Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The mission had gone well- or so they’d thought. Leo and Donnie were deep inside the warehouse, farther in than their brothers and quietly portalling the stolen mystic items away before anyone noticed that Raph and Mikey were just the distraction.

They worked in near silence, broken only by Leo’s occasional muffled joke- his way of letting Donnie know he was still breathing. “Man, these guys are so lame. What’s even the point of stealing all this junk? It’s got like bugger all mystic energy.”

Donnie looked up at his twin- complaining again, of course- and shoved another crate through the glowing portal. Leo’s griping was background noise by now. It was his plan, his mission; Donnie knew better than to take him at face value.

Leo wasn’t annoyed. He was scanning, searching for something Donnie’s sensors hadn’t caught yet. Leo just had a knack for that, a gut instinct they all trusted. “Something out of place?”

“Something.” Leo muttered, tugging down his gas mask. His red crescent markings caught the low light as he sniffed the air. His stealth gear- black combat pants, a heavy jacket, twin black masks like Donnie’s- hid what he really was: a mutant, a weapon.

It was strange seeing his twin in full stealth gear- but reassuring too. Stealth missions were theirs alone, something safer for Leo, where they could slip in and out unseen while Raph and Mikey played distraction.

Only Donnie knew the real reason they worked as the stealth team. For one, it kept Leo from losing control. He’d been too intense lately- frankly, even Mikey was worried.

That was the surface reason, the one April and Mikey had guessed. But Donnie knew Leo never had just one reason for anything. He was the king of overthinking, building his plans to perfection- and Donnie wasn’t seeing the perfection yet.

Technically, it was safer. It let Raph shoulder some leadership by splitting them into two teams- or maybe it was Leo’s way of prepping him for the next time he pulled a classic Leonardo move.

Either way, Donnie knew it had something to do with the Hidden City. Leo had woven himself into nearly every corner of the Hidden City in the two and a half years since he’d discovered it.

If Donnie had to guess, staying separate from the ‘Mad Dogz’ persona made Leo’s late night outings easier- those mysterious trips that always ended with more intel, more missions, and more questions.

“You smell something?” Donnie asked as Leo’s nose wrinkled. Whatever it was, Donnie’s mask filtered it out. Leo hesitated, sniffed again. He didn’t crack a joke this time. That alone put Donnie on edge.

“Raph, Mikey- tactical retreat.” Leo ordered into the coms, his leader voice snapping into place. He scanned the rows of boxes separating them from the fight on the far side of the warehouse.

No reply came, but he didn’t need one. Both brothers had learned to obey that tone without question.

“Dee, these guys are retreating too- out of the warehouse!” Mikey reported over coms.

Leo’s spine went rigid. “…It’s going to blow.”

He yanked his katana free, grabbed Donnie’s arm, and slashed open a portal. They dove through just as the world behind them erupted in a mystic explosion. The shock wave struck the open portal mid-jump, hurling them violently off course. “Dee!”

“Lee!” Donnie latched onto their twin as the shock wave tore through the space around them, shredding the exit portal and leaving them adrift in the hazy blue between. Normally, Leo could have opened another- but this time, he didn’t get the chance.

The second wave hit before either could react- ripping through the blue corridor at blinding speed. Hairline fractures spider-webbed across the glowing tunnel. Then came the shriek- a high pitched, reality splitting whine- and everything went dark.

They drifted weightless in the vast in between- a frequency neither had ever touched. Their hands stayed clasped, instinctive as sleeping otters, as they drifted deeper into the dark expanse scattered with portals to who-knew-where.

Well not entirely who-knows-where, as they were about to find out- much too soon. The triangular portal ahead glowed a colour they’d come to despise. Donnie would later insist they really, really, really, really hated that colour- that was two really’s squared.

They crashed- some might say burned- but mostly just crashed, slamming into the roof of a building that overlooked a city both alien and achingly familiar. They stayed there for a long moment, curled close beneath a blanket of ash, too stunned to take in the new world- or defend themselves from it.

~~~ Day 1 ~~~

Leo blinked awake, swallowing a groan as aches pulsed through him- nothing serious, but bruises for sure. Beside him, Donnie’s Ninpo hummed a weak, uneven trill only Leo could hear- sleeping, but not for long.

He cracked one eye open to a sky full of stars, motionless as muffled voices drifted closer. he sent a sharp pulse of Ninpo from himself to Donnie- an instant response. Donnie stirred, meeting his gaze. Together, they listened: three figures, closing in.

“These aren’t the turtles we’re after- so why bother taking ’em to Baxter?” Said the one Donnie could see: some kind of fish Yokai- or maybe mutant? Their minds linked in silent understanding, scanning the scene. A giant cat stood beside the fish- ironic, Leo thought- and a humanoid robot loomed behind them. Odd company.

“Baxter’ll want any turtle mutant he can get, threat or not.” The cat rumbled, scanning them again. Donnie dropped the visual link, keeping still. The two of them were experts at faking sleep- thanks to years of sneaking past an older brother who hated their all nighters. The only thing they couldn’t fake was their Ninpo bond.

“They’ll be useful.” The cat added. “If not as muscle… then as bait.”

The tiger- Leo caught the scent instantly- started forward. Leo moved before thought could catch up: flipping over Donnie, landing in a low stance, and plucking a small bomb from his twin’s pouch with a grin.

“I’ll take ‘hell no’ for a hundred, Alex!” Leo quipped, tossing the stun bomb straight at the tiger’s face. The blast of light cascaded into a chain of smaller pops, blinding all three enemies. Leo didn’t wait- he grabbed Donnie and bolted, the two vanishing into the dark streets before any nearby humans could blink.

So they ran.

“Okay… disaster avoided.” Leo breathed once they ducked into an alley. Then he caught his own pun and snorted. Donnie’s smirk said everything. “Now- where are we? There’s no mystic energy here. The air feels… thin without it.”

“Best guess? Alternate dimension. Probably one without mystics.” Donnie said, factually as always. Leo nodded, rummaging through his satchel of near infinite storage and pulling out two cloaking brooches.

“If this world hunts Yokai- or uses them like that guy implied- we keep our heads down.” Leo said. Donnie accepted the brooch, thoughtful but silent. “First, we find out where we are. Then: fake IDs, cash, clothes, somewhere safe. After that, we dig into the how and why.”

“Already tapped into this world’s network.” Donnie murmured. “It’s 4:32 a.m. Friday. New York City.”

Leo exhaled in relief, stashing his black masks into the so called bag of holding and swapping them for his usual bright blue. Donnie did the same, exchanging stealth for familiar colour- ritual, almost.

“We’ve got maybe three hours before people start waking up. Enough time to sort IDs and money. But first- clothes. We look shady as hell in full stealth gear.” Leo prioritised.

Donnie smirked, pressing the brooch. His combat jacket shimmered, shifting into worn leather with the Disaster Twins insignia etched faintly on the back. Leo followed suit, his grin widening as his own jacket adjusted.

“Good enough?” Donnie asked, already knowing the answer from Leo’s wide, satisfied grin.

“Perfect, Atlas. Now let’s find somewhere you can hack that isn’t an alleyway.” Leo said. Donnie closed his holographic screen with that trademark smugness.

“Well, Theo, lucky for you- a cafe just opened down the block.” Donnie’s tone was casual, but Leo caught the edge of amusement. Leo smirked, flipping his bright-blond hair back and checking his own holographic map.

“Perfect. Split up, meet there in ten. Mi genio gemelo.” Leo replied with mock formality. “I’ll grab us a laptop and some pocket change.”

They nodded once, synchronised by habit, and split off into the city. The walk helped. After everything, the quiet streets and the clarity of Leo’s presence through the Ninpo link were grounding- strangely comforting. The connection was cleaner here, no feedback or static. They could probably even talk across distance if they tried. Odd… but not unwelcome.

The cafe bell chimed softly as Donnie stepped in, offering the red haired server a polite wave before sliding into a booth that gave him a clear view of both exits- habit, not paranoia.

“Be with you in a second!” She called.

“Oh, I’m waiting for a friend.” Donnie said easily, fully intending to let Leo deal with all social interactions.

She smiled and turned back to fiddling with the coffee machine, leaving him to observe. The cafe was small but cosy- eight booths, a scatter of tables, beige walls softened by band posters and leafy plants. A jukebox sat in the corner, mercifully silent.

Leo kept his promise- slipping in minutes later with a small laptop under one arm, a satchel slung across his shoulder, and an entirely too proud grin.

“Might work, might not.” He offered, sliding into the booth and setting the laptop down. “Figured you only need it to look busy.”

The band sticker on the lid made Donnie snort. Typical Leo.

“Good assumption.” Donnie’s answering smile was smaller, but genuine. They tucked the offered sunglasses away and began typing, the laptop whirring obediently to life. To their surprise, it worked fine- easy to link into their other systems.

They hesitated only when they noticed Leo scanning the room, eyes sharp even behind his easy grin.

“I’ll find us a place.” They murmured. “You handle recon.”

“Sí, I know you will, mi gemelo. But don’t rush- we’re out of our element.” Leo said softly, tone half-teasing, half-leader. Both turned subtly as the red-haired server approached.

“I doubt anything’s out of your element, but thanks.” Donnie muttered, already typing- screen angled just enough to block prying eyes. Leo’s award winning smile slipped effortlessly into place as the server stopped beside them.

“Morning! Can I get you two anything to drink?” The red-head asked brightly. Leo’s gaze flicked to her name tag—April. Huh, coincidence?

“Good morning to you, Miss April.” Leo said warmly, Donnie’s eyes flicking up monetarily. “We’ll take one medium black coffee with dash of milk, and a large green iced tea- six ice cubes exactly.”

He slid a crisp hundred across the table with a sunny grin. Donnie tracked the exchanged subtly, typing away even as his attention was divided.

“Absolutely, I’ll get those started and grab your change.” As she walked away Leo felt Donnie’s stare and raised an eyebrow in silent invitation.

“Do we have an actual plan?” Donnie whispered. “I get laying low, but if this is an alternate dimension… there could be other us’s here.”

Leo’s face gave nothing away as he shook his head. “For now, we’re better off alone. We’ll get our human IDs sorted, then scout this world- find a way home.”

Donnie rarely questioned Leo, but the frown came anyway. “It’s just- we’re a long way from home. Shouldn’t we take any help we can get?” Donnie pressed, voice low as the waitress returned with two cups in hand.

“Your drinks.” She set them down- coffee before Donnie, tea before Leo- and lingered just long enough to watch them trade cups. “Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing, you two are new to New York?”

“Sí.” Leo said easily, accent thickening just enough. “We came to what everyone calls the city that never sleeps for a fresh start, per se.”

Donnie sipped his tea, pretending to be absorbed in code.

“It sure is.” April said with an easy smile. “If you need any info or advice, I’d be happy to help.”

Donnie’s fingers paused briefly. Something about her scent was familiar, it put him on high alert. Leo had to have caught it too.

“Actually.” Leo said smoothly. “We’re looking for an apartment, somewhere to get settled. Any areas you’d recommend?”

Donnie bit back a sigh- he could’ve pulled that data himself in seconds.

“Oh, sure! A friend of mine just moved into a place- great landlord, good area. I can grab you the number if you want to check it out.” April offered. Leo’s returning smile was warm, practised. Donnie felt the falseness hum through their Ninpo link. Leo’s masks were always flawless… but strange to witness up close.

“That’d be fantastic.” April turned to leave, but Leo’s voice stopped her mid-step. “Wait- one more thing. Is there some kind of, uh, comic show? People in costumes? I always forget the name.”

“Oh yeah, sometimes! Comic-Con’s the one with superheroes, Renfaire’s the medieval one. Why?” Donnie’s fingers slowed as they tuned in to her heartbeat- steady, then a flicker of quickened rhythm.

“Just curious.” Leo said lightly. “We passed two people in costume on the way here- one of them huge, looked like a tiger. Pretty impressive.”

Her heartbeat spiked. She knew exactly what he meant. The name wasn’t a coincidence.

“A tiger?” She echoed, feigning innocence. Leo caught the flicker of suspicion anyway and brushed Donnie’s knee- a signal.

“You’re still insisting he was a tiger?” Donnie said, giving Leo a pointed look. “It was pitch black, Ri. You probably imagined it.”

Leo laughed easily, slipping back into the role of the confused foreigner. “Not a tiger-un tigre sería tonto. No, it looked more like a bear. Big, muscular.”

Donnie shook their head, lips twitching as they returned to typing. It wasn’t often they ran intel side by side with Leo like this. It was… nice- to help him in ways they usually couldn’t.

“You really need to study your animals, mi pequeño hermano gemelo.” Donnie teased. Their accent wasn’t as thick as Leo’s, but good enough to keep up the “immigrant twins” act Leo seemed to enjoy.

“Sí, sí, lo sé.” Leo grinned as April walked off, unaware of the tiny spy-fly Donnie had slipped onto her collar at his silent cue. Donnie waited until she was out of earshot.

“Suspicious?” Donnie muttered.

“Very. She knows something about that tiger mutant- maybe more.” Leo took a slow sip of coffee, meeting Donnie’s questioning gaze.

“So… we’re not actually calling her friend’s landlord, right?” Donnie asked, half expecting Leo’s grin. They’d always differed- Leo liked reading people; Donnie preferred data.

“My wise, wise twin,” Leo said, lips curving. “If we stay away, she’ll only grow more suspicious. Better to let the watcher think they’re unseen than avoid eyes we can’t locate.”

Donnie hummed, conceding the logic, if not the risk. “Isn’t that risky? What if the apartment’s compromised- or her friend figures us out?”

Leo only smirked, setting down his cup. In that moment, Donnie remembered—Leo always saw the wider board.

“Only if we make it risky,” Leo countered. “We’ll find an apartment with one window- one we never really use. Let them watch. We’ll stay messy enough to look harmless, take a few meaningless missions to keep up appearances. If no one bites, good. If they do, we’ll trace them without tipping anyone off.”

Donnie just blinked at him as April returned from the back with a small slip of paper.

“Top number’s my friend’s landlord—tell him you know Casey. The second one’s mine. If you need help, call anytime.” Leo accepted the note with a dazzling smile.

“Muchas gracias—uh, thank you, April.” Leo watched her disappear into the back, music faintly humming. “Check.”

“And mate. I can track both phones when I get set up.”

“Even better. Let’s figure out just who these people are.”

Chapter Text

~~~ Day 2 ~~~

“Your hunch was spot on.” Was the first thing that Donnie said as he exited his brand new lab, which was currently just a whole bunch of old tech covering the floor as they scavenged to make different stuff- including an alarm system for their new apartment.

“Hmm, which one? The Tiger one or about April? Oh, or is it both?!” Leo looked up from his own laptop as he lounged on the comfy sofa- the same one that had originally been bugged by whoever April’s companion was- Casey.

“Both, unsurprisingly. Overheard a conversation about an old fight in a warehouse from the bug before it was blocked.” Donnie flicked a holograph towards Leo, his prosthetic easily picking up the signal and playing the feed it was sent. “I’d say that our counterparts might have found it.”

“I mean, it was a fly, it could have just been squashed.” Leo commented as he looked over the video he was sent.

It showed an old warehouse type of building that clearly showed a Tiger mutant, fish mutant, a bone-wolf mutant and several ‘foot soldiers’ guarding the building- they had feet insignia on their uniform. “The people we encountered two days ago are part of this world’s foot clan. Plus, three mutants in one spot when mutants are so rare, it’s suspicious.”

“They’d likely have a way to mutate people, which is something we might have to help put an end to.” Leo concluded as the feed skipped ahead to show four turtle mutants, a human girl with red hair in a yellow jumpsuit and a masked human wielding a hockey stick. “This world is so weird.”

“Agreed. Unfortunately that feed is from three months ago, I can find stuff from earlier than that too, but I haven’t been able to find a match on the turtles or mutants since.” Leo hummed along as it seemed he got lost in thought, however Donnie also knew better than that, that Leo processed new information quite well. He built plans at incredible speeds normally.

“I’d assume that they are just trained in stealth well enough to avoid the cameras in this tech lacking city, don’t worry about sightings just yet though. See if you can investigate the foot a bit more, find out what they are trying to do and why they are laying low so much.” Donnie nodded in understanding as Leo replayed the feed to analyse their attack patterns as best as he could. “It’s only our second day here Dee, don’t stress if you can’t find much just yet and just get used to combining your Ninpo with this worlds tech instead.”

“Right, I’ll try.” Donnie went to walk off, only to get a frown from Leo as he noted the slight shift in his voice.

“I love you, Don, you know that right? You know I’m proud of the work you are doing… right?” Donnie faltered, unsure as they looked back to their twin.

“Of course I- I know that. Sorry, I’m just, I don’t know.” They lamented, as if that was enough to explain their inner turmoil. Leo gave them a sad smile and patted the sofa besides himself, an offer that Donnie took up before leaning their head against their slightly shorter twin.

“I get what you mean. This world is different, new, and down to it’s fundamentals it’s just plain wrong. We don’t have Raph, Mikey, either of our Dad’s, we’re missing the Casey’s and we’re especially missing our older sister, right?” Leo started softly as he offered his hand to hold, which Donnie happily accepted.

“Yeah, this April is just so, so wrong.”

“I know right, but it doesn’t matter because we’re going to get back home. Maybe not today, next week, possibly not even in this month. I know that bothers you but I promise you that no matter what I will get you home again, to our family.” Donnie squeezed his hand as he listened.

“Is this a ‘we’ or a ‘me’ promise?” Leo’s hesitance said volumes, that he hadn’t considered if it would have to be a certain one of those yet, that it didn’t matter to him, not until he tapped his head against Donnie’s shoulder with a sad but true smile.

“I don’t know. I can’t promise it will be a we, I can only promise that I will try.” Donnie let out a long sigh- while also saying it, of course- as he pulled away in order to grab his twin and turn him to face them.

“I don’t care what happens, either we go home together or not at all.” They left no room for him to decline, no way for him to break his twins heart again. So he let out a small huff and grabbed Donnie’s hands to hold them in his own.

“If that is what you wish, then I promise.” They both knew it was a loose promise, but it could be worked on, they could get their twin to actually mean it if they were patient enough.

“Good. Then let’s take this world by storm.” They chuckled together at that, the Disaster Twin’s against the world. Donnie found they couldn’t leave their brother’s side, Leo tucked in close and vulnerable for once in a while. So they stayed, they let themselves stay in the moment and just be there for their younger twin, the leader that often took the world on their shoulders- maybe he should have taken the name Atlas instead.

They would be fine, they would survive the strange environment and they would return to their Family as soon as they could- if they could. If it was possible at all. They promised.

~~~

“So how’s your ‘pet project’ coming along?” Raph teased as he walked in on Casey, April and Donnie crowded around a computer at the living room table in order to stalk Casey’s neighbours- something that had started around two days ago. April halfheartedly glared at him as he walked past to get a bowl of cereal.

“You don’t find it odd that two humans are unreadable to April?” Donnie enquired, causing Raph to stop for a second and shrug.

“Well, she can’t read everyone, Sensei is an exception too.” Raph argued as he settled opposite the three of them and munched on his milk-less cereal.

“These two aren’t ninja’s trained over several decades, they looked barely 16, maybe even 15.” April told him again, but the brute just didn’t really care- sure it wasn’t great to have someone who couldn’t be read by April. It wasn’t like those guys were a major threat though, they were some ratty human teenagers looking for a place to stay.

“They also found the bugs that Casey planted.” Donnie offered as if the fact that there was bugs planted in the first place wasn’t a huge issue.

“I think I’m moving towards the teen’s side more every time I hear about this.” Raph commented with a slightly amused but mostly disappointed look on his face.

“Agreed.” Leo added as he walked into the room, looking ready to give a lecture. “Why on earth would you think bugging two teenagers apartments was a good idea? If you want to find out more then go be a neighbour and deal with it the right way.”

“Can’t believe I’m saying this but Ol’ Fearless is right.” Raph grumbled, poking his tongue out at Leo when he tried to act all smug about it. “Anyway, shouldn’t y’all be looking into the Tiger Claw sighting?”

“I have no proof there was a Tiger Claw sighting, I didn’t exactly have much to go off of.” Donnie informed the pair of them as Leo sat with his own bowl of cereal- with milk. They all knew there was something off happening, which was why Donnie stood with a sigh. “I’ll go check it all again though, I might have missed something.”

“We’ll look at doing longer patrols as well, you up for that Raph?”

“Sure, Fearless, higher chance I get to punch something!” Leo rolled his eyes but otherwise smiled at Raph’s enthusiasm, even if it was at the wrong thing. Both of them could acknowledge the lull in activity in both the foot clan and the Krang, plus any small time criminals. It was off putting, like the calm before a raging storm- they didn’t like the calm and they especially didn’t like the storm to come.

~~~ Day 6 ~~~

“This is the place?” Leo asked as they watched the building across the street with an unimpressed glare, until Donnie lightly whacked him with the infrared goggles they had been using.

“Take a look yourself.” He did, taking the goggles and checking out the interior of the warehouse only to find a whole lot of heat signatures. There were two largely built people that were likely the mutants they’d seen before and a third walking with them, while there were also signatures for maybe two dozen humans. “Do you think it’s trafficking?”

“Yeah, I thought we were here to bust mutagen trading though, how the hell did you find a human trafficking spot in 3 days?” He wasn’t arguing about stopping a trafficking ring- or whatever it was meant to be- but it meant the intel was wrong.

“Your intel was on point, it just looks like they are aiming to get the mutagen and get started immediately.” Donnie amended, which didn’t make it any better.

“Well then let’s hurry to get into that building to wait for whoever is bringing the mutagen.” They nodded to each other and pulled their hoods on as they ran across the rooves, before silently making the jump into the open warehouse window. They both moved quickly and quietly through the rafters with all the stealth of the Ninja’s they claim to be, a two man squad.

They found a good vantage point with enough shadows to easily conceal themselves while also being able to see all of the entrances and the two mutant guards- a bear and a Gorilla. There was a human there as well, all dressed up in a suit with a brief case in his hand. He was there, impatiently waiting while 21 humans were locked in far too small cages, awaiting their fate. Leo signed to Donnie. Brief case?

Money, what it always boils down to. Donnie replied with his own signs as he went to scan the building again. After a minute he noticed the incoming vehicle, they were either a human buyer or mutagen seller- Donnie thought it was likely the latter. One suit, five body guards.

That number just jumped quite a bit didn’t it? Mutants or? Leo asked as the vehicle pulled up outside of the building, causing the buyer and body guards to hover towards the entrance.

Human, definitely armed. When weren’t they armed? It would be far too lucky for them to not be armed and just be there for the picking- not like Leo was turning away from a fight though. He had his battle shell and all of his tech, it was Donnie he was worried for, even if they were both fully capable of fighting front lines, Donnie still wasn’t as capable as Leo.

Hold, let them talk a little then we’ll strike when they have their guard a little lower. We might have to use mystics. Donnie nodded as the six people walked in, all of them in stylish suits- that didn’t mean they each weren’t armed to the teeth though.

“Good Afternoon gentlemen! Trent!” The leaner guy started, handing off the brief case to his nearest body guard as he stepped forward to greet the buyer.

“Wallace. I take it you brought the goods?” The buyer didn’t step away from his two mutant guards, a smarter move obviously, but Leo wasn’t quite sure if who would win if they both fought.

“Trent-y, Trent, Trent, who do you take me for? Of course I’ve got the mutagen.” Leo’s attention was brought away from the two chatting leaders as Donnie tapped on his shoulder while gesturing to four figures that were half frozen at the sight of the two of them. Great, strangers.

“They’re stealthy, sorry I didn’t catch them sooner.” Donnie whispered low enough for only Leo to hear, while Leo got into a defensive battle position as one of the four approached. He was a mutant turtle wearing a blue mask and Leo knew instantly that the op was ruined.

“Who are you and what is your goal?” The Blue one cautioned- Leo was not just about to assume it was the new worlds Leo even if Donnie was- just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

“Free the humans, get the brief case.” The native Leo nodded in return as he joined the two of them on their truss, his team not too far behind as they turned to the situation. “Enemy of my enemy?”

“Yeah, then we’ll sort things out.” The twins shared a look as they formulated an altered plan, Leo taking the lead of the new group before anyone could even say a word- it was a stealth mission, so that was easy.

“Vi and one of yours goes for the cages, I’ll make a distraction while you guys ensure no one escapes.” Leo- or Cyan he supposed, that was the code name set he chose- ordered easily, native Leo echoing those orders to the team as Cyan and Violet knocked heads together. “Stay silent.”

“Normally that’s my line. Stay safe Cy.” Violet teased as they winked to their brother and got up to make it over to the cages, settling right above them until the diversion was set. Cyan rolled his eyes fondly as he unsheathed his Katana with a grin that no one could see. He jumped without hesitation, landing flawlessly on top of the bear Mutant to send him into the ground, successfully gaining the attention of the entire room.

“Well hello everyone, it’s such a lovely night I thought I’d just drop by!” Cyan teased loudly, before orders were suddenly shouted to get him. He took it well, flipping flawlessly over the gorilla’s punch to land on top of it, before he started to dodge lasers- why the hell did the enemies have lasers?! “Wow, I am popular tonight! The attention, it’s lovely, but have you met my follow up act?”

Three turtles landed right behind the laser firing body guards, Raph smashing into two of them hard enough to knock them out. “Who the hell does this guy think he is?!”

“I don’t care, he’s good.” Donnie commented as he hit one of the guards with his stick, getting a good look at the way Cyan flipped around and landed minor hits all over his opponents. “Don’t knock some support Raph.”

Cyan flipped and parried the two mutant with ease as he scanned the room for the two people the body guards were protecting. He took a second to perch on the bears head once the lasers finally stopped. “Well it looks like those guys met my second act, 5 out of 5, however I think our two VIP’s still haven’t gotten the vibe of this show!”

“On it!” Raph and Donnie called out, leaving Leo to watch as the gorilla smashed his fist into the bear’s face, getting a happy cackle from Cyan as he skidded to a stop a meter or two way from the still standing gorilla. He sheathed his sword as the gorilla zeroed in on him, charging his way as he just half jogged on the spot.

“Look out!” Leo tried, before he saw the look in Cyan’s eyes, an absolute joy as he sized up his opponent. It reminded Leo of when he was first getting into the Hero fighting business, however he knew the situation was different somehow, that Cyan knew what he was doing.

“Come on big guy! Haven’t had a work out like this in ages!” Cyan cheered with glee as he met the Gorilla’s fist with a wrist lock before he threw him into the side of the warehouse with a loud thud. “And the winner, ladies and gents!”

Cyan held a hand to the com link, on his wrist, using the lull to check in on Violet. “How’s those humans coming along, Vi?”

“All security disabled and while most of them are quite out of it, they are mostly unharmed. I’ll call the cops once we’re done here so they can handle the human business.” He got back from Vi as he teased the gorilla mutant to taunt an attack, which he easily got.

“Great job Vi, I’ll wrap up here then!” He offered before he round house kicked the mutants face, rendering him unconscious rather easily. He took the chance to analyse the scene before him as he dusted off his hands, seeing Leo and Mikey trying to get the Humans all out of the cages while Vi looked a little out of their element. Raph and Donnie returned with both of the leaders and were working on tying them up together- Cyan, however, had eyes on the briefcase.

With a small hum he made his way over and crouched beside the briefcase in order to open it. He had been expecting either money- if he’d grabbed the wrong one- or a green glowing vial, but not spheres? Cyan took off his hood and stashed his gas mask to leave just the black eye mask he’d donned. He frowned as he grabbed one of the grey spheres to examine. “Hey Vi, do you think these are bombs?!”

“Are you just saying that to give me a heart attack or did you actually just pick up the device you assumed was a bomb?” Violet’s infinitely tired voice called back as they looked up from where they were checking the bear Mutant, gaining a chuckle from Raph and Mikey. Leo was watching closely, trying to figure out ‘Cy’ and ‘Vi’. “At this rate you might just give me a worry chasm.”

“Fair, it is an older sibling curse isn’t it?” Cyan stood to show Violet the piece of tech, who took it without hesitation to examine it with their goggles. They let out a low hum before they looked to the empty warehouse wall and took a small step away from it, before they threw the ball at it. “Vi-! Oh. Oh.”

All eyes turned to the giant mutagen splatter on the wall, enough to easily coat all of the humans that were in the cages- and there were five more of them! Cyan took a few steps closer to it, watching with clenched fists as the mutagen slowly fell down the wall.

Vi stepped in with a hand on his shoulder as he’d emitted a low growl, gaining Cyan’s glare instead of the wall. “You can get angry later, but this is bigger than we thought.”

“It is, which is why I need to ask the two of you to not get involved any further than this.” Leo’s voice called to them, informing the two of them that the other team had reconvened and now outnumbered them. Cyan was not in the mood, not for his alternate self and certainly not to deal with people telling him what he can and can’t do!

“Respectfully, you can’t control what we do in any way shape or form.” Violet interrupted and pulled a seething Cyan behind them, an unreadable and expressionless mask on that they only even really got rid of around Cyan. “I will have to ask you for that briefcase though.”

“Well you won’t get it!” Raph answered for the group, staring daggers at Cyan as he stepped forward, brushing off Violet and their worries. His attitude shifted instantly to be the ‘face man’ he always deemed himself to be.

“Unfortunately you guys are the ones that jumped in on our op, so we aren’t leaving without the contents of that briefcase.” Violet nodded in agreement as they started to type into their arm computer. “We don’t want to hurt you but if you make me I will fight you guys.”

Leo looked between his team and the two kids before him, unsure how strong ‘Cy’ was after he took down two mutants easily, while dodging lasers too- clearly untrained mutants but mutants regardless. He let out a long sigh and signalled for his family to stand down as he grabbed one of the spheres from the briefcase that Donnie was scanning and met the twins half way. “Information for a Sphere.”

“What information?” Cyan bit as he crossed his arms, knowing that this was the best bet at getting their hands on mutagen without a fight- Violet needed to study it for portal opportunities after all. Violet signed to tell him they only had 4 minutes until the human enforcers would be there.

“What are your names?” He started easy, gaining an amused look from Cyan.

“They’re Violet and I’m Cyan, now hand over the sphere.” Leo shook his head though and continued on.

“How old are you two vigilantes?”

“16, now hand over the sphere.” Leo wasn’t done yet.

“Why and how did you hear of this place?” Cyan let out an annoyed groan but answered the question.

“I heard Mr Wallace had an important delivery to make during a recon mission of mine, then Vi added up that there was going to be mutagen at this site, voila, recon turned rescue mission. As for the why, I guess you could say mutation facilities like these hit a little close to home.” None of it was false, both of them knew that, but Violet also knew that was nowhere near the entire story- not like they were going to say anything. “Now hand over the sphere and we can all leave before law enforcement arrives.”

“Two minutes out.” Violet added, trying to for Leo’s hand- there was still a chance for Cyan to fight them if they refused.

“Fine.” Leo submitted, gaining a slightly shocked look from Donnie that said the tech genius assumed he had been bluffing. Cyan happily took the sphere and handed it to Violet- who left as soon as they had the package. “You gonna stop investigating this sort of stuff now?”

“I think you know the answer to that one. Are you going to offer up any of your names, ages and cause for mission?” Cyan teased as he let his twin get a bit of distance, knowing he could catch up in seconds.

“You got a sphere to offer?” Donnie deadpanned quickly as he scooped up the briefcase. Cyan just chuckled at the bite, a knowing smirk on his face as he unsheathed his katana again.

“Touché, Hamato Clan, Touché.” With that he opened a portal and fell through it, landing beside his twin smoothly as they made their way back to their home- mission a partial success.

“Was that Magic?!” Raph yelled out in disbelief.

“I mean it’s not the first time we’ve seen magic.” Mikey offered half sympathetically as they went to leave at the sound of the oncoming sirens.

“Fine, but can it please be the last?” Mikey just laughed as he slung an arm over Raph.

“Where’s the fun in that, silly?”

“Silly? Silly?!!” Raph was interrupted with a light wack on the head by Donnie.

“Ladies! Ladies! Let us leave this place first and argue later, okay? Okay!” Raph just rolled his eyes as he followed behind, leaving with the mission a partial success, with added complications for the future- great.

Chapter Text

~~~ Day 6 ~~~

“God damn it!” Leo yelled out as he threw his jacket across the room- an outburst that Donnie had half expected. They secured the sphere of mutagen before turning to their Brother. “I let them sneak up on me, I let them get a hold of the briefcase, I let the situation rile me up!”

“You did, Lee. That doesn’t matter though, just stand still for a second and-” Leo slapped away Donnie’s hand, a snarl coming from him in an instant, stopping Donnie in their tracks. That wasn’t an outburst they’d been expecting, he’d never… he hadn’t reacted like that before.

“Don’t call me that! I’m Theo here or I’m Cyan there, I am not Leo, not here, not without our family!” Donnie gave a sad smile at that, before they very slowly and gently pulled Theo into their arms, a hug that he defiantly needed by the way he squeezed back. “I’m sorry I interrupted you… and hit you.”

“It’s okay, T, but please just listen to me. It will all be okay, we will get home safe and sound, and until then we have each other no matter what. I mean, we’re Theo and Atlas, Violet and Cyan, we’re the Disaster Twins and nothing will stop us from being that.” They offered, feeling the dampness against their skin as Theo silently cried- something they weren’t overjoyed about but made do with. “Now tell your older and much, much smarter twin exactly what’s troubling you.”

“It’s nothing really-”

“Tut tut tut, if it is something affecting you then it is not ‘nothing’- especially since it caused you to cry- now tell me your troubles and we can keep cuddling, otherwise I go off and work on analysing the mutagen.” Theo just snuggled closer at that, taking a few minutes to get his head sorted as Atlas waited patiently to bear his struggles.

“So, you know how I’ve been seeing Draxum during some of the nights I haven’t been able to sleep?” Atlas just hummed out an affirmative, there was nothing that happened in their house that they didn’t know about after all. “Well, he told me about his original vision, of me being this strong and invincible leader for everyone to rally behind, but I know I’m not. I just feel like Dad shouldn’t have made me leader at all- I mean, I brought us here, I don’t know how to fix this, I should though! I need to know, to fix things!”

“Oookay, those late night meets are now banned, but I am glad that you told me what was troubling you.” Atlas started carefully, thinking back to the corresponding Greek names for Mikey or Raph. “Now, I am not as emotionally understanding as Dio, I am not the oldest Brother like Cae. I am your twin, your other half and your unwavering supporter in my own way, both in battle and out of it.”

“Heh, yeah, you always have been there to fix my mistakes and teach me what I don’t know.” Theo did admit, which was at the very least a step forward in the right direction- sort of.

“Indeed, when I am needed I am there, however I was not the one that taught you your amazing strategic mind or you natural affinity for not only battle but for leading and protecting others during such battle.” Theo just snuggled further into the crook of their neck, as if he could hide from the facts. “While Draxum was our original creator, he was not part of our upbringing or lives until recently. He knows little of your style of leading, but I do, I know your priority is to protect your family and those that can’t protect themselves.”

“This is an admirable goal, and you are a good and wise leader for sticking to it- even if you sometimes give us all heart attacks about what you’re going to do next. What you probably don’t realise is that we all choose you as our leader, we choose you every day. Dad might have made the decision first but we choose to follow you through thick and thin. So have others- strangers even- and so will more, so hold your head high and don’t let others stop you from doing what you do best.” Atlas finished.

“Older, Smarter, Funnier and wiser apparently, how on earth do you juggle it all?” Theo offered with a light chuckle as Atlas gave him a soft smile.

“I have a fantastic twin that helps me.” They admitted as they broke away, lightly patting Theo’s head with a fond look.

“I try.”

“And that’s all you can do. Someday you won’t need me to see just how great a leader you are.” Atlas offered before they turned to leave and return to their lab, after all they needed to get more information for their Leader. They needed to find out more about their counterparts, about the mutagen shipping, and especially if it was possible to use the mutagen to make a portal home.

“I doubt that day will be any day soon- but thank you.” Theo muttered to himself as he went to pick up the stealth gear and set it aside for when they needed it next- if it was a wise idea to go stealth at all.

Stealth had it’s advantage but the only reason they used the new outfits was because he was too noticeable at home otherwise. It was something to think on, just like what to do about the disabled tracking device that the other Leo placed on the sphere they retrieved.

A lot to think about indeed.

~~~ Day 7 ~~~

“16?!” April and Casey echoed as Leo went through the mission debrief once everyone was present. Raph crossed his arms with an unhappy look, knowing full well what Leo would be planning.

“There’s no way your planning on taking in these stray’s, right?” Raph got in, almost begging his leader.

“They’re only 16 Raph-” Leo argued with that look on his face that betrayed how much he wanted to practically adopt them on the spot.

“We were 16 and tackling problems like these at one stage, what’s so different about this?!” Raph argued with a frustrated huff, but when he turned to his other brothers he saw the guilty looks they had that betrayed whose side they were on.

“Raph, it’s just the two of them and they were likely taken away from their normal lives and forced to adapt. They weren’t born with this burden, they didn’t get the training we got. Shouldn’t we at least try to help them?” Donnie argued for Leo’s side, making a very good argument as well.

“I think we should slow down and get to know them and their situation first, I mean isn’t it our job to make sure no one has to go through what we went through? Isn’t that the whole point?” Mikey tried as well, not looking at any of his Brothers when he said it.

“I agree with Mikey. I don’t think just taking in these stray’s is best but we should get close to them, especially if they know about the Hamato clan from our Enemies.” April offered her opinion.

“They could be dangerous adversaries or they could be valuable allies if they want to fight, either way I don’t think we really want to be adding more enemies onto our plate at the moment.” Casey offered a fine point, bringing the argument back to Raph for him to say his piece. He let out an annoyed sigh, very clearly outvoted and he understood why to a degree- how could he not when they were two young mutants out on their own tackling enemies they shouldn’t be tackling.

“We keep an eye on them, ensuring they don’t take on enemies that can do a lot more damage without backup. I don’t agree with taking them in but if we can help them then we should.” Raph relented, only to find everyone looking at him with grateful look as he scowled. “Don’t worry Fearless, I’m still not on your side. These guys may be teens but they are an unknown threat, if we can get close to them and learn about them then you can at least come up with plans to stop them.”

“Alright, let’s start brainstorming then!” Leo cheered as everyone crowded around the table and took a seat. “First we will see if there has been any other sightings of them.”

“On it.” Donnie nodded as he started to type away at his computer.

“Based on that info we could focus extra patrols in those areas?” Casey offered to the table, getting a few agreements as April offered to take three extra patrols in the week.

“If we’re actively searching for these guys then we aren’t doing solo patrols anymore.” Raph informed the group as Leo nodded in agreement- he was quite happy to let the team work together on the plan. It was a more recent procedure that everyone was happy with.

“Say we do run into them on patrol, what is our main goal? Do we just try to befriend them and offer our help or do we try to bring them here?” Mikey turned to Leo, gaining a small scoff from Casey.

“If they even listen to us, I mean, you remember what we were like back then don’t you?” Casey reminded them all, gaining a cringe from Leo.

“That would be why we need to be friendly and find out what their primary directive is first and foremost. Whether it’s revenge, survival, or normality, we will benefit from that knowledge.” Donnie didn’t look up from his computer as he frowned further. “These guys seem quite technologically knowledgeable, there are several dozen blips in camera’s all across the city. There are two that managed to catch Cyan for a few frames that suggest the others are of their doing.”

“Well, that means we can track them by the blips then, doesn’t it?” Mikey tilted his head as he pointed it out, before he noted everyone staring at him. “What? It just makes sense that if they are cutting out the cameras that it would be to hide something, we can get a general area.”

“I’m on it.” Donnie nodded towards Mikey as Leo offered Mikey a small pat on the back.

“Alright, Donnie will track a generally frequented area that we can all Patrol to hopefully catch and talk to these guys further. We need to figure out what they want the mutagen for and if they are planning on gathering more. Is there anything else that needs addressing?” Leo asked the table, gaining a grin from Casey.

“Not this mission related, but I managed to catch Theo the other day and he is now tutoring me Spanish for two hours a week. Our lesson is tomorrow morning, so I’ll get to snoop around a little and ask questions.” April joined in grinning at the update.

“That’s great. Even if it’s not our normal type of mission, it’ll be great to hear if they are doing well or not!” The Turtles couldn’t help but agree, after hearing so much about the two of them with so little information to go off, it would be good to hear about a happy case.

“I hope you have fun with Theo at your lesson then. If there is nothing else then we will reconvene at the same time tomorrow to discuss all gained information.” Leo dismissed them, everyone breaking into their own conversations- mainly Casey telling everyone about what he’d seen of Theo- while Leo followed Raph to the Dojo at their shared look.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” Leo asked hesitantly, stopping all questions that Raph had been prepared to ask. It was still odd to Raph that Leo came to him searching for genuine advice, especially since Leo had proved that he would actually take action on his advice- sometimes at least. “Trying to help the teens I mean-”

“I know.” Raph sighed, feeling rather out of place as an adviser of such, of knowing his older Brother wanted his advice even when he had failed to lead the team several times. “I think… it’s a move you would pull. Looking for the best in everyone no matter the circumstances, that’s classic Leo. I also know they are mutants and that we watched Cyan dance around lasers like they were nothing.”

“So you think they’re too dangerous?” Leo asked with a frown.

“I think their circumstances are different from ours. I think they might be protective of each other to degrees we may not have experienced, but I know that if we push them too far then they will bite back with a force only brought by a corned animal.” Raph said before he let out a long and tired sigh. “Think about it, I’m better at controlling my emotions now but you remember how long it took me to not be an explosive bomb at any moment? What if these guys are like that, able to be ticked off at a second. What if they’re ready to kill when that happens?”

“Then we will deal with it, right?”

“Yeah. We’ll deal with it like we deal with everything.”

“Together?” Leo offered with a soft look before Raph smirked and punched his fists together.

“Nah, with our fists! Now, let’s get out there and patrol!” Raph yelled with a sort of joy that Leo couldn’t get enough of as he grabbed his own weapons and followed Raph out of the lair. There was a buzz of energy between them that came from a lot of work, a buzz neither of them ever wanted to lose ever again.

~~~

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Atlas asked as they tinkered with Theo’s prosthetic arm. They sat at the kitchen top, both of them cloaked as human’s as Theo watched them work.

“Why not, it’d be more suspicious to not meet our neighbour after he helped us get this apartment. Plus, we’ll be focusing on the beautiful language of español, not on our incredibly green skin- skin he isn’t able to see anyway!” Theo laughed it off as there was a knock at the door that was undoubtedly Casey. “Look at that, he’s right on time.”

“Yeah, yeah, go answer the door so you don’t leave your ‘student’ waiting.” Atlas rolled their eyes but had a fond look on their face as Theo jumped over the sofa and stumbled towards the door. He opened it with a sing songy greeting in Spanish that had Atlas zoning out in order to return to the project at hand- literally, it had it’s own hand! Oh, that was bad. At least Theo hadn’t heard it.

“Bienvenidos, bienvenidos, pasen y siéntanse como en casa!” Theo welcomed Casey in with a massive smile, giving the young adult a chance to get a good look at Theo. Casey admired the Heterochromia of Blue and purple and the brown vitiligo over his face and arms, which were easily visible thanks to his light blue tank top- a matching colour to the fabric holding his long blonde together in a ponytail.

“Uh.” Casey hesitated at the lack of an arm, finding a small scarred stump in it’s place that moved in tangent to his other arm as Theo waved at his home. Casey found himself staring at the light scars that littered Theo’s skin, more scars then maybe even any of his turtle friends- possibly combined considering he could only see his arms. His attention was broken away by a second voice.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare at my Brother?” Casey’s attention was brought to Theo’s sibling further inside the apartment, who had a darker skin tone that suggested Theo’s vertigo actually caused his lighter skin colour instead. The Brother had dark neatly pulled back hair that was held together by a matching piece of fabric that was purple instead, matching his patchy jacket that had more shades of purple than Casey had ever seen before in his life.

“Uh, sorry, I just wasn’t expecting- uh, sorry.” Casey awkwardly stepped into their home as Theo just beamed and waved off his apologies. The apartment was ironically littered in purple and blue items in nature, with the walls notably covered in pinned up blueprints and streamers of both colours draped between them. There were soft orange lamps around the room, leaving the area dim except for the table. It felt homely, lived in.

“It’s perfectly alright!” Theo offered as he dragged Casey towards the Kitchen and lounge area in the back half of the apartment, with Casey noting the lock on all three of the bedroom doors. Casey was sat down beside the unknown sibling- who was tinkering with a fucking robotic arm!- at a Kitchen stool as Theo stood on the opposite side with a big grin. “Now, do either of you want a drink before I start the Spanish lesson?”

“Uh, I’m all good but thank you very much!” Casey offered with a matching smile before he turned to Theo’s brother, who he noticed had the same Heterochromia of Blue and purple, with a slightly noticeable vitiligo dark spot on his neck. “I should introduce myself, I’m Casey Jones, your Neighbour.”

“Very well.” Atlas nodded at his attempt before they returned to the arm. Theo placed one hand on his hip and stared them down at that, disappointment radiating off him. Atlas only noticed when they looked up at the notable silence. “T, you know me, this is not my forte, my tech is.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Theo chuckled as he turned back to Casey. “This is my ever so annoying sibling, Atlas. Also, I go by He/him, they go by They/them, what about you?”

“He/him as well, it’s very nice to meet the both of you.” Theo grinned at he headed to the couches and jumped over the back to plonk straight down in the middle.

“Very good, now we should start our lesson. First off, what are you hoping to get out of this? Do you want to build up the basics to understand the language, fix up grammatical errors that get picked up in tests or do you want general Practical practice with the language?”

“Uh, I suppose I need to work on my grammar and fluency.” Casey offered as he moved over to the couch opposite Theo, who nodded wisely and handed a notebook and pen that Casey grabbed easily. “So, what are these for?”

“From here on out you are only allowed to speak in Spanish, I mean obviously you can ask for stuff if you really don’t know but I’d like you to try to go full Spanish. As we do, you’ll scribe our conversation, that way we will tackle both problems at once. Writing it will give us a chance to slow down and think about our conversations while also getting plenty of fluency practice.” Theo grinned wide, almost evilly as he continued. “Entonces, ¿estás listo para nuestra lección?”

“Nacido listo.”

“Bueno.”

Chapter Text

~~~ Day 7 ~~~

“So, how was your lesson with Theo?” Raph half teased as Casey bounded into the lair, a smile on his face that said he wasn’t going to take Raph negatively at all, not letting it affect his mood.

“It was great!” Casey threw his hands out in excitement as he half draped himself over the couch and into Raph’s space, getting a chuckle from Mikey and April as they looked up from their chess game. “Oh, apes, did you know that Theo is disabled?”

“Wait, what? In what way?” She was instantly involved, curiosity leaking into the room as the game was easily forgotten. “Like an invisible disability? Is it Chronic?”

“Nah, he’s missing an arm! It’s honestly super cool ‘cause his prosthetic is like super high tech as well.” Casey lent further into Raph, which earned a shove that sent him joining April and Mikey on the floor with a laugh. “He’s honestly so kind and bubbly, I think you guys would like him.”

“What’s his Brother like?” Mikey tried before Raph interrupted him.

“Do ya know how he lost the arm?” Raph questioned as he pretending to return to his comic books, noticing the frown that replaced Casey’s smile.

“I did ask him-” He hesitated as he thought back.

~~~“Me encanta tu vitíligo.” Casey commented on his vitiligo, only to get a beaming smile from Theo.

“Por qué muchas gracias.” Theo teasingly replied as Atlas chuckled to themselves at something- an inside joke no doubt- as Casey wrote down their exchange, an idea presenting itself as he did so- he was allowed to ask any question during the exchange, as long as he could pronounce it.

“Cómo perdiste, uh, tu brazo?” Casey hesitantly asked about the arm, looking up from his note pad to see the blank look on Theo’s face, uncharacteristically so. It was Atlas that answered with a heavy sigh, turning just enough to see Casey as they answered.

“There was an accident, when we were barely a year old. There was an explosion, our Father told us about it once, how his Lab exploded during an experiment. Our dad saved us, but he wasn’t fast enough.” Atlas frowned as they looked away. “I gained vision issues from the explosion and we believe Theo lost his arm in the same incident.”

“Cae was strong enough to protect our little Brother- Dion- and our Dad was fast enough to save us all from the fire, but ultimately we did lose a lot to that incident.” Theo added with a distant look, as he grabbed at his stump. “Losing an arm nothing compared to-”

“Theo.” Atlas lightly chided, not in an unkind manner but just as a reminder as Theo ducked his head away. “It doesn’t matter anymore, it’s just us now, so we work with what we’ve got.”

“You say that like they are dead.” Theo muttered as Atlas moved to sit beside their brother, the prosthetic arm in their lap as they gestured for the stump.

“It’s as you said. They might as well be.” The tone Atlas gave was one of finality, one that made Casey fully regret bringing up the situation.

“I’m so-”

“Don’t.” Atlas didn’t look his way as they attached the robotic limb to their brother, watching as Theo tested and moved it around, feeling each finger as he went. “Get back to your lesson, and next time your arm plays up I expect you to come to me straight away.”

“Of course, Love you.” Theo squeezed Atlas’s hand in a sort of way that said it was also an inside moment, then Atlas left, sparing a light glare to Casey that fell to a blank look that he couldn’t even try to read. He had screwed up, really screwed up.~~~

“-but it’s a bit of a personal issue. I wouldn’t bring it up with either of them, but essentially Theo lost his arm in a fire as a young baby. They lost more than that though.” Casey’s tone had everyone a little sad, understanding that it was not a situation they needed to be privy of.

“So, did you meet Theo’s Brother then?” April tried to change the topic, getting a smile from Casey as he brushed off the awkward memory.

“Yeah, Atlas is Theo’s older sibling, also they use They/them pronouns! Both of them have these Heterochromia eyes which look so cool! Totally matches their colour scheme.” Casey sat up and joined the other two at the chess set, Raph frowning as he half listened to the three of them talk. He had a weird hunch of where they might run into Violet and Cyan- a very weird one.

~~~

“Remind me why we’re staking out this strip of buildings?” Leo tiredly asked as he crouched on the edge of the designated roof. Raph gave an amused look towards his brother, it was unlike him to not listen to briefings- sudden or otherwise. “What? I was watching my show.”

“Nah, that’s fine, I said the details weren’t important anyway.” Raph brushed off, because there was no way in hell he was going to push back on Leo taking a bit of down time before patrol. He of all people knew Leo was reliable when it mattered, no matter what. “I had a hunch on the colours so I wanted to check out this strip of buildings.”

“Uh-huh, that doesn’t quite explain why we are here half an hour before their predicted routine patrol.” Leo pushed further, on full alert for either of the colour twins regardless.

“This spot is between Casey’s apartment and their typically spotted area, it’s a low camera spot that we need to check out to ensure we have all the information, right?” Leo nodded as he settled into a comfortable crouch.

“So, it’s a stake out? Isn’t that your favourite type of mission?” Leo teased with a chuckle, only to get a long groan from his Brother.

“Unfortunately.” He lamented as he got comfortable in a crouch, making sure to be well hidden in the shadows like Leo, where they would stay for far longer than Raph would like.

~~~

They spent 20 minutes in complete silence. Well it would have been silent if Raph didn’t insistently tap his weapons, or anything really. So Leo finally dragged his eyes away from the row of buildings to give Raph a soft look. “You know, I can come back with Donnie or April to do this, you don’t have to do this.”

“It’s my mission Leo, I’m staying.” He grumbled out, only for a third voice to pipe up right as Leo opened his mouth.

“Ooh~, and what mission would that be?” A light teasing voice came from behind them, causing the two of them to flip around with weapons ready instantly, coming face to face with the Cyan. He didn’t have his stealth gear that time, instead a dark blue jacket and gloves, a light blue mask with tails going down to his hips and black combat pants with colourful stitching sewn on- Purple, orange and red. “Please tell me it’s trying to sneak up on me and my Twin.”

“So what if it is?” Raph bit back as Leo eyed the twin blades attached to his side as he leaned against a half wall with a cheeky look. Cyan was more dangerous than he was presenting, trying to down play his own abilities at any chance, trying to be underestimated- Leo caught it though.

“Well, if it is then someone owes me 20 bucks, so I am going to need you to do a full verbal confirmation for the camera!” Cyan pulled out a phone and set to record as he looked between the two of them, completely unbothered by the fact that they had their weapons out and ready to attack.

“Yes, we were here to try and get into contact with the two of you, though it was not to sneak up on you as such.” Leo calmly offered as he sheathed his Katana, prompting Raph to do that same. Cyan just snickered to himself as he took a moment to message someone- likely sending off his proof for the bet. Raph and Leo shared a look before Leo continued. “Now, we do want to talk about you and Violet-”

“That’s great, Love talking about myself, unfortunately you’ve picked us at a bad time.” Cyan gave him a mock sympathetic look as he turned to leave. “Anyway, great to chat and win a bet, however now I need to recover some items for my dear Violet!”

“Hey, wait, Leo ain’t done talkin’ to you!” Raph fired back, causing Leo to prepare for the worst as Cyan stopped in his tracks. He turned around slowly, watching the two of them with an analytical eye as his grin grew at the grumpy face Raph had. “Let ‘em talk at least.”

“Absolutely, but I will warn you that time costs, if you want to talk and have my undivided attention you gotta offer something.” Cyan gave his case, getting a huff from Raph as Leo stepped forward.

“We can offer help in retrieving whatever items you need.” Raph couldn’t argue with that, because knowing what they were after could also help Donnie narrow down the possible locations, while also getting closer to them to figure out what was up. “Or we can offer information, depending on your questions.”

“Very well, answer the same questions from yesterday and I’ll listen to your ‘pitch’ or whatever it is you want.” Raph blinked at that, expecting some sort of cheeky and impossible to answer question, but it was kind of fair game to answer what they had already answered.

“Okay, My name is Leonardo, this is my Brother Raphael and yesterday you met our other brothers Donatello and Michelangelo, they wore purple and orange. We are all 24 and we were at that warehouse yesterday due to a noticed energy spike.” Cyan nodded along as he seemed to think over that.

“So you guys were able to detect the electric cages through an unnatural spike in electrical usage, fair. Alright, I’ll listen to your spiel, just keep it quick.” Cyan offered as he jumped up on the half wall, placing his Katanas in his lap and letting his mask tails flow freely in the wind. It looked like the epitome of Vulnerability- another act, the calmness of it all.

“Look, it’s just you and Violet isn’t it? You’re both newly mutated and stuck in this new world all on your own, right?” Leo prompted, gaining an amused look from Cyan that was either really good news or really bad news.

“Some of that is correct…” He offered, humouring the two turtles before him.

“Well, while we don’t know what it’s like going from human to mutant like you have, we know what it’s like going up against these enemies, we know you’re probably trying to seek revenge or even a normal life. We just want to help you guys though, in any way we can, because we really don’t want to see any more young mutants lost or dead in avoidable situations.” Leo offered, watching for a reaction. Cyan didn’t laugh it off but he didn’t jump at the opportunity either, he just watched. “I know you probably won’t agree to join us or anything, but let us help you if we can.”

“You know, I have two objectives at the moment.” Cyan started causally, not meeting either of their eyes as he looked up at the stars above him, his blood red crescents more noticeable as he did so- Leo briefly wondered what type of turtle he was. “My first objective is to protect my twin, Violet, from anything that will try to hurt, maim or kill them. However, my second objective is to get home, to get back to a place we cannot reach.”

“Tell us where your home is then, we can get you there!” Raph pushed, gaining an amused smile that seemed a little too fake, a little too faulty. “I mean Donnie can get you anywhere you need to go.”

“That would be great if it could be reached physically, because home is not the location but the family we bring along with us.” Cyan seemed older in that moment, remorseful in a light that they didn’t think he could give. “I have watched my siblings die numerous times, I will keep watching them die on repeat in my head no matter what I do. All I can do at the moment is keep my remaining sibling alive, with me. That’s how I’ll get home, and if it’s not, then I’ll figure it out with Violet. You can’t help us with that.”

“You make that sound so grim, Brother.” A robotic like voice called from Cyan’s arm, causing him to present the metal bracelet towards the sky to allow a holograph of Violet to pop up. “It is not like we can definitively confirm their demise, and your nightmares are not adequate predictions.”

“You know what I mean Vi, this is the longest you’ve been away from all of our family, surely you feel it to?” Cyan tried, a sympathetic look on his face as he watched Violet hesitate before getting back to the topic on hand.

“Yes, I experienced it before and I experience it now, however you experience it the worst and you cannot deny that. Now, go get me my materials or I’ll come out and get them myself.” With that the hologram flickered away in order to show a saddened Leo and a surprisingly softer Raph, knowing a little bit more about the situation- even if it was just what Cyan willing showed them.

“You have our help, with whatever you need.” Leo nodded to him, gaining a confident look from the teen, who was about to response before the hologram came back online.

“I am also not sure if I need to remind you or not but these building will have to be a stealth mission, which means no excessive portals, no flashy distractions, and no killing. This cargo is very important for my latest projects. Vi, out.” Cyan rolled his eyes but hopped down from the ledge and headed over to the two turtles.

“I will have to agree with Vi there, we have a general no killing rule, so stealth is definitely preferred.” Leo informed him, which was good to know he guessed, not that he actively planned to kill anyone tonight.

“Yeah that’s fine, we have a generalised no killing rule too- even if it is more of a suggestion some days. Anyway back on topic. This is the warehouse we need to sneak into, the goal is to steal a bit of tech and get out of there before anyone notices.” He showed a holographic map to the locations. “First two are shown to be nice and easy, in, out, portal the goods to safety and move on, the third could be an issue though.”

“We can handle ‘issues’ pretty well.” Raph grinned as he punched his fists together, gaining weird looks from both turtles in blue. “What, do you know how often I actually get to punch something, I want some action!”

“Nah bro, loving the energy.” Cyan offered a fist bump, which Raph hesitantly returned. “Now, let’s get going!”

“Alright, sure, let’s just run into danger.” Leo muttered as Cyan and Raph got a little head start, he hesitated on calling for backup before he let out a long sigh and caught up to them. “Let’s do this!”

“Hell yeah!”

~~~

“Leo, come in, your location has been stationary for more than 10 minutes.” Donnie called through the coms, the same coms that we’re left crackling on the floor and threatening to be stomped on by the three Mutants that blocked their exit.

“F-Fuck!” Leo grunted as he swayed further into Raph’s grip, as they both stared up at the beasts- turns out Cyan had been right about the third warehouse being harder to hit. Raph wasn’t doing too good either, his eye squeezed shut as some blood dripped down his face. “I knew we should have- Should have called-”

“Save your breath fearless, I know you probably got a few broken ribs over there, so shut up!” Raph was trying to get them both to go backwards, trying to find some way out of the situation they had gotten themselves into.

Their weapons were crushed under the bear’s foot- the same bear Cyan had faced the other day. The bear was different though, almost undead in nature as it’s skin gave way to bones, the blood still pumping and offering it what it needed as it towered at twice the size as last time.

“Split up you said-” Leo broke into a coughing fit as Raph let out a low growl towards the three Mutants. They were all nearly two stories tall, with the underground passageway easily begin four tall, it made them look small despite the way they towered over the two of them.

“Please shut up Leo.” Raph muttered just to his brother as he shifted both of them back a little bit more, only gaining a groan of acknowledgement.

“Soooooo, how should we sssplit our feasst.” The snake mutant asked the other two with a mocking smile on his face aimed at their prey. The white scales were covered in blood as it slivered ever so much closer. The Snake’s speed was unmatched though, the snake could finish them in one bite if they really wanted to.

That meant they were toying with the two of them, letting Raph back away slowly to what was undoubtedly a dead end. Their only hope was the witty and flashy Cyan to come to their rescue, Raph held out for that, held out on the slim chance that Cyan could actually save their butts.

“Oh, I know.” The Lioness purred, a sort of venom coming from her that told them that she was enjoying watching her Prey squirm, trying to escape despite it begin a completely dead end either way. “Two for me-”

“No! Sssshare!” The snake argued, baring their fangs at the lioness before all three of them turned to look down the opposite end of the hallway, including Raph and Leo. There was something else in the hallway now, something that had all three monsters letting out growls instinctively.

They could see the way that blue electricity bounced off the walls, a murderous aura radiating off the mutant that bought such a damning aura with him. All they could see was the pure blue eyes that held nothing but hatred and anger as the turtle approached step by step.

“Permission to kill, Vi?” The voice echoed down the hallway, blades glinting in the light as everyone tensed at the threat- one word was all the turtle needed to strike, they all seemed to know that in that moment.

“Analysis shows-” Vi’s smaller voice came down the hallway too, hesitant, knowing full well what Cyan was capable of.

“Permission to kill?!” Cyan repeated as he watched the three mutants break out of their fear and get ready to attack- just in time too.

“Sigh. Granted.”