Chapter Text
Pat, pat, pat.
Every sound his feet made against the grimy floors of the sewer tunnels was turning his foul mood even worse, if that were possible. His nearly silent footsteps weren’t nearly quiet enough to escape his sharp hearing, and the texture of damp cloth pressing up against him made him want to tear his skin off. The air was cold enough to send chills down his spine and leave goosebumps where he was exposed, but not cold enough for him to swallow his pride and turn tail back to the lair. Back to his brothers.
It was a stupid argument. Stupid in Raph’s opinion, anyway. So what if winter was rolling in a bit earlier than usual? That was no reason to stop the patrols so early in the year. (Except this time, Master Splinter wasn’t here with them. This year, there wasn’t going to be anyone there when they get home to check on them except an empty lair an empty dojo and it’s emptyemptyemptyemptyempTY) There hadn’t even been an inch of snow yet, but Mr. Perfect insisted that the ice and snow would pose ‘too much of a threat’ and other excuses he hadn’t bothered listening to. He didn’t want to hear it, especially when Leo was the one who fought the Shredder and his goons in the snow during the invasion (glass, a brother in blue bathed in a colour so familiar). And of course Mikey was ecstatic to stay in, having begged Leo to skip patrol on this day specifically for a special rerun of an “Ultra Super Mega Awesome Show!!” Or so they were told for the millionth time. Leo had been denying him for weeks until he saw the sheets of ice forming on the streets and roofs of New York their last patrol. And of course Donnie piped in, spouting the same speech he did every year about hypothermia or whatever and how they were cold blooded and more at risk and blah, blah blah! Wether it was the combined efforts of Donnie and Mikey or Leo’s own concern, he had officially declared that they’d have to stay in the tunnels for awhile, at least until the city cleaned up the snow or when the weather got warmer.
A small growl escaped his throat, low and rebounding in the cramped sewer tunnel. And therein lies the problem - these stupid, stupid tunnels. Raphael was fine with living in the sewers! Of course he was, it’s where he was raised and was one of the only safe places a bunch of mutants like his family could stay after all. He could never truly hate it when it was the only home he’d ever known. But the surface - the surface was everything he’d ever dreamed of, everything he didn’t even know to dream of! The tall, open walls that opened up to the sky, the seemingly endless space to run around, the fresh air, the action - the sewers could never compare to how liberating it felt to be up there. The others just didn’t get it. While Donnie could go weeks holed up in the confined space of his lab, slouched over some invention of his, Raph had to be moving. And while Mikey was more than happy to laze around the layer eating pizza or reading comics or watching tv, Raphael needed to go out and run. And Leo -
He scoffed, absentmindedly letting a hand drift to one of his sai - rubbing the rough leather handle with the tip of his thumb. His fingers felt itchy. He drew both his sai in a flash, changing his gait to something that looked less casual and more predatory. Unlike Leo who liked to spend his time meditating, going over Sensei’s teachings like a broken record, Raphael needed to get his fists bruised and bloody. He needed that rush as much as he needed to breathe. He tightened his grip on his sai, even when he finally approached a ladder leading up to a manhole cover. They just didn’t get it. Feeling his temper rise, he climbed the ladders with his beloved weapons, unwilling to put them back on his belt. Raph shoved the metal disk blocking his way to freedom aside, getting even more upset when it got stuck on something. With a loud grunt, he put more strength into his arms, practically flinging the damn thing into a wall. He launches himself out of the manhole, landing with less grace than he’d ever admit. He shuddered, the cold air hitting him full force. Still, he was going to bust some heads no matter what, even if it’s the last thing he does!
[ 2 hours later ]
HOW!? How is it possible for there to be absolutely 0 illegal activities of any kind in the entire city of New- fucking- York!? He’s not sure if this is the Universe’s way of saying “Fuck you, Raphael! Leo and the others were right!” or if it was just some cruel joke, but he swears he’s one hair thin trigger away from committing actual murder. He spread his senses as far as they could go, searching desperately for a sign, any sign of trouble. The skitters of creatures below, the sound of the wind whistling past his ears, some old lady humming, a monotone man speaking funny- wait.
A small whisper of voices that didn’t sound quite human sent him vaulting over rooftops in record time, excitement rising at the thought of finally getting some action. He peered over the edge, catching sight of several Kraang bots carrying... something, into a nondescript building. Raphael couldn’t make out what it was, but it looked pretty high tech. If Donnie were here Raph bet he’d know what it was.
“But Don isn’t here right now, is he? I am.” He thought vindictively. Whatever that thing was, it was obviously bad news. He started making his way down, adrenaline thrumming through his veins as he got closer and closer. He listened as the Kraang held what seemed to be a casual conversation.
“This piece the Kraang has acquired will be perfect for the Kraang’s plan for which the Kraang have planned.”
“Indeed, Kraang. Kraang will be pleased when Kraang sees what the Kraang have found for Kraang.”
The Kraang seemed to have all their attention on whatever that thing was, making it exceedingly easy to slip in behind them before they closed the door. Immediately he drifted to the shadows, watching as the six- no, seven- Kraang bots carried it to something that looked like a portal. Several more Kraang bots converged around the new piece, taking it from the others and bringing it to an empty section of the portal. If that thing is what he thinks it is, then they must be trying to free the rest of the Kraang from dimension X!
Not waiting for a chance to find out, Raphael tackled the closest Kraang bot. It fell to the floor with a clatter, too surprised to do anything before Raph plunged his sai into it’s head and ripped it off. Something flew past his head and imbedded itself in the wall, but he didn’t have time to see what it was before he heard the telltale sign of a Kraang blaster being fired. He flicked his wrist, sending a sai towards the noise before launching himself backwards to avoid the onslaught of gunfire. He rushed forwards towards the crowd of Kraang, reaching into his belt to grab his shuriken as he darted from side to side. Finding them, he pulled out four and locked onto his targets, hitting his marks with deadly accuracy. They fell over with a satisfying clatter, becoming nothing more than trash in an instant.
Within moments he was able to bridge the final bit of distance between him and his remaining prey, sweeping the legs out from one of them while grabbing the sai he threw earlier from the remains of a Kraang bot. He reared his head to target another one but stopped midway through when his vision swam. A hand reactively tried to go upwards to cradle his head, but was met with a laser blast instead. He hissed, drawing his hand back immediately and dropping his sai. He threw himself to the side to avoid a blast, landing on the bot he had knocked down earlier and ignoring his sudden wave of nausea. He ripped off the arm that was holding the gun and bashed the bot’s head in with it, deciding to keep the gun on a whim. Prying the hand off it, he was forced to roll away from yet another blast. He flipped out of the ball he formed, gaining some distance, and aimed the gun at the group of Kraang, pulling the trigger and letting loose. He kept on shooting as he dodged the return fire with ease. Well, what should have been ease at least. His feet felt clunky, like they were two sizes too big for his body, and his senses felt off. As if everything had been moved to the left by a few inches or something. The nausea and lightheaded-ness definitely wasn’t helping either.
Gritting his teeth, he rushed forwards again and only aknowledged every shot that made contact with a grimace. Once he was close enough, he threw the gun - knocking over a group of clustered Kraang and pouncing on them with a yell. He raised his sai and started stabbing at random, uncaring which part he hit as long as they just. Stayed. Down! Heaving, he was allowed a moment to admire his handiwork - a mess of wires and bent metal - before he heard something start rumbling. He spun around as fast as he dared, watching with abject horror as the portal started to form.
A Kraang bot crawled out from underneath the platform the portal was perched on, looking at him with the most smug monotone expression he’d ever seen. It strutted towards him, brandishing a gun from who knows where.
“The ones known as the turtles will not be able to stop the ones known as the Kraang this time, for the Kraang have-”
“Can it you ugly piece of scrap metal!” Raphael roared, charging the Kraang bot and pinning it to the floor. He ripped off its jaw so it couldn’t speak anymore and threw it towards the portal, watching with satisfaction as it disappeared into the eerie bluish purple glow. Finally alone, he allowed his body to sag, having a hard time stopping himself from collapsing. Eyeing the slowly growing portal, Raph couldn’t help but shudder - every sense of self-preservation he had was screaming at him to get away from it, while his much more important instincts told him to destroy it as soon as possible.
Taking a glance around the destroyed room, he scanned it for anything that looked like a control panel. Seeing nothing, he growled and started heading towards the portal itself. He guessed it stood about 30 feet away from him and, with a groan, started limping towards it . Almost immediately after his first step, his vision swam and he gagged, barely stopping himself from retching. He planted his arms on his knees as they buckled, almost sending him tumbling to the floor. Breathing heavily, he started muttering curses under his breath as he continued his slow pace towards the portal. The Kraang must’ve fucking poisoned him! He rummaged around for his T-phone, intent on calling his brothers, but the thought of them made a spike of anger flare up again and he decided against it. Besides, disabling the portal couldn’t be too hard, right? Donnie did it all the time.
It was an agonizingly slow journey, especially considering the usual speed he possessed. Still, he inched his way forwards with determination. He was about ten feet away from the portal when a bone chilling presence started seeping into the room. It felt as though the temperature had dropped 15 degrees almost instantly and Raph froze where he stood. He felt every part of his body tense up as more adrenaline rushed his veins. There was something crawling - no, clawing - its way out from the portal. Sharp, elongated metal claws were coming out from the growing portal, accompanied by wriggling tentacles. A low, drawn out chuckle that sounded more like a hiss reached his ears, rebounding in his skull.
“Free... I will finally be free...!"
He moved with speed he shouldn’t have been capable of in his state - throwing himself forwards the last 10 feet and crawling up the pedestal. He desperately started stabbing the metal ring with his sai, praying to whatever deity up there that it’d work. But every blow seemed to deal no damage to the high tech portal, no matter how hard he hit it. The creature - whatever it was - seemed to know the futility of what he was doing, as it started laughing at him. The kind of deep, bone chilling laugh that crawled under his skin and writhed in his gut. Infuriated, he put even more force behind his strikes, growling when all they left were scratches.
“Shit, fuck!” He panted. He was out of breath. The fight took a lot out of him, not to mention the poison. He collapsed against the portal, head spinning in every direction. Something fleshy and warm brushed up against his leg, sending him scuttling backwards away from the disgusting feeling. A louder chuckle arose from the creature, rattling around his head. He thinks it was saying something to him - taunting him, surely - but he couldn’t quite hear that well anymore amidst the ringing.
His gaze fell on a pink tentacle slowly digging into the platform, helping the - creature - drag it’s body forwards and through the portal, but also wrenching the metal upwards and exposing the inner workings. He needs to- to what? He had to...
He pitched forwards without warning, falling into the mess of technology and landing directly. On. The tentacle. It wrapped around him in an instant, surprisingly not killing him immediately. He gagged as it prodded around, rubbing up against his plastron and shell with almost obsessive repetition, and - Ok he really was going to throw up if it kept touching him. He heard a warning hiss - surely an unintentional reaction - as it warned him enough to reach out and grip the nearby wires with inhuman strength as the tentacle tightened around him painfully, attempting to yank him upwards.
“Are you... one of them?”
And Raphael really, really wish he knew what that meant, because maybe then he could’ve answered with something witty before he died to some freaky Kraang/Shredder fusion. The tentacle was trying to drag him out from his bed of circuits and wires, but every time it yanked, even more seemed to weave between his limbs. He heard another hiss, louder this time, as it slithered away. He wheezed as a pressure around his chest he hadn’t noticed left with the tentacle’s presence. Ok, cool. Cool. Yeah, this is ok.
And then he shrieked as he was wrenched halfway from his hiding space by the leg. Luckily, his right arm was wrapped securely with several thick wires. But the creature was relentless - it kept pulling, jerking his body back and forth to try and shake him from his safe spot. He risked a glance backwards, regretting it immediately as a bright red light met his eyes. He shut them, not wanting to see anymore of what exactly was holding his leg. That.. thing, couldn’t come into their universe. Not in a million years.
“..you... wretch... tur..!”
Raph reached towards the cables with his free hand and grasped them with all the strength he could muster, starting to rip them apart. But soon he ran out of cables within arms length, all except... He fumbled around for his backup kunai, dropping several before managing to close his fist around one. As he gripped the knife and stared at his target, an unbidden thought came to mind.
‘My brothers are going to be so mad.’ The uncharacteristically Mikey-like thought had him giggling despite himself as he swung his knife.
And cut the wires around his arm.