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Chapter Text

“Watch out!”

Leo spun, swords flashing as he sliced a wheel off a Krangified motorcycle. The motorcycle squealed and gnashed its teeth around one of the swords, trying to get at Leo. Normally this would have been a good time for a joke. Like “you’re wheel-y in trouble now” or something equally punny. But jokes were lost on the Krang and there wasn’t any time. The next threat was already rushing at him. It was a Krangzombie with multiple mouths and four arms and he wasn’t sure if it had been biological or mechanical before it had gotten Kranged and—

And now it was soaring through the air like the ugliest bird that never existed. Leo craned his head back to look up at Raph’s massive projected form as he put down the foot that had soccer-ed the Krangzombie into oblivion. “What happened to you taking it easy? I had that!”

“You’re welcome,” Raph rumbled as he moved on to go kick more Krangzombies into orbit.

“I totally had that. You saw it, right?” Leo asked Mikey. His youngest brother was standing on top of a burnt-out Tesla, loops of mystic nunchaku chain flying around him.

“I saw you almost get taken out by the motorcycle, then I looked away ‘cause I just about got skewered by rebar, and then—” He interrupted himself to send a chain shooting across the battlefield to save a couple fighters who were getting chased by Krangzombies. “And then I saw Raph save you.”

“What? That’s not what happened.

“I’m telling you what I saw! With my own eyes!”

“It’s okay to admit that you saw wrong.” Leo ducked needlessly as the chain came back, making Mikey glare.

“No, because I didn’t see anything wrong. I saw you seconds away from becoming roadkill then Raph rescued you.”

Donnie flew through their argument and hovered for a moment, his ninpo creating a jetpack alongside his regular mystic arsenal. “Maybe, and this is just an excellent suggestion on my part, you two could focus more on not dying.”

“In a minute!” they both yelled at him.

Donnie rolled his eyes at them and took off again, heading straight up at ridiculous speeds. A moment later, the ground shook as he started bombarding the Krang horde from the air, a strategic strike that avoided all of the Resistance fighters while targeting the Krang.

It was rare these days for all four of them to be out in the field at the same time since usually someone (often Donnie) stayed back to help organize base defense, but April had sent out an SOS. Along with Sunita, she and a small squad of Resistance fighters had been bringing a band of survivors to one of the other bases when they had been ambushed by a Krang patrol. The Krang had herded them into a part of the city where another group of people were already under siege, blocked into a building as Krang-bots, K9s, and zombies attacked.

While Leo’s long-distance portaling was still on the fritz, short distances were currently not a problem. He could portal anywhere he could actually see, so getting to the fight had involved racing through one of the main base’s many exit tunnels, collapsing it behind them for safety, and then portaling rapidly through the city until they reached April and the battle. They had taken a small strike group with them, all seasoned warriors.

A pair of K9s thunder toward them, talons outstretched. They might have once been dogs, but no one was exactly sure since most of them looked the same. There weren’t any Chihuahua K9s running around that he had seen. Honestly, he hoped they were just Krang creations.

Leo swung a sword, ripping open a portal that swallowed up the pair. Behind him, Mikey created new loops of chains, his nunchaku clacking as the links rattled against one another. With a flick of Leo’s other sword, a second portal opened, dropping the K9s into the snare Mikey had made.

“I still think I had it,” Leo said as he jogged backward, away from Mikey.

“Keep telling yourself that!” Mikey clenched his fist. Light cracked across the K9s and they burst into golden confetti, like how the origami Foot Soldiers did once upon a time. Maybe that’s all they were. Tinfoil confetti dogs.

God, Leo hoped so. He wished. He wished everything biological they fought that wasn’t actually a Krang wasn’t something or someone from Earth. That everything was metal or paper or alien 3D-printed goo monsters or just…yeah.

It would do wonders for his mental state.

His swords caught the little bits of muted sunlight as he slashed his way through the Krang forces. The ground kept trembling as Raph stomped across the battlefield and Donnie continued his aerial assault. It was like his brothers were creating their own earthquake. Golden chains stretched over his head, wrapping around a 12-foot Krangbot and hurling it to the ground.

He headed back to where he had left April and Sunita and their forces, leaping over the burned out shell of a car and climbing into a school bus. April’s head popped up from behind a torn-up seat. She rubbed her face against the sleeve of her jacket, smearing dust and blood (not hers).

“I’m running out of bandages,” she said, holding out her hands expectantly. Next to her on the floor was a teenage gargoyle, her palm held against a nonfatal wound on his leg.

Leo headed to her and snatched his medic kit from his belt. He held it out to her as he knelt next to her. “That’s all I’ve got left.” He checked the gargoyle kid over, tightening the bandage. “You’ll be okay.”

“It won’t fall off?” the kid asked, dark eyes huge.

Leo patted his shoulder. “Not this time."

Keep it light, keep it mostly positive—Be the Face Man.

“How’s it going out there?” Sunita asked. She half-formed toward the back of the bus, her bottom half clinging to the side of the bus. She had a pair of laser pistols in her hands and was protecting the back escape door, which had the windows knocked out of it.

“So-so,” Leo said, being truthful. “Could be better, but it could also be worse.”

Sunita made a splash as she dropped onto the floor and fully formed. “Nice, can you guys maybe work on improving that?”

“Nah, we were planning on going back to our vacation home in Tahiti. You all can handle this from here.”

Sunita nodded. “Cool, cool. Love being ditched mid-battle, but I get it. Vacations are essential to a healthy lifestyle.”

Leo gave her a thumbs up. “See, I knew you’d understand.”

April flipped open the clasp, not flinching when lasers burned a red-hot stripe near the top of the bus, letting in some of the faded sunlight. “This’ll work for now, but the sooner we get out of here, the better.”

“Donnie and Raph are clearing a path to that office building,” he said, “But I’m going to start helping you evacuate. We opened up some streets to the north, and I can get you there. Donnie should have sent the route he thinks you should take, but do what you think is best, as always.”

“Yeah, I got that. Don’t overdo it, Leo,” she cautioned, reminding him that while he might have regained the ability to portal recently, it wasn’t as reliable as it had once been and it put a strain on him.

He put a hand on his plastron in mock-hurt. “Do I ever?” When she started to reply, he offered a grin and stood up, glancing in the direction the laser had come from. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“You don’t want me to answer that.”

With a cheeky smile, he lifted one sword and cut a portal into the air, low to the ground. He drew another circle with the second sword. “All right, folks, all aboard the escape portal to potential safety!”

Sunita slid to the front of the bus, pistols raised. “I’ll go first.” She and April nodded at each other, confirming the decision. She elbowed Leo. “See you at home, Leo. Don’t die.”

“Only because you asked so nicely.”

She dove through the portal, guns at the ready. April waited a moment and then started to send the others after her. She squeezed his arm. “I’ll signal when I get through.”

For a second, Leo hugged her, careful with his swords. “We’re right behind you.”

She hugged him back and then punched his shoulder. “You better be. Or else.”

Leaving the portals open, he left the bus and reentered the fray, fending off a Krang-crow the moment he stepped out the door. It dove at him, talons raking across his forearm as he shielded his face. It cawed, but it sounded like the noise had been mixed with a fire alarm.

It exploded into metal feathers as his right sword came up the next time it dove at him.

“Teach you to give me new scars,” he said, moving on. The scratches were shallow-ish. He could wrap them later.

They needed to keep the battle here and away from April’s new escape route. Donnie and Raph had almost finished clearing the path to where the other group was hunkered down, blocked in the building. He started off toward the office building, swords ready to take down any obstacle in his way. Other Resistance fighters fell in behind him, following his lead and attacking smaller problems.

Using his enlarged ninpo form, Raph grabbed a Krang-tank and hoisted it into the air like a sack of flour as Leo ran by. Hauling back, he flung it full force through the air. It slammed into a flying Krang-bot that was after Donnie. The explosion glowed against the smog and clouds.

“Hey, Raph,” Leo said through the comms, “Good job on saving Donnie, but your arm—”

Raph huffed. “It’s working fine.”

“Right? I thought I did a particularly good job on the joints,” Donnie said.

“Raph, I mean it. The not robo part of your arm is barely healed—”

“You’re breaking up, Leo. Oh no. What a bad time.”

“You have to make the breaking up sounds to sell it,” Mikey put in.

Raph made some unrealistic crackling noises that sounded like he was spitting all over the place. Leo sighed. Really, Raph was completely ignoring Leo’s medic orders. The cybernetic part of his right arm was brand new and not battle-tested and even if he was using his ninpo form—argh, so stubborn!

Leo was still watching Raph when he noticed something in the distance that made his skin crawl.

“Oh shit, shit.” He sped up, his heart thundering. Time to go, time to get everyone out. “Guys, spotted Tethys on our six.”

“Well that’s not optimal,” Donnie said over the comms. “How close?”

“About seven minutes out, if we’re lucky, and we’re not that lucky.”

“You guys go, I’ll take care of getting the others out,” Raph said.

“Hah, no,” Mikey said, “That’s hilarious. We’re not leaving you here.”

“You’re sure as hell not staying here with that thing on the way,” Raph snarled, all joking gone from his tone.

“No problem, we're all going,” Leo said. He switched from their bro-channel to the general Resistance frequency. “Titan codename Tethys has been spotted, stay alert, everyone. Don’t panic. Get ready to retreat on my command.”

Around Leo, Resistance members stiffened up or started fighting harder, desperate to get away before Tethys appeared. When the Krang first appeared, it had been with the Technodrome. The Titans came after, emerging from the Prison Dimension like twisted Gundam nightmares. Someone had named them after the Titans from Greek mythology since each one was different. There had been some debate on if they should go with Attack on Titan names instead.

Greek names had stuck.

Tethys was an eight-legged behemoth that looked vaguely like Cthulhu and a standard Kraken had a baby and that baby was a giant alien eldritch horror.

Leo tore forward, leapfrogging ahead with his portals.

April’s voice popped into his ear. “Did I hear you guys right? Did you say Tethys? You better get out of there now!”

“Yeah, I know,” Leo said, “Are you all out of the bus?”

“Yes, but you’re still—"

“Awesome, cool, we’ll see you in just a few minutes.”

“Leo!”

He couldn’t turn off the frequency, so he had to tune out her instructions. Almost immediately after that, both of them became acutely focused on Donnie because of the moronic thing he said next.

“I have an idea. I’m going to go get a closer look.”

“You are not,” Raph said, “Donnie, no.”

“I don’t think you can catch me, Raphala, so, yes, I am,” he said. Overhead, the purple glow that was Donnie flew in the direction of the Titan’s shadow. The ground was trembling again, but this time it was with the steady footsteps of the Titan approaching. “I’ll be careful. We need more data about Titans, otherwise we’re never going to win this, and you know it.”

“Hey, Don, that's great, but you know what’s even more great?” Leo said.

“Staying alive, I know, but this is helping us do that.”

“Donnie, come on, don’t,” Mikey said. A chain shot through the sky, aiming at Donnie. It wasn’t long enough.

Leo scowled, calculated Donnie’s trajectory, and cut a new portal into the air right before striking another that appeared much farther away. He reached through the first and snagged Donnie’s foot as he flew by. Yelling, he dragged Donnie through the portals, somehow avoiding getting burned by mystic jets. “I swear to God, Donnie, I’m going to kill you before the robot does if you don’t knock it off. What are you thinking?”

Donnie’s eyes were enormous and furious as he dropped his wings, whirling his staff. “Leo—” He made a frustrated noise and gestured with both hands to the Titan in the distance, staff leaning against his shoulder for a second. “Did you not hear the part where I said I’d be careful? We don’t know anything about them! And we’ve been doing this for over a decade!”

Leo drew a breath in through his clenched teeth. “You made me use math.” Yes, joking. Joking was easier than dealing with the fact that Donnie had been willing to fly toward the Titan just to get information. He couldn’t—it had only been a couple months since they almost lost Raph. “And you’re bleeding.”

Donnie put a hand to his upper left arm, over a scorched and weeping wound. “So are you, Nardo.”

“Donnie!” Mikey slammed into Donnie, hugging him, smushing his cheek against his right shoulder. Then he shook him. “Don’t do that again!”

Donnie scowled over Mikey’s shell. “I didn’t even get very close. Leo.”

Leo glared back. “Don."

Two huge red hands came down and picked all three of them up, jostling them against each other. “Good. We’re talking later about that, Donnie.”

“Can I be there? I wanna yell at him too,” Leo asked, shoving Donnie’s uninjured arm before trying to get a better look at his wound. Donnie pushed him back.

Raph glared at them from the middle of his projection as he moved toward the office building. “Leo, can you do one more portal over to where April is so we can get these people out?” The area was clear of Krang, so they wouldn’t have to fight off the enemy. However, there was still the Titan to worry about, and the longer they stayed, the more likely it would be that Krang drone fighter jets would show up.

“Can do.” He could hold off the exhaustion a little longer. Standing in Raph’s palms, he took both swords and cut through the air, opening portals in two different places, one big enough for Raph to fit through. He flicked his right sword again, opening a third portal behind April’s retreating group, and then another with the left to make a quick exit for the Resistance fighters.

“Does this mean we get to yell at you now?” Donnie said, his gaze judging. “For overdoing it.”

“That’s really a matter of perspective.”

Raph ducked through the portal and Leo closed it as he lowered them to the ground. Leo, Donnie, and Mikey rushed into the building and Raph covered them from behind, his stance defensive.

“Sooo, who wants a speedy and spectacular rescue?” Leo asked, creating yet another portal and earning him side eyes from his brothers. Shaking from fatigue wasn’t so bad. Damn, he needed to get better at this. He mentally prepared for possible screaming.

“Thank goodness, we thought we were toast,” a human said, apparently not thrown off by the appearance of giant turtle mutants.

Actually, the group seemed to be made up of a mix of different people: humans, mutants, and yōkai. While there were groups that were already mixed together like this, solely yōkai or solely human groups were more common. Mutants were often off on their own, solo travelers or mercenaries.

“Nope, toast averted,” Leo said, “But we do have to go now. The ground shaking situation isn’t us anymore.”

“Do you have any wounded?” Mikey asked, “We can take them first!”

The survivors rushed to the barricade they had made out of office furniture, complete with a water dispenser on top. A few people were helped out, but one was on a makeshift stretcher. The human who had talked first was carrying one end of the stretcher. “We’re mostly okay, but Drax, he was protecting us and took the brunt of the attack—”

“Who?” Mikey cut in, his expression suddenly blank.

“Drax, he’s our leader—”

Mikey’s hand wrapped around Leo’s arm and tightened as the stretcher went by. Donnie went completely still.

He was skinnier with even longer hair and a patch over his right eye, but Leo would know that sheep face anywhere.

“You all look awful,” Baron Draxum said, his voice ragged.

Leo let out a long breath. “Right back at you.”

“How much longer?”

“Oooh, I don’t know, Mo, how much longer do you think?” Todd asked, “Hey, wait, let’s make it into a game. Everyone pick a time and we’ll see if they’re back by then. Whoever guesses right wins a prize.”

“Is it a Todd Scout prize?” Uno mumbled.

“The prize is friendship!”

Moja and Uno shared a solidly dissatisfied look and went back to playing tic-tac-toe without actually paying much attention to the game. Nearby, Casey was tinkering with an old radio while Yi idly spun a screwdriver around, her gaze often darting to the door or to the small device clipped to her belt. It looked like an old-school pocket watch, but it was stamped with the Genius Built logo. Odyn was walking around the lair, worrying out loud. Overall, the snapper alternated between chill half the time and fearful the other half of the time.

The mood in the lair was decidedly unhappy with a heavy dose of anxiousness. It was rare that they had to have a babysitter since they had so many uncles and an aunt, but this was one of those times they were foisted off on another Resistance. Only a handful were trusted enough to keep an eye on the Hamato\Jones kids. Todd was one of that handful.

The younger ones had realized something was wrong when Donnie dropped Yi off at school earlier than he usually did. Most days she stayed with him until lunch time for lessons on her level and tech training, but today she had been dropped off mid-morning. She had clung to Donnie’s leg until he had gently peeled her off and asked Uno to stay with her. She hadn’t said much since then.

It had only gotten worse when Casey’s teacher brought him to their classroom and then they all had to wait for Todd to come get them instead of someone from their family. Casey hadn’t even known their adults had left, and he was sort of angry about it.

“They should be back now, it’s—can we call them? I don’t know how to call.” Odyn paced to the door and then turned around, walking toward one of the couches. “How do we call? What if they’re hurted?”

“Odie, why don’t you come help me with the radio?” Casey asked. Odyn’s stream of worries was starting to get to him.

“Yi’s helping you,” Odie said, “I can’t. It’s—my heart hurts. What time is it? How long’ve they been left?” He climbed up onto the couch and dropped down face first into the cushions, landing on some of the stuffed animals that had been left there. “What ‘bout Uncle Raph’s arm?”

“Odyn, be quiet!” Moja snapped, her eyes widening.

“It’s Raph, he’ll be okay,” Uno said, “He’s bigger than everything. Way bigger.”

“Not everything. Last time—”

Moja shoved the tic-tac-toe board, scattering the pieces. “Odyn! Stop!”

He shrunk back, ducking partially into his shell. “Sorry, I’m just, I’m scared.”

“Because you’re a scaredy-cat,” Uno said, shrugging.

Moja glowered at Uno. “Leave him ‘lone, Uno. You’re scared, too.”

Uno pushed some of the tic-tac-toe pieces at her. “You yelled first! And am not!”

“Are too!”

“Are not!”

“Come on, kiddos, let’s not fight,” Todd said, walking toward the two of them as they prepared to wrestle. “Wanna sing the Getalong Song?”

Ignoring him, Moja pounced on Uno, and the two of them rolled across the rug, bumping into the couch.

“Hey!” Casey shoved off the floor, his hand resting briefly on Yi’s head before he hurried over. She set down her screwdriver and got up to follow him. Casey grabbed Moja and pulled her off Uno, then automatically put his leg in a position to fend off Uno. Uno bumped into his knee and then attempted to climb up his leg to get at his sister. Moja swiped back. Casey tried to lift her higher. “Quit it!”

Yi grabbed Uno’s arm and hugged it, trying to keep him in place. He still glared at Moja, but he also wouldn’t do anything to hurt his baby sister, so he was stuck. “Leggo, Yi.”

She shook her head and hugged his arm tighter.

Todd whistled. “Wow, I think we all need to take a deep breath—”

The device Yi had been looking at started beeping, and all the Hamato\Jones kids froze. She grabbed it and flipped it open, lifting it up to Casey so he could look at the shapes on the GPS tracker.

“They’re back,” he said.

The lair erupted into activity. Well, the kids did. Todd was left behind in their hurry. Casey swung Moja over to ride piggyback with him while he reached out his hands for Odyn and Yi. Moja held onto his shoulders instead of wrapping her arms around his neck. Uno grabbed the patched up hem of Casey’s oversized hoodie. With the younger kids in tow, Casey bolted past Todd.

"What about the Getalong Song?!" he called after them.

"Later, Todd!" Casey yelled back. Waaaay later.

He held tight to his younger siblings as they left hidden alcove that led to the lair and stepped into the packed hallway for the rest of the dorms. People were everywhere. They moved like ants through the halls or hung out in the dugout common areas. Plants grew wherever there was extra room, some of them hanging from the ceiling. A tiny yōkai crawled along the ceiling and watered a hanging fern. A couple teenagers ran past, most likely late for a dojo session or training. One of them bumped into Odyn, and the small snapper scooted closer to Casey.

Yi held up the GPS to Casey again. He took a left at the nearest hub, heading toward the medbay. That was the direction the purple blip was going.

They had to dodge underneath a massive grey elephantine yōkai, and Casey pulled Yi toward him so she didn’t get crushed. She waved up at the yōkai, who waved a trunk back.

They rounded the corner to the medbay, arriving in time to see the massive shell of an alligator snapping turtle go through the medbay doors. Casey wondered for a second if maybe they should wait, just in case something had gone wrong but—

Yi dropped his hand and rushed for the door, shoving it open with all of her slight weight. Casey hurried after her, grabbing the door and holding it open. He almost bumped into Uncle Raph, who was carrying someone in his arms.

Uncle Donnie was at the front desk talking to the nurse on duty, but he bent down when Yi collided with his legs. She stared at him, her eyes latching onto a wound on his left arm. She huddled against his shoulder after he lifted her up with his right arm.

“I'm sorry I had to leave like that. I know that scared you."

“You’re hurt."

He nuzzled her. “Not badly.”

She hid her face in the crook of his neck as Casey stepped up beside Uncle Raph. Moja jumped down and leapt at Raph, grabbing onto his pant leg. “You okay?”

“How’s your arm?” Odyn asked.

“Where’s Sensei and Uncle Mikey and Aunt April?” Casey asked.

“I’m fine, my arm’s great, Leo, April and Mikey are getting some people situated at the entry base,” Raph said, patiently answering their questions.

“Who’s that?” Uno asked, eyeing the guy Uncle Raph was holding with suspicion and not letting go of Casey’s hoodie.

“Who are you is the actual question,” the hooved man said, ending in a cough. His orange gaze landed on Casey. Interesting eye patch. There was something familiar about him. “You I know. You’ve grown rather tall for your age in these conditions.”

Uncle Donnie walked back over to them, holding Yi. His expression was cold as he cut his eyes at the wounded man. “Don’t talk to the kids. Any of them.”

Casey backed up, sensing the tension that he hadn’t noticed at first as his uncle stepped in front of him.

“Donnie,” Raph started, “Maybe we don’t—”

“Let’s go, hooligans,” Donnie said to Casey and the other kids, “Todd’s probably having a minor meltdown since you all presumably ran away from him.” He held out his free hand to Moja, making it look like his injured arm actually didn’t hurt. “Mo.”

She reluctantly let go of Raph, who nudged her forward. “I’m all right, really.” His dull green and red metal prosthetic cyberarm did seem intact. “But Don, you have to get that burn looked at later.”

“Leo can wrap it up while you guys yell at me.” He herded the kids out of the medbay and back into the hectic hallway.

Casey touched his elbow. “Uncle Tello? Do I know that guy? The one Uncle Raph was carrying?”

“No. Not anymore.”

Casey sighed. And now his most blunt and up-front uncle was being mysterious.

Today was, without a doubt, a bad day.

Chapter Text

“Casey, you need more bandages. We got more, you can use more.”

“I think I know what I’m doing, Uno.”

“Nuh-uh…”

“I bringed the ouch stuff. That looks gross, it’s burned good. Nasty.”

“If it hurts lots, you can hold Cheech, Uncle Donnie.”

“I can actually handle this myself, it doesn’t have to be an event,” Donnie said, enduring the attention of his niece and nephews. “But thank you for the offer, Odyn, I'll take you up on it.”

“Here,” Odyn said, pushing the bear that had seen better days into his fingers.

Obliging, Donnie took the old stuffed bear from the little snapper and bopped it softly against the top of Yi’s head. She didn’t look up. Sitting beside Donnie on the floor, she watched Casey as he worked, her blue-gray storm eyes dark with concern. She often became quiet when she was worried or scared.

Casey took the antibacterial cream from Moja and popped open the top. Its flowery scent was edged with bitterness. It was a concoction that Donnie himself had created out of the few remaining manufactured meds they had left and the mystical plants growing in the Garden. A few herbalists from the Hidden City had brought healing plants with them. Soon the only medicine the base would have would be plant-based.

Once Donnie had gotten the kids back to the lair and after Todd had left (post a chorus of apologies), they had become very intent on peppering him with questions. They wanted to know what had happened, where everyone was, who were the new people, and who the “Pirate Guy” was. Draxum’s eye patch had caught their collective attention. Donnie was the lone adult in sight, he either had to field the questions or distract them from the fact he wasn’t answering them. He was certainly not in the mood to discuss the last object of their curiosity, so distraction was ideal.

Luckily (or unluckily), Casey had remembered Donnie’s burn and decided that it needed to be tended to before it got infected. He had recently gone through a first aid course with the rest of the nine and ten year olds in his class; therefore he was currently hyper aware of the danger. Leo had already taught him some minor first aid techniques, and Donnie didn’t see anything wrong with letting him practice. That had been before the younger kids had decided to jump in and eagerly assist.

“How’d you get burned?” Casey asked, gingerly dabbing the cream on Donnie’s wound. It would dull the pain later, but when it first went on...

Donnie kept his expression neutral, not showing how much it stung. “I was too close to a laser beam,” Donnie said. He felt Yi press her forehead against his shell. Damn, maybe he shouldn’t have said anything.

“You gotta be more carefuler,” Moja said, putting her hands on her hips, scolding him. She looked a great deal like Raph in that moment. “It’s all shiny. Gonna scar.”

“The cream will help with the scarring,” Casey said.

Uno peeked over Casey’s shoulder, his hands on Casey’s back. “Scars are cool. That’s gonna be awesome.”

Moja made a face at him. “Not when you get them!”

“We’re going to hope it doesn’t scar much,” Casey said. “It’s good it didn’t reach your tattoos.”

“How bad does it hurts?” Odyn asked, leaning against Donnie’s knee. He frowned. “You okay?”

“Cheech is helping,” Donnie said. He set the bear on his right side, where it flopped against his thigh.

“You didn’t say if it hurts,” Moja said.

“It don’t hurt, Uncle Donnie’s tough,” Uno said firmly.

“Yes, I am seemingly impervious to all pain,” Donnie said.

Uno nodded. “Yeah, see, Mo, he’s impearvis.”

“What’s impearis?” Odyn asked.

“It means he uses his brain powers to make it not hurt,” Uno said, acting like he knew what he was talking about.

Odyn’s head tilted to the side. “I don’t…nah…”

While the kids argued about what impervious or impearvis meant, Donnie glanced over at Yi. She had leaned back from his shell again. Instead, she had a tight grip on his cloak, like she was afraid he would disappear if she let go. He patted the empty space next to him on the rag rug, on his right side, away from Casey’s first aid practice session. “Yi, can you come over here?”

Hesitantly, she released her grip, but he could feel her hand trail across his cloak, never fully leaving as she moved to his other side. She sat down on his right, slipping between his arm and Cheech. Gently, Donnie tweaked one of the many braids of her mint mask’s tails. “How was class?”

She shrugged. Again, Donnie wondered if he should have kept his mouth shut. Mentioning class probably reminded Yi that he had dropped her off abruptly, after he had answered April’s SOS.

“Miss Robin read a book about cupcakes,” Moja said, speaking for Yi. She sat down in front of Yi and reached out to touch the backs of her sister’s hands. “Right? It was good!”

Yi looked down. “You said you wanna eat them.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I do,” Moja said, grinning at her. “All the cupcakes! Uncle Mikey, he says they taste like laughing.”

Yi almost smiled. “Nuh-uh. Laughing isn’t a taste.”

“He said so,” Moja said, “He knows stuff. And you never ate a cupcake, you don’t know what it tastes.”

“Not eaten a laugh, neither,” Yi said, so close to smiling.

Moja poked her hands again. “Bet you did, you laugh a lot.”

Casey tightened the bandage, and Donnie admired his work. It was a tad too tight, but Donnie could fix that later. It wasn’t like it was cutting off his circulation. The cream finally stopped stinging and instead helped ease the fiery ache of the burn. “Good job, Casey.”

“Sensei could do it better, but I guess it’s okay,” Casey said. He tucked the end of the bandage into one of the wrapped parts. “Can you move it?”

Donnie lifted his arm and picked up Yi, settling her on his lap. “Looks like it. And don’t sell yourself short, I meant it when I said you did a good job.”

Casey smiled. “Thanks.”

Yi immediately leaned against Donnie and held onto his right arm, hugging it. He could feel her heart beating hard against her plastron. He hugged her back, pulling her close.

“Hey, how come the yōkai guy that Uncle Raph was carrying didn’t have to go the entry base?” Casey asked as he wound the bundle of bandages back together. Uno had his hands in the family first aid kit, but Casey worked around him. “I thought everyone had to go to one of those first.”

There were three entry/quarantine bases that newcomers were funneled through before they were allowed into the main base. A system had been put in place to vet people before they were allowed into the main base since now there were so many people at risk and some people worked for the Kraang, hunting down and reporting bases like theirs in order to escape Krangification.

“He needed immediate medical attention,” Donnie said, frowning, “Because he’s an idiot.”

Donnie’s own endless stream of questions threatened to break through the compartment he had them trapped behind in his mind. He had far too many when it came to Draxum’s sudden reappearance.

“Don’t the bases have medbays?” Casey asked. His eyebrows raised. “Is he part of the Resistance? He knew me. And you know he’s an idiot.”

“Idiot’s a bad word,” Odie said, “We’re not ‘pose to call people it.”

“It’s not extra bad,” Uno said, shaking his head at Odyn. He smirked. “I know bad words, like damn, shit, hell—”

Donnie reached out and covered Uno’s mouth. “Uno, no one needs a demonstration. Plus, you know those words are off-limits for a few more years.” Personally he didn't really see the need to curtail the kids' speech but there were certain societal expectations, even in the apocalypse.

Uno nodded and tapped Donnie's hand until he pulled it away. “I was just telling Odie.”

“Idiot is too bad, Uncle Raph said so,” Odyn said. Both he and Moja frowned at Uno, daring him to disagree with something Raph had said.

"So is he an idiot in the Resistance or...?" Casey asked, determined.

"He used to be in the Resistance," Donnie said reluctantly. Maybe idiot was the wrong word. Careless, arrogant, obstinate, callous to what other people needed from him. No, Donnie still liked the word idiot for Draxum as well. He had trekked off into the decimated lands beyond New York City, leaving all of them behind, intent on trying to chase down leads about yōkai and other hidden locations, regardless of the fact that Donnie’s brothers had needed him, especially Mikey. If Draxum had been around, maybe—

“Why can’t he talk to us?” Yi asked, ganging up on him with Casey.

Because Donnie didn’t know what he would say to them. He doubted that Draxum had truly realized what was happening in the medbay when he had spotted Casey and the younger kids. There hadn’t been much time to assess his injuries, but he had sustained a major head injury and kept drifting in and out of consciousness. That was in addition to an abdominal wound, multiple lacerations, and a possibly broken leg, according to Leo. But he would live.

It had been years since he and his brothers and April had seen Draxum. Who knew what those years had done to him. Draxum had been traveling with humans and mutants and yōkai, but Donnie still remembered why he and his brothers had been created in the first place.

“Dee?” Yi said, looking up at him. “Why not?”

Donnie didn’t know that Draxum wouldn’t see in her and Uno and Odyn and Moja a second chance at raising the warriors he had originally wanted. And there was no way he was letting Draxum turn the kids into bloodthirsty war machines.

Donnie hugged her tighter, almost reassuring himself that she was safe, too. “Because I don’t trust him.”

Chapter Text

It was almost midnight by the time Leo trudged into the lair. He was the last one to get back. Saying it had been a long day didn’t even begin to touch exactly how exhausting it had been, but his mind was still bouncing around, unsettled. He wasn’t entirely surprised to find everyone in the main living area, everyone his age unwilling or unable to sleep and everyone younger not wanting to let the older ones out of sight.

He wished it didn’t have to be that way. That the kids didn’t have to deal with knowing any one of them might leave and not come back one day. Hell, Leo didn’t want to deal with that, watching his brothers and sister walk out of the base without knowing if they would return. But he’d spare the kids that same fear, if he could. But their lives didn’t allow for that.

The entrance slid shut and locked behind him. There were other, quicker exits out of the lair if a major attack happened at night. Locking the main entrance might have seemed excessive but…other Resistance cells, smaller ones, had learned the lesson of being too welcoming. He worried sometimes that they let in too many people, even with the entry bases screening newbies, but they couldn’t turn everyone away.

Or, at least, Leo didn’t think he would feel okay with that.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he looked around the room, looking for an empty comfortable place to collapse. The main pile seemed to be in the middle of the living room. Raph was laying on the rug, with April leaning against his side. Uno was asleep beside April, his head resting on a pillow laid against her leg.

Casey was on top of Raph’s shell, still awake but clearly exhausted. He lifted a hand to Leo in a silent hello but didn’t climb down. His rumpled dark hair was all over the place, the victim of a hectic day. Tucked into the crook of Raph’s left arm, Moja was conked out, head tilted back, her dark green mask shoved up onto her forehead.

He spotted Mikey’s foot propped up on the edge of the old salvaged rowboat masquerading as a pirate ship in the far corner of the room. Donnie and Mikey had found it and turned it into a playset for the brat pack and Casey half a year ago. It had a wheel made of upcycled wooden chair legs and a tire rim, a flag with the Mad Dogs logo, and a turtle as a figurehead. The crow’s nest (not very high up but it still existed) was one of Casey’s favorite places to hang out. If Mikey was in the boat and Odyn wasn’t visible, that meant the little snapper had probably crawled into the boat, too.

Raph waved a bit. “So?”

“He’ll live,” Leo said, noting Raph’s massive empty chair. He trudged over, set his swords against the wall, and dropped into the chair’s overstuffed cushion, disappearing into the lumpy mass. Multiple old mattresses had been destroyed to create it.

Donnie glanced at him from his normal spot on the bigger of the two couches, his hands busy with a Rubix cube. It looked like someone had bandaged up his arm; maybe Casey, judging by how neatly the bandage was tucked in. “That’s it? No other details?” The covered-up bundle of a worn-out fleece blanket tucked against his side had to be Yi.

“The kids are here,” Leo mumbled, wriggling his shoulders so he melted farther into the chair.

“It’s not a family meeting?” Casey asked.

“An unofficial one,” Leo said, “We might have to take this to a special committee.” Yes, it was a meeting, but maybe one the kids shouldn’t be a part of yet. Obviously they were going to have to explain a few things about Draxum. But what, exactly, were they going to tell them? There hadn’t been time for a catching up chat session while they were running for their lives from a Titan. Draxum had gone into surgery after that.

“Most of the munchkins are asleep,” April said, yawning. “All of them, maybe. Except Casey.”

“I’m still awake,” Casey added, just in case Leo couldn’t tell.

“Yi’s out,” Donnie said, “Uno and Moja are, too. Mikey?”

“Odyn’s asleep,” Mikey said. He sounded…emotionless? Not like himself. His foot retreated into the pirate ship.

“I can know stuff, I’m older,” Casey said firmly. He started to climb down from Raph’s shell, crossing over toward his left arm, where he could use his spikes as a short ladder. At the moment, Raph had his prosthetic right arm off, revealing the healed stump with its heavy scarring. It ended above the elbow. Leo still blamed himself, even if he hadn’t been there when it happened. Maybe if he had been—

April half-smiled, gently patting Uno’s shell as he shifted. “Yeah, nine is very old. So old.”

“It’s a lot older than five and four,” Casey declared stubbornly with the attitude of an exhausted kid who should’ve been in bed hours ago.

Donnie set down the Rubix cube on the coffee table. “He’s going to ask question anyways. We might as well let him stay for a little while.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Casey added. He jumped the rest of the way to the floor, landing silently on the rug, his stance solid. Training was paying off.

“He might as well know about Draxum,” Raph said. “He’s going to find out.”

Leo held up his hands. “Yeah, all right. Fine.” Even if he tried to disagree, Casey would never let it go now. Leo glanced at the boat, wondering if Mikey was on his side or everyone else’s. But there weren’t any comments from that direction. He rubbed his hands against his face and then dragged both palms down his cheeks. “Case, do you remember Draxum? Barry?”

Casey sat down on the couch that Donnie and Yi were on, choosing the empty side, close to Leo. He leaned against a pillow. “Maybe.”

“Aaand that’s a no,” Leo said, dropping his hands.

“He’s the guy from earlier, right?” Casey asked, looking at Raph and Donnie. “At the medbay, who can’t talk to us?”

“Huh?” Leo wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but Donnie made a sign to let the subject drop for now. Okay…but Leo did want to hear more about that later.

“But do you recognize him from when you were little?” Raph asked Casey, “Like really little.”

Casey nodded once. “Yeah.”

“Casey…” Leo was worn-out but not too wiped to be somewhat amused by Casey’s blatant fibbing. “Be honest.”

“I don’t know, I maybe sort of know him,” Casey said, shrugging, “He knew me, so I must know him. My brain’s just tired and can’t find the memory.”

“You were two when he left, I’d be surprised if you remembered him at all,” April said. She rested her head against Raph’s side.

“Why did he leave, anyways?” Casey asked. He grabbed a second smaller pillow and dragged it into his lap, subconsciously getting cozy.

“Great question.”

Leo glanced over at the pirate ship. Mikey’s disembodied voice had popped out of its hull, still emotionless. Oooh boy.

Out of all of them, Mikey had been the most affected when Draxum left and he had been the most hopeful that he would come back. But that hope had faded over the years into practically nothing. Because if Draxum could come back, he would have, right?

Raph sat up, Moja still flopped over his arm. She huffed as her head lolled to the side. Raph cleared his throat. “Uh, hey Mikey, you okay?”

“Ye-ep.”

Leo exchanged concerned looks with his other siblings.

“Do you want to come over here before we go any further or would you rather stay in the boat?” Donnie asked, turning toward the kiddie pirate ship. “There’s not a right or wrong answer.”

“I’m good here.”

Leo nodded slowly, his attention flicking back to Casey and then to the smaller turtle kids around the room. Some of them were good at pretending to be asleep. What details…not too many yet. “He left to go see if he could find somewhere safer for everyone or if there were larger groups of yōkai fighting back or preparing to fight.” Like a Hidden City that had been better hidden than the one under New York. Or an army of yōkai ready for a war. It didn’t look like he had been successful at finding either.

Casey hugged the pillow he was holding. “Is he a part of our family? Is that why we're family meeting-ing?”

“Yes,” April said.

“Barely now,” Donnie put in.

Leo made a face, silently agreeing with Donnie.

“We can’t kick him out of the family,” Raph said, his tone firm, “Even if we’re mad at him. We don’t do that.”

“Eh…he’s on family probation,” Leo said, then realized Casey didn’t understand based on his confused expression. “We’re going to talk to him and figure out where he’s been and what he’s been doing.” And why he was gone for so long with no contact and why he had crushed Donnie's tracker and-all the things.

“He’s old,” Casey said bluntly, but not with any insult behind it. Just facts. “He’s not another uncle or aunt, is he like a grandpa? Matteo has a grandpa.”

“Sort of?” Raph said at the same time Leo and Donnie both said in chorus, “No.”

“It’s complicated, but he technically is,” April said, earning her glares from Leo and Donnie.

“Don’t call him that,” Leo said to Casey. “Not yet, not now.”

“Draxum and the kids won’t be talking,” Donnie said, crossing his arms firmly.

Raph sighed. “Donnie, they can’t avoid each other forever, and we haven’t even figured out why—”

“I’m with Donnie,” Mikey’s voice came from the boat. “He shouldn’t talk to them. He doesn’t even like kids, he’ll be mean to them and call them spawn.”

“Did he call me spawn?” Casey asked, eyebrows raised.

Well, yeah, when he was a baby, but in an affectionate way—

All right, so they definitely all needed to talk sans kids and get on the same page, otherwise they were going to make life very difficult and confusing for the younger members of their family. Besides, they were all exhausted. Leo leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Anywho, Draxum came through surgery fine. He’s a mess, but he’ll heal.”

After he had gotten back from the entry base, Leo had hung around the medbay, helping where he was needed until Draxum got out of the O.R. He had a massive abdominal wound, a broken leg, a concussion, multiple lacerations, but yeah, sure, he would be fine. He was lucky they had completely trained medical staff these days. “He’ll be confined to the medbay for a while, so we don’t have to argue about who he does and doesn’t talk to for a while.”

“Good,” Donnie said. He glanced down at the blankets beside him. Yi was overly outgoing. She would walk up to absolutely anyone and talk to them or try to play with them or give them something she had made, little trinkets made of bits of tech scraps. Her lack of distrust drove Donnie crazy.

Casey was also sociable, finding it easy to make friends or acquaintances. He was a natural leader and people his own age tended to gravitate toward him while older people found him to be an energetic, usually polite if extremely honest and upfront kid.

If Draxum was around, one of them was bound to talk to him.

Moja, too, if she thought he posed a threat to her family; she would try to interrogate him. Odyn was shy while Uno avoided strangers, so they might not interact with him much, at least at first.

“Casey, I think we’re going to go into that special committee meeting I mentioned earlier,” Leo said with a yawn. “Which means bedtime because us olds have to talk.”

“Yeah,” Raph said, “Let’s do that. Meet back up in here.”

“Aw man, that’s not fair,” Casey grumbled even as he dropped the pillow back onto the couch. “What about Odyn and Uno?”

“Everyone under the age of thirty is going to bed,” April said, getting up, picking up Uno. He woke up and looked around blearily, his arms going around April’s neck.

“Where’s…” He spotted Leo and relaxed, probably realizing they were all back in the lair. He waved a hand at Leo, who waved back.

“Fiiiiine,” Casey said. "But I want to know more later."

Leo pulled Casey off the couch, giving him a half hug before adding on a guiding push toward the bedroom Case shared with Odyn and Uno. Yi and Moja had their own, tucked right beside the boys’ room. Leo detoured over to the pirate ship. He sat down on the side of it.

Mikey was laying at the bottom of the boat, one arm around Odyn, who was curled up against his side. Mikey’s eyes were half-lidded as he looked up at the ceiling, expression distant.

“Hey, Miguel.”

Mikey raised a hand but didn’t say anything. You could tell it was bad when Mikey wasn’t trying to fake a smile during a family crisis. Leo reached out and put his hand on his little brother’s shoulder. “When you want to rant about it, let me know.”

“Okay.” He sat up, maneuvering Odyn into his arms, careful of the spikes. Odyn was considerably less spiky than Raph, but it was still a feat to make sure you didn’t get jabbed. Climbing out of the boat, Mikey glanced up at Leo. The barest hint of concern hid in his gaze. “He really is going to be all right?”

“As far as anyone can tell,” Leo said, “He’s tough.”

“Yeah. I know.” Mikey nodded and headed toward the boys’ room, Odyn draped over his shoulder.

Leo sighed and rubbed his hands over his face again, feeling a headache coming on. Maybe he needed a snack. A snack and a massive, five-year-long nap. As a treat.

Chapter Text

Mikey was seriously considering throwing himself onto the pillow/blanket reading pile in the corner of the boys’ room and not leaving. He was lingering, not wanting to go join the special committee of grown-ups meeting or deal with any emotions besides his own chaotic ones right now.

Being the self-designated family therapist was a lot harder now than it had been when he was thirteen.

“Why’s everybody mad?” Odyn asked, peeking out from under the blanket Mikey had draped over him. He had woken up when Mikey had put him to bed. Casey was still awake too while Uno was conked out, halfway in his shell in the middle of his bed. Leo had tucked the two of them in and then headed back into the living room, thinking that Casey would go to sleep. “’cause Grandpa?”

Mikey glanced over to see Casey watching him from his hammock, curiosity in that dark brown gaze. He leaned over the side of the hammock. “Sensei said we’re not supposed to call him that. I thought you were asleep, Odie.”

“Sort of,” Odyn answered, “Everybody was talking so sometimes I wasn’t.”

Mikey sat down onto the edge of Odyn’s bed, which was a mattress on the floor since he had a bad habit of rolling out of bed. He should have noticed that Odyn wasn’t asleep, but he had had too many thoughts roiling around in his head. “We’re…” Not mad? But yeah, they were. He felt like a tangle of feelings, unable to tell where one started and another began. He didn’t know where to start working on the knot. “Look, don’t worry about it.”

“Can’t help it, gotta worry sometimes,” Odyn said.

That got a half-smile out of Mikey. “I know, little dude.” Reaching over, he pulled the blanket up over Odyn’s shell again.

Odyn picked at his pillow, which was a patchwork of old t-shirt material. “You’re mad, too.”

“You caught me.” Mikey sighed and sprawled next to Odyn, who nuzzled up against him. He looked up at the ceiling, where Donnie had stretched refurbished fairy lights when Odyn said he wanted a bigger nightlight. “I’m a lot of things right now.”

“Why?”

Mikey let out a whistling breath. “Can we talk about it in the morning? After we all get some sleep?”

“You guys aren’t going to sleep, you’re going to talk,” Casey said, his voice drifting out of the hammock.

“Hey, we’ll sleep eventually,” Mikey said, “Trust me, everybody’s tired. It's been a long day.”

Casey huffed and curled back into his hammock, probably a little grumpy that he was being excluded from the conversation. Even though he was older than the brat pack, he was still a kid. Sometimes he acted so mature, it was easy to think he was older than nine. When Mikey had been his age, he had been spending his days drawing and watching movies and playing video games and occasionally learning ninja stuff. Casey was learning survival skills and battle tactics and watching out for his younger siblings.

“Really, Case,” Mikey said, “We won’t be up much longer.” Probably just long enough for everyone to argue about what they would and wouldn’t tell the kids. “It’s going to be boring.”

“Yeah, okay,” Casey grumbled.

Mikey sighed. All right, fair. No one liked being left out or feeling like people were keeping secrets.

Odyn snuggled closer. “Uncle Mikey, can you get Cheech? I forgoted him.”

“Where is he?” Mikey asked, already getting up.

“Uhhh…” Odyn dropped his face into his pillow and then lifted back up again after a few moments. “The big couch?”

“Mhmm, okay.” Mikey stretched, one arm over his head. Going to sleep or at least laying in his own bed and staring up at the ceiling sounded so much better than rejoining the meeting. “I’ll be right back.”

“’kay,” Odyn said, yawning.

Mikey headed into the living room and went straight toward the larger of the two old couches. April and Leo were out there, both now on the smaller couch. April had changed into comfy shorts and a long-sleeve, and she was hugging a pillow while the two of them whispered at each other. Leo had his eyes closed, head leaned back against the couch, but he was still talking.

A teddy bear arm stuck out from under the couch like it was waving hello. Bending down, Mikey grabbed it. Over time, Cheech had become Odyn’s favorite stuffed animal. If he had been in a better frame of mind, Mikey would’ve remembered to grab the toy before putting Odie to bed. He knew that the kid couldn’t sleep without it. But his brain was all over the place.

Bear tucked under his arm, he went back toward the boys’ bedroom just as Raph and Donnie left the room that Moja and Yi shared. It looked like Raph had been successful in putting Mo to bed but Donnie—

“You can tell everyone goodnight then you have to go to bed,” Donnie told the blanket bundle in his arms.

Yi pushed down a corner of the blanket. She looked so sleepy but still determined as she rubbed the palm of one hand against her eyes. “One at a time.”

“Isn’t a general goodnight good enough?” Donnie said.

“No,” Yi said, shaking her head, “Need hugs.” An innocent expression stole onto her face. “Or I stay up? Part of committee?”

“I think not. As far as I'm aware, you're well under thirty.” Donnie took the corner of the blanket and tried to cover her back up even as she pushed against his hand, giggling.

“Are bedtime negotiations failing again, Dontron?” Leo asked, opening one eye.

“They’re in flux at the moment, but I’ll prevail,” Donnie replied, glancing at Leo as Yi wiggled partially out of the blanket. Donnie set her down, and she wobbled forward to latch onto Raph’s ankle, her coordination lacking thanks to sleepiness.

“Yeah, it’s totally going your way,” Leo mused.

“Don’t doubt the process,” Donnie retorted.

Yi chirped up at Raph, and he churred back before reaching down and picking her up. “You already gave me a hug, little bit.”

“Second hug, best hug,” Yi said, snuggling him.

As Yi made her rounds, Mikey took Cheech back to Odie. The little snapper was half-asleep, but he perked up when Mikey set the bear down beside him. Odie touched the bear’s foot. “Was he scared?”

“No, he knew where you were,” Mikey said. He made the bear pat Odie’s face. “Goodnight, little dude.”

“Niiiight,” Odie said, dragging Cheech over so he could flop across the bear.

Mikey glanced over at Uno, who was still fast asleep, then turned his attention to Casey. The nine-year-old was feigning sleep. Mikey crossed over to his hammock and rocked it gently. “Night, Casey.”

“Goodnight,” Casey said quietly.

With everyone basically settled, Mikey left, closing the door quietly behind him. He was just in time to see Yi running at him. She grabbed his leg and hid behind him as Donnie followed behind her, holding the blanket like a net.

“You’re going to bed and that’s final.”

“One more hug,” she protested, holding on to Mikey. “You said—”

“I said you could say goodnight! A single sweeping goodnight, but you’ve turned it into a production—”

She leaned out from behind Mikey. “I’m getting all the hugs.”

Donnie made a face and lowered the blanket, preparing to capture her. “You added that part on.”

Yi hid behind Mikey again. “I don’t need sleep. I can stay awake forever.”

Donnie made a frustrated noise. “Oh no you can not.”

Mikey reached his hand down. “Come here, munchkin,” he said, and she reluctantly emerged from behind his legs. He lifted her up and tapped her forehead. “Donnie’s not going anywhere,” he said softly, knowing why she was really reluctant to go to sleep. “I promise.”

“You can’t,” she said back, keeping her voice low though Donnie could still hear. “No promises. Doesn’t work.”

Out of her line of sight, Donnie’s formidable expression crumpled as he fully understood the point of Yi’s game. He blinked and looked away, one hand coming up to cover the bandages on his upper left arm.

Mikey hugged her. “I can’t promise he won’t ever leave, you’re right. But I promise as much as I can that he isn’t going anywhere while you sleep tonight.”

Yi pressed her hands to his cheek, squishing his face. “You’re not going neither, right? No one’s going?”

“We’re all staying here,” Mikey said, nodding, his face still trapped. “Okay?”

Yi let go. “Okay…” She twisted in his arms so she could look at Donnie. “You won’t leave? ‘Cause Uncle Mikey said so?”

“I—not tonight,” he said, taking her from Mikey. He held her close, half wrapping her in the blanket.

Yi waved her hand at the rest of her family as she cuddled against Donnie. “I’m sleep now,” she said before she gave a massive yawn and laid her head on Donnie’s shoulder. “Night.”

She got another round of goodnights from everyone before Donnie carried her off to bed. Mikey considered retreating to the pirate ship again but eventually went to the bigger couch. Grabbing a thin blanket off the back of the couch, he wrapped up and hunkered down.

Maybe he would use his once-upon-a-time youngest privilege too and fall asleep in the middle of the meeting. If he could get his thoughts to settle down, that is.

Chapter Text

Raph wanted to crash. They all needed to go to bed. But he guessed they also needed to go ahead and lay some ground rules and expectations for the next day, at least when it came to the kids. It was important that they were all on basically the same page. Sure, there were slightly different rules when it came to each of them, but this? Yeah, same page, very important. Planning ahead hadn’t been his forte when he was younger, but life had created a need for the skill.

He claimed the big armchair and sunk into it, leaning heavily on one arm. It was a monster of an armchair, reinforced but still comfortable. There was furniture for him and some of the bigger mutants and yōkai scattered around the base, and here at home, he fit in this chair and the bigger of the two couches.

Over on the smaller couch, April’s head landed on Leo’s shoulder while they waited for Donnie. “Thanks for coming to get me and Sunita, guys.”

“Eh, no problem. We sort of like you in one piece,” Leo said, nuzzling the top of her head with his cheek. “Well, I guess that’s relative for Sunita, the whole one piece thing. You know what I mean.”

“We’ll always come when you need us,” Raph said. He had quietly panicked a little when her SOS had come over the communication system. They had been so far away. If Leo hadn’t gotten back his short distance portaling ability, it could’ve ended up a lot worse.

“Yeah, and all of us will show up even when we’re not supposed to, apparently,” Leo said, cutting a frown at Raph.

Raph rolled his eyes. Like Leo would’ve done anything different. The stump where his right arm ended ached only a little worse than it did on a normal day. He hated that he was still technically in recovery, but there was no way that he would’ve sat there while April was in danger and his brothers went to get her. What if something had happened?

Speaking of something happening—

“Are we still yelling at Donnie tonight or we tabling that for later?” he asked.

“Oh, good deflection, nicely done,” Leo said.

“Still yelling,” Mikey said, finally speaking up, “Otherwise it’ll get lost in the oh-shit-Draxum-is-back stuff.”

Raph nodded slowly, the frown lines on his face deepening. It made sense to him that Mikey might feel all kinds of ways about Draxum being back. He was easily the closest of them to the guy, with April and Donnie being close seconds. Leo never had been overly fond of him even though he accepted him into the family. Raph, well…Barry had grown on him more after the apocalypse started.

“Can I veto the yelling?” Donnie asked as he stepped back into the main room. “How about I simply say sorry even though I don’t mean it and we all move on?”

“No,” Leo said firmly, “Idiot moves get shouted at.”

Donnie glowered. “Insert major gasp of indignation right here, that was not an idiot move. I was trying to get information that we desperately need.”

“By flying right at a Titan, smooth,” Raph said, tag-teaming with Leo. “And you got hurt.”

Donnie sat down on the other end of the big couch, leaving plenty of room if Mikey decided to sprawl out. “Minor injury.”

“One that Casey had to patch up,” Leo said.

“Dee, you could’ve been blasted to smithereens,” April said bluntly, lifting her head from Leo’s shoulder. “And I never would’ve forgiven myself.”

Donnie flung his hands up. “What? Why?”

“Because you wouldn’t have been out there if I hadn’t called you,” April said, making a face at him.

“No, it was my choice, and I knew what I was doing,” Donnie said, “Besides, I wouldn’t have—”

“Oh yeah, because you can predict everything,” Leo said.

“Like Draxum coming back,” Mikey said, “You saw that?”

Donnie’s mouth became a straight line. “All right, I missed that one in my calculations.” He grabbed a pillow and stuffed it behind his head. “I think that can be excused, though, seeing how we all thought he was dead.”

That declaration hung heavy in the air. Yeah, that was pretty much the truth of it, though. Draxum had left almost six years ago, back when Casey was about three. Back when Cass was still alive. Barry didn’t even know about that. “Well, he’s alive. We should be happy about that.”

“I’m not mad about him being alive,” Leo said, sinking further into the couch. “I’m mad that it’s been forever since he left and maybe he wasn’t even coming back here.”

“I’ll add that I’m still annoyed that he left in the first place,” Donnie put in. “It’s not like he was…” He gave the pillow an extra shove and leaned against it. “It could have possibly been useful to have him around.”

Raph wasn’t going to argue that point. Barry knew mystic stuff and he was a scientist and warrior. He was good with plants and knew medical stuff, especially when it came to  yōkai. For a couple years there, back when the Resistance was smaller, they had made due with just what Leo and Donnie knew when it came to medic stuff. And he would’ve been useful on patrols. “He said he was going to go find yōkai hideouts. Maybe he found one.”

“And it took him six years?” Mikey asked.

“Other things might have happened,” April said, “Leo mentioned he was banged up.”

“Banged up, missing an eye, same thing,” Leo said, letting out a breath that showed he was actually a little concerned about it. “On top of the concussion and that hole in his shoulder and the broken right arm, he was bleeding internally. And he had older scars. Plenty of them.”

“Like what?” Mikey asked.

“Burn scars, cuts, might’ve been speared in the side sometime,” Leo said, listing them off, “I’d say he probably walks with a limp, his left leg…it was mangled in the past but it’s healed now.”

“We don’t know what he’s been through,” Raph said.

“If he’d been here, like he should have been, this wouldn’t be an issue,” Donnie said, waving one hand in the air.

“Okay, well, we’re going to have to move past that,” April said, “Barry’s back, and he’s part of this family.” She nudged Leo in the side, getting a grumble that might have passed as agreement from him. “So. We have to tell him what’s happened.”

“That’s a lot,” Leo said, his expression darkening.

“He knows the brat pack exists,” Raph said, starting with something sort of easy. “He saw them in the medbay.”

“He was nearly unconscious, he might not remember that,” Donnie said. He tucked his feet under the edge of Mikey’s blanket. “He recognized Casey, but again, he might not remember any of it. That could be for the best.”

“Are you suggesting we just don’t tell him we added four new turtle kids?” April asked, her eyebrow raised.

“I’ll remind you this is the same person who created us to be weapons of mass destruction,” Donnie said, “And now there are four new turtles—”

“You really think he went back to thinking like that?” Mikey sounded almost hurt. It was the most emotion he had let into his voice since they had returned from the mission. “Allll the way back?”

Donnie shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m not willing to chance it until we know more about his mindset.”

“You found him with a bunch of humans and yōkai,” April said, “I don’t think he’s going to want to turn them into human-destroying machines, Donnie.”

“Not human-destroying,” Donnie said, “But still weapons of mass destruction.”

“I get what Donnie’s saying,” Leo said slowly, “Draxum wanted us to take out a threat. The new threat is the Kraang. So Donnie’s worried he’ll train the kids to be Kraang assassins, right?”

“Succinctly, yes,” Donnie said, making a face. “I know we have to train them to fight and survive, but that’s different than how Draxum would train them.”

"Fighting back versus mindless weapons," Leo said.

Donnie nodded. "That."

“I don’t…” Mikey sucked in a breath. “He was supposed to have changed.”

“I think he did,” April said gently, “Donnie and Leo are catastrophizing.”

Donnie rolled his eyes. “I am not.”

“Hey, ditto,” Leo said, shrugging. “I’m hoping I’m wrong. But I’m going to make decisions like I’m right.”

Raph sighed. “We can’t not tell him. He’s going to find out. They’re around.” He gestured to the lair, which was full of signs that more than one kid lived there. Casey was nine now. The toddler that Draxum had left behind was a formidable fighter in training who was such a bright spot in their lives. He was kind and good-hearted, adaptable and so smart. Draxum had missed so much of watching him grow up, and Case really had grown up too fast. Most of the time he acted like a little adult. Raph wished Case and the tots could all have the childhood they deserved but…there was only so much they could do.

“The munchkins already know about him,” April said, “And they’re definitely not forgetting.”

“Don’t remind me,” Donnie said, “Yi’s going to ask six million questions tomorrow.”

“Uno, too,” Leo said with a huff. The eldest of the brat pack would want to assess the potential danger. “We have to tell them something.”

“Odyn was listening,” Mikey said, “He was pretending to be asleep. So don’t be surprised if you hear the squirts call him Grandpa.”

“Nooo-ooo,” Leo whined.

Donnie flopped his head harder back against the pillow. “They should at least have to call him Old Man.”

“They know sort of how we were made,” Raph said, “We just never told them who did it.”

“The whole truth is too much,” Leo said. “Let’s just…” He made a frustrated sound and rubbed his hands over his face. “Draxum is officially the Scientist from the story, but they don’t need to call him Grandpa. They can call him Draxum.”

“Or Barry,” April said.

“Draxum is good,” Leo said, “And he’s a hurt yōkai that we knew before. And he sort of knows Casey.”

“And we tell Barry about them,” Raph said. “I don’t think he’s going to forget what he saw, Donnie.” He held up a finger. “And someone else might mention them anyways.”

Donnie ground the back of his head against the pillow and signed, “Fine,” before speaking. “But he doesn’t meet them until he’s out of the medbay and we figure out what he’s like now. And Leo and I decide when he gets out.”

“So he’s on lockdown?” Mikey asked.

“Yeah, medical lockdown,” Leo said, “It was going to happen anyways. It’s going to be a while before he’s healed.”

“I should go down there,” Raph said, “One of us should be with him.”

“He’s out of it,” Leo said.

“And Mikey told Yi we wouldn’t leave,” Donnie said.

Raph hesitated. Yeah, that was true, but…Barry was still their sort-of dad. And they didn’t let each other stay in the medbay alone. Someone always slept over so that whoever was injured wasn’t all by their lonesome. Sometimes even the kids would stay, too. When Raph had woken up after that bad mission not too long ago, everyone had been camping in the room for days. Leo had that Moja had refused to leave and had eaten and slept in there since Raph had gotten back. No one could say she lacked determination.

“All right,” he said reluctantly, “But I’m visiting tomorrow, for whoever wants to go with me. I’ll tell him about everything. Including Cass.”

The heavy silence that curled into the lair hung between them. They talked about Cass sometimes, to keep her memory alive for Casey and to tell the little ones about her. But they didn’t talk about how she died. Raph never talked about it.

“Count me in,” April said.

“We’ll go with you,” Leo said, “All of us.” He glanced at Donnie and Mikey, both of whom nodded.

“Can we sleep in here?” Mikey asked, sounding younger than he usually did.

“Turtle pile?” Leo asked.

“Turtle pile,” Mikey echoed.

Leo stretched and then slid off the couch onto the rag rug in the middle of the room, next to the coffee table. “Assemble.”

“I have things to work on—”

“Donnie, don’t you start,” April said. She got up, marched over, and grabbed both his arms. “Up, let’s go.”

Slowly, they all curled up, pillows and blankets joining the mix. Raph laid right on the rug and Mikey snuggled down on top of his shell while April, Donnie, and Leo arranged themselves around him. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend he was a kid again, back in the old lair, and this was just the end of a fun sleepover instead of a family meeting.

Just as he was drifting off, Raph was vaguely aware of something warm and snuggly rooting under his left arm. Moja butted up against his jaw, making little tired noises. He adjusted his arm, making space for her, and she flopped into the circle, her hand resting on his cheek. “Why’re you up,” he rumbled.

“I’m not,” Moja said. She patted his cheek roughly. “Don’t forget Yi.”

Something Yi-shaped nudged his arm. He lifted his elbow, creating an arch. Yi crawled under his arm, dragging her blanket behind her. Her eyes were only opened into sleepy blue slits.

Raph sighed, too tired to move. Plus, he was surrounded. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”

“Mhmm.” Yi plopped down next to Moja and snuggled in between her sister and Raph’s shoulder. With a lazy flick of her wrist, she threw her blanket across Mo. A corner of it landed on Raph’s face. Pushing it off, he pulled his arm in closer, bringing them in as he rested his head on top of his hand. Mo nuzzled him and then settled down, her breathing quickly evening out and joining in Yi’s little snores.

At ease, Raph relaxed, his head bumping against the girls. Even with everything bouncing around in his brain and needing attention, it only took him seconds to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Breakfast wasn’t really a thing in the Resistance, at least not if you thought it should be a full meal. Everyone either went or sent someone from their family unit to go grab nutrition bars from the cafeteria. Caf workers kept track of who took what and if someone was taking more than their share. Supplies were tight. Gentry, still acting as quartermaster, kept a close eye on what they did and didn’t have, and anyone sneaking extras had to face her wrath.

The breakfast bars were made with condensed plants from the Garden and were meant more to get people going and tide everyone over until lunch, which was the biggest meal of the day. They weren’t tasty. What few spices the Resistance had left were devoted to lunch and dinner. People had nicknamed the breakfast bars "bunny bars" because their super veggie taste made people think of rabbit food. Mikey had tried to rebrand them a dozen times, but nothing stuck.

Sometimes there was coffee for the working adults (a very scant amount remained), and every now and then someone would find powder drink packets that had been somehow preserved. Even stale, most of those were edible and it was a good treat for the kids. If there was ever the chance for it, seeds for fruit trees and berry bushes were stored away for the hope of a better future. Or even a better base that could actually house that sort of thing…

Leo had volunteered to go get the breakfast bars the morning after the Draxum Incident. Moja and Uno had tagged along. And like Leo had expected—

“But why’s he got hoofs? And where did he come from? And how did he get a missing eye? Is Uncle Tello going to make him a new eye? And is he in the medbay or the brig, and, and, yeah?”

“You should try breathing in-between questions, mijo,” Leo said as Uno inhaled, his light grey eyes wide.

“No, I have to ask them before I forget, there’s a lot,” Uno said, shaking his head, dark grey bandanna tails flapping about. He wore a bandanna around the top of his head like Leo used to when he was that age. “Why aren’t you answering them?”

“I can’t keep up,” Leo said, “Which one do you want me to answer first?”

“Is he a bad guy?” Moja asked. She was riding on Leo’s shoulders, her arms wrapped around his head, which made looking around nearly impossible. At least she wasn’t covering his eyes.

“Eh.”

Moja’s grip tightened, forcing Leo’s eyes to open wider. A couple people passing by smirked. Mo tapped his forehead. “He’s bad?!”

“I didn’t say anything, I made the ‘eh’ sound,” Leo protested.

“That means you think he’s bad,” Uno said, jumping to the same conclusion. “How bad, why?”

“Evil bad?” Mo demanded.

“Not evil bad,” Leo said, “Look, there’s the line.” He spotted the open cafeteria doors ahead and sped up, forcing Uno to pick up his pace. They joined the line that snaked around the cafeteria tables. Breakfast was the more chaotic meal out of the day since most people showed up around the same time. While they all lived underground, the Resistance tried to stay on a normal schedule regarding the day. That meant some people pulled night shifts.

Uno tugged on Leo’s pants leg. “Tell us more about the goat.”

“Sheep,” Leo corrected. He affectionately nudged Uno with his knee. “Why don’t you two go play over there?” In the corner of the cafeteria, there was an area where Resistance kids often played while their adults hung around and talked. Used to the caf was the main gathering place in the Resistance, but over the last year, the Park had opened up and become popular. It was the tunneled out cavern down where their waterworks were set up. Hardier nonedible plants grew under solar panels and there was a basketball goal and random tables and chairs down there, plus a few arcade games and gaming systems that Donnie had gotten to work.

Uno frowned. “Tell us stuff first.”

“Yeah, about the bad goat,” Moja said, patting his head. “Uncle Leo, you hafta tell us.”

Uno bumped into his leg. “Are all goats bad?”

“He’s a sheep!” Leo declared louder than he meant to. The human woman in front of him glanced over her shoulder at him and then quickly looked ahead, her shoulders lifting. Leo knew she was a newer refugee. He tried not to hold her half-veiled disgust against her. It was hard.

“You two don’t have to worry about him, okay, so chill,” Leo said, quieter this time. “And I’ll explain more when we get home. And he’s not like some super villain.”

“What’s his name again?” Mo asked, leaning against his head.

“Draxum.”

She made a disgruntled noise. “That’s a bad guy name.”

Leo shrugged, jostling her. “You’ve got me there.” He reached down and drummed his fingers on top of Uno’s forehead. “You sure you don’t want to go play? This line’s long.” And getting longer every week.

“I guess. Mo, you coming?”

“Yep. We can figure out how to get the goat gone.”

Leo lifted her off his shoulders and set her on the ground beside Uno. He started to bend down to tighten the bow on her mask that Raph had tied, but she took off, grabbing Uno’s hand and rushing off toward the play area. The woman in front of him jumped as they ran past.

“Kids,” Leo said in that movie/TV chagrined tone. "I wish I had that energy."

The woman gave him an uneasy look. He saw her lip curl before she turned her attention forward. Never mind, he didn’t like her, no qualms about it.

A hand clapped Leo on the shell. “Hey, man, glad to see you made it back again. Heard it was crazy this time.”

Behind him, Dale O’Brien had joined the line. April’s former classmate was a squad leader and had more Genius Built bio-hardware installed than anyone else. Prosthetic right leg, left arm, left eye, and part of his bald head was metallic. Half of the base had forgotten his real name and referred to him as the Terminator. Donnie was proud of his work.  

“Hey,” Leo said, offering an early morning still-tired smile. “Yeah, it was wild.”

“And you found Barry, that’s insane. Haven’t seen that guy in what, seven years?”

Leo wasn’t surprised Dale knew. The base was overflowing with people, and the gossip train ran at maglev speed. “Six,” Leo said, “And insane is an understatement.”

Dale nodded. “So, is he going to be working in the cafeteria once he’s all better? Because I sort of miss his cooking.”

Leo stepped forward as the line moved. “Don’t let Mikey hear you say that.” His youngest brother was still in charge of the kitchen and its menu.

“I like what the caf makes, but I got used to Barry’s cooking back in high school,” Dale said with a shrug, “Even if he almost literally killed me a couple times for not recycling.”

“Oh, right, he was awesome like that,” Leo said, sarcasm bouncing through his words. “Gotta love murderous mystic cafeteria workers.”

The woman ahead of him tensed. Ah, an eavesdropper. Now, revert to being a little shit or resume his current reputation as a responsible adult… “You know, Dale, the cafeteria might be the best place for him after he recovers, now that you mention it. He only broke a few high schoolers' bones back in his day.”

“Jeffrey wasn’t in that full body cast very long,” Dale said.

“Exactly, good point. And there was the psychotic sloppy joe monster he created, but we can look past that.”

The woman shivered. Leo smiled. Okay, okay, back to the responsible adult leader stuff.

“How’s Falcon Squad?” he asked Dale, “New members working out okay?”

Dale nodded and proceeded to launch into a discussion about his beloved squad. His squad often infiltrated labor camps to start revolution and begin rescue missions. There were a lot of people currently in the base who owed Dale’s squad a lot of thanks. It was extremely dangerous. Dale had the birthdays of former squad members who had been killed in action tattooed on his bald head. His head was covered in tattoos, except for the metal part.

When Leo reached the front of the line, he gave a quick whistle. As the cafeteria worker handed over the bunny bars, he tucked them into the bag he had brought. Uno and Moja appeared at his side. Moja’s dark green mask had come completely undone, so she was wearing it around her neck like a scarf.

“I can carry the bag,” Uno said, holding up his hands. “I can help.”

“No you can’t, it’s too heavy,” Moja said then noticed who was also in line. “Hi, Mr. Terminator.”

“Hi, Ms. Mighty Mo,” Dale said, nodding to her as he got his own bar, “How’s training going?”

“No good, nobody won’t let me have a knife,” Moja said, frowning. She cast that frown in Leo’s direction.

“I wonder why?” Leo moved away from the line and lowered the bag slowly into Uno’s arms. He staggered but gathered the bag close.

“I won’t stab people,” Moja said. “Not good people. A little knife?”

“Nope, I don’t need a part of the population getting infected from slices to the calf.”

“Knives are cool, I need one.”

“Dale, we’ll see you around,” Leo said, giving him a salute.

“Later, Leo!”

Leo and the munchkins headed back into the hall which was even busier now. The halls were packed with people heading to the caf or duty stations or back to their homes. He stayed to the far right, making space, but he was a big guy. Taking up room was inevitable. Most people knew him, and a good amount had something they wanted to talk to him about. This was why Donnie should always get breakfast. A lot of people wouldn’t bother Don because he just wouldn’t talk back to them unless he felt like it. Leo wished he could get away with that.

Having the kids was a good deterrent though. Leo picked up Uno and Moja, wrapping an arm around their middles to pin them to his plastron.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said to a person who tried to stop him, “Gotta feed the kids. And Mikey, his blood sugar is low.”

The person balked and went on. Success.

Uno glared up at him. “Put me down, Sensei.”

“There are too many people,” Leo muttered back, “I need a shield.”

Mo perked up. “Give me a knife—”

“You said you wouldn’t stab people.”

“Annoying people are different.”

“You make good points, even if they’re morally grey,” Leo said.

Moja cocked her head to the side. “Huh?”

“No knife, Momo.”

Mo crossed her arms over his and pouted. Making a decision, Leo took a right turn, heading away from the straight path back to the lair. Both kids looked up at him.

“Where’re we going?” Uno asked.

“We’re stopping by the medbay.” Donnie could get the same information by checking data files, but Leo felt like popping in for a second to check for himself.

“To stop the sheep man,” Mo said.

“You’re hung up on that, aren’t you?” Leo asked. “We’re going to ask how he’s doing, nothing else.”

He entered the medbay, tots and breakfast secured. Now he could go back to the lair with information before Donnie. That was always a bonus.

“Good morning, Master Leonardo,” the cat yōkai at the desk said as he approached.

Leo smiled. “Hi, Raelle, how’s it going?”

“I don’t want to jinx anything, but it’s been calm so far, which we needed after yesterday. You’re not on the schedule today—”

Uno slapped his hands down on the desk. “We’re here to see the goat sheep!”

“Excuse him,” Leo said, putting Uno and Mo down on the floor with a look that said ‘stay put or else,’ “He’s a morning person. But I did want an update how Draxum was doing.”

An expression of disdain settled onto her face. She was his and Donnie’s age but had only joined the Resistance a couple years ago, so she probably thought of Draxum as a wanted man in the Hidden City. An exiled criminal  yōkai. Maybe Mo had a point with the whole evil guy thing. “Still unconscious, but he’s breathing on his own,” she said succinctly. “Dr. Monroe thinks it’ll be another day or two before he wakes up. Are you sure you don’t want us to use restraints?”

“No,” Leo said with a touch of hesitancy. “One of us will be down here soon to sit with him.” Which meant someone would be keeping an eye on him, therefore hopefully putting people at ease.

She visibly relaxed. “I think that would be for the best if you’re forgoing restraints.”

“For now,” he said, giving her a thumbs up. “Look, I’ll be back later.”

As they started to leave, Uno ran around the edge of the desk and pointed at Raelle. “Make sure he doesn’t escape! Tackle him!”

“Oh, um—”

“Yeah!” Mo joined in and then grabbed Leo’s leg. “Did you get her a knife?”

“Or a sword?” Uno asked.

Mo snorted. “That’s a long long knife.”

“Wow, no, no it’s not. Move it, you over-energized mini attack turtles,” Leo said, jerking his thumb toward the medbay doors.

They eventually made it back to the lair, navigating the morning foot traffic. An episode of an old cartoon was playing on the projector Donnie had fixed, and Odyn and Raph were watching it while Raph did the adjustment movements for his prosthetic arm. April was putting on her boots while Mikey drew in a well-worn and mostly full sketch pad at the table. Over on the bigger of the couches, Casey was drumming bongo-style on Yi’s shell while the youngest laid across his lap, head buried under a pillow. Donnie was nowhere in sight.

“Breakfast!” Leo called as Uno and Moja rushed into the lair.

“Finally,” Odyn said, climbing off Raph’s knee. The biggest of the kids, he had the fastest metabolism as well.

Casey picked up Yi. She disappeared fully inside her shell and closed up the hatches, box turtle style. Casey tucked her under his arm and moved toward the table, where Leo dumped out their bunny bars. He held one out to Casey. “How’d you sleep, bud?”

“Okay,” Casey said, taking the bad and getting a second. “Uncle Mikey said the meeting was boring.”

“You didn’t miss anything,” Leo said. “Mike, you hungry?”

Mikey darted out a hand and grabbed a bar like a hippo from the Hungry Hungry Hippo game, yanking it back toward him. That was a yes…

Three of the bars were for Raph. Most of the caf workers had a soft spot for him, and he would need the extra calories and energy. That didn’t mean he always took them. Most of the time, Raph saved one or two of the bars for Odyn or Casey or someone else in his family or anyone that looked hungry in the halls. He would pretend they were accidental extras that had gotten into the bag. It didn’t matter how many times he was fussed at by someone, he still did it.

“Where’s—”

“He lived through the night,” Donnie said, stepping into the main family room.

Leo knew immediately who he was talking about and leapt into the discussion with his own info, beating Donnie to it. “Yeah, Monroe thinks Draxum will wake up in a couple days, and I told the medbay we would take shifts to keep an eye on him.”

Donnie lifted his tablet. “Well, these readings—”

“He’s breathing on his own and seems in the clear,” Leo said, making up that last bit, his tone smug. Oh, it did feel good to beat Donnie at his own game sometimes.

“We’ll come up with a schedule,” Raph said.

“Put me on it,” Casey said.

“You have school,” Donnie said. He crossed over to the table, still glaring at Leo. He snatched a bar from the table and held out his free hand to Casey. Case set his and Yi’s bars on the table and then handed over Yi. Donnie set the closed shell on the table and sat down in front of her. “Besides, you’re not allowed to be in the medbay unaccompanied.”

“Okay, I’ll go with one of you,” Casey said, “After school. Or I don’t really have to go—”

“School is your most important job,” Donnie said firmly, “You’ve got to go.” He rapped his knuckles on Yi’s shell. “Awaken, oh tiny one who hates mornings, and join your family for the morning meal.”

Yi’s shell popped open. She stuck out one yellow-striped arm. Her hand slowly moved around, tapping, searching. Donnie moved the bar within her reach. Her fingers hit the end of the bar and she started to drag it back into her shell. Donnie held it in place with one finger.

“I’ll go, but I’m going to the medbay, too,” Casey said.

“I wanna go,” Uno said, popping up next to Casey. “With CJ.”

“April?” Leo lifted up a breakfast bar and waved it at her before throwing it her way.

“Casey can go with Leo after school,” April said, “But you four, you’re going to have to wait.”

“That’s not fair,” Moja said, and Uno nodded in agreement.

“’Kay,” Odyn said. He was busy munching on a bar under the table.

Yi emerged fully from her shell. She looked at April and then at Donnie, the sleepiness fading.

Donnie picked up the bar and gently bopped her beak with it. “Please don’t get that look in your eyes.”

“Not got a look, Dee,” she said. She held out her hands. He gave her the bar and watched her as she munched it in an overly thoughtful way. Donnie squeezed her foot, pulling her out of her planning.

“You have a very particular look.”

She shook her head as she nibbled. “Mh-nmm.”

“School first, no medbay for the squirts, and we’ll figure out everything else as we go,” Leo said to Casey before addressing the whole family. “Everyone good with that?” There were a bunch of mumbled agreements and some very vocal disagreements. Whoever said a group needed to reach consensus didn’t have a group with kids in it. Leo broke off a hunk of a bar and shoved it into his mouth. “That’s what I thought.”