Chapter Text
The moon illuminated through the clouds, trying to break free and cast its glow over the inky black sky, but to no success. Not that New York City needed any light to begin with. Even during the late hours, the lights from the buildings, streetlamps, and billboard advertisements combined could be seen from miles away. It’s the city that never sleeps, after all. Yet, with all the luminescence New York provided, shadows littered every corner, between buildings, and under canopies—these were places the turtles tended to blend in.
Four shadows darted across the building’s rooftops, their padded footfalls unnoticed by the crowds of people below, their perception ruined by the musical advertisements, chatter, and car horns blaring. They remained quiet as they traversed the town's east side, stopping at a remote warehouse near the docks.
“This better be the right one, brainiac,” Raphael huffed, crouching down to catch a breath. “If we ran all the way to the east side-a-town for nothin’, I’m gonna—”
The brother he referred to—Donatello—narrowed his eyes. “No, Raph, I thought a ten-mile run through New York would be exhilarating. Of course, it’s right.”
“Looks like we beat the Foot here,” Leonardo observed as he surveyed the area cautiously.
Michelangelo clung to his shoulders, looking around with him. “What are those dudes stealing again? It better not be video games. That’d be so uncool. Then again, it's not cool to steal anything—but especially video games!”
“For the hundredth time, we don’t know!” Raph groaned.
“And why would they be stealing video games, of all things?” Donnie piped in.
Mikey poked his fingers together, looking at the cloudy sky. “Hey, dude, even bad guys get bored. I’ll bet they compete against other ninja clans between evil plots to pass the time.”
“We’re getting off-topic,” Leo reminded, silencing his brothers. “Whatever they’re stealing, we’ll be here to stop them. We need to get inside and hide before they get here.”
“I saw a window on the right side. Come on.” Donnie gestured, and Leo led the three over to it, silently pushing it open and placing a finger to his mouth as he allowed his brothers to slip inside. He was the last to hop in, landing gracefully like a cat and taking in the dark building.
“It’s kind of creepy in here, yo,” Mikey whispered, his voice getting caught in his throat as he trembled. He didn’t like the encompassing darkness that intimidated him. That, and the inkling that something wasn’t right. Maybe all the horror films he’d watched ruined his way of thinking about any vacant, dark space, but he’d never felt like this during a mission before. Leo gave him a wordless order to be silent by squeezing his shoulder, and Mikey wondered if he felt the same way. Then again, he was always paranoid.
“Are you scared, Mikey?” Raph teased in a baby tone, nudging the youngest’s shoulder.
“Guys,” Leo hissed quietly.
Mikey flinched at his eldest brother’s tone, but at the same time, he couldn’t let Raph’s question be brushed aside. Under no circumstance would he let Raph think he was a baby.
“I’m not scared. It’s just a little too dark in here for my liking,” he whispered back with attitude.
Leo grabbed Raph and Mikey’s shoulders each. “I said to be—”
But his aggravated whisper was interrupted by a gravelly voice that boomed across the vast room, shredding all silence and causing Mikey and his brothers to stand stiff.
“Will this help?”
Sudden light blinded the turtles, forcing Mikey to blink back the quick sting in his blue eyes. When they adjusted, he took in the many ninjas now surrounding them. They clambered off the shelves like spiders and appeared ominously from behind shipping crates. There had to be about sixty of them, but then again, Mikey was never good at estimation.—that was Donnie’s field. Emerging from the crowd of black was a seven-foot-tall zombified wolf with piercing yellow orbs for eyes, and Mikey knew him all too well. It was Chris Bradford, but in his new mutant form, he had recently dubbed him Rahzar. He could tell it was him who had previously spoken.
The turtles hardly had time to brandish their weapons before the ninja army advanced on them, the element of surprise on their side as they landed the first punch. Mikey found it impossible to concentrate at first; the chaos that ensued in a matter of seconds swelled his brain with confusion as he was struck in the face by a Foot Clan member. Once he got his bearings, he placed his hands on the shoulders of the ninja and flipped over him, rearing a nunchuck back as he landed and striking him in the head. He faced the next two that approached him, jumping and cutting his arms down in an X-motion to thwack each in the head with his weapons, their heads colliding with the other and falling at his feet. He sensed another at his right and instinctively kicked him in the stomach, driving him into Raphael’s awaiting punch.
“You turtles aren’t hard to predict. We knew you’ve been spying on us,” Rahzar said. He ran up to Raph and Mikey, attempting to swat at them with his massive paw. The brothers jumped in separate directions, ready to strike. “You may be trained under Hamato Yoshi, but you are ignorant children by the end of the day.”
What started as a growl became a battle cry as Raph lunged for the mutant wolf, blindly attacking through the rage he found hard to control. He attempted to jab at the mutant, but Rahzar backed away from every attack with a bony sneer. As Mikey prepared to aid his brother, a ninja kicked his shell from behind, taking his attention away from the scene. He performed a backflip handspring and slung his kusarigama around the ninja’s torso before flinging the body at a group that advanced on Leo.
When Mikey turned back at Raph, he felt a yell get caught in his throat. His angered brother had stepped forward to strike the mutant, but Rahzar stepped to the side, throwing down a skeletal paw and slicing Raph’s leg with his claws. The red-banded turtle stumbled forward with a pained cry, alerting the rest of his brothers. Mikey halted another strike from the mutant with his kusarigama tightly wrapped around his paw, tugging it back with all his strength.
“Down, boy! No treats for you!” Mikey mocked.
Rahzar countered by tugging the chain and effortlessly pulling the smaller mutant into his grasp. His bony jaw snapped at his head twice, and Mikey craned his neck side to side at each bite attack. At just the right moment, he sliced at the wolf’s face with the kusarigama blade. Rahzar whimpered like a dog, loosening his grip so Mikey could slide out. Once his feet touched down, he spotted Donnie helping Raph off the ground and quickly examining the injured leg while Leo covered him. With a grimace, he looked at Leo and concerningly shook his head.
That was all Leo needed. He flung a shuriken at the controls to the nearest garage door, sputtering sparks and forcing it to open slowly. “Retreat!”
Donnie helped Raph to the exit, hobbling with fresh blood trailing behind them. The red-banded turtle winced with every step, clinging to the other as if his life depended on it—which was truthfully the case. As Mikey went to follow them, he felt something grab the scruff of his shell and hoist him up.
“I’m not done with you,” Rahzar growled deeply before throwing him to the floor.
Mikey rolled on his shell just in time to witness Rahzar lunge at him with bared teeth, but a flash of blue stopped him. Leo kicked the mutant back, landing in front of Mikey and bracing his katanas for the next thing to approach him.
“Go on, Mikey, I’m right behind you,” Leo encouraged.
The youngest nodded and sprinted after his other brothers. He was confident in the blue-clad turtle’s words. No matter what, Leo always made it out; he always found a way. He could hear the fight that roared behind him, but he didn’t dare look back once he approached Raph and Donnie. They had just crossed the garage door exit. Mikey tried not to eye the gaping wound decorating Raph’s leg, but it was hard not to as the blood shined even under the cloudy night sky.
Behind them, the garage door’s controls glitched yet again, and this time, it whirred as it slowly descended closed. Something warned Mikey to turn around, now afraid Leo wouldn’t make it before it closed all the way, but that seemed to be the least of his worries once he found his eldest brother surrounded by the Foot and fighting for his life. He didn’t know how it happened so quickly, but he was partially disarmed and frantically fighting off the ninjas around him with his remaining katana. The door was halfway closed—he wasn’t going to make it.
Instinct told Mikey to rush in and help, and he acted as quickly as the thought came. He darted back toward the door, Donnie and Raph realizing what he was doing too late. They begged for him to come back, but he had already crossed the threshold, sliding under the garage door before it malfunctioned and shut for good.
Mikey got to his feet and prepared his weapons for the fight ahead, but fear grasped his heart and made him go still at the sight of Leo getting forcefully knocked to the ground unconscious. He shouted his brother’s name, his body ready to run into battle before the back of his skull erupted with pain at the first step. He crumpled like a house of cards, and before darkness shrouded his vision, two skeletal feet walked up to him, one of which collided with his face to finish the job.