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Chapter Text

Insomnia was never fun.  It pulled at Leo’s senses and kept him tossing and turning, giving up and surrendering was inevitable.  Which is why Leo’s nightly process involved coffee at 2 am.  And okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best thing to consume if he was struggling to sleep.  Sue him, he was desperate.

Making his way to the kitchen without waking anyone was never a problem for any of the four brothers, they were ninja for a reason.  Leo's claws barely made a sound as he padded over the stone floor.  Passing Donnie’s lab made it  obvious that the purple twin was sharing in Leo’s suffering.  The slider could hear frantic murmuring from inside the closed doors.  The softshell had been on another world domination kick.  Leo shivered slightly and decided that tonight probably wasn’t the best night to bother him.  Donnie had a habit of turning his brothers into experiments when they interrupted him in the middle of one of his rants.  

With a start Leo realized that he’d come to a complete stop in front of the lab.  With a sharp jerk he shook himself out of his dazed stupor.  Leo's blue pajama set didn’t do much against the cool night air and the exhaustion pulling at his bones didn’t help with the chill.

Ugh he was tired.

As he turned to make his way to the kitchen, he felt a tug in his gut and an electric crackle through his bones.  A deep blue glow lit the floor under him in a familiar family crest.  With an exasperated sigh Leo realized he would not be getting his coffee.  He was being summoned.

He groaned; he did not want to deal with this right now.  “Not again!”

For a moment he was weightless floating in a black void, then he was being pulled back into reality.  Colors flashed in his vision and with a final flash of blue he was deposited unruffled into a dark street.  His sleep cap was still perched on his head, his ninpo still buzzed under his skin, and this time he was prepared for the jarring experience that was dimensional travel.  The first time had been when Mikey had pulled him from the prison dimension, the second time he’d been pulled into a cartoonish universe to deal with the kraang.  That had been a jarring conversation, only for him to learn that their kraang was nothing but a robotic baby man.

The most recent time was when he’d been pulled to a universe with older versions of his brothers.  It had been an attempt from the foot clan to brainwash him against the turtles of that dimension.  Turns out chains don’t work so great when containing a super soldier, the foot clan learned that one the hard way.

This universe seemed dark to say the least.  The colors were muted, the buildings were dirty, the streetlamps were dull.  And where were the people?  This was New York, right?  The city that never sleeps?  Well, if you asked Leo this one seemed pretty sleepy.

An indignant voice came from behind him, “Is he wearing pajamas?”

2012

The fight was going badly, Leo could tell from the moment it had started that this wasn’t one they could win.  He’d tried to call his team back for a tactical retreat; however, surrender was not in Raph’s nature, and defeat was not in Leo’s. 

So here they were thoroughly beaten and tired, Leo himself could barely stand.  Every weapon they had simply passed through the villain, the only thing that affected him was physical contact.  The problem with that?  The contact.  The villain had obviously been trained, and well at that.  Their blows didn’t phase him, their attacks didn’t connect.  He may as well be untouchable.   

The trap they had laid for the villain lay before the turtles, pulsing a deep blue.  The source of the glow was the Hamato family crest, lighting up the dark street.  It was an ancient scroll designed to pull a counterpart from across the multiverse.  Leo’s remaining sword stood imbedded through the paper into the street.  The scroll had reacted to his blade, and turned from a white glow to a blue.  According to Splinter this meant that it had worked.  The ancient family bonds wove through the many universes searching for a Leonardo powerful enough to defeat the foe in front of them. 

“Foolish turtles!”  The villain in front of them cackled, the two twisted horns adorning his head gleamed in the dull light from the street lamp.  His hair waived wildly in a style reminiscent to Einstein.  Donnie had enjoyed point that particular fact out.  The dark black kimono made the figure even more intimidating as he stalked towards the teens. 

“You cannot defeat me!  I am untouchable, and immovable.  I have been on this earth for far longer than you four, and I will be on it long after!”

“Its not over!”  The scroll had begun to flash in rapid succession.  The turtles watched in awe as the Hamato symbol expanded to the size of a small car.  It had locked onto a Leonardo.

With an electric snap a figure appeared in the middle of the symbol. 

Now Leo wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he summoned another, more powerful, version of himself.  A big adult turtle with bulging muscles and scars?  Maybe.  But it certainly was not the teenager standing before him. 

The villain cackled, “You foolish turtles, do you truly believe one extra ally can defeat-”

Raph cut over the villain with an incredulous, “Is he wearing pajamas?”

“Dude he’s so colorful!”  Mikey’s eyes had stars as he gazed at the newcomer. 

Both observations were, in fact, correct.  The new turtle wore a matching set of blue pajamas specifically fitted over his shell, complete with a sleep hat.  He was also quite colorful, red stripes ran down his face and over his eyes, though they were partially obscured by the blue mask that marked him as a Leonardo.  Leo couldn’t see any weapons on him, nor could he miss the claws that his nails extended into.  His scales were a light green that shone even in the dim light.  He didn’t look dangerous, but there was an unsettling feeling that came with his presence.

The turtles’ eyes raked over the scene, darting between the four teens and the horned villain.  “Lemme guess,” the turtles voice came out a drawl, “you can’t defeat him,” he gestured towards the figure standing a few car lengths away, “so you summoned me to do it for you?”

Leo blinked, he sounded bored.  Had he done this before?  “Yes, that’s right.  None of our weapons can touch him and he’s a master at hand-to-hand combat.”  

The Leonardo turned his scrutiny to the villain before glancing back over his shoulder at the teens with a tired look.  “Give me 5 seconds.”  He turned his attention back on the horned figure.

“What!  You can’t possibly hope to defeat him in 5 seconds!  Its not possible.”  Donnie’s voice cut into the conversation.  “The speed you’d have to move at to get to him in 5 seconds alone is-”

The striped turtle cut Donnie off with a wave of his right hand, reaching down he pulled Leo’s blade from the ground.  The scroll had disintegrated, however the sword remained strong.  With a flash of blue the blade transformed in front of the turtles.  Blue markings lit up the metal and the blade lengthened to match the taller turtles’ proportions.  With a start Leo watched as a small knife he hadn’t even realized had been taken from him was completely changed into a twin sword.  His pajamas seemed to warp and change into black wrappings snaking up his forearms and lower legs.  The scars on his shell and yellow stripes on his arms were visible even in the low light.

What was that?  Magic?  The taller Leo turned to look at the teens and with a sly smirk he simply said, “Watch me.”  And then he threw one of the swords he held at the villain. 

What was he doing?  Indignation lit inside Leo as he watched the beautiful blade be hurled through the air. That wasn’t how you fought with swords!  Not to mention villain wouldn’t be affected, they had told him this. He watched with a sinking heart as the sword flew through the face of the villain and turned to say something to the other Leonardo.  The turtle, was gone.

Cracks of blue lightning filled the space he had just occupied.  And to Leo it was like watching a movie in slow motion.  The turtle appeared in a blaze of blue behind the villain, literally appeared out of thin air.  The sword he had thrown secure in his hand.

“WHAT?!”  Donnie screeched in shock beside him, “Do you think I could run tests?!” 

However Leo didn’t answer because his attention was focused on the striped teen, was he even a teen? 

The fight was over in the 5 seconds they had been told.  With a blow to the back that cracked the concrete beneath the villain’s feet the striped teen defeated him.  Stunned silence rolled through the street, and the turtles could do nothing but gawk at the turtle who had gone from harmless to deadly in the time it took to take a breath.

Lifting his head to gaze at the four watching him the predator turtle grinned and asked, “So… you got any coffee?”

Chapter Text

Steam curled up past the rim of the blue mug, it wafted pale and warm up towards the celling as the lime green turtle swirled the dark liquid inside.  Taking a long sip from the drink he let out a content sigh, closing his eyes he savored the peace of the moment before observing the four turtles across the counter from him. 

In all honesty they made quite the funny sight.  Donatello was practically vibrating with excitement, eyes wide with what reminded Leon of his own twin, a type of mad scientist vibe that promised you’d soon be an unwilling test subject.  Michelangelo on the other hand was looking at him like he had hung the stars, and were those literal stars in his eyes?  Well Leon had always been the star of the show.  Haha!...  Yeah, that one fell flat, even in his head.  

Leonardo sat quietly, and that was what unnerved him the most, Leon himself would have already made a pun or some sort of joke to lighten the mood, this turtle did nothing of the sort.  He just sat there staring intensely.  The Raphael beside him made for an even funnier view, Leon couldn’t tell whether he wanted to fight in a good way or a bad way.  Also, it turned out this Donnie used a literal stick?  Yeah, that was probably the biggest surprise so far.

After setting his almost empty mug of coffee, aka life, down on the counter, Leon stared awkwardly at the siblings.  His claws automatically came to tap against the mug, they were getting long, he would need to get the trimmers again.  Being biological weapons of war was handy for most things, diamond like scales, heightened senses, super strength, claws, blah blah blah.  However, one thing that fell to Leon as team medic, and one thing he hated was trimming his brothers’ claws.  Raph would sometimes create clones of himself and barricade himself away from Leon.  Seeming to forget that the blue turtle could portal. 

Mikey would retreat into his shell and peer out at Leon hissing like a feral cat, luring him out was a task even the great Leon struggled with.  It generally had to do with agreeing to a therapy session. 

And don’t even get Leon started on Donnie, he still had a bite mark from his twin.  Donnie had felt a little bit of guilt after that and let Leon keep 50.1% of their monthly profits from their online gambling.  It would have been a sweet gesture, if he didn’t already keep 50%.

A sudden ‘ping’ cut through the awkward silence that had hung heavy over the kitchen.  This world’s Mikey jumped up so fast Leo wouldn’t have been surprised at seeing a cartoonish ‘woosh’ in his wake, unfortunately no such thing appeared.  The only thing that did happen to appear in front of Leon was something he hoped would never grace his eyes again.  

It was pizza… he thought…?  A round disk of safety risk sat in front of him.  It was covered in what looked like canned peas and was that Swedish fish?  Yeah, that wasn’t happening.  Without an ounce of remorse Leon drew a blade strapped to his back and sent the frisbee of death disappearing into a much more literal, but still not as deadly, frisbee of death. 

“THERE!”  Donnie seemed to have expended his self-control and promptly lunged across the table at the still glowing turtle.  Caught off guard Leon stumbled back and attempted to twirl away from the grabbing hands.  Attempted being the key word, because he’d been off his guard and hadn’t accounted for Raphael lunging to join the fight.  He landed on his back with the red banded turtle pinning him down.  Donnie shoved his brother off and took Raph’s place on top of Leon, grabbing his shoulders before shaking him hard.

“HOW, TELL ME!  HOW ARE YOU OPENING PORTALS WITH JUST SWORDS?  HOW DID YOU GET THOSE SWORDS TO BEGIN WITH?  TELL ME NOW OR-” 

Leon didn’t get a chance to hear exactly what Donnie was planning to do to him because at that moment Raph lunged across Leon to tackle Donnie across the room. 

Meanwhile Mikey looked as though his favorite teddy bear had grown sentience and walked out of his life. 

“My pizza…”  The dejected tone in his voice almost made Leon reject his actions, almost.  Not as much regret as eating it would have caused.

Leonardo looked as though he was reconsidering his decision to get out of bed today.  He did not however look as though he was going to commit a felony and then run away to live off the grid.  That meant that Leon’s job as a chaos gremlin was incomplete.  In his last interdimensional adventure, he’d discovered how much fun it was to mess with his counterparts. 

On a completely unrelated note, how did he counterpart sit with perfect posture?  Leon had tried that once, Donnie had insisted they check for demon possession.  Leon had made a joke about how “that was Donnie actually.”  His twin had not appreciated that.  Dr. Delicate touch had made an appearance.

Leon shuddered to remember the family therapy session after that.  Speaking of uncomfortable he really missed his pajamas.  It was nice that their Ninpo came with a built-in transition to ninja gear, but it also took brain power to get the original clothes back.  Brain power that a coffee fueled turtle did not have to give. 

“Guys!  We’re saved!  April and Casey are picking up a pizza on their way over!”  Mikey’s cheerful voice rang over the racket of Donne and Raph. 

“April!?”  Donnie sat straight up and took a fist to his face, Raph pulled back with a smirk.  Oho-kay Leon wasn’t sure how he felt about the lovesick note in Donnie’s voice when he spoke about this worlds April.  

“And Casey!”  Raph had taken a break from beating Donnie to join them back at the counter.  Donnie, who had surprisingly taken minimal damage, and seemed to have forgotten Leon for the moment, sat as far from his red brother as he could.

Leon grinned, “We’ve got two Casey's.” 

The faces that followed ranged from surprised Pikachu to absolutely horrified. 

Donnie spluttered, “How are you still alive?  How is your world not in flames?”  Well, that brought up memories that Leon certainly did not want to remember.

Wretched PEST

YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING

NOPE, that was staying firmly in the no-no closet, where not even Dr. Delicate touch could spring clean.

“SPEAKING of my world!”  Leon diverts the conversation elsewhere with all the grace of Raph doing ballet.  Which is to say, a surprising amount, but still not much. “Where’s the exit scroll so I can get back?”   

Crickets fill the kitchen and Leon’s heart drops.  “You brought me here without an exit strategy?”  Alright this is fine; he can deal with this.  Every summoning scroll has a scroll that can send him home, he just needs to find out where it is.  Its possible that this worlds Master Splinter has it.  Apparently, he’s “not here” which is a lie because Leon can hear his heart beat a few rooms over.  But he can’t blame the siblings of this world for being cautious.

“Hey guys!  Who’s hungry?”  A feminine sounding voice joined the conversation, Leo turned to see two humans entering into the now full kitchen. 

‘Do not make a joke, do not make a joke.’  Leon repeated the phrase in his head like a prayer. 

Honestly Leo wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but a redhead with questionable fashion, and a hot topic reject, was not it.  The two teens froze in the doorway and Leon could smell the fear that instinctually gripped them.  Oh yeah, he’d forgotten about the Elsa affect.  Oops.

When he and his brothers had been created, they had been designed with one goal in mind.  The annihilation of the human race.

Draxum, ever the sheep warlord, had specifically designed them to trigger a human’s fight or flight response.  In the same way an oncoming car or a growling animal would cause someone to freeze; he and his brothers would do the same.  Their April had been desensitized and remained unaffected by the aura given off by the brothers.  Similarly, Casey didn’t know any different, when Leon had tried to explain their avoidance of humans it had taken the boy time to accept it.  And Cassandra?  Well, that woman had no fear.

The two in the doorway however clearly were suffering from the Elsa syndrome, Donnie had been in favor of naming it ‘The Might Of Donatello Is Too Great For Our Mortal Bodies.’ Unfortunately, Raph had vetoed that.  Mikey had said that because ‘People should let go of their fear of us!’ they should name it Elsa.  Unsurprisingly Raph had been all for it.

Honestly Leo was going to name it, HCWS, Holy Crap, We’re Screwed’.

There might be a reason he wasn’t chair of the naming committee.

The urge to activate his Mystics nagged at his mind, he wanted to know what these two were thinking.  Ya know, for scientific purposes.

When Draxum had actually become an active part of their lives he ended up training them in Yokai politics and Mystics.  Each of Leo’s brothers had been allowed to be select a branch of Mystics. 

Mikey had chosen empathy Mystics, the ability to read others’ emotions and alter them.  He claimed he wanted to help everyone recover from the invasion.  

Raph had chosen size manipulation, gigantification and miniaturization.  He said that he needed to be smaller for certain missions.

Donnie had chosen Technopathy.  That was what he needed to amp his quest for world domination.  Sometimes Leon thought that maybe Draxum hadn’t failed completely.

And Leon?  It turned out Leon had actually been designed for a specific type of Mystic, it was rare and basically illegal.  Draxum had pulled him to the side one evening and held an old book out to him. 

“The Mystics of the soul?”  Leon looked up at Draxum with a raised eyebrow, “I don’t know Sheep-Man this seems fishy to me.”

The long suffering sigh he got from the scientist was enough of an indication that he was indeed doing his job of annoying him. 

“All of you were created with a specific role in mind, the red one was meant to be the tank, the orange one was to keep you all balanced and to be the energy and determination.  Purple was to be the brains, an enemy even the smartest human would fail to match.  But you, you were created to be the leader, the strategist, and what a waste of coding.  That idiot of a rat let your potential go down the drain-”

“Literally!”  Leon’s joke about living in the sewers was not appreciated.

“As I was saying.”  Leon could practically taste the frustration coming from the Sheep, “you were also designed with this Mystic in mind.  Read the book, if you are capable of such a thing, and give me your answer.”  With that the man swept out of the room.

Leon huffed, “Rude!  I can read!”  Looking down at the daunting book however he wasn’t quite sure he was up for reading something as large as a medical textbook without it being one.  But part of him was curious about what Draxum had planned, so that night, after he had recovered his trusty coffee, he curled up under his blanket and cracked open the text.

Months later he was learning how to play the strings of the soul as easily as a guitar.

Leon was snapped out of his thoughts by a scream, oddly enough it wasn’t from the more feminine of the two. 

“WHAT IS THAT?”  Casey Jones screeched at the top of his lungs shoving a finger in Leon's direction.

Leon looked mournfully at his now empty cup of coffee, he was going to need some more.

Chapter Text

“WHAT IS THAT?” The ear-piercing shriek reverberated through the stone walls of the lair; panic laced through the high pitch.  Yeah, Leon was definitely not awake enough to deal with this.  He was going to need around… three more shots of coffee and a red bull.  Separately, last time he’d mixed the two and chugged the concoction in six seconds flat.  He’d felt like God for approximately four hours, then the caffeine crash had hit.

Casey Jones, or the person Leon assumed was Casey Jones, stared at him with wide unblinking eyes.  His mouth was still wide from where he’d attempted to communicate with the astronauts.  Raph was currently waving his hand in front of the teens face, but the stare continued unbroken.  He looked rather similar to Casey Jr, but that was probably to be expected.  This teen’s threat level was low.

April on the other hand…

When Leon’s inky black eyes met her wide and startled blue ones a shot of terror and aggression tore through him.  Inadvertently his fangs dropped and his claws extended.  Blue lightning flickered to life, dancing around him and his mystics flared.  Completely disregarding the safety practices Draxum had taught him was dangerous, he knew that.  That reminder played on mute in the back of Leon’s head, all that mattered was getting the €Ň€Μ¥ out.

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With every chant Leon ripped deeper into the mind of the ҜŘΔΔŇǤ in front of him.  Its cries of pain brought joy to his heart; he needed it to ĐƗ€.  There was none of his usual finesse when Leon assaulted its consciousness, usually he was like water, smooth and silky.  Slipping in, pulling at the strings that wound across one’s soul, manipulating desires, fears, thoughts.  Everything that made a person, a person.  It was all laid bare in front of the turtle that was designed to manipulate. 

Some villain didn’t want to release the hostage?  Leon suggested that the other Mad Dogz should let him have a quick and private chat with the felon.  One healthy dose of eye contact later and the villain was begging Mikey to take the civilian. 

This time there was nothing subtle about the attack.  Leon ripped in with the sole desire to Đ€ŞŦŘØ¥. 

He knew he was glowing now, brightly.  Blue sparking up his scales and his stripes shining red and yellow.  His swords stayed on his back but his claws were long, ready to ŘƗƤ ΔŇĐ Ŧ€ΔŘ.

Faintly he heard several voices scream “APRIL.”

That snapped him out of his frenzy, was April in trouble?

A ninja star hit his shoulder and ricochet off of his scales.  A blade was at his throat, another held to the back of his neck.  A fist swung towards his face and without thinking he caught it.  Adjusting his grip and using the momentum provided, Leon threw the furious red turtle into his dull counterpart.  The other Leonardo went down with Raph in a heap. 

Leveling his eyes on the orange turtle was what finally snapped Leon back into his right mind.  Mikey stood with a determined look on his freckled face, he clutched his weapon tightly in clenched fists.

He looked like Leon’s baby brother.

With a gasp he pulled at his mystics yanking them out of Kraang’s April’s head. 

The girl in question was curled in Donnie’s lap, blood running down her nose and ears.  Her eyes were squeezed shut and her hands gripped her head, guilt mixed with the fear and disgust swimming through Leon’s gut. 

Why did this girl feel like a Kraang? 

“WHAT THE SHELL WAS THAT?  WHAT DID YOU DO TO APRIL?”  Raph’s scream cut through his spiraling.  Leon’s head snapped towards the red turtle, with his adrenalin still pumping and his claws still sharp, everything that so much as moved was labeled as a target. 

Man, he could use his Mikey right now.  The orange turtle’s empathy mystics would have been ideal in a situation like this.  Calm was something they could all use, the tremors in his body had yet to cease.

“I would also like to know.”  A calm but stern voice cut through the chaos that lingered.  Leon whipped his body around so fast he was certain there was a blur left behind. 

Standing in the doorway was a massive rat.  Dressed in robes, posture a picture of perfection, the Rat was taller than Leon and commanded respect.  Threat level high.  Leon was torn between showing respect and keeping his guard up.

“Master splinter!  This guy just went all crazy and did something to April!  Do you think he melted her brain?”  Mikey’s voice sounded from behind Leon.

“Indeed, I can see what he did.”  The simple acknowledgement sent tingles up Leon’s spine.  He didn’t like the calculated look his dad’s counterpart was sending him.  

“Would you care to explain?”  The calm question took Leon aback.  Shouldn’t he have told to leave by now? 

Leon shifted on his feet, like a kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar.  “She’s a kraang.”  Venom filled his tone as he spat the word out of his mouth like it was a slice of the “pizza” this worlds Mikey had made.  Just saying the word out loud made his skin crawl, slimy sensations slid up his scales.  Leon fought the urge to through up.  

“Yes.  And would you share how you recognized this?”

The easy admission shocked Leon.  “And you let her in your lair?”  She was dangerous, Kraang had hurt so many, killed others, almost killed Leon and his family.  Yet their April was one?

“She is of no danger.”

“Bull.  All Kraang are creatures that devour and destroy.”  Leon clenched his fists tight, claws digging into his flesh.  So much destruction, scars, both physical and mental that were left on him and his brothers.  The damage that had yet to be repaired, the death tole that haunted their sleep at night. 

“My son, I can tell the Kraang have hurt you.” The words sounded gentle, and a soft hand came to rest on Leon’s shoulder.  “We too have suffered under them, but April has been by our side, we only recently learned of her mutated genetics.  I am sorry for the memories it may have brought to your mind.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Leon relaxed into the soft touch.

The moment was shattered by a feminine voice groaning.  “Ugh, I feel like I was hit with a bus!  What was that?” 

Leon stiffened before taking a deep breath and retracting his claws.  The tang of blood floated through the air, from both Leon’s hands and April’s ears and eyes. 

Putting on his winning smile he turned to face the rest of the room’s inhabitance.  “Whoops!  That one was my bad!”

“That was my bad, I accidently knocked over your coffee!  That’s my bad, I ran into you!”  Donnie’s falsetto voice caught Leon off guard.  “NO!  YOU HURT APRIL, THAT’S NOT JUST A ‘MY BAD’.”  Well, that was a good point.  

“Yeahhh, my world has had a bit of trouble with the Kraang, so when April turned out to be one, I might have overreacted.”  Leon sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. 

Casey, who was currently hiding behind Raph, stuck his head out, “Soooo back to my earlier question, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?”

“He’s me.”  Leonardo’s voice cut in, “Me from a different dimension, we called him here to deal with a villain.  Unfortunately, we don’t know where the scroll to send him home is.”

“When I gave you the scroll, I gifted it to you knowing full well you would one day be forced to use it.”  Splinter’s voice came from where he was still behind Leon.  “I also knew full well the price for returning the visitor.”

“What are you saying Sensei?”  Man, that was weird, they called their dad Sensei?

“So… we’re just ignoring the fact that he literally just lit up like a glow stick and telepathically did something to April?”  Donnie’s deadpan went ignored.

“Oh!  Don’t forget his claws and teeth got sharp!”  So did Mikey’s.

“Where is the scroll now?”  Leonardo’s questioning voice steered the conversation back on track.

“The second scroll was taken from me long ago.”  Well, that wasn’t too bad right?  They could get it back as long as they had an idea of where it was.

“By the man known to you as the Shredder.”

Well crap.

Chapter Text

There was a legend in New York City, a legend of the kappa, helpful turtle spirits, who prowled the streets. A legend that had come to light only a few months before. It was said that the ferocious beings held skill and strength that far surpassed a normal human. The only ones aware of this story, were the locals. The residents refused to speak to the press about the tale, refused to share what they knew. When asked, every tourist or reporter would simply get a knowing smile. It was a story for New Yorkers alone.

The room was dark; shadows danced across figures that stood eerily frozen in the still almost heavy silence that coated the space. Outside the building, clocks hit four-thirty A.M. with a monotonous click. Street lights flickered with a florescent buzz; the streets lay deserted, abandoned, still.

Blue sparks crackled and popped, splitting the darkness and heavy silence that settled over the room.  A vibrant blue circle materialized in the middle of the space.  Seven figures stepped silently from the portal. 

A magical turtle from another dimension, four local mutants, a Kraang hybrid, and hockey enthusiast break into the foot clan headquarters...  Leon thought it sounded like the beginning of a bad joke.  

As soon as Leon stepped into the circular room, he knew something was wrong.  Was it the army of armed robots dressed in foot clan apparel?  No, it was the fact that the room was drafty.

Splinter had described the room as being built with solid integrity; why was the floor a grate? 

Oh, Leon guessed the robots promising violence were bad too. 

As the floor dropped out from under them, and sent the robots and seven intruders plunging downward, Leon only had one thought running through his head.

‘I definitely jinxed it.’

One hour earlier

Leon paced back and forth across the floor.  Seven pairs of eyes tracked his pattern, wary of the frustration rolling off of the blue themed turtle.  

"What do you mean Shredder has the only thing that can get me home?" 

"You have a Shredder too?  Bro, twins!"  Mikey's voice cut over Leon's frantic thoughts.  His head whipped up to look at the orange turtle; Leon pointedly ignored the flinches that overtook the group. 

"Yeah, he was our great grandfather."

"I apologize, fighting family is never easy."  Splinters voice was filled with sympathy.  Leon blinked in confusion.

"Huh?  Oh, it wasn't bad, we only learned he existed because our gram-gram appeared as a ghost.  Plus, gramps was fine, we just had to get rid of the demon that was possessing him.  That was the real struggle.  We got t-shirts out of it though."  He dismissed the rats’ concerns with a wave of his hand. 

"T-shirts?"

“DEMON?” A feral Donnie, who had helped April to a chair, once again lunged towards Leon with the intent of uncovering secrets.  

This time however Leo was ready for his brother. With reflexes to rival Leon's own he grabbed Donnie by the back of the shell and hauled him back over the counter to stand by the blade user. The purple turtle kicked and hissed as he was manhandled away from the striped turtle. Leon's twin would have been proud; Leon on the other hand backed away nervously. 

Unfortunately, what Leon's counterpart had not been expecting was Mikey.  

The orange ball of sun leapt at the taller turtle like a monkey. With a strength you wouldn't have attributed to the fun-loving turtle, Mikey clung to Leon with a tight hug. Turning his face upwards to stare in Leon's eyes he let loose the puppy dog eyes. 

“Please tell me you saved him with family love!”  

Leon shrugged, “That and a giant spear.” 

“That's what I'm talking about!” Raph cheered from his place beside a still cowering Casey. 

“Just to be clear,” Leo's voice joined from where he was still trying to control Donnie, “You've defeated your Shredder, who was a demon, and you're all only 15?” 

“Well, Raph was, me and Donnie are twins, so we were both 14, Mikey was 13.” 

Silence stretched across the room. Finally, a small horrified voice peeped up, “Raph is the eldest?” The abject terror was evident on Leo's face as he made eye contact with Raph. 

“SHELL YES!” Raph’s triumphant voice rang out through the room as the red turtle pumped a fist in the air. “EAT THAT LEO!”

“How are you not dead… first you have two Casey's, now your Raph is the oldest…” Donnie dissolved into mutters, thankfully forgetting about the whole ‘our Shredder is a demon’ thing. 

“Two me’s?” Casey, who seemed to have overcome his fear, poked his head out from behind Raph at the mention of his counterparts.

“Yeah,” Leon shrugged as best he could with Mikey still clinging to him. “Cassandra is in the foot clan, but she's chill. Our son, Casey Jr. seems more similar to you, he's from the future.”  

“MY WHAT!” Well Leon's job as a chaos gremlin might be further along than he thought. Leo looked ready to follow in Donnie's footsteps and strangle the answers out of Leon.  

A hand on his shoulder stopped him, Leo turned to see Sensei giving him a disapproving look. Quickly the blue turtle reined in his emotions.  

Unfortunately, in his distraction he had lost his hold on Donnie.  

Leon found himself pinned under two turtles, flat on his back, or as flat as his shell would allow.  

“TME TRAVEL? Let go Mikey, he's mine!” 

“That's a version of me as a girl? I bet I'm a hot chick!” Casey had made his way out from behind Raph and over to April, who was still nursing a bloody nose.

“In your dreams!” Raph called out over the noise. 

“Silence!” The order spoken in Japanese cut through the chaos, Splinters tone left no room for argument. “Ask him questions calmly, you are ninja, this is no way for you to be behaving.”

“Yes Sensei!” Leon raised an eye ridge at the synchronized answer all four turtles gave. April gave a thumbs up from her chair. 

Leo whirled on Leon with a fire in his eyes that promised violence if he didn't answer truthfully. The tone that came from the blue turtle was calm and controlled. Leon was honestly impressed with the other turtle. 

“Please explain what you meant by Casey being my son.”  

Leon grinned; this was going to be fun.  

"Casey Jr. Is from an alternate future timeline that me and my brothers prevented.” Leon eyed Donnie with a nervousness that he felt was perfectly justified. Leon might be the weapon of war, but Donnie was the weapon of mass destruction. Thankfully the purple turtle seemed cowed by the large rat hovering behind him. 

“In that timeline Cassandra had Casey and I helped co-parent him.” Leon's claws dug into his freshly healed palms, reopening his wounds and bringing the fresh sent of blood into the air. The apocalypse had only happened six months prior, New York was still healing. Leon and his brothers were still healing. The guilt of the narrowly averted disaster weighed on Leon every day.  

“In that timeline the Kraang had taken over, Donnie and Raph were dead, and I was the leader of the resistance.” Leon managed to choke out the final sentence without to much noticeable trouble. 

“The Kraang? They managed to take over?” Leo's voice cut into Leon's spiraling."

“Yeah, they might have a lot of soldiers but they're not that tough!” April added her thoughts to the conversation in an incredulous tone.

“My Kraang had three members. And they almost destroyed New York.” Leon's icy tone cut over the murmured agreement from Raph.

Silence fell over the group guilty looks were exchanged between the natives of this dimension. Taking a deep breath Leo reeled in his anger and focused on calming the murderous aura that had started slipping past his defenses.  

Wow,” Donnie threw his hands up, “next you're going to tell us that Raph is your leader.” 

“...well…”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

“HA LEO HEAR THAT!?”

“...” Aaaand Leo was in shock. 

Leon shrugged unapologetically, “He's the oldest and the only responsible one, now we tag team leadership. Raph takes care of the boring stuff like where we're going to patrol and when, and I take charge in battle or civil conversation.”  

“Raph and responsible in the same sentence, never thought I'd see the day.” Mikey's musing was interrupted by an angry red turtle tackling him from the side. 

Master Splinter let it happen with a sign and a look of resignation. 

“Wha-?” Oh look, Leo was back. 

“What about your April?” The redheads voice came from where she had stood to pull Mikey and Raph apart. 

“She's like our older sister; she also housed our gram-gram Karai's ghost for a while there.” 

“Gram-gram?” There went Leo again.

“Oh, she's in the foot clan here.” Leon blinked at April's words, clearly targeted at Leo, but the foot clan really? 

“Speaking of the Foot clan, you should be developing a plan to retrieve the scroll, should you not? I can provide its location, I cannot however help in this mission.”

“Are the new commercials on?” The genuine tone of Leon's voice took the rat aback. 

“Commercials?”  

“Yeah, that's all dad does is watch commercials.”

“I can assure you I don't occupy myself with television.” 

“Huh, weird… Well, anywizzle, you're right, we should get a move on. I'm afraid of the caffeine crash coming and I genuinely don't want my brothers to find out I was summoned again.”  

“Again?!” Aaaand Leo was back.

This was going to be an easy job, in and out. Splinter knew the exact location of the scroll, and Leon happened to be a master portal user.  

Easy, nothing could go wrong!

Future Leon disagreed, as he and his group landed in steel room, surrounded by enemies. With his ninpo and mystics refusing to respond, he only had one thought.

'I definitely jinxed it.’

Chapter Text

Dang it Leon!  Rule number one in movies, don’t jinx it! 

Panic flooded him as he swung his swords, dull silver cutting an arc through the air.  Nothing happened.  No blue sparks, no crackling flashes, no frisbees of death.  Similarly, when he reached for his mystics, he hit a barrier.  Solid, unbreakable, impenetrable the more he juiced his mystics the stronger the barrier became.  Fear rolled over him someone had dumped ice water over his head.  A chill overtook his body and a bead of sweat decorated Leon's forehead. 

‘Why did this feel like…’

NO

‘Think Leon!

Why weren’t his powers responding?  Crap was he in a webcomic?  A fanfiction?  His powers just conveniently stopped working?

No.

There had to be a reason.’

Leon's gaze snapped up from where he was glaring at his blades; his eyes scanned the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. 

‘foot robot, foot robot, foot robot…’

And then he saw it.  He’d missed it on his first scan of the room, attention flicking from the soldiers - they were robots, gosh where was Donnie when you needed him - to his counterpart.  This time, however, with his attention fully set on grabbing every detail, he noticed them. 

Runes.  Hundreds of them lightly scratched into the walls and floor; they were almost impossible to make out in the low lighting.  And the strangest thing was, Leon recognized them. 

Mystic cancelation runes.  One of the first they had learned from Draxum.  Complex but insanely valuable knowledge.  They harnessed the power that permeated the very air of Leon’s dimension to create a space impervious to any sort of power.  They didn’t need blood or any sort of potion to work because the drew power from the very atmosphere.

But that was the problem.

It didn’t make sense.

This dimension didn’t have magic.  Mystics didn’t exist. 

So why the shell were runes native to Leon’s dimension here in this one?  Not only that, but what was powering them?  There were no raw mystic particles in the air.  Leon would have known if there was.  He would have felt the buzzing that had become comforting.  He would have embraced the hum of magic and power in the back of his mind.  Dimension traveling always threw him for a loop when he could no longer feel the world around him. 

So, what was powering them?  And how, in the name of pizza supreme did this worlds shredder have them? 

This terrible, horrible man.

This murderer.

This… Burnt Chicken Nugget?  Used metal fork?  What?

He’d been prepared for a man coated in a dark aura, ready to shred (ha! Pun intended, nice one Leon!) everything in his path. 

What he was not prepared for was someone who looked like they were budget cosplaying.

The ‘Oh so terrifying demon’ stepped into the room through a small doorway created by a section of the wall sliding inwards and to the left.  If Leon hadn’t been trying to keep a straight face, he would have been out that door in a second.  Unfortunately, he was too busy trying to look threatening and failing miserably.  Laughter bubbled up as he made a head-to-toe scan of the Shredder, finally he couldn’t contain it anymore and it burst out from his throat.

Leon could see his brothers’ counterparts turning to look at him in horror.  Could make out April staring at him as though he had lost his mind.  To be honest maybe he had. 

Leon was stranded in an alternate universe, surrounded by enemies, and had lost access to his mystics and ninpo.  Yet the only thing he could do was cackle in the face of this dimension’s shredder. 

“PFFT- he- oh SHELL- HAHA- He looks like a pitchfork!”  Leon wheezed through his laughter, struggling to take enough air in.

If silence could go silent it would have.  Leon swore even the metaphorical crickets went quiet. 

Then

“OH MY GOSH HE DOES!”  Mikey’s voice cut into the stillness; Leon’s little brother genuinely was the same in every universe. 

“Mikey NO!”  Leo really was a spoilsport.  Leon turned to his counterpart; a grin stretched across his face.

“Come onnn, you have to admit he does look like one.”

“YOU DARE?”  Shredders deep voice rang out through the room. 

“Uhhh, yeah.”  Leon raised an unimpressed eye ridge at the man, “I obviously dare, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it.”  Honestly, villains could be so cliché.  Leon could clearly remember Donnie’s villain arc.  The purple twin had decided to practice his ‘world domination speech’ every night at dinner, every morning through the loud speaker, and every time the fridge was opened. 

That last one had been interesting.  Leon had taken out the fridge lights and hacked the speakers Donnie had placed in the appliance.  The blue turtle had set the music to play ‘Hello darkness my old friend…’ as the doors opened and the lights refused to turn on. 

Raph was not amused.

Donnie, furious that Leon had ‘Once again’ messed with his stuff, had determined to make all of his tech “Leo proof”. 

It had taken Leon ten seconds to get through the firing lasers, half an hour to get through the bubble wrap (he’d had to pop them all), and all of five minutes to hack Donnie’s new lock for his computer. 

Leon, when compared to Donnie, was no tech wiz, but when all of Donnie’s passwords were some variation of “Future Supreme Ruler Donnie” it was easy to figure out.  Plus, one time Leon had needed to hack the Pentagon for cash, he learned fast when there was money on the line.  He’d lost a bet with Mikey and no one wanted to be responsible for not paying the box turtle what he was due.  

It turned out you could legally make money hacking into the pentagon too.  Leon kinda wished he’d known that before he he’d agreed to do it for that one dude on the black market.

You live and you learn.

But that was all in the past, because right now he was thirty feet away from what had to be the biggest joke in this dark dimension. 

“There is no way, that HE-”  Leon gestured towards the man in metal, “Is THE Shredder!”

“YOU INSOLENT-”

“OH SHUT UP!”  Leon rounded on the pitchfork, “Where’s your scary aura?  Because right now all you’re doing is losing aura points!”

From behind him Leon heard a murmured “Losing what now?”  Gosh, he was going to have to educate these turtles on the internet wasn’t he.

“My only question-” Leon stuck an accusing finger out at the cheese grater, “Is how the shell you managed to find runes from my dimension!”

“That would be me.”  A figure dressed in a black kimono stepped into the room from what appeared to be the only way out of the space. Two twisted horns adorned his head, and white hair ran wildly down his shoulders.  Now that the new comer was in better lighting Leon could clearly see the animal-like characteristics that he had missed the first time he’d seen the villain.  He also seemed… young, around Leon’s age.

Leon squinted his eyes, “Waaait… didn’t I smash you into the pavement?”   

The teenage sheep yokai, or mutant, spluttered.  “It was simply a way to lure you here!” 

“Mmmmm, nope!  I’m pretty sure that was just a failure on your part.  By the way, are you related to Baron Draxum by any chance?”  Behind Leon the locals of this universe were shifting uneasily, watching as the electric blue turtle chatted as casually as if they were having tea.

The sheep yokai hissed, “I am FAR superior to my cousin, our aunties never thought so, but I AM.”

Leon blinked in surprise, “You’re cousins with Draxum?  Wait… does that make us related?”

“As if I would want to tie myself to the likes of you!”  The Villian sniffed imperiously, “Daimyo doesn’t need measly family bonds.  I'm better than him and I'm proving it by dimension hopping and destroying the turtles like he never could.”

“Yeahhh buddy, you might need a session with a therapist, I can give you a recommendation for mine?”  Hey, Leon worked for commissions okay?  The more people he traumatiz- sorry, found for Mikey, the more money he made.  Sue him for trying to make some cash while surrounded by enemies and trapped in another dimension.  Leon was nothing if not an opportunist.

“SILENCE!”  Shredders voice cut into Leon’s sales pitch.  “You have been brought here to be destroyed!”  He fixed his eyes on Leon, “Except for you, turtle, you are to be my new weapon.”

“Maaan, that’s so predictable!  Where’s the pizazz?  If I’m a weapon at least give me a cool name!”  Leon’s whiny tone caused Shredder to blink in surprise.  “Like seriously, I could be… Blue thunder, its fabulous right?”

Shredder growled and raised his fist; the foot bots entered a fighting stance. 

“Ohhhhkay, obviously you’re boring, mmmm how ‘bout a code?  Oooo!  A5158?  Too much?” 

The blades on Shredder’s gauntlets slide out.

“Yeah, that might be a bit to boring, I agree... Oooo something a bit more dramatic!  How do we feel about Sonic?  Oh wait no," Leon let out a dramatic sigh, "that's under copyright."

“What?!”  The whimper came from Leon's counterpart who was staring at him like he was crazy.  Man, did they not have good television in this dull universe?

Daimyo snorted; he seemed to get it.  Leon turned to him, “You’re from my universe, aren’t you?”    

The villain raised an eyebrow, “I thought we’d established this.” 

“Evidently NOT!”

“Its not the runes from your dimension that tip you off, but the fact that I understand a reference?”  The deadpan tone was mildly offensive. 

“In my defense– wait!"  Leon's mind reeled itself back in.  "How are the runes functioning anyways?”

Raph snorted, “You think he’s just gonna tell y-”

“You’re a battery.”

“Oh come ON!”  Raph threw his hands up.  Hmmm, the red turtle might need a therapist after this.  Leon filed that away for later.

“Its simple,” Daimyo began his monologue with a twisted grin.  “There is no need for the earth to provide the mystics when you’re here!  Your body produces more mystic particles than most yokai.  The runes simply harness those to lock down your access to your abilities.  Kinda like if a generator was locked in a room providing the energy to power the lock.  Genius, right?”

“I was gonna say annoying,” Leon’s heartbeat started to steady, they weren’t here. 

“I can’t believe he told you.”  Donnie’s grumbling voice came from behind.  “That was the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a while, and I live with Mikey.”

“HEY!” 

“It’s true Mikey.”

“I never said it wasn’t”

“I grow tired of this chaos.”  Shredder’s voice cut into the chatter, echoing around the room.  “You needlessly argue and complain, kill the humans and capture the turtles.  Foot bots, attack!”

With a dangerous chirping sound, the bots acknowledged the command.  With weapons at the ready their eyes locked onto their targets. 

“Protect April and Casey!”  Leo’s voice rang out into the space.  Immediately the four native turtles formed a circle around the humans.  Weapons were raised, and eyes narrowed.  

Leon flipped his swords, there were around four dozen Foot bots, forty-eight robots.  Shell he wished Donnie were here, his twin could make this whole ordeal so much easier. 

With a mechanic whir the soldiers charged, and Leon ran to meet them. 

It was well accepted that Leon was the fastest. 

Raph was the strongest.

Mikey was the most acrobatic.

Donnie was the smartest.

But Leon could out pace them any day.

Even without his ninpo, which gave him the ability to literally cut through time and space, he was fast.  Within two of the Foot bot’s paces, he’d crossed the distance of over two school bus lengths.  Blades flashed in the light as he whirled through the ranks.  Sparks flew as his metal sunk into the bots again, and again. 

‘DANGER’

His senses lit up like a firework, he spun, but not fast enough.  A needle jabbed into his neck, through his scales. 

His swords went through Daimyo like he wasn’t even there.  The sheep yokai jumped back with a cackle, in his hand was a syringe, not unlike the ones Draxum used.

“Before jumping universes, I made sure I was prepared for any possibility!  I stopped by my dear cousin’s lair to borrow anything he might have laying around.  Low and behold what do I find?  A tranquilizer with enough dosage to kill an elephant, tucked away inside a needle strong enough to pierce steel!” 

That would explain why Leon could feel the drug creeping into his system.  It was one designed specifically for him and his brothers.  Eyes snapping desperately to the syringe he searched for the band of color to indicate how screwed he was.

Orange.

Mildly screwed.  If it had been Raph’s dosage Leon would have been out two minutes, tops.  Mikey’s would take a bit longer, around ten.  Was that enough time to defeat these enemies and get this dimension away safely?  What about the scroll?  How was he supposed to get back home? 

Panic flooded him.  Speeding up his heart and pumping the drug faster through his veins.  He needed access to his powers.

Unbidden Donnie’s voice cut through his memory.  It had been the day Leon’s twin had been attempting to teach his siblings about electricity.  About why a breaker might trip, an overload.  To protect the circuits from too much electricity they would shut down. 

Leon’s thoughts raced, his blades whirled parrying attacks but his mind sped ahead, distracted.  Could he pump enough power from his mystics to overload the runes?  They were only designed to suppress a certain level of power.  Could he cause a burn out?  The drug was causing his thoughts to fog.

A cry dragged him from his mind.  His head whipped around to search for the familiar shout of pain.

 Donnie stood in front of April clutching his staff in one hand and tucking his injured arm against his chest.  In front of him stood six of the robots, they advanced forward, uncaring of the threats the purple turtle threw.  His brothers were scattered across the room, locked in battles of their own.  Raph smashed two robots together and let them fall, spinning he tried to leap to the defense of the purple turtle.  With a cry two of the robots pounced on his back, bringing him down. 

Leo cried out in horror as he sliced through the neck of one of the robots.  “DONNIE, RAPH!”  He made a move towards his brothers only to be blocked as more soldiers filled to gaps. 

Mikey and Casey stood back-to-back, fending off attacks that came from the group of robots surrounding them.  Casey stood awkwardly keeping the majority of his weight off on one leg.  Mikey was sporting a large bruise that stretched across his forehead. 

Leon could only stare in horror, the dimensional counterparts seemed to flicker until all he could see was his brothers.  In danger, again, because he wasn’t good enough. 

He wasn’t strong like Raph.

He wasn’t smart like Donnie.

He wasn’t creative or acrobatic like Mikey.

Was this happening again?  Did he cause this?  He did, didn’t he?  He needed the scroll, he’d brought them here, he’d lured them into a trap.  They were going to be hurt, killed, captured, and it was all Leon’s fault.  You can’t do anything right!

YOU WRETCHED PEST

The world needed master Leonardo , and all we got was this guy.

I’m nothing without them

I WILL PROTECT THEM.

With a roar that tore itself from his throat, his power surged.

The room lit up like a bolt of lighting came down.  Blue, bright and blinding, electricity crackled and snapped merrily around the walls, burning through the runes scratched into the walls.  The smell of ozone filled the air, almost suffocating the inhabitants.  A pillar of blue light stood in the middle of the room, power pulsing from it in devastating waves.  Even the foot bots had halted in their attacks to stare at the unexpected variable. 

In the center stood Leon, stripes glowing with a vengeance they hadn’t before.  His swords seemed as though they had been dipped in starlight, his eyes were lit up solid blue, not unlike the power crackling around him.  His fangs had lengthened, sharp and deadly.  His claws clutched the bright blue pommel of his sword, they had grown to the length of an average pinky.  The blue light gleamed off of them, they were as black as the wrappings that made their way up is legs and arms.  In the middle of his chest sat the glowing Hamato symbol, it pulsed with a green light and seemed almost as bright as the blue that danced over the room.  

“Well Crap.”

Shredder whirled on Daimyo when the younger spoke.  “You ASSURED me that the runes would hold!” 

“I thought they would!  These sorts of mystic levels shouldn’t exist! The spell wasn’t designed to contain this!  This-” Daimyo gestured towards the beacon on power, “shouldn’t even be possible!  There’re no mystic particles for him to be drawing from!  He himself is generating the power!” 

“FIX IT!” 

“I CAN’T!  You know what?  This entire scene is above my paygrade.  I’m out!” 

“You dare-?!”  Shredders enraged voice followed Daimyo as he tore open a portal to the closest dimension.

“I obviously DARE!”  With a last call over his shoulder Daimyo hopped through the gateway and sealed it behind him. 

“WHAT?!”  An excited shriek came from a human in front of him.  The green haired kid pulled a notebook from seemingly nowhere.  “Who are you and tell me EVERYTHING about your quirk!”

“Shoot.  Wrong universe.”

On the other side of the portal chaos reigned.  

“HE HAS A FINAL FORM?”  Donnie’s enraged squawk could somehow be heard over the rush over energy overtaking the room.  “WHAT’S HE GONNA DO NEXT TURN GIANT AND START EATING PEOPLE?”

“NOT THE TIME DONNIE!”  Leo’s voice grunted in exertion as he sliced through a robot standing in his way.

“FOOT BOTS ATTACK THE FOREIGN TURTLE!”  At the order the soldiers snapped back to the battle eyes fixated on Leon.  Or they would have if they had been able to. 

Unfortunately for them, Leon moved.

His twin blades cut through the air in an arc, they spun like a boomerang, taking down a dozen bots in an instant.  His claws flashed as he tore through robots like they were paper, the floor dented every time he leapt forward, the claws on his feet leaving deep gouges as he roared at the oncoming enemy.

With a flick of his wrist his blades appeared back in is hand, bringing them down he cut through the air.  With an electric ‘snap’ dozens of small portals opened around the necks of the foot bots.  The blue rings looked reminiscent to choker, as they circled the robots.  With a twirl of his blades the portals closed, severing the heads of all the remaining bots. 

Their bodies fell lifeless to the floor, heads clanging uselessly against the metal floor. 

With a snarl Leon turned to face Shredder, with every step he took he left footprints in the metal behind him.  He stalked menacingly towards the man, blades held ready at his sides.  His glow had dimmed but the electricity remained.  Leaping from the turtle to the floor and back again.  Sparks danced across his scales and glowing stripes.  His eyes no longer glowed blue, instead they were a soulless black, dark and unyielding.  His bandana tails snapped as though there was a wind, and his shell shone in the blue lighting. 

This was what he was made for, destruction, power, death. 

He completely ignored the stunned silence of his counterpart, and the turtle of this dimension.  Their eyes watched him in amazement and fear.  They stood close together weapons held at the ready, as though waiting for Leon to turn on them. 

Leon only had eyes for the man in front of him. 

The tranquilizer had been burned out of his system by the burst of power, his head was clear, free of the drug.  Leon should have let them man off with a warning, should have checked on his friends as they clustered behind him.  Instead, every instinct was focused on eliminating the threat.  

This human had hurt his family, and now he would pay. 

With anger singing in his very soul; Leon lashed out. 

As his eyes met the human’s his mystics stabbed into the mind of the foolish prey in front of him.  He dove into the web that made up the Shredder’s soul.  Glowing strands twisted this way and that, pulsing red and angry.  This time Leon didn’t care about reading them, didn’t care about making the Shredder kind, or causing him to rethink his life choices.  He cared about pain.

He wanted the Shredder to hurt.

Leon grabbed the strand closest to him without any hesitation.  Without bothering to look at it, he took his elongated claws and shredded it.

The man in front of him let out a heart wrenching scream.  Leon only smirked and grabbed another. 

And another.

And another.

And another.

The Shredder was on his knees now, hands pressed against his ears, a wail coming from his lips.  Leon stood before him with a cold look, watching without sympathy as blood poured from his eyes, nose and ears.  In fact, the blood made his soul sing.

“Alright dude… I think you got him.”  Mikey’s voice cut into his rage as he tore through another piece of the man’s soul. 

A sob tore through the lips of the man on his knees. 

“Leon stop!”  Leo’s voice joined Mikey’s. 

“He deserves this.”  Leon turned his head slowly towards the group.  Gone was the playfully tired turtle from a few hours ago.  Instead, the six stared into the eyes of a killer. 

As Leon tugged at another string something caught his attention.  Without hesitation he pulled the thought forward. 

Hope.

The Shredder was holding out hope. 

Why?

Broken words made it to Leon as he dug into the feeling.

Hold on-  longer… coming… alliance…  kill – assist… Kraang.

With horror Leon ripped out of Shredder’s head.  The Kraang were coming?  Here?  Now!?

With a whimper the human tipped forward to faceplant against the ground.  Leon couldn’t bring it in himself to care.  Heart beginning to race again.  He couldn’t do this!  Not again!  He needed time, space, he needed-

“Hey!  Sorry we missed the party!” 

Chapter Text

With horror Leon ripped the blue strands of his mystics out of Shredder’s head.  The Kraang were coming?  Here?  Now!?

With a whimper the human tipped forward to faceplant against the ground.  Leon couldn’t bring it in himself to care.  Heart beginning to race again.  He couldn’t do this!  Not again!  He needed time, space, he needed-

“Hey!  Sorry we missed the party!” 

A dazzling purple glow cut through the blue that still tore through the room.  Orange and red joined the foreign color to dance in light flickers, soothing the aggressive blue static that leapt from surface to surface.  Leons mask tails snapped behind him as he whirled, claws slicing through the metal floor like butter.  His eyes searched frantically for the familiar voice.

“Awww man!  You didn’t save any bots for us?” 

Mikey

Relief tore through his veins like a balm to the panic. 

His brothers were here

Wait, his brothers were here? 

“I can see by your baffled expression oh ‘twin of mine’ that you are confused!”  Donnie, with all of his theatrics, stepped forward.  “It was all thanks to my brilliance!  You may now applaud aaand thank you very much.”  

Leon’s voice caught in his throat as his twin struck a pose.

Raph pushed past Donnie’s bowing, “What he’s tryn’ to say is after last time he found a way to track your signature.” 

“And then-”  Mikey bounced forward “your mystics weakened the border between universes!  Allowing us to break through with Donnie’s tech and a bit of razzmatazz!”

“Still waiting for that sweet, sweet applause Nardo!”  Leon’s hands shook, relief overtook him, his brothers were here.

Eager clapping came from the corner housing the four native turtles. 

“WOOOO!”  This worlds Mikey was applauding with stars in his eyes.  With a bounce in his step he made his way over to Leon’s little brother. 

“You’re me right?  Dude!  I love your stickers!”  The stars in his eyes were exchanged for hearts. 

“Mikey now is not the time!  The Shredder is right there!” Leonardo’s exasperated voice entered the conversation.  The blue banded turtle looked weary, his swords hung loosely by his side as he regarded the newcomers with trepidation.

Raph took one look at the slightly steaming man crumpled on the floor behind his brother before giving him a disappointed look.  “Leo!  What did we say about murdering people?” 

Donnie’s hand shoved Raph out of the way, his eyes gleamed with a feral light. “Never mind that!  Look at all this free tech!”  The arms of his shell emerged, gleaming in the artificial light.  With the joy of a child on Christmas he began examining the scattered bots.  “Not as good as mine of course!  But nevertheless!  The amount of bombs I could make out of these bad boys would make Oppenheimer drool!”

Raph, having recovered from being shoved by the enthusiastic purple turtle, crossed his arms.  “Donnie!  I was being serious!”  His gaze flipped back to the slidder, “Now, Leo, did you have to kill the guy?” The unimpressed stare lost its weight when the man behind the blue turtle groaned. 

“See?  He’s fiiiine!”  His voice changed to a mumble “Unfortunately.”  His ninpo crackled within, reminding him of what he’d learned.  The panic returned all at once in a surge that overtook him.  “The Kraang!” Leon twirled on his heel and jabbed an accusing finger at the pathetic man on the ground.  “He called them here!”  It came out in a snarl, fangs bared and fingers clenching on the hilts of his swords.   “And now they’re on their way, and I want to destroy them.” 

Hatred flowed through him like a river, all of the anger he’d been housing since the Kraang had invaded his own home.  All of the guilt, all of the despair, all of the rage.  It hit him like a train, he didn’t want this dimension to suffer the way theirs had.  These versions of his brothers, he could still save them from the injuries and the trauma.

These were turtles that he could protect.  He wouldn’t- couldn’t fail.  Not this time.  Not again.

A small hand found his shoulder; he almost sank his teeth into the dark green scales before recognizing his youngest brother.  His eyes snapped up to meet Mikey’s

“Violence is never the solution.”  The soft voice cut through the thoughts whirling in Leon’s head.  His brother glowed a soft orange and Leon watched as the glow traveled from Mikey to himself.  The peace that washed over him was heavenly. 

It felt like warmth, and love.  Like honey, slow and sweet.  Leon’s breath stuttered on the exhale; and his shoulders untensed.  The last of the blue sparks settled down as his claws retracted into nails.  ‘Oh, his brain registered, Mikey’s empath mystics’.

Leon wanted to reach out with his mind, slip into Mikey’s soul, his thoughts, find the answer to his question.  ‘Would it truly be ok to leave these turtles to fend for themselves?  Could they survive the Kraang without Leon’s intervention?’ Mikey might have been the youngest, but he was wise beyond his years.  Often Leon wondered if the Mikey from the ruined future had merged with his brother, it wasn’t unfathomable.  Leon allowed his gaze to drift to the floor, examining the grooves he’d made during his fight with Shredder.  He was made for destruction, could he truly avoid interfering with the Kraang?

Then the hand on his shoulder tightened and Leon’s gaze snapped back up to meet the fierce gaze. “But today it’s the question, and the answer is yes.”

Almost against his will Leon’s mystics sparked, and he was tapped into Mikey’s mind.  He could see the dark raging sea of turmoil under the honey of the orange mystics.  The anger that the youngest brother held, towards the creatures that had taken and tortured his brothers.  He wanted to burn them, to crush them and watch them suffer.  There was no redemption for the creatures who sought to enslave entire worlds. 

Determination hardened Leon’s gaze and the blue turtle could see it reflected in Mikey’s eyes. 

“Donnie!”  Leon swung around, his voice switching into leader mode. 

Donnie looked up from where he was buried in a growing pile of parts. 

“How do you feel about decimating some Kraang?” 

A maniacal grin spread across the genius’s face and his form glowed purple.  The tech around him whirred, reacting to his mystics.  “Nardo, I thought you’d never ask.”

“Hold on!”  The twin voices of Raph and Leonardo cut into the tense air.  The two older brothers glanced at each other, recognizing the concern in each other.

“Leo look” Raph’s pleading tone split the air.  “Raph knows you want revenge, and I agree, but it’s too much risk for a dimension that’s not ours to protect.”

“You can’t just destroy the Kraang, we’ve tried, the have too much fire power and their numbers are overwhelming.”  Leonardo stood next to Raph, arms crossed. 

“But Leo-” Donatello stepped out from the cluster of resident beings.  He stepped up to Leonardo’s shoulder and the blue banded turtle turned to face him.  “This might be our best chance at getting rid of them for good!  Look at what Leon alone was able to do to Shredder!”  He gestured at the foot bots scattered across the room.  “We would have been overwhelmed with this number of enemies, and he took them out instantly!”  The purple turtle gazed hungrily at the small sparks of blue still emanating from Leon.  

Raphael stepped into line with the purple turtle.  “Donnie’s right, I’m all for destroying them!  You know it’s better to have back up Leo.  As much as I wish we could get rid of the scum ourselves.”  The smack of his fist connecting with his palm echoed around the room.

“They’ve interrupted my pizza runs for the last time!”  Michelangelo bounced up to join his brothers.

From the corner the two people that had stood uselessly chimed in.

“Heck yeah!”

“Let’s do this!”

“Wait” the loud whisper came from Mikey who was staring at the two humans “Who are they again?”

“I’m the amazing Casey Jones!”  The girl standing next to him elbowed his ribs and he winced.  “Aaand this is April.” 

Donnie stared, double took, and blinked twice before twisting to stare at Leon “What?!”

Leon threw back his head and laughed.

-----------------  ----------------------  -----------------

The cuffs dug into Leonardo’s wrists as he was marched towards the center of the kraang ship.   The pads of his feet shuffled across cold metal as a gun pressed itself into his back.  Around him the air felt stale undisturbed, void of life.  Discomfort writhed under his skin, stamping it down he turned his eyes to the halls around them.

The hallway seemed to go on forever, the walls felt stifling, clinical.  The lights buzzed with a florescent glow, sounding like cheap LEDs.  The back beams running horizontally along the white walls were woven with the sickly pink energy of the kraang.  Similar pink energy ran though the white forming glowing heptagons.  It cast a glow into the walkway that reflected off of the silver metal of the kraang droids. 

“Move Turtle.”  The slam of metal hit the back of Leo’s shell. He’d slowed to take in the environment, causing the kraang escorting him to notice.

Leo stumbled forward with a wince.

“Hey!  KNOCK IT OFF!”  Raphaels harsh tone cut through the near silence.

“Silence.”  The barrel of the gun raised.  “Or the ones known as Donatello will be terminated.”  There was an audible gulp from where the purple banded turtle had come to a stop.

“Raaaaph, shut up!”  Donatello hissed at the red turtle, “we need to do what these lovely kraang ask of us!”

The lead kraang droid narrowed his eyes.  “The ones known as turtles are being suspicious in the eyes of kraang.”

“Whaaaat us?”  The genius sweat dropped. 

“The one who is known as Donatello is making a comment that falls in sarcasm.  Kraang does not have what is referred to as ‘time for this’”

Raphael glowered at the bot.  All 9 droids aimed their weapons at him with a whir of mechanics.

“Enough!  Kraang!  You may have captured the three of us but you haven’t gotten Mikey!”  Leo’s voice cut through the tension, “He’s still free with Master Splinter!” 

The lead droid let out a robotic laugh.  “The orange turtle is no threat to kraang.  He will be eliminated in the time that is short.”

Leo’s hands tightened into fists, causing the cuffs on his hands to cut harder.

“Now turtles do that which is known as walking.”  The three were shoved forward and marched down the hall swifter than they had previously.

In front of them loomed a huge door way. Easily 15 feet tall with silver doors that slid open with a hiss.  The three turtles were shoved forward towards the ledge of the platform, peering over it they saw thousands of kraang, droids, hovercrafts, suits with multiple vicious looking arms, golems, kraang beasts that crawled on all fours. The sea of gray and pink sent a sick feeling into Leo’s gut.  And on the screen behind them that stretched the entire, massive room…

“Brothers!” 

The booming voice of Kraang Prime shook the room.

“Today I’ve gathered you all here to witness the extermination of the TURTLES!”

A roar went up from the sea of bots.  Screams for blood.  Like a beast, ravenous for fresh meat.  

Fear flooded Leo. 

“I’ve called you from each and every edge of the multi-dimensional worlds for I want you to witness our victory!  Use it as fuel, destroy your own turtles!”

The cheers of the crowd intensified.  As Kraang Prime continued speaking from the screen behind them.

The droids behind the brothers shoved them forward towards the ledge.

Under the ledge sat nothing but open air, hundreds of feet below sat a toxic green pool of sludge webbed with pink.

Leo’s hands shook.

“Our troops bring the orange one now!  They fought together now they may DIE together”  The door hissed open again and Mikey was shoved through, he struggled against the guards.  Kicking and writhing.

“Kraang found him lurking here, Kraang Prime.”

“MIKEY!”

The orange turtle was shoved, and with a stumble he fell towards them.  The brothers rushed to catch him before he hit the ground.

The youngest looped his arms around their shoulders and the four turned to face the Kraang leader with determination.   Leo took a breath as they were pushed towards the ledge.

“You think killing us will break our cause?  Do it.  There are others, Casey, April, Spike!  You will not be allowed to take the world freely Our name will haunt you even after we’re gone!”

Kraang Prime threw back his head with a laugh. 

“And what would you like me to remember you as?  Weaklings?  Roadblocks?  Mere pawns to greater things?”

With a flurry of movement all four turtles raced for the edge.  The kraang droids started after them before halting, realizing they were headed for the drop.  

Reaching the edge first, Mikey turned, he saluted once before falling.  In a loud voice he called back- “Nah bro!  We are the teenage-”

“Mutant-”

“Ninja-“

Not stopping to turn Leo pushed off into the open space.  He could see his brothers falling below him and with a twist he twisted to see Kraang Prime’s dumbfounded face.  Spitting one last word towards the leader he finished what his brothers had started.

“TURTLES!”