Chapter Text
Staten Island wasn't Donnie's favorite place, or any of the turtle's favorite place really.
The why seemed like an inside joke at this point. But Donnie still patrolled around because of the marks left there after the whole Krang mini-apocalypse.
Well- the marks were technically caused by them and not the Krang but the Krang were responsible for putting them there so Donnie just blames them instead.
Usually, Donnie would go on missions with at least one of his brothers or April with him, however, he planned on...Borrowing. Some materials for a tech project he was working on and he didn't want them to know his methods of getting materials... As they weren't very "Hero like" to put it simply.
Staten Island seemed to already be repairing the minor damage caused by the whole Krang situation, in fact, they were almost done. So Donnie decided to start looking around the rubble piles for anything useful or interesting.
As he was climbing down from the high place he was looking at the island from, he spotted something reflecting sunlight in a way that caught his eye. And made him shut said eye because sunlight likes to burn retinas.
He carefully and nearly noiselessly climbed down and got closer to it, wanting to inspect it to see what it is. It at most could be a helpful metal trinket abandoned here, and at least some trash littered onto the ground.
Upon closer inspection...It was neither of those things.
It was worse than what he could've thought it would be.
It was the amputated arm, of the first Krang.
The same Krang that beat Leo to a pulp in the prison dimension and put him in medbay.
The same Krang that possessed Raph and made him fight the others, more so Leo, without his willingness.
The same Krang that tried to wipe out humanity for their own selfish desires.
...Then why...
Why did Donnie not want to crush the arm into a million pieces like he would the Krang if he saw them once again?
Well... That's not entirely true. A part of him still wants to do that. However, more of him wanted to examine the arm.
Maybe take it home, and turn it into something more. Something better than this useless piece of junk left near an almost-finished construction site.
Donnie shook his head like it was a snow globe, leaving all his thoughts floating around inside like little pieces of fake snow swarming and swimming through the stale water inside.
No, surely not. He couldn't just take home a Krang arm and mess around with it like it was some puzzle in need of solving!
ESPECIALLY not after all the trauma that the Krang gave him and his brothers! Hell, the invasion happened only three months nine days and six hours ago! THERE'S NO WAY he could casually bring home the arm and everyone would be fine with it! even him!
Yet, the thoughts of doing it and not doing it kept passing through his mind with mini-scenarios following through shortly after most thoughts.
What-ifs and questions kept popping up and this analysis of morality and what to do felt like it was going on for hours when it's only been five minutes and thirty-four seconds that he was also keeping track of in the back of his mind for an unknown habitual reason.
He would take it home, tinker with it and design it to be a more weaponized blaster-like weapon that would fit around his arm, and when his brothers would come he would simply hide it in his closet or make a new tech-holding slot for it that could pop out or hide in the wall.
If questioned about it...He could just say it only looks similar. It's not the actual Krang arm- They were defeated over a week ago. AND the Krang that looks like it has this arm, but totally doesn't because it's not the Krang arm-, IS IN THE PRISON DIMENSION so there's no possible way Donnie could've gotten a hold of it.
...Wait...How did the arm even get here?!
Donnie moved from his fake scenarios and what-ifs to hows. pushing aside the thoughts only momentarily to think about what the arm being here might imply...
Flashing back to when they got Leo out of the prison dimension, Donnie remembered something.
He had aimed his drill at the Krang's shoulder.
This must've amputated the Krang and left his arm still on Leo, and when Leo was pulled out, the arm must've fallen off Leo, onto the ground, and this now brings us to the present day.
It was his fault the arm is here in the first place...
After this realization...Donnie continues his contemplations, fidgeting around with his hands as he walks back and forth in a small circle near the Krang's arm.
Not making too much noise to draw any attention towards himself, as he walks around small bits of dust escape from the ground making tiny little clouds that disappear almost instantly.
As his thoughts go on and on, he leans more and more towards bringing it back home with him. Like something inside of him is telling him it's for the best.
I mean. He can't just leave it here. It's The Krangs arm! Leaving it here wouldn't be good for civilians and I mean. Taking it back to the train station would be leaving it in good hands and while yes, it has caused nothing but suffering and trauma, it can't do anything bad now that it's just a robotic arm right? AND it's his fault that the arm is here in the first place so naturally, he should be fixing the mess he made!
Donnie picks up the arm and examines it like a child in a pet store looking at all sorts of creatures they've never seen before, but with less of that hopeful spark a child would have.
It has four sharp fingers that have a bit of dried blood on them which puts Donnie off for a moment before he examines the rest.
It's made of smooth metal in the shape of a regular arm though it becomes larger as it goes up like an inverse vase.
Near the end are three large rectangular pieces of metal that Donnie assumes are supposed to be like spikes and not some dumb little useless rectangles that they probably put for looks.
And then it ends abruptly. It appears it's only the lower arm and not the entire arm that got amputated.
It also appeared to be a bit hollow, presumably leaving room for the Krang to put his tentacles inside for better control of the arm. Letting it be able to make more intricate actions like specific finger movements and such.
It seemed easy enough to fix up and turn into a better piece of tech. A better weapon than the Krang could even think of making!
SURELY if he was making it with a bit of spite that would rationalize his train of thought right?
Using the Krang's arm for his own far better uses! I mean, how much more offending can you get right?! Right?!!
Donnie took the arm, and without any other speculations and what-ifs, took it back with him. With a feeling of guilt and slight paranoia looming over him as he returned home and quickly brought it to his lab.
Not elaborating on what he was holding or doing.
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The arm being mostly Hollow left a good opportunity and an easy way to put his tech and ideas into it. Literally and metaphorically.
The narrow wrist was a bit of a pain to change up, but the wider curve near where the elbow would be left a good amount of space to add his own touches and uses to it.
Donnie began by slicing off the fingers and replacing them with three sharper longer hollow claws that would fit his hand easier and attaching them to the palm, making a bit of expected noise. which wasn't that much of a problem since he knew how to soundproof pretty easily.
He also redesigned the structure of the arm near the wrist as well for it to fit better. As well as giving it a separate, but similar in design and functionality, wrist tech that he normally wears on his arm.
This is how you make a proper weapon! While the arm served its use as, well, an arm. This is way more functional!
As Donnie continued to mess with his tech integrations and upgrades on the arm, someone else was beginning to walk by.
Donnie was pretty laser-focused on his invention and was too busy trying to finish this one rewiring and circuitry on the wrist tech to put the arm away.
Meaning Mikey, who was just passing by, saw something that made him do a double take through the accidentally left open door of Donnie's lab.
Now the arm had been messed with enough that Mikey questioned his judgment a bit. But after looking at it for an extra five to ten seconds, he knew what he saw.
A slightly large, long metallic arm that belonged to the Krang.
Mikey quickly moved out of sight of the doorway, he knew that Donnie knew when people were looking at him and he had no clue how Donnie would react to him finding out about this.
This had to be some secret project right????
There's no way Donnie would just casually work on a Krang arm like it was a regular invention?!
THIS SHOULDN'T EVEN BE A SECRET PROJECT, TO BEGIN WITH?! Why was he working on a Krang arm in the first place?! Where did the arm even come from?! Why was he working and redesigning it so casually?!
Mikey half wanted to go full on Dr. Delicate Touch and both ask what the heck Donnie was doing with the arm and how messed up it was. While the other half wanted to try and figure out a different approach on how to deal with the arm, Without having to get into a possible feud with Donnie.
Donnie can sometimes get aggressive when it comes to his tech and inventions and Mikey didn't want to risk that. Especially with something so serious as this.
He needed to think of a plan...Or ask someone who knows how to make plans.
I mean, Raph is the big brother so he should know about this...
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"HE'S WHAT?!" Raph says loudly without thinking about the volume of his tone and more thinking about the fact that his brother is working on the arm of probably the worst thing to ever exsist.
"shh! I don't know if Donnie's zoned out or not and you're almost as bad as lying as he is!" While Raph's tone is justified it wouldn't help in the long run.
Raph says nothing in response to Mikey's statement and instead looks out to nothing with a face that says everything Mikey need's to know about Raph's stance on this.
The two sit still for around thirty seconds of silence before Raph sighs and breaks the tension.
"...We need to get that thing away from him." Raph stands up and starts slowly pacing back and forth, hands occasionally moving to his words.
"Donnie's good with tech...And while he could make something out of the arm. It's still The Krang's arm! Something bad's gonna happen if he keeps messing with it!"
Raph's tone is stressed and emphasized. Showing both concerns for his brother, and for the future and what could happen if the Krang comes back.
"Wait...How did Donnie even get the arm anyway?! WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!" Raph turns to Mikey, hands out expressing confusion...And Fear for the possibility, that the Krang have genuinely returned out of their supposed defeat.
Mikey expresses a look that without words, kindly tells Raph to keep it down before responding to his question.
"I don't know. I just saw him speedwalk back to his lab from a mission hiding something, and then when I went to see what he was doing, I saw him messing with a Krang arm!"
Raph changes his gaze to the ground as his pacing gets quicker. Mind quickly filled up with thoughts about what the arm could mean.
What if the Krang did come back!? What if they had already started taking over?! What if they repossess him or one of his brothers?! What if the future Casey Predicted does come true and was just delayed?! Is he gonna lose his brothers?! Are they going to lose him?! He doesn't want him or anyone else to go through all of that again!
Raph feels a hand placed on the opposite side of his elbow. He looks over to see Mikey smiling gently trying to comfort him.
"Hey, we'll figure this out before Leo can get out of medbay! And I mean, if it's just the arm then that probably means the Krang hasn't returned right?"
Mikey's smile shifts slightly to reflect a different positive and optimistic tone. Raph smiles a bit in response.
"Right."