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Chapter Text

They’ve been fighting these Yōkai for what seemed like half an hour. They thought it would be easy, well Leo thought it would be easy. Raph considered a different approach regarding the size of two of the three Yōkai but of course Leo being Leo rushed in all full of himself, disregarding his own safety. Without a second thought the slider had pushed off from the roof of the building opposite the electronic store, which was currently being broken into by the Yōkai. Leo had came out of nowhere, the blue clad turtle's foot colliding with the side of the grizzly bear Yōkai’s head causing her to stagger to the side. Raph remembered freezing for an instant second, feeling a prick of frustration before a wave of worry hit him, he had launched off the roof instantly, Mikey and Donnie following close behind. They had landed behind the stag beetle and serpent-like Yōkai, blocking their chance of escape into the City.

So that’s how Raph ended up face to face with a pissed off stag beetle. Mikey was occupied  with the serpent one while Leo and Donnie were zipping around the bear. 

Fighting the stag beetle was tough, obviously, with his size and natural armour he put up quite the fight. Raph could feel beads of sweat travel down his skin as he brought up his arms,  protecting his face from another one of the beetles attacks. The beetle brought down his hunting knife, sinking it into the turtle's right arm, his breath hitched at the flush of pain running up his arm and the liquid that seeped out the wound. 

“Raph!” The name erupted from Mikey. Raph snapped his head towards his brother's direction, noticing the serpent Yōkai, panic filling him rapidly. Mikey seemed completely unaware and the serpent knew. They moved quickly, lunging their body forward revealing their glinting fangs. They sunk them into the box turtle's shoulder, a panicked scream escaped Mikey and the serpent recoiled back. The sound of their brother's scream caught Leo and Donnie off guard, giving the bear Yōkai the upper hand. She charged at the slider, bunching up her fist before swinging it at Leo. Her large fist collided with his face, sending him flying back and crashing into Donnie. The two met the store’s brick wall harshly, oxygen escaping the twins lungs at the force. 

“That’s called karma” the bear Yōkai spat out, wiping away the blood from her nose with the back of her hand, a result of Leo bashing her snout with his sword hilt.

Raph’s eyes skipped to Leo and Donnie then to Mikey then the stag beetle who still kept his knife lodged in his arm. His heart pounding heavily as panic and adrenaline flowed through his system, numbing the pain in his arm. Raph couldn’t let his brothers get hurt again. 

Raph yanked both of his arms away, the hunting knife slicing through the rest of his arm, his mind was fixated on his brothers, he wouldn’t forgive himself if they got hurt more. As he rushed over to Mikey the serpent Yōkai held their arm out to the side, a light turquoise glow fading in as they flexed their fingers, a similar glow formed on the ground. Raph's eyes widened as the serpent flicked their hand upwards and a manhole cover rose up. The Yōkai pulled back their arm, the manhole cover following their motion. 

‘Ain’t no way they're gonna throw that’ Raph thought.

The Yōkai did in fact manage to throw it. It flew through the air, coming at Mikey with dangerous speed. Raph opened his mouth, the word ‘duck’ on the tip of his tongue, his vocal cords creaking. Without the word, Mikey popped into his shell, hitting the concrete floor while the manhole cover flew past and crashed into the wall at the end of the alley, the loud clattering of the metal ringing through everyone's ears. Raph dipped downwards, scooping up Mikey who was still hiding in the comfort of his shell. The snapping turtle kept his little brother close to his plastron, breathing heavily as he ran towards Leo and Donnie. The twins were struggling to catch their breath with Leo attempting to stand up. Raph shifted Mikey under his right arm rushing past the bear Yōkai and scooping up his remaining brothers. The bear Yōkai growled with frustration, swiping a clawed hand at the snapping turtle. Raph twisted himself, keeping his brothers shielded from having their skin sliced open, before pushing himself off to the side, landing awkwardly on his feet. The stag beetle came out from behind the bear, bringing his hunting knife down.

Raph, using his ninpō, released a replication of himself, it jabbed the beetle in the side, making him clutch the area, before dodging an attempted slash from the bear Yōkai. Raph swiftly placed his brothers on the concrete before manifesting a large construct of himself, using it to scoop up his brothers and place them safely on the roof of the building they saw the Yōkai from. He sighed in relief knowing that they would be away from any more harm. 

The snapping turtle turned back to the Yōkai, freezing upon finding that the alleyway was now empty, frustration built up within him.

—

The Four brothers found themselves on a large, tall building, the moon shining down on each one of their shells and highlighting their intricate details. Raph’s arm would continue to bleed profusely as he placed his beloved brothers down on the cold rough roof. Donnie would scoop up his younger brother who continued to stay within his shell, rubbing it as he took his breath back from the cruel atmosphere as Leonardo stood up and dusted himself off since he noticed his older brother's injury as they were dragged out of the fight and up the tall building. Leo swiftly began to look the wound up and down, examining it thoroughly. Raph did not take this lightly as he still had adrenaline pumping through his system and rather than tending to his own wound, he took this opportunity to scold his younger, arrogant and irresponsible little brother.

“Leo, what were you doing out there? You could’ve gotten one of us killed with your immature and irrational actions, you don’t think about what you’re doing and just rush into the battle before even assessing the situation! We almost died there Leo, all because you couldn’t stop yourself from jumping into battle recklessly.” Raph would glare down at his brother, his words harsh but having meaning to them. 

However, as expected, Leo was not paying a single drop of attention to the snapping turtle nor his words. All he knew was that his brother was injured and that he hadn’t said ‘hero’ so no pizza bite! Donnie was rubbing Micheals shell as he finally popped out his shell but wasn’t moving much and seemed to be injured as well.

“Micheal is wounded too, we should return back to the lair” Donnie interrupted the two, finding that it wasn’t the time for an argument or, well, one shouting at the other and Leo just ignoring his brother completely.

“You’re right, let me get mikey and then we can go.” Raph sighed, finding that they all should just get back to the lair to have their wounds treated, especially since he was growing worried about Michelangelo’s injuries. Leo would nod, flicking his mask tails as he turned to Donnie and Mikey.

“Right away hermanos! Me, the amazing medic will tend to Mikey and Raph’s injuries!” The turtle spoke as confidently as he usually did. They all agreed that they needed to get back to the lair to re-group, tend to their wounds and call April much like they did every other evening.

Raph would gently pick up Micheal and coddle him like a baby, loving him dearly, as Donnie fidgeted with the pop-its that Leo carried around with him, Leo would continue to annoy and examine each turtle with snarky and over-confident comments that would obviously be added onto them.

An hour later, the four turtles had returned to the lair and were now bandaged up to prevent any infections or worse, and it seemed that Mikey had sustained many wounds that needed to be treated since as it turned out, the serpent Yōkai’s ‘venom’ completely numbed the box turtles arm, with additional tingling and numbness in his neck.

However, Donnie had made sure that Mikey had gotten to bed as Raph and Leo went to clean Rapheal’s wounds as it was quite deep and had bled quite a lot. Leo would gently wash Raph’s wound with a cold antiseptic wipe as the red clad turtle kept his arm up and his eyes fixated towards the door of Mikey's room, he was extremely worried for him. Leo would continue to clean his wounds before accidentally wiping a bit too harshly, tripping over his chair slightly. Raph would take a sharp inhale of pain.

“Seems I have tripped over my own gorgeousness!” Leo attempted to joke half-heartedly as he laughed, finding himself funny. Raph let out a sigh, unfazed by the comment and finding himself unbothered by the accident. Instead, he wanted to know what the hell Leo was doing in that fight that would cause him to act so careless, finding this a good time to bring it up as Mikey had gone to bed. The snapping turtle cleared his throat and settled his attention on the red eared slider, his eyes completely focused on his little brother.

“What were you doing in that fight, Leo?” He asked calmly, starting off gently, he wasn’t angry yet and he wanted to keep quiet for Mikey's sake.

“I was being flashy! It almost worked too!” The slider spoke loudly, flicking his mask tails as he did so. Clearly, he’d forgotten that Mikey had retreated to bed

“Flashy? Almost Worked? Leo, we lost the fight and Mikey got hurt, Donnie is overwhelmed and is signing out of stress and you got slammed into Don!” He began to raise his voice out of aggravation from Leo's ignorance and growing concern for his brothers’ health and safety.

“We still got out and we could have won that fight!” Leo argued back to Raph, voice increasing in volume as he spoke back.

“We only got out because I got us out, we weren't going to win that fight and it was plain obvious! You need to think things through more carefully, you can’t keep putting yours and others lives at risk! That isn’t what heros do, Leo, that is the polar opposite of what they do! They don’t make rash decisions based on one small look at the situation.” Raph began to shout back, both turtles getting louder as their argument escalated..

“You got us out of there because you thought it was the best decision. Well, plot twist ‘Hero’, it wasn't the best course of action as Donnie and I were perfectly fine, we could’ve fended for ourselves! We could have won if you actually participated in the fight!” Leo snapped back, thoroughly believing his words.

“Also, you said Hero!” He said abruptly before Raph could even get a word in, grabbing the now cold pizza box and taking the last slice out of it before taking a bite in front of Raph's face.

Raph grumbled “You aren’t taking any of this seriously, are you? Are you even taking the team's safety- our brothers’ safety seriously? How can I know that you won’t get any of us killed one day?” He scolded, a burning frustration bubbling within.

A huff of annoyance escaped the blue clad turtle before he spoke up again, his tone sarcastic but oh so sour, “look around, alright? We’re fine, Mikey’s fine, Donnie’s fine, nothing bad really happened. Stop fawning over us like we’re tots, we don’t need you hovering over us 24/7 anymore so just back off a bit. You’re not our dad so stop trying to be one.” He finished, voice harsh and void of any humour that would indicate he was attempting a bad joke. The slider simply slumped himself into his chosen chair, taking a swift bite from his still very much cold pizza.

Raph sat there speechless, failing to gather up his words as a variety of different emotions bubbled up and festered inside him. He wanted to say so much but he just couldn’t find the words he needed. 

“You’re overreacting hermano, we would have been fine and we didn’t need your ‘rescue’ oh, beloved hero” Leo brushed him off, continuing to eat his slice of pizza.

Raph clenched his hand into a fist, knuckles turning white as he sat there listening to Leo's constant arrogant comments of how Raph’s rescue wasn’t needed. The snapping turtle continued to grow more and more frustrated, fueled by the raw hurt he felt as the slider continued.

He eventually snapped, activating his ninpō and slamming his fist into the desk beside him. The wooden desk collapsed in on itself and every bit of medical equipment fell with it, making a huge noise that echoed throughout the lair, ricocheting off the walls before Raph got to his feet and stormed out, remaining silent the whole time.

Leaving Leo speechless as he walked out.

Raphael found himself walking in one of New York’s many dismal alleys, the cold air providing him with a small chill as he roamed around aimlessly. He’d forgotten one of his few jumpers back at the lair in his haste to leave, all he had on him was his equipment and phone. He’d be fine though, he always seemed to be a little warmer than his brothers, a benefit of his human DNA he supposed.

The snapping turtle let his thoughts roam free, too engrossed in them that the noise of passing cars and the silent chatter of distant citizens faded into a comfortable background noise, his guard completely down as he wandered around slowly. This however left him oblivious to the figures lurking about in the distant shadows and rooftops, eyes set solely on him.

One of the men dressed in a black suit was nestled on a rooftop, accompanied by other men dressed similar if not the same. After a moment of silent observation, he walked off to a farther part of the roof whilst reaching for the radio on his belt. He stood still as he held the radio close to his face, static being emitted before he spoke into it,

“We’ve located the specimen, awaiting further instructions.” The man said with a monotonous voice, listening to the crackle of the radio’s static once more as he waited patiently for the other end to reach back.

“Capture and bring the specimen back to the facility.” Another man spoke up from the other end of the connection, just as monotonous yet holding more authority. Without waiting further, the man placed the radio back into its designated spot and nodded to the other men lingering nearby, signalling it was time.

Raph sighed, turning his back to one of the building's walls, slumping down onto the floor, slotting himself between a stack of various boxes and an old worn down fridge. He crossed his legs before dropping his head into his hands. What Leo said hurt, his words cut deeper than the knife from earlier. Raph was just scared of feeling that same sense of dread back with the Krang, not being able to save his little brother as he was almost pulverised, thinking he would never see him again. He never wanted to feel that again.

The snapping turtle sat there in the dark alley for a long moment, inhaling and exhaling deeply. 

‘ Everyone’s fine now Raph, everyone’s safe’ he repeated it to himself, feeling himself relax slowly.

The sudden quietened sound of clinking glass caught his attention, snapping his head up to see nothing, well in front of him at least. Almost immediately after, there were sounds of metal sliding against each other, they were quieter but Raph still took notice. He couldn’t see who it was with the fridge and boxes obstructing his view, he took his tonfā’s from his belt, gripping them firmly. He shifted into a crouched position, ready for any potential attacks. It was probably unlikely, was he just being paranoid? Maybe.

The snapping turtle leaned forward, holding his weight with his left arm, his good arm. He turned his head to the left, nothing but darkness covering the end of the alley, then to the right, the glow of the city’s bright lights spilling into the alley. Nothing dangerous but there was this feeling, down in his gut, telling him something was wrong. Slowly, Raph rose, cautiously stepping out from between the boxes and fridge. He took two small steps before stopping, tonfā’s held tightly as he looked around again. Every muscle in his body tensed, the feeling of unease growing stronger the longer he stood there. Noises emerged from the darkest part of the alley, more shifting of metal. Raph stood firm, bringing up his tonfā’s, staring dead ahead into the abyss, awaiting the possible danger to spring out at him.

Raph felt his heart stop as a large rat emerged from the little void, it stopped to look up at the snapping turtle while twitching its little nose. Raph felt his whole self release, gaining some comfort in knowing it was nothing dangerous, just a rat, an adorable one too with its little nose. 

Raph bent down, resting his arms on his legs, giving the calm rat a smile.

“Hey there little buddy, you lost?” he said, putting on his ‘at one with the animals’ cutesy voice. The rat's ears turned, it rose onto its hind legs seeming to be on sudden high alert. It looked around, making Raph feel uneasy again. 

“What’s wro-” The snapping turtle was abruptly cut off, as a sharp pain shot from his neck and around his body. Raph fell to the floor, dropping his tonfā’s and hitting his face on the stone while his muscles cramped painfully and a small burning feeling remained on his neck . His arms were shaking uncontrollably at his side, his vocal cords straining. He told himself to move but it wasn’t working, his heart once again was beating fast, not being able to move when in danger scared him. Suddenly, his whole body released, the painful cramp replaced with an ache. 

‘What was that?’ 

Soon after, there was a prick in his upper arm and he felt liquid rush into it, making Raph instinctively shove away the danger. His forearm made contact with something, fabric pressing against his skin then leaving again as he pushed it back. He picked himself up sluggishly from the ground, his whole body still ached with sharp pain frequently shooting through his muscles. He quickly turned himself, his vision consequently blurring making him incapable of seeing the danger. His whole head fogged up, his legs failing to keep the snapping turtle upright. Raph could feel his eyelids begin to drop, blocking his blurred vision until they closed for a final time and his mind shut off. 

Chapter Text

A large ‘FWOOSH’ of a door pushed open, returning back to the lair as the soft shell turtle appeared in the colourful splotched door keeping his eyes fixed on the mess that resided within the large opening. Donatello would approach his twin, hearing all of the conversation, but then again how could he not hear what was happening? Leo would be sitting in a chair continuing to eat the freezing cold pizza as his attention would be drawn to the broken table. Donnie approached his distracted brother, avoiding all the objects and furniture before reaching his brother's view.

“What was that?” He was more demanding than questioning.

The blue turtle looked up at his twin wondering what he meant, being completely content with what he said, “what was what?” His eyes would reach his brothers who stood aggravated in front of him. There was a long pause of silence.

“What was what?” Donnie repeated back to his brother, finding that the question was absolutely ignorant. “Are you kidding? Why did you shout at Raphael like that?” His eyes narrowed at his twin, finding him idiotic and arrogant.

“It needed to be said, he doesn’t need to be so attached all the time. Plus he acts like he is this huge hero who is correct ALL the time!” Leo scoffed, finding that it was obvious and he was completely correct in his statements.

Donnie looked at the slider in disbelief at what had just come out of his brother's mouth. The soft shell would sigh in annoyance, “seriously? Raph is our brother. He is looking out for us. For you as the older brother. I can’t believe you're this self-absorbed Leonardo.” The soft shell turtle spoke harshly towards Leo, being rude but truthful in his word,

“what?! He is clingy, selfish and pathetic. How can you not see that?!” Leo stuck by his statements as he took another bite of his cold pizza.

“How can you not see how he is looking out for us. You are an idiot Leo but stubborn I’ll give you that. Maybe instead of being an absolute thick skulled idiot you can understand Raphaels point and apologise.” Don would glance at the broken wooden table while scolding his younger twin.
A pause. The atmosphere was thick and tense as the two brothers stared at each other.
Donatello would sigh, finding this pointless as he knew that the slider was stubborn and arrogant, not giving up his beliefs. The soft shell would turn to the broken table. “Clean this up. I am going to check on Mikey.” Donnie would gesture his three fingers towards the mess before making his way back to the room, closing the painted door slightly behind him as he entered the dark room.

The softshell sauntered towards the living area and away from the med-bay, leaving his blue banded brother alone and instead searching for his orange clad brother. Donnie could hear the soft static of his little brother's call before he saw the back of his head over the old and worn out sofa, his soft sniffles becoming prominent. Donnie could make out the distinct voice of April on the other end of the call, if she wasn't off at college she would definitely be at the lair by now, snacking on the frozen pizza with Leo by her side. Gross.

Donnie could hear his little brother crying to April, a scene in which just broke his heart as guilt clawed at his guts, he never liked seeing his brothers so upset, especially Mikey. He was just a little guy with a big heart.

"I don't know what to do April," Mikey wept into the phone helplessly, "they're always at each other's throat and they won't listen to me."

He wasn't close enough to hear April's response, but that was okay, he knew she'd be able to calm him down, at least more so than what he could do. The two eventually Said their goodbyes and Donnie took the opportunity to get his little brother's attention with a gentle tap on his shoulder. Mikey's tearful eyes looked up and into his own, no words were exchanged, he instead gestured for Mikey to follow him into the lab. The two walked silently together with Mikey’s head lowered down, wiping his face at some point.

They both made it into Donnie’s lab with him flicking on the light’s, the whole room illuminated by the familiar purple glow. The softshell gestured towards a spare spinny chair he kept, when one of his brothers wanted to watch him work, and Mikey silently sat down, bringing up his knees and hugging them close to his plastron well with one of his arms at least, as the other one was still numb from before. Donnie sat in his chair, twisting it around to face his little brother.
He couldn’t think of the right words on the spot, he was just sat there opening his mouth to say something but only closing it.

“I wish everything was normal Dee,” Mikey began, his voice sounding almost broken. “I miss everything… and I hate it when you guys fight and I can’t stop it so I end up just feeling useless”

Donnie felt guilt pipe up in him again, clawing into him more the longer he looked at Mikey. Then, an idea sparked in him, if Mikey felt like he couldn’t stop it then maybe he could help make them all feel better?

“Y’know, I’m sure Raph would enjoy some [insert a good meat based food] from you hm?”
The box turtle’s head perked up, his expression brightening as he considered the idea. A smile spread across his face and he shot up from the swivel chair, lunging forward to wrap his arms around his brother. Donnie tensed a little at the sudden act of intimacy but it was understandable.

“Thanks Donnie” Mikey had said before quickly turning for the lab door, he twisted back around before leaving, "can you text Raph I’m making dinner?”

Donnie replied with a thumbs up and Mikey turned back around with a flourish, making his way towards the stairs that lead into the kitchen, feeling perked up now.

“Aaaaand another win for Donnie'' The softshell said to himself quietly, feeling some confidence rise in himself. He pulled out his phone from his belt, scrolling briefly through his contacts before pressing on Raph’s and sending him a little summary text of how Mikey was feeling and that he’s making his favourite for dinner.

Hopefully he’ll be back in time.

Raph’s mind felt foggy, his body still ached but faintly. His eyelids slowly lifted, the world around him blurring in and out, he slowly blinked, the world fading from a blur to a clearer picture. Around him were plain grey concrete walls, a light embedded in the ceiling shining down a little too bright for the snapping turtle's eyes. As the view got clearer, he noticed the world was sideways and that something cool pressed against his left arm and leg.

Oh, just the floor…

A shot of panic travelled through Raph, like the emotion had been shocked into him, and he pushed his weight up with his right arm, his body disagreeing with the motion as the ache flared up again. He stood up only for his weight to lean too far to one side, he only just managed to catch himself on the wall. Then, there was an itching on his neck, something was rubbing against his scales sending waves of discomfort through his sluggish body. As his body slowly woke up a cold feeling accompanied the itchiness around his neck, soon followed by a weight.

He stayed slumped against the wall for a moment before weakly lifting an arm up towards his neck, his fingertips being met with cool rough metal. Panic surged through him and he immediately clawed at the metal that clamped around his neck, his breath rapidly entering and exiting his lungs which he noticed it started to become difficult. His claws scraped over the metal resulting in a piercing, screeching sound. The metal remained intact… shit.
Beads of sweat began to form along his skin, his breathing becoming shorter and shorter by the second as if a snake was wrapping around his throat. His vision shortly faded into a blur before becoming clear again, and with that his surroundings were in full view all at once. In front of him this time were thick, steel bars, everything was so grey filling the snapping turtle with a sense of dread.

The sound of shoes clacking along concrete intruded on the silence. Raph pushed himself off of the cool concrete wall, luckily not staggering to the side this time. He locked his eyes to the right side of the bars, too afraid to look away, his whole self tensing as the footsteps got closer.

A man came into view, he wore a white button up shirt with a black overcoat and black trousers and tie, a plain colour palette but an almost intimidating one too.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” the man said with a far too cheery voice, his cold and calculated gaze studying Raph’s entire being like he was something to decipher, a new project to dissect and analyse, and Raph absolutely hated that. He could tell this man was going to be nothing but trouble, so instead of humouring him with an answer, he instead offered the man a cold and harsh glare, his gaze never moving from the man’s face.

The strange man didn’t seem to like his response, his obviously fake smile fell and he returned the hardened glare Raph had offered him tenfold. He cleared his throat and began to speak, this time his voice was cold and calculated, “I’ll just cut to the chase, shall I? You are now property of the Earth Protection Force and will be referred to as ‘Red’ from now on, your cooperation in any and all tests and experiments is mandatory, any forms of refusal will be met with severe punishments. Am I quite clear?” The man said as he lowered himself just to be on eye-level with a slumping Raph, a cocky smirk gracing his features.

The red clad turtle was so done with this guy, he could quite easily use his mystic abilities to get the hell out of here and that’s exactly what he planned on doing. But before he could even manifest his red fist projections, a sharp and agonising pain radiated from his neck and travelled throughout his entire being, sending ripples of blinding pain ricocheting around his body. He fell to the floor completely, clutching onto himself as the pain grew unbearable. Suddenly, the pain just stopped and he was left feeling exhausted and twitchy. All he could hear was the man tutting.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” he chided with far too much amusement lacing his voice, “that metal collar around your neck is able to detect any form of mystical abilities and has been set to shock you when said abilities are sensed. Which also includes your families.. Uh, Ninpo, I believe it was?” Raph could only stare incredulously at the shit-eating grin plastered onto this man’s face. Prick. One of the man’s hands shuffled from within his trouser pocket, pulling out a small remote of some sorts. Raph was quick to connect the dots and the threat the man was clearly giving never needed to be said. He too had control over when the collar went off. Great.

The man seemed to be content with this little interaction and stood up to leave, walking with a confident stride to his steps he called out to the turtle, “The name’s Bishop.” Before disappearing completely into the darkness of the hall stretching out beyond the turtle’s field of view.

Raphael remained sat still in his cell for a small while, a deep ache settled deep within his bones and joints. Motherfucker, that hurt. He finally decided to get up, rising to his feet with a grunt, clutching onto the wall as his head swam, allowing himself a moment to gather his bearings. The room was fairly spacious, decorated with nothing but Raph himself and a single, low quality light that may as well be broken. Through the bars of his cell however, he could see another set of bars across the hall from him. Were the other mutants here? Yōkai? He hoped not. No one deserved to be in a place like this with that Bishop psycho. But at the same time, he didn’t want to be alone.

Alone.

Oh, God.

Where were his brothers?

Was Raph…
Alone?

He didn’t want to be
Alone…

Raph
ALONE

Chapter Text

Bishop watched Red from the control room, absolutely fascinated by the turtle's change in behaviour. It would be something they’d have to look into to prevent from happening, the damage Red was inflicting to the room would quickly become annoying if it’s something they would have to fix all the time. He turned towards his other co-workers before speaking, “He’s to be left alone in his cell for three days. No food, no water. Am I clear?” He spoke with authority, only turning around to leave after sounds of confirmation graced his ears.

—

The snapping turtle was inspecting the cold walls that surrounded him, finding anything that made a noise caused his head to jolt to its source and instantly assume it was a threat. He was on constant guard from his unknown whereabouts and investigated every little surface that he was able to for a chance to escape.

There was a sudden thumping echoing throughout the turtle's ears beyond the bars that he so desperately longed to escape from, Raph instantly rushed to the cold metal that separated him from the outside. Their fingers wrapped around the circular steel, being on high alert and ready to attack the source of the loud noise that continued to echo throughout the hallways, getting louder with each second. The noise was almost muffled by the sound of his heartbeat thudding in his chest with adrenaline as the instant reaction to this noise was to lunge into the origin, ripping it with his teeth, the only thing preventing him from doing so was the wall of metal circular bars between them.

A large figure, that was the source of the thumping, came into view of the large snapping turtle. His reaction to bare his teeth with a snap. A hiss vibrating out of his vocal cords. The figure was abnormally tall, which was ironic compared to the snapping turtle's own size, with deep green coloured scales that varied in shade depending on its location on the stranger, the darkest colour being on his back of his spike-like shapes that ran down from his cranium down to the large tail which swung back and forth. It was the source of the thrashing, swinging back and forth causing a collision against the tall walls of the hallway. Its species being an Alligator, from its appearance it was easy to figure out. Despite the tall and muscly stature of this figure he was covered in scars, bruises and wounds scattered along its body with a heavy collar secure on his neck which was identical to Raphaels. There were two guards that accompanied the Alligator in silver-black uniforms and large guns in hand for protection, guiding him to his cell which was the one across from the snapping turtle.

Aforementioned, the large turtle clung to the bars with his vocal cords vibrating violently each step they took. One of the guards opened up the cell across for the Alligator as the second one pressed the gun against his back, pushing him forwards which made the Alligator make a hiss-noise similar to the turtle was still doing. The stranger stepped into the cell, the cell slamming shut. Both of the guards would go to leave but Raphael’s arms extended through the thin gaps of the bars and swiped at both of them, attempting to attack but was unable to do much more than that. The two guards stepped back and yelled something incomprehensible to the turtle due to the continuously loud thudding of his heartbeat piercing through his eardrums.

The loud clacking of heels in the distance rang out, getting progressively louder as the person grew closer. From the fast pace they were walking, one could only assume the person was pissed. From within the shadows of the corridor appeared Bishop, his hand grasping the controller to the shock collar tightly as he made his approach to the cage. As soon as he was in reach, he increased the voltage a little bit higher than what it was before and pushed down on the button, shooting his men a warning glare which sent them scurrying away. Incompetent fools. He’d have to deal with them and their incompetence later.

Bishop watched as Red tensed up and fell to the ground, clutching on to himself as ripples of blinding pain shot through him at a relentless pace. The shocks of pain radiated throughout his entire being. A sickening smile crept its way onto Bishop’s face at the display. The turtle will eventually learn his place, but until then, he’ll certainly enjoy using that collar to his full advantage. He only turned the device off once Red had fallen to the floor, twitching, but otherwise limp. With that, Bishop simply turned around and left the way he came, just as swiftly.

In the cell across from Red’s, a pair of green eyes glistened in the dark, focusing solely on the turtle. For a brief moment, concern flashed in the alligator's eyes before he refocused his attention elsewhere.

—

Raph woke up sluggishly, his eyes bleary and vision blurred. His entire body felt like static and his head thrummed painfully against the walls of his skull, muffling his hearing as a result. All he could feel was the cold concrete below him, the rough surface caused a dull, relentless pain deep within his bones. The dim single light above him was suddenly far too bright for his eyes, sending a ripple of pain straight to his head, causing the headache to fester and grow into something far more agonising than it was just moments before. He closed his eyes, giving them a break whilst wishing for the pain to stop, even if it would be for a brief moment at best. A low rumble from across the hallway caught his attention.

Raph slowly turned his head to the direction the sound came from, reluctantly opening one of his eyes to try and limit the onslaught of pain he was enduring. From within the shadows encasing the opposing cell, Raph could just make out the silhouette of a rather large mutant, its green eyes locked purely on Raph. Raph narrowed his eye slightly, unwilling to be the first one to speak up. He didn’t need to wait long though, as the other mutant spoke up, his voice was low and held a slight rumble to it.

“That looked like it hurt, you alright?” The mutant started off, his tone was gentle despite the harshness of his voice. It sent shivers down Raph’s spine as he heard the voice bounce off the empty walls.

The snapping turtle hesitated before answering, not trusting this strange mutant, “I am fine.” His words were blunt, hoarse and an obvious lie due to his body still lying lifelessly against the uncomfortable concrete of the cell.

The Mutant’s piercing green eyes looked Raph up and down, not believing a single word, “You sure look it.” He huffed, sarcasm lacing in his voice with an eye roll.

Raph decided to ignore the mutant’s remark, opting to instead turn his head away from him and focus on trying to muffle the pain. This headache was really starting to piss him off. He was interrupted from this as the mutant decided to speak up once more, Raph let out a small sigh as he returned his attention to the other mutant.

“The pain will pass in a few hours,” he simply stated, his eyes focused on Raph with something akin to a gentle glint shining within them, “I would recommend you stop pissing off Bishop, little turtle. His patience is thin towards us mutants.”

Raph waited a brief moment before indulging the other mutant with an answer, “how…how long have you been here?” He asked rather quietly, trying not to worsen the constant thrumming ricochetting off of the walls of his mind, acting like war drums sending ripples of pain throughout his entire being.

“I am not sure, time passes differently down here. None of the humans here tell us of the time or how long it’s been,” He said far too casually to be reassuring, “if I had to guess, a few years maybe.”

“Oh,” Raph said dumbly. Was he going to be stuck here for that long? What about his brothers? He couldn't just leave them all alone! What if something bad happened and they needed him? No. No, no, no, no! He HAD to get out, he just had to-

“Eh, relax, little turtle. I’m sure you won’t be here for long.” The mutant shrugged. “So long as you let them do their little experiments and tests, earn what little trust they have to give you, you might be able to slip out of here at one point.”

“Is that what you’re doing?” Raph asked, barely over a whisper.

A small grin crossed over the mutant’s face and he shuffled out of the shadows encasing his cell, inching closer to the bars separating him from the hallway before him. This gave Raph a clear view of the mutant. He was indeed tall, he was an alligator with muted green scales, now almost grey. He sat hunched up against the cell wall, his tail curled in front of his feet. The alligator let out a brief, rumbling chuckle, “I like you, little turtle. I am LeatherHead.”

“Raph.”

Chapter Text

Donatello sat in the dimmed room of the lab, the only light being projected from the screen of his computer. He sat hunched at his desk with his eyes narrowed at the screen of his computer, glaring at it like it would give him answers to all the questions racing through his head.

Such as why his brother’s tracker has been at the same location for the past three days.

Sure, Raph could be staying at one of their friend's places, but for the tracker to not have moved at all for this long was rather concerning. Either his tracker has malfunctioned somehow - which was very unlikely - or, Raph has gotten himself into deep shit. Donnie let out an exasperated huff and collapsed into his chair entirely, running a hand over his face, still glaring at the screen laid out before him.

He hadn’t left his lab since Raph and Leo’s fight, unwilling to put himself in any situation which would force him to converse with his twin. He was mad at Leo. Mad at how obnoxious he could be, it drives him insane. Mad at how Leo doesn't seem to care that their big brother hasn’t come home in three fucking days.

He sat there a short moment before getting to his feet, stretching out his back which was followed by sounds akin to pops and crackles. Man, he had to stop sitting like that. He walked over to the door of the lab with a stride. If Leo didn’t care, then that was fine, it was fine, he’d go find someone who does care. Like Micheal.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he dragged the sliding door of the lab to the side for it to open, squinting his eyes as they were viciously attacked by the lights decorating the lair. He missed the comforting darkness his lab offered him already. Sad face.

He quietly made his trek to the kitchen, just before entering the room, he could hear mikey bustling around in the kitchen; obviously grabbing anything and everything he needed to make himself and his brother's something to eat. Amongst the shuffling in the kitchen, Donnie could hear the grading voice of Leo. He stopped just outside of the room for a moment, hesitating as he debated whether or not he really wanted to go in there and deal with the red eared slider. After releasing a small huff of air, the purple clad turtle decided to just suck it up and walk in, set on talking to the ornate box shell turtle.

The smaller box turtle instantly noticed the appearance of his older brother in the doorway of the large kitchen, not even catching a glance at the scrunched face that the soft shell shot towards Leo who had his hands in the dough, grabbing a bit to eat despite Michael telling him not to!

“Donnie!” The younger said with a cheerful smile, waving him to get closer as his hands continued to fold the pastry he had in neat folds to mix in the pure white powder that the older assumed to be flour.

“Hello, Michelangelo.” The grumble was laced with annoyance that was aimed towards his twin rather than his precious youngest brother that was bubbling with joy as he was cooking for them, which made the turtle so ecstatic.

“Food won’t be ready for a while, If you wanna go find Raph you can both help!” The squeak of enjoyment of his brothers helping him with the food made the bubbling joy overflow the smaller as he smacked Leonardo’s hand that had a dollop of dough in his hand, bringing it to his mouth to eat. The box turtle didn’t even glance at him to know exactly what he was doing.

The soft shell turtle paused, the younger had noticed the absence of his brother like he did but of course he was the youngest so just assumed he was trying to take some time to himself instead of releasing the danger he could possibly be in. Donatello would kill to have the same positive mindset instead of overthinking every little action he took.

“That’s the problem, Michael. Raphael hasn’t been home for three days. Nor has his tracker device moved from the same spot in those same 72 hours.” The turtle informed his younger brother, not caring if his twin had heard their conversation as it was his fault after all.

The cheer that was emanating out of Mikey suddenly became a flow of worry seeping out of every bone in his body. You could almost hear his joy crumble beneath him as the words echoed throughout the large kitchen that had dough, flour and bags covering the marbled sides.

“Then what are we doing here!?” The younger dropped what he was doing instantly, rushing to the sink that was to the left of the island counter that the two turtles were working on. Turning the tap on and leaving dough residue on the knobs as the water streamed out in gushes to clean his hands

Before the soft shell could respond and to attempt to soothe his youngest brother's worry Leo stepped in, his arm sliding between Mikey and Donnie as he rushed to leave the room.

“There is no point in going after him, I bet Raph is fine and being over dramatic over the small argument we had.” His voice was laced in venom that hurt the youngest’s bleeding heart but fueled Donnie’s anger that had been bubbling ever since the fight.

“Even if it is nothing, we still should check up on our big brother!” Michael was always the worried one who, no matter the circumstance, would check up on his brothers. He had a bleeding heart just like Raphael.

Leo scoffed at his words, it being accompanied by an eye roll, this made Mikey even more worried and upset at the older turtle. How could he be so insensitive towards their older brother? Of course they had a fight, but that was no excuse for the lack of worry over his missing brother! 

This was the tipping point for Donnie. The soft and usually neutral hands crunched up into a tight fist as he grabbed the red eared slider’s wrist, removing it away from Mikey. This caused Leo’s attention to flick instantly towards his twin with a scowl.

“What-” before he could even start the sentence properly, Donatello interrupted him.

“You will NOT stop my little brother and I from searching for our older brother. Whether you like it or not, we actually care about the turtle who raised us. So either you get your head out of your ass and come with us or you can sit in this kitchen and wait for us to return with our beloved older brother for you to apologise to.” He snapped at his twin, his voice laced with fury that had been festering inside him for three days, far too long, and it was intertwined with worry for his older brother. Donatello continued to refer to Mikey and Raph as his brothers, not including Leo in that anymore. He was not his brother right now. At that moment, he wasn’t sure he would ever be again.

Leo was taken back from the sudden snap from his own twin, staring at him with widened eyes, processing what the soft shelled turtle had just shoved down his throat. A glance was shot towards Michael who was standing beside the door frame away, not giving an ounce of sympathy for him. Leonardo had this coming from how he was acting recently.

The silence gave Donatello and Michael their answer and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the red eared slider to soak in what was just screamed at him. But, knowing his arrogance and egotistical mindset that none of what his twin told him would not affect any of his beliefs towards their older brother.

It had taken the two brothers at least half an hour to reach the tracker, Donatello’s eyes fixated on the screen that hovered above his arm so much so that he had almost fallen off a few buildings which Michael had prevented.

The clouds above them slowly fading into a dismal colour as the moon slowly rose from the buildings they jumped across, highlighting their eyes and soft features which was scarce from the pure worry emanating from them both.

They reached the alleyway that the tracker flashed on Donnie’s screen. The soft shelled turtle gestured to his younger brother to follow him carefully before they both jumped down into the pitch black and slim pavement between the buildings. There were a few bins that were different colours and a couple of random things scattered along the flooring but no signs of their missing brother which induced their worry that spiked through their lungs. It felt like neither of them could breathe as they looked at the flashing red dot that signalled their supposed brothers location. 

The turtle’s brothers would look more thoroughly despite knowing for a fact that their older brother, who was extremely large and could not hide in such a slim alleyway, before they seemingly both noticed a few drops of blood against the cold concrete.

Their hearts sinked to their stomachs.

Shooting glances at one another before proceeding. It got worse. So much worse. 

There were a few dots of blood but it slowly became blotches of crimson liquid that was very dry then into forest green scales. Then, their worst nightmare. 

The tracker, covered in flesh.

Chapter Text

Just wanted to drop in and let those who were (and possibly still are) enjoying this piece that it's currently in the process of being re-written.

Life kinda got in the way for all of us and so finding the time to just sit down, call, and write out the story became a difficult feat. And then other interests arose for some of us and this story was put on the backseat of our lives.
I still love the idea of this story and would love to continue it, but picking it up from where it was left off felt weird to me. It's been a while since this piece was worked on and my writing style has changed. So, I've decided to just re-write the whole thing.

Unfortunately, I don't think the first chapter of the re-written piece will be up any time soon as I have other stories to focus on writing such as: 'Please, Don't Be A Stranger' and 'When The Body Breaks' to name a few. I also want to give myself to time to properly plan the structure of this story out as last time it was a 'fuck it, we ball' situation. I want to be able to take the story into the direction I wanted, ensure each arc is fully explored, and to be able to give each character a moment to themselves and to flesh them out a bit instead of just focusing on a few of them and leaving the rest to slowly fade away into the background.
Additionally, I think I'd like to wait a bit before posting the first chapter anyways. I might write the first five or so before even posting the first one, this'll just make things a bit easier for me in the long run as I'll have those chapters already ready while I'm off writing ahead. At the very least, it'll prevent me falling behind for a while.

I guess this is just me saying that I enjoyed writing this story with my friends, I still love the idea of it and would love to re-write it. This isn't a piece I've forgotten about, just one I struggled to get back into the groove of and I feel as though a fresh start is what's needed.

I apologise that this update didn't come with a new chapter of the story, but I do hope it was at least just a little bit helpful. Thank you so much to those who read this piece and expressed their love for it, it really did mean a lot to us back when we were writing this and it still does to me. I just hope that the upcoming re-write meets your expectations and does this old work some justice! XD

Wishing everyone a lovely day/night and I hope you all stay safe! ^^

If anyone did have or currently do have any questions regarding this current piece and/or the upcoming re-write, feel free to leave those questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them all!