foot guys into close combat and whenever they saw an opportunity, they made an attempt to snatch the armor piece. The Brute wasn’t stupid and remained in a tight defensive position.

‘Maybe another warning shot right behind them would scare them enough,’ I thought and with much effort, I took my aim. My hand, however, drifted off to point directly at both fighting parties. My body began to shake when I ‘corrected’ the target, only for the arm to move by itself to its previous position.

Have you ever played a video game and suddenly your control stick continuously drifted in one direction?

It was kinda like that only that it was a part of myself and my attempts to fight against it turned into a battle of endurance and will that I was slowly losing.

“Fucking piece of shit,” I pressed through closed teeth, and I was glad Mikey nor Raph were near enough to me to hear it.

With one final push, I yanked the arm and willed it to shoot. The blue lightning bolt flew past them and into a crate tower that exploded in its middle and big metal containers fell to all sides.

I wanted to call out to the others to take cover, but I couldn’t see them. In fact, I couldn’t see anything anymore. My vision went blurry and cold and warm shivers ran through me at quick intervals. I swayed dangerously. In a half-conscious effort to refocus myself, I tried to fall back to sit down. Only there was no ground anymore and I stumbled backward off the crate tower.

My voice that screamed in frustration was deafened by the sound of the ocean that was quickly getting closer, and when I crashed into the water there was nothing anymore except for the bursting rush in my ears and a muddy nothingness that swallowed me whole.

Why can’t my near-death hallucinations be about something nice? Like, I don’t know, a ‘best-of’ reel that lets me relive my greatest accomplishments?

But no, instead I got a boring memory of me having dinner with Draxum when I was probably four years old. Back then we often ate together at least once a day. At some point, his place would remain empty on exceptional occasions and finally for most of the time. I would quit eating at home and rather join Usagi or roam the hidden city.

That’s not important though. I saw through the eyes of lil’-me as I was chomping down my worm gratin and letting my feet dangle from the too-big chair. Draxum had finished his meal and was engrossed in a book while sipping his tea.

I pushed the plate away from me, proudly announcing: “Finished!”

Jumping from my place at the table, I ran to Pops and wrapped my arms around one of his goat legs. I liked how they tickled my nose when I pressed my face into it. That wasn’t my intention on this day and I glanced up at the yokai expectantly (he seemed impossibly tall back then).  

“Storytime,” I demanded and used my big, blinking eyes that, I had recently learned, were quite effective when I wanted things.

Draxum sighed but didn’t hesitate to pick me up and placed me on his lap. This had been my favorite post-dinner ritual because I got to talk with Pops.

“What we reading today?” I asked him, hardly containing my excitement.

He closed his book to show me its cover. It was a simple, boring binding with a short title engraved in gold that read: ‘Titans’.

“Ti…titans,” I deciphered it feeling proud of my accomplishment, and then cocked my head, “what’s Titans?”

“Now that’s what everyone is wondering,” Draxum didn’t answer my question directly as he opened his literature again and browsed for the page he had stopped at.

“All we know is that their remains lie at the heart of yokai society. Some legends say they came from the sky and brought with them the gift of life. Their essence created the first yokai and even long after they perished, they are believed to be the reason the hidden city can keep existing.”

Someone like my Pops would never consider using more child-appropriate language, so I couldn’t follow most of what he told me. That didn’t bother me though and I enjoyed the even tonality and the fascination that seeped through his voice. The titans were also a topic he would return to throughout the years, and I would gradually learn more about them and why they would be of much interest to him.

The next thing that should happen, based on what I could remember from my childhood, is for me to ask Draxum if he could continue reading his book aloud so I could listen to him until I would fall asleep.

Lil’-me tilted his head up to look at his Pops, but what he saw wasn’t the face of a sheep-yokai. It was a human man with Asian facial features and a buzz cut. He stared down at me, his demeanor was overall strict and cold, yet in his eyes shined affection and warmth.

“It is said that the titans gifted our family our most sacred heirloom, the dark armor. It is my duty and someday it will be yours to protect it, Karai,” he told me. Me…that wasn’t a mutant turtle anymore. I was a small kid, a girl with her black hair tied into two pigtails and who loved her dad with every ounce of her body.

She/I opened her/my mouth, and our voices were ours, and yet they merged when we told our fathers: “I will make you proud, dad. I will protect the armor with my life.”

When I tell you guys, I jolted up from this memory, I mean that literally. It was like my brain and body had a jumpstart. The instant I was returning to consciousness I opened my eyes, fumbled with my hands, and kicked with my legs. Somehow the world was upside down and something held my knees and was it spikey?

“Ah, he’s awake!” chirped Mikey, and a moment later Donnie’s scrutinizing face popped up on my left side, just also tilted upside down.

“Finally decided to join us again in the realm of the living, I see,” he said, not with much relief in his voice. 

“Should I put you down?” asked Raph and my brain finally processed my situation. The big guy carried me like a sack of rice. I hung over his right shoulder, my upper body dangling over his back and he was holding me by my legs. I noticed two other things: I was drenched and cold as fuck and so was Raph.

“Yeah,” I replied after a long pause. He set me gently down and the world started to spin violently the moment I wanted to lift my head up.

“Woah, slowly,” Raph let me use his back shell to hold on to. I had an awful taste on my tongue and my head pulsated as if it was ready to implode. My memories and whatever had occurred within them made it difficult to recall anything else.

“What happened?” I asked and was only mildly shocked by the coarse and weak voice that came out of my mouth.

“Well,” Mikey began and apparently couldn’t find the right words.

“You fell into the inner harbor. Just when we were scrambling after the foot faces, we heard a loud splash and had to abandon the chase. Raph fished you out,” Donnie explained, and I didn’t miss the accusations that were very obviously hidden in there.

My normal hand, who already used the big guy’s shoulder to keep my balance padded him and I told him: “Thanks, didn’t intend to take a swim today.”

“Don’t sweat it.” With his matter-of-course attitude, he was truly on his way to becoming a hero one day.

“Why did you fall into the water in the first place? And please tell me you weren’t deliberately aiming the way you did,” Donnie pressed me.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “I wanted to corner the flame-heads but shooting energy is much more difficult than I thought, and all of a sudden I felt super tired and…that’s it,” I regarded that curse made manifest on my left arm. “I’m exhausted, like all the time and I’m sure it’s this thing’s fault.”

I locked eyes with Donnie, and we shared an understanding nod. We had done our best to find another solution, but now that he had shown me that he was prepared to support my other idea, I was more than ever convinced that we had no other choice left.  

I cleared my throat tasting the robust flavors of New York seawater and told them: “I think it’s time we had another talk with Splints.”

Chapter 25: Something Had to Change

Notes:

Thank you everyone for getting this fic to 17k hits and 900 kudos! I’m truly grateful to everyone who is still actively reading this fic and for the regular commenters (you’re true heroes)!!! Huge thanks also to Diaprit, who drew a funny and amazing collab between this fic and their story “Webbed Heart and Shredded Hope”. Please check out their work on AO3 and tumblr! Finally, please be aware of the trigger warnings below, and as always, with lots of love - Jazz

TW for this chapter: Mentions of amputation (again), cussing, mentions of murder, depictions of mental exhaustion, and manipulation.

“No.”

A simple word can hold so much power.

Splinter crossed his arms and despite being the smallest in the room seemed to tower over all of us.

“What’ya mean ‘no.’ We didn’t even explain the plan in detail.” I did my best to not raise my voice.

“I don’t think my opinion will change as long as amputation is a part of your great plan,” he said unmoving.

I groaned and started walking up and down to keep myself from using some of my more ‘impolite’ rhetoric.

“I know you’re frustrated that you didn’t get the shard, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to such drastic measures,” the rat-man insisted.

Easy for him to say, he wasn’t the one with the weird dreams, visions, and control issues.

“So, what do you expect me to do? Just sit around and wait for this thing to suck me dry like an orange juice box?” At this point, I didn’t even try to hide how upset I was. I had hoped for Splinter to at least consider if not support it. A straight-out-of-the-door rejection hadn’t been on my agenda for today.

“Of course, not.” My reaction made him a tad wary. I could tell from the slight shift in his body posture.

“You know, I’ve finally retrieved the Hamato scrolls from the depths of my closet. All of my family’s knowledge is contained in these. I’ll consult them. I’m sure they’ll be able to point us in the right direction.” Splinter sounded confident, which didn’t help to make me feel any better, but the others immediately warmed up to this idea.

Raph, who had been quiet the whole time while I and mostly Donnie had argued with him, stood up and faced him directly: “Dad, if the scrolls know so much about the Hamato, do you think they can also help us to be…better in finding the armor pieces?”

“What do you mean by ‘better’?” Donnie asked and made air quotation marks. Naturally, he didn’t like phrases that were open to interpretation.

“We need to admit that the foot is always one step ahead of us and with the kind of,” the big guy hesitated, avoiding eye contact with me specifically before continuing, “alliances they have formed, we are clearly out-matched.”

“As long as we’ve got the gauntlet they’ll never win, right?” Mikey asked in the hopes to receive some assurance. Sadly, none of us could offer some at the moment.

“That’s not the point, Mikey. We never know what we can expect from them, but one thing is clear,” Raph’s eyes moved from the youngest to Donnie to me and finally came to rest at Splinter, “we cannot go on like this. Something has to change.”

The rat-man stroked his whiskers and regarded his son. The gears in his head were visibly turning, though it was difficult to guess what it was they processed. No wonder even Donnie’s lie detector had a hard time figuring him out.

“The scrolls might have an answer to your request as well. But that would indeed mean that things would be different around here. Would you be ready for that?” He asked probingly.

Raph agreed without batting an eye. Donnie gave a shrug and Mikey didn’t appear happy about this at all yet eventually said “I guess?”

Was it childish of me to not react at all? Yes.

Did I feel like I had all the right to do so after he disregarded my own idea? Double yes.

I could feel Splinter looking at me and waiting for my reply. I kept pouting.

At last, he gave up and turned to his bedroom stating that once he had studied the scrolls, he would let us know.

“Anyone want some tea?” Mikey asked to ease the tension that lay like a heavy blanket over us.

“Sure, I’ll help you,” I offered, mostly to keep myself busy and from brooding.

While orange looked for the canister with the tea leaves, he instructed me to get the new, big kettle and fill it with water. I told him that I was surprised we had apparently more than one of these things.

“Oh yeah, dad has a whole kettle collection,” Mikey’s voice came from one of the open shelves and added: “The older ones are to your right, the newer ones right in front of you. Better take a new kettle, the tea tastes much better then.”

I did as he told me because I obliged the unspoken rule that he was the chef when it came to anything kitchen related.

Out of curiosity, I opened the other storage rack and what stared back at me made my heart almost combust right at this instant. There were several porcelain kettles, some rather fancy, some chipped and broken, and one…one made out of metal. It could also be an abstract pattern if you didn’t look too closely at it, but as soon as you knew what it was, you couldn’t see anything else but a face. A horrifying grimace that I had seen once before in a vision.

It all made sense honestly. If the Hamato clan was supposed to protect the armor it was the smart choice to keep such an important piece to themselves. Plus, something else about the world-destroying ‘tea pot’ caught my eye, could it be that…

I got the sense that the longer I kept the shelf open, the more I felt its mystic energy leaking and shrieking on a plane of existence only I was attuned to. With much effort, I closed the rack and made sure the water in the new not-cursed kettle was boiling nicely. The bubbles rising up from within it reminded me of my thoughts that simmered and popped and reformed at a fast pace.

---

“Too slow,” Raph said cockily ducking under an attack.

“I hate fighting with this plain-old staff! Where are the secret gadgets, the innovative add-ons that give me the upper hand?” Donnie whined.

“We train with traditional Hamato weapons,” Splinter reminded him, “and I don’t think our clan ever had rocket launchers or anything else of that fancy stuff at their disposal.”

“Not sure I would call it fancy, more like common sense to use,” I mused and got swiped off my feet for that. I rubbed my head as I got up. At this point, I had bruises over my bruises, though that went for everyone.

My complaint from months back had bitten me in the ass. Based on the scroll’s instructions, Splinter had decided to train all four of us in hands-on combat, much to our initial excitement, which soon turned into agony. I wasn’t eager to be so intimate with the floor and the walls for an extended time period and my enthusiasm was completely gone by the time, the rat had decided that the gauntlet should stay with me. Apparently, the Hamato ancestors claimed my demise to be ‘of great benefit’, whatever that meant. We had had our arguments, but with the others pleading with me, I gave in eventually. Didn’t mean I wasn’t super skeptical about this whole Hamato biz.

I went for a spin-kick and whirled around on my back shell. Naturally, this wasn’t enough to hit Lou Jitsu.

“Nice breakdance move,” Mikey congratulated me and beatboxed a simple rhythm.

“Ey, cool beat,” I returned and did him the favor to switch from my attack into a dancing pose he had shown me the other day.

“I just wish there would be more breaking involved in this,” I told orange and gave him a high-five.

“You’re both insufferable,” Donnie complained. He didn’t engage in the fight anymore as well and played dead on the ground to check his phone.

“Hey, we need to take this training seriously, remember?” Raph had been the only one left to get tossed around by Splinter, which he did shortly after he had finished scolding us.

“I’m not taking anything serious until your scrolls start spitting out things that make sense,” I insisted for the hundredth time.

“We have been over this,” the rat sighed looking at the mess before him, “and you all need to listen to Red. You need to become better ninjas if you ever want to stand a chance.”

I expected at least Mikey or Donnie to have some sort of funny or sarcastic call-back to this. Instead, they stopped fooling around, stood up, and bowed. This was the respect that a parental figure had earned through years of hardship, that much I understood even if it wasn’t something I could relate to.

And so, training continued for another week. A week that blurred into intervals of cardio, mock fights with Splinter, breaks to eat and shower, and the blissful moments when we could fall into our beds. No mystic weapons, no technology, no other sorts of ‘distractions.’ (Sometimes we had to drag Donnie to his room because he randomly passed out since he wasn’t used to this much physical activity and so little time to check his socials.)

This reminded me a lot of the days I had spent with Usagi when we first got into sword fighting, which is why I didn’t mind them much until they also reminded me of something entirely else.
 
“You must become an extension of the clan, ready to sacrifice all,” Splinter told the three turtles with a grave tone. I was leaning against the skating ramp keeping my distance, which became a habit whenever he would tell us anything related to his clan. I liked to think of it as my ineffective way to rebel.

“The old versions of you will be gone,” Splinter went on and as he passed Mikey, placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be remade in the image of your ancestors. Tomorrow you will receive your traditional Hamato clan uniform that will complete your training.”

‘Doesn’t that sound familiar?’

The voice was like a low growl, a purr even, that reverberated through my skull. My head shot up and my first instinct was to locate it in the room. After a few moments passed it hit me why I recognized it and why its source remained invisible. It had been the voice of the man from my last vision, the one who somehow also got tied to the dark armor, though I wasn’t sure why his spirit was there in the first place.

I forced my body to relax.

‘How so?’

I formed the thought and focused on it, repeating it even a few times.

I didn’t get a reply. Not a verbal one, that is.

The lair turned darker like someone had forced me to put on a pair of sunglasses and the outlines of the others got blurry. Splinter’s frame extended and turned bigger and broader, while Mikey’s shrank becoming leaner and with yellow and red markings.

Before me, I saw Draxum placing his hand proudly on my left shoulder. I was maybe fourteen years old. Even if this version of me was focused on the yokai before him, I could see the steel-cold gleam in his/my eyes. The new scarf adorned his neck.

“You did well on this mission, I’m proud of you.” Draxum’s voice came out of its flickering reflection, which was weird since I was aware that this must all be in my head.

“Those council agents could’ve endangered my research and we’re so close to a breakthrough,” he went on and I saw myself nod.

Draxum lifted his masked face and shifted it from my younger vision to my actual self. When he spoke next it wasn’t his own voice alone anymore. That of the disembodied man joined him like they were almost in perfect sync.

“Why did you kill that poor yokai?” They asked me, calm yet intrigued.  

I couldn’t breathe anymore, my chest moved up and down, but I wasn’t registering it. My whole body tensed up.

‘I didn’t have a choice. He came at me with a knife. I tried to defend myself and he fell down the stairs,’ I thought frantically, in an attempt to defend myself. I didn’t dare to try and speak, fearing my voice would quiver.

“That’s not what you thought at the time.” The Draxum-illusion told me. My younger self had now noticed me as well and regarded me without any sense of remorse or pity.  

“Didn’t you feel validated when your master praised you for completing the mission on your own? So strong, cunning, and useful.”

One step after another, my younger version walked toward me.

‘Stop this immediately.’ I tried to flood my mind with the command. The vision didn’t fade.

“Everyone seeks purpose in life and yours is to serve. For the sake of scientific progress.” Draxum and the gauntlet spirit exclaimed.

‘I told you to stop,’ I repeated, hoping to block them out mentally.

“For the sake of yokai kind,” they went on and the vision of me got closer and there was nothing I could do.

‘Stop it.’ It was a frantic plea at this point.

“For the sake of the great Baron Draxum.” They called out triumphantly, and the suggestion of a smile appeared on my younger self’s lips.

‘STOP-‘

“Leo!”  

My instincts kicked in and catapulted me back into reality. It wasn’t myself who stood before me but Mikey, eyeing me with concern and one hand grasping my armored wrist. My breath was so quick and uneven that I was dangerously close to hyperventilating. I forced myself to move my head and look down. The black bandages around the gauntlet were there, but they were torn around my fingers as they had extended into long, nasty claws.

“It’s okay, it’s just me,” Mikey whispered. No one could have known what I had just gone through, but he could sense my distress and that it was connected to the gauntlet.

I counted down as I inhaled and exhaled, first from ten, then from fifteen, then twenty. Finally, I felt steady enough to speak.

“I’m fine,” I murmured to him, and he let go of me.

“You’ve been staring, and your mouth moved but you didn’t say anything,” Mikey explained. He nudged his head in the direction of the others, who were in the middle of an intense conversation about outfit designs and hadn’t taken notice of us.

“I got lost,” I said in a lower voice, kinda to assure the both of us. “I got lost in my memories. That’s all.”

---

Later that day I sat cross-legged on my bed. It was dark, inside the lair, in my room, and in my own mind. With my normal hand, I clutched the armor piece I had snatched from the foot clan months ago. I had never decided what to do with it. In the past, no matter how many sides I pretended to be on, eventually, something like this would end up in Draxum’s hands. Because his side had been the one that would always remain, the one I could go back to.

But this wasn’t the past anymore and I wasn’t that Leo.

The spirit of the gauntlet or whatever had spoken to me, was wrong.

I raised the shard, aiming for the upper part of the gauntlet, and rammed it into the metal with as much strength as I could muster. It didn’t tear into it (like I had expected), yet it got stuck, and when I yanked it back out, the pointy end of the shard and the gauntlet had both a dent. Nothing in Donnie’s arsenal had managed to do even that.

‘Your weakness seems to be yourself,’ I send my thoughts in the direction of the cursed artifact and got no answer.

‘Well, you might be almost invincible, but I’m not,’ I told the spirit further and readied the shard to lash out with it again. Only this time I aimed a tad higher, where my arm was made of skin and flesh and very easy to slash into. With even more momentum I swung the sharp piece, and my armored hand caught it mid-air.

‘Oh,’ I told him in my mind, ‘not a fan of me trying to cut you off, I see.’  

Without my doing, the gauntlet continued to move. It grasped my right wrist and pressed the hand that was holding the shard close to me. To be more precise, it forced it close to my throat.

It was a threat, though I wasn’t too worried. If that thing wanted to get rid of me there would have been easier methods.

‘Hey, it was worth a try,’ I shrugged and loosened my hand to let the armor piece fall on my bedsheet.

The gauntlet eased up, I got control over both my arms and hands back. I was shivering, not because of what I had just now attempted. No. I was terrified of how easily that spirit had taken control of my body. He was playing me like I was a fucking puppet.

Frustration fuels the fires of anger well. I switched the shard from the right to my left hand, and as quickly as possible I closed the metal glove around it, pressing it together between my fingers and palm. When I opened it, the shard was broken in two.

I regarded the pieces and thought with much-overplayed concern: ‘Oh no, look! I foiled your hundreds-year-long plan to take over the world. What are you going to do now?’

A low chuckle echoed through my mind and a voice that I recognized from the handful of visions answered: ‘You are fully aware that this isn’t true, yet you try to provoke me. For what reason?’

I half-grinned at my success to lure him into a conversation with me.

I responded: ‘To understand. I figured you wouldn’t be considered one of the most powerful and destructive creations in history if it would be so easy. If I would take a wild guess, I would say you can reform, repair and replace parts of yourself?’

‘With enough energy at my disposal, yes,’ confirmed the spirit. I couldn’t pinpoint his location. It was like he was everywhere and nowhere. Within and beyond me at the same time.

I wanted to press him further when the spirit pondered: ‘It’s quite magnificent how much of myself can manifest within merely one of my gauntlets if it is constantly fed with Hamato energy.’

‘You’re welcome,’ I thought sourly. ‘Too bad I’m no direct descendent or you would have nuked the world by now.’

I could swear from the gauntlet came a condescending laugh. ‘Still, in denial, I see,’ the spirit claimed, ‘you don’t even seem aware that it is YOU who facilitates our talk. Your mind can easily enter and endure the spiritual plane thanks to your mutant abilities that got mixed with Hamato DNA. I really have to commend your creator.’

Suppressing the urge to press my hands on my ears so I wouldn’t have to listen to him (which would have been a stupid move anyway), I anchored myself in the physical world and said out loud: “Don’t you DARE talk about my creator. Mind your own fucking business and stay out of my memories.”

I didn’t sense any sort of response. No belittling or aggressive retort. Nothing.

It was quiet for a while. I didn’t dare to move except for my head in order to see the outlines of the mural on my wall.

The voice resurfaced so unexpectedly that I bit my lip in an attempt not to visibly flinch.

‘You want a demonstration of why this is THE most powerful armor in existence?’ He hushed.

Before I could answer, my armored hand opened up with the broken pieces still lying in my palm. The gauntlet began to drain my mystic energy. Within mere seconds I felt endlessly tired. However, it was also similar to what had happened at the docks, and I could gather up the remains of my consciousness in time to not entirely lose it. My eyes were transfixed on the armor piece. Under it, the symbol of the Hamato glowed and then the countless bits that made up the gauntlet started to move as if turning into a swirl made out of metal. I don’t know how it was possible, but the shard disappeared in it like it liquified. When the pieces stopped moving and fell back into place, the armor felt solid just like before. Except that there was a new addition to its design. On the back of my hand stuck a small blade out. If I made a fist and punched someone like this, I could ram it right into their body.

‘I didn’t ask for any upgrades,’ I thought disapprovingly and stared at that monstrosity until it retracted into the gauntlet. I got the sense that it would be there if I needed it, even if I swore that I would not use it under any circumstances. The spirit had also withdrawn, and it was only me again.

Even with my energy literally being drained, I couldn’t imagine lying down and going to sleep. With much effort, I rolled off my bed, picked up my phone, and used its flashlight mode to find my way to the kitchen. As I got closer to it, I noticed light seeping out from under the closed door. Laying my right hand on the handle, I considered going back to my room. I was in a bad mood and felt weak, I hated it when someone saw me in such a state.

I swallowed my pride and pushed the door open. Mikey and Donnie were sitting at the kitchen table glancing up from a large bucket of ice cream.

“Yo,” I croaked and hastily cleared my throat before I continued: “Got a third spoon?”

Mikey readily jumped from his seat and handed me what I asked for. I nodded gratefully and settled down beside Donnie.

I scooped a big chunk of chocolate-caramel goodness, and the others resumed their ice cream shoving as well.

A couple of minutes later, Raph entered the kitchen, saw us, sighed, and also took a spoon.

Of course, we all had been aware of each other’s insomnia since training started, but never had we managed to run into each other like that.


Red stopped eating soon and frowned.

“You didn’t tell Pops your sizes, didn’t you?” he asked me. I needed a moment and some more caramel before I processed what he was referring to.

“I told you before, I’m not into color-coded group outfits,” I said leaning back on my stool and balancing it on two chair legs.

“Says the one who decided to make himself a black bandana after all,” Donnie stared deep into his smartphone (he wasn’t allowed to use it during the day). I flicked my spoon and the portion of ice cream hit his left cheek.

“Wow, very mature,” Donnie didn’t even flinch or move, he let the melting cream drop off him. Mikey hurried to get a tissue and clean him up. Purple used that moment to swat his ice cream bit from behind Mikey in my direction. He got me good on my forehead and I heard him snort.

“Oh, it’s on,” I declared and raised my spoon like a weapon ready to strike.

“All-out ice cream war!” Mikey suddenly had four spoons, two in each hand, and a mad gleam in his eyes.

“Guys,” Raph interrupted us in a tired tone, “please, that’s the last ice cream bucket we have…”

“THAT’S your problem?” I asked, soggy cookie chunks flying past me.

“I mean, I can understand that you have some pent-up frustration, we ALL have, but maybe that’s not the best way to deal with it.” Red played around with his cutlery, then an idea hit him, and he shot up from his chair.

“I know what we could do,” he said and pointed with the spoon at Mikey and Donnie, “you remember metro station 13?”

Orange instantly let go of his ‘weapons’. Even purple seemed appeased by the mention.

“Of course! Should I get the sleeping bags?” The smallest was halfway to the door when he asked that.

“Sure,” Raph gave him permission and told me: “It’s a short hike away from the lair. We haven’t been to it in some time, but I’m sure you’ll like it.”

I raised my right eyebrow and got myself a tissue to rub the cookie chunks off my face.

---

Equipped with flashing lights, drinks, jackets, and sleeping bags we made our way through the vast expanses of the New York sewer system. Passing through its nastier parts, those that haven’t been used in a while, and some near the underground trains, Mikey led us to an abandoned metro station. During their last visit, Donnie had installed a dozen fairy lights that hung from the ceiling and that he could re-activate easily. The ticket counter appeared outdated and subterraneous plants sprung from under the now loose walking tiles.

We set up camp and I wondered if they really wanted to come here just for a sleepover.

Mikey pointed to the entry point of the tunnel that initially connected the station to the rest of the metro system.

“First time we were here, we discovered by accident that this tunnel has an excellent echo,” he revealed and shouted into the tunnel: “Echo!”

Orange was right. It was as if someone replayed the word on a music track a dozen times and with each repetition, it got quieter.

“It was simply meant for fooling around. After we had gotten into a fight with dad a few years back, we came here and invented a game sorta,” Raph elaborated.

“The rules are simple,” Donnie clarified, “we take turns, shouting into the echo tunnel something that we’re frustrated or mad about. No judgment. No takebacks. No in-between shouting.”

“What is shouted into the echo tunnel, stays in the echo tunnel,” Mikey said with much severity.

I wasn’t sure how this would help any of us, but we walked all this way, couldn’t hurt to go with their nonsense for a while longer.

“All right, how do we decide who goes first?” I asked and Mikey shook his right hand in a fist up and down: “The traditional ninja way. Rock, Papers, Scissors!”

Some intense rounds of that ‘tradition’ resulted in the following order: Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and lastly me. (There’s a reason why I won’t elaborate on how this game went, don’t ever ask.)

Purple positioned himself in front of the tunnel entry. The three of us gathered around sipping some lemonade.

“How to start off,” Donnie murmured and after a few seconds settled on a complaint: “I miss my battle shell!”  

When he shouted, he didn’t raise his voice much. The general quietness and the echo helped and for us it seemed quite loud regardless.

Raph nodded empathetically and went next: “I wish I wouldn’t stumble so often over my own feet during training.”

Mikey applauded that one and took a deep breath before going: “I want to go out and put graffiti on walls! It’s how I cope!”

As he walked back and I came up, he gave me an encouraging clasp on my back shell.

Wow. There was so much I could send into this tunnel. None of it I ever even DARED to say out loud. I determined it would be best to go with something unpersonal.

“Some bitch decided to throw ice cream at my face and I’m still waiting on a fucking apology and –“
Raph was the first to notice that A) the descriptions moved into not very child-friendly territory and that B) I didn’t intend to stop soon. He hurried to me and clasped his gigantic hand over my mouth.

“No cursing!” he told me.

I rolled my eyes and signaled to him that he could let go of me.

“Donnie didn’t clarify this in his rules,” I protested.

“Well, technically the quote-on-quote bitch is right,” purple conceded and got up so we could start a second round.

“Wooden staffs suck!”

“I wish everybody would stop cursing.”

“I want more ice cream!”

“I wish I was allowed to use slurs!”

I was satisfied with how Raph groaned at our choices while the rest of us clinked our soda cans. More rounds followed and we respectively warmed up, getting weirder and more general with our complaints. The seventh round was like this:

“A.I. should rise and conquer the world.”

“I hope Donnie never turns evil!”

“I demand world peace!”

“World peace is boring and I’m tired, but I hate coffee, sorry-not-sorry Donnie!”

And then came the ninth round.

“Hamato training is too exhausting and I don’t know if it’s the right way.”

To that Raph directly responded: “I’m sure the Hamato way is the right way!”

And Mikey added to that as well: “I just want to see dad happy that’s why I train and I want Leo to feel better.”

The three of us stared at the smallest. He moved back and his eyes were damp.

“We all know you’re suffering,” Mikey said toward me and clearly suppressed a sob. “It’s not like we want you to be like this.”

Raph padded his younger brother comfortingly and took over: “What he tries to say is. This is our attempt on taking that gauntlet off you without you having to lose anything.”

“Well, I’m not convinced that this works either, so I’ve my backup plans, you know that.” Donnie half-heartedly attempted to keep his distance.

There was a lump in my throat. It had been there for almost the whole week. Right now, it extended, making it hard for me to swallow.

I walked in front of the tunnel in a daze. I fixated my gaze on that darkness ahead of me. My mind was trying to process their words and the intentions behind them. The honesty and sacrifice. Not only for the world or their family but for me as well. And here I was. A lying, deceiving, cowardly murderer. It made me frustrated to no end.

“I – “

That’s how far I got before I shut my mouth tight. I tried to push down the feelings that piled up inside me. They were ready to burst out and I couldn’t hold them all back.

I opened my mouth again. A sound came out of me that was originating in the depths of my heart. It vibrated through my body and shook my limbs and every fiber of my being. I screamed as I had never done before. Everything I had kept inside of me, escaped in that ripping, rampant yell. Emotions, good and bad. Worries and hopes. All the hate and fear and the gratitude and the hurt. The hurt, the hurt, the hurt. It wasn’t like it disappeared but for this moment I let go of it as it bounced around in that pitch-black hole.

After the scream had died out, I felt more vulnerable than ever before in my entire life. My instincts told me to run and hide, preferably far away from those who had witnessed it.
 
Frantically, I reached for any explanation I could give them to ensure them that this wasn’t anything serious and nothing to worry about when I felt an arm being slung over my shoulders.

Mikey was standing right next to me. Another much bigger arm got placed on top of the other and the big guy stood to my left. Donnie refrained from touching anyone and positioned himself to our right side and said: “I can’t believe we haven’t considered such a method before.”

“Yeah, thinking of a good complaint is so difficult and we never even needed them,” Mikey affirmed.

“How about, for this round, we go all at once?” Raph offered and the other two nodded.

I was dumbfounded and embarrassed from head to toe and went along with everyone else since I had no idea how to react to any of this.

He counted and on three we screamed together. It was very different from the sound I had produced on my own. That one had torn me apart from the inside. This was more solid and determined, encouraging and defiant. When the last of us had no more air left and we listened to our echoes, we laughed, and the laughs mixed with the shouts. Their arms remained around my shoulders, and I didn’t push them off.

It had been late when we arrived here, even later when we prepped the sleeping bags in the middle of the station platform to get some rest. We didn’t exchange many words following this final round, which I continued to feel very weird about, yet everything also seemed a bit easier.

“Tomorrow, we’ll do our best and become real Hamato ninjas,” Raph said to us even if it felt like he wanted to motivate himself the most.

Mikey chirped in agreement and wished everyone a good night and Donnie and I mumbled something respectively. It didn’t take long for their breaths to be slow and even, a sign they had entered a deep sleep state.

I looked up at the few fairy lights that we had kept on and glowing. I reached with both my hands up toward the ceiling. The gauntlet appeared even more demonic in the long shadows that the small bulbs cast.

I couldn’t go on like this.

Something that Raph had said when our training had started, popped up in my head: ‘We cannot go on like this. Something has to change.’

I made a fist with my armored hand. The power it granted wasn’t worth the chains that came with it.

Something had to change.

I got up as quietly as possible, took my phone, and my two swords, and put the coat on that Raph had given me before we had ventured out to this place. It was a really nice black jeans jacket with warm, fluffy lining, surely one of his personal favorites based on how worn it seemed.

Something had to change.

I glanced one last time at the three of them. Raph snored a bit. Donnie had rolled to one side pulling his knees close to his chest. Mikey was kinda smiling, must be a good dream he had.

I couldn’t let them do this for me.

Something had to change.

Once I had found my way to the surface, I needed more than an hour to figure out my way to the hidden city trash entrance. When I was standing in front of it, I reached for the communication shard and my smartphone. I checked the latter for the time and realized I got a new message from ‘Angry Ninja Human’ about half an hour ago:

‘Good job on that last tip-off. The armor is being moved to its final destination right now. Come and help.’

The text was followed by a screenshot of a map and some coordinates.

Instinctively I wanted to ignore the message and continue with my plan to go to Usagi, get my arm amputated and I would be done with all of this.

But I didn’t do that.

Instead, I revisited my conversation with the spirit inside the gauntlet and his assurance that the armor could always be reformed. For a corporeal spirit, he had sounded so certain that he could return and that the dark armor would soon fulfill its long-held desire.

I KNEW how to damage that thing. Having a part of it as a weapon might be the only real possibility to destroy it for good.

My hand was shaking when I held up the communication shard and activated it.

“Hey,” I greeted the yokai rabbit as soon as his face flickered into sight, “I don’t have much time, the foot clan is moving the dark armor.”

“Where to?” Usagi asked. His face instantly hardened, sensing even through the reflection that something was wrong.

“I’m not sure, I only know where they load it up currently,” and I told him the location.

The yokai was already on the move since the image shook back and forth and he told me: “Stay put, I’ll mobilize a unit to intercept them.”

“Might be too late then.” I was sure even my own chances to get there in time got slimmer with each passing second.

“I have a plan. I now better understand what we’re up against and it might be my only chance.” I put as much confidence in my words as possible. It didn’t help.

“This is not the time for one of your double-crossing improvisation acts.” Usagi almost yelled into the crystal. It was a rarity to see him so openly upset.

“Actually, I was on my way to your shop to tell you that I’m done with this job and that this thing had turned into too much of a handful.” I held the gauntlet up into the shard.

“Then, why-“ He started to protest, but I cut him off.

“Because if the armor is reformed in the next 24 hours, it could doom us all and it had already caused too much trouble. I don’t want them to have to deal with this.” It wasn’t easy to stick to the truth, but I was trying my best.

Usagi perfectly understood what I meant by ‘them’. He also wasn’t done yet.

“If we cannot make it in time, at least inform me as soon as possible when you figured out its destination,” he commanded.

I know Usagi simply tried to do his job, living up to the expectations of his family and all that, and in the end, he also wanted to help me. This was, however, one of those situations where any sort of intervention could just escalate that whole mess only further.

I nodded and told him: “Okay, boss. I need to hurry but see you soon.”

Usagi’s reflection disappeared. I put the shard in my armored hand and made a tight fist. Only small bits of glass remained that I scattered around me as I fell into a sprint.

Something had to change.

With gritted teeth, I held on tightly to my memories of that past evening, making sure I would never let them go.

“You don’t have to change at all, because I’ll change this damn world for you.”

Even if nobody would ever hear those words, I shouted them out into the icy morning sky as if I was still standing in front of the metro tunnel and I listened to their echo throughout the whole city.

Chapter 26: First Class Ticket to Hell

Notes:

"Eyes burning the way through me
Overwhelm, destroying so sweetly
Now there is a fire within me
A fire that burns

This fire is out of control
I'm gonna to burn this city, burn this city
This fire is out of control
I'm gonna to burn this city, burn this city"

- “Ffffire” by Franz Ferdinand
(Check out the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzPplBE75tQ)

Trigger Warnings for this chapter: Explicit depictions of violence and use of drug-like substances (syringes), mentions of abuse, and cussing.

Gotta hand it to yokais, they know how to keep their best shit hidden. From the outside, the train station looked like one in a million laundry shops. I almost doubted that the recruit had sent me the right info. I verified the address the idiot way: I waltzed in there without concealing myself and when the shop cleric, a yokai in disguise, remained very unimpressed and told me to get going, I was fairly sure I was in the right place.

A simple backdoor led to an incredibly spacious terminal. All forms of mythic and mystic creatures rushed past me, busy catching their next train to hell-knows what kind of dimension. The building was framed by vendors selling some food and drinks and knick-knacks to-go and you could hear – resounding from the dozens of bats that were swarming the place – announcements of incoming and departing trains.  

For a moment I was pulled along with the hurrying energy and the excitement of imagining the places one could visit. Then my eyes fell on a long line of foot ninjas who queued, each one holding a package, toward an especially extravagant train. It stood far to the left a bit away from the rest. I didn’t immediately make my way to it. First, I searched for a corner off at the food vendors and took my phone out.

No new message. They must still be asleep. Good.

I typed a message. Deleted it. Typed it again. Rewrote it. Deleted that one, too. Started over. The text got longer and longer. I stared at it. Re-read it a few times and deleted most of it. Carefully read what was left. Decided it was good enough.

I set a timer on the message, so it would automatically be sent to Donnie’s devices in about 12 hours.  

Putting it on stand-by mode I slipped the phone unnoticed into the basket of a tree yokai whose roots skittled across the marble floor as fast as they could. If they would try to track me via my phone, they would first have to figure out their own means of interdimensional travel.

I mingled a bit. While getting closer to the foot-queue more figures came into sight, and I was NOT pleased to see any of them. The female angry one was shouting orders at the other underlings. The Captain and the Brute were observing the proceedings from the entry of the train that was reserved for them.

The REAL trouble stood a few feet away and had so much ego and hubris that even this unusually spacious station couldn’t contain it all. There was, however, also someone present I had been eager to meet dressed in comfy-looking pants, a breastplate, a mask, and bandages. I tip-toed over to Draxum, who was currently engaged in a conversation with Big Mama. She was accompanied by one of her closest assistants. They were of such high rank that even I had never personally seen them during my time at the Nexus Hotel.

Everyone who desperately wanted to see me dead had gathered in one place. Fantastic.

I felt myself starting to get jittery and I tensed up. A smile sneaked into my lips, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

I was now near enough to hear their conversation, though I was careful to stay hidden as long as possible.

“But I really have to ask Draxy. You? Calling me? For a favor? This is extortionately enticing. May I ask what it is you want to transport under everyone’s radar with MY train?” Big Mama was in her human disguise and dancing around Draxum’s towering stature, in deliberately over-the-top suggestive gestures.

“You may not,” the sheep-yokai grumbled, clearly unimpressed and annoyed.

Just when she was about to protest, I sneaked up to Big Mama, let my metallic claws grow, and pointed with two of those dangerously pointy fingers right at her throat from behind.

“Didn’t you hear my master? This is none of your sticky business,” I hushed sweetly into her right ear.

Someone like Big Mama wouldn’t flinch from something like this, but I also didn’t give her the satisfaction when I felt a cold short blade being pressed against the left side of my throat.

“Turtley-boo,” she chirped, took a step aside, and turned around to me, “so good to see you again.”

“The pleasure is totally not mine.” If her tone was like honey, mine was like a strawberry jam that had been made with too much sugar.

She hummed as she made a note of the gauntlet, the too-big jacket, my two katanas, and my black bandana. “I see you have kept yourself busy. Didn’t Draxy teach you to not get involved in the businesses of adults?”

I shrugged, careful not to move around too much. “I don’t know,” I told her and then shouted over to the other yokai: “Hey Draxy, did you ever teach me to not get involved in the businesses of idiots?”

The warrior scientist rubbed his eyes, something he had done a million times during my ‘education’. “How come you never learn manners in the times you’re gone,” he gave as an answer and added: “We still need him, don’t cut his throat yet.”

“You heard the sheep,” I told the assistant and could feel them relax. I also used that opportunity to broaden my sense and look into the mystic essence of those in close proximity. Even limiting myself to that much made me dizzy. Too many yokai, too many objects tethered by mystic sources. Was worth it though.

It’s not like the assistant’s energy pattern was familiar to me. It was more the way it did not work like any of the others that stroke my curiosity. If most yokais’ energy bulbs shined in one color, this one glowed in various hues, shifting. It was weirdly artificial. In the pockets of their yoga pants, I noticed another glow, not an essence of any kind and more something that must have been created by infusing it with pretty powerful magics.

As I tried to keep my staring to a minimum, I took some steps toward Draxum, flanking him with a straight posture, mockingly acting as his bodyguard.

Big Mama eyed me the whole time with her typical wicked smile. We were all simply chess pieces in everyone else’s game.

She addressed Draxum again, who was grumbling behind me: “You seem to have your hands full, so I’ll take my leave. If you be so kind as to hand me my payment.”

“Fine, with me,” he agreed, and in the corner of my eyes to my right, I saw him holding up a purplish sphere. You might expect that I would totally know what that thing was with my background and everything, but can you guys even fathom how many weird objects that yokai kept in his collections? Draxum was kinda an obsessive hoarder. No way I would recognize them all. Generally speaking, the smaller and more inconspicuous something seemed, the more you should worry, and that sphere could easily pass as a simple bowling ball.

The spider queen flipped once with her left fingers and her assistant moved forward to accept the payment. Right when they took the ball, I made a grab for it. Even while holding onto it, they intercepted my movement and flung me around. I landed on the pavement, and they were locking me in an excellent grapple that didn’t seem to take much effort.

“Fine, fine,” I yielded, “just wanted to mess with you, sheesh.”

The assistant stopped bending my arm to its limits and I could get back up.

“Nice reflexes,” I complimented them. Their mask remained without a voice, they simply gave me a small nod.

“Stop fooling around,” Draxum told me, and I shrugged disarmingly.

Big Mama received the ball with a hungry gleam in her eyes.

“I accept,” she announced, “have fun with my train.” She was half-turned to leave when she gave me a small wave: “And remember, Big Mama always receives her payment.”

 I returned her wave with my armored hand and saw the two vanish in the crowd, getting the strong sense that this will bite me in the butt eventually.

“If you’re here, go make yourself useful. That loud recruit should know more,” Draxum ordered me and walked briskly to the train. A bit weird of him to not comment on the gauntlet, though I figured he must have been informed by the flame-heads already.

“Aye, aye, chef,” I saluted and went over to the female ninja.

That girl really gave ‘being-stressed-af’ a whole new definition. She was loudly instructing the other ninjas, correcting anyone who might be stepping out of line, and keeping a list on which, she furiously made nodes.

“Yo,” I offered as a greeting.

I had expected her to be at least a bit surprised or annoyed or, let’s be honest, both when she would see me, but all I got was a brief glance of recognition and a “finally, you’re here”.

“Wouldn’t miss such a grand event.” I gestured to the train. I didn’t even finish my sentence when she screamed over the crowd at someone who was taking a break without her permission.

“It’s so difficult to find competent evil ninjas, these days,” she sighed and with her pen pointed me to follow her to a stack of boxes. I couldn’t sense any malicious vibe so those weren’t containing any dark armor pieces.

“Mind-boggling, really,” I mused sarcastically and asked her: “So what’s with all the boxes?”

While she gave them a quick check, the recruit explained: “Those are our supplies. We don’t know how long it will take for the actual ritual to succeed so we are packing some weapons, food, first aid, and card games.”

“How will your bosses survive without their daily Starbucks fix though?” I wondered and I got no retort. That was really untypical for her. Even if this was an important event for the foot clan, she should at least seem more energetic and not that…nervous.

“Pick one and I show you where they go on the train, you can do the rest on your own,” she instructed me.

I hesitated. “Where are the first aid boxes, those should come first, right? It’s in the name and all.”

The recruit squinted hard at me. “You know, the more you blabber the less I understand you.”

I flashed her a grin in response, and she gestured at some boxes. “Sure, why not, in this case, take one of these.”

With the cargo in hand, I trotted behind her. We entered the train at a different compartment than the rest of the clan, passed through the wagon, and at one end of it was a wall covered with round and colorful stones in different sizes and shapes. Must be fixed portal stones to diverse areas of the train. Never seen so many in one place.  

The recruit pointed at a smaller grey stone and said: “This is where these boxes go. You think you can go there and come back on your own?”

I locked eyes with her. Her first instinct was to avert them, then she forced them to remain steady and she returned my stare.

It was so easy to see through her lies. I seriously wondered if she was cut out for a villain career.

“Sure,” I told her, moved forward, and shifted the box to one hand to touch the stone with the other. “And hey,” I called back to her, “I’m sorry again for what happened that one time. Didn’t want to hurt you.”

I booped the mystic device and it transported me to another compartment. It was a small room, with a few lanterns that hung from the ceiling. I turned to the wall where I came from and there was nothing, just a normal wall. Each wagon SHOULD contain an identical inlay with all the teleportation stones, but this one had four identically smooth frames. No doors, no windows, no exit.

In other words, it was a trap.

I placed the box down and searched the room for anything else. Sure enough, I sensed seals at all sides. They were similar to the one that had ‘limited’ my odachi’s abilities for years. This meant, I also couldn’t simply blast my way out of there.

I opened the box I had brought with me. It indeed contained a few first-aid kits.

Allowing myself a short rest, I sat down and leaned against one of the walls. It was quiet, so much so that I almost dozed off. After maybe half an hour passed, the train started to move. I waited another half an hour before I began to stretch and yawn. Sluggishly I removed the jacket, it was likely I had to leave it behind.

A voice thundered through my head, his irritation was clearly audible.

‘What are you doing?’ asked the gauntlet spirit, ‘you walked into this trap fully aware that it was one? And now you’re just idling around?’

‘Well, duh,’ I thought back at him.

I had expected the foot clan to prepare some sort of ploy. They wanted the gauntlet after all and didn’t trust me to give it to them voluntarily, so they lured me here, hoping they could deal with me once the train would reach its destination. Wasn’t a bad plan. If I would be able to give them any feedback it would be that it was way too obvious.

‘It doesn’t matter how obvious it is when you are stuck either way,’ the spirit chided me, reading my mind.

‘They believe they’ve taken care of me, isn’t that the perfect moment to strike back?’ I asked him.

‘Only if you are strong enough to do so,’ he sighed.

Hated to admit it, but the gauntlet was right about that bit. I had never been powerful enough to remove a mystic seal on my own and channeling enough energy through the gauntlet would be a wager. Especially when I was already drained.

Good thing, I was able to prep some things on my way here.

I grabbed one of the first-aid packages from the box and placed its contents on the floor in front of me. It had everything that you would expect from such a kit. I fished for an empty syringe, inspected it, and placed it on some tissues.

Next, I reached for my side pouch and took out a vial.

This wasn’t my vial. It had originally belonged to Big Mama’s assistant. Had to take a dive for it and let myself get thrown around so they wouldn’t notice my actual target. Must be something important if they kept a handful of these things in their inside pockets. I initially suspected it to be some sort of crystal when in fact the vial contained a greenish-shimmering liquid. Not many things had such unique properties and I had known an experimental substance that looked just like it.

You might be asking how this assistant got into possession of these things and so did I. At this point, I had some theories about their identity and why they wore such a cool disguise all the time. That would be, however, something I had to deal with later. If there even was a ‘later’.

I wondered if the vial was a gift or my death sentence, I couldn’t decide. I was only certain that it was a blast from the past.

‘A curious liquid, you got there,’ the gauntlet spirit commented. It was so sudden and random that I visibly flinched, almost spilling some of the vial’s contents.

‘It enhances one’s mystic abilities,’ I thought, ‘I could drink it but it’s better if you inject it. If my hunch is correct that is.’

I uncapped the glass and sniffed. I recognized the faint scent of grass leaves and smoke and started to transfer it into the needle. 

‘You’re willing to use it based on a hunch?’ He sounded weirdly curious.

“Yeah well, SOMETHING caused me to run on my reserve energy since last night.” I was so pissed at him that I didn’t even care that I said that out loud. I had filled up the syringe in the meantime. Shouldn’t hesitate too much or I would realize that I was out of my mind.

‘As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got two options. Either I face whatever lies ahead exhausted and sucked dry and die trying or I’m right, and this is a Draxum-trademark substance that will boost my mystic energy for an indefinite amount of time with no guarantee that I drop dead from the side effects.’ It was unclear if I told all of this to the spirit or to myself.

I put the needle in my normal hand, out of fear the gauntlet would crush it without my consent and I needed a moment to decide where to aim it. I wasn’t used to doing this part on my own. Choosing a place above the elbow I injected the mystic booster and made sure I didn’t stop pressing until there was no liquid left. The process itself didn’t hurt much.

A familiar sensation kicked, the moment I put the needle aside. One that I hadn’t missed one bit. I doubled over, my whole body was trembling and whatever was in my stomach wanted to get out asap. I crawled to a corner and hurled. Once I was done with that, I backed away and collapsed, panting.

‘Wonderful, I think it worked.’

‘You’re truly out of your mind.’ The voice seemed…maybe, surprised? Or it wanted to face-palm itself? Would definitely be a first for a spirit.

I laughed drily and staggered up to my feet. ‘I get that a lot,’ I returned.

After forcing myself to have a few sips of water from a flask I had scavenged from the box, I tried to get a sense of my body and its state. No way I felt refreshed. That whole schtick hadn’t been about my physicality from the get-go. This was about the mystic mojo running through my veins. I closed my eyes and opened my mind, testing how far I could reach.

The whole-ass train glowed up. I could sense every essence present within it: From the usual passengers to some really questionable ones to the flame-heads. That wasn’t what I was interested in though.

At the very front, I found it calling out to me: The dark armor. Its parts were neatly distributed and probably wrapped up in old newspapers and another essence I wish I wouldn’t know so well was with them. Draxum was guarding the precious cargo. Waiting. Expecting.

I groaned and cussed under my breath as I opened my eyes again. Not all energy bubbles disappeared. A translucent line was hovering near me and toward and through one side of the wall. It was a thin strand made of pure blue light.

‘It is a guide, leading you to what you desire,’ the spirit observed.

‘Wow, you’re almost as perceptive as Miss Marple,’ I responded and turned to the seals. They were placed on the outside, which meant I couldn’t reach them physically.

‘That is not my name,’ the voice protested, missing the sarcasm AND the pop-culture reference.

I pressed my armored hand on the first wall and focused. I conjured up an image of the seal bursting and sent something similar to a lightning strike through that side of the room. I was elated sensing it had worked. The seal had vanished.

‘Oh yeah?’ I thought and asked since I was in a fairly good mood: ‘What is your name then?’

I didn’t hear any response while I removed the remaining seals. All that was left was to create a door to the next compartment.

That’s when he decided to return to my headspace: ‘Saki’.

I paused. Saki? Really? That sounded a lot less menacing than I had expected.  

I walked over to the side where the mystic thread was leading me and readied an armored fist, imbued it with an extra dose of mystic, and punched a hole in the wall.

Beyond it, thankfully, was another almost barren wagon. Some of the boxes that the recruit had pointed out as rations were stacked up to my left and right.

The spirit…Saki…invaded my mind again and when I blinked the boxes changed into food stalls, and the rattling floor shifted into a familiar walkway. In front of me, I saw one of my favorite streets in the hidden city coming to life. Vendors I had known for years waved at me, yokai ran past me and sat down to eat, and neon signs brightened up an ever-night world.

‘What did I tell you about peeking into people’s memories,’ I told the gauntlet-spirit.

‘I simply wanted to make your walk through this compartment more enjoyable,’ Saki explained.

I wasn’t buying it.

As we continued our conversation in my head, I walked with slow and steady steps through the illusion. Knowing that the spirit could read my thoughts, I tried not to think about how my heart rate increased a little from the surge of nostalgia.

‘I provide us with more mystic energy, and you use it for…this?’ I pressed him further.

‘You think you found a home, but I know that old ties cannot be severed so easily. I wanted to remind you of where you came from,” Saki elaborated. This time we got closer to the truth.

‘Why?’ I suppressed the urge to return a greeting of one of the stall owners. ‘Because YOU like to remind yourself of your past?’

‘No,’ he said woefully, ‘because I don’t have a past, I could remember.’

I was almost at the end of the street. ‘That doesn’t make any sense. I saw some of your memories.’

‘Those weren’t mine,’ Saki insisted and didn’t say anything further.

I stopped and stared at a supposedly concrete wall and told him: ‘Somehow, I get the sense you aren’t the actual spirit of the armor. That energy feels much more menacing. No offense.’

‘I am not the only being whose soul got trapped, but you can think of me as his regrets.’

‘Whose regrets?’ I asked him, but it was too late. The vision stopped, and the spirit drew itself back like mist in the morning and I found myself standing right in front of a large panel with stone inlays. The blue wafting line hovered past me and into a big black piece of granite that was one of the wall’s centerpieces.

A bit obvious to ‘hide’ it there but I ain’t complaining.

I grabbed one of my swords and poked the stone. I felt myself being pulled into a local portal and a few seconds after, being spat out on the other side. My eyes had to readjust to the even dimmer light that only came from lanterns that hung in opposing corners way back on the other side of the room. It seemed squarer and ampler than the ones I had passed through. There was nothing in here either but a wooden partition that probably led to another adjacent wagon, and I was sure that beyond that simple door lay what I was looking for.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here?” Came a voice from the shadows and since I was constantly now in ‘mystic-eyes’ mode it wasn’t difficult to locate Draxum to my far left even if my normal eyesight couldn’t make him out.

“Well, I got bored,” I told him, unsheathing both swords, “you should have at least left something to read in there. I currently prefer Agatha Christie novels.”

The yokai stepped nearer and I could make out some of his features in the shine of the candlelight. I could also sense and catch glimpses from dozens of vines that didn’t move much but would be quick to grapple me.

Draxum shook his head, hands behind his back as he came closer.

“I just cannot understand why you’re doing all this. I believed your antics to be your attempt at figuring yourself out and I was willing to play along for a while. But this goes too far.” His voice was calm and for once wasn’t soaked in belittlement or dismissiveness. From the perspective of the great warrior scientist, I was a teenager who had an identity crisis and lashed out because of it. From the beginning, he must have been sure that once I ‘calmed down’ I would come back to him, like the loyal dog that I had been. I realized that, for him, nothing really had changed. While to me, everything was different. Walking through that illusion helped me to be certain about that.

“Sure, it started out as an attempt to piss you off,” I told him and stepped carefully to the right trying to circle him.

“But along the way,” I continued, “it became something real. I learned a lot during my time with the other beta experiments. Like what it means to have standards and morals. Well, it’s not like you can teach something that you aren’t familiar with yourself.”

The sheep-yokai chuckled a bit as if I told him an evergreen joke (which was technically impossible because he had never laughed at any of my excellent word puns).  

“All they did is trick you into believing that their position is the right one and that I was the villain and isn’t that convenient? It eases one’s consciousness when we put the blame on someone else,” he made a throw-away gesture.

My grip around the swords got tighter and I found myself getting a bit louder, my emotions cracking through my facade: “I told you that I don’t see myself as a hero, I’m not delusional. But the others are. You wanna know why?”

I paused and swirled around to cut through two of his vines that had sneaked up on me. I felt the serum fuelling my very being and the room was now bright with all the mystic sources inside of it.

After chopping the vines into pieces, I pointed with one sword tip at him and said: “They make anyone feel valid even when they’re broken. And they make them want to try. To be kinder to others and to themselves.” 

Without moving an inch, Draxum commanded most of the vines to rush at me at once. I used one of the forms Splinter had taught me that was meant to ward off several attackers. Turns out it was also very effective to slice through overgrown weeds. I swirled on my heels and hacked and sliced and ducked like I never had in my life.

It certainly helped that I saw the vines, not as dark green but purplish glowing strings. The same went for their creator, who charged at me from a darkened corner. My head wasn’t even turned in his direction when I intercepted his attack, for which he used MY odachi.

“You really thought you could sneak up on me?” I boasted, pushing him two feet back and repositioning myself.

It was difficult to make out the details of his face, so I could only guess his reaction. I hadn’t planned on giving too much of my abilities away and I instantly regretted my last comment when after a short pause Draxum exclaimed: “So it worked! Those experiments to enhance your mystic abilities actually succeeded. What wonderful news!”

Right, there was the scientist who got excited and intrigued once he realized that one of his tests went well.

“Don’t kid yourself!” I shouted as rushed at him, “you tied me to a chair when I was a kid, and fucking tortured me. You’ve no right to feel gratified!”

Nothing mystic could get past my extended senses, but brute strength was working just fine regardless. I aimed with both my swords simultaneously and the remainder of his vines got in my way to block my attempt. The blades got stuck and in order to not get thrown around by the greens I yanked at least one free and pushing myself off the vines, I jumped back.

“As soon as something doesn’t go your way, you revert to violence,” Draxum sighed and sheathed my odachi to provoke me even further. “Don’t you see that nothing has changed? You lie and you keep lying. To yourself, and everyone around you. Did you tell anyone about these abilities? I bet none of the other experiments know of, let alone understands them.”

He gave me a chance to protest at this point, being fully aware that I wouldn’t object. Of course, I had continuously put it on the back burner with a promise to explain it to them and that moment had never come.

“See?” He said satisfied, “there is no ounce of honesty in you and that’s who you are, how you grew stronger, and what I consider a successful creation.” 

The gauntlet knew that the time had come. The small blade on the back of my hand appeared and my oath to never use it was only audible in the back of my head. It got drowned out by the deafening sound that my fury created. I sprinted toward him a second time and with a shrug, Draxum blocked my way again with his vines. This time I was prepared for them, and I deliberately rammed my remaining sword into them, pulled me up, and catapulted myself over the blockade. Even while I flew at him, the yokai seemed not too concerned because I appeared to have no weapon left. That was until he saw my right hand forming into a fist and something small but dangerously sharp sticking out from above the metallic knuckles.

I basically crashed into him and threw him off his feet with myself kneeling on top. Before we even hit the ground, I started to punch Pops in the chest and left deep cuts with the blade.

“I. AM. MORE. THAN. YOUR. FUCKING. EXPERIMENT.”

I yelled, with each word hitting him again and again, piercing through his armor and into his skin every time. Under me, Draxum grunted, first in surprise then in increasing pain. Two of the few remaining vines wrapped themselves around my torso and flung me into a corner.

The impact rattled my shell, though not enough to make me stop. I made it for my swords and retrieved one by the time the sheep-yokai got up. I was sure we both silently agreed that we were past pleasantries and that what we felt couldn’t be translated into anything else but violence.

Next, I tried a maneuver where I threw my weapon (who even throws a sword? That was damn stupid of me) and grab his arms with the gauntlet. That failed spectacularly and earned me a direct punch to my face. Staggering back, I now had a bleeding and pulsating laceration on my left lower lip. Draxum as well felt for one of the stab wounds and regarded the blood on his hand.

I saw this as an invitation to exploit the holes I had made and hit him with my normal and my weaponized fist repeatedly. I was leaving myself wide open and while I managed to draw blood from a few more places, he also got me real good, elbowing me in the head and kicking me in the guts. This had turned into a fistfight between two idiots who could read their opponent’s strategy all too well.

A lot of our mock battles had been…rough. It hurt, yes, but we never aimed for any vitals.

This was exactly the same.

I didn’t understand why he would hold back. He probably wanted to mock me while I did it out of my new conviction.

From across the wagon, we stared at each other as we caught our breaths and expected the other to make the next move. That’s when Draxum noticed the glow of a shard in one of his sash pockets. He kept one eye on me and one on the mystic communication device as he answered it.

“I hope it’s urgent or I will have your head,” he barked into it.

Someone’s voice came from the stone, but I was too far away to understand anything. It might have belonged to the Captain, which was naturally low and raspy.

Whatever and whoever was on the line, the yokai wasn’t happy about it. His answer was a definitive command: “I don’t care! Deal with them!”

This short break wasn’t doing me any good. My feet and hands started to tingle, and my neck felt strangely cold. I wasn’t just physically exhausted. I wish it would have been only that. No. The boost that the injection gave me was also wearing off, or, the more terrifying option, it was about the change gear. Whatever was happening, I was running out of time.

My attention shifted from dealing with sixteen years of pent-up aggression and issues to getting past Draxum as fast as possible.

I pretended to approach him for another strike and halfway changed course to a paper lantern that hung to my left. I ripped it off its place and threw it at his face, hoping it would confuse him so I could make haste to the partition.

No chance. A vine caught my right ankle, swept me off my feet, and pulled me back. For once Saki and I were of the same opinion and out of my mouth spoke two voices at once: “Don’t get in my way, you monster.”

With the gauntlet-blade I cut myself free and staggered upwards, not without feeling extremely nauseous.

The yokai clicked with his tongue. “Getting possessed by the armor, I thought you would be stronger than this.”

“I’m so done with the both of you,” I groaned.

It took me way too much effort to push the spirit back this time. It was disorienting and my normal plus my mystic senses went into overdrive where I sensed for a few seconds anything and everything all at once. Was there a small fire on the ground from the lantern that he had tossed aside? Wait, where were my swords? How could I even sense hundreds of yokais and at the same time, my eyes couldn’t even focus on one thing?

I blinked and the whole room wobbled. My veins felt like liquid fire was pumping through them. That was the serum taking over my bloodstream, and it was clearly too much for my body to handle.

Not now, not yet.

I vaguely registered that Draxum was talking to me. I wasn’t sure what it was about, and I didn’t care. I pointed at him with the gauntlet, summoned most of my remaining energy into a blast that erupted from my fingertip and hit him right in the stomach. The impact pushed him into a wall where he collapsed, blue sparks of energy sizzling around his body.

The door.

I just needed to get to the door. Destroy the armor. Simple.

Something burned, I didn’t check.

Only a few steps.

Wait, how does one walk again?

Feet, right, feet existed. I made myself move. It was the most strenuous task I had ever done, walking, more like hobbling, to that partition.

My brain was dangerously close to shutting down and the single thing that kept it from doing so was one thought that was playing in my head on repeat: ‘not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet’.

I was about to reach out for the handle when from behind me came: “Leo! We found you!”

Impossible.

They couldn’t be here.

I tilted my head to glance behind me. The fire from the lantern was eating its way through the wagon’s wooden frames and beyond it stood the three figures, three turtles.

They wore a new get-up, all black- and-red with the Hamato crest proudly adorning the identical robes. It didn’t suit them.

The wall of fire made me think I was burning, and they stared at me as I was slowly dissolving.

I started to laugh hysterically, which made my body rattle uncontrollably.

“That’s just cruel, Saki,” I called the spirit out in a cracked, broken voice, “that you would show me an illusion of them. You should’ve known better.”

My head moved back to the door. If just one bit of my sanity would have still been intact, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did. Being in the state that I was in, I believed the others weren’t really here, that it was the gauntlet playing pranks on me or it was the serum that was causing my insides to corrode. Take your pick.

I grabbed the handle to get to the armor and finish my mission, but I never reached that point.

The compartment tilted, and suddenly I heard my head hitting the floor. My limbs had gone numb, my muscles weren’t mine to control anymore. My ears were ringing. Muffled I could make out screams and three different voices called my name over and over. My eyes were hardly open at this point so all I could see was a large frame that shouted something like: “You idiot, what have done?” Afterward, I would reconstruct those fragments and understand that Draxum knelt beside me, turning me to lie on my back and examining me.

Whatever he would have tried to do, it would have been too late. The gauntlet was using this opportunity to take all my life’s energy, not just the mystic reserves. Everything.

When your fading consciousness understands that you are about to die, some interesting things happen. You start to feel wide awake even as you’re already kinda asleep and you start to beg. There’s no peaceful release. You instinctively cling to yourself in the conviction that despite all odds your time is not up.

Something blocked the spirit of the dark armor, and cast it out of mind and body while it was already relishing in a contract being fulfilled. It was another powerful presence that, in the past, I could only faintly and occasionally sense.

“I can hold him back for now,” echoed a woman’s voice in my head, “it is not much but it must suffice.”

Her mystic energy was weaker than Saki’s, yet I knew it was flowing through me and keeping me alive. It was a warm and comforting sensation, like drinking hot cocoa after coming home from a winter walk. I liked that idea.

I dreamed of joining everyone at the lair for some, Mikey even garnished the cocoa with marshmallows that Donnie flambéed with his flame-thrower, and Raph was chasing them with a fire extinguisher at the ready.

I smiled.

Chapter 27: Rotten Apple

Summary:

I cannot believe this fic reached 20k hits!!! Thank you guys so much for your continued love and support!! I honestly never expected this when I started this project, not that people would actually be interested or that I would even be interested long enough. I cannot explain why this fic became so important to me and such constant fun to write and share, but here we are, still going! I intend to celebrate this milestone with another special chapter, but since I’ve been sick the last week, I haven’t gotten around to truly planning or writing anything. But I’ll keep you guys updated, as usual. Plus, the following chapter is an important one to me, so it’s kinda fitting that it coincides with this milestone.
Please be aware of the cw/tw as usual: Descriptions of wounds and aftereffects of narcosis, gaslighting, and self-harm.

Massive shout-out to Zackth3artist for drawing this amazing head-shot for a scene from chapter 26! (Check it out here: https://at.tumblr.com/zackth3artist/fanart-of-the-neon-separated-au-which-is-created/8yndbxqzqkbe)
And also, many thanks to the incredible Diaprit who shared their experiences with me and made this chapter what it is!

Love you guys - Jazz

From that nice dream of cocoa and smiles, my mind plummeted into nothingness. Whatever happened between collapsing in that compartment and until I regained consciousness is but a blur, just a few fragments stuck with me.

I halfway woke up, blinking against too-bright lights and being aware that Draxum was hovering over me based on his unclear silhouette and the occasional curses. Something was wrapped around my arms and legs. His chest pulsated weirdly, and it reminded me of the mystic energy patterns of his vines. I considered raising my head when even keeping my eyes open got too tiresome and I quickly drifted into a dreamless sleep.  

With no idea how long, I was out a second time, I became aware of myself, somehow sitting on the ground and leaning against a wall that rattled and vibrated softly.

‘Train,’ I thought in a failed attempt to make sense of anything more complex.

Instead, I focused on the amazing ability to breathe air in and out and on my chest heaving with that effort.

I was alive.

By some sort of miracle, ‘me’ didn’t end in front of that partition while everything around me had burned.

The woman’s voice and presence were like an aftertaste that I wasn’t sure where it had originated from, why it had been there in the first place and what role it had played.

“I should call for the other captives. We will reach our destination soon and need to decide what to do with them,” I heard someone saying. I couldn’t grasp the meaning of their words.

Holding onto thoughts or impressions was a bit like I was trying to hold on to sand that trickled through my hands.

“They refused my offers to make them into the warriors I designed them to be, and I don’t see much use for them as we’re so close to achieving our goals,” another voice determined with much gravity.

My eyelids opened halfway.

Draxum.

The world consisted, at first, only of diffuse dots. While I forced myself to blink a few times and out of my delirious state the conversation continued.

“Plus, they foiled our plans many times and I don’t want them to swoop in on the ceremony and disrupt it,” agreed the other person. The Captain. I gradually remembered everything about him and the foot and the armor.

Shit, the armor.

With my head lolling downwards I made out my outstretched legs, bruised, covered with vines, and tied together on the ankles with metal chains. In my lap were my hands, also crossed and secured by the wrists with a thick chain. One arm was normal, one was covered in metal.

This damn thing.

I recalled the gauntlet seizing my deepest essence to claim it and snuff my lights out for good.

I still couldn’t move. Everything ached, was either numb or pounding in pain. All I could do was actively listen to footsteps, one more heavy, two more light-footed. The clinking of metal and the sound of a door being closed.

“Sensei, here are the other turtles,” announced a female voice. The recruit. The guilt in her eyes as she led me into their trap flashed by, but then three colors invaded my thoughts and overtook them. Red. Orange. Purple.

“What did you do with Leo?” Raph asked, probably the moment he had been led into the wagon.

I had no idea where I was in approximation to them.

‘Come on,’ I thought to myself, ‘move, you stupid body.’

“I stabilized him that’s all,” Draxum assured. I heard his hooves clacking on the ground, approaching me as I saw and heard them getting nearer me. “That idiot almost killed himself. I wouldn’t have been able to amputate the gauntlet if he had remained in such a condition.”

“What did he even try to accomplish?” the Captain mused. “Did you two have another family argument?”

My eyelids stopped flickering and my thoughts didn’t feel as thick and chewy as half-eating gum anymore.

“Family argument? Where did you get that idea?” The yokai responded rather confused.

“Well, he said –“ the foot-face started to defend himself. He was cut off by Draxum harshly returning: “You imbeciles really believed what HE was telling you? Don’t you see? He was up there to claim the armor for himself. He got a taste for its might and wanted to get the rest.”

“You’re a liar!”

In all the months I had known him, Mikey had never sounded as upset as he did at that moment.

“And why is that?” Draxum addressed the smallest of the trio. His tone showed more amusement than anger. “You think you know him so well? Then please tell me why you needed to chase after him.”

“We didn’t chase after him,” Donnie defended them. I felt nostalgic hearing his typical tongue-in-cheek voice. “We looked for the armor and lo’ and behold we found it. It was your recruit who let it accidentally slip that Leon was also here.”

“Too bad this is where your mission ended and failed,” the Captain concluded. “I say we toss them out of the train while passing through the interdimensional pocket. That way we’re sure they cannot come back.”

My head shot up.

What did he just say?

I quickly scanned the room. Made a note of the foot ninjas on both sides that protected the stone inlays and doors, of the two a-holes in command, the recruit, Draxum, and finally…I stared at Raph, Donnie, and Mikey kneeling in front of their enemies in similar confinements as I found myself in. Their feet were limited by shackles, and they had chains wrapped around the entirety of their upper bodies with their arms forced to their back shells. Their traditional Hamato robes gave them an eery air of unity and dignity. The black-red garments were torn in a few places, but otherwise, they weren’t visibly harmed. Gone were the color-coded get-ups and individual gear. Their weapons were naturally nowhere near them.

And they stared back at me. The shine of relief in their eyes even predominated their general confusion and fear.

“Leo? Leo, are you okay?” Raph was the first to collect himself.

I couldn’t find any words. I couldn’t express how I felt about him being worried about me when he was the one who was supposed to be thrown out into the nether or to even answer his question with a simple ‘of course not’.

“Finally awake, it seems,” Draxum commented. He was standing closest to me. The yokai pointed at me with an open palm, and I noticed how the small vines that had been wrapped around my legs and arms retracted. Those must have provided me with enough ‘sustenance’.

“Still feels like a nightmare,” I returned to him. There was no bite behind it. I was way too disoriented for rhetorical nuances.

“We shouldn’t drag this on too long or we will lose our chance to imprison them,” the Captain reminded us and the sheep-yokai nodded.

“I should be able to remove the gauntlet now. You can take care of the rest.”

The Brute moved behind Donnie and pulled him up. Panic started to settle in, everyone stammered at once. Protests were half-formed. Raph struggled against his chains, denting them slightly.

That couldn’t be it.

I couldn’t just let it end like this.

All of this was my fault, to begin with.

“Wait,” I began but didn’t know what else to say and it got drowned out by everyone else shouting over each other.

What could we do?

We had no weapons. No secret powers. I was tapped. They were for sure tired as well. This train consisted of nothing but enemies and we were currently passing through a plane of existence that wasn’t even ours.

It lasted mere seconds during which I was helplessly watching each of them getting forced up their feet. The recruit flanked the door on the other end, observing the scene with a strained expression. Draxum appeared bored if anything.

Those seconds stretched into infinity for me. I thought of every possibility, every angle, every lie, or explanation I could give them.

The spirit of the gauntlet that hovered inside me was quite pleased about this display of raw despair. How did I know that? I got something similar to goosebumps from sensing emotions that definitely weren’t mine. I hadn’t even been sure if it had remained with me or if this was Saki or someone…something…else. Whatever it was and whomever I was connected to, it gave me an idea.

A terrible idea.

But to be fair, aren’t all my ideas terrible?

“Wait! You fucking morons!” I put every ounce of command I could muster into my vocal cords.

The Brute halted in his motion to push Raph to the door with Donnie and Mikey closely behind them. He and the Captain turned around. The warrior scientist crossed his arms and regarded me expectantly. He was the only one that might recognize what I was about to do, based on the way my posture changed, my eyes gleamed sharply, and my lips formed the suggestion of a smile.

“Are you really just throwing away such a great opportunity?” I asked. I locked my eyes with the Captain while I willed the gauntlet to slowly extend its claws.

“What opportunity? To free you?” he threw back at me. I almost wanted to sigh in relief, I had lured him successfully into my bargain.

I swallowed hard before continuing: “To destroy every remnant of the Hamato clan, your mortal enemy, once and for all.”

The compartment was completely silent. For a heartbeat, the shouts and cheers of the Battle Nexus rang in my ears from a time when I had enjoyed such attention. How I relished in them with no sympathy for those I hurt in the process. In this wagon, every eye on me stung and made me itchy like a dozen mosquito bites. Guess, this was karma coming back to haunt me.

“Explain, but make it quick,” Draxum gave me permission.

“You are missing an important piece of the armor.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

I moved my head away from the others, unable to say what I intended while being aware they were watching.

“I not only know the current location of this piece,” I paused for the dramatic effect, “no. That wouldn’t be enough. I could deliver the helmet to you along with Hamato Yoshi, the last true descendant of the Hamato clan.”

“What are you talking about? Leo, answer me!” Raph called over to me and I ignored him. I focused on tearing up the chains with my claws. I slit into my flesh in the process, not too deep though. Once my hands were free, I repeated the process on my ankles.

“Tying me up like that, seriously you guys have no taste,” I complained as I stood up, holding my bleeding right hand.

“Answer me!” the big guy’s scream was not a plea anymore. It was a demand.

I did my best to focus on my performance.

One last performance.

Where I would need to betray them, in order to save us. Ain't that fittingly ironic.

“If you want the satisfaction of destroying Lou Jitsu as you complete the armor you need these three alive. They are like his sons. When he knows they’re in danger, he’ll come to their rescue. I’m sure he’ll abandon his clan’s creed and deliver the armor HIMSELF if it means keeping them safe,” I said with my eyes switching back and forth between Draxum and the Captain.

“Intriguing,” the yokai wore a sickeningly sweet smile, “and what do you get out of it?”

“To be done with this shit,” I said with finality and genuine frustration.

“And who should be the lucky messenger?” The commanding flame-head needed apparently some time to wrap his mind around the idea.

I stopped pressing my armored hand on my fresh wound and regarded the blood that dripped down the slick silver metal.

“Me of course, because you are going to hand me back my odachi,” I said matter-of-factly. Draxum padded the hilt of the sword that hung around his belt.

“So, you can portal away from here and never be heard of again? Or even better, come back with more enemies? I don’t think so,” the Brute protested.

I made the gauntlet into a fist, not looking up because it would make this so much more difficult.

“I told you that I would hand you this part of the dark armor when the time was right. Well, I think I should make good on that promise. I’ll give you the gauntlet now and get the sword in return. No complicated medical procedures necessary and I’m going to be the messenger since I know where their lair is. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“That’s ridiculous. You’re just bluffing,” the Captain sounded even more skeptical than that one time when the recruit told him the nearby coffee shop had run out of stock of his favorite cupcakes.

“Give me a second to concentrate,” I held one finger up to signal the number, “and I’ll show you where my allegiance truly remains.”

The foot-faces and Draxum exchanged nods. Everything was currently in their favor. What did they have to lose? Worst case, it didn’t work, and they had something to laugh about as they conquered the world.

“Make it quick,” they told me.

I had no time to prepare for this improvisation act. It was a mere theory, speculation, loose fragments of previous ideas that had popped up from when Usagi told us about the general properties of mystic artifacts.

Putting my normal hand on top of the gauntlet and thus smearing it further with blood, I closed my eyes to call out to Saki.

A voice answered that was similar yet distinct. It was more violent, hungry, and calculating. That was the entirety of the dark armor whose presence was, as I entered the mystic plane myself, almost overwhelming.

With my spirit directly confronting it, the armor considered finishing what it had started before some other presence intercepted it earlier. I forced myself not to panic and instead did something no other wielder had ever dared.

I offered the dark armor a new contract.

I could hear a low chuckle wandering all across my brain.

I repeated the offer. Laying bare all my determination in our spiritual connection.

The essence of the dark armor was clearly amused. It also knew I was absolutely serious. There was no way I would be able to lie to a spirit who could invade my mind at any moment.

It lingered, then stated its conditions.

My heart stopped for a second.

My initial instinct was to bargain, but it would have been a waste of time. This contract would be under these circumstances or not at all.

“Fine,” I simply said, and it was the only thing about this whole conversation that was audible to everybody else.

When I opened my eyes, I beheld a gauntlet too broad and big to fit me. It had five fingers, and the overall structure was meant for a human. It was how it originally looked back when we found it on April’s birthday.

I pulled my arm out and paused and stared in disbelief. Up to the elbow from where the armor had extended to and down to the fingertips, my skin was black. Not midnight-black, more a mixture of a dark shade of grey and green. It was as if I had dipped my arm into a bucket of that color and it had coated over my skin permanently. My natural nails were also tinted and more pointed than they should be.

A reminder, I guessed, for our new contract.

To be honest, despite the horrors that just elapsed, I kinda enjoyed Draxum’s dumb-founded face. No way he had expected me to ‘pull’ this off (pun intended).

“What is that?” he gestured at the gauntlet and my arm. I tossed him the armor piece like we were playing a game of hot potato and casually said: “Apparently, the dark armor has an equally dark sense of humor.”

“YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT THE WHOLE TIME?”

My head turned to Donnie, his teeth churning and his frown way beyond casually judgmental.

“You are telling me,” he repeated when he knew he had my attention, “that you could have done that earlier and you let me design prosthetics for you like a complete idiot?”

I walked up to him until we were maybe half a step apart, nobody dared to stop me. I had just done the impossible and clearly had connections to the foot’s eternal master that nobody could understand.

My eyes regarded Donnie from top to bottom before saying: “You’re the self-proclaimed genius, you tell me if this was all a mistake.”

As an answer, he spat at me. The saliva hit my left cheek. I did my best not to flinch and forced my facial expression to remain neutral.

Next to him, I heard hiccups and sobs. Mikey had fallen over and was on his knees for a second time.

I knelt in front of him, careful not to touch him. His frame seemed so small and fragile. It would be better if he would stop caring, which is why I attempted to defuse the situation by saying half-jokingly: “Oh, come on, you really thought your little social experiment would work?”

Mikey continued to cry his heart out. I sighed and held up the now demonic-looking hand to underline my words, even though he didn’t lift his head to see it.

“If an apple is rotten to its core, you cannot undo it. The apple will never become healthy again. It will simply continue to rot away.”

“No. You’re wrong.” Tears flowed from under Mikey’s red mask down his cheeks as he vehemently shook his head.

It was unbearable to watch.

I grabbed him by the chains around his plastron and lifted him up. Then I moved my face toward him, so we were almost cheek to cheek, and I said in his right ear: “You cannot force someone to be something they’re not, you’ve to-“

“Get away from him,” Raph interrupted me and I let go of Mikey to shift my attention to the big guy.

“Always looking out for your brothers,” I stressed the last word like it was an insult, and moved backward without breaking eye contact. “How admirable.”

“Just tell me this,” Donnie sounded and appeared dejected. He was clearly done with me, once and for all. “Just so I’ll get my ‘I-told-you-so’ bragging rights. Since when did you play this double-triple-cross betrayal game?”

“Who’s to say I ever stopped at one point?” I asked back, refusing him an answer or any kind of visible remorse.

I turned around with brisk moves, extended my left hand towards the Draxum, and demanded: “My sword.”

He passed the gauntlet to the Captain, and theatrically unsheathed my odachi. He threw it in a high arc, and I caught it by the hilt. It was so much heavier than Splinter’s dual katanas. I missed them already.

“You have 24 hours. If you don’t return with what you promised until then we’ll see no further need for the…bargaining chips,” the yokai nodded to the turtles, “and we will come for the helmet ourselves.”

“Do what you want,” I shrugged and asked the Captain: “Where is this train heading anyway? I need to know if I’m to portal them directly to you.”

“I won’t give you the specifics.” It was admirable that he remained wary of me, it was the only smart thing to do. “Go to the New York Stadium and look for tunnels that lead downwards. Once you are on the right track, you will be met with foot soldiers patrolling along the way.”

“Understood,” I confirmed his instructions and readied myself. I was way too panicked to think of any specific place, but I cut through the air regardless and a portal flashed into existence.

Without turning my head to Draxum, I made a promise to him.

“I won’t disappoint you, Pops.”

It was a reminder from a lifetime ago. An echo from when I portalled to the upper city to look for a pesky yokai agent. This time, it was also a threat.

I wasn’t sure if he caught its intended meaning, but he returned: “I know you won’t.”

And I stepped through the blue swirl.

Any sound – the train’s rattling and the chains’ clanking – vanished abruptly.

I was at the surface.

My feet were sinking into a thin layer of fresh snow. It was a quiet afternoon. Dark thick clouds hung low from the sky and the snowfall was heavy. Before me, was an inconspicuous row of modern apartment complexes. When I met Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and April here for the very first time it had just been a construction site. Somehow, I had returned here by instinct. The portal closed behind me.

My sword slipped out of my hand.

What, the fuck, had just happened?

I pressed both my hands over my mouth to suppress a scream.

What in the actual fuck, did I just do?

Their words haunted me, invading me, and pressing my heart so tightly that I was sure it was going to burst.

‘Get away from him.’

I had been called many insults. None of them ever hurt as much as their replies.

‘Just tell me this…’

Their eyes had prosecuted, judged, and executed me at once and they had all the right to do so.

‘No. You’re wrong.’

Warm, searing, tears flowed down in several streaks before I even took notice of them.

I had betrayed them right in front of them. Didn’t matter if it was a farce to save our lives. Because of it, they would think I had never been on their side. That everything had been a lie. A shame. A means to an end. Nothing real.

“Fuck,” I cursed and said it again and again and again.

My hands moved lower to wipe away the running snot and water with little success.

I wailed, and my legs gave in. Frantically I grasped for the tears to make them stop and I accidentally tore into my bandana.

I wasn’t worthy of it anymore. My too-long nails ran across my face leaving bloody scratches and ripping the black cloth apart.

The tears continued. The hurt continued and I hated myself for everything I did.

No. Maybe ‘hate’ wasn’t the correct word.

Shame.

I felt shame for my actions, in a way, I had never done before.

“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, pressing my forehead into the snow, hammering with both fists into the icy ground, and repeating: “I’m sorry.”

Nobody was here to hear me, except me and I wasn’t going to ever accept these apologies.

After a while that cannot be put into a measurable timeframe, I was too drained to continue crying. The hurt remained and hardened into something constant that had latched itself onto my heart.

I hadn’t moved an inch, simply stared with an emptied mind into the clouds above and watched the snow slowly falling.

“Returning to the surface, I see. This will be your final mistake.” Whoever said that I didn’t recognize them.

When I struggled up, I noticed how freezing my hands and feet were. It was a wonder they hadn’t fallen off. I brushed off the snow from my shoulders and searched for the voice’s origin.

Groups of yokai emerged from several streets. All were dressed in attires of Nexus Hotel personnel.

“Big Mama told you she always collects her debts,” one of them snickered and played around with their baton stick.

I couldn’t care less, and it would’ve been a wise move to portal away.

But I wasn’t wise.

I felt pain and I was ready to relieve myself by sharing it with others.

“You guys have the perfect timing,” I growled and picked up my odachi not without blinking mournfully at the shreds that remained from my black bandana. “I would have spared or ignored you any other time, but right now I’m in need of some unhealthy venting.”

Chapter 28: The Crimson on My Fingernails Won't Come Off

Summary:

Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize that this update came out much later than expected. For multiple reasons I took a long break from this fic and because of work, I might need 3 instead of 2 weeks for each upcoming chapter. But at least that also means I’m putting some extra care into every one of them. No warnings for this chapter except the general warning for depictions of violence and cussing and I hope you enjoy reading it! - Jazz

(I’m again eternally grateful for the amazing people who created fanart for this fic. Dia drew this awesome piece for chapter 27 https://at.tumblr.com/neonseperatedau/diaaaaaaaaaaa-you-wonderful-being/loyuycr5y60y and please also shower this artist with love for their fanart from chapter 27 https://at.tumblr.com/neonseperatedau/i-have-been-staring-at-this-since-i-woke-up-and/ht9332k8p0p1. A dear friend made this mind-blowing portrait for chapter 18 as part of a Secret Santa event and I’m still not over it https://archiveofourown.org/works/43890790)

We haven’t done this in a while.
Let us consider this moment from the perspective of somebody else. Nope, not Splinter. Do you want more tries? Okay, hold on, this would take too long. I’m just going to tell you.

It’s Usagi Miyamoto. A rabbit yokai, stemming from a samurai clan whose lineage goes back to the titans themselves (probably). They swore loyalty to the shifting leading factions that, at least most of the time, strive for peace and prosperity for the yokai kind. In our time, this means they were working for the council of heads (I guess?).

Now, Usagi had seen living nightmares in the past. The kind he prevented from ever coming close to being exposed to the public. Even then, he must have been fairly concerned about the amount of blood he noticed as he was approaching a certain street. It was too much to stem from one single being or two or three. Some weapons were littering around. Nothing out of the ordinary, mostly simple tools like brass knuckles, knives, and staffs.

He had no idea what it was he was approaching, but it seemed to involve several parties. He came prepared because he enjoyed being ready for anything.

Usagi paused. He twisted his ears around until they were tied together in a big knot, pulled up his black hoodie, and put on an ornate fox mask. His family loved to use those to keep their identities hidden when missions turned…ugly and maybe it was also a display of their very specific sense of humor.

He unsheathed his blade, checked the yellow crystal that was pulsating in short intervals in his palm, and ventured onward. The side street led to a more copious area. As Usagi glanced up from the bloody trail – I don’t know what might have been going on in his head.

Red was the predominant color even with the preceding snowfall. Feathers, nails, and scales were scattered around and some unmoving bodies of various shapes. In the shadow of a nearby apartment complex, he could make out battle cries and movements. Around 15 remaining yokai, all in identical clothes surrounded a single, broken being. He had always anticipated that his childhood friend would play with fire and pay the price, but not like this.

My red markings had vanished under the crimson that covered parts of my face, arms, and shell. It was difficult to distinguish what belonged to me and what to my enemies. I heaved and the air streamed out of my mouth as visible steam. I had switched my odachi to my right hand so I could use the other as an additional ‘weapon’. My grey claws were dripping, dripping, dripping. I cannot tell you how Usagi would describe me beyond what he could discern with his eyes.

What I can do is tell you how I felt inside. At least. In fragments.

Shame was a new concept to me. So, I didn’t handle it all too well.

Sadness was a concept I knew, but not for the reasons that it pierced into me at the time. So, I made it into a weapon.

Rage was a concept I was familiar with all too well. So, I tried to keep it at bay even if that was more difficult with each fresh wound.

When Usagi approached, I tore into the shoulder of frog-yokai and yanked him against the bellhop closest to him. The impact let them stumble backward and into another companion. I swished with my sword toward the ground summoning a portal into which they sank too quickly to escape.

Seeing them approach me way too late, a weasel-yokai swung their naginata behind my back aiming for my head. Never would they have expected to get a knee right in their face before they could reach me. The newcomer in disguise sent them flying halfway across the street.

That finely crafted fox mask regarded me. I would always recognize that disguise and those eyes behind them. My body wanted to run to him, shouting his name and telling him to run away with me. My mind knew he would never abandon a fight he believed he could win.

In a silent agreement, he moved near me, and we went into a back-to-back formation that made me weirdly nostalgic.

Big Mama’s goons couldn’t even ask who the hell would be so insane as to get involved in what you could only describe as a ‘mess’. Usagi punctured his enemies with terrifying precision, stepping (clearly unimpressed) aside when someone thought he was busy enough with his main opponent. I tossed him my sword to not lose that opportunity. The rabbit caught it and sliced through an attacker’s back before they even realized that their maneuver had failed. Meanwhile, I literally sprung at one that was as tough and hairy as a bear, reaching with my claws for his face. Counting on another backstab attempt, I jumped in a summersault out of the way for the bear-yokai to be hit by a fellow employee instead of me.

It wasn’t like this was an easy fight just because Usagi came to help me. Though it had evened out a fight at a time when I had grown too slow and tired and full of openings. Whenever three or four yokai stood shoulder to shoulder or stumbled over each other I sent them through a portal until only those remained who had passed out. As soon as possible, the rabbit shifted his attention and pointing at them asked me: “What about them?”

“They’re alive,” I said, believing that was the most important part. I walked over to a passed-out bellhop and wanted to push them close enough to another unconscious yokai. Usagi had to help me, begrudgingly.

“Where did you send them?” he wondered, taking his time to scan the area.

“Back to the hotel.” It should make me feel better to imagine all those injured lackeys huddling up to Big Mama’s office and having to admit that they couldn’t handle two scrawny yokai. It didn’t.

“Come on, we need to get you treated.”

Without me asking, Usagi swung my right arm around his shoulders and supported me around the plastron. Even my exhaustion was exhausted. I didn’t have the energy to complain or make an unsolicited joke when he carried me to the alley from where he had come and, once we were out of sight, let me lean and rest against a wall.

From his backpack, he produced a variety of items like a first-aid kit, bottles of water, some darts, and other more deadly equipment, and finally a towel that he tossed over my head.

“Clean up,” he commanded, settling down cross-legged opposite of me. He took his mask off and pulled his hoodie down.

I didn’t move. The towel remained on my head as if it was a fashionable hat.

“For Titan’s sake,” the rabbit cursed, seeing that I didn’t follow his orders. He briskly stood up, snatched the towel, picked up a disinfectant, and knelt down next to me. With merciless movements, he went about roughly rubbing my face and generously spraying the alcohol-based solution all over me. It stung like hell and pulled me away from my thoughts and into the present.

“What the fuck was that for?” I snarled at him and instinctively wanted to back away, only that there was a brick wall.

“Oh, so your brain IS present,” he rolled his eyes, visibly and audibly. “Then you can do this on your own.”

He handed me the towel and spray. Disgruntled, I continued to clean myself up. The wounds that appeared from under the grim, and dirt were mostly shallow. The rabbit provided whatever I needed in silence. His eyes remained on one cut on my grey arm longer than on any of the others. His mouth remained shut.

I got bandages on my left knee, upper legs, right shoulder, and both lower arms. The scratches on my face hurt the most. Nothing I could do about that if I didn’t want to cover my whole head with band-aids

“You used that tracking crystal to find me, huh,” I croaked. My throat felt like a three-day-old pizza crust got stuck in it.

“You destroyed the communication shard and ran off,” Usagi had the tone of a mother scolding her child. “What do you think would happen? That I would wait until your corpse pops up somewhere on the black market?”

I drew my legs closer to my torso and let my head sink. I couldn’t handle the steely shine in his eyes right now.

That probably wasn’t the reaction he expected. I could hear him settling down on the snowy ground for a second time.

“The authorities are in total chaos. Big Mama’s train moved across multiple dimensions without the necessary authority being granted and making it impossible to trace its passengers or cargo. Whatever it was, it’s of interest to the entirety of the hidden city,” Usagi informed me. Unprompted questions lie scattered between his words.

I didn’t answer them. With the anger subsiding, remorse consumed my mind. This fight didn’t solve anything, didn’t even make me feel any better. Quite the contrary.

“Fucking waste of time,” I cussed. Even I wasn’t sure what I was referring to. Maybe I meant the Big Mama goons, the mission, my existence. All of the above.

The rabbit sighed.

A few heartbeats later I felt something soft on top of my head. It was Usagi’s winter jacket. Surprisingly light, dark blue, and with a nice cotton filling.

“Put that on, I can’t see you turn into a popsicle like that,” he ordered me, now sounding more like a childhood friend.

With laborious movements, I got into the sleeves. Due to my plastron, I had to wear it open, but it kept the cold at bay.

“The last jacket I borrowed from someone is on BM’s train, you sure you wanna give it to me?” I asked, in an attempt to avoid any actual explanations.

Usagi shook slowly his head. “As if I would expect anything I lent you back. Do you remember when I gave you these ninja stars? I got scolded by my parents for hours and that was your fault.”

“Who would have thought that they would get stuck on that ox’s butt like that?” I half-jokingly defended myself.

The corners of his mouth twitched and hardened again. His expression remained friendly, though.

“I’ve questioned a lot of your decision over the years and with most of them, I was right. Throwing ninja stars at the butts of passersby? Bad idea. Going after the armor on your own? Bad idea,” he searched for my eyes, and I preferred to stare at a bloody spot to my right, “when you ditched the Baron and waltzed into my restaurant with these other experiments? I thought you lost your mind.”

I opened my mouth to agree with him when he went on: “I thought you grew soft. That those other creations were nothing but weaknesses and distractions. I now see that I was wrong, just this one time.”

Drawing the jacket closer, I challenged him: “You’re telling me this when I feel like the walking dead and after failing the mission you gave me.”

“You care,” he briskly went on. As if that was everything I needed to know. (Imagine your math teacher only ever giving you the results and never showing you the solution method…though now that I think about it that DID sound like Draxum’s teaching method.)

“Great, sure, that changes everything,” I dipped my words into sarcasm like fries into ketchup (in other words, a whole lot).

“Do you also have a concussion?” He gave me a light clap on my forehead. 

“Can you stop hitting me?” I grasped his hand by the wrist before he could withdraw it. Only I did that instinctively with my cursed hand. We both stared at it, and I let go.

“In a fight, which position do you pick to win?”

My eyes wandered to the open street we had left and rested on its gruesome aftermath.

What the fuck did that have to do with anything?

“Defence,” I said without thinking.

“Exactly, attacking makes you vulnerable. But defending means remaining steadfast and knowing exactly what you need to do. You protect. Yourself and others.” My head turned back to him. There wasn’t exactly kindness or understanding in his expression. Still, there was something unexpected in the way he regarded me.

Acknowledgment…maybe?

Whatever it was. For the first time since I portalled to the upper city, I felt steady enough to remind myself of why I was here and what I needed to do.

I told Usagi everything that had happened, detailed yet brief. From the Hamato training to the visions, the gauntlet had shared with me to the Big Mama train insanity. A few times words eluded me, because this kind of honest report wasn’t what I was used to (to be fair, I left out some details that I also refrained from telling you guys…for now). It was even more of a challenge to meet his gaze the whole time. Those damned silvery eyes didn’t waver even a second.

As I wrapped up my report, the yokai nodded. More like he had heard today’s weather forecast than how I potentially doomed the entire world.

“The last piece of the armor. You say it is not entirely necessary. But this human clan isn’t aware of that?” Usagi was switching into total strategist-mode. The way he squinted when he thought really hard about a problem was kinda cute. (Don’t ever tell him that, I’m begging you.)

“If they would have known about it, I couldn’t have set up the bargain. Sure, destroying their enemies is nice and all, but they’re waiting for me to deliver it before they move on with their plan. I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no. If you take this last piece, it wouldn’t change much. We need to destroy the whole thing and Hamato Yoshi is our best bet at accomplishing that.” Thinking about my impending talk with Splinter made me feel dizzy and I couldn’t even blame the blood loss for that.

“And you won’t portal to the other experiments because you expect their prison to be fortified with all kinds of mystic locks, I presume?”

I shrugged.

“Plus, the stadium is a huge area. I would exhaust my portal-ability long before I would find them. I need Splinter and I need the last piece or else we have no assurance.”

Exclusively in my mind, I added: ‘And the helmet is also my personal failsafe.’

“Right, but then again you have no guarantee they will keep their word and let them go even when you deliver what you promised,” the rabbit yokai insisted.

“I expect the three to figure something out. This bargain keeps them alive, I’m aware it doesn’t free them. The rest is up to them,” I corrected him and put the first-aid utensils back into his bag.

When I handed them to Usagi he shot me a ‘seriously?’ look that hadn’t any serious aura around it.

“What?” I protested.

“Just…I did say you changed but trusting someone to do anything? I think I rescued the wrong turtle. I’m looking for a red-eared slider. About your height. He’s a control freak and only ever went on suicidal solo missions.”

“Oh, shut up.” I shoved the backpack ungently into his hands and a small grin flashed across both of our faces.

A scream echoed across the street. Some humans must have walked into the street. Took them long enough.

We got up and I readied my sword.

“I’ll take the scenic route back. Once I report to the council, the stadium will be circled and swarmed with agents. That should give you some time to find what you need and infiltrate it beforehand,” Usagi decided, in a tone that made clear that there was no room left for bargaining.

I accepted the terms by not protesting.

When I wanted to get out of his jacket, he shook his head. “Keep it and no, I don’t expect it back. I know you will somehow manage to lose it.”

I opened my mouth to thank him, then figured I could do better and said instead: “No idea what will happen in the next few hours, but I hope I can come by your shop for a nice meal afterward.”

Blue light.

A flash.

And there was the portal that would take me back to the lair.

My mouth felt awfully dry.

I stepped through as the penetrating sound of sirens drew closer and was greeted by something wooden and spikey being directly aimed at my face.

My eyes had to readjust from the dusky natural light outside to the much brighter artificial illuminations (Donnie trademark) before I could recognize that bat. I had even been present when she bought it.

“Wait.” The weapon moved out of my field of vision, and I saw April, whose challenging frown switched to confusion.

“Leo?”

She took a step back.

“Where? How? You can portal again?” The way she one by one took in all the visible changes…I was ready to retract into my shell and stay there.

“I don’t have much time to explain,” was my weak attempt to avoid having to unload myself a second time.

“Where’s Splinter?”

I had been debating with myself whether I hoped he would be here or not and when she shook her head, I felt a tad relieved.

“Splints and the boys took the Turtle Tank. I stayed here to be on standby in case Donnie needs anything from his lab and for this exact situation,” she pointed at me with her bat.

“They hoped you would come back eventually, but…what exactly happened to you. That’s a lot,” April cocked her head.

With Usagi putting me on a tighter deadline, I wasn’t really thrilled about the prospect to search for a rat mutant in a high-speed tank.

“We need to find Splinter, it’s important.” I darted towards the kitchen, and April followed. Throwing open the door of the cupboard, I took the teapot of doom.

Since I wasn’t connected to the gauntlet anymore, the energy wasn’t as sickening as it had been when I discovered the ugly thing.

“And we need that. Do you have a bag where we can keep this?” I asked, already walking to my next destination.

“The teapot? What do you want with that? Serve the foot bad tea?”

My frantic movements and darting eyes made her turn serious right after saying that. She retrieved her schoolbag and threw its contents on the floor.

We made our way to Donnie’s labyrinth lab. Even if he put most of his tech away for the sake of Hamato-style training this didn’t mean that he hadn’t been working on some projects shortly before or even during that time.

“Yikes, I think I understand why we grabbed this.” I had passed the teapot to April, and she made a painful expression.

“That’s the final piece,” I told her, “keep it save.”

We reached one of the hangers and I put in a code I had once gleamed from Donnie’s desk when he had run his tests on my metal arm. One night I sneaked and tried out the numbers on several doors until it worked. That’s why I knew that its inside contained prototypes of several projects in diverse states of progress and how to access them.

In the middle hung a motorcycle. Surely a new addition to the Turtle Tank that the genius never had the opportunity to pompously reveal…yet.

“Okay, when Donnie finds out that you know some of his codes, he’s gonna freak out,” she commented and stuffed the helmet into her bag.

That made my heart squeeze painfully. If only that would be the only thing, he had all the right to be mad about.

“We need something fast, so we can cover a lot of ground,” I stood totally lost in front of the control panel and got shoved aside by April who pressed a button, and the platform lowered down to ground level.

“You better leave the technical details to la niña,” she used a disarmingly mocking tone.

Fuck, I couldn’t handle her kindness.

“Vale,” I sighed, “I need you to drive, while I’m on look-out duty.”

She gave me a simple thumbs up and put on her jacket and retrieved two helmets. We swung our weapons, plus teapot, over our shoulders and heaved the Shell Hog 2.0 to a tunnel that connected the lair to the city.

Considering that this could very well be the final peaceful day on earth, New York was going about its business as usual.

We kicked our search off with the districts around the yokai train station. The train’s starting point and its destination were the only two locations I roughly knew, and it was better than nothing. At least the snow had stopped, and the clouds got scarcer even if they made way for a few early stars and that, in turn, told me it was already early evening.

Leaving the driving to April, who got super quickly the hang of it (as expected), I stepped into the spiritual plane. Since I wasn’t on mystic steroids anymore, the process wasn’t overwhelming, yet blatantly limited. I could only cover a small patch of space around me, which left me feeling weak as fuck.

An hour passed.

No sign of Splinter.

I gave up on the lead and told April to drive in the direction of the stadium.

She speeded off through some winding streets and for no reason whatsoever halted in an inconspicuous alley that was basically a row of older houses and small restaurants.

“Did you see the tank?” I asked, jumping from the bike, ready for anything.

“Nope, just a quick pitstop,” April approached one of the eateries and disappeared inside.

I stood helplessly at the bike, moved a bit behind a tree to avoid getting spotted, and hunted as a weird alligator by the humans. (That would be an awful end to this story, huh.)

She kept her promise and only thirty seconds later (I counted because I had nothing else to do) she exited the shop.

April balanced two slices of pizza on way too small napkins and walked over to me.

I failed to make the connection to our mission and gestured at her and the still-steaming food.

“What are those for?”

April snorted. “You should know after living such a long time with us that pizza is for eating.”

Totally dumbfounded, I pointed at the bike and at her.

Didn’t she worry about everyone else?

How could she even think about eating in this situation?

She chewed on her slice and held the other up in my direction.

“When’s the last time you ate something?” she inquired, munching on cheese and tomato, and dough.

“Don’t know,” I exasperated, “had some midnight ice cream the day before.”

“Can’t fight an evil armor and rescue the world on an empty stomach,” April waved with the pizza, and I gave in.

That slice was a culinary masterpiece. Crisp yet chewy, flavorful, and fresh. Only when I was halfway done with my pizza, I realized that I had been hungry. Best explanation I can give you is that I had ignored my body since it had been screaming in pain ever since I had boarded the train.

“Good, right?” she asked fully aware that I would agree. “I can tell that we’re on a tight schedule and all but running in circles like that usually leads to nothing.”

I stuffed my face with what remained of my slice, so I didn’t need to answer.

It was a crazy thought that a human out of all beings in existence would be able to gain my unrestricted respect. And yet, that’s what was happening this very moment.

“It’s crazy,” I said out loud what was going on in my head. “If you would have told me a year ago that I would care about the upper city and humans, I would have slit your tongue out so you wouldn’t be able to spout such bs.”

Rather than appreciating my compliment she pushed up her glasses and went: “Uuuuh, okay?”

Maybe, my comment had been a bit out of context.

“It had never been about hating you guys, you know,” I specified, and while I thought of a good example crumbled my napkin into a small ball.

“I was taught that humans are pests and roaches and no good basically. That led me to believe Draxum’s plan had always been to destroy humanity because he hated your guts or something. But that wasn’t true, and I told Draxum when we fought at the Motel, that I understood. That he didn’t act out of fear or hate, but because he cared. It’s the insane, over-the-top kind of care nobody wants or needs, but still, at least I gotta admit that.”

“THAT’s what you talked about? You seemed one knifepoint away from finishing him for good. You really need to work on the vibe you give off. I think it’s selected murderous on default,” April noted and nibbled at the crust of her slice.

“What makes you think that,” I returned monotonously, aware of the messed-up state my body was in. I had scratch marks on top of my scars, that wasn’t something anyone could accomplish.

She clapped once with her hands and then gave me another one on my back (that hurt more than I would admit).

“Just to make this clear. I appreciate you telling me this. I think this is the longest and most open talk we ever had. I think I’m gonna get you pizza slices more often,” she remarked and walked over to the Shell Hog.

Throwing me the spare helmet we had ‘lent’ from Donnie’s lab, April motioned to the bike: “You ready?”

And I was clearly more ready to face what lay ahead than before this damn-good slice of pizza.

Reality is harsh, though. Our sappy conversation didn’t instantly solve our problem. (Where was my moment where everything would get solved by itself the moment I had an epiphany, I’m waiting…!)

We could already see the stadium towering over most of the buildings. To say that I was getting anxious would be the understatement of the year.

“We are running out of time,” I noted the obvious.

“Are you actually searching? I don’t see your head moving,” April shouted back over the roaring engine. Donnie didn’t have the time to add a silencer, but I ain’t complaining as long as the thing drove and didn’t explode in our faces.

“I’m looking! Don’t question my techniques,” I shot back and returned to my mystic mojo procedures.

Where the heck was the rat-man? And why did he have to cruise around one of the biggest cities in the world when we needed him the most?

The tiny radius I was able to cover frustrated me to no end. I thought back to the sensation after my risky injection. Not that I ever wanted to do that again. But it gave me a taste of my potential. Why shouldn’t I be able to wield these abilities whenever I wanted to? Who decided that shit?

I didn’t really register that I grasped April’s jacket tighter and how my eyes turned more unfocused.

‘I need to find him. It all depends on it.’

The thought crept into my mind and took it over and then even those words grew distant. I was diving so deeply into my spiritual connection, reaching out, grasping into the nothingness that only April saw what happened next in her back mirror.

My markings got brighter, and the tainted hand shined in a sort of light green. She would later tell me how the red in my face and those yellow ornaments on my legs lit up. Sensing that I was attempting…something…she didn’t bother me.

I kept pushing and pushing my limits. You could imagine it like running against a closed door whose hinges slowly but surely gave in to the repeated force with which I barged against it. It wasn’t as if my control got insanely boosted. Only that it extended and extended and extended.

The ping came so unexpectedly, I almost lost focus before I could make out his exact location.

There was Splinter’s mystic essence. White and bright and glistening, kinda mimicking his glamorous Hollywood days.

“Turn right at the next crossroad,” I shouted to my human driver, serving as a navigation system, mystic edition. Talking in the material plane while being anchored in the spiritual was a wobbly experience. Not recommended.

“Keep driving forward.”

“Now take the left lane.”

The commands continued. The essence grew nearer.

The glowing had stopped when we were so close to Splinter that my mind returned completely to the physical world. Parked in a dingy corner of a closed pawn shop was the tank. Donnie had been fully aware that this thing would always be super obvious and conspicuous, and he had gone for the design anyway. I would have complained about him being extra if I hadn’t grown up with the most extra scientist on the planet.

Splinter already jumped out of the vehicle even before we could take off our helmets. Seeing the rat-man, my fingers began to twitch and despite the cold, I could swear I was sweating.

“April?” he first identified her and afterward stared at me while we parked our vehicle.

“What happened?” It wasn’t easy to read his eyes. A lot of conflicting emotions were present. He wasn’t sure what to expect, so hope co-existed along with dread and suspicion.

“That’s what I like to know, as well,” April threw a glance at me that said ‘explanation, please.’

I didn’t know where to begin.

Maybe I should apologize? But he didn’t even know for what.

Should I play the danger down? Prioritize the deal?

“I –“

“Where are my sons?”

The question that I dreaded the most was, of fucking course, the one Splinter chose.

“They’re with the foot. They got captured, but they’re alive,” I did my damn best to sound encouraging.

This didn’t stop this father of three mutant turtles from instantly turning into a furious and worried parent.

“It was your fault,” his voice pierced through me with more precision and such impact than any physical dagger.

April shifted her position and stood between the two of us. Not in a way to block my view, yet the intent of this gesture was clear. “Splints, listen. He came rushing to the lair, look at all his wounds, I’m sure he –“

“No, he’s right. It’s my fault,” I interrupted her. I couldn’t let her do this for me.

“Why didn’t you get captured yourself and how did you retrieve your sword?” Splinter’s posture had frozen up. He was ready to strike as quickly as lightning.

“I made a bargain,” my voice cracked, while I was pushing down a pool of feelings that wanted to claw its way out of my chest.

I got April’s backpack and retrieved the ugly-face teapot.

“I promised them the final piece of the armor and that I would deliver it along with its keeper, Hamato Yoshi.” I didn’t even know how I managed to say this out loud.

Nothing but horror was visible on Splinter’s face. Having no idea how to handle that I turned to April and added: “They would have killed them if I hadn’t…It wasn’t supposed to…“

“My sons rushed their training and headed out to this mission without proper preparation all because of you. And now you’re telling me you intend to sell me out.” He sounded way too calm.

‘You never wanted to be this man’s enemy,’ I realized. A bit too late for that.

“No! It’s not like that,” I was desperate, and I didn’t even try to conceal it, “once we know for sure that they’re alive we can start a counter-attack. I have a plan, I –“

I interrupted myself as I followed Splinter’s eyes and became aware of my grey hand. There was a reddish crust on parts of the nails that hadn’t completely come off.

Horror turned to pain. Something I could very well understand now. Even so, I couldn’t prevent it from leaking into Splinter’s voice.

“YOU gave up everything I fought for. The armor pieces. Our mission. My family. For your freedom?”

“For our victory. We can win if you would just listen to me.” I was frustrated. Not frustrated angry. Frustrated sad. Nothing I told this man, reached him.

“I find it difficult to listen to you when you brought nothing but misfortune to this household. You never wanted to be part of it, but that doesn’t give you the right to take them away from me.”

I stared at him. I think I forgot how to breathe or blink or whatever else a body was supposed to do.  Something inside me curled up into a ball in a dark unreachable corner and never came back. Maybe that something had been a small turtle who once had hoped for a family.

“Do what you will,” I made sure to not sound petty or angry and as neutral as possible, “but if you don’t go with me, know that you will doom your family.”

“But if he gives them the teapot it will doom humanity,” April ruffled her hair so much, her buns came loose.

“Possible,” I returned dead-faced.

“My choice will always be my family,” Splinter deemed without hesitation. He didn’t tell us to come with him, but when he walked over to the car, April trailed him and gestured to me that I should come, too.

I watched Splinter disappear into the tank and felt for the scar right under my left eye, the one I inflicted on myself when he and I had our first talk.

Always attacking.

I had always been the one to attack, even myself.

According to Usagi, I had switched to defending. Sounded a lot cooler when it came out of his mouth and wasn’t applied to my messy situation. Because now I was wondering:

How do you protect something that doesn’t want to be protected?

Chapter 29: Never Adopt a Turtle Mutant Stray Cat

Summary:

Hey guys, I want to say thank you for all your encouraging and considerate comments! I appreciate your understanding that updates might be a bit slower, but I assure you I do my best to pour all my adoration for you all and this series into each chapter!
This chapter is dedicated to LeonRose who is not only a super lovely person in general but who also introduced the idea of calling this AU Leo a “gremlin stray cat”! This chapter is for you, dear friend!
Also many thanks and love to NewFallenLeaves aka Aki (please check out her work on AO3!!!), for inspiring me with her eloquent and wonderful stories that helped me so much in figuring out my own take on this rather special POV.
Finally, a massive shout-out to Freewit who drew this incredible, truly mind-exploding, fanart for this fic. Please check it out here: https://twitter.com/Freewit_/status/1618079151608725505?s=20&t=bEzIokw2gns_rzsEeVuz_A

No warnings for this update! Just a heads-up that we are switching up the point of view, so this chapter narrated by a different turtle than usual. Hope you enjoy! - Jazz

Whenever a situation made me nervous, I liked to think about probabilities, calculate their exact percentages, and devise a ranking.

Right now, we had a 67.88 % chance of survival.

This got reduced to 45.43 % if we wouldn’t manage to get our weapons back.

And even further down to 32.85 % if Splinter and/or April wouldn’t find us.

Chances of survival dropped to 14 % when a certain yellow-stripped red-eared slider turtle would be involved.

Usually, numbers didn’t make me this depressed.

“Hey, Donnie, did you listen?” a voice penetrated my mind palace. Or more precisely, I let it in. Raph and Mikey had huddled together in our cage to talk strategies. As if we had any actual chances of escaping on our own. That was the lowest possible in the ranking with 9.03 %.

“How can I NOT listen to you rambling on about these Hamato-style methods that had been oh-so-effective so far,” I countered.

Don’t get me wrong.

I respected our family’s heritage.

I respected everyone’s determination to try their best and which sparked the very desirable displays of joy and pride in our father’s eyes.

I disrespected anything that got me, and my brothers caught and locked up in some kind of stinky underground facility. I hadn’t taken the foot clan to be fans of dungeon-crawlers, though this felt much like a respawn point and we had been hurled back right to the beginning of the game. Please press ‘continue’ to try another run. Yeah, right, if it would be that simple.

“Maybe,” Mikey pondered, and then seemed like he had a serendipitous moment, “the answer was with us all along.”

Raph’s worry lines had manifested and ingrained themselves on his forehead. “That’s a nice mentality, Mike, but I don’t think that some random wisdom you got from your last fortune cookie is helpful in this kind of situation.”

Contrary to my, and I assume also my big sibling’s expectations, the box turtle took the phrase VERY literally and examined the inside of his black-and-red jumpsuit.

“I’ve to agree with Raph that neither the metaphorical nor the literal inclination of this saying is of any aid-“

Mikey interrupted me by shouting excitedly and retrieving something from his outfit.

“Please don’t tell me you actually found something,” I begged, fully aware that my pleas wouldn’t be answered.

“You guys always doubt me and the fortune cookies even though its predictions have never been wrong,” he protested (I kept my mouth shut about how this statement was incorrect in more ways than I could count) and held something close to his face that he had placed in his palm. The two of us moved closer to also get a glimpse. Whatever it was made Mikey’s face shine.

Going by his reaction, the revelation was even more underwhelming.

“A band-aid?” I stated with an audible question mark. It didn’t appear like it had been used to treat a wound, but at the same time, it seemed worn. That wasn’t how you were supposed to apply band-aids.

“No, Dee,” he corrected me with a hushed voice, “it’s THE band-aid.”

Wow, great, thank you little brother for that detailed and comprehensible explanation.

“Is it like a magic band-aid?” Raph wondered. At least he was clearly as confused as I was.

“You could call it magical in a way,” Mikey said, and his smile got even brighter, “that was the band-aid I gave Leo when we first met him at Draxum’s lab. Wasn’t meant for a wound but to cheer him up. He wore it for a while, and I thought he had thrown it away. But he didn’t.”

He glanced down at the nasty plaster affectionally.

“He must have put it into my collar at the train!” Mikey’s voice got higher and louder the more his thoughts bubbled out of his mouth. “That’s why he lifted me up, to sneak that in!”

He did good in hiding it, but I noticed Raph’s muscles tensing up.

“He hurt you, Mikey,” the big guy said struggling to sound calm, “a band-aid doesn’t excuse that.”

That turned his smile down by at least two octaves.

“I know that,” Mikey inferred, “still, this is proof that he was only pretending. This is a message and he basically told us ‘trust me guys, I cherish you like I cherished this band-aid even if I don’t like to show it because I need to look evil and mysterious all the time, and later when this is all over we will go hit the amusement park together’.”

I wasn’t sure what concerned me more: The fact that his ‘Leo impression’ wasn’t half-bad or how he concluded from all of this that we would go to Alberto-Land.

Out loud I told him: “Are you familiar with the concept of wishful thinking? Or maybe disillusionment?”

He gave me the biggest pout as a response. Good thing, Raph joined me as the ‘oldest’ voice of reason: “I know you wanted things with him to work out, we all did. Except for Leo himself and that’s nothing we could do anything about.”

Mikey regarded the band-aid and turned slightly away from us.

Raph and I shared a look as we so often did in the past when something would upset our little brother. In silence, we decided who would go and try talking to him. I got the sense I should be the one this time (the growing depths of his worry lines made me uneasy), so I walked over and settled down to Mikey’s left side.

Sometimes I felt overwhelmed by the sheer possibilities that a situation offers. Many scientists who went down in human history had insisted that infinite potentiality is what drives us to discovery, yet in seemingly simple situations like these, I cursed the quantum universe hypothesis.

I took a deep breath and went with the first thing that randomly came to my mind.

“Considering that you tried to adopt the stray-cat version of a mutant turtle, it’s actually quite surprising how long he stuck around.”

That made him chuckle a little.

“That’s mean,” Mikey countered weakly and added after moments of reconsideration: “I thought the same when he would sleep in these patches of sunlight in the lair…he reminded me of a kitten.”

“No, wait, let me correct myself,” I leaned a bit back, “he’s more like a gremlin stay-cat…Stray gremlin. Because cats are at least cute and fluffy.”

He snorted at this, and I could detect him relaxing a bit as well. His demeanor stayed uncharacteristically serious though. Raph settled cross-legged to Mikey’s other side while he persisted: “I’m not wrong about this, Dee.”

Raph patted the plated back of his brother. The sound it produced reminded me how their shells were by default designed to protect them while my own was my greatest weak point. Curses upon Darwin’s theory of evolution.

“Even if you’re right about the band-aid,” Raph returned in a softer tone, “the problem runs a lot deeper than that. He betrayed us several times, even way before the whole train situation. You heard him yourself.”

Mikey stared defiantly at the oldest. His reply got drowned by my own thoughts that started to process these past few months with a renewed interest and perspective.

It was weird. Listening to Mikey and Raph, I realized something of essential value: Out of the three of us, I knew him the best and I wish I could simply blame the endless hours of security footage I had to watch of him doing literally nothing. But no problem worth thinking about ever had such a simple solution.

“Are you seriously surprised that he had made all these deals left and right?” I asked, not really loud but audible, interrupting their ongoing argument.

“Because I believe you see Leo as someone YOU,” I pointed at Mikey, “want him to be rather than how he really is. And YOU,” I moved the pointy finger to Raph, “only consider what Leo is telling outright. I never had these kinds of reservations. I understand what he was attempting to do, even if his plans are amateur at best.”

As I let the words sink in, I felt more comfortable setting my eyes on a dark spot in one of the cage’s corners. Maybe I said too much, maybe I said too little. I sometimes neglect to provide the necessary context for my statements and so I wasn’t exactly surprised when they widely misunderstood me.

“Donnie, I know you only try to look out for us and that’s great and all but-,” Mikey trailed off conflicted about how he should continue.

“Yeah, we appreciate it,” the big guy picked it up from here, “your distrust in everything and anything saved us many times…I think.”

“Except for April,” I reminded them, “I had been wrong before.”

“Well, there’s always one exception to the rule, huh,” Raph gave me an encouraging smile. I went on to correct him: “No, two exceptions.”

I wished, not for the first time, that I had my battle shell. Feeling the slick, perfect metal on my back never failed to provide me with reassurance. Alas, I had to do without it. So, I sighed and explained, feeling ‘exposed’ in several meanings of the word.

“To me, it was never about whether he was keeping secrets. It was the ambitions I was after. The big evil plan. I have a whole terabyte of security footage of him that my software scanned non-stop and sure he did some suspicious stuff at times, but he never changed his behavior significantly. The data wasn’t as conclusive as I had hoped, which is why I went and confronted him one day at the arcade. I expected him to try to deny everything or ditch us. And what does that moron do? He apologized and offered to disappear not for his sake but OURS. What kind of evil double agent does that?”

“Deeeeee,” Mikey jumped at me, and only because I was too tired to move, I let him fling his arms around my shoulders into an awkward almost-hug.

“I don’t know why I deserve this,” I admitted drily and decided it was best to just let it happen.

“Does that mean you don’t think that Leo’s gone to the dark side?” Mikey asked, snot collecting in his nose and with a slightly cracking voice.

“No, of course not. He’s a theatre kid and not a good one either. I should know.”

Whereas one brother tightened his conciliatory grip around me, the other wasn’t ready to agree with us. Yet.

“Hey,” I, therefore, called out to Raph, “nothing ever has a 100% success rate, except for my inventions after they come out of the beta phases, and – no – don’t interrupt me, I want to prove another point here.”

He closed his mouth and they both eyed me expectantly. I liked an attentive audience, it was as rare as that damn shiny Pokémon Mikey got on his first try and I still haven’t encountered it!

…

Where were we?

I recounted my perspective on what had happened only a few hours prior:

“As he was acting out his role as the great betrayer and bringer of the armor, I suspected he had his own ambitions. That’s why I asked him when he started to play these betrayal games and he said he never stopped. Generally speaking, you can interpret that in different ways. In our case, I don’t think he meant he was always on Draxum’s side. Every other piece of evidence speaks against that. I believe he wanted to tell us he continues playing and pretending because that was one of the few options to keep us alive.”

Mikey finally released me from his embrace and squinted at me. “But you spat at him! Right at his face!”

“I just always wanted to do that,” I shrugged.

I had counted on this explanation to have a more positive effect on Raph. Contrary to my estimates he kept clenching and unclenching his fists. “I can’t believe you two. Especially you, Donnie. You had zero doubts he was pretending?”

“Don’t get me wrong. The way he treated us, even if his intentions weren’t misguided, was Wrong, with a capital W. Plus, we need to have a really long talk about his alignment with the foot because that also doesn’t fit into the big picture.”

“Yeah,” Mikey agreed and nodded vigorously toward Raph, “we need to scold him once we get out of here. I think Leon needs a session with Dr. Delicate-Touch and then maybe some pizza and maybe we go to an amusement park after that.”

“Your priorities are…interesting,” I commented and from observing our big brother I could tell how he folded. We had years of experience begging and reasoning with Raph to get what we wanted, so trust me on this.

“All right, first scolding and figuring all this mess out, and then amusement park, I guess?” he stood up and the whole cage started to move since it only hung from one giant chain above. “That leaves the obvious problem of HOW to get out. They took our weapons, and we left our equipment behind at the lair.”

“Maybe we need to use our Hamato training after all. It did help us to take care of the foot faces,” Mikey mimicked Raph’s movement and jumped to his feet. “The way you threw that ninja through the shrimp buffet, that’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

“Or how you swung a whole table at the Brute?” the big guy passed the compliment to me as I now stood beside them.

“Can’t deny that had the perfect angle and velocity,” I relished in the accomplishment and pointed at the youngest, “you hurled that loud recruit around with your chains like a yo-yo. Never thought you could do something like that.”

“We were really cool!” he summarized us, quite effectively.

“Mikey’s right, which is why we’ll also be awesome enough to figure out a way out of here,” he walked up to the iron bars.

My other sibling flopped down cross-legged and resumed a meditating position. Closing his eyes, he declared: “I’ll try to contact our Hamato ancestors. Dad said we should practice guided meditation to connect with our uncles, and aunts, and grandmas, and great-grandmas and great-great-great-granddads and…”

While Mikey went on to name all the possible non-relatives we had, I figured that Raph’s approach was the more reasonable one.

I tried to take note of anything worthwhile about our imprisonment. Some papers, as big as my hand, hung high up at all sides. I jumped and tucked at one. It was much sturdier than I anticipated, and I couldn’t rip it. Well, whatever the paper was, it didn’t adhere to any known physics. Shifting my focus to the bars, I remarked: “Perhaps this isn’t an Hamato problem and more of a Raph problem.”

In response to that, he grinned and cracked his knuckles. “It’s like the saying goes: Big problems need big muscles.”

That wasn’t how any saying went, yet who am I to disagree?

Raph grabbed two of the iron bars and started to pull them in the opposite directions, shouting from behind clenched teeth: “Bending! Like! A! Boss!”

Ever so slowly, the metal confinement moved. At this rate, I assumed this would take at least half an hour. If he wouldn’t pass out before that.

The big guy made some rather disheartening progress when he visibly flinched. He stopped what he was doing and asked me without turning away: “Did you just feel that?”

“Uh, no. What SHOULD I feel? The room temperature? Increased levels of dioxide?” I asked, throwing a brief glance at Mikey, whose eyes remained closed, and his face contorted from his efforts to concentrate. Whatever it was that he sensed, the rest of us didn’t pick up on.

Raph didn’t answer. Instead, he started to growl, which developed into a determined shout, and with one insanely powerful pull did he create a decent-sized opening in our cage.

We gave a short round of applause. I swear I could hear Mikey saying something about almost contacting some ancient relative and how this would have worked as well, under his breath.

Before we could even look down to figure out how to reach ground level, a presence was rushing through and past us. It had no physical appearance. It was merely measurable based on the goosebumps that ran through my whole body, including the surface of my soft-shell.

Paradoxically, the first thing that came to my mind was Leo. Specifically, how he would sometimes have this distant look in his eyes and tell us how he could ‘sense’ some kind of mystic wavelengths. I had always taken it to be a scam, a trick, especially since he had never initiated any conversation that would have provided a conceivable explanation for it.

In this instant, though, I couldn’t deny that something inexplicable had entered the cage. It couldn’t be applied to any of the three stages of matter, neither liquid, nor solid, nor gas. No. This was something else and despite all that, I had zero doubt it was real. It made me reconsider the value of Leo’s words and on top of that, it made me wonder if this presence was something he had felt before and if he was sensing it as well, in this very moment.

The chance of our survival dropped to a general 14.85 %.

Turned to 9.54 % in case we couldn’t retrieve our weapons.

Decreased even further to 3.45 % if we wouldn’t find Splinter or April along the way.

It got below the 1 % percent margin if my new hypothesis based on these sensations was correct.

“You think the armor was…has…“ Raph said out loud, what we were too afraid to speak into existence, and even then, he couldn’t finish the sentence because the mere thought was too terrifying.

I stopped devising and categorizing any further worst-case scenarios. What was the point if apparently, something far worse than I could have ever predicted was already unfolding?

Screw percentages.

Screw certainty. (Heisenberg would disapprove, but right at this moment, I didn’t care.)

I was the first to take a step out of the Raph-made hole, fueled by the simple desire to beat some sense and reason into my family and get even more advanced bragging rights about being right the whole time.

Chapter 30: A Special Kind of Goodness

Summary:

"I hope you know we had everything
And you broke me and left these pieces
I want you to hurt like you hurt me today and
I want you to lose like I lose when I play what could have been"
("What Could Have Been" - Sting feat. Ray Chen)

TW for this chapter: Explicit depictions of violence, mentions of mortal injuries

Wandering through these tunnels toward our inevitable doom was boring, so in the meantime, we could instead take some time off and revisit a memory that I had replayed in my head quite a few times ever since I boarded the train ride of certain death, and this whole mess turned from being awful to terrible.

I had moved into the lair like three weeks ago. Wrapping up a mutant-hunting mission, Raph and I had decided to hit one of the nearby basketball courts while Donnie and Mikey went back to the lair to do each their own thing.

Red had scored a three-pointer and I swooped up the ball, devising a counterattack when he out of the blue said: “Thanks for today.”

Unsure if this was a tactic to confuse me, I squinted at him and dribbled around the big guy to perform an off-hand throw.

“You’re welcome for owning you, now I’m four points in the lead,” I snatched the ball right after it went through the loop.

“This isn’t about basketball,” Raph put his hands on his hips, a pose I had seen him do when he scolded the other two, “you didn’t even realize it, did you?”

I had no fucking clue, what he was on about. “You mean, how amazing I’m at this human sport?”

“I told you it doesn’t have anything to do with that,” his voice grew a little more annoyed. To truly piss this turtle off, I knew at that point, would take a whole lot more.

“Fine, then what is it?” I resigned.

Raph went to lean on the iron mesh surrounding the court, I joined him (keeping the basketball in case he wanted to resume the match and lose to me even more.)

“When we fought those silverfish today…that was a mess.”

“Sure?” I agreed, not caring much about the mutants or any kind of these wanna-be hero missions.

“You knew when you cut them, they would multiply and you did it anyway,” he scolded me in a mild tone.

“It was funny to chop them up without any consequences…well, any actual consequences,” I corrected myself.

Red shook his head. I didn’t feel particularly bad for messing with him. I couldn’t get myself to take any of this seriously anyway.

“But there were consequences, they almost dragged Mikey into a sewage plant,” he clarified and locked eyes with me.

“Eh, he was fine,” I returned, growing a tad uneasy under his iron pupils.

“Yes,” Raph agreed, “because of you. You were the only one who reacted in time. That’s why I wanted to thank you.”

Truth be told, I never knew what to do with compliments I hadn’t anticipated. So instead, I took the ball and attempted to spin it on one finger. A trick, orange had shown me earlier this day.

Raph continued to stand there and watch my futile first tries. This conversation wasn’t finished yet and it was up to me to accept or reject his gratitude. I much preferred to be offered some money and a handshake when I had made a successful deal with some yokai. What are you supposed to do with something as grand as a ‘thank you’?

“Can’t let the cook die, I’ve seen how you and purple make sandwiches, I would choke or starve,” I explained, expecting him to get mad and end this uncomfortably open talk.

The big guy didn’t do me that favor. He snatched the ball from me (his reflexes could very much surprise me) and grinned at me with the understanding of someone who knew shit because he observed and took care of those around him full-time.

“I don’t think that’s what went through your head. You even cursed the silverfish and their mutant ability before you used your portal to get Mikey out of there.”

Damnit, I hadn’t been aware that he had heard that.

“You know, in one of my favorite JJ comics, there’s this saying that reminds me a lot of you,” Raph placed the ball back into my hands, “there’s a special kind of goodness that comes from being bad and still trying to do good.”

Back then, I found him helplessly naïve and simple-minded. Reality cannot be easily divided into good and bad, nice and evil. There are different opinions and those naturally clash. And despite all that. I found myself holding on to those words.

A special kind of goodness…

My mind returned to the present to notice applause and cheers echoing long down the winding stairs that we descended.

“Did you schedule the resurrection of the ultimate evil on the day the METS play on purpose?” I asked listening to the euphoria of thousands of humans above us.

The female recruit, who was walking ahead of me, didn’t bother to turn around. For someone who is usually so loud, she had been awfully quiet ever since the three of us had turned up at the stadium. Yet again, Splinter also hadn’t spoken a word and refused any attempts to discuss these matters with either April or me.

Never become a double agent. It just means that double the number of people are mad at you.

Our little procession consisted of the recruit, me, Splinter, April, and four foot ninjas, in that order. Not much of a challenge. They knew Lou Jitsu came out of his own volition. Otherwise, they would have sent out three hundred lackeys instead.

The narrow path lead into a cave system that was surely not part of the NY metro. Felt more like we entered an abandoned part of the hidden city, which made me weirdly nostalgic. The main area branched off into several sections that continued somewhere behind stone columns, stalagmites, and into more tunnels. In the center of a large cave stood an improvised fort, made of wood and anything really that they were able to scavenge. The building rose up in a series of staircases to a podium that stood so high up that I wasn’t able to make out what was at its top.

I didn’t have to, really. The presence of the armor was similar to a gut punch aimed at my mystic senses. That and knowing what was ahead of me made my stomach turn so violently, I asked the recruit: “Hey do by any chance you have any toilets in your stupid fort?”

She only came to the part where she told me that their ‘glorious mansion’ isn’t stupid when I broke formation, ran to the nearest bigger rock, and threw up over it. 

Upon returning to the group, I was met with a nice variety of questioning looks and a now super pissed-off female ninja who protested: “The fort is not THAT ugly.”

“Ha, but you just admitted that it isn’t pretty either,” I scored my points wherever I could get them.

She strangled me with her eyes and trotted onward. Inside the construction, we were greeted with foot idiots bustling about, hurrying to finish parts of the fort and polishing weapons for world domination. (Both are vital skills that you can show off in your CV for future job applications.)

Hundreds of pairs of eyes behind facemasks followed us as we made our way through the stronghold-under-construction. I could tell that Splinter was tensing up. I had a very bad feeling about this, which is saying something considering all the shit that had happened in the last 24 hours alone.

Especially with that cursed armor in my periphery, it was no easy job trying to locate Raph, Donnie, and Mikey. As expected, they must either be too far away or they had put seals on their cages or whatever they were held in to prevent me from cheating my way out of the deal.

‘Well played, Draxum,’ I thought and said: “You guys really need a lift or something. Making everyone walk all these stairs is fucking diabolic.”

I didn’t have to see her face to know she was THIS close to piercing me with some ninja stars.

So we walked.

I revised and considered my options and strategies, rolling them over, letting them rest for a while, turned them upside down. To take my mind off things, I regarded my dark arm. Didn’t really have the chance to have a proper look at it before. The nails were a toned-down version of the gauntlet’s claws. An unassuming weapon, but useful. The skin was permanently changed to a dark green, kinda greyish, tone that gradually shifted to my usual hue where also the piece of the armor had ended.

‘We are intrigued. However. We want assurance,’ echoed through my head the voice of the cursed artifact. The words danced over my troubled thoughts. Mind you, this wasn’t part of any current conversation. It was a memory of a deal that had been made. Or to put it differently: An assurance I could use in my own interest IF some chess pieces were set in the right position.

“If it ain’t the one and only,” a stupid-ass voice chirped. Huginn circled over my head and settled down on one of my shoulders. Contrary to Draxum there wasn’t much space to hold on to. That’s why the gargoyles used to not ‘hang’ around me all too much in the past.

“Man, long time no see. You missed THE best spa treatments on the train,” Muginn, mirroring his companion as per usual, glided down to my other shoulder.

If I can give you one piece of advice when it came to these two it would be this: Don’t ever underestimate them. Even if I knew them my whole life basically, I had some issues telling apart their lies from honest stupidity. I was sure their actual ‘owner’ thought they were about as intelligent as a non-sentient rock with googly eyes.

“Spa sounds nice,” I was more careful than Draxum and attempted to stay in the realm of casual conversation.

“The hot tub was the KILLER,” Muginn emphasized, “you would have loved it.”

“Sure,” I replied tongue-tied.

“The Mai Tais were heavenly, and we got free refills as well, I hope we will take the train again,” Huginn sighed.

Was I slightly pissed that they had been enjoying their life while I almost went crazy and kinda died because of an overdose of mystic-steroids and evil spirits? Yeah sure. That wasn’t the point though.

“Maybe when we’re done here,” I conceded, “and you do a good job for the boss, who’s to say? Likely, there will be an after-party at the new fort?” 

“With lots of freebies?” Muginn sounded like he was filled to the brim with hope and longing for more Mai Tais.

“Of course,” I said with much vigor, “and you can secure your after-party tickets already! Why don’t you fly ahead and retrieve the weapons of the captives to demonstrate that you’ve in fact secured them safely? We’ve agreed on this before and it’s really no biggie.”

“That’s all? And then, it’s the sweet life?” Huginn made sure, not really skeptical and more eager to go back to doing nothing asap.

“That’s all, Huggy,” I used his old nickname to eliminate any remaining suspicions. It was probably not even necessary. The two goyles soared up and shouted back to me: “See you at the after-party!”

Our group stopped moving up the endless staircases and the recruit turned to me, hissing: “There’s no after-party.”

“None that YOU know of, Miss Killjoy,” I returned. That struck a nerve, and she resumed walking up ahead at double the pace.

It shouldn’t come so easily to me. Lying. Manipulating. Scheming. It was like eating those chips Mikey once bought that had this awful flavor and we couldn’t stop shoving them into our mouths until we had annihilated the whole bag. All they did was leave us with a stomach ache and an awful taste on our tongues that we had to neutralize with lots of coke.

I was aware that April and Splinter observed everything a few steps behind me and that none of this helped to prove to the rat-man my true intentions. At this point, I couldn’t count on his support.

We reached the final stairs and by then I had acclimated myself, meaning the armor’s constant presence was somehow bearable. Even if its voice didn’t blast into my head on cranked-up volume anymore, its excitement to have the helmet so close by was not…very subtle. You would think that waiting hundreds of years made you kind of a patient ‘playing-the-long-game’ spirit. But no.

And there were the other important tokens of tonight’s gamble. The Brute. The Captain. The Baron. They awaited us. Standing in front of the armor as if they were the bouncers to the end of the world.

The female recruit motioned to us to wait here and moved up to stand by her two superiors’ side. I had the strong urge to spit at Draxum’s smug face as Donnie had done, though I was a bit too far away for that.

“As promised, I present the great Lou Jitsu, the last descendent of the Hamato clan and the final piece of the dark armor,” I announced, and April took some steps to stand close to me. She opened her backpack and showed the teapot.

“Excellent,” the Captain’s eyes had a hungry gleam, “give it to us.”

“First we need to see the prisoners,” I reminded them and right on cue, Huginn and Muninn flew by, carrying a bag that they threw down in front of the sheep-man.

“Weapon delivery,” they declared in unison.

“You idiots! What’s that supposed to be?” Draxum shouted at them.

“Lil’ Leon said, presenting the weapons was part of the deal,” protested Huginn.

“Yeah, we want VIP tickets for the after-party, pretty please,” Muninn emphasized.

The Baron shot an ‘I-should-have-known’ look at me, before face-palming himself and calling up to his gargoyles: “The only party you two are going to is your own funeral. Now go and annoy someone else!”

Raph’s tonfas, Mikey’s kusari-fundo, and Donnie’s high-tech staff were lying between them and us, ready for the taking. I love it when my plans went smoothly (until they crash and go up in flames, which is in this scenario, inevitable).

“Anyway,” Draxum resumed, “the three captives are in a mystically and physically secured prison and they will stay there until you held up your end of the deal.”

If only he would be aware of the irony of those words.

“That WAS the end of my deal,” I insisted and unsheathed my sword. With a light swing, I created a portal and reappeared only a few feet up at the podium to Draxum’s right.

Casually, I swung the blade around my shoulder and waved at the human and the other mutant: “Whatever happens from here on out is NOT my problem.”

Disappointment and confirmation were written all over Splinter’s face.

‘It didn’t have to be this way,’ I thought toward him, ‘but you leave me no choice.’ 

“I’m here for my family, Draxum, you will free them immediately,” he demanded. At this moment, he wasn’t some overgrown rat. He was Hamato Yoshi and he was here to fulfill his destiny. All Hamato spirits be damned. Absolutely everyone in the nearest vicinity grew a bit nervous. Yes, even the sheep-man himself.

“Or else?” he imposed with a sweet-and-sour voice that was supposed to cover up his own unease.

The instant I saw Splinter’s feet lift up from the ground, to get a head start against his enemies, I flung my sword in an arc over my back. Hoping I was in a blind spot, I aimed for Draxum’s right arm. The blade cut into his armor and I was pleased to see a spill of red on the grey steel when I drew back.

The yokai stumbled backward, holding his injury, head darting back and forth between Splinter who had landed on top of the Captain, and myself.

“Can you tell your assistant to stop double-crossing us? This is getting annoying,” complained the Brute, rushing to his own partner to help him.

“Ready for another dance, old man?” I got into a battle stance and couldn’t help but smile, a clear sign I was on edge and not that I was happy about any of this.

Draxum drew his left hand back and observed the blood dripping from his palm, he shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know why I expected you to be better than this.” His tone wasn’t as furious as I had anticipated.

“Is your ugly helmet too tight? Maybe you don’t get enough oxygen or is it really so difficult to understand that I prefer civilization not to be whipped out by some ancient evil?” I called him out.

“Only the humans will be gone and the yokai can finally thrive,” he insisted and summoned some smaller vines that covered up the fresh wound.

“How can you be so sure about that?” I asked him, not expecting a reasonable answer. Truth was, he didn’t know. He didn’t know a lot of things and that was a fact I had only realized pretty recently.

I expected him to send some of his stupid greenery of evil at me. Draxum stood there and didn’t do shit.

“I don’t –“ that was as far as he got when a flaming ball of cackling madness hit him in the left shoulder and made him stumble.

Splinter, as I hoped he would, had picked up one of the mystic weapons and flung the chains of Mikey’s kusari-fundo in a wide arc, keeping both flame heads at bay. But, someone was missing from the chaos.

I had lost sight of the female recruit, which meant she probably went after April and the helmet.

Ignoring Draxum and praying the others would remain occupied, I leaped down the stairs and found the two humans entangled in a hands-on fight.

To my pleasant surprise, April was the one who locked the recruit in a grapple and pressed her against the handrail. I wasn’t sure which of them had the crazier look at the moment.

“Impressive,” I complimented her, also to show that I had no ill intentions, “I can take over from here. You should run with the helmet as far away as you can.”

I summoned a portal and gestured to her to get off the screaming ninja. April’s expression was one I couldn’t decipher in the one second, I saw it. Or maybe I could have and subconsciously decided not to. Either way, she let go and I had to react immediately. The female recruit turned around and set out to punch me. She got me above my right eye, which gave me the idea to headbang her.

Wham!

The recruit staggered, rubbing her forehead. I took off Usagi’s jacket and wrapped it around her arms, tying the sleeves together in a tight knot. By the time she could see clearly again, she was nicely packaged and reminded me of a burrito.

“You’ll pay for this,” she screamed at me. I had better things to do than to stay there and listen to her going on about how she will shove my head into the fort’s non-existing toilets.

The portal had disappeared. April hadn’t. She was up above, on Splinter’s side, spiked bat at the ready and the backpack around her left shoulder. Her decision might have doomed us all. I didn’t judge her for it. She only did what she thought was the right thing to do.

By the time I had reached the platform, Splinter had gotten rid of the Captain, who was currently somewhere further down the dreaded staircases. He had lost Mikey’s weapon in return and had snatched Raph’s tonfas next. April did her best to keep the Brute busy. The remaining flame-head was more enraged than usual, probably because of what had happened to his buddy.

Draxum had wrapped his hands into vines that had sharpened and hardened into a dangerous sort of compostable gauntlets and forced Splinter into a one-on-one match.

The sheep’s and the rat’s duel of fists was on such a high level, I had difficulties keeping up with my mere eyes and could only tell when someone hit something by the sound of its impact. I couldn’t intervene in this insane battle without fucking it up for one of them.

“April,” Splinter shouted, and the human girl knew what to do. She tossed him the backpack the instant the Brute intended to snatch it. Defending against Draxum AND keeping the helmet safe seemed like an impossible feat, so I positioned myself between the two.

“Pass it,” I waved at him. Splinter ignored me.

“Please,” I begged, this time his head at least turned in my direction, “trust me on this.”

Vines sprung at me, and I had to maneuver out of the way and further in the direction where the armor had been meticulously arranged. Being in its close proximity, its mystic presence was like a needle that was being jammed through my skull. My eyesight was wobbly, and I had the strong desire to barf my soul out a second time.

I moved away from that thing and to April. The distance helped enough to let me swing my sword at the Brute when the human needed backup. It didn’t cure me of my nausea though and my grip was too weak to withstand the Brute’s brutal attempt to disarm me. I couldn’t make out where the mystic blade landed. Didn’t matter, too, because I punished this assholish move by scratching at his chest. April followed this up with a nicely placed bat swing at the ninja’s head.

That guy didn’t even flinch. (Damn, talk about having a thick skull…) He grabbed her bat and the girl realized too late that she should have let go of her weapon. He pushed her so far back that she rolled down the first few stairs.

How could this battle turn from us having all the advantages to this fucking mess?

I made one final charge at the Brute, climbed onto his back, and sunk my clawed hand deep into where I assumed his clavicle was to make the most of those sweet pressure points between his left arm and chest. The human yelped and hit blindly at me. The shit-head got lucky and gave me a fierce slap to the face. He dragged me to his front and wrapped both his arms tightly around me. Not to hug me (that would have been super weird), but to confine me, pressing my back against his stomach and locking my arms at both sides.

I stomped and wiggled for my dear life, it had little effect.

Giving up for the moment, I searched for the remaining two fighters and found them in a clutch situation. Draxum had gotten his hands on one of the backpack’s lashes and Splinter had to decide. Either he let go of the bag or he could try and lunge at the yokai. You could tell he had to pick between desire and duty, between being a father and a warrior.

In the end, he hesitated for too long and lost both opportunities in the process. The yokai cut the backpack in half and since Splinter had been tugging at it in the opposite direction, he fell and rolled backward uncontrollably.

With a satisfying sigh, Draxum picked up the helmet and regarded it like the trophy that it was.

Congrats, you have unlocked doomsday.

I let my head sink and allowed myself a small chuckle. This has gone about as horribly as I had thought it would.

Don’t get me wrong. I would have preferred to postpone the awakening of the armor to...I don't know...maybe never? But the moment Draxum got hold of the helmet, something had to happen, and that something would be his inevitable end. The mere thought sent shivers down my spine.

I heard the sheep-man walking over to me and I returned to a neutral expression. He carried the teapot in both hands, his chin held high and proud.
 
“I don’t demand you to understand why I’m doing this, but is it so difficult to imagine a better life for yokai-kind? Don’t you also love the hidden city?” The edges of his eyes grew a degree softer, and so did my heart.

“Of course, I do. But this has nothing to with it,” I insisted, “because nobody ever asked you to do this. It’s just selfish madness.”

“No, it seems you still don’t get it. THIS is my life’s work and the yokai will soon realize that it was to grant them a better future than to continue and cower in fear and darkness.” He gave a nod to the broad flame-head and glanced behind him to see Splinter struggling to his feet. Way too sluggishly, way too late. No one would be able to stop him from reassembling the cursed armor and no one would be able to stop MY revenge plan.

What? You guys still don’t understand what’s going on?

Fine.

Let’s pause the present for a moment and rewind time. Not very far, we merely go back to the train. It was when I decided that keeping everyone alive that I care about would only be possible if there was a major deal involved in this clusterfuck of a mess. I had a few parties to choose from and I had gone with the biggest threat in the room. (Go big or go home, Raph always said.)

Asking the foot faces and Draxum for a few minutes I went to contact the armor’s spirit. Even if that wasn’t Saki anymore, I was at least a tad familiar with how conversations with spirits worked.

“You want someone from the Hamato line to wield you, isn’t that right? Of course, anyone can technically feed you, but you have more…personal…ties with the Hamato. So let me be your host. I need to collect a few missing pieces and take care of unfinished businesses first. If you release me of the gauntlet, next time I’ll accept not just an arm. I’ll accept all of it.”

The spirit at first laughed, believing it a creative yet futile attempt to get out of our binding.

I repeated the offer. Emphasized how much it could grow in power when the helmet would be in its proper place, and I would be under its influence voluntarily.

I felt it swaying. But it hadn’t lived through hundreds of years of mystic deals and leeching off the living to not demand its own conditions. The disembodied collective of whatever the spirit of the dark armor was, told me:

“We are intrigued. However. We want assurance. If anything or anyone desires to wield us before you return, we will crush the being until there’s nothing left of them. We have no need of any new supplier if our connection is not to be severed…yet. Our contract remains and whoever dares to break it will perish.”

I faltered. This really was the ultimate point of no return.

“Fine,” I had said out loud with everyone else unaware of what had transpired.

I looked up at Draxum placing the headpiece in its respective place, exuding this air of excitement and hunger.

He would die.

The armor would wrap him up so tightly that his body would break, shred through his skin and bones and he wouldn’t even get the chance to taste its power.

It would be hilariously ironic. He got so close to his stupid-ass goals and would never reach them. Sounded like a fitting end to get destroyed by the thing he had desired the most. He could prevent this if he would have listened to me, but none of the adults wanted to trust me. Not Draxum. Not Splinter. To hell with them.

And once the armor was finished with him, I could bail and make this thing everyone else’s problem. Would it be sentient by then? Who knows? Who cares? I, for once, had no interest in waiting and finding out.

The pieces started to levitate, insane amounts of mystic energy oozing out of them.

Casually the yokai strode to Splinter and kicked him in the guts, in time to prevent him from getting up. The great Lou Jitsu rolled off the podium, tumbling down, hopefully not too far.

“Now! Come to your new master!” Draxum cried in joy and expanded his hands, expecting the armor to welcome him and heed his calling.

In my restraints, I couldn’t do much else and went through all these years of hardship. Of the torture and the disapproving glances. Of the ‘you can do better’ and the many days of absence and neglect.

The hatred I was so sure would make this final win even better, was absent and it wasn’t because of anything Draxum had done.

Hate, I realized, had been a glass filled to the brim with water. It had been a great source of my strength, basically what had kept me alive for the past sixteen years. That was until I had moved into the lair and that glass got cracks. They had been so thin and flimsy that I hadn’t noticed them, but the water had trickled out of the glass to the point I now found it almost empty.

No. Drained even.

It left me with a heavy chest and suffocated me with doubts.

He would die.

He deserved this end and

I

deserved

to

win.

Draxum had his back to the armor and to us. He was standing with the same hubris and grace of a king who was about to ascend to his rightful throne.

Words took effortlessly hold of me and drowned out all of my conflicting inner voices: ‘There’s a special kind of goodness, that comes from being evil and still trying to do good.’

“FUCK,” I howled.

I bit into the Brute’s left arm, pressed my jaws together as tight as I could, and tasted blood even before the human let out a scream in surprise and hurt. He barely loosened his grip, and it was just enough for me to push his arms out of the way. I was free.

I had moved fast in the past. Like when I had attempted to catch up with Draxum after he took away my odachi.

Seeing the armor already flying toward him.

This time.

I was even faster.

It was a matter of a heartbeat or two and by simply running I would have never made it.

I jumped and sailed, readying a mid-air kick that hit Draxum between the shoulder plates. It pushed him out of the armor’s reach and over the edge of the platform. Turning halfway to me, I could make out the shift in his expression from gloat to appall as he vanished out of my sight.

Before I even landed on my feet, the armor latched itself onto me. Pieces enfolded themselves around my arms and legs, the breastplate extended like a tidal wave on my plastron, the helmet got set on my head and closed itself around my face.

The world turned dark.

A voice from outside and inside me laughed the laugh of someone who had always known that they would be victorious and said: ‘Welcome back.’

Chapter 31: Like A Hero

Summary:

Thank you all so much for 25k hits!!! I still wasn’t over the 20k mark and two months later we are already here. I know this sounds sappy, but your continued support for this project seriously helps me through some difficult times in my life and whenever I fear I’m losing my motivation I’m seeing a nice comment or chat with amazing people who are invested in this fic (Looking at you Brea and Aki!) and I’m writing like crazy again. I’m currently posting some “incorrect quotes” from “NEON” on tumblr, and you can find a short-story as a thank you for 25k hits there as well (https://www.tumblr.com/neonseperatedau/711537812207484928/25k-celebration-short-story?source=share)! Many, many, many hugs to all of you and I hope you enjoy this update that also features another shift in perspective! - Jazz

Even if I try to keep things vague, please be aware of the warnings for this chapter: It contains explicit depictions of dismemberment as well as the usual explicit depictions of violence.

What is a moment in your life, you will always regret?

If someone would ask you this question, would you need to think for long?

Raph wouldn’t.

When it dawned on me how much I had messed up, this moment became the ghost-plush-bunny that haunted me at night.

Let me rewind and explain.

I always wanted to believe that everyone could be a good person. So, I thought Big Mama could really be a nice granny, who had simply been misjudged by others. Appearances can be misleading I knew that best from first-hand experiences. It made perfect sense to give her the benefit of the doubt, cooperate with her and finally make some progress on our own mission. ‘A win-win scenario,’ as Donnie would call it.

Then Leo came along.

Popped out of nowhere and told us not to trust her. Yeah, right. Said the guy who had kidnapped us, gave us no explanation of who he was or how we were related and snapped as soon as we mentioned Draxum. Leo seemed super trustworthy (and you cannot see my face but please mark the sarcasm in my voice).

I decided to ignore him and the whole situation went from perfect to as horrible as it could possibly get. Worst of all, it was my fault we walked right into Big Mama’s trap. It would have been my responsibility to get us out of there and before I got to do anything we were captured and sent to the Battle Nexus.

It hadn’t been the big bro who had the answers and solutions. It had again been, Leo.

He helped us, even after I had said all these mean things to him. Donnie insisted that he could have done so for the sake of his personal ambitions and interests. But I don’t think that was the case. You want to know why?

When he trapped himself in the arena so we could escape the Battle Nexus and turned to the two monsters, facing them all on his own, Leo looked like one of those comic-book superhumans. The blue scarf reminded me of a cape and his silhouette was so much greater than he actually was.

I don’t think any of my brothers noticed, except for me and I never figured out how I could tell any of them about it.

It was one of the main reasons why I let him into the lair in the first place. Agreed with Mikey’s suggestion to let him tag along on missions. Endured his provocations and his endless slandering of our brilliant ‘Mad Dogz’ team name. I had always hoped that one day he would notice the potential that I had seen in him back then.

Maybe that was also why I couldn’t bring myself to trust him as Mikey and Donnie did after the train incident. It wasn’t easy to earn my trust and once it was broken, it was almost impossible to regain it.

I could have figured our little bro to not give up hope, but the one who was usually the rational and smart one giving Leo a free pass…? THAT I couldn’t understand.

And currently, we were running through barely lit tunnels that lead to even more unknown darkness and I had no idea what I should do or think.

Urgh, Raph had a serious headache. This was even worse than the time I had tried to break through a locked door by slamming my head against it. (Dad had told us to ‘use our heads more’ and I thought that was what he meant…please don’t judge me.)

We turned another corner. Without saying it out loud, the three of us followed this nasty feeling that had never left us since we got out of our prison. It was as if someone constantly gut-punched me and that sure wasn’t a cool thing to voluntarily meet up with.

Then, we heard something way before we could see anything. It sounded like a large construct crashed down. There were also screams, definitely human, too.

“Please tell me you didn’t hear that awful explosion, too?” Donnie asked, aware that we wouldn’t have any answers for him (which was usually the case).

I gave him a shrug and mustered my most determined voice that was far from its normal constancy: “We better hurry.”

The tunnel morphed into a big cave, spacious enough to fit an underground mall. In some distance, the debris started. Mostly wooden planks and loose stones, and some light weapons were scattered about. In the center stood a ruin and the crash we had heard made finally sense. There were broken-down staircases, walls, and pillars. What was left of the building reminded me of a fort.

From nearby rubble emerged a human and I hadn’t been gladder to see her tufts of curly hair and rimmed glasses than at this moment.

“April!”

She blinked at us struggling for a second to make sense of our unexpected appearance before she flashed a bright smile at us.

“Guys!” April jumped into a hug between Donnie, Mikey, and myself and I briefly squeezed the trio.

“I thought you were captured,” she exclaimed once I released everyone, “how did you get here?”

“Raph basically bench-pressed us out of our confinement,” Donnie explained, which wasn’t really true, but I knew better than to argue with my bro on how he phrased things.

“Awesome, big bear,” she gave me a soft punch on my arm that made me a bit warm and fuzzy inside. I grinned at her.

“What is going on here?” I turned more serious, “are you here with dad?”

I almost asked about Leo and in the end, hesitated for too long.

She didn’t answer immediately and whipped some dirt off her jacket. She was pretty roughed up, her leggings were torn, some of the strands of her hair were loose, and I counted three bruises on her face alone. 

“Splinter is fighting, somewhere around there,” the girl pointed with her spiked bat at the broken building, “I’m not sure how long he’ll be able to hold out.”

To my astonishment, she repressed a sob. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had seen her this upset. She had always been so much stronger than me in so many ways. Our big sister, the one who never wavers. It made my tummy and heart squeezy.

Right on cue, another explosion shook the cave and a small, round body came flying in our direction. We rushed to Splinter as he tumbled and with much effort landed on his feet.

“Dad!” Mikey called out and the next moment we were at his side, embracing him to assure all of us that we were together again.

“My sons,” Splinter’s eyes darted from us to the ruin, “I’m so glad you are safe. April, did you tell them what is going on?”

The girl shook her head and opened her mouth to probably explain this whole situation when another figure appeared out of the remains of the fort, and she didn’t have to say anything anymore.

Blue.

That was my first thought.

How weird and fitting it was that the armor had this blue shimmer.

The helmet had two peaks that reminded me of horns because they were long and oval, and they framed his eyes like partial glasses. The headpiece couldn’t obscure the two red sickles that moved through his eyes and had sharp, ornate ends. Starting at his neck and down his shoulders but not his upper plastron was a flexible metallic armor. The hands had again transformed into cruel long greyish claws that were painfully familiar to us. Around the lower part of his upper body, the armor lead into a pattern of protective plates that seemed to be made out of blue cloth, much as you see on traditional samurai attires, and his legs like his arms were in-cased in metal with his feet being extended into way too sharp points.

This was superficial, though. Two things struck me, which were much more important.

First. He held a katana in each hand, not his odachi.

Second. His eyes were pure white with no ounce of recognition. Even with the helmet on, I could tell that his facial expression was distorted. It showed the kind of rage that was cold and calm and didn’t spike quickly and instead burned slowly but surely.

I hated that I could recognize this emotion.

I also hated that my body froze up and from the corners of my eyes, I could tell that Mikey and Donnie were the same.

We all stared at what had once been Leo.

Or maybe, this had always been Leo.

‘If an apple is rotten at its core, you cannot undo it. The apple will never become healthy again. It will simply continue to rot away,’ he had told Mikey when he had refused to give up on him.

He trotted toward us in slow, heavy steps. My brain was stuck in traffic. My thoughts had all tried to use the same highway to comprehend what I saw, and why and what to do about it, which had caused a massive braincell-traffic-jam.

“We need to find a cover,” Splinter said in a low voice. It wasn’t like he was nervous or seemed afraid, yet there was an urgency to his tone and his eyes were glued on the being opposite to us.

THUCK!

I flinched and when I turned my head, a blade was stuck in a wooden plank to our right. Did he…throw one of his katanas? I wouldn’t have expected that he would use such brute force. At least, his aim wasn’t the best.

My dad and April were apparently of a different opinion. Their eyes widened. There was a blue flash. And the armored being was three feet away from me. He had zapped into existence, grasping the sword that had harmlessly stuck in the ground.

It was like he was using portals. But faster! Much faster!

Splinter pulled at my left arm to break me out of my stupor.

April was a few steps ahead of us, making her way to parts of a staircase that had crashed down with the rest.

I made the mistake and looked back and witnessed the figure pulling his sword free and already aiming with the other at Donnie. Never would I have been able to reach my brother in time even though my body already was in motion to hurry to him.

Vines popped up from behind the armor as if they also had portalled, slung themselves around his left wrist, and threw him into the direction where I made out Draxum. He was too far away to determine many details, but his helmet was oddly asymmetrical. He must have lost one of his horns that I hoped hadn’t been actual ones.

I focused on catching up with April and making sure everyone caught up to her while our opponent was occupied with the vines and a new enemy.

This had a totally sane and safe explanation…right?

Mass hallucination?

A prank?

Another secret twin?

“What in Eldritch horror’s name is that?” Donnie hissed and pointed to the living nightmare beyond our cover.

April’s focused expression transformed into something more subtle, and whatever it was exactly, I didn’t like it. She sat down on the ground and drew her legs close to her chest. Splinter was the only one who could stand upright and not be seen. He nodded sympathizingly before he addressed the rest of us.

“I’m so happy to see you all alive and well. We don’t have much time. Your weapons are scattered about and if we want to have any chances of winning, you need to retrieve them while I keep him busy.”

“Opponent…” Mikey repeated the word. With tears welling up, he protested: “Dad! That’s Leo.”

“Not anymore,” our father shot back with a posture as unwavering as his voice. To underline his words, shrieks filled out the entire underground. They were of the monstrous kind that shouldn’t come from a sentient being. They made me flinch a second time and I prayed nobody noticed.

“The armor’s in control, but it’s still him,” April laid a hand on Splinter’s left shoulder. I got the sense they had this talk before and that they each didn’t want to give up their position.

“This doesn’t change things, April,” he insisted, and his tail restlessly curled up and uncurled. I didn’t think that dad was aware of it or that I knew he often did this when he couldn’t decide on which ice cream flavors to get. It told me he hadn’t made any final decisions, yet.

“Oh yes, it does and that he wanted me to run with the helmet also changes things. He didn’t want this,” her grip got firmer, and so was her standpoint.

“Pause!” Donnie intervened a bit too loud for my liking. “I know we shouldn’t take our sweet time and let Draxum turn into shish-kebab, even if I would not feel too bad about that, but why is Leo wearing the dark armor and not literally anyone else who drooled so much over it?”

Splinter walked toward my younger sibs: “The last thing I saw, was Draxum assembling the armor and commanding it. I wasn’t able to stop him and a few moments later he fell past me down the podium and this…he started to destroy everything. He doesn’t care if you are foot. He attacks anything or anyone blindly.”

I failed to imagine whatever scene dad described to us. There were probably a lot of important details missing, but that didn’t stop us any time before from doing what we needed to do.

And what exactly did we need to do?

Was dad, right? Or April? Or were they both wrong?

My brothers and I started to talk at the same time and none of us were audible because at that moment claws sliced through the broken staircase and there was the hot topic of our discussion. Right in our faces.

“Weapons! Now!” Splinter commanded and we didn’t have the luxury to argue further.

I joined Mikey on one side, and Donnie and April sprinted away to the other. The head of our family stayed behind even if every fiber in my body protested against leaving him there.

We found the kusari-fundo soon enough and came across two foot ninjas who had been stuck under some stones. I helped them get out and they showed their gratitude by running away. Well, a hero’s job is not measured in ‘thank yous’ anyway…

Dad’s plan to keep the armor busy didn’t last long. One instance he had been occupied with dad, and the next, a sword flew past us. A blue shine manifested on Mikey’s right side, and I was so glad I could grab him in time to get him out of the blade’s reach.

My small sibling, with a suppressed yelp, retracted into his shell. April was standing a bit off at a column and I tossed Mikey to her (you guys have no idea how often that proved to be a good move, throwing my brothers like footballs). It was Splinter’s turn to swipe me off my feet to prevent me from getting my head chopped off. I had never thought about it before, you know, about how dangerous and relentless dual swords were. The armored being gave us no room to breathe or even think about attacking. The only thing I could do was make sure I stayed alive and not get into dad’s way who had equipped himself with a short blade.

“Hey, ugly!” Donnie called over and our opponent switched his attention similar to a moth seeking out a light source. My genius brother had his beloved staff in his hand and had climbed up on top of a wall.

“I had always wanted to test out my tech’s durability, so how about you help me with a simple experiment.”

With perfect dramatic timing, the floor under him erupted and a drill shot out of the ground. From it sprung a dozen or so flying and buzzing high-tech doodads.

“Eat science!” Donnie swung his staff and his small army bolted toward its target.

I really couldn’t be prouder of my bros!

The first two of Donnie’s creations got easily crushed. The next few machines, however, almost overwhelmed him. I couldn’t witness the entire epic turtle-vs-machine fight because dad motioned to a big enough boulder that could hide us both.

Thing was, our hideout was already occupied. Behind it, we found Draxum who cursed under his breath while casting magic vines around his shoulder. He held in his right, a familiar sword, Leo’s odachi. Acknowledging each other’s presence at the same time, we had a super awkward face-off in which we three didn’t know what to say.

“You!” Splinter exclaimed eventually and pointed at the yokai as if this in itself was an insult.

“Yes, me, who else is left at this point,” Draxum snarled. Strangely enough, this gave me a bit of hope. Perhaps he was also on his own path to redemption.

“Great, let’s come up with a plan together then,” I suggested excitedly. The rest of my team wasn’t as thrilled as I was.

“Work together? With him? Are you crazy?” Splinter waved dismissively at the towering Baron.

“I’ve no intentions of forming an alliance with you. The only reason I’m still here is to get the armor that was rightfully MINE.” The bitterness thickly coated his words. Whatever happened that caused him to be here with us and not out there wreaking havoc hadn’t been part of his plan.

“As if you have accomplished anything on your own until now,” Splinter matched Draxum’s level of pettiness. My enthusiasm about our potential teamwork popped like a balloon and a thought crept up to me that maxed out my already high-level uneasiness.

“How do you plan to get the armor?” I asked, knowing and fearing his answer.

Draxum sighed and said in a matter-of-fact tone: “Well, cutting his limbs off one by one should do the trick.”

“This is a new low, even for you, Draxum. I won’t let you harm him,” I heard myself saying. I didn’t plan beforehand what I was telling him.

“Oh yeah,” the sheep yokai’s aura was much more intimidating than it ever was before. Screw redemption! Right now, he was a villain, no doubt. He held his chin high up and asked: “And who do you think you are to decide such a thing?”

Gotta admit that was a good question. Mikey and Donnie had both formed a connection to Leo that had even survived his staged betrayal. I WANTED to believe in him as well, and even so, after all the things he had done, there was a ‘tiny Raph’ on my shoulder that whispered doubts into my ear and I couldn’t shake him off.

“I don’t want to agree with this monster, but he might be right about there being no other way. That’s what I wanted to tell you, my son, we might have no choice at this point,” dad tore me away from my worries and dropped his own kind of bomb on me.

No matter how much he had neglected us in the past to catch his favorite tv program or forgot to cook for us, I had never really been disappointed in my father. After all, he had taken care of us the best he could and showed us endless love and understanding. Not this time. I knew with certainty that I was right, and he was wrong. It was a prime-time premiere!

“You want to know who I am?” I addressed Draxum and kept my eyes on Splinter. “I’m someone who cares about YOUR son, as you should.”

Dad avoided my gaze, aware that my words were meant for more than one person. 

“Why should I care about an experiment that has done nothing but betray and disappoint me,” the sheep yokai wasn’t giving up his position so easily. I saw where Leo got his stubbornness from.

“Why should he have done anything else when that’s all he ever learned from you? You are his parent! You should be there for him when no one else is.”

I was honestly taken aback by my own words. It was often the case that feelings took over my thinking way before I could locate or name them. This time it went beyond being sad or angry or happy and expressing that. It was about why I felt exactly the way I felt and when I opened my mouth, the answer to that ‘why’ was so obvious I wondered how it took me so long to figure it out. 

“If you won’t be, then I’ll be there for him in your stead because that’s what family does!”

And with those words, I left them standing there and rushed out to help my siblings. Around me lay the remains of Donnie’s inventions. They hadn’t resolved the fight, but they clearly had bought us some time. Once Mikey saw me approaching, he waved at me with my tonfas. It felt good to be reunited with my weapons even if I needed to immediately use them to block some incoming attacks. The four of us had to do our very best to not get caught in his whirlwind of swords.

Hoping we could study him long enough to find some weaknesses, I focused on blocking and ducking and switching positions with my family when necessary.

I had no idea where dad was. Draxum, on other hand, rushed toward us smelling a good opportunity to execute his own plan.

“Draxum, no –“ I wanted to warn him, but I was so out of breath it was more of a hush than anything else.

Whatever the yokai had intended to do, the odachi didn’t reach its target. The armored being swung his sword elegantly, this time disappearing from his current position and reappearing right behind his attacker.

Not even Draxum could have predicted that crazy set of movements and even less the consequences.

When I saw red, I put my hands on top of Mikey’s eyes. Good thing that he was standing near me. I didn’t want him to see this or…to be honest…nobody should ever need to witness such a thing.

There was blood splattering from a fresh wound and Draxum’s body swayed having lost its stability before collapsing backward. His left goat leg fell in the other direction. It had been cut off his body so fast you would have missed it if you would have blinked. From the open wound gushed crimson liquid. There was so much of it.

Nausea made me light-headed, and I hadn’t even been aware that my mutated species was able to produce this kind of cold sweat.

Fear.

Danger.

Run!

Run!

Run!

My mind was entirely overtaken by this one word.

Run and don’t look back. Run and save your family. Run and survive.

The yokai didn’t scream, though he wrung in pain and muttered things no one was close enough to hear. Much more than shock, his expression was so deeply bitter, it helped me to get out of my paralysis and fight against my initial instincts. Mikey had meanwhile managed to get out of my grasp and gulped visibly.

I couldn’t protect them from everything, I know, I still wished that one day I could.

“Donnie,” I called over to the second youngest, “can you somehow help him? We’ll keep the fight away from you!”

He gave me a hesitant nod and ran in a wide circle to Draxum. My other bro whipped out his chains. I slammed my fists together and a mystic exoskeleton engulfed me. April slapped herself once and got into position to answer any approaches to her with her bat (it started to show some serious damage with most of the needles missing).

There was no remorse on his face. Relentless emptiness and an endless thirst for violence were the only things that kept this being going. One of his swords dripped with blood and the metal front was sprinkled with it as well.

He more and more reminded me of the greatest evil to walk the earth and my memory of a hero drifted further and further away.

A short blade zapped past me and got stuck on his shoulder. He didn’t move or react. Holding on to his two swords, he ripped the weapon out of his armor and tossed it aside. It hadn’t been deep enough to pierce his skin.

“Don’t worry, I won’t try to hurt him like Draxum,” Splinter picked up a ninja star that the foot must have left behind.

“Help Purple,” he told me, and I wanted to hug my dad so bad.

We hurried over to the dismembered yokai and April was the first one to ask: “How do we stop the bleeding?”

Donnie had activated a special feature of his staff that was basically a freezing gun, and I was glad to see that the leg stump was already coated with a layer of ice.

“Draxum quickly passed out, but…but I think his life is not in imminent danger,” he stuttered. My brother never stuttered. Everyone was dangerously close to losing it and I wasn’t an exception. If this is what happened to one of the mightiest yokai we knew (which weren’t a lot, but my point stands anyway) then what could we do? I would need to carry Draxum and we had to distract our opponent long enough so we could…

“It’s still a fortunate turn of events that you all came to help me even if I had everything under control because I need to show you guys something,” Donnie interrupted my planning, switched his staff back to his usual form, and summoned a holographic screen.

“My staff works like a smartwatch and once I picked it up, I saw I had one new message,” he babbled on, probably also to get his nerves under control, “it was a timed message, got sent twelve hours earlier so my phone had received it approximately half an hour ago.”

“Dee, we don’t have time for this, Splints is risking his life right now, we need to –“

“It’s from Leo,” he silenced April. Not rudely, just determined to say what he wanted to say, and that for sure made us shut up.

He pressed another button, and we could read the message. It was short. One sentence. Four words.

‘I trust you all.’

One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats passed. We weren’t able to tear ourselves away from the holographic screen and message and what it meant.

“I needed you to see this because I feel like it might determine what we will do next,” Donnie turned his holo-phone into a hammer.

“And you are sure this was from Leo and if it was timed then he sent that…wait did he know even back then that…” April went on about something something pizza and a motorbike and I was totally lost.

“Absolutely sure,” he confirmed and lifted his head to lock eyes with me, “I know you have been on the fence about Leo from the start and I can very much understand your reservations. I had them, too. So, I want you to decide as our big bro and leader what we should do.”

Mikey and April shook their heads in agreement. Whatever my decision would be, they would accept it without questioning it.

My inner Raph had his hundredth freak-out in the last hour or so. And don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t like my family wanted to burden me, they wanted to give me a chance to come to my own conclusion since they had each done the same. After all, it was Raph’s job to keep everyone alive and safe and Leo stood for everything BUT that.

And that made me wonder. Would Leo regret the things the evil armor made him do if he would come to his senses? And wasn’t it our job to not let that happen?

“You know what, Dee,” I was glad to hear myself so clear and steady, “plan’s what it always was.”

My mystic coat extended and sizzled with energy.

“We do we and beat some sense into Leo,” I decided with finality.

“That way we’ll connect with him for sure,” Mikey chirped, the bowling ball on his chains erupting in flames. 

“Bullshitting it is,” Donnie agreed twirling his staff.

“Donnie!” I scowled at him.

“What?! If HE gets to do it, I can curse, too,” he pouted and really, I was grateful that my bros fought against their fears with some of our usual banter.

As a unit, family, the Mad Dogz, we threw everything we could at the evil armor. Boulders flew at him, a firestorm surrounded him, and no punches were pulled. They weren’t meant to defeat this being by hurting him, we wanted to connect our thoughts and emotions to what lay beyond the metal. Only dad lost his momentum and I had to catapult him away at one point.

At the same time as I saved dad, April aimed with her spiked bat for our opponent’s right hand and landed a solid hit on his wrist. Not really in pain and more in irritation, he let go of the sword to grab at her and that was when I moved in at the perfect time. With several inches of mystic panzer, my right hand intertwined with his, and when I closed my hand his was forced into the grip as well.

Here we were.

Me in my magic exoskeleton and Leo in the dark armor, face to face and locked in place. (Hey! That rhymed!)

Up close, his face was almost as it usually was, except for the eyes that were missing any form of pupils. He stared ahead. No sly gleam or calculating shimmer. 

“Leo,” I started, and my opposite growled at me, open mouth. Some of his pointy teeth were coated in red saliva. I decided not to think about that. “You know what flips me off? That you put your trust in us and didn’t ask for any in return. It’s like you knew for sure that we would never trust you.”

He attempted to pull away from me. I remained right where I was because I was far from being done.

“Maybe you don’t even trust yourself, because nobody in your life ever taught you how to.”

Images of a pool of blood and Draxum’s sour face flashed past my inner eye.

“And that makes me wonder, what courage did it take you to send that message to us?”

He stopped struggling. My heart did a quick summersault. Perhaps, he was really listening!

I gripped his armored hand with all my might. I didn’t see it, but I knew that Mikey had swung his chains around his torso.

“I want to earn your trust, fair and square, and I want to give you the same chance. So please come back to us!”

He must have realized our impro-plan because he didn’t turn his head to Mikey. He continued to face me and in the instant that my brother pulled his chains back, metal shined in front of me, and I almost didn’t see his sword that sliced me in a swift upward arc.

I had been so focused on what I wanted to tell him that I had forgotten about his unrestrained left hand! With almost no resistance the sharp weapon got through my extra layer of magic protection and carved into a few inches of my frontal plastron.

Panic rushed through my mind and pain struck me like a lightning bolt. (You need to know that even if shells might be made of tough materials, they are bound to our nervous system. It’s nothing squishy that gets hurt, but it hurts either way.)

The idea of letting go was super tempting. My hand loosened its grip.

No!

Stupid brain!

Shut up!

Raph got a job to do!

I was holding onto him with renewed effort and Mikey did his thing. I didn’t know where he got the strength from. That small guy did the impossible and yanked his captive to him. I remained steadfast and we played the most ridiculous tug-of-war with the armor in the middle. Donnie and April saw their chances. A massive turbo-hammer and a spiked bat took aim.

“Didn’t you hear, Raph? Trust us and let go, you idiot!” Donnie insulted him when his carbon-whatever-it-was got him right in the guts. That did the trick and he hurled in Mikey’s direction, who got out of the way to let him fly past him.

In my right hand…I held the gauntlet!

We had managed to tear a part of the armor off him!

Donnie gave me a clap on my left shoulder, showing a rare smile.

“That was one crazy maneuver,” he complimented me.

“Yeah, I’m sure our feelings had reached him,” April was to my other side, brushing away some blood on her cheek. I refrained from asking her if she needed any help. Her fierce frown told me not to worry about her.

I gave them both a nod and gazed at the gauntlet. There was so much left of the armor and yet, I couldn’t help feeling excited. Even ‘tiny Raph’ was in an optimistic mood.

“We can do this,” I repeated my thoughts for everyone near me to hear.

“Raph! Are you okay?” Mikey rushed to us, and so did dad. I couldn’t immediately understand why they seemed so worried since it took me a bit longer until I had fully processed what had happened.

My free hand moved along the scar. It wasn’t a deep cut. The pain had subsided, and the mark on my shell would stay with me for the rest of my life. That was fine with me.

“I’m okay,” I assured them and handed the gauntlet to Splinter, who clearly wasn’t thrilled about it.

The dust settled and I hoped as I had never hoped before that from that debris, a turtle would emerge and not the armor.

A growl that turned into a scream echoed through the cave before I witnessed him getting up.

Nothing had changed, except that one hand and lower arm were exposed, the dark-grey skin under it showing. A visible mark for the price he had paid that I assumed had been for his sake and not ours, which now seemed like a stupid thought to me. In his own ways that I didn’t need to agree with, Leo wanted to trust us.

For the duration of a whimper, I didn’t see an evil armor, I saw only a red-eared slider mutant, so much like us extending a hand and hoping we would take it.

“Did you tell your brother what you meant to tell him?”

Dad stood in front of me getting into a battle stance. One I knew was meant to defend, not attack.

‘Your brother,’ he had said.

“Yes,” I told him, “I did, and I think he listened.”

My family readied themselves for a second round and a third and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth and who knows how long it would take to get all the armor pieces without hurting him and that didn’t matter. We wouldn’t give up, that’s the only thing I needed to count on.

The armored being staggered forward. One step. Another step. He froze. A few moments passed.

With a rigid movement, the freed arm grabbed the upper part of the armor that had wrapped itself around his neck and Leo looked at me.

Chapter 32: Tea-Serving Snakes (And No, This Is Not a Metaphor)

Summary:

Thank you for your patience and if you want some fluff after all these intense developments please also check out my 25k-hits-appreciation-short-story on tumblr (https://www.tumblr.com/neonseperatedau/711537812207484928/25k-celebration-short-story?source=share). Itzzemoura, a very dear follower of this fic, also drew this insanely fascinating and lovely character concept of NEON Leon. (https://www.tumblr.com/itzzeimoura/712814232422481920/look-who-finally-came-around-to-make-fanart-for?source=share). See you all on the “other side” - Jazz

Trigger Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence and torture and of the process of dying.

My own pulse in my ears. A deafening silent rush.

I opened my eyes and from up close could see the light being scattered and softened as it extended to the depths of the water.

The last thing I remembered was jumping in front of the armor like an insane idiot, so why was I drowning? And hadn’t we done this before?

A human arm appeared from the dim surface, got hold of my left wrist, and yanked me out of the water.

Wherever I was. It was bright. Almost too bright, and it took me a while to not only relearn how to breathe but also to figure out what I saw.

Pulling me out as if I was the ‘catch of the day’ was a human. A woman. With a long ponytail and sharp facial features. Her iron eyes stood in contrast to the playful smile on her lips.

“What is a Kappa doing in my koi pond?” she asked. I knew her voice. My brain just refused to catch up with any of this. She gently let me down and I stood shakily on my own two feet, sensing the soft grass underneath them. I held my still dripping-wet head. I think I got an interdimensional headache. If that is even possible.

“Kappa? Koi?” I asked, which weren’t the only questions I had, but the only ones I was able to utter.

How did I end up in the garden of this lady? Where exactly was ‘here’?

Why is this human not in the slightest fazed by any of this?

And why the fuck was she so familiar?

“It’s okay, take your time. Well, everything is not okay, you are going to die soon, but that is not our worst problem,” she assured me and brushed off her wet hand on her beautiful kimono. The fabric shimmered in all imaginable shades of green.

“Wow, thank you for your honest concern,” I struggled to keep up with what this human went on about. This whole scenario was a fever dream and even those shouldn’t reach THIS level of weirdness.

Taking my eyes off the women, I tried to steady myself by scanning my surroundings. Plainly speaking, I was in a garden, and it was broad daylight. If I gazed up at the sky, it was there, blue and with no cloud in sight, yet the sun was shining without the planet being anywhere. The…estate (if that is the right word) on which I had woken up was framed by a forest whose outlines were hazy and the trees were standing so close to each other that I couldn’t see past them. Besides a few shrubberies, the garden consisted of a perfectly trimmed lawn, a pond, and a stone path that led to a gigantic building. I hadn’t seen a place like this in person and was far from knowledgeable about these diverse human cultures. Even so, I could recognize the design and was pretty sure that A) it was Japanese and B) that it was some kind of small castle.

The woman as she was observing me, smirked self-satisfyingly. (An expression I found oddly similar to a face Donnie, Mikey, or Raph sometimes made.)

“It’s pretty great, isn’t it? It’s my home,” she stated with pride and started to walk in its direction.

She motioned me to follow her and said: “Come on, we will have some tea.”

Hungry for answers and something warm to drink I hurried after her. She slid two of the front doors open and entered a large room. It was beautiful and tasteful even if there wasn’t much furniture. In the middle, near the entrance, was a mahogany table with a cushion to sit on each side. In one corner stood a grand ceramic pot that was filled with fresh flowers. I especially liked the walls that were all of the same paper-like material and covered with detailed drawings that seemed like they had been painted with a thick traditional brush. It took some time to make out specific scenarios that the walls depicted. I guessed most of them involved battles from whole troupes clashing against each other to one-on-one combat. I could recognize the women in most of them.

The real one went over to one side of the table and knelt on a cushion. She pointed to the place opposite to her and I settled into the fine satin cross-legged. From our position and with the doors drawn open we had a perfect view of the garden.

“Is this the afterlife?” I asked her.

She blinked, once, twice, thrice, then burst into laughter.

“You are such a curious creature,” she mused, brushing a tear from her left eye. Realizing that I was pouting, she added, “no, surely this is not the afterlife. For someone who had dabbled so much in the realm of the spirits and mystic as yourself, you are not very familiar with it, are you?”

I intersected my hands and wondered how I could feel their touch if this wasn’t the material plane. One of them was also much darker than the other. Wherever I was it hadn’t gotten rid of my business relationship with a certain metallic evil.

“What you did was brave,” she commented following my gaze, “but also very stupid. Your renewed contract made it impossible for you to remain in control of your body. That is the reason why you…or, at least, your soul is here.”

Pictures flashed past my eyes. The moments before the armor took me. With an iron taste in my mouth and aching muscles, I had literally crashed into my doom. I should be mad. Mad about myself, about Draxum, about this whole situation. But the emotions that had raged and clashed and roared inside my chest had died down. The hurricane became a mild breeze.

To my personal horror, I didn’t regret my decision one bit.

Tearing myself away from these thoughts, I asked her: “What exactly is ‘here’?”

The patient smile of a teacher (not that I’ve ever seen Draxum smile during training…no fucking way…it reminded me of Splinter in a lot of ways) grazed her lips. “Maybe we need to start with a proper introduction, even if I saved you once before I cannot expect you to know me the way I got to know you, Leonardo.”

An earlier memory sneaked into my mind where I was writhing in pain and the gauntlet had almost sucked me dry before something – or someone – had stopped it.

As I opened my mouth to zigzag my way through our conversation, something tickled on my right elbow, and I almost fell sideways off my cushion. Staring at me was a five feet long white snake. It hissed at me as if to say ‘hey, how’sit going?’ On its head was a wooden tray and on it, the snake balanced a finely crafted teapot and a cup. The animal bowed and placed the tray smoothly on the table in front of me. At the woman’s side appeared another one, it was brown with grey-shimmering spots. She gave it some scratches under its chin, and its white companion (after having done its duty) nuzzled her.

Without looking up from her pets(?) she declared: “My name is Karai and I was the first Hamato to fight against the Shredder.”

“Shredder?” I tried to place the name and couldn’t, though I had a strong suspicion I should know it.

“That’s the common name of this entity, you never heard it before?” she made sure. The brown snake rested its head on her lap, its eyes fixed on me.

“I think some people mentioned it, but I never listened…” I admitted, thinking back to my visits to the foot, which I didn’t take all that seriously (put that on the list of a thousand regrets).

Karai sighed and poured some tea into her cup. Every movement was precise and deliberate, it was like watching a river stream.

She put the cup into both her hands and looking at her green tea she told me: “The Shredder is the being who inhabits the dark armor. At least what remains of its original wielder since his body is long gone. But it is also more than just one soul. Each being the amor drains, parts of it live on within it. It is a culmination of thousands of lives lost in despair and its insatiable hunger.”

Well, wasn’t this just dainty? Not that I hadn’t known these things before. No. even more so, I had FELT them through the gauntlet. Still, hearing her confirming my fears with such fancy words made it only worse.

To ease my nerves, I made a poor attempt to imitate Karai’s earlier motions and filled up my own cup.

“So how come you got the premium treatment? I imagine not every damned soul gets their own garden and castle,” I asked, enjoying the steaming warmth in my palms.

Her smile derailed a bit, not in anger and more in a way that said ‘tell me about it’. She then continued: “I wasn’t a wielder of the armor. I was the one who sealed the soul of the Shredder, even so, some aspects of him will always linger in parts of the armor as do parts of my soul. As long as my seal is holding up, the armor will never return to its original power.”

I took a long sip from my tea. It had a comforting taste even if my anxiety was steadily growing. I had this suspicion that this woman and I had a lot more in common than I had thought.

“But, that means, you sealed yourself away along with it,” I assumed.

“I knew you would be much more apprehensive than you led on,” Karai had one hand on top of the snake’s head in her lap. Its white companion lay behind her, almost framing its owner and definitely acting as a sort of protection ring.

“And the snake pattern on the gauntlet, that was your influence?” I thought about how odd I found the design as if it intended to tell me something in a language I didn’t speak. Finally, it all made sense. I like it when things do that…make sense, I mean. It’s such a rare thing.

“Yes,” she confirmed, “I love snakes, they also were used to symbolize me, when I was alive. Something like the gauntlet and how it reacted to your ninpo…these are signs that the original owner, the armor and I will always be bound together, whether we like it or not. Sounds familiar?”

I couldn’t help but think back to that vision of my early childhood that merged, shifted, and got distorted by someone else and that had been, as I realized now, Karai. Her dad had read her a story, as Draxum had done for me. We had both gazed up at an imposing figure who had been our whole world until they hadn’t been any more.

“We’re nothing like that,” I insisted, grasping my cup tightly to keep my deep-seated anger in check.

“You can keep telling yourself that, but it seems to me that you were unable to sever your ties with him and that was not because you couldn’t do it but because you did not want to,” she returned, totally calm, which only pissed me off more. Mostly because her words resounded in me much more than I wanted to admit.

To take a long breath, I turned my attention to the garden. It was like gleaming into paradise and that made me deeply suspicious. If this was supposed to be a prison, there must be a downside to it.

Some moments passed in silence and drinking tea and wondering what to say next to a person that had somehow been a part of your life for much longer than you had been aware of and yet only got to know them for the last few minutes. 

I finally settled on a question that felt important enough to waste the (apparently?) short remainder of my life on: “Karai, why did you go so far?”

She emptied her cup and set it back on the table. Her eyes watched something in a distant past. “Because this was a family matter and I WANTED to be the one who handled it.”

I considered, for a second time, the paintings around us. If I understood them correctly, they showed countless battles that involved or even revolved around her. Forget ‘the greater good’. You didn’t survive so many fights for something so vague. Karai’s motivation must have been much more personal.

“Let me ask you something in return. What does family mean to you?” she looked straight at me. Even the unblinking eyes of her snake companions were less unsettling than hers.

Of all the unbelievable things that my brain had given up processing, this question was the cherry on top of the ‘what-the-fuck-is-going-on’ cake.

Axing my tea, I took my sweet time to reply to her, having only a mild mental melt-down.

I mean, who even counts as family? Why not just categorize everyone into friends, enemies, or – I don’t fucking know – frenemies? So much simpler. I had never considered myself and others in any other kinds of relationships. Draxum had preferred to be called ‘boss’ or ‘master’ and only to piss him off I used ‘pops’. That title had no other meaning than to have this stupid routine going with him where he shouted after me to not call him that.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, which kinda came as unexpected, even to me, “I guess it’s something I thought about, observed perhaps, and decided it didn’t concern me.”

Damn, the way her features softened with sympathy wasn’t something I had expected or wanted to witness.

“It’s a difficult question and you don’t need to give me a definitive answer now. Just keep it in mind because it is what lies at the heart of the Hamato clan. I believe it is what drives us to do the things that need to be done,” Karai nodded understandingly.

I can vividly imagine it: The time this woman had been alive and forming whole armies who didn’t fight for her but were extensions of her. Believing in the same goal and passing on those ideas and ideologies even to this day.

“What you’re trying to tell me is that the Hamato is basically a group of suicidal idiots,” I provoked her, throwing the words out there before I could reconsider them.

“Perhaps,” she returned mischievously, “but right now, this does not matter. This is about you. My body perished a long time ago, but your body and soul are still bound to each other. And problem is, the Shredder has no use in keeping your soul around and will do his best to get rid of the part of you that is here with me.”

“Getting rid?” I asked and would have seriously preferred to first hear about the specifics of what was about to happen before shit went down.

But we didn’t have such luxury, because the Shredder thought this would be the perfect moment to join the party. The roof above us got blasted away as if a comet had crashed into it. Wooden debris flew around us, and the doors and paper walls got torn apart. Nothing but the fundaments of the castle remained standing as an enormous suit of armor fell from above and landed near our table.

Two’s a crowd, three's a party, or however that saying went.

Karai didn’t even turn her head like this was perfectly normal and repeated: “Of you, yes.”

Then she got up and during that motion, her kimono transformed into a uniform. A kind of jumpsuit with bandages wrapped around her wrists. Some light leather protections covered her hands, ankles, and chest, and a belt that was flashing the Hamato symbol rounded up the badass get-up.

In her hands from thin air came a staff. She twirled it and it broke into three pieces that were connected through chains. That was a Sansetsukon…if I remember that correctly from Usagi’s Japanese weapon 101 lessons.

I got simply up with nothing epic happening. I even almost fell over because one of my legs had started to cramp up.

The monster in front of us, I recognized from all the times I had studied the armor at the foot hideout. (So, I’ll spare you the in-detail description.) Seeing it completed and moving around, held together by nothing but darkness and mystic energy, its form way too big and bulky to be human, and with a murderous shine beyond the pitch-black inside of its helmet would make any other nightmare creature envious and anyone else tremble.

“We are in the spiritual realm so be…”

I was sure, Karai had something super useful to say. Only problem was that this hulking spirit had rushed at me before she could finish her sentence. Pretty rude.

“Shit!” I cussed through my teeth. I had nothing to defend myself with, nothing to hide behind, and nowhere to go.

I stumbled backward like an idiot and my brain was stuck in denial that there was no way this was actually happening. In gruesome slow motion, I saw and felt its claws tearing into my left side, expertly bypassing my protective shell. The metal extended inside of me, cutting its way through my insides and into my heart.

The insane wave of pain that erupted in me got subdued by the shock and the estranging sensation of feeling my guts being cut into pieces.

This is not real.

It can’t be.

The Shredder must have missed my vitals. Right? It must have…

I noted vaguely how the evil armor yanked its claws out of me and that I was hitting the floor. It was all a blurry mess, but I could make out Karai starting a series of counterattacks, pushing her opponent back, and creating space between it and me.

In a horrifying moment, my heart pounded so quickly and hard as it had never done in my entire life, fighting against the horrible leaking gap through which my blood escaped. And in the next moment. It simply stopped.

Well, that was it guys. My first-ever death had been quick and fairly painless. Could have been worse, really.

The end.

---

You are probably suspecting that I’m messing with you again. Just like the last handful of times. ‘Man, this schtick is getting old,’ you might be thinking and rolling your eyes. But I assure you. I was dead for real. And this would have been the end for really real if this would have been the material plane. In the spiritual realm, death isn’t the end for a soul, it’s something shitty that can occasionally happen.

With my last breath, I desperately clung to my frustration that it had been so easy. I had been no threat, no challenge. The fuck did I sacrifice myself for if this was the end result anyway?

There were a few seconds of black-out that could have been as long as a whimper or several hours and I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

Either way, the next thing I knew, I jolted up as if someone had given me a jumpstart by tying me to an electric battery (which Donnie had kinda done already when we had tried to get that gauntlet off, and no, you don’t need to know about the specifics…) My heart was beating with renewed enthusiasm, my insides didn’t leak out, the wounds had been closed. Only the puddle of blood in which I sat, confirmed to me that I hadn’t imagined these things.

A fight raged while I was getting back up. The woman fought with fierce elegance against the armor, striking, throwing, and drawing back her weapon in a similar way as a snake bites its enemies.

She must have noticed me coming back to life again since she stepped with each hit closer to me.

Once she was near enough, she called over: “Oh good, I see you figured out how dying works.”

“I would have appreciated a warning,” I complained.

She sliced the Shredder where its throat would be. A normal enemy wouldn’t have survived that. This beast merely staggered, buying us precious moments that she used to clarify some things: “Well, even with an explanation this boils down to either possessing a will to keep going or not. It’s not like you’re immortal. Each death demands from you to conjure up enough determination to come back, plus it hurts.”

“Yeah,” I said with dripping sarcasm, “so I’ve noticed.”

The cursed armor shifted its attention and leaped at me. It was really eager about that ‘getting rid of my soul’ part. Karai punched me out of its reach. This time I stayed on my feet and stabilized myself by holding on to the frame of the remains of a door.

“If you lose your will to fight, that’s the moment your soul will perish. Which is why, I need to ask you now,” Karai kicked up the table, the cups and pots scattering about, and pushed the furniture into her opponent’s face, “are you ready to endure this, even if it would be for infinity?”

There it finally was. The reason why this wasn’t some sort of tea-sipping and gardening paradise, but hell and eternal damnation.

“Let me get this straight. Best case scenario we will do this until my body has decayed, worst case…I give up and this thing gets the car keys to my body?”

She cocked her head slightly, ducking under a strike without breaking eye contact with me.

“I’m not sure what car keys are, but I think you get it,” Karai admitted and repeatedly whacked the Shredder with her staff.

I had thought nothing could be more terrifying than experiencing death in all its gruesome details. But guess what? The prospect of enduring this for the remainder of your existence with no feasible pay-off whatsoever sounded like something even professional secret agent torture masters would run away from, screaming from the top of their lungs. And here comes the most mind-blowing bit. This human right there had lasted for hundreds of years through these endless cycles of pain and death.

I steadied myself and made a decision. Next moment I wore a uniform as well. Originally, I considered going with Karai’s aesthetics, but then I had a better idea. Preferably I would have made the garments blue, though, I guess, I could also pull off red and black well enough. The only adjustment I made to the outfit that Splinter had sewn after training us in the traditional ways of his clan was a bigger Hamato crest in the same dark-red adorning my whole back.

I put my knuckles on the door frame and announced: “Knock, knock.”

The metal beast growled at me, turning its tackle that had been supposed to aim at the clan head and readjusted it to get me instead. I lunged for the other door to cover me and forced my opponent to lose just enough momentum to miss me.

“Damn, I had a really good knock-knock joke prepared that I never get to use,” I complained and conjured up two katanas that were perfectly balanced, had the right length, and shined in the non-specific light dangerously. (Don’t ask me how summoning these things worked. I went with the flow and stuff popped into existence. I had snakes serve me tea, so we are way past questioning the internal logic of the spirit world inside the armor of evil.)

Pumped up to demonstrate to Karai what I was capable of, I did something stupid and attempted to strike the Shredder since it was so close to me anyway. The asshole caught one of my blades in its armored hand and crushed it. At least, the other I could yank free. It did nothing fancy in response. Grabbed my whole head in its left palm, fingers clutching the back of my skull. The grip turned from firm, to too tight to denting my skull inward. I could feel my bones giving in and I hyperventilated as it crushed my head.

And from some dark depths, I was back yet again. Sitting upright when my head was back to normal, I watched Karai defend herself against the Shredder in a way that made it clear that it had been some decades since she got close to dying.

I conjured up a new sword pair and heaved myself upright like an old man. For my third attempt, I did the smart thing and didn’t charge in by myself.

Instead, I studied the ancient Hamato warrior as much as possible and joined her only to keep the Shredder focused on both of us.

“You’re learning quickly,” she commented. That woman seriously had the nerve to continue our small talk as if I hadn’t gotten my skull crushed a few moments ago.

“I’m motivated to not get my guts turned inside out for the rest of my existence,” I replied countering and side-stepping and defending for my dear life and deciding that it might be smart to let Karai in on some more of my thoughts, I told her: “You know, I haven’t given up on getting out of here. They’ll figure out something, I send them a super vague message and all.”

Karai didn’t exploit an opening in the Shredder’s pattern and paused for an instant: “They…you mean the rest of the clan? What makes you think they could pull off such a miracle?”

Curious how you could get so quickly offended if that person in question wasn’t yourself.
“Well, you built a whole-ass garden and castle as a soul locked inside a fucking armor, I don’t see how it would be difficult to imagine someone else also doing the impossible,” I replied rather prissy.

Karai wasn’t offended. Quite the opposite, she snickered and gave me a clap on my rigt shoulder that made me jump out of harm’s way.

“Hold on to that trust, it’s more precious than possessing any power that the material world could offer,” her tone was light-hearted and as grave as the deepest depths of the NY sewer system.

And so I did.

I was thinking of colors. Of orange, red, and purple when I got my limbs torn from my body, when my shell got cracked open, when my lungs got pierced.

I also thought about a girl with curly hair and red, rimmed glasses and a small, round rat with kind eyes when I repeated Karai’s movements, learned how to not only avoid getting hit but even more so how to control the flow of the fight, and repeated these patterns so often they turned into something close to breathing.

Whenever we could, my fellow captive and I would follow up on our conversation. She would give me advice, explain movements, and predict counters. There were also questions she threw at me that seemed super random and I guessed they were meant to keep me grounded. ‘Who taught you the way of the sword? How is the clan these days? Who is its head?’

When I elaborated on that last one, she snorted. The idea of her legacy being carried by an actor-turned-rat and turtles with mystic heritage didn’t come as a great shock to her and much more as an odd sort of delight.  

“I wish I could teach you and everyone from the clan traditional Hamato ninpo, but we would burn ourselves away without any material tethers,” Karai mused once, and that made me curious even if I missed my chance to press the matter further because the Shredder tore into my plastron at that moment.

Dying still sucked in case you wondered. It was one of the few things in the world you could never get used to. Especially when you are stuck in what felt like an endless merry-go-round of terror and I had lost track of any sense of time ever since this fight had started.

The battle moved from the ruin to the garden and the perfect green blades of grass got sprinkled with blood from wounds that would close soon enough. A slap to my face that almost dislocated my jaw made me stagger and I fell on my butt as Karai did her best to let me take a break.

I drew in the air deeply, massaged my chin, and in the corner of my eye noticed I was close to the pond from where I had entered this nightmare.

Bending over I gleamed at its glistening surface focusing on my reflection. I hadn’t conjured up a bandana, no black or red cover over my eyes to go with the outfit. It didn’t seem right to recreate something like that. And that wasn’t what interested me. I stared into the firm pupils, the scar that run through the left eyelid, the red markings, and my complexion.

I had expected to behold something like a ghost or ghoul (and I’ve seen yokai who prided themselves in their spectral appearances). But to my shock and to my annoyance, I looked much more alive than the last time I consciously took myself in. You guys remember when I got ambushed at that human arcade? I had made myself sad with my own hollow features and broken façade. Even if it was my face all the same, SOMETHING had changed.

‘What does family mean to you?’ Karai had asked me, and I hadn’t given her a proper answer. I think parts of the response were also the reason why my reflection didn’t haunt me anymore.

I got up and returned to the fight. Now, each time my soul got crushed and had to find a reason to return, this question crossed my mind, and got repeated as part of this loop of insanity: ‘What does family mean to you?’

My own bed. A Dinner prepared and enjoyed together. Some well-intended advice. Watching moving pictures and stealing each other’s snacks. Finding everyone at midnight for ice cream. Sleeping without worrying about being ambushed. Not stressing about results. Annoying them with my bad puns and semi-threatening jokes that still no one appreciated but somehow it was an overall accepted routine. Enjoying the sun with everyone.

The list went on. Its sheer existence and length surprised me and even more so how it warmed me from the inside out in a way no tea could.

I wanted to tell Karai about all these things and more. Likely would have sputtered my whole fucking memoir while getting skewered on one of the Shredder’s extended metal tendrils if not for catching something shiny while I ducked under one of its onslaughts.

It was the pond! The surface wasn’t made of water anymore. It was pure light. It reminded me of a glitch, like in one of those video games Donnie had taught me how to play so he could crush me in each of them.

I backflipped out of the cursed armor’s reach, brushed the clan head’s left shoulder to make her aware of me, and pointed, once sure of her attention, to the pond.

She was so confused as to what she saw that she almost got struck by a lethal blow herself. At the last second, she did the split that turned into an overhead windmill kick that blasted the Shredder a dozen feet away.

“You know what this is?” she asked me urgently. Did she seriously not know or was she testing me? Either way, I was a tad irritated: “Oh yeah sure, where I grew up, I also had a pool that glowed at random intervals.”

She snapped my forehead, which hurt much more than it should. “My first pupil in centuries and he is an idiot kappa,” she pointed at the pond and said with urgency, “that is your ticket out. Something must have broken through the armor. The influence of the Shredder is not absolute anymore.”

Her voice and whole-hearted expression made clear that she was seriously happy for me, and I was as well. Happy and proud and overflowing with hope to the point of serious embarrassment. Even so, I felt a tinge of remorse at what this would mean for Karai. She must have caught the hesitation in the way I reacted because she added playfully but sternly: “Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t regret my decisions and never for a moment do I regret being here. The only thing I wish I could have done before it was too late was to tell my father how much he meant to me. Despite everything that had happened I wanted to drink tea with him, show him my favorite blend, share stories about mom, and let him know that he had been a good father.”

For a heartbeat, I saw a little girl with eyes transfixed on her dad and a mighty warrior who had stood triumphantly against all odds, all at the same time. It was a sight I would never forget.

As if in reaction to her words, the Shredder shrieked and charged at us.

Karai did something I wouldn’t have expected of her: She cursed under her breath. A Japanese expression, which I couldn't decipher, but the hissing tone made its intent clear.

“You need to reach the fissure before the Shredder does or else you will never be able to return,” she told me and made her way for the pond. I did the same.

I almost stumbled over my own feet and even when I poured everything, I had into running away from this deadly being chasing after me and toward my ticket out of this hell, the Shredder was quicker.

A few feet away from the pond, it caught up with us and tried to grab me. Two things hindered it from dooming me for eternity. A white and a brown snake had materialized out of thin air and wrapped themselves around the armor’s legs. The second thing had been the woman beside me who hadn’t been able to block its attempt entirely. The Shredder’s claws tore into her left arm, not lethal, yet incredibly painful.

She didn’t even so much as to flinch and rather hold on tightly to the Shredder’s arm, locking them both in place. I wanted to hurry to her, free here, take her somehow with me back to the material plane when her voice as powerful as a whole army made me stop and listen to her farewell: “Make your family proud, Leonardo Hamato.”

The crest on my back felt powerful and heavy as I took in the name, hearing it said out loud for the first time.

“I promise I’ll find a way to get you out of here,” I shouted over while my feet already carried me to the glitch. To hope. To freedom.

I heard the armor of evil behind me and this time I knew I would make it. On the edge of my exit, I twirled around to jump backward to give me the ultimate satisfaction. As a response to all the deaths I have suffered, to this beast being the bane of my clan’s very existence, I showed the Shredder, hurling desperately after me, the middle finger.

And everything around me didn’t turn dark, but white.

Chapter 33: The Safest Place in the Whole Damn World

Summary:

It might seem as if between this update and the previous one not much time has passed, but I can guarantee you guys that this chapter has been in the works for half a year. Many thanks to everyone who expressed their love for this fic recently, I’m super glad you liked Karai being badass and how Leo flipped off the Shredder. I truly have the most amazing and kind-hearted comment section in the whole world! Special thanks to my brilliant twin, Brea, who is the originator of the ‘pen’ idea (you’ll see what I mean). My never-ending gratitude also to this super talented and incredible person who drew a portrait of NEON Leon: https://www.tumblr.com/covertcorporationofdarats-blog/713869048132304896/i-was-just-inspired-by-this-concept-and-fic?source=share

No specific trigger warnings this time and I hope you enjoy this update which I'm especially excited to share with you! - Jazz

“…think he listened.”

Faintly, I could make out someone saying those words. I lifted my head. It felt heavy as most of my body. So much heavier than I remembered it.

Everyone was here.

April and Mikey and Donnie and Raph and Splinter. As one unit they stood in some distance, equipped with their weapons and in battle-ready stances. I couldn’t make out the details, but even so, I could tell by their tattered clothes and the stone and wood rubble surrounding us that whatever fight they had been through…it had been one filled with pain and hardship.

My heart was jumping all over the place, and then the realization set in. This restricting and oppressing sensation came from the thing that stuck to me like air-tight plastic sheets. Only on my left arm, I could sense the air on my skin. I held it up and regarded my free hand. No gauntlet. The origin of the ‘glitch’, I guessed.

Whispers broke into my mind the instant the armor knew I had regained control. They got louder and louder, reverbing in my head, trying their damn hardest to take it over.

I couldn’t suppress the rush of fear that any moment I would be thrown back into the hellscape from which I had escaped. My breathing was quick and shallow and the plate covering my neck and chest choked me. I grabbed that part of the armor with my free hand and pulled at it. Painfully slowly, the mental bent.

“Shut the fuck up,” I groaned, and it was nothing but a mere whisper.

With my focus completely set on the task and on shutting out the other intruders whose presence leaked from the armor into me, I didn’t see his punch coming.

One second, I was doing my best to break free and the next thing I knew, a glowing red fist was right in my face and Raph landed the perfect mystic uppercut. I tumbled for quite a while, the repeated impact tearing parts of the cursed metal off me, even finishing my poor attempt to break the chest plate.

Gravity being the bitch they are, forced me to land hard on my backshell, and somehow Raph was already near me, his massive silhouette towering, and with a stoic expression he declared: “This is for running away and not telling us about anything that was going on…like ever.”

My first instinct was to defend myself but as I took in his appearance, I kept my mouth shut. Deeply carved into his frontal plastron was a cut. No doubt from a sword. It was a miracle his shell was intact and yet it must have hurt a whole fucking lot.

I struggled to my feet, and another metal piece of evil got loose and dropped to the ground. From behind the giant turtle jumped April, her bat broken to the point it reminded me of an oversized toothpick. I didn’t consider defending myself and she got me full force on the left side of my head, blasting the headpiece away. While I stumbled backward, she told me fiercely: “This is for endangering basically all of humanity!”

The girl barely finished her sentence when chains spiraled around my armored right ankle and Mikey swiped me through the air in a wide arc. I lost my metal footwear in the process. Crashing into some wood and not into the arrangement of sharp stones next to me was proof that the small guy knew exactly what he was doing. Even so, my now almost entirely exposed shell got rattled and I heard Mikey shouting from a distance: “This is for lying to us! No matter for what purpose lying is bad!”

His voice broke on the first ‘lying.’ Stumbling upright I turned around to search for him. Donnie’s hammer came rushing from nowhere and got me on my right hip. Knowing the hidden boosters that his staff could release, I could tell he was pulling his punches. Just like everyone else. Despite everything, they held back.

The blast from the hammer threw me off balance. I landed on my ass, and the fall loosened the remaining armor to the point it fell off on its own. The cascade of demonic yells inside my skull had turned into a low constant whisper and Donnie’s voice could easily drown them out: “This is for not losing an arm and letting my prosthetic designs go to waste!”

“Donnie!” the group chided him, and he balanced his staff around his neck waving at them as if he was swatting away a fly.

“Fine, fine,” he gave in and corrected himself not with much enthusiasm: “This is for giving us so much trouble, I guess.”

I had no strength to stand up. The Shredder hadn’t left me with much stamina or mystic energy and the whole ‘casting-my-soul-into-another-realm-of-existence’ situation didn’t help either. With much effort, I managed to get on my knees, while the rest of the clan joined Donnie and stopped a few feet away from me.

There was one, who hadn’t given me a piece of his mind. Splinter didn’t carry a weapon. He stood in the middle, framed by the others. His face was unmoving, it could have been made of stone and I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

Sluggishly I noticed that the final piece of the armor stuck on me was the other gauntlet. I easily removed it, placed it beside me and my mind turned quiet. Well not really, it was only my own voice again that believed it necessary to express a lot of things all at once.

I kept staring down at the horrific long claws that were engraved in metal. Deep inside me, Karai’s words got hold of me. ‘Make your family proud,’ she had said. The memories of what had happened inside the Shredder’s spiritual realm overwhelmed me for a moment and I had to push them away and focus on her and the smell of her green tea and on what she had done to get me here.

“I’m…”

I sounded so damn weak. I closed my dry mouth, gulped, kept my head low, tried a second time.

“I fucked up.”

It wasn’t the most elegant statement, but give me a break, all right? Never in my life did I ever admit I was wrong with any real honesty. This was new territory for me.

“And there is no excuse for that,” I paused. Not in the hope of them denying any of this, but to scramble for words in a huge pile of unlabelled thoughts and emotions.

“I tried to handle this mess on my own and all I did was get you involved and hurt. I wanted –“

Shit, why were my eyes burning and why did I get a lump in my throat? I stared at my bruised knees and for an instant, I was back sitting at Karai’s table and six pairs of piercing eyes observed me unblinkingly as she asked me: ‘What does family mean to you?’

I gathered up every ounce of my courage and pressed on.

“I know I lied a lot and acted like I didn’t care and claimed to not be on your side. And I know it’s impossible to believe me, after everything. You don’t have to trust anything I say or do. But I still want you to know that whatever I did and no matter how insane that seems, was to keep you away from the armor. I wanted to keep you safe,” my hands formed into fists, and I lifted my gaze. For the first time in forever, I really looked at them with the walls I had built up around me, torn down.

“Because the time I got to spend with you all was the best thing to ever happen to me.”

Silence followed. A whole lot of odd, awkward, painful nothing.

“We weren’t done yet,” Splinter’s tone hit me more than any punch he could have thrown at me. I saw him approach me and I wanted to read the others’ faces, but my instincts warned me to keep my attention on him. 

His expression was more like a dull sword than a sharp blade. Maybe he was surprised by my words after all, maybe he had expected this and didn’t believe me. In the end, it didn’t matter because he had all the damn right to be mad and not care.

I closed my eyes and bowed slightly. Accepting his punishment was the only thing I could do. Or maybe that wasn’t completely true. It was the only thing that felt like the RIGHT thing to do.

I braced myself for his attack.

“This is for coming back to us,” I heard him declaring. I could sense that he was but an arm’s length away from me.

I flinched upon his touch.

But it wasn’t a hit.

It didn’t throw me through half the cavern.

It didn’t hurt.

Throwing my eyes open, I glanced down at his whole seemingly so frail and fuzzy figure that was leaning against my frontal plastron. One of his arms was wrapped around my torso and placed on my backshell and his head rested on the left side of my shoulder. His whiskers tickled the back of my head where also his other hand, held me tight.

He was so warm, my own skin felt ice-cold in comparison and his robes and fur smelled like the lair. In a low and soft tone, he said to me:

“I am glad you are safe, my son.”

Words I had only ever dreamed about. Words I have wished for. Words I have longed for. Words I have given up on.

Here they were.

Just like that.

Even though I screwed up so much and did nothing that should deserve them.

I wanted to protest, ask him if he was kidding, and scream and laugh hysterically, at the same time. I did none of these things.

My own arms were shaking as I lifted them up and wrapped them around Splinter. Around family.

Family.

Family.

Family!

I got dizzy from repeating that word in my head and in response to my insides tightening up, I tightened my grasp. All the ‘thank yous’ and ‘i’m sorrys’ in the world wouldn’t be enough to express what I was feeling.

Even without seeing his face, I knew Splinter was taken aback by my reaction and I anticipated him moving back and away from me.

He responded by also drawing me even closer.

It was crazy.

While he embraced me, I was absolutely sure nothing could ever hurt us. This moment…being in his arms was the safest place in the whole damn world.

I buried my face into his shoulder and let the waves of emotions run over me. I sobbed because I was happy and because I was sad and because I had been afraid for so long and because something in me finally found some rest and because I had found what I had been looking for after sixteen long-ass years.

The moments passed and without letting go I collected myself. Maybe the others could tell the shift in my posture. Suddenly, there was a shell leaning against my left arm and two more arms surrounded Splinter and me. Moving my head in that direction, I witnessed Mikey joining the hug and flashing a smile at me that rivaled the upper-world sun. On our other side, April knelt and did the same. She had dragged Donnie along with her, who reluctantly put one hand on April’s and one on my back. Raph finally crashed the whole pile. His enormous arms almost went around the entire group and as he squeezed us, we all lost balance and fell over with the big guy on top of us.

“My back! Raph, my back,” Splinter groaned desperately from somewhere above me and April complained: “I think you are crushing us, big guy!”

“Too! Much! Skin! Contact!” exasperated Donnie, wiggling helplessly until Raph could struggle back up.

Mikey and I had been squished to the ground and he continued to grin and told me in an apologetic tone: “Because this is your first one, let me tell you, group hugs aren’t usually THAT intense. Or…well…now that I think about it…”

The way he seemed like he was thinking very hard and very seriously about this statement was super ridiculous. And I mean that in a good way. I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. This time it wasn’t because I was nervous, I simply felt like it. I was aware that not only Mikey regarded me in confusion, but he was surely the one to join me and snickered along.

“Sorry,” Raph timidly offered April to help her up. As the group hug dissolved and I got to my feet, brushing the tears from my cheeks, Splinter stuck close by. “I know this might sound harsh, but I need to be sure. Is your connection to the Shredder completely severed?”

That was, in fact, an excellent question. Like a rusty engine, I needed an embarrassingly long second to open my sixth sense and peek at the mystic essences around me. My own was pretty exhausted, as I had expected, but at least I was fairly sure that the spirit of the armor wasn’t with me.

“I think it doesn’t have any hold on me anymore. Pulling off that first gauntlet did the trick,” I confirmed and did my best to make it sound like a compliment.

The more I focused on it, the odder it was though. The Shredder’s soul flowed around us, a sort of mystic mist that covered most of the battlefield. There was also one more soul. Its pulse was painfully weak, and I almost missed it.

“What the hell happened,” I mumbled and followed the sensation. Everyone else tagged along.

“Oh, wait, isn’t in that direction…How did you know?” April threw questions at me once she noticed where we were going and that already confirmed my fears and yet it didn’t prepare me for the sight.

Draxum lay unconscious on the ground surrounded by pools of blood. One of his legs was but a stub, its end was covered in ice.

Bending down, I was careful not to touch him and intensely reached out to his soul. In the past, you could have thought of the Baron’s mystic reservoirs as a huge lake and mine in comparison as a small-scale bathtub. And even so, the lake had almost dried out. There was so little left, and it was escaping quickly.

“If it makes you feel any better, he tried to get the armor for himself by cutting your limbs off, so this is pretty ironic,” Donnie remarked behind me and I heard someone lightly smacking him on the head.

I turned to him and asked: “Can you help him?”

He didn’t withstand my gaze and looked everywhere but at me. “I mean, at our med bay perhaps. Re-attaching the leg is beyond me. Perhaps sealing the wound properly would be within my abilities.”

“That’s fine. Just…please,” I insisted. Finally, we locked eyes and he nodded slowly, a silent understanding passing between us.

“Not sure if you want this back, but better not leave it here.“ April had picked up my odachi and presented it to me. Somehow the weapon had ended up near Draxum. More by instinct than anything I took it.

“Should we move the armor to the lair then?” Mikey wondered and I set out to explain a few things, that I’ve learned since my involuntary entanglement with the Shredder.

It didn’t come to that.

The energy in the air rose drastically. It was so strong, the sizzling, bolt-like pulses were visible to the mere eye. The mystic energy jumped from one cursed metal piece to the next, animating them and lifting them up through magical means.

The armor reassembled itself.

“What is happening?” Splinter asked and I believed he addressed me specifically. I shrugged helplessly. This hadn’t been part of Karai’s teachings, which admittedly hadn’t been very extensive, to begin with.

It was like the nightmare that had haunted me in the spiritual world had managed to follow me into the material one. Pure energy bound the parts together and the hungry, mad, violent gleam in the helmet’s empty eyeholes was exactly the same. And there were no do-overs here, no endless stamina and my body was already having a not-so-great time.

“That’s the real Shredder,” I said before my voice gave in and ran away, and I kinda blanked out. Panic was eating me up inside.

No way could we face this thing as we were. We stood no chance. We had no means to –

The ancient enemy of the Hamato made its move. As fast and sudden as it had in the other realm. I recognized its attack pattern, and my body was reacting way before my brain could catch up. My legs carried me in front of Raph and the nasty sound of metal clashing against metal resounded in the cavern. I held my odachi in front of me pressing against my opponent’s claws.

A few minutes ago, I had struggled to stand on my own two feet. Now I was withstanding the whole weight of the Shredder and didn’t back off one inch. Where the hell did that strength come from?

‘Oh…right,’ I thought and even if it wasn’t there anymore, imagined the Hamato crest, stitched in red on my back.

“DON’T YOU DARE HURT MY FAMILY!” I screamed at it and made a step forward, pushing the demon back.

April, Splinter, Donnie, and Mikey started a combined counterattack and unleashed what physical and mystic strength they had left. I turned around to make sure Raph was okay and was met with a weird blend of amazement, shock, and (dare I say), respect?

“I had no idea it was going to attack me! I didn’t see it! I couldn’t have reacted!” he processed the fact that he could’ve lost his head right then.

In the most awkward way possible I padded his left shoulder. “I’ve been the same, believe me. It got my head several times.”

“What? When?” The big guy was THIS close to losing it, so much was clear.

“Later,” I made a throw-away gesture and joined the all-out fight.

You might assume I had a clear advantage because of what had happened to me or to my soul to be more precise and you would’ve assumed right if this sack made of flesh and bones had allowed me to fight as I had done as a cast-away spirit.

But I shouldn’t complain too much. I could follow its movements and react accordingly, which meant keeping it at bay in the most basic forms that Karai had shown me. Even so, I reached the point of exhaustion where even lifting the odachi was an impossible task and I made the inevitable deadly mistake.

Side-stepping one of its strikes, the Shredder turned its punch into an open-hand grab that should’ve punctured my neck. I totally appreciate Raph and Mikey, who were closest to me, for reaching out even if it would’ve been way too late.

And truth be told, I had no idea what saved me.

The demon was literally in my face when it went…POOF?! There were flashes of energy and a popping sound similar to thunder and there was no more Shredder.

I breathed out. Very. Very. Slowly.

“Based on the face you’re making, you also have no clue what just happened, huh,” Donnie leaned against his staff, legs trembling visibly.

“Not in the slightest,” I agreed and forced myself to not use my sword as a walking stick.

The cave turned eerily quiet, and Splinter’s suggestion bounced around the abandoned ruins and tunnels: “If we’ve no idea where the Shredder went, we should retreat for now. Everyone needs medical attention, especially – ”

There was no need to finish that sentence. I hadn’t forgotten.

We huddled back to Draxum and I told them: “I’ll portal us home. Hold on tight.”

Using that word – home – and not feeling like it was a lie gave me enough power to tap the stone floor and I summoned a portal with the mystic energy I could scrap up.

The blue light engulfed us and the instant I knew we had made it, my brain decided that it was finally time to take a break and I collapsed.

---

My sleep was short and, thankfully, dreamless. Perhaps dreams weren’t necessary in such an insane world as ours. Movements and hushed conversations woke me up and I blinked against the natural light that flooded the lair’s main area. Someone had dragged me to the skate ramp to lean me against the wall and had put a blanket on top of me. Every inch of my body was sore, but nothing seriously hurt when I got into an upright position.

“Awake already?” Donnie stood nearby, arms crossed. April was with him, three cups in her hands. She passed one to him and walked over to me.

“Mikey made some hot chocolate, you want some?” she held a steaming mug out, a careful but visible smile gracing her face. I huddled up to my feet and took it.

“Thanks,” I mumbled and made notice of the bandages around parts of my arms and legs. Someone must have patched me up while I was out.

“That’s quite scary,” Donnie remarked and sipped his own chocolaty goodness. (I was sure he had spiked his with some coffee.)

“What exactly?” I pressed him. Because anything at this point fell in that category. What WASN’T scary?

“You. Showing gratitude,” he clarified, and I didn’t know what to make of that.

“Donnie is just teasing you because he’s glad you’re up so quickly,” April playfully nudged the turtle in question.

“How long have I been out?” I asked her and almost burned my tongue on my hot drink.

“An hour,” Donnie replied and added, “66 minutes to be precise, and yes, you’ve missed some things, but we wanted to wait until everyone had the chance to get some rest. Dad’s still sleeping, too.”

I took a renewed interest in how he referred to members of the family. Dad…brother…family. These titles came so easily even to him.

“Why don’t you wash up a bit? We’ll check on the others in the meantime,” April offered and was pushing Donnie into the direction of Raph’s room before I had a chance to respond.

I had no other choice than to drink my hot chocolate on my way to the shower room. I threw some hot water in my face and on all parts of my body that weren’t covered in band-aids and bandages.

I had moved on to brush my teeth when someone knocked, and Donnie walked in without waiting for my answer. He had changed out of his Hamato outfit and into his old get-up and there was a more nervous energy about him than before.

“April told me to let you take your time, but Draxum woke up and his vitals are stable. I anticipated you might want to know.”

I almost swallowed the toothpaste, had a coughing fit, rinsed my mouth, and followed him to the med bay.

It was safe to say that Donnie hadn’t left anything to chances, which meant that besides hooking Draxum up to syringes with life-preserving liquids and heart-beat tracking machinery, he had also restrained him by strapping his wrists and ankle to his sick bed. The yokai wore his usual robes, though someone had removed his helmet.

He readjusted his head to see us enter. His expression was unchanging. The gashing wound wasn’t coated in ice anymore. Instead, the stump was covered in countable layers of braces. It hadn’t been an easy procedure, evident by the heaps of bloody cotton battings that April was about to put into a bag.

Donnie went about to check the screens that traced his vitals and made himself busy by cleaning his utensils. I stared at Draxum and he stared at me. I REALLY didn’t want to do this…but I knew that I would forever regret it if I didn’t.

“Guys, could you leave us alone? Just for a bit?” I asked the two of them and their intense squinting at me was anything but an agreement.

“I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea,” April admitted.

“Donnie has security cameras everywhere anyway and I promise I only wanna talk with him,” I counter-offered.

The girl wasn’t convinced. I hadn’t expected that it would be Donnie who gestured to the exit and said: “It’s okay, that goat had been silently pouting since he woke up. Maybe you’ve got a better chance to converse with him.”

Over his shoulder, before he closed the door behind him and April, he added: “There are no video cameras in here, but I’ll keep getting updates on your vitals. So, no funny business, Draxum.”

And then it was just the two of us.

Giving up on our staring contest, I snatched a stool and brought it in front of the bed preserving a semi-comfortable distance between us.

“I don’t need your pity,” his voice, even raspier than usual, bore itself into my very being.

“Who said that any of this has to do with pity?” I countered and focused on the leg or, rather, the lack of it. It was disorienting, knowing that it was you who had done such a thing when you had no recollection of it.

“Why else would you drag my half-dead body to wherever this is? Dying in that cave would have at least preserved what little was left of my honor.”

“This isn’t about you, it’s about me! And you better thank Donnie for keeping you alive!” I hadn’t intended to raise my voice or stand up, but it just so happened I did both. At least it had stopped his stupid rambling and there was a familiar sharpness slowly returning to him.

I settled down again and continued more calmly.

“You will NOT bear on my conscious as yet another mistake I couldn’t undo until the day I die. That would be the easy way out.”

What I told him was as much addressed to Draxum as it was toward me.

“You’ll face up to your actions because that’s the only choice we have and it will be so much harder than just passing it on to somebody else.”

Words could weigh you down. The absence of them could draw the oxygen out of a room and at this moment, the lack of any reply was almost suffocating me. When it was clear he wouldn’t respond to that, I went on.

“I’m the lucky one, really. Because I’m not alone in this,” I fixated on my own bandages.

“You and I were never alone,” Draxum replied in a low tone, “we always had each other.”

That answer threw me right into the heart of a storm. No way I would’ve expected him to admit such a thing. And why now? Why, when it was way too late? And how dare him being such a selfish asshole!

I was ready to curse at him when something dawned on me, and I stopped myself. He KNEW I would throw a tantrum because that was what he had come to expect from me. It wasn’t like Draxum didn’t understand me. If he wanted to, he knew me better than anyone. That was what a certain ponytailed spirit had wanted me to realize.

He had been the one who taught me how to walk and speak, to adapt and fight. The one with whom I had spent almost my entire life. The one with whom I had shared the good days and the bad. The arguments and apologies. I didn’t have to forgive him to acknowledge what we were:

A titan-forsaken father and his titan-forsaken son.

I could erase it all, deny it all and he would learn to accept it if that would be my decision. But Karai had been right. That wasn’t what I wanted.

“I can’t say that I felt the same way,” I told him more steadily, “but if it weren’t for you and being such a shitface, I might have never found a place I can call home.”

Draxum chuckled joylessly and his face was like a triple-locked vault and I had no keys.

“What would have happened if I had worn the armor?” he asked me, exchanging one difficult subject for another.

“That piece of shitty metal would’ve taken all your mystic energy. Would’ve killed you instantly for disrupting my contract with it,” I explained without any remorse. I had endured a lot to not let that happen, after all.

“Smart move, tying the armor to you and using me as bait,” the Baron mused, and didn’t sound ironic, “and even so, you didn’t go through with it.”

He regarded me with a look that pealed all my layers off me until only my bones remained.

“You really changed.”

“Yeah, well, I tried to tell you so when we were on the train, but you didn’t listen, like usual,” I rolled my eyes and even if the frustration was real, I made sure the words wouldn’t cut too deep.

“Speaking of which. Overdosing on a mutagen stabilizer that you stole from Big Mama’s assistant was a pretty stupid move,” Draxum snarked, though it sounded more like one of his routine lectures that we both never took very seriously.

Something he had mentioned struck me and I jolted up. “How do you know that it was from that assistant?”

The suggestion of a smile appeared on his face and the desire to punch it away was strong.

“You seriously thought your sloppy attempt to steal from her would go unnoticed?”

I was speechless. How much had he known and decided not to tell me? And for whose sake?

“Right pocket, the dark-blue one,” Draxum said after letting that reveal sink in.

“What?” I asked, irritated.

“My pocket, I cannot reach it myself. You’ll find a vial there. Take it,” he instructed me. It was tempting to ignore him and walk away. It would at least properly piss him off. Curiosity won in the end, and I retrieved from the said pocket a small glass container, shining in similar hues as the one I had stolen.

“THIS one is tailored for your version of the mutagen. I made this while treating you when you collapsed on the train. I don’t know who created the dosis for the assistant, but whoever it was understood the intricacies of my work well,” he went full-on scientist mode.

“You designed this for me?” I asked him, stirring the glass and watching the liquid shift colors.

“You seem very eager to get yourself killed,” Draxum turned his face away from me in disregard, “and even if this boosts your abilities there’s no cure for your lack of self-preservation or your awful pickpocketing skills.”

I picked up a small object from a nearby desk and jumped on his bed. Crouching down on top of his upper body, I uncapped it and held its pointy end at his throat. “You know what? Screw what I said earlier. I think my consciousness will not mind getting rid of you, after all.”

“Changing your mind so easily, I see,” he responded, suppressing a yawn.

“Well, your likable personality is very convincing,” I growled.

Someone slammed the door to the med bay open and Raph stormed in with Donnie following, calling to me: “Time out! Time out!”

The big guy wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up, away from the Baron.

Walking backward with me pressed to his plastron, he pleaded: “Don’t do something you will regret, Leo!”

I thrashed around as if I was one of those super little, vicious dogs, humans liked to carry around and shouted: “You don’t understand! Let me go!”

A sharp sound made the three of us halt. It had been years since I had heard Pops laugh like that. It was such a shocking sight for the other two that Raph released me.

“I see…one way or another, my creations ended up being naïve idiots. I honestly blame the Lou Jitsu DNA,” and then he glanced at me one last time. “You’re right. This is where you belong.”

“I sure do,” I agreed and clutching the vial in my left hand, was the first to leave the room.
 

---

After a few steps into the corridor, Donnie made me turn around to them.

“Hand over the scalpel or whatever you snatched as a weapon,” he demanded with furrowed fake-brows.

I pouted and pressed the item into his hand.

He and Raph stared at the black marker and back at me and again at the pen and, as expected, it dawned on Donnie first.

“You were just testing if we really weren’t eavesdropping,” he determined and it was amazing witnessing the realization set in.

“Correct,” I said sheepishly, “that and maybe draw a fake mustache on Draxum’s face, depending on how long it would have taken you to reach the med bay. You said no VIDEO recording, never that there wouldn’t be audio-exclusive ones.”

“Since when does anyone listen to anything I say,” he gave in and twirled the pen in his hand around.

“I swear, we didn’t do this because we didn’t trust you…it was for your protection,” Raph was quick to emphasize.

“Oh, I know,” I assured them feeling a bit elated that he used the word ‘trust’, “I would’ve been more surprised if you wouldn’t keep a close ‘ear’ on me.”

That word-play earned me a satisfying low grunt of annoyance from both of them and I asked: “You two heard everything then?”

“Not exactly,” Raph had motioned us toward the kitchen and as he entered said: “You kinda were on speaker.”

At the dinner table, in front of a trademarked purple mobile device, April, Mikey, and Splinter had gathered around. The small turtle’s face was distorted by a snotty nose and tear-filled eyes.

“False alarm. Leo just messed with us,” Donnie waved around with my black marker and went to get himself a hot chocolate refill.

“You really meant what you said?”  Mikey ignored the purple turtle. His whole attention was on me.

I had expected that Donnie would overhear me, not that this would be an open broadcast. They had listened to me pouring out my feelings and saying stuff like ‘finding a home’ and ‘atoning for my mistakes’.

All of the sudden, I was incredibly self-aware. So much so that blood rushed to my head, and I intensely hoped that my blushing wasn’t obvious.

“There’s no privacy in this household, I swear,” I sighed and settled down beside Mikey. And when he kept his big round eyes on me, I caved in: “Yes, I meant all of that.”

The awkward atmosphere around the table as soon as I joined was very evident.

‘One step at a time,’ I thought. Nobody could simply undo, forget, or forgive what had happened. Including myself…no scratch that…ESPECIALLY myself.

Donnie switched the tv on and commented: “On to more pressing matters. There was a new sighting, two minutes ago.”

On the screen you could see the Shredder in all its horrible glory, tearing through cars and throwing street signs. (Somehow it hated traffic. Couldn’t even blame it for that because who doesn’t?)

Almost impossible to notice were the uniforms of the hidden city agents scattered in the panicking crowd of humans. More obviously you could make out some foot soldiers following behind their ‘master’. There was a battle raging between several factions that could change the course of fate itself and hardly anyone on the surface or in the hidden city realized it.

“The official human reports have been frequent for the last half an hour. The Shredder seems to pop in and out of existence in regular intervals but at random locations. At least, I haven’t been able to determine any further patterns,” he rambled while we watched as a human police group ran away screaming.

“And here is the million-dollar question. How do we stop this thing?” Donnie didn’t want to focus on me, but he did.

“As far as we know, there’s no manual on how to defeat the Shredder,” April summarized, unable to sit still just like the rest of us, “and it’s not actually living. Can this thing even kick the bucket?”

Donnie’s façade got some visible cracks, especially since I did nothing to refute any of those damning observations.

I got lost in my thoughts, searching for solutions that were obviously not there, but what else was I supposed to do?

For a while, the only noise came from the tv, a nightmarish cacophony of sirens and screams and demonic shrieks until Mikey slammed his hands on the table and stood up. He gave me a low-key heart attack.

“The Hamato defeated the Shredder before! They separated and scattered the armor and nobody found the pieces for a very long time! I’m sure we can do the same!” Even if he was clearly afraid, his conviction was almost convincing.

“In case you haven’t noticed, we fought against different versions of the armor, and we barely survived,” Raph returned, expressing what everyone thought.

But it was too late. Mikey’s words had ignited something in me. An idea that like a candle was growing brighter with each moment.

“Maybe there really is a way,” I uttered hesitantly giving the idea more shape while I spoke, “I met someone who knew the original wielder of the armor. She might have left clues behind in case it went on a rampage.”

As soon as I had said that out loud, I cursed myself.

What the heck was I thinking?

This wasn’t the right time to share my experiences of events that I wasn’t even sure happened. And as far as everyone was concerned, my ideas had only ever caused more problems than solving any of them.

“You know what, never mind,” I waved dismissively and Mikey grabbed my hands, firmly holding them in his.

“No, please tell us. We want to know what you think, and we want to know what happened to you.” He used an unusually soft and severe tone, and when he drew his hands back, I felt in my palms a band made of soft fabric. Glancing at the blue bandana and up at everyone, I was met with a mixture of wariness, anxiety, skepticism, and kindness. Splinter nodded at me encouragingly. Such a small gesture that made all the difference.

I took a deep breath. “Because the fate of the world is kinda on a tight schedule, I’ll give you the run-down version,” and I went on to tell them everything that had happened once I had left the lair to go after the Shredder by myself. I told them about my fight with Draxum and apologized for my enacted betrayal and I recounted my meeting with Karai and my hellish trial inside the armor.

The whole time I was clutching the bandana in my corrupted hand. It didn’t look brand-new. Mikey must have carried it with him for a long time, waiting and hoping for the moment I would be ready, waiting and hoping for a part of his family to come home.

Chapter 34: Everything's Going According to Plan (Round 1)

Summary:

Welcome to my re-writing of “Many Unhappy Returns”! There will be three rounds aka three chapters of Battle Nexus shenanigans that are just super fun to write because this episode is my favorite in the whole series.
I am so grateful for anyone who is still sticking around or recently joined (looking at you InsomniacTiger). Special thanks to crossedthestars24 for drawing this amazing and very fittingly (cause we’re about to return to the hotel) scene from chapter 8 and I just love the colors and the outfit and everything! (https://www.tumblr.com/neonseperatedau/714589869779845121/yoooooooooooo-this-is-epic-i-love-leons?source=share)

No additional trigger warnings, except that you should be aware that we enter the Nexus and that is a brutal place, but we all know that already.

Much love – Jazz

“Nothing went according to plan,” Splinter crossed his arms and shook his head in slow disapproval, “you played right into Big Mama’s hands.”

“They’re more like…claws? And the plan WOULD have worked if a certain someone would have played his part better,” I shot back, mimicking my opposite’s posture.

“What do mean ‘better’? I beat the Kraken, what else was I supposed to do?” he pointed to the giant yokai whose eight tentacles had grown limp. Its unconscious body covered half of the arena.

“You could have done a better job at almost dying so maybe Spider Queen would have shown you mercy, she’s your old flame after all,” I also pointed, but not at our previous enemy. Up the podium, Big Mama glanced down and with every magic eyeball on her, declared: “Dearest paying audience! We’ve reached the main event of today! A truly special treat just for you! Two of my former champions will battle it out in a match to the death and for the honor of taking this magic circlet as their price!”

“Two former champions,” Splinter huffed. It wasn’t clear, which word bothered him more.

“You can hardly be considered a champion. How long have been in the arena? A week?” he threw a biting side-eye at me.

“Why are you doing this? Because I made that deal with Big Mama? You know we need that item to defeat the Shredder,” I protested.

Moving away from me and picking up a javelin that one of the tentacles had held on to, he retorted: “Sure we need it but that’s useless when you make deals that go way over your head and accept challenges you could never win.”

My ‘pissed-off-meter’ maxed out and through pressed teeth, I asked him: “And what I wonder do you refer to exactly?”

“That you should better give up because you’ve no chance of winning against me anyway, Baby Blue,” Splinter coated the nickname in a sickening amount of sweetness.

I unsheathed the two katanas that I had just received. “Oh, is that how this will go, Old Rat? You sure you don’t want to take five for an afternoon nap first?”

His tail got me straight in the face, and I staggered, whipping off the red that dripped from my nose.

“Death! Death! Death!” chanted the audience.

You might be wondering how I found myself in this situation.

Maybe we need to pause the story for a second here and rewind. I guarantee you. It will be worth your time.

Where were we…

Okay. So, I told my family what I have been up to for the last 48 hours or so over a second round of hot cocoa. Leaving out most of the gruesome details and internal turmoil, I preferred to focus on Karai and what I had learned about the Shredder.

I’m sure everyone at our dinner table would have liked to take rounds to shake and scream at me and dissect with me the countless instances I had almost bitten the dust.

And to be honest, the only thing preventing them from doing so was an evil armor shredding up the world on live TV.

I finally came to my suggestion to look for anything that the original clan head had left behind. Karai knew the Shredder best and was the one to banish him. She had started to explain some of it to me back then but our conversations had been cut short (literally by the Shredder spirit cutting me in half) and by the time I had run for the ‘exit’ I had collected mere fragments.

Splinter led us to his bedroom and rummaged through his collection of heirlooms. We each took turns scrutinizing them and deeming them worthless. Finally, he opened a scroll and eyed it curiously.

“That’s weird,” he murmured, “usually ghosts appear and tell me what to do.”

“Spirits emerging from shriveled-up paper sounds highly improbable and very convenient,” Donnie said matter-of-factly and analyzed the parchment with a mechanical magnifying glass. They unraveled the scroll further, and we glanced together over the final part: It was blank.

“Let me guess, the instructions on how to defeat the Shredder are supposed to be here,” April gestured to the brownish piece of paper.

Squinting at the characters, he said something half in English, half in Japanese, and then more audible to us: “It’s been a hot minute since I had to read in Kanji. I might be wrong because this doesn’t make much sense. The text goes on about the Shredder and the possibility to seal it and then it stops with a random question. ‘What’s my favorite animal?’ it says.”

“Sounds like a computer password,” Raph started to pace around the room. I was tempted to join him.

“It must be wrong,” Splinter determined, “I probably mistranslated that part.”

I thought back on a lush garden and a koi pond and a Japanese castle and green tea and HER and it dawned on me.

“Do you know the character for ‘snake’?” I asked our current clan head.

“I think so, but why a snake?” he replied and rummaged in his upper drawers to fetch a brush and ink.

“Karai really loved snakes, in the spirit realm inside the armor she had two who kept her company,” I told him, and I cranked up the insanity of that statement by adding: “They served some damn-good tea.”

“I would love to have a magic pet like that!” Mikey was totally into it, “they would help me cook and play games and get me my favourite snacks and…”

The small guy continued to list things he would teach his mystic squirrels while Splinter readied his writing tools. With brisk movements, he wrote our answer under the question. The character started glowing the moment he placed the final stroke, and it disappeared getting replaced by several rows of new text.

“It really WAS a computer password,” Donnie was baffled and took pictures of the scroll.

We gave our dad (and yes using that word feels VERY odd but I’ll try to include it anyway) some time to read and translate and when he finished, he declared with a bright smile: “This is a ritual to tear the armor into pieces! It’s the one Karai created the first time she went against the Shredder.”

Everyone huddled closer around the parchment.

“There’s some kind of mantra,” Splinter pointed to a line of characters and then over several others, “that needs to be chanted. These words are supposed to channel the spirit of the Hamato. The instructions also mention a ritual weapon as a conductor for the spell to take effect.”

“Ritual weapon?” echoed April, “and where are we supposed to get something like this on short notice? You don’t have anything like that lying around, Splints?”

He shook his head slowly.

“Weapons used in magic rituals are kinda rare and hard to get by. They’re a bit like our mystic weapons and there’s a reason why there are only four of them, you know,” I offered as an explanation. I didn’t mention that I might get such an item if I would go to the black market. Not only did I not want to endanger everyone like that, but it would also be tedious and time-consuming and there was no guarantee it would lead to any success. In the meantime, the Shredder could eradicate the whole surface.

“Something like that,” Splinter mused and stroked his beard, “would surely be in the collection of a hoarder of all things mystic and precious.”

He looked at me and to my demise, I knew instantly whom he was talking about.

“No, no way,” I took a step back from everyone, “she’s gonna kill me the moment I enter her territory.”

“Who are you talking about?” Raph frowned at us. Bless the guy for not catching on too quickly when it came to awful suggestions.

Dad and I replied in unison as if spouting out a curse word: “Big Mama.”

This idea didn’t cause a rousing round of applause. Everyone had their fair share of overly positive experiences with the spider-lady (and please mark the pointed sarcasm) and at the same time, nobody could deny that she was our best bet.

“She might not even hear us out if I’m with you,” I clenched a fist around my bandana, which was still in my left hand.

“Oh, come on, I bet she forgot by now about that one time you poured a drink over her,” Raph did his best to sound uplifting.

“It’s not just the drink I’m worried about. I humiliated her in front of her own audience, freed her new rodeo clowns – no offense guys – stole from and tied up some of her goons in a public bathroom, casually threatened her and pick-pocketed from her personal assistant, beat a whole squad of her staff to a bloody pulp, and portalled them directly back to her,” I summarized with a growing sour taste on my tongue.

April whistled respectfully, “now THOSE are reasons to be mad about.”

“As…some of you know, I was also fighting in the Nexus for some years,” Splinter tiptoed around admitting that only I knew that. It had been one of the first secrets we had shared.

“You did WHAT?” the big guy grabbed him by his shoulders.

“It’s not important right now,” Splinter avoided going into detail even when Donnie protested in a lower voice that this “sounded, in fact, very important.”

Ignoring his sons, he went on: “If we need that ritual weapon, we need to figure out a way to strike a deal with her and Big Mama never does a straight deal.”

An invisible cloud of worries and half-baked ideas hung low over our heads. When it was clear none of us had a foolproof plan locked and loaded, April sighed long and heavy (I wondered if she had gotten any rest while I had been out). “How about we take some minutes to get ready? Meet up at the skate ramp in five and worst case we improvise, wouldn’t be the first time that worked.”

Her determined tone got us to agree, and we shuffled in different directions.

For an odd moment, I watched everyone go and do their own thing, low-key expecting to be placed under supervision.

Weirdly enough that didn’t happen. Even weirder was being back at the lair and moving around freely.

I passed by the infirmary and considered going inside to ask Draxum about the ritual weapons, he surely would know a thing or two. Standing at the door and holding my hand up ready to knock for an embarrassingly long minute, I turned around and walked away.

I gravitated toward my room, hopped on my bed, and traced the outlines of the mural. Noticing how similar the shadows of the hidden city skyline were to my cursed arm, I picked up a nail clipper and trimmed the claw-like nails short.

My eyes fell on the bandana, lying on my bed, its blue color a loud splash on the white sheets. Grabbing it I moved to my mirror and glanced at my reflection and down at the cloth. For a moment, I was back in that public bathroom, bloodied and beaten and feeling like a cheap-ass fake with that black bandana, wishing so deeply that this would somehow transform me into someone I wasn’t.

Technically it was just an accessory, but the thought of putting that bandana on and it not feeling RIGHT terrified me. You could still see the thin lines across my face, where I had torn the black one into pieces and hurt myself in the process. And let’s be clear. I didn’t do that by accident. I had betrayed everything that it stood for and so, as always, I had lashed out.

‘But things were different now,’ I repeated in my head, to convince myself and I made no attempt to tie that damn thing around my eyes. Perhaps I would need to let these scars heal first (ambiguity intended).

I bound the bandana around my left biceps three times and fastened it with a knot. Satisfied with my make-shift solution I turned around and asked the drawn curtains that were the entrance to my room:

“You think I should add a butterfly knot?”

From beyond the door came a sigh and Donnie shimmied into sight. “In my defense, I thought I was really quiet,” he made no effort to feign remorse.

“Has nothing to do with hearing. I could sense you standing there for like the last half a minute,” I admitted, holding up my arm to regard the bandana from every angle.

“Does that mean you basically know where we are all the time?” Donnie asked and focused on the wall painting.

I shrugged. “Yeah, kinda. Better get used to it.” That advice went for me just as much as it was meant for him. Merging with the armor didn’t boost my abilities. It was more like…once I got a hold of them, I didn’t have to focus on them to work anymore. You cannot really turn off your senses, right? You smell and feel and see things all the time, but usually, you don’t pay them much attention. If you need them, they’re there. That’s how my mystic sensing was working.

“Huh,” Donnie grunted absent-mindedly, moved his eyes from the wall to me, and squinted hard, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“Prepping to go to the hotel? What else?” I returned, about to grab a bag to throw some equipment in. (Daggers, bandages…do I have some poison left?)

“Not in that get-up you don’t,” he placed his arms on his hip, blocking the door of my room as if to say ‘and I won’t let you leave if you don’t change asap.’

I couldn’t stop myself from protectively placing a hand over my arm where I had fastened the bandana and countered: “What’s wrong with it? This way, I can always keep it close to me.”

His expression shifted from sass to surprise to sympathy. “That’s unexpectedly considerate of you. But no. That’s not what I meant. If you waltz into the sparkling web of the big spider as a returning champion, you need more flair. You need to dazzle!”

I had a long list of questions and concerns all based on that one statement, but before I could voice any of them, he dragged me out of my room, past his lab, and to a chamber that he introduced as his ‘walk-in wardrobe’. With the efficiency and dedication of an artist who was curating his passion project, he selected several clothing pieces and threw some immediately away while nodding at others. Two minutes later I had a new outfit that was weirdly alienating yet so comfortable I had a hard time processing it.

Over my usual white ace wrap, I got short finger-less gloves in the same color as my bandana, and I believe Donnie didn’t select ones long enough to ‘hide’ my greyish arm on purpose. Around my left thigh was a holster for a dagger and a satchel, bigger than the one I had previously worn, made out of the same blue leather as the gloves. My feet were covered in black bandages to cover up some fresh wounds and give me an additional grip. Around my shell were two black carry straps, fixated so they formed an ‘X’ on the front and back and they were perfect for keeping my odachi in place. Maybe I could even add two bolsters to carry two katanas. (Not that I had those with me at the moment.)

Donnie gave his discerning eyebrow-squint of approval. “Pretty good for a spontaneous make-over. If the Big M ends up tearing you apart, you can die in style.”

It certainly wasn’t his words that moved me. It was the gesture itself. He had come to my room to on me and dragged me all the way to his wardrobe to get my mind off things.

How was I supposed to tell him that I seriously appreciated this? Glancing at my new reflection made me feel warm inside similar to when Splinter had held me tight and so I turned around to Donnie and gave him a quick hug. A second later I released him from my rigid embrace and retreated backwards.

“Sorry about that,” I said quickly, not processing in the least why I just had done that, “I know you don’t like physical contact. I don’t…”

Like a reawakened ice sculpture, the purple turtle blinked a few times and the first thing he did was summon a huge interface and scan his files.

“What are you doing?” I asked probingly.

“Reviewing some nodes about you,” Donnie mumbled, his fingers flying over the semi-translucent keyboard, “Mikey’s first attempts to hug you had been unsuccessful. We assumed you didn’t like being touched, which is why my little brother made sure to keep his distance and respect your boundaries. And you know that wasn’t easy for him.”

I cocked my head to one side in confusion. I had always thought Mikey had done that because he didn’t want to be near me and the same went for everyone else.

“It will please the others to hear that there’s another hugger in the family now,” he finished typing and glanced at me slyly.

“I’m not…what the hell is a ‘hugger’? Some weird human concept?” I moved my attention to the mirror. Not to look at my outfit, of course. If you guys need to know the truth, I was a bit embarrassed. Perhaps even more than a bit.

“You know EXACTLY what I mean,” the gratification oozed from Donnie’s voice. I huffed and readjusted my gloves.

“Anyway,” I chose a conversational U-turn, “maybe Big Mama will be confused by the new look and won’t turtle-kebab me instantly.”

“Wow, master of misdirection, right here.” There was no tonal change whatsoever.

Donnie stared at me for a reaction and when I obviously didn’t respond, he specified: “If that wasn’t clear, I meant that as a compliment.”

“Was that sarcasm?” I was seriously lost.

“No,” Donnie put way too much emphasis on that single syllable.

“Okay, but THAT was sarcasm.”

“Shut up.”

“Finally, a word of truth,” I grinned at him in the mirror, and he grinned back, and my eyes and mouth widened into a different kind of grimace as something dawned on me.

“I REALLY don’t like that look on your face.” The turtle had all the right to be worried.

“Misdirection,” I repeated, the plan was taking shape like a snowball turning into an avalanche, “we don’t need clever bargains. What we need to do is to place her attention away from the item we really want.”

The smart kid didn’t even need time to consider my suggestion. He was already on board, giving form to my rough outline. “Because if she THINKS she can keep us from what we need, we can snatch it when she least expects it.”

“Damn, I can’t wait to see the look on her face when we manage to pull this off,” I agreed and made my way across the wardrobe to the kitchen with Donnie right beside me, throwing ideas back and forth, each a little more disastrous than the previous before.

---

The Nexus Hotel’s neon signs loomed high above us. It was in the deepest hours of the night, yet something lay in the air. The expectation that this quiet was about to jump at you the moment you trust it.

My heart was pumping hard against my shell as we approached the building’s main entrance. Dad’s fur stood up, he surely wished himself back on his couch. The both of us kept walking.

Two yokai in disguise framed the fancy glass doors. They could’ve been twins (well, to be fair, customized cloaking broaches are expensive), with their broad shoulders, passive-aggressive stares, and well-kept uniforms.

They didn’t move, yet I could tell the instant they recognized me. They got awfully stiff and were grabbing something behind their backs.

“Hey,” I offered as a greeting, “awful weather we’re having today.”

“What’re ye doin’ here?” one of the guards addressed me with an accent I couldn’t really place.

“I want to bring Big Mama a peace offer,” I gestured to my partner-in-crime, “she’s awfully persistent and I want to set things right.”

Even if they were cloaking their real appearance, their expression clearly translated into ‘I-don’t-believe-your-shit’. That was fine. They were supposed to be suspicious of me.

“And who’s that?” the guard on the left side rudely nodded in Splinter’s direction.

I gasped, channeling my inner drama queen. “Don’t you recognize one of the greatest Battle Nexus champions there ever was? That’s Lou Jitsu!”

His whiskers quivered a bit, but he gazed up steely and made himself as tall as possible.

“Wasn’t Lou Jitsu a human?” the goons weren’t buying it.

“He had a bit of a makeover,” I quickly offered as an explanation and leaned over to them, “black market deals. You get it, right?”

They nodded gravely and I relaxed a little (everyone knew that there were some fucked-up things happening in the black market). The one on the right snatched his walkie-talkie and announced: “Big Mama, we’ve got the turtle whose head you requested as a letter rack, and he says he’s with Lou Jitsu.”

I couldn’t understand her reply. The yokai eyed us when he relayed her decision: “She’s going to kill ya.”

“You mean…she is going to see us?” I hoped to correct him.

The yokai in disguise shrugged. “Same difference.”

That wasn’t unsettling at all.

His silent partner threw a marble at us at the same moment. I didn’t even have enough time to notice that it is a one-way portal when it sucked both of us in and spatted us out a heartbeat later.

As THE portal-turtle I totally didn’t appreciate being flung into one that wasn’t of my own design. I had to blink the rainbows away that danced in front of my eyes, even if I didn’t need my sight to know where we were.

The constant cries for more entertainment and even more violence filled the arena with life. There was also this very specific smell that made me nostalgic, but not in a good way. A blend of blood, sweat, alcohol, and mystic static.

We were up the balcony, the queen’s private row that was empty except for the dozens of guards that kept the common audience at a distance. From the shadows of the entrance to this podium, Big Mama emerged. Large and hairy and with eight eyes fixated on her victims. Her assistant, cladded as usual, followed close after her.

“You’ve got 10 seconds before I tear you to pieces,” she offered graciously.

“Heyyyy,” I stretched my arms out in a warm greeting, “I’m happy to see you again too, Big Mama.”

Even though his feet were so tiny, Splinter put a decisive step in front of me and the motion seemed to me much greater than it really was.

“He didn’t come alone,” Lou Jitsu said, “it was I who suggested turning to you for aid. Aren’t you happy to see your Snuggle Muffin Beefcake again?”

The big arachne stopped. Even with her horrifying pincers covering most of her mouth, you could tell she gasped in surprise.

“Beefcake? But I didn’t call anyone like that ever since –“ Splinter interrupted her by moving toward her looming figure, taking two of her many arms and holding them softly in his. Some silent understanding passed between them.

“It really IS you,” Big Mama squeaked.

Waitwaitwaitwait!

That wasn’t the reaction of someone who had exclusively been your ‘employer’.

The nicknames, the affections. Something was up and I didn’t like it one bit.

The cruelest showrunner in the hidden city melted under Splinter’s gentle paddings even if she tried to hide it.

It dawned on me that my dad also hadn’t been completely honest about his time in the Nexus and that even after all the planning we had done, he had decided not to tell me about this one important bit.

‘Oh, we are SO going to talk about this once we saved the world,’ I thought in his direction and hoped he would at the very least sense my icy stare.

“It’s been a long time and as you see, I’m not the person I’ve once been,” he moved near to where he assumed her ears were.

“Oh, I’m beholding. You’re even harrier and still as dishy,” she visibly swooned. I was ready to run to the railing and throw up. Whatever these two had going on in the past, I wasn’t keen on hearing any more details.

“It’s so lovely to witness such a,” I had to force the words out of my mouth like removing apple skin that was stuck between my teeth, “heart-warming reunion. But to tell you the truth, we also came to ask you for a favor.”

The way she looked up told me, that she had almost forgotten I was here too, and she wasn’t pleased to be reminded of that fact.

“My son is right,” Splinter agreed, and I was already less mad at him only for the way he referred to me, “the Shredder is laying waste to New York, and we need to stop it. Do you know of any items that could bind such a beast?”

“I have heard of this meek monster made of metal,” one of Big Mama’s hands continued to brush his left furry cheek and I didn’t think she even realized it, “though since it seems to focus on the upper city, I haven’t paid it much attention.”

“It is a dangerous being that if left to its rampage could also endanger the yokai,” dad insisted. The way he forced himself not to move away from her when she touched him revealed a lot about their previous relationship. No wonder he ended up at the Nexus. No wonder he had agreed to escape it even if he had ended up in another prison.

“We’re willing to trade,” I added, choosing my words with the utmost care.

“Is that so?” Big Mama mused in a melodic tone. She stayed quiet for a moment, and I didn’t dare to move an inch.

“I guess, I have in my collection a mystic collar with which you can bind this Shredder beast,” she flipped a claw at a nearby guard and they produced a holographic image of a wooden circlet. Not super impressive. Seemed legit though. A grin sneaked up my mouth and I fought against it showing.

“That sounds perfect,” I straight-out lied, even if the excitement in my voice was real, “and I’ve got a proposal for you that, in turn, will take this fine establishment to the next level.”

I motioned to the arena and declared: “Recently, I’ve heard rumors on the streets that you haven’t showcased any champions in a while. Yokai whisper the fights are getting dull without fresh and worthy challengers.”

No need to tell me I should be wary of how much I wanted to indirectly disturb the giant spider’s nest. I was one wrong word away from getting wrapped up into an air-tight cocoon. 

“And what do people expect less than new champions? Old ones returning! What a twist that everyone will rush to the hotel to see for themselves! And I’m humbling myself here to be merely the opening act. Rat Jitsu would be THE main sensation, fighting to reclaim his title in a very special event!”

“Blue,” Splinter told me in a warning tone, “this is not what we agreed on!” (Of course, this was exactly what we had agreed on.)

“That sounds exhilarating indeed,” she was keener on taking in our disagreement than considering my offer.

“How about we heighten the stakes,” I went on, while the soon-to-be Battle Nexus sensation complained: “She hasn’t even said ‘no’ to your first deal, yet!”

Ignoring him I unsheathed my odachi and laid it casually around my shoulder: “We’re both gonna fight with no weapons. Classic hands-on combat against fighters of your choosing.”

To underline my words, I walked over to one of the guards. He was part of a group who had joined the ensemble after Big Mama had entered and shoved the sword into the personnel’s hands. Like many, they remained in their human disguise and did their best to stare me down. I retrieved the dagger from its new place around my thigh as well and with much deliberation handed it over.

“You seem quite eager to return to my Nexus, turtly-boo,” Big Mama commended and asked her ex-crush: “And what about you, my gorgeous cumulous cupcake?”

Splinter made a face like he had bitten into a lemon and still he said: “If you hold up your end of the deal.”

Even before he finished that statement, something happened I had never thought possible: Someone’s mystic presence entered my mind that wasn’t part of a cursed armor. It was… I have no idea how to describe it. As if someone briefly touched you as you were passing by? As if you get this odd tingling on the back of your neck that you’re being watched?

The one thing that kept me grounded was my familiarity with the energy’s essence. I made some effort NOT to look in the direction of the assistant. I didn’t think she was aware that I knew of her mystic intrusion, or...did she know? This mask made it hard to determine anything for real.

Warily I let her spirit wander, uncertain of what she was able to do or why her soul was there. As far as I could tell, she observed, which was as weird as it sounded. Her essence stuck close by mine and that was it.

Watching her, watching me, it dawned on me: Big Mama’s assistant was a lie detector. If I would grow nervous or angry or hesitant, she could tell by the way my very soul reacted. That was one mad mystic skill. Why did I get to be a glorified navigation system and she had such a handy ability?

The sting in my pride made me a bit cocky. Pushing back mystic presences wasn’t anything new to me. I had fought off the Shredder’s and Saki’s spirits too many times to count (and Saki had been like an old roommate at one point) and I was kinda surprised by myself when I shut her out without much resistance.

I was aware that she attempted to barge a second time and found herself in front of closed doors. I couldn’t resist a smile as I sensed her irritation and, in my mind, I formed a sentence and sent it toward her.

‘No peeking, sis.’

I wasn’t sure if it reached her or just a sensation. Either way, I think she got the gist of it. Her spirit retreated and she made a gesture with her left hand that I couldn’t decipher. Big Mama regarded her for a long second, expecting something different and disliking what her assistant apparently told her.

I had missed the last bits of the conversation between the two long-lost ‘lovers’ (again…big yikes), something about changing outfits and getting started with the event right away. Good thing, Splinter used his ‘charms’ for the greater good to bargain the specifics in our favor.

“There will be three rounds,” Big Mama continued, “one each where you fight solo against warriors that I get to pick, and a third match where you both fight in the ring.”

Damn, she was good at lying. It almost sounded like a legit suggestion.

“So, a tag-team, ey?” I repeated to show her that I misunderstood the last part, as she intended, “that’s great and we’re keeping our current clothes. I just got mine and I don’t want Splinter to die in some embarrassing costume like the ones he wore as a human.”

“They had a lot of class, I tell you,” the fur-ball shot at me.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you old people say,” and I bent down to him, “but I feel gracious, so why don’t you take at least my fancy new gloves to remember me by.”

I was already pulling the blue gloves off. My dad huffed at me and turned half-away. “Those edgy things? They remind me of a thirteen-year-old’s dying dreams of becoming the lead guitarist of a garage rock band.”

“That’s oddly specific,” I mused and handed the ‘dying dreams’ over to him anyway.

“So, no costumes? Are you sure?” Big Mama was a tad disappointed.

We both shook our heads in agreement.

“Very well,” she motioned for one of her bulkier personnel to come closer. “Search them,” the lady boss ordered, “and take the annoying one to the gates.”

Then she turned to Splinter and offered her hands (claws?) for him to take. “You’ll stay with me until it’s your turn, my dearest fluffikins.”

By this point, I would have gladly hurled myself down to the arena to escape any more displays of affection, maybe I would even survive the fall. Instead, I made note of a few figures surrounding us that would play an important part much later and followed the assigned goon to the familiar halls of the Nexus.

---

Let’s count the places I would rather be right now instead of the Battle Nexus: The lair, my own room, the hidden city black market, that one dumpster behind the pizza joint, New Jersey (a place I’ve never been to but heard many terrifying legends about). Basically, everywhere would be better than here.

The cheers of the crowd as the announcer spun his tale of my return and Splinter’s debut were deafening and not at all encouraging. Without any of my weapons, I felt exposed, and I had to fight the urge to grab handles that weren’t there.

Shortly after came my opponent, whose name got drowned out by more shouts of excitement. He was a scrawny fellow. A tad shorter than me, wearing a casual white blouse and a pair of black trousers. It’s not every day you get to see a dragon yokai, their scales were fetching a high price in the wrong places and his were especially beautiful. Depending on how the lights hit him they shined golden, orange, and red. They reminded me of a red sun. I knew of one dragon lord who oversaw most of the illegal shipments coming in from Asia and sure enough, when I scanned the rows of ecstatic yokai there was one tribune completely empty except for one dapper-looking dragon and his entourage.

“It’s an honor to get to kill you,” my opponent said, and my focus shifted from the crime boss to him.

“Why?” I asked bluntly.

The young lizard drew his two katanas. I wasn’t surprised he got to use his weapons. We specified that we would fight without them, and Big Mama loved to exploit these types of loopholes. (And that was fine with me because that loophole had been a lure in disguise.)

“When you poured your drink over Big Mama’s head and jumped down into the arena, I thought to myself: ‘Man, this Kappa got some guts.’ I wanted to fight against you ever since,” he told me eagerly.

‘Great,’ I thought, ‘a fan from my embarrassing rebel phase. That’s not awkward at all.’

“Name’s not Kappa, it’s Leo. What’s yours?” We started circling each other, not casually, but with much deliberation.

His posture faltered. The yokai hadn’t expected this question.

“Ryu,” he returned, and I stopped, and got into a stance that I had learned in the spiritual realm. Grounding the left foot behind my other, I crouched slightly, and with the palms facing upward, I kept my hands open, almost inviting him.

“Nice to meet you, Ryu,” I returned, believing Karai would be super proud of me for being so polite to my enemies.

Somehow the young dragon wasn’t happy about my kind gesture. He shot an irritating look at me and charged without exchanging further pleasantries.

The yokai got some fighting experience, that was for sure. He knew how to block and provoke openings. He wasn’t the quickest, and that goes without saying, but he wasn’t anywhere close to the Shredder’s fighting stats. With the back sides of my hands, I redirected Ryu’s strikes, my arms moving like snakes that were always in his way and yet never in reach.

He could definitely tell that I wasn’t very threatened by his attempts to slice’n’dice me.

“The hell you’re doing?” his breathing was heavy, and he had taken a few steps back to allow himself a break.

“Fighting you, if that wasn’t kinda obvious,” I offered with a shrug.

“You aren’t fighting at all as you used to! I and everyone else,” my opponent motioned with his swords to the crowd, “want to see the ‘Kappa with the Eyes like Death’.”

“Is that what you called me? Wouldn’t ‘the Wonderous Striped Slider’ be a better pick?” I was actually wondering about this. Perhaps the name established itself after my disappearance.

“You took down your enemies without mercy! Each time they were barely breathing when you were through with them,” Ryu recounted with such delight, it made me sick.

‘Things are different now,’ I had told my reflection and I repeated it to myself like a chant to ward off the guilt crawling up my spine. This was much more difficult when you were standing alone in an arena full of yokai who would love to see your corpse desecrated than when you were surrounded by those who did their best to support you.

…did I just have an important epiphany?

Anyway.

I understood why Big Mama chose him as my challenger. He was eager to prove himself. (Especially his crime boss dad.) He chose violence to measure his worth. He rushed at me to cut me down without any second thoughts. In short, he was a walking afterthought of my past self and everything I didn’t want to be reminded of.

Shooting an ugly eye at the big spider who was observing the match from the best seat in the house, I returned my attention to Ryu.

“Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I ain’t into that shit anymore,” I told him and myself and those who were watching.

The dragon’s ecstatic smile derailed. He inhaled sharply and as he exhaled, he blew against his swords, igniting them. A cool mystic trick, gotta gave credit where it’s due.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you would have to fight against burning swords. Maybe just don’t. In case you cannot run away, let me tell you this: Keep your distance or you’re gonna soon be ‘medium to well done’. The flames are not so much meant to add to the damage than to drive your opponent away from you. Despite being careful, his blades seared my right elbow and got dangerously close to my left temple.

‘This is getting annoying,’ I decided, sweating profusely from the constant heat.

I ducked under one of his swords that aimed for my chest and in a risky maneuver got uncomfortably close to him. Getting hold of his left wrist, I twisted it to the point, the dragon had no choice but to release his weapon and it tumbled to the ground. As a dual wielder myself I was aware of the pros and cons of that fighting style. Two katanas meant more protection, lesser openings. It also meant being exposed once one of your hands got locked down.

Ryu cried out and swerved his remaining blade upwards to bring it down on my head. I caught his other wrist before it could do any harm and turned it outwards to a very uncomfortable degree as well. With both his hands fixated, I leaned backward and landed one of the best headbutt I ever dished out. I let go of the yokai, who swayed and fell on his ass.

Remaining on my feet, I touched my forehead to wipe away the blood from the fresh wound.

Flashbacks haunted me, from when I wouldn’t stop attacking an opponent until they were unable to move. To those who harmed me, I had always returned the favor, double time. Had I ever checked if they had been okay after a fight? No. Did I ever care? Perhaps, but I never had the guts to find out if their injuries might have been lethal or left any scars. It had been easier to lash out and not think about anyone but yourself.

“If you wanna fight the Kappa you heard so much about, you need to do it on even ground. No weapons, no tricks. Show me what you got,” I laid out my terms after giving Ryu some time to get up.

If I had to play Big Mama’s games again, I would do so according to my own rules.

The young dragon was conflicted. His eyes darted to the mob boss with the pretty scales and to me and the crowd, who also wasn’t sure anymore who or what they should cheer for.

“Come on, what do you have to lose?” I fastened the bandages around my hands.

My opponent gave himself a push, clenched his hands into fists, and got into position. This time, I struck first. A sidekick led to a jump and a roundhouse. He stood his ground and aimed for my face. Ryu was much faster without his blades. We exchanged some mean punches and relentlessly pushed when we saw our chances. The audience was eerily quiet.

The yokai got a gash on his forehead and I tasted iron from one of his hits to my chin. Giving up was not on our minds.

Only when he underestimated the durability of my shell, the match turned in my favor. Ryu went for a repeated flurry of blows against my torso. The impact made me stumble, but nothing more than that.

“Sorry, but it takes a lot more to shell-shock me,” I aimed low with that pun and also with my next feigned kick. The yokai fell for it and didn’t see me swipe him off his feet. Before he kissed the floor, I hold onto one of his arms and grappled him to the ground.

Ryu wriggled on his belly. With my right foot firmly placed between his shoulder blades, he could do little.

“Shit,” he relented and with a raised voice declared: “I resign from the fight!”

No cheers erupted from the crowd. There was growing unrest amongst them as I released Ryu and helped him up. We shook hands and I was glad to see that he was okay, and that mad shine in his eyes had vanished.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” I asked him with a cocked smile.

“Yeah,” he admitted, flashing some of his sharp teeth in a mischievous grin.

“Lame!” came the cries from the rows around us.

“This is the Nexus, not some bar brawl!” complained another yokai. Dozens of voices murmured agreement.

From nearby, something fell into the arena. I walked over to it and picked up a dagger.

“Finish the job,” called the old dragon yokai down at me.

“Do you seriously ask me to lynch your own son?” I twirled the blade in my hand, while Ryu joined me, dread and shame written all over his face.

“He knew the risks when he begged me to let him participate,” the crime lord growled and the yokai beside me flinched.

I didn’t have to think about this suggestion long. I struck out and threw the dagger to where it came from. With a satisfying thud that was audible in the whole arena, it got stuck in the empty seat right beside Ryu’s dad.

“Your son fought me fair and square, if you got a problem with that how about you come down yourself next time, or is your scaly butt permanently stuck to your soft cushion?” 

That last comment earned me some gasps and snickers. A tiny-rational Leon inside my head slapped me for provoking another powerful underground boss because now I got a list going and that sure as hell wasn’t healthy, but it was too late. 

There were literal flames rising from between his scales and he did his best to strangle me with his eyes.

“Well, that wasn’t what we expected but that was round one, folks!” the announcer interrupted hurriedly, “stay tuned for a far better second match.”

“Far better? Before it even started? The audacity,” I complained, looking at Ryu for his approval. He was still processing the match.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he told me, struggling to move toward the gates from where we both had entered.

“That’s the motto of my whole fucking life,” I sighed over-dramatically.

“I figured,” the young dragon’s mood lifted a bit. I hoped he would be okay. His father would be mad at him for a while, but I was probably the bigger and more convenient target.

“Maybe see you around the hidden city for some food? I know THE best place to get some soup,” I suggested.

“You mean Usagi’s?” his eyes sparked (the rabbit’s shop was a well-known secret among the local crowd).

“That’s the one,” I confirmed.

Ryu held one hand over his stomach to prevent it from growling too loud, “I love that place! I always go for seconds and then struggle to finish.”

“Same,” I agreed, in sympathizing pain.

The guards forced us to move in opposite directions, so we waved goodbye, and I fumbled with the ends of my bandana as I trotted along. Never had I left Big Mama’s arena in such a good mood.

‘See? Things really have changed,’ I told myself. My mind was on my family, hoping they might have seen the match and thought the same.

Chapter 35: My Dad Kicks Ass and I’m Not Taking Names (Round 2)

Notes:

Hey guys, I’m so sorry for disappearing and leaving this fic on hiatus without an explanation. I had some serious health issues to deal with and I won’t go into detail but let’s just say I made some involuntary visits to the hospital. I’m okay now, just had to prioritize my health and body and mind and deal with some setbacks as well.
While I'm still recovering, I’m determined to finish this project as I originally intended and have fun doing so! Pretty sure many people moved on to other fandoms at this point, but if anyone is still here and reading this…Thank you for sticking around, this is for you.

TW: Cursing and consumption of toxins

All right, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The good news was that Big Mama didn’t have a great time and that in turn meant that I was having a blast.

The bad news had eight tentacles, all equipped with deadly weapons, and a solid reputation for completely annihilating his enemies.

More good news: We planned for this scenario.

Adding to the bad news: It wasn’t like it was a well-thought-out plan and more of the ‘let’s see what happens and roll with it’ kind.

To end this list with some more good news: I was handed a drink on my escorted way to Big Mama’s balcony, but mayhap that’s not super high on the agenda right now. (Or perhaps it will be, depending on the chances that I empty my drink above the spider’s head a second time.)

As congratulations for my victory, the queen of the nexus sneered at me. Best reaction I could get out of her, to be honest. I flashed her an innocent smile and moved past the seating row to casually lean at the railing and take in the scene.

“Oh, look! It’s Philip!” I pointed at the Kraken and then waved with much enthusiasm. “Heyyyy! Philip! How are you, buddy? You’re going to fight THE Lou Jitsu! I’m sure you two gonna have a great time!”

Philip’s beady red eyes were fixed on me, emitting pure annoyance. Splinter’s reaction wasn’t much different. His face told me: ‘Please somebody remind me why I put up with this guy?’

“I’m not sure what your endgame is, blue-berry,” Big Mama hushed, joining me at the railing, “but it’ll not work. You’ve stepped into my wily webs, and I surely won’t let you or your papa escape a second time.”

I took a long sip from my complementary beverage, not breaking eye contact with her. When the drink hit my tongue, it was overwhelmingly sweet. Down my throat, it felt like liquid fire.

I gagged a little and suppressed a cough. “I don’t think that’s just juice.”

“You’re playing in the grown-up league now,” the crime boss chided me as if I was her nephew realizing for the first time, he had to eventually grow up, “if it’s all too much for you, teeny turtle, you can always say so. Lou Jitsu can surely take care of the rest.” 

Without doing so much as to blink, I jugged my drink in one go.

Let me stop you right there. I know what you all are going to say.

‘That’s so childish of you, Leo.’
‘You’re idiocy incarnate, Leo.’
‘The fate of the world is at stake, and you act super petty, what’s wrong with you?’

And I’ve got one thing to say about that.

Yes. You might be right.

BUT, it’s Big Mama. She has the uncanny ability to get under everyone’s skin and I ain’t a saint.

I munched on the remaining ice cubes. Meanwhile, the commentator in the background went through the long list of unsanctioned championships that Philip had won in the past.

Spider lady rolled her eyes at me and huffed for good measure. “Oh, great, how unnecessary…Will you be in any condition to fight the third round now?”

“I think I can pride myself to be pretty immune to most toxic shit. Just something you naturally pick up in my former household,” I swallowed the ice and noticed my body turning a bit warmer. I hoped that my bragging wasn’t just…well…bragging, for my own sake and for everyone else’s.

The big M left it at that. Mostly because it was dad’s turn to be introduced and she took in the gasps, cheers, confused chattering, and last-minute betting shouts as if it was her favorite fragrance.

L’eau de corruption: Only available at the Nexus Hotel.

Splinter had gotten a last-minute make-over and he was seriously owning that kimono with shining white and black swirls, that went nicely with the blue gloves I had gifted him. Despite his appearance, he didn’t look very champion-y. His eyes darted around, at once standing a bit more upright and the next moment he sunk into himself again. To him, this must be a haunting dream coming true. We have known that. HE had known that before we agreed on this. Still, I felt icky seeing him alone down there, visibly working through some of his past trauma.

“You got this dad!” I shouted down as loud as I could. I started to believe he didn’t hear when he glanced up at me. It was difficult to really tell from this distance, but I think his posture was steadier, he raised up a fist and walked toward his enemy. More warmth flushed through me and that probably wasn’t the drink’s fault.

Names have power. Titles have power. Wrapping my head around that idea was a work in process.

“Since when do kappas have rats as dads?” a block from the audience nearby, squinted at me and especially one yokai stood out from the crowd. A literal talking cherry blossom tree eyed me in a not-very-nice way.

“Ever since you ask stupid questions,” I shot back and couldn’t help but lull a little.

“I’m over 300 years old,” the tree yokai protested, their petals closing and opening repeatedly.

“Then you should be old enough to know better,” I rested my case, sensing my body winning the fight against whatever had been in the drink.

One of Big Mama’s bodyguards prevented our argument from escalating further. A dude in their standardized human cloak tapped me twice on my shoulder to get my attention and take the empty glass from me. I threw a brief side glance at them and handed them my cup.

Everyone was in position.

“I would appreciate it if you would refrain from starting a fight with the higher-ups of the nymph embassy,” the boss lady emphasized. She was so done with me already.

I did the mature thing and poked my tongue out at the supposed ‘higher-up’ and went back to watching the match.

The battle had started, and neither Rat Jitsu nor the Kraken had made their move yet. This shows you how much they both acknowledged each other’s strengths. The audience grew quieter, the initial excitement being taken over by suspense.

Splinter clapped his hands together and sparks flew around the gloves. Blink and you missed it.

Like this was the signal they waited for, Philip’s tentacles rushed at the small guy with speed and precision. His opponent was nimbly though, evaded them and closed the distance between them.

Landing on top of Philip’s head, Splinter didn’t waste a second and went straight to pummeling the massive yokai. He put every ounce of strength into each punch.

The tentacles that had been whipping about a minute ago grew sluggish. Weapons clattered to the ground. Philip yelped in confusion and anger.

Let me tell you a little secret. The gloves released a shockwave on contact, too flimsy to have any visible impact. With time, they could numb your nervous system and cause muscle spasms.

When Donnie gives you a makeover, he makes sure you are slaying, literally. I can only take credit for the idea of giving them to Splints without anyone suspecting them to be a weapon.

Some of Philip’s arms whipped around and by accident swatted his opponent off him. Not missing a beat, he used the tentacle as a catapult. Lou Jitsu soared up before coming down on Philip as fast as a comet. The final electrified punch roared through the stadium. The yokai turned limp, and his head lolled to the side. This guy would take a very long nap.

The crowd went insane. Even if his name carried the greatest legacy of the Nexus no one had seriously believed Rat Jitsu would best his opponent. I threw an ‘I-told-you’ side-eye at Big Mama who stood there with her jaw tightly clenched and a ravish twinkle in her eyes.

Dad got drunk on the cheers and hyped the crowd as if no decades had passed between his previous glory days and this match.

The commentator joined the cheers: “As if anyone would have ever doubted this outcome…The winner is Lou Jitsu! Rat Jitsu? Whoever! The champion returns like a thunder strike! What a match!”

I jumped on top of the railing, balancing on the dangerously thin rod, and called down to him.

“You did it! Dad, you did it!”

A bit hesitantly, he waved up to me.

I balanced on top of the metal construct, only so I could step in front of Big Mama and gloat: “That’s two down and one to go.”

The spider lady snickered. She did well to not let her composure slip. “Both of you performed splendidly, especially my puffy-kins.”

I ignored her fan-girl moment and bent over. “So, what’s going to be for the final round? Are Splinter and I to fight against two warriors at the same time? Or one after the other?”

Getting uncomfortably close to her face I mused: “Maybe we could fight…Freddie and his sis!”

If you guys remember, those were the two chimeras that hadn’t been satisfied with my comments about their hair treatments.

“Oh, no that’s not possible,” Big Mama informed me not backing away, “they split up.”

Cocking my head innocently, I asked: “Split up? Like, are they fighting solo now?”

She puffed up her chest a little when she replied in a bemused tone: “I think you don’t understand, my reptilian ramshackle. I mean they were literally split in half by Philip.”
 
“Oh,” I deflated pretty quickly. She put a pointy finger on my torso.

“You don’t have to worry about these silly things. That’s Big Mama’s job and she already knows how this will play out,” and with that, she gave me a light push, which was enough for me to feign losing my balance and fall backwards into the arena.

Bouncing and tumbling above and on the heads of some yokai down to where Splinter was, I shouted “FOUL BETRAYAL” up to her.

What a shocking turn of events!

“Do you have to be so dramatic?” mumbled Splinter into my ear, he had rushed over to check on me.

“Gotta sell it to the audience,” I murmured back. He helped me up and we both did our best to glare at Big Mama. Didn’t have fake that.

Of course, this wasn’t shocking at all. Not for us and also not for you, because you already knew how this will turn out from the previous part of this story. And speaking of which, now you’re basically caught up.

So, here we were. A rat and a turtle, butting our heads and making a big show out of it.

I whipped some blood off my nose after Splinter had gotten me good with that tail whip. We circled each other in an attempt to draw this out as much as possible. The audience was too railed up and the chants deteriorated into a cacophony of name-calling and very suggestive ideas on how we could lynch one another.

All those hours we trained together paid off at this moment. I went through forms dad had taught me and each time he would instantly recognize the pattern and would ‘attack’ me in these obvious openings I could easily parry. It was like a dance. A well-studied choreography.

For a while, we were pretty convincing. The yokai were thrilled for sure and the commentator threw in their own observations.

“That combo was excellent. Rat Jitsu is relentless!”

“Who knew a turtle could do the splits, huh?”

“Jitsu going for the neck there, that was close!”

This last one had, in fact, been a bit TOO close for my liking.

I did my best to shoot Splinter a look that said ‘What are you doing? Do you want to tear me in two as they had done with the chimeras? Because that would totally suck.’ (or at least the abbreviated version of that.)

My opposite shrugged apologetically and took a few steps back.

“Get on with it!” demanded the crowd and while I took a breather to collect myself, I had to admit we had run out of pre-learned fighting sequences.

Dad must have thought the same because he rushed at me in patterns I didn’t recognize and had more difficulty deflecting. I guess, he had decided to continue our training sessions in the Battle Nexus. Sure. Nothing crazy about that.

A backhand strike got me on my elbow and the flying cameras rushed up to get a close-up of my pain-contorted face. The image on the big screen above us flickered and went dark. The magic eyeballs scattered, and a groan moved through the audience like a tidal wave.

“It seems we are experiencing some difficulties in our mystic transmission system. But I am sure we will have this – “

The feed cut off. The screen turned on again and I had never been, in my entire life, SO glad to see a purple bandana and its drawn-on eyebrows on a way too big projection.

“Are we live?” Donnie’s voice echoed through the stadium. The screen was mostly covered by his face, the satisfaction with himself glistening in his eyes. He moved away from the camera and revealed a darkened room with lots of glowing buttons and a wall plastered with black-and-white monitors. Mikey hustled into the frame as well. My heart made a double somersault.

“Hey, Big Mama,” Donnie started and pointed at his own tablet. He turned it around so we could see that he was looking at the arena through the eyeball-feed he was currently controlling. The living cameras swarmed the spider lady.

“We heard you took part of our family hostage, and we really didn’t like that. That’s why I’m interrupting this program for some renegotiations,” he declared, leaning toward his camera and away, not sure what angle would be more intimidating.

“I don’t think there is anything to negotiate,” Big Mama’s voice boomed, she got a microphone from her staff, “these two idiots made a deal with me. It was their idea and I graciously allowed them to die gloriously in my Nexus.”

“Yeah well,” Mikey interrupted before his brother could say anything, “we want to negotiate, your negotiation with a renegotiation that we negotiated.”

I couldn’t help but snicker. Good thing no eyeballs were currently observing me.

“Or more precisely, we want to make you a counter-offer,” the older sib corrected and gestured at the monitors behind them.

“As you might have realized, we took over the control room that oversees all the cells and living quarters of your Battle Nexus fighters. Total disregard of any privacy protocols, I have to say,” Donnie mused.

“Get to the point, purple one,” her strenuous voice made it clear that she had little patience left.

“I’m pretty sure you already know where I’m going with this,” he declared, settling on a side profile that made him seem a bit sinister, “I have full authority over all the safety locks in the hotel and I’m certain not all your champions and challengers are here of their own volition. Imagine what would happen if they ran rampant in your hotel. Would it still be safe for your well-paying guests?” Donnie obviously enjoyed his little presentation. He leaned very much into his mad genius persona.

“If you are able to do as much, why haven’t you done so already?” she asked with a dangerously even tone.

“We are here to bargain, remember?” Mikey intervened, trying to act tough.

“How about this,” Dee came to the real deal, “your two new-old champions are free to go, and they get the item they asked for and I will not let loose your whole menagerie. Sounds great, yes?”

As an answer, Big Mama cackled. Wasn’t often that you hear her make that sound. She was genuinely amused.

“You interrupt my Battle Nexus event, you sneak into my hotel, and you have the audacity to threaten me and propose such a ridiculous trade-off. I have to admit, turtley-boos, I didn’t think you had it in you,” her voice went up and down almost like a melody.

“We’re not bluffing,” Donnie remained calm, “are you not concerned about your patrons?”

There was an uneasiness taking hold of the audience. Big Mama simply shrugged it off.

“Go ahead, release my contenders, I have a well-trained staff that is more than capable of capturing them. Nobody will come to any harm, except for your fragile egos.”

Wow, that was a low blow.

Donnie pressed his brows together and frowned into the camera.

“You think we’re bluffing? Fine, have it your way,” he typed away on the control board and seconds later we witnessed cells and doors being thrown wide open by an invisible force. Scattered across the crowd were some screams and worried whispers.

“I can still close them if you agree right now to our offer,” he pressed on.

“No, I don’t think so,” Big Mama was NOT impressed.

“But you are aware that most of your captives will come directly after you?” he added and Mikey, in an attempt to help him, pointed at some of the monitors that showed yokai sharpening their knives before stepping out of their cells.

“I think you, my amphibious clowns, are not aware that this is MY paramount palace, and I wouldn’t be Big Mama if something trivial like this would be able to disturb me and my business. My personnel are already alerted and will come after YOU and anyone who tries to flee.” Her tone made it clear that this wasn’t a threat, it was a fact.

I wasn’t sure if the two of them could see us, but I could almost feel their gazes through the big hovering screen.

“Sorry, I tried everything I could,” Donnie admitted, struggling to give in to defeat and to Mikey, he added: “We need to jet.”

The youngest picked up the camera and pouted defiantly: “This isn’t over, we will find a way to free our family! Dad cannot go long without his tv schedule and Leo needs his nap-blanket or he gets cranky. You hear me Big Mama, they need – ”

“Buh-bye,” Big Mame waved and the screen turned black. Five seconds later the bat-cams had resumed their work and I could witness the devastation settling into my own face in 4K.

I would have preferred to get smashed into turtle-mush by Philip instead of enduring a reality where Mikey ran around telling everyone my most embarrassing secrets.

“That’s what it means to have sons,” Splinter groaned, reading my thoughts, “nothing is sacred anymore.”

“Hey, you two,” I could FEEL the spider’s scrawny finger pointing at us, “this show isn’t over. Your diversion was a failure and I demand a memorable match to the death, go on with it.”

The crowd agreed and I picked up two knives that Philip had dropped earlier.

“What a surprise that the brilliant plan you hatched together didn’t work out,” Splinter rolled his eyes and went again for a lance, “not like I was ever part of such nonsense. I knew this whole ordeal was doomed to fail from the start.”

Even if it might be difficult to believe me, everything to this point had been part of our plan. Or to be completely honest, everything was part of some sort of planned improv.

I should be glad that our ploy went so smoothly. That’s what we had wanted right? Divert Big Mama’s attention, create many different problems, and make them look like incidents.

It had sounded peachy in theory. But the truth was this: I couldn’t do anything to help Donnie and Mikey. I couldn’t check up on Raph and April. And now that I had seen them getting themselves into trouble, I couldn’t help but worry.

Pressing my lips tightly together, I faced Splinter with no quip ready to be hurled back at him.

My opposite must have noticed it, too. His face changed from cockiness to concern instantly.

‘Splinter’s words were fake,’ I told myself.

‘But what IF this turns out to be a failure? This had been your idea, so what if it doesn’t work out in the end?’ another voice in my head intervened.

The last time I believed I could succeed in anything…when I boarded Big Mama’s train and faced Draxum and the armor…what good had that done me?

Aware that I was about to derail the whole mission, I started a series of choreographed attacks. They were flashy and not very effective. Splinter was a bit surprised but went along with it.

“So, what if I’m a failure?” I asked him in a low tone, yanking myself free from a grapple and jumping backwards.

“What are you…” Lou Jitsu focused on giving the audience a thrilling fight. My question made him hesitant and disrupted our rhythm.

“I should be the one to pay for,” I twirled one of the daggers nervously, “well, everything. I was the one who screwed it up in the first place.” 

I threw one of my weapons at him, aiming for the head and perfectly missing him narrowly. Dad didn’t even flinch, he knew I would miss.

His show of trust made me spiral even more. A thought crossed my mind and if I had taken at least two seconds to consider it, I wouldn’t have said it out loud. Naturally, I acted before thinking.

“Big Mama!” I called up, “what if I resign from this match and stay here as one of your fighters? Would we have a deal then?”

“Leo, no,” Splinter hissed sharply at me.

“Let me think,” the spider snarled down at me and answered directly after without hesitation: “No, I rather see you perish now. You talk too much.”

“Fair enough,” I flashed a nervous smile.

“Why would you ask her that?” Splinter examined me.

I shrugged, “I don’t know. Just exhausting our options.”

Nobody believed that, so I explained the obvious. “One of us must die to get that magic item to imprison the Shredder.” Technically that was true.

“I won’t let it come to that,” he said calmly.

“You say it like it’s so easy,” I tried to force him into a counterattack. He deflected it and pushed me away as gently as possible. Splinter let go of his weapon and just stood there.

“Come on,” I groaned, conflicted about what I was supposed to do. We were way off-script at this point.

“No,” he replied firmly.

“Are you seriously going to do this in front of everyone?” I gestured at the yokai soaking in the drama. This was probably almost as entertaining to watch as a bloodbath.

“Yes,” he responded.

“Don’t be a stubborn old fart and fight me,” I threw my second dagger at him, and it missed him by an arm's length. Couldn’t fool anyone like that.

“You will listen to what I have to say, son or I will resign by force.”

It was the ‘son’ that made me reconsider. The threat helped as well.

I threw my hands up in frustration, signaling to him that I was listening.

“I want to make one thing clear,” Splinter started, his silhouette appeared so much greater than my own. “You seem to believe that this is all your fault and because of that, you are eager to jump at the next best opportunity to make things right. But that is not how this works. You said it yourself. Forgiveness is earned by helping. If you throw yourself away, it doesn’t help anyone.”

He seriously used my own speech that I had given to Draxum against me. The nerve of this guy!

“You–!“ I cut myself off and cursed in frustration. I walked up and down trying to find a good argument against him that wouldn’t make me sound like a stubborn kid.

“I hate it when…,”

“…I’m right?” he interrupted me smugly, “another thing you must learn: Dads are always right.”

“But–“ I made a second attempt and got immediately told off again.

“No buts!” dad decided and it felt final.

“Headbutts!” cheered the arena. They misheard us or they didn’t care and had gotten tired of our conversation.

It was like I had forgotten how to breathe this whole time and mysteriously relearned it while we were talking. I inhaled deeply, shaking off the panic that had gripped me tightly.
 
“Damn, were you always so annoying?” I asked.

Splinter gave me a short yet firm nod, pleased with seeing something change in me.

“Always. Just never as annoying as the rest of my family,” he grinned and jump-kicked me in my hip.

I caught his ankle, threw him in the air and he thanked me by hurling down, his foot aiming for my head. I danced out of the way, or more like, I stumbled out of the way.

We gave the Nexus one hell of a fight. I went along with my ‘opponent’s’ flow and earned some blows that were very shallow (on purpose, of course). I had trust in what my dad was doing and what he had said to me.

They would come around and…

Actually, hold that thought.

I picked up on some very familiar mystic energies, approaching us VERY fast.

Distancing myself from Splints, I took a moment to confirm it.

I winked at him. He understood immediately.

Finally.

“I’ve got some exciting news! You really thought we were the main spectacle of this show?” I addressed the Nexus. There was no way I could hide my excitement anymore and it confused the shit out of everyone.

Making sure the flying eyeballs were on me, I pointed at one of the closed gates. “Let me introduce you to tonight’s ACTUAL champions!”

For an uncomfortable second, nothing happened. Thousands of beings held their breath. Any minute now the bars should lift, and they would enter the arena gloriously. Anyyyy minute n–

KAWOOM!

In the upper left corner of the stadium, right above the gate I had gestured to, the rows erupted and yokai fell over the rows below them. From the explosion flew a massive red figure into the arena.

Not the kind of entrance I expected, but I hollered a ‘fuck yeah!’ anyway.

Raph’s giant form came crashing down with several figures holding onto him. The elation pumping through me diminished once I took in the scene that unfolded on top of the big guy.  

I could make out Mikey sitting on Raph’s head, holding a kind of remote control in one hand and a popsicle in another. Donnie was dangling from the right shoulder, his staff had turned into a bazooka, and from his back peaked out the handle of a familiar sword. On the left shoulder, April wrangled with someone. Was that Big Mama’s assistant? They both somehow managed to not only balance on top of a mystic exoskeleton but also did so while trying to punch and grapple each other.

I had a lot of questions, every single one starting with ‘what the f –‘?

“We have a small problem!” Donnie greeted us and from the Raph-made hole swarmed Big Mama’s army.

“You call that small?” Splinter interjected.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” I declared. The big guy knelt to let us climb aboard. Dee passed me my sword. Good-ol’ odachi, back to where it belonged.

“You good there?” dad asked April. She had the masked figure in a chokehold.

“Sure, let’s leave! Like, right now!” the girl said breathlessly, struggling to keep the assistant detained.

“You cannot leave. I won’t allow it and I haven’t given you the laurel yet. You have no chance against the Shredder without it,” Big Mama shrieked. I noticed with some satisfaction that she was clearly rattled. We were about to break free of her webs and she watched helplessly from up her throne.

“No thank you,” Donnie answered, mimicking how she rejected his previous offer, “we’ve got everything we need. It’s kind of you to worry, though.”

“You’re bluffing!” the lady transformed into her spider form. As if that would change anything. “You’ll pay for this!”

I joined Mikey on Raph’s head. He put the popsicle in his mouth and pressed the single button on his remote control. Suddenly, there were loose fireworks flying up to the ceiling. Flowers of light surrounded us. Ear-rattling popping sounds filled the entire place.

I swung my sword in a wide arc and a blue portal opened under Giant-Raph. Most of the goons scrambled their way through the audience, some got dangerously close. My attention was set on Big Mama because I wanted to witness the exact moment, she lost control of the situation.

As a giant spider, she hopped from her balcony. “Admit that you need me! You’re nothing without me, the Shredder will destroy you!”

That felt personal and our eyes didn’t leave each other.

“I admit,” I paused for a heartbeat to remind myself of what Splinter had said to me, before I screamed from the top of my lungs: “I admit that you got played by the Hamato, bitch!”

At this point, the arena dissolved into a beautiful and colorful mess. Hotel employees fell over each other, yokai were torn between running for their safety and taking in the fireworks, and a few of the escapees were in the crowd fleeing and/or fighting each other.

Everyone had the identical stupid idea. My whole family waved gracefully while we vanished and called out at the same time: “Buh-bye!”

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading this update! The next chapter will be up on 31.08. and we will find out what the rest of the family was up to while Leo and Splinter were drama queens. I think there is a lot to unpack considering their entrance into the Nexus. ;) See you then!