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“Is it my imagination or has Hypno gotten worse at this whole bad guy thing since we last fought?” Raph side-stepped the ax that had been swung at him, plucked it from the human’s grip, and gave them a solid bonk on the head to knock them unconscious.
“I wasn’t going to say anything but, yeah, this is pretty pathetic,” Donatello swatted another hypnotized human out of his face with his tech-bō. He looked bored.
Until a chain came flying at him and made him skip backwards, dropping into a more defensive stance. Donnie scowled, shifting his grip on his bō,
“I retract my statement. That part is annoying. And bad.”
‘That part’ were in fact Leonardo and Michelangelo, both hypnotized and under Hypno’s control. They weren’t as fast and agile as they might have been, but they were still stronger and more dangerous that the humans shuffling awkwardly about. Hypno must have been directing most of his power into his two strongest assets.
Leo’s face was expressionless but his eyes were burning a vibrant neon pink, washing out the red of his facial markings. He darted forward, ōdachi swinging in a wide arch towards Raph, only to be blocked by Raph’s tonfa in a ringing clash. Raph pressed Leo back with a growl, shoving his weight forward and making Leo stagger and lose his footing, stumbling backwards and then skipping out of range to regroup.
Mikey was keeping Donnie occupied. The swings of his kusari-fundō were wide and less direct but they were still annoying and taking full advantage of Donnie’s lack of long range. Donnie scowled and ducked another swing aimed for his head, striking out with his staff to catch the chain of Mikey’s weapon and yank back on it savagely. Mikey’s pink-stained eyes widened and then he was pulled off his feet and crashing into the pavement.
“Donnie!” Raph barked, sweeping more civilians out of the way, “Be careful!”
“He’s fine! He’s fallen off his skateboard harder than that!” Donnie shot back. With the kusari-fundō’s chain still around his bō, Donnie launched himself into the air, rotors from his Battle Shell unfolding with a comforting whir of technology. The brainwashed Mikey, still clinging to his weapon, was hauled into the air after him. And before he had a chance to recover, Donnie ignited a rocket on his tech-bō, collapsing his rotor wings and letting the force of the rocket spin him. He braced with both hands on his staff as he swung it around with a wild cackle, causing Mikey’s helpless form to slam directly into Hypno.
The two crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs and chain and Donnie laughed, pulling his bō free and landing safely back on the ground with a smirk on his face. The humans who’d been brainwashed had dropped like flies the second Mikey had slammed into Hypno and were sprawled across the ground, groaning.
“Donnie! What the shell was that!?” Raph picked his way through the fallen humans, snout wrinkled in a displeased scowl, “You threw Mikey!”
“Got the job done, didn’t it?” Donnie sniffed dismissively, “Besides, he’s fine. Hey! Angelo! You all right?”
There was a wobbly moan from Mikey as he sat up. From his perch on top of Hypno, he gave his brothers a crooked smile and a shaky thumbs up before staggering to his feet and teetering back towards them.
“See,” Donnie said, “He’s fine.”
Raph growled but didn’t get a chance to press the issue because Leo had thrown himself again Raph’s side with a dramatic groan of pain,
“Uuuuhhgggg, anyone get the number of the mountain that was dropped on my head?”
“You’re fine, Leo,” Raph put a hand on Leo’s shell, steadying him as the slider swayed on his feet, “Come on, let’s get Mikey and get outta here before all these people start waking up.”
“What’re we gonna do with Hypno?” Donnie was already had his phone out and was typing away with one hand, but the other snapped out and caught Mikey’s arm as he finally stumbled up to them.
“Eh,” Raph shrugged, a mischievous grin on his face, “Figured we’d drop him in the Hudson or somethin’. Give him a chance to think about what he’s done.”
Leo snickered as Raph went to collect their fallen enemy and then winced as his headache stabbed him behind the eyes. He complained about his head hurting all the way home.
Hypno didn’t end up in the river. But he didn’t like waking up tied to a girder of a bridge several feet above the river either.
Both Mikey and Leo had headaches by the time the brothers made it back to the lair. Although Leo’s had bloomed into a vision splitting migraine that had him doubling over with the heels of his hands pressed into his eye sockets and breath hissing out between gritted teeth. In typical fashion, he tried to play off the level of pain he was in. But the second Leo caught a whiff of the leftovers Raph pulled out of the fridge for dinner, his stomach turned over and he backed out of the kitchen. He ended up taking some water and painkillers back to his room and burying himself under his blankets.
( Mikey pleaded that he was fine, but dozed off after only five minutes of sinking into the nearest beanbag. )
The migraine in Leo’s head was ferocious, his entire skull throbbing in time with his heartbeat. His own breathing sounded too loud, his face hurt, his neck was sore, it felt like his brain was trying to explode out of his own head. Even thinking hurt.
Leo pressed a pillow over his head with a sad little whine that scraped the insides of his ears with a rusty blade. His head hurt so bad . He just wanted to sleep it off, just wanted to pass out so he could get away from the pain trying to push his eyeballs out of his skull. The bone deep throb of it made him feel sick, nausea swimming just below the surface of the overwhelming hurt pulsing in his body. Movement was out of the question, every twitch of his fingers sending fire racing along his nerves to add to the blaze pounding in his head.
Please, please, please he just wanted this to stop!
Something popped in the back of Leo’s mind.
There was a sensation like flowers blooming.
The pain stopped.
Raph was a light sleeper.
He had to be, he had three little brothers to take care of. He always had to keep an ear out for them, listening even in his sleep for the shuffle of little feet or the plaintive chirping the came from waking up in the dark or the muffled crying of a nightmare ruined sleep. He would always be there to support his baby brothers.
So when something roused him from his slumber, Raph automatically tuned his hearing to listen for the tell-tale sounds of his brothers in distress. He sleepily turned his head towards his doorway, blinking to clear his vision, squinting at the shadows.
“...mh, Leo? You ‘kay? How’s yer head?”
Leo didn’t answer.
Instead, quick as a flash, he rushed Raphael and leapt onto his bed. Raph tried to twist around, roll o ff his stomach and onto his back , but Leo landed on Raph’s shell and the weight made Raph freeze. He didn’t want to crush his brother.
“Leo, what’re you—”
A harsh pink glow blossomed over Raph’s shoulder and he caught a glimpse of a flash of cold steel.
Then Leo’s ōdachi plunged into Raph’s arm.
Raph roared in pain and shock, bucking and thrashing to try and dislodge Leo. The sword in his arm sawed with the movement, widening the cut and spraying hot blood. The blade had pierced all the way through Raph’s arm and sunk into the mattress beneath him, pinning him down. He couldn’t get at an angle to reach it without making the injury worse. His instincts to rage and lash out and fight back were clashing against the worry and confusion for his brother.
“L-Leo—!” Raph tried to turn and look at his brother but Leo’s foot slammed into his snout, drawing another shout of pain from Raph. He shook his head, ears ringing and sensitive nose smarting from the blow. The neon pink glow was fractured into broken shards by the tears that had sprung involuntarily into his eyes, blurring his vision and smearing the world so it was almost impossible to tell what was going on.
But he knew there was something wrong with his little brother.
He felt Leo’s weight shift on his shell and braced for the pain he knew was coming. It still shocked another snarl out of him when Leo yanked the ōdachi out of Raph’s arm, swinging it back up and splattering a streak of blood up the wall as he did. Raph didn’t wait for him to find his balance again, he was already moving, heaving his great bulk up from his bed and sending Leo toppling to the floor. He Leo actually been the one in control, he would have landed on his feet no problem. But this Leo wasn’t as quick on the draw and ended up falling to the floor with a crash, sprawling in an uncoordinated pile of limbs and shell.
Before he could recover, Raph kicked the sword out of reach and snatched Leo’s ankle, flinging him into the air and slamming him onto the bloodied mattress. Leo flailed, glowing pink eyes darting everywhere, trying to find his sense of balance again. Raph didn’t give him a chance. Moving as quickly as he could with his arm screaming in pain, Raph pulled the sheet off his bed and wrapped Leo up as tightly as he could, tying the ends and bundling up his brother like a mummy. Leo thrashed and hissed in agitation, flopping around on the bed, but only succeeded in wriggling around like a worm.
“That’ll hold ya’ for now…” Raph panted, the deep cut in his arm burning hot against his skin. His entire arm was slick with blood and it was steadily pooling on the floor beneath him. He grimaced and tore off the ruined sleeve of his sleep onesie, using his teeth to tie it around the injury. It was immediately soaked with blood but it would have to do for now.
“I’ll be right back, little brother,” Raph told Leo as he ducked out of his bedroom. Leo only hissed at him.
Raph ran along the edge of the lair and bounded into Donnie’s room without knocking. Donnie had actually been in his room for once, the lab silent and dark while its owner caught some much needed rest.
At least, that’s what was supposed to be happening.
But when Raph burst into Donnie’s room, he did not find his soft shelled brother sleeping peacefully.
Mikey was standing over Donnie, the chain of his kusari-fundō wrapped around Donnie’s neck. Donnie’s eyes were bulging, his knees skidding on the floor as he tried to find purchase, tried to find leverage, his hands pawing at the chain that was restricting his airway. They were bathed in an awfully familiar vibrant pink that burned from Michelangelo’s eyes, saturated hell frothing and spilling over.
I t took all of Raph’s self control to keep his furious strength in check.
Rage and fear made the edges of his vision flicker red. He bit them down—now was not the time. His brothers needed him and they needed him to be safe and strong.
“MIKEY!” Raph launched himself across the room, reaching to grab Donnie and try to wrench him away. Mikey’s glowing eyes snapped up to look at Raph, searing neon into his retinas, and then he pulled the chain even tighter as he leapt out of reach. Donnie’s heels dragged limply across the floor. Tears were streaming down his face, his mouth was open but he wasn’t making a sound, his eyes starting to go unfocused and his movements slowing.
“NO! DONNIE, HANG ON!”
Not knowing what else to do, Raph charged.
This time, he was too fast for Mikey to react and he slammed into his little brother, knocking them both to the floor. Mikey squirmed, hissing and trying to push Raph off of him, scrabbling at his plastron and kicking helplessly. Raph grabbed Mikey’s wrists in one hand and lifted him off the floor, wincing when his baby brother dug his teeth into Raph’s fingers and tried to lever himself free by digging his heels in. Muttering a quick apology to Donnie, Raph yanked the blanket off of Donnie’s bed and gave Mikey the same treatment he’d given Leo, bundling him up as securely as possible and as quickly as he could. Then he turned his attention to Donnie.
Donatello was sprawled on the floor with his limbs bent at awkward angles. Drool and tears were pooling around his head and his eyes were closed. He was terrifyingly still and Raph wasn’t sure he was breathing. Panic was starting to claw its way into the fear and anger, stirring Raph’s mind into a useless slurry of words and emotions. He couldn’t think straight and that made him panic more. How was he supposed to help!? He had to get control of this situation but—
“What is all this racket!? What are you boys doing up so late!?”
Splinter’s voice had never sounded so majestic.
“DAD!” Raph cried, his voice cracking with the emotions pressing a spiked ball into his throat, “DAD, HELP!”
He didn’t even hear the patter of his dad’s feet before Splinter was suddenly at his side, sharp little eyes taking in everything with a single sweep of his gaze. Mikey, tied up and thrashing on the floor, Donnie limp in Raph’s lap with a spreading bruise on his throat, and the blood seeping down Raph’s arm. His gaze hardened.
“Is he breathing, Red?”
“I—I dunno, I can’t—”
“Hold him on his stomach—yes, like that. This is going to be most unpleasant. I am sorry, Purple.”
Raph winced in sympathy as Splinter raised one hand and thumped Donnie very hard on the lower part of his back. Donnie spasmed in Raph’s hands, sucked in a gasp of air, and then threw up all over Raph’s legs. But Raph didn’t care because Donnie was heaving in air and coughing it back out again in ragged bursts that had him bucking in Raph’s arms. He was breathing and he was alive and that was the only thing that mattered. Raph held him steady, soothing him and telling him he was okay as Donnie wheezed and coughed and struggled to get a decent breath through his probably slightly crushed throat.
“Red, what has happened here? Explain.” Splinter was not harsh or angry, his tone surprisingly gentle, if worried. He had one hand on Raph’s arm and was watching Mikey with concern.
“I dunno for sure,” Raph said in a low voice, anger tying a growl to the end of his words. He kept one hand under Donnie to prop him up, the other rubbing soothing circles into his brother’s soft shell, “But I think one of the guys we fought did somethin’ to ‘em. Dunno how but...Leo came after me with his sword, got me in the arm. He’s, uh, tied up in my room. I came in to ask Donnie for help and Mikey was...y-yeah…”
Splinter frowned, eyes narrowing. Before he could get a word in, however, Donatello shoved Raph’s hands away and staggered to his feet.
“Donnie, what’re you—!?”
Donnie only growled, stomping across his room to yank on his gloves and stockings, slamming a Battle Shell onto his back and snatching up his tech-bō. He didn’t even pull on a mask as he stalked out of his room. Raph scrambled to catch up to him,
“Donnie! Wait! What’re you doing!? You’re hurt! You need—!”
“I need to end this!” Donnie hissed, his voice crackling and hoarse. He bared his teeth at Raph, beak curling into a snarl, and activated the rotors on his Shell, soaring out of the lair before Raph could stop him.
“Let him go, Red,” Splinter murmured, making Raph jump. He hadn’t even heard his dad follow him, “Let us secure your brothers and tend to your wound. It is probably going to need a good cleaning—who knows what things Blue has used his sword for.”
Raph made a small noise of consent in the back of his throat, still staring off in the direction Donnie had gone. He had a good idea about what Donnie was planning to do, but it didn’t make him feel better about it. He just hoped Donnie wouldn’t take things too far.
Hypno was still tied to the bridge where the brothers had left him several hours ago, looking a little ragged and worse for wear, but mostly annoyed. Though he was surprised to see Donnie drop out of the sky and hover in front of him.
“Oi, havin’ second thoughts about leaving me like this, are ya’?”
“Hardly,” Donnie spat, the word creaking up his sore throat. The bruising was starting to turn a dark and ugly mottled color under his scales.
“Blimey, what the hell happened to you? Sound like you tried to swallow a—JESUS WHAT THE FUCK!?” Hypno tried to yank away from the blade pointing right at his considerable snout. Donnie’s tech-bō had unfurled a serrated knife from its end and he was holding it steadily at Hypno’s face.
“Undo what you did to my brothers,” The anger in Donnie’s crackling voice and flaring in his eyes was ice cold, a bitter sting in the dead cold of a winter night, the kind of chill that would kill you if given the chance, “Undo it. Now.”
“What I—oh! Bloody hell, that actually worked!? Didn’t think I’d done it right, mind ya’, just trying a new technique and—OW!” Hypno tried to jerk back as the tip of the knife sliced across the end of his nose, blood welling up from the fresh cut, “Christ, mate, whatever happened to banter!?”
Donnie’s lip curled, showing his sharper teeth, his staff never wavering in the slightest.
“I’m giving you a chance,” He said hoarsely and the ice in his voice made Hypno freeze, “But just give me a reason…” Donnie’s grip tightened on his bō, eyes narrowing into dangerous white slits,
“My brothers aren’t here to stop me.”
Hypno stared at him with wide eyes and swallowed hard, “O-okay, okay, n-no need to—I’ll undo it, I’m doing it just don’t—fuckin’ hell, mate, I didn’t mean—fuck…” Donnie didn’t move an inch as Hypno sucked in a deep breath, his eyes glowed a brief bright pink, and then he slumped in his bonds, “Th-there, it’s done, I took it away. C-can this—are we cool now, yeah? You can, uh, untie me? Let me go?”
The cold fury on Donnie’s face bled away into a flat look of neutral boredom. He flicked his staff up and away from Hypno’s face, making the hippo flinch, and the blade collapsed away as if it had never been there. He regarded the helpless Hypno coolly, without interest and completely unbothered by what had just occurred. Hypno was sweating under the collar so much he should have been worried about ruining his suit.
“Never do that again,” Donnie ground the words out, sandpaper and broken glass through the spreading bruise on his neck, “Because I don’t give second chances.”
Then he turned and pointed his rotors towards home, flying away into the lights of New York and vanishing from sight.
If Hypno had been a lesser man, he might have cried from relief.
Actually, he did cry. Because he was a man. And he realized just how closely Death had been sniffing at his door in that moment.
By the time Donnie returned to the lair, Mikey and Leo were in their right minds again. A little dazed and with headaches throbbing behind their eyes, but they were normal and that was a small price to pay.
Splinter was in the med bay stitching up Raph’s arm and looked up sharply when Donnie staggered in to collapse into the nearest chair. His breath was a wheezing whistle through his damaged throat and he shed his Battle Shell without protest, breathing a little easier once he’d taken a seat. Leo was fluttering around him, scolding for leaving the lair while simultaneously fretting over the state of Donnie’s neck. Mikey, who although he recalled nothing of what happened, had been told by Raph what had gone down, was a blubbering mess of apologies and tears.
Donnie let them hover, apparently nonplussed with the attention that normally would have had him bristling. Perhaps he was just tired. Or maybe he just knew that his brothers needed it and it was his way of accepting their apologies. He still hissed and snapped when Leo pushed too hard on the bruises on his neck, but Raph knew better.
He still had to ask though, because he knew Donnie and he’d seen that cold anger on his face.
“Donnie?” He asked softly, once Splinter had finished the stitching and they were all piled in the living room, surrounded by blankets and pillows and each other, “Did you…?”
“Just went to make sure he was still tied up,” Donnie murmured, his voice a few octavos lower and hoarser from the ordeal, “He’ll live. For now.”
Raph quirked a smile at him and rubbed the top of Donnie’s head with an affectionate chirrup. To his surprise, Donnie returned the sentiment with a low churr of his own, so soft that it was almost lost under Mikey and Leo practically yelling comfort at each other in the background. But it made Raph feel warm inside.
And, yeah, his arm would probably scar, and Mikey would be making Donnie's favorite meals for the next month, and Leo would be clingy and loud like the way he was when he was worried, and Donnie's voice would probably be awful for at least a week.
But they were okay. They were together. So what else could Raph possibly ask for.