Chapter Text
“Let’s get home.”
When Raph said the words, Mikey finally felt himself relax. It was over. They truly won. The Kraang were gone, Leo was back, and though they were all beaten and injured they were alive. They were going to be okay. Splinter, April, and Casey were on they way to them. Leo was making jokes, still laid out on the ground. Donnie was tapping on his wristband. And Raph stood up and said those magic words that truly meant the end.
Home.
“Leo, I don’t suppose you’re up to portaling us there?”
Leo offered a thumbs up. “Totally can, Dee. Where are my swords?”
Mikey looked around. That was a good question.
“Nevermind. You can’t even stand up.”
“Also true. Hey, maybe Mikey can do it. Mikey?”
“Um.” He looked down at his hands. His cool, amazing, scorched mystic hands. His fingers were still tingly like all his nerves fell asleep. To his surprise, a spidery red pattern stretched all the way up to his elbows. He flexed his hands gingerly, cringing.
“Guys. We can walk.”
“Then it’s going to be a long walk, Raph,” Donnie sighed. “Hopefully April can meet us halfway.”
“With a car,” Leo agreed as Raph picked him up.
“We don’t steal cars, Leo.”
The city was different.
Mikey turned his head left and right, jaw hanging open. They were all quiet as they traipsed through the destroyed streets. Chunks of debris that had rained down after they closed the portal created a disorienting sense of scale. A car was embedded in the top of a building. Parts of buildings littered the sidewalks. Half of a cargo ship was impaled in the side of a sky scraper. The metal around it creaked and groaned like a creature in pain.
There were fewer people than normal, too, and the ones they saw all looked dazed. A few who noticed them shrank back. Mikey hunched his shoulders, feeling exposed.
“Is that a tank?”
It was, backed up against a pile of cars, an honest-to-goodness American military tank. Donnie made a gleeful noise next to him and scrambled up to it.
“Donnie, leave it alone.”
“Think about it, Raph! It’s not stealing someone’s personal vehicle, it’s borrowing a piece of military equipment that will keep us completely concealed while we travel.” He started climbing up to the hatch.
“He does have a point about concealment,” Leo murmured, and Mikey looked around again. The street was quiet, but he shivered like he could feel eyes staring at him.
So many eyes.
He looked back at his brothers. Raph looked tired. His shell and face had stopped bleeding but he was carrying Leo lower than before. Mikey bit his lip. His brother’s energy was sapped but they couldn’t put Leo on his broken shell and nobody else could carry him. Maybe he and Donnie together?
His arms stung him.
They really needed a car.
“How’s it look, Donnie?”
“Almost got it!” There was a flash of purple and the hatch popped open. Donnie clambered down and disappeared.
Riding in a tank would be cool, Mikey thought. An actual tank.
Hull integrity breached.
He shuddered violently. The Turtle Tank was still somewhere in the sewers. Far away and broken.
We’re gonna get crushed!
He opened his mouth “Maybe we shouldn’t-” when Donnie shot out of the hatch. His movements were jerky and frantic, and he scrabbled at himself like he had just walked through a bunch of spiderwebs.
“Donnie, you good?”
“Not that one,” his brother gasped. He practically fell down the side of the tank and ran towards them, clawing at the sides of his head and neck.
Raph reached for his tonfa. “Danger?”
“No.” Donnie’s hands suddenly clenched and he jerked his head sideways a couple times. Sweat stood out on his brow and he looked sick. “No danger. But not that one.”
Panic attack. Mikey tensed and looked towards the tank.
Raph eyed Donnie steadily for a long moment. “Alright. Not that one. We’ll find something else.”
Donnie’s breathing eased. His jerky movements slowed.
They walked around the tank, continuing into the city. Under the long barrel, Mikey peered up and saw that one of the tiny front windows of the tank had a hole the size of a bowling ball smashed through it. He didn’t want to know what was inside anymore.
He reached for Donnie’s hand, wincing at the touch. His brother jumped, then accepted the contact.
“You okay?”
Donnie grunted. “I don’t think any of us can satisfactorily answer that question right now.” He didn’t let go of his hand.
They all flinched as their comms crackled. “Hey guys, where you at?” April’s voice was tinged with static.
“Still a ways away. It’s slow going through these streets.”
There was some more static. “Same here. It’s barely passable in the middle of the city. We overheard on a squad car’s radio that they’re routing rescue workers through the subway so we’re going to try that.”
Leo suddenly jerked. “Subways don’t offer much in terms of an escape route. Are you sure?”
“The A and M lines are open. We can get close to the lair with those. I think we should meet there, regular street maps aren’t doing much good.”
“Alright, we’ll see you there. Stay safe.” Raph shifted Leo in his arms.
“What do you guys think?” Leo asked quietly.
“It would be nice to sit down,” Raph admitted.
“It should be fine this time, right?” Mikey squeezed Donnie’s hand, even as his own fingers protested. “We won.”
“Donnie?”
“I don’t like it.” His brother’s head was twitching again, ticking to left. He shuddered. “But I’m also very keyed-up at the moment.”
“I’m on edge, too,” Leo said. “But I don’t think we have a lot of other options. Even if we could find a car driving it would be near impossible.”
“Then it’s settled. We’ll take the subway.” Raph started down the street.
There was no one at the first station they found. They waited for a little bit, worried it was closed. But soon a train car roared up to them, thundering over the tracks. The doors opened and some people got out, but most cars were empty.
No one was going into the city.
Mikey plopped down and rested his head against a cool, metal pole. Leo stretched out across several seats across from him. Raph sat down heavily next to him. Donnie hovered near the back of the car until Raph told him to sit down before he fell down.
Mikey closed his eyes. The stinging in his arms felt worse so he pressed them against the metal pole, too. The subway train rocked as it sped through the tunnels and despite his discomfort the motion was lulling him to sleep…
He awoke when something touched his shoulder. Raph stood next to him. “Hey buddy. I know you’re tired, but we need to change lines.”
He rubbed his eyes and staggered after them. Even Leo was hobbling out on his feet, though his face was contorted in pain. Mikey’s hands felt like they were covered in blisters. The red cracks looked angry and radiated a hot pain. He swished them through the air, hoping to cool them a little, and bumped into Raph’s back.
Someone swore. “Shit, it’s closed.”
He blinked and looked up. A red X was displayed over the digital overhead sign. Maybe that explained the lack of people at this stop.
The subway they had disembarked roared away.
Leo sat down on the ground, unable to keep himself up any longer. “Suggestions?”
“If C line is closed we can wait for the next A train and try a connection further north.” Donnie tapped on his wristband. “That might be a while, though.”
Mikey walked to the edge of the track and peered down. There was a faint glow at the end of the tunnel. “What’s that?”
His brothers shuffled next to him. Donnie pulled down his goggles. “It looks like a train car.”
“Why isn’t it moving?” Leo’s tone was harsh.
“The track is closed, remember?” Donnie continued to fiddle with the goggles. “It might be a geometry car.”
“What’s that?”
“Employee-only cars that run the rails to check for problems. System maintenance.”
“So we could pilot that thing home ourselves?”
“It is on the right track. Literally speaking.” Donnie looked down the opposite direction and tapped his fingers. Mikey could barely hear his next whispered words. “Why is the track closed, though?”
They all stared at the distant light. “How long until the next A train?”
Raph twisted and looked behind them. “An hour and thirty minutes, according to that sign.”
“It feels creepy here,” Mikey said.
“I don’t like this,” Donnie agreed.
“Okay.” Leo squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his brow, rubbing like he had a migraine. Or concussion. “Option A: we wait for the next train, go north, and try again to find a connector. Option B: we check out this geometry car, and maybe hijack it ourselves and get home.”
“Option B requires walking down the tracks,” Donnie pointed out.
“We have time for both,” Raph said. “We can check out if the car down there is any good, and if not, come back and wait for the other train.”
“Or Option C, where we go topside and see how things look.” Mikey pointed to the stairs.
“That too.”
They half-heartedly debated the best plan, but really: everyone wanted to go home. They had injuries that really needed to be attended to, and they had to figure out if any of the options even had merit at all. They decided to check out B, then C, and then A.
Raph picked Leo up and jumped down onto the tracks. Mikey followed, and Donnie brought up the rear.
The tunnel darkened as they left the station behind. Drips echoed around them. Mikey stayed quiet, jerking his head in the direction of every scittering, unseen creature.
You know drips and scitters, he admonished himself. It’s not half as bad as the sewers. You know subways.
Raph tripped and stumbled, catching himself before he dropped Leo. “You okay, Big Guy?”
“Yeah… hard to see.”
“How’s your eye?”
“… It’s fine.”
“Donnie, you got a light?”
There was a grunted reply. A purple glow emitted behind them, not really casting light forward so much as lighting up their immediate space.
Mikey twisted to look behind him and saw his entire battle shell glowing. That’s right, Donnie was using a mystic shell.
His real one was lying shattered in a subway system.
Donnie had his bo in his hands. His eyes darted from left to right.
A service tunnel yawned to their left. Mikey raced across its entrance, shivering. He reached for his nunchucks, ignoring the pain as his fingers curled around them.
The glow got dimmer. He turned back. Donnie had paused in front of the service tunnel.
“Donnie?” Leo called.
“Thought I heard something.” His brother slowly trailed after them.
“How much further?” Mikey finally asked. The light was a little brighter, but he couldn’t see the train.
“Not much.” Raph’s breathing sounded labored. He stumbled again. “Not much.”
“Holy-” Donnie’s voice was cut off by a screech.
Adrenaline snapped into Mikey’s veins at the familiar sound. He whirled and in the purple glow Donnie swatted a Kraang-creature away with his bo. His eyes were blown wide. “GO! GO! GO!”
Raph took off running, clutching Leo to his chest. Mikey hissed as his ninpo traveled down his arms into his nunchucks. His hands felt seared to the weapon. The chains glowed and lengthened and he whipped them down the tunnel, stinging the monster before it could get up.
In the orange light, a dozen more raced towards them.
“Mikey, RUN!” Donnie shoved him towards the train car. He twirled his bo and an entire wall of glowing, purple guns filled the tunnel.
Mikey covered his ears as the guns began blasting. The tunnel shook around him as he ran, amplifying the sound and quaking from Donnie’s barrage. Dust tumbled down from overhead, scattering the bright violet light everywhere. The screeches intensified.
A train horn tooted. Mikey looked up and there was the geometry car. Raph stood at the back and reached for him, hauling him on board.
“Where’s Donnie?”
“Here!”
Donnie was sprinting towards them out of the dust. His mystic shell was gone. Screeches and booms continued behind him like the whole tunnel was caving in. “Move, move, move!”
“Leo! Step on it!”
Mikey gripped the rail as the train car lurched. Donnie swung his bo against the ground and used it to vault the rest of the distance. Raph grabbed him and pulled him onto the train. They all tumbled inside the car and the doors shut.
“What was that?” Leo demanded from the driver’s seat. The train shuddered as they picked up speed. “I thought we got rid of all the Kraang!”
“We did.” Donnie braced his bo and struggled to his feet. “That was the Foot Clan.”
Mikey’s eyes widened. They jumped as their comms crackled.
“…uys? Ca… ear me...”
Donnie muttered a curse and fiddled with his gauntlet.
“April? Is that you?” Raph waved his arm up and down the car, hoping to improve reception.
“…llo? If… ear this… come… it’s not… air…”
“Try now,” Donnie said.
“April?”
“Raph? Can you hear me?”
“We can all hear you, we’re all here.”
There was a sharp burst of static. Then something that sounded like a wet crunch. When April’s voice returned, her breathing was ragged.
“Don’t come to the lair. Don’t go into the sewers. They’re crawling with leftover Kraang zombies. I repeat: whatever you do, don’t come back to the lair.”