Chapter Text
Leo was...gone. Stuck in the prison dimension, it wasn't fair. They JUST got Raph back, so why did Leo have to go? Splinter was sobbing with April rubbing his back. His son, the son he saw so much of himself in... gone, stuck with the very Alien he was told legends of as a child. The Kraang had no compassion, no love, they would beat him, torture him, make his last dying breath long and unheard, and his family wouldn't even be there to save him.
April couldn't believe any of this either, she thought it was just going to be a normal day, a day of snooping and sneaking to get a story, not some apocalyptic day where her friend, her brother even, gets trapped in a prison dimension for all eternity.
Raph was crying without tears, the most painful kind of cry, his throat closing up from the pain and the dry tears. He could only look down at the ground below him, but only one his eyes could truly see the ground, the other eye, with the giant gashes around it could only see a gray blur. He shouldn't have yelled at his brother so much, he should have told him he was proud of him more, he shouldn't have let his fear bubble over into angry paranoia over his family, Leo had spent all that time trying to get Raph back, and he doesn't even get to say thanks? It wasn't fair, he was supposed to protect all of them, he wasn't supposed to fail.
Donnie was the most shocked, his own twin, his own brother, gone? No, no, it wasn't scientifically possible, Leo was supposed to JUST lock the Kraang in the dimension, not him too. He couldn't believe it, it wasn't possible. No. This was to much change, it was all to much, Don hadn't anticipated this all, everything seemed brighter, louder, he felt more sensitive and exposed. It was like a wave of everything crashing down on him. His face felt wet, he assumed it was residue from the drippy slime goo stuff on the Kraang ship module, he reached to touch his face, expecting a repulsive texture, but, it was water? Correction, tears. He didn't even know he was crying, why is he crying? He shouldn't be crying. He was Donatello Othello Von Ryan Hamato, he was the apathetic nerd, he wasn't supposed to cry, so...why?
Mikey was silent, every thought ran through his mind, none of them good. It was over, but at what cost? His brother...gone. The brother he looked up to so much, gone? He could hear the screams and sound of buildings and small structures falling, the Kraang had done so much damage, scared so many people, killed and manipulated thousands, and for what? For him to just leave, with his brother in tow? No... No. Leo has done so much to protect him and the family, Raph has done so much to protect him and the family, and Donnie had done so much to protect him and the family, now...now it was Mikey's turn. Casey Jones Jr. had been right about many things, things about the future and even the present, maybe, just maybe...
Mystic hands, don't fail me now.
He thought as he extended his hands out, he tensed all his muscles, his arms shaking, he had to do this, he couldn't afford to fail, he couldn't lose his brother. Tears flooded his eyes, just the thought of his brother dying...it hurt him just to think about it. Tears continue to fall over, running down his round cheeks and hitting the floor. His eyes shut tight, he had to try harder, he could do this, he couldn't fail. His grunts and whimpers could be heard by his brothers. Donnie sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk his younger brother out of this. He knew it was scientifically impossible for him to ever open a portal like Casey Jones Jr. had mentioned...but atleast Mikey had some ounce of hope, something to keep him going.
"Mikey, it's over..."
Raph said solemnly and shook his head. It was hopeless, he understood his orange brother's pain...but he couldn't bear to see him like this, he might hurt himself trying too hard.
"Leo didn't give up on us!"
He took more of a battle stance and continued to look ahead, his non-existent brows furrowed.
"So I'm not giving up on HIM!"
Mikey felt a jolt of pain in his arms and hands, he looked down and saw yellow sparks run down his face alongside his tears. He couldn't see for a second, his eyes feeling hot and glow-y, the world around him swirled and all he could see was gold. His hands gave way to cracks that followed up his arms up to his shoulders, his figure emitting a bright glow. The ground around him cracked and sparked, and then, he felt it, he felt like...something was there, something he couldn't see, but he could feel it, a gap of sorts. He extended his hands forward, and yanked it apart, there! He could finally see, infront of him, his eyes, which felt like they were on fire, could see, as clear as day, a rip...a gateway! He could feel Leo on the other side, he could sense him. His grunts and yells grew in volume, of both pain and determination, no more whimpers, no more feeling of doubt, there was no time for doubt, only HOPE.
Both brothers stood behind Mikey in disbelief and astonishment, he was doing it. He was gonna get Leo back. They still had a chance!
"MIKEY, whatever you're doing! Don't stop!!"
Raph and Donnie ran to each side of Mikey, watching over his shoulder, they felt something, something that felt blue...Leo. It was LEO, they could feel his presence! Michelangelo looked down at his arms, they were...cracking, his arms and hands, he could feel bits of him flaking away, to nothingness. The sudden realization hit him, he could die trying to save Leo... Mikey would have to sacrifice himself for his brother...oh God, that's what the hot feeling was, Mikey was dying.
Mikey looked to his shoulder solemnly, thinking on it, before his thoughts and pain were interrupted by two three fingered hands on each shoulder, the larger hand gripping much tighter than the smaller gloved hand.
"We're with you Mikey, TOGETHER!"
Both turtles looked ahead at the portal, Mikey could immediately feel the pain be distributed between him and his brothers. It felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders. The brothers winced equally in the new pain, their eyes now feeling a great heat. It was like both Donnie and Raph were lending their strength to Mikey. Mikey continued to tear and rip at the new portal, just a bit bigger and then Leo would be home free.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Leo was floating in the prison dimension, everything hurt, everything stung, everything seemed to swirl around him. He felt so heavy and so light at the same time, the feeling made him sick. He wanted to scream, he was bleeding badly, with many broken bones and other stuff he didn't wanna think about. Thinking hurts too much. Like thinking about how he won't see his brothers anymore. He knew, as soon as he thought of the idea, that he would never see them, but it hurt, it hurt so much more once it was set in stone, at least his brothers would be safe.
Raph would have one less person to yell at. A less person to fear for. Plus him regaining his spot as leader, if anything, Leo was doing him a favor. Yeah, if you thought of it like a favor, it wouldn't hurt so bad, right?
Donnie wouldn't have to go through his insufferable puns and pranks. He'd finally get some peace and quiet to himself and his lab. He wouldn't have to deal with his middle child antics.
Mikey would have less competition to go against. Mikey would get all the unicorns and solo missions he wanted. He wouldn't have to put up with him..
Everyone would just have it better without him...It was better this way...but if it was, then why..why did it hurt so badly? Every moment he and his brothers shared together flashed in his mind, saving his brothers from Piebald, defeating ghost bear, defeating the shredder, meeting Gram Gram, all of those moments, all of those memories. He couldn't just give them up. No. He wanted his brothers, correction, he needed his brothers. Without them, he wouldn't survive long. He looked at his feet to see the Kraang floating towards him, most likely to pummel him once again.
Please, somebody, anybody, don't let me die here!
His thoughts screamed. And then, as if the universe heard his plea, he saw a golden tear. A glow similar to his youngest brother's weapons, he could even see small flashes of red and purple. His brothers. He could feel them, he could sense them. There was still HOPE. The portal began to crack and open, until, there they were, his brothers, covered in blood and dirt and gunk, tears streaming down their faces, eyes widening at the sight of their brother. Leo smiled, and reached a hand out. His lungs screamed and burned, but he had to at least say something.
"Took you guys long enough."
His oldest brother took that as a cue to activate his mystic powers, coating his left arm in a bright red larger arm, he reared his arm back, before reaching and stretching, grabbing Leo's hand. Leo's hands stung, but he didn't care, he was finally going home. He felt a sharp painful tug on his ankle, looking down, he could see the Kraang, desperate to keep him in the dimension to which he did not belong.
This made Donnie furious, nobody was just going to take his brother away from, not anymore. His tears and markings flashed a glitchy purple as he lifted what remained of his bo staff, conjured a mystic drill, and launched it at the Kraang's face. This disrupted Kraang's movements as it pushed him back, he couldn't use just one robotic hand to push it away. He took both hands, letting go of Leo's ankle, and scratched and tore away at the drill, turning his head to send it flying into the abyss. Raph pulled and pulled with all his might, before Leo was safe on the other side. Both Donnie and Raph ran to his side. Mikey, with his arms still wide and the portal open, took one good look at the Kraang, seeing him defenseless, and hopeless, he made eye contact with the Kraang, before winking, and shutting the portal. The Kraang’s screams could be heard for a small second, before…silence.
Mikey stood there for a second, wheezing and heavy breathing. The pain of opening it still lingered on his flesh. The portal was closed, the golden gateway ceased to exist...so why did his hands continue to glow? Never mind that matter, his attention was turned to the sound of weak coughing, coming from his brother. He turned and ran to Leo's side, alongside Donnie and Raph. Leo opened one eye, the other eye was severely bruised and busted.
"Hey..."
He looked around, ugh, he recognized this place anywhere.
"Ewwww, are we in Staten island?!"
All of the turtles went in for a group hug, hugging each other like they would disappear again. They all smiled, and cried, saying stuff like 'you scared us half to death', 'never do that again.' Today felt cold, but this moment was so so warm.
The warmth was nice...but something accompanied this warm, a golden glow? But, the portal was closed. Everyone looked at Mikey to see his arms, glowing, and cracking once more, the floor under them seemed to crack, making a golden curv that seemed to reach around them.
"U-uh? Mikey? You can stop, we don't need another portal!"
Raph called out, cradling Leo's head.
"I-Im not doing this! I'm not! I swear!"
Mikey shook his arms and hands, he tried relaxing, he tried tensing, he tried anything to make it stop. Donnie put a hand on Mikey's arm, trying to figure out what's going on with his youngest brother. Leo leaned, still on the ground, to touch Mikey, along with Raph. Once the brothers all had a hand on Mikey, they all were engulfed in an orange glow, and then, the golden curves on the floor formed a circle around the turtle brothers, the brothers looked down, frantic and scared.
"Ooh boy."
Was the last thing they heard from Leo as they all dropped into the new portal, yelling as they did, before the portal closed behind them.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cole Cassidy was making his ways down the halls of the base, cigar in mouth, and spurs on his boots clinking with each loud step he took. The team, after recall, had decided to turn its once research and storage unit, into the main base for Overwatch. They would have made another base in Switzerland like last time, but, everyone decided, considering the past, that it was not the best of ideas. They didn’t need anymore people faking their death. Cole went on the lookout, standing on the rock as he looked out towards the endless sea, his cigar smoke dancing and fading in the wind. Everything was different now, he was no longer the man who would shoot up banks and go on dangerous missions, he was now just the cowboy who went on dangerous missions, which, you know, is a step forward.
Everything was calm, his only problems being when the next mission would be, training sessions, or mission briefs, which, you know, sucked, but hey, at least he was helping people, and getting paid while doing it. Plus they had Dental issuance which was a huge step up from being a lowly criminal.
Cole heard a small jingle, he peered down at the sound, and they were coming from his own spurs, the gold painted spurs were vibrating and shaking, the more Cassidy thought of it, he could feel the rock and ground shake under him. Was it an earthquake? Possible, but earthquakes in Gibraltar were rumored to not be that bad at all, the ground shook with each passing second. Birds on the nearby rock structures flew and cawed, scared by the new disturbance. Alright, this was starting to freak Cole out. He was about to tap his call button, when, all of a sudden, he saw a rip of sorts, a golden rip or crack, about a foot or two in the air in the middle of the lookout. Now, Cole was no idiot, but it looked like a portal of sorts, the question was, why was it happening? Couldn’t be Tracer, her glitchy, nano, stuff was blue. Couldn’t be Symmetra, her portals were blue and often had a small white pod under it to spawn it. The portal grew in size, cracking and glowing, Cole took a step back and had a hand on his gun holster. Besides the gold, more colors seemed to join the swirl, red, blue, and purple, with the gold turning to an orange color, then, something fell out of the portal. Green aliens? No, aliens weren’t real, but considering there was such a thing as a talking gorilla and dragons coming out of bows and swords, it could be a possibility. The green beings weren’t moving, under more inspection, they seemed turtle-like, with the biggest one being probably the dang size of Reinhart, and the smallest one being about the size of Mei. Red seemed to drip out from under them, shoot, the more Cassidy saw, the more he realized that these guys were injured, really bad, they were covered in scratches and cuts, with many of them looking like they have broken bones, especially the one with the blue bandana thing over his eyes.
Cole tapped his emergency call button.
“Mcree, state your emergency.”
The gruff voice of Jack could be heard over the circular device, he could hear the hums and noises of his other upper rank men and women.
“We’ve, uh, got a situation on the right lookout.”
“What kind of situation Cole?”
Pipped the sweet voice of Angela.
“I can’t explain right now, you’ll see when y'all get here, I need as many people as I can get over here, ok? Over and out.”
Cole was both calm and stressed at the same time, which was a funny kind of feeling, no, funny wasn’t the right word, the better word would be weirded out of his dang mind, yeah, that was more accurate. He could hear the footsteps of his team rushing to his location, they all arrived in order, Jack, Angela, Genji, Hanzo, Orissa, Reinhart, Zenyatta, and lastly, which was strange, Tracer. They all had their weapon holsters on them, but no suits. They all had wide eyes, looking at the mutant turtle beings behind Cole. Cole threw his cigar on the ground and put it out with his boot.
“See what I mean? I can’t explain this without sounding crazy.”
Angela ran over to the bodies, checking pulses, inspecting wounds, and other things Cole didn’t even know.
“These…whatever they are, need medical attention immediately! Reinhart, do you think you could take the biggest one to my Lab??”
“But of course!”
He piped up cheerfully in his heavy German accent. He picked up the turtle creature with the spikes and red bandana.
“He’s quite heavy!”
He grunted a bit as he hauled the turtle over his shoulder and ran to the medical bay.
Genji picked up the blue turtle, with care and precision as he began to run on swift feet to follow Reinhart, they didn’t call him sparrow for nothing. Tracer picked up the yellow spotted turtle with the orange bandana, and followed the others, and Orissa picked the turtle with goggles and purple bandana and laid it on her hind legs as she trotted behind the others as well. Angela and the other remaining agents ran to follow them all, meanwhile Cole and Jack stayed behind.
“Cole, brief me on what happened, because personally, I want to know why there are green…things in our base, that’s in the middle of nowhere!!”
Jack seemed mad, he had only his red visor on, with his beard scruffed and uncombed.
“And you think I’m not confused? Look, all I know is I was havin’ a smoke out here, than the ground was all shaking, so I thought it was an earthquake, and then outta nowhere, those things fell from the sky- Look! I know it sounds crazy, but I'm telling ya the truth! It was all gold and stuff!”
Cole's country accent grew as he explained, his accent always did get thicker the more stressed he got, this was one of those times. Jack sighed, fixed his visor, and walked, with Cassidy walking beside him.
“Look, once those…whatever they are, once they start talking, and they’re well enough to move, we interrogate them, and you’re in charge of them.”
Cole sputtered.
“Ah- now wait just a minute Jack, why do I have to watch ‘em? I didn’t do nothing! I just watched them come in!”
“Well, you interrupted my game of solitaire, and I frankly don’t have the time to watch them.” Jack could see the look of confusion and frustration on Cole’s face. He sighed once more.
“Look, if you watch over these guys, I’ll hold off your training and I’ll even let you go on a couple missions when you have the time, that alright?”
Cole pondered this, he hadn’t been put on a mission in a while, and lord knows he hated training, he looked to the side, away from Jack, before looking back at him with a smile.
“You got yourself a done deal, sir.”
Jack gave an affirmative grunt.
“Alright, remember, I don’t want these…things walking around without a chaperone, so, keep an eye on them, any mistake or damage they do or make is on you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sandwich in the refrigerator with my name on it."
Jack walked off in another direction as Cole chuckled to himself, even though so much has changed, he was still the funny old man he knew and loved. Cole eventually made his way to the med bay, and it was bustling with chaos, it reminded him of the day they found Genji, torn in pieces and unattached limbs. Genji and Tracer were running back and forth, getting medical supplies and things for Angela as she called for them, working on each turtle individually.
"Dang, who'd know we'd get four Genji's in one day?"
Cole laid on the door frame, Angela threw a distasteful scowl at the crude joke, Genji gave a soft giggle, and Tracer looked shocked at the joke, trying to suppress a laugh. Angela rolled her eyes and beckoned Cassidy over.
“If you’re going to just stand there and make cruel jokes, then you can at least make yourself useful and help me.”
Cole shrugged, gave his usual smile and walked over to the side of one of the beds where Angela was on the other side. This was the youngest looking turtle, the one with yellow spots on his shoulders, and legs. Cole gave a whistle.
“Man, this little bugger must have been through hell and back.”
He examined his arms, they were covered in crack like wounds, blood trickling down his arms and hands, slash marks were present on his body, from something big, it was pretty alarming. Plus the fact that there was blood trickling from down one of his closed eyes, which, was pretty darn cool, concerning and scary sure, but cool. Angela gave a worried sigh.
“That’s what I’m worried about Cole…What on earth did this to these…turtles?”
“Well, whatever it is, you can fix it, right?”
“Yes, but some of these damages seem…irreversible, a lot of these injuries will definitely scar, but I’m not fully sure, I can’t tell these things for certain in just an hour.”
“So, what’d you need my help with?”
Angela passed him a small white vial with an eye icon on the label.
“I need to bandage this one’s wounds immediately, but I also need someone to hydrate his eyes, it seems to me he’s popped a blood vessel in his eye.”
“Well, explains the blood, but why’d ya need my help? Genji knows more about this medical stuff more than me, and Lena? …Well, eh, I can see why’d you need my help if it was just her here.”
“I heard that!”
Lena yelled as Cole snickered, rushing back and forth getting bandages, needles, and other medical supplies for Genji. Angela began disinfecting, and cleaning the smaller turtle’s arms.
“Which is why he’s taking care of the more damaged turtle. I've kept him in a stable state, but he still needs intensive care, so I've trusted Genji to continue to keep him stable. Now hurry on, just put the eye drops in his eyes and raise and close his eyelids, it’ll help hydrate his eyes and flush out some of the blood, I would also recommend you do it to the other eye as well.”
Cole gave a joking salute as he opened one of the turtle's eyes, yep, sure as day, he had a coating of blood over his eye. He let a couple drops of the substance into the orange clad turtle’s eyes, using his fingers to blink the turtle’s eyes, much of the blood flushed out of the turtles eyes, to reveal dark red eyes.
“Uhh, Angela? Is there s’possed to be blood in his, uh, eye thing?”
He stepped to the side to let Angela walk over to inspect it. She sighed, if her gloved hands weren’t covered in blood, she would pinch the bridge of her nose.
“Cole, his eyes are red, it isn’t blood.”
“Oh.”
“Nōtarin”
He heard Genji say from across the room, laughing to himself.
“I don’t know what you said, but I’mma take it as a compliment!”
Genji shook his head and laughed, wrapping casts and slings on the injured turtle, while sewing deep wounds that littered his body. Angela finished wrapping the turtle's arms. They heard a ringing, it was coming from the bigger turtle’s spandex shorts pockets. Genji, seeing as he was the closest to the older looking turtle, walked over and reached in the pocket, it was a circular phone that took the shape of a turtle shell on the back. The phone read “April O’Neil” and had a photo of a girl with cat eye glasses, and dark skin with an obvious snap chat cat filter on it. Genji clicked answer, and turned speaker on, before he could even get a hello, or who is this out, he heard crying, along with the distant crying of an older man.
“Raph?..Donnie?..Mikey?.. Where are you, m-me and Splints can’t find you, and we’re worried and we…”
She let out a choked sob, Angela walked over to Genji, and gently took the phone from him.
“Hello, I’m sorry, but the people in question, i'm afraid aren’t available at the moment.”
The heavy breathing ceased for a moment, stifling.
“Wha- Who is this! Where are my brothers!?”
She seemed angry almost, worried, and angry.
“My apologies, my name is Angela Zeigler, you’re brothers are perfectly fine, they are under my care.”
“Are you a doctor?”
The doctor could hear ruble moving and a deep japanese voice saying the name of the caller with concern.
“Yes, I am.”
“...Video call me, I need proof that you aren’t some creep who stole their phone or something!”
The girl was clever, thought Angela, as much as Jack would have her head for showing her face since Overwatch was illegal, but she knew this girl needed some sort of relief to know that her brothers were ok. Angela switched to video call and held the phone in front of her face, the girl was quiet young, probably just graduated, or at least in college, dark skin, poofy hair tied into two buns, and ripped green and yellow clothing with big cat glasses. Her eyes were pink from crying, with dirt and dust covering her entirely, but the strangest thing, was that she was human, if these were her “brothers”, then why was she the only human? Angela would have to ask later.
“See, i'm no creep.”
Angela gave a soft smile, both of concern and warmth. April sniffled, rubbing her eyes, the anger slowly fading from her face.
“I-I guess not…are they?”
“Your brothers are in a stable condition, many of them have lost a lot of blood, but I’m positive they will make it. They haven’t woken up since they arrived.”
“Wait wait wait, hold the phone, arrived? What do you mean arrived?”
Angela didn’t know how to answer that, all she knew is that they appeared on the floor in front of Cole, he took this as a sign, Cole tapped Angela’s shoulder, held out his hand, and grabbed the phone in his gloved hand.
“Well little miss, it’s gonna sound crazy.”
“Oh please, try me.”
“Alright.”
He cleared his throat.”
“This big ol’e portal, just opened up, and plopped these suckers out.”
“Portal? Was it…blue?”
“Nah, it was kinda gold-ish orange or something.”
“Orange…”
April was thinking, saying small words to herself. She was about to say something, before Angela took the phone.
“Sorry to intrude on your thoughts, but, I would like to ask some questions, if you’ll let me.”
April took a breath before nodding.
“Good, now, what did you say their names are?”
“The big dude with the red is Raphael, but we call him Raph.”
Tracer wrote on the paper clip board that’s at the edge of Raph’s bed, before giving a thumbs up to Angela.
“The one with the purple mask and metal shell is Donatello, we just call him Donnie, ya also might wanna take it off of him, it’s just like a helmet for his shell.”
Tracer did the same thing, rushing over to Donnie’s bed, before writing his name on the bed as well.
“And the orange masked turtle with yellow spots is Michelangelo, but we just call him Mikey.”
Tracer did that once more, before going to the last turtles bed, but April didn’t say another name.
“An, what about the last one?”
“Last one? What do you mean?”
“The one with the Blue mask and red markings?”
April’s heart clenched as her eyes grew wide.
“...What?”