The Mage and The Master - heartscreamer009 (2024)

Chapter Text

New York hadn’t breathed so freely since the great extraterrestrial blast in its sky sixteen months prior to the night it currently laid under. Reconstruction was over for its shambled skyline and jagged pikes of skyscraper remains, all embodying the everlasting limbo of whoever’s work and leisure had been interrupted from the attack of the Krang and the narrow reclamation of the leader of the gang of heroes that had permanently obliterated the last reigning predatory race amongst their worlds. If one from the outside had been further involved with the victory of that day, they could’ve probably seen a similarity in the inaction; the driftedness amongst remains with no end to their desolation until someone, someone only from outside that setting, with the power of literally reshaping space around them, could see this as their time to step in and reclaim this moment and space as their own. Such vulnerability was often not welcome in history, and especially in the history shortly following a day as disastrous as New York had already seen and was no stranger to in several years before.

But even though much was left to be done and all had to rely on someone else’s decisions to do it, New York was alive and steady…and happy.

People hadn’t been seeing The Turtles as much, which surprised many local New Yorkers, even though most of those many had to admit to themselves that being out and about wouldn’t be as much of a priority for them after nearly being consumed and possessed by a parasitic, bloodthirsty and gleefully violent trio of aliens. It was a shame that such a dismissal of such trauma didn’t generate as much outrage as Albearto Land did when they announced the grand opening of its new Roller Rink two weeks after the attack, when even the parking lot hadn’t even yet begun repairs from the debris of the Krang’s ship and neighboring debris from the local rubble. The rink had yet been operating at amazing success after being only open for a month prior to the current night, and it turned out that in hindsight, Albearto Land taking the embarrassing risk to draw everyone to gliding across the floor to all generations of music and lights ended up being the greatest blessing in disguise; a reintroduction to how easy and simple it was to remember the people they lived amongst and how much they all had together besides only the proximity of where they slept and ate and worked.

It had taken the arrival of other worlds to live in celebration of the one they already had.

But surprisingly, none of that was enough to get Leo sold on the idea of swinging by Albearto’s Roller Rink while going out for pizza that night with Casey and the rest of the Turtles, not even Raph’s repeated encouragement in the week leading up to their current departure in the Turtle Tank. Donnie had been insisting for days on end that it was his turn to drive and therefore choose the music, and Leo had surprisingly refused to object to that as well, even though they had been following that rule for several weeks already. Mikey had begged to go to Run of The Mill instead of Tony Bro’s, but Leo once again said no, both out of irritation of always avoiding human spaces, and not being in the mood to comedically counteract whatever banal observations or lingering gripes Señor Hueso always tended to share whenever they interacted.

He couldn’t say it wasn’t selfish, but he knew he wouldn’t withstand it, and his brothers had seen him suffering enough. Besides, what kind of heroes would they be if they never took the time to be amongst the people they served? They always had The Yokai, and The Yokai knew that they would always be there too. Humans were the ones with fewer advantages, at least in what they specialized in. Humans were the ones needing greater reassurance. Humans were the ones who they had largely saved that day.

If they knew his motivations tonight included trying to set up Casey, Leo's brothers would probably tie him up and hand him over as fodder for a Battle Nexus. The thought of that made him chuckle a little. Casey might agree with them. But he would immediately regret it if tonight did bring him a new connection, and there was no chance of that happening if Leo let the secret out now. They had always been annoyed with him. He hadn’t changed from the brother they had always known.

But he now had to shift the ways he expressed it, to make sure they understood that he was paying attention, even if he wasn’t listening to them tonight. It was the least a leader could do.

He was getting more than enough entertainment at watching Donnie, Mikey and Casey crowding at the front of the Turtle Tank, going through the first one’s playlist upon his primary phone.

“If you had just abided by the rules, we would’ve beaten the rush happening at Tony Bro’s right now!” Donnie was impressively restraining a full-blown yell that still nearly covered the agonized groan of Mikey’s stomach.

“It’s always been YOU in the driver’s seat these past twenty minutes!” Mikey himself retorted, as if that growling stomach was a result of Donnie slapping him.

“You’re saying that when we’ve been sitting in an enclosed space with someone…” Donnie gave his own retort, turning around in his chair for the second half of his response “who can LITERALLY portal us there in less than five seconds?” Leo wasn’t expecting nor willing to join in on the bickering, but this was nothing he couldn’t handle. He eased back into the big chair, luxuriously propping his left elbow atop the arm rest as if he was drinking out of a wine glass.

“Oh, when have you guys EVER been a fan of my portaling? Besides, we deserve a more grand ride and entrance as the saviors of the world, don’t we?”

“It’s been sixteen months, Leo.” Raph wasn’t bitter or disappointed, but Leo’s heart still broke at his words. “I think the hype’s died down for most people.”

“I’ve missed taking rides in here.” Casey spoke up after a pause. “With all of you. I mean, we’re already all together when we go out for missions, but…it’s not the same as riding around like this. We can’t take it everywhere.”

“There!” Leo gestured his other hand towards his unsuspecting, black-haired pupil in a desperately reignited affirmation. “Casey wants it, and we’ve portaled around here too much already.”

“But we don’t—”

“No, Mikey. He’s right.” Donnie handed the phone back over to his little brother. “Pick whatever you want, and we’ll leave now. It’s nothing I haven’t heard already.”

Mikey didn’t seem angry, but he didn’t look at Leo again, scrolling through Donnie’s library and finally pressing a song as the Tank powered up and the connection to the speakers was ignited, and a pulsating synth dance track accompanied their visuals out of the tunnel, turning onto the road to head down Tony Bros.

To his surprise, Leo couldn’t even bring himself to agree with Donnie on that: being right about portaling around here too much. No, he did agree, but something about that felt wrong. Not wanting to think about why, he turned his head towards the left side windows, as the lyrics to Donnie’s current song progressed past repeating a single word and entered longer phrases, complimenting the increasing volume and count of buildings alongside the road they drove along.

When every hour could be the last

Why would we wait

Why would we wait

And every road could be unsafe

But we’ll be okay

We’ll make it, we’ll make it

It’s just who we are

Say where to go

And I know that I won’t slow down

It’s just who we are

And we will do anything we dream about

How about now?

How about now?

How about now?

How about now?

Leo had been so engrossed with the scenery and the throbbing bliss of the song’s synth that he yelped when Raph’s hand came across his left shoulder, loud enough for everyone to startle in their seats and Donnie to suddenly slam the brakes and stop the music to an onslaught of unseen angry yells from people outside, even though there were no sounds of injury or crash.

“We’re fine, Donnie.” Raph turned to the front, reassuring their driving brother as he strained from avoiding an exasperated eye roll. Casey and Mikey immediately turned after him upon Leo’s stern facial warning. They’d probably eavesdrop to whatever he and Raph would say. He’d faced worse, though. His mouth was opening to ask Raph what was going on, but the first syllable hadn’t even been finished when Raph came in with his own question.

“Are you alright?”

He didn’t ask that question often. Leo hadn’t thought much about why he didn’t care about that so much, but Raph’s eyes after answering that were too considerate and without judgement for him to allow any extensive answers to return to his hotheaded brother.

“I’m fine. I’ll feel better after I’ve eaten.”

“That’s right.” Mikey nodded in the front seat, even though he hadn’t turned back to them. Leo laid back into the main chair. “Alright, Donnie. Let’s get out of here.”

The Tank didn’t move.

“Donnie?”

The driving turtle was sitting perfectly straight, from what Leo could see from behind him. But the Tank still didn’t move.

“Donnie?” Mikey leaned forward from his passenger seat, coming around to look him right in the eyes. “Donnie, Leo’s okay, let’s go before we cause a traffic jam.”

Their technological brother still didn’t make any movements. Mikey held his hand up, briefly hesitating before bringing it down onto his shoulder, trying to shake some motion into him. Several seconds passed with no results, and Mikey laid both hands upon his shoulders.

“Donnie? Donnie? Donnie?” He was increasingly failing to hide his panic each time he repeated his name. “We really don’t have time for this!” He hopelessly glanced back at Leo, Raph and Casey, who were just as short of answers as he was. Mikey took a few breaths, closing his eyes for a good pause and holding a pretty impressive meditative stance considering the rising chorus of impatient honks and phrases from everyone else held up from their stop. His fingers were starting to glow-and Raph was just volunteering to drive-when Donnie suddenly seized back with a loud gasp, and Mikey crashed into the floor in shock. Donnie sat in his seat, breathing heavily and continuously staring out the windshield until Mikey laid a hand on his seat’s arm rest to pull himself up.

“Donnie, what happened?” Donnie looked over at Mikey.

“‘What’ happened?”

“You just shut down in your seat after stopping The Tank.” Casey said. “You were completely still.”

“And your eyes…” Mikey added. “They were…they were just blank. Rolling up into your head.”

“Like a trance?” Donnie asked. Mikey nodded.

“Yes.”

Donnie looked back out at the spot he had been watching when he woke up. A long pause passed before he finally looked back at the road, then took his phone in his hands and changed the song.

“Donnie,” Leo began as the music began and his brother took both of his hands back to the wheel “if you need to go home-”

“NO, Leo.” Donnie did a small jerk, as if shocked at the harshness himself, but he didn’t linger on it. “Who knows how many chances we’ll keep getting to do this together?”

The tank started forward, an unpleasantly emotional tone overtaking the cabin, though the motion of navigating the traffic and the soothing series of beats from the music was gradually bringing wonder back into the night.

Hundred Miles an Hour

With no seatbelt on

Time is everlasting

I can’t wait that long

Maybe all the stars in the night

are only dreams

Maybe this whole world ain’t

exactly what it seems

Maybe the sky will fall down on tomorrow

But one thing’s for certain, baby

We’re running out of time

Perhaps Leo should’ve portaled them here after all.

“All we wanted was some pizza!” Raph fumed, angrily staring at everybody at the same entrance with the same idea as them. Mikey had both of his hands on his head, watching the growing size of the crowd in surprised horror. Casey’s eyes got considerably smaller as he watched the same crowd, and Leo pinched the bridge of his nose with his right fingers.

“Okay Donnie. I admit. We should’ve gone to Hueso’s. Let’s go there now.”

He looked up at Donnie. Donnie had frozen in his seat, staring at front of Tony Bro’s.

“Okay Donnie, you’re really going to have to knock this—”

Donnie was not in a trance. He was staring through the front windows, at the corner grandfather clock they had installed in the top left corner of the main dining room. Normally Leo would pitch in a joke about time, specifically how late they were to make it before Hueso’s rush hour. But Donnie was very obviously distressed, and he deserved to be comfortable more than Leo deserved the chance to take control.

“Something about that clock?” It wasn’t a joke, but Donnie’s lack of reaction was enough for Leo to wonder if he had done something wrong. Donnie shook his head after a pause.

“If you’re seeing it too, than it’s just a clock.”

Leo let that lie, and then turned to return to his seat. But before he took get up, Donnie leaned forward for a hug that Leo only returned as freely from knowing how much Donnie was truly consenting. This was enough to reassure him that he had done the right thing.

The sun was starting to set by the time the Turtle Tank had finished its extended drive and parked within walking distance of the alleyway entrance to Señor Hueso’s. With a long-overdue smirk, Leo wielded his Katana and whisked away in a poof, reappearing right outside of the tank on the sidewalk.

“What are you guys waiting for?”

“So you WERE making us work harder!!” Donnie yelled from inside the cabin, but Leo finally let himself revel in the annoyance. He wasn’t planning on keeping the habit up, but it was good to joke around every now and then. Some days he had to make more of an effort that he hadn’t changed too much.

Casey was the first one out of the Tank, hustling up to Leo as Raph and Mikey followed behind, though significantly slower to keep an eye on Donnie.

“You sure you don’t want to wait back with them?” Casey asked, obviously catching on to his unease.

“Donnie can only take so much closeness at a time.” Leo answered. “I don’t think he’d tolerate me there.”

“He hugged you in the tank.”

“He's got Mikey and Raph.” Leo gestured him towards the alleyway, but making sure they were slow enough to not get too far ahead. “If anything goes wrong, we can portal right back.” Casey didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t say anything else.

As Sensei and Student approached down the alley to the main entry wall, a conversation flowed into the air from a sudden yell of annoyance, all of the voices sounding feminine.

“I had it there!”

“So we’re going back to the hotel—?“

“No.”

“It’s not working.”

“We’re not going back. There’s another way.”

Leo turned to Casey. This wasn’t the first time they’d come across a Yokai who couldn’t get into Hueso’s. Not all of them were because Hueso wanted them not to come in. Still, they cautiously approached the break into the last turn towards the wall, listening to any of the words that followed.

“Open it and tell me what you see.”

“Terry, you can’t be serious.”

“Just tell me, and if nothing happens, we’ll go back.”

A light but plastic creak sounded, along with two of the voices groaning in disgust. The third voice was grunting, and after a creak and a shove, Leo heard the clanging fade of the previously occupying trash bags plummeting into the chasm of the Hidden City entrance below. He almost kicked himself.

“It-it-They just fell down!”
“There’s a light down there!”

He and Casey were nearing the end of the Alley when they said this. They had never heard of a Yokai not knowing where this entrance was. It wasn’t fair to generalize, they had gotten lost themselves plenty of times. But it was still unusual enough for Leo to gesture Casey to be very quiet, inching towards the edge of the wall as a hushed but excited “yes” sounded amongst the walls. Leo finally reached the edge of the wall, his hands closing around the handles of his katanas, and his feet nearly gave out when he finally saw the sources of those voices:

Before him was not three female Yokai, but three human teenage girls, all crowded around the opening of the dumpster containing the secret entrance to The Hidden City. The ones on the left and right were staring down in wonder but hesitation. The former’s black hair was hanging entirely free except for some noticeable barrettes atop her crown, and dressed in dark blue and brilliantly spotted jumpsuit with a hooded jacket and laced white boots. The latter wearing a Knicks coat atop some yellow sweatpants and orange sneakers, her own black hair wrapped into a low braid. The one in the middle, a light brunette with her hair wrapped up into a middle ponytail, donning a pink jacket with light grey jeans and yellow sneakers, seized the rim with both hands.

“Alright, I’ll go first.”

“Terry, no!” The other two protested simultaneously, snapping their heads to her in horror.

“It’s our only way in…” Leo could see her heaving herself up to begin rolling her right leg over into the compartment “…and this is our last day in New York.”

“How will we get back?”

“There’ll have to be a place we can cut through somewhere—” Neither girl remained silent enough to let her finish

“We don’t know where we’ll land!”

“We don’t know how long of a drop it is!”

“We won’t until I go.”

“Your mother will KILL us.”

“My mother,” Terry continued, beginning to swing her left leg over the edge “is the reason we’re even able to go here today.”
“How will we know you’re okay?” The second girl finally succeeded in making her stop. “We don’t have radios, we don’t know if our phones will work. If they break upon impact, and especially if you…” Terry stayed still for a while, eyes drifting down in disappointed defeat, glancing up lost in thought until they froze and stayed on a sight right beside the wall where Leo and Casey were hiding.
“Who are you?”

Leo turned to see who she was talking to and almost shouted. Casey had somehow escaped his attention and wandered right into the open, into the girls’ line of sight. But the rising rose accents underneath his eyes and the barely sturdiness of his words in response could mean nothing else alongside his intense stare back at Terry that the boy was falling in love at the worst time again. He was far more composed than Leo would've expected, as approachable as he had been on the day they had met, his steps towards the girls as focused as they were friendly.

“How did you guys know where this is?”

“Don’t tell him anything.” The second girl interjected.

“I mean…” Casey let a small smile out, and Leo let him continue “New York has stranger things than people climbing into dumpsters, but…we all know that dumpster is incredibly different, don’t we?”

The girls didn’t respond, but they were definitely listening. Leo could also see red rising within Terry’s cheeks, but it was an even chance that it was out of embarrassment than attraction. Casey held a hand out to her.
“I can get you in another way.”

A heavy step sounded right beside Leo, and he whirled around to hold Raph advancing as if Casey had just offered to bring the Krang back.

“You heard that as well as I did, Leo.”

“One wrong move and she’s shocked enough to lose her grip.” Leo hissed. “Me and Huseo survived that fall probably because we’re Yokai. She’s not. Wait until it’s safe.”

Raph displayed the smallest bit of embarrassment within his eyes, and Leo gave a reassuring nod before the two of them and Donnie and Mikey turned back to the encounter. Terry had not taken Casey’s hand yet, but began to inch her remaining leg back in his direction. Her friends came forward, each holding her waist as she settled her foot down onto an overturned plastic crate and began to bring her right leg back around. As soon as she had twisted her head back around at Casey, she grabbed his hand as her right leg unhooked from the dumpster’s edge, and she regained her balance enough for him to come forward and fasten his other hand around her shoulder for an extra steady hop back to the street. As soon as she was steady, he let go, gesturing them back over to the wall gate.

“So,” he kept the conversation going “you said your mother knew about The Hidden City?”

Terry, significantly more comfortable with him now, began to answer with a crackling fire of a smile

“Well—”

“Nuh-uh!” Raph finally strode forward, his frustration boiling over and indifferent to any of the human teen’s startled reactions to the group’s sudden reveal from their hiding spot. Terry dashed right behind Casey, and her friends followed. But Raph made sure to keep his eyes on her as much as on Casey. “She STILL didn’t answer your question about how she knew where this entrance—and this pizza joint—is!” The third girl turned to Terry.

“This is a pizza joint?”

“I didn’t tell you that earlier?”
“You said it might be a pizza joint.” The second girl chimed in.

“Where did you think we were going?”

“We were hoping it was…near Albearto Land.”

“TRUST me, ladies.” Donnie came to the front of the group “Albearto Land DREAMS that its pizza was even a quarter as delicious as Señor Hueso’s.”

“STOP!” Raph exclaimed just shy of a full-blown yell. “We’re not having one bite of pizza until YOU three tell us how you knew about this place.”

“Where’s the law that says we can’t have it DURING pizza, Big Bro?” Leo finally chimed in, soothingly turning towards the girls. “We’re happy to meet you, but we need to know what you’re doing here. It’s not easy for humans to find and know our community this intricately without outside intervention. Can we ask for your names? You can call me Leo.”

Terry answered him while still looking at Casey.

“My name’s Terry.”

“I know.” Casey’s voice was breaking, and Mikey could barely contain his laughter. A muffled wheeze finally seemed to snap Casey back into reality, even though he kept his eyes on Terry as well. “My name’s Casey.”

The jumpsuit girl gave a small wave “I’m Elaine.”

The final girl stepped out from behind Casey “I’m Nessa.”

“Well, Terry, Nessa & Elaine,” Mikey paraded forward as if he had been leading the Mad Dawgs all along “we would be proud to have you as our guests at Run of The Mill Pizza tonight. Why don’t you come on and follow us?” His mystic hands were already in action, a portal halfway open by the time Casey had once again taken Terry’s hand and she trustingly stuck by his side while walking through the opening, neither of them aware of the disapproving, frustrated glare from Donnie behind them at another originally brotherly night once again interrupted by romantic hormones.

Once inside the restaurant, Leo begrudgedly admitted to himself that the crowds were indeed much less intense and better controlled than Tony Bros. Several of the other Yokai within the dining room cast surprised and even unnerved looks at seeing so many humans in the pizzeria at once, but stayed quiet and out of their business once recognizing that they were guests of the Turtles. Raph hustled over to the biggest circle booth table available and sat down to claim the space as Terry, Nessa and Elaine stood starstruck around the design and menu of the pizzeria.

“We should to wash our hands before ordering.” Terry suddenly said out of the blue to Casey. “We were just handling a dumpster and you helped us after we had.”

“I suppose.” Casey nodded in agreement. “Come on, the bathrooms are this way.” They all walked down towards the doors, right when Leo’s wrist was suddenly seized by a bony, enraged hand and he was completely yanked into the kitchen before he could even yell Raph’s name.

“You STOOD there and WATCHED them open the gate to my Hidden City entrance and DIDN’T do ANYTHING to step in?” Hueso growled in such a way that Leo was especially thankful they weren’t standing near any knives or blades.
“Casey took care of it, didn’t he?” He regretted the excuse as soon as it was out.

“She was CLIMBING up over the edge of the dumpster long after you spotted her and could’ve jumped in any second, probably injured herself from that fall or even—” Leo’s temper suddenly boiled over, even though he knew there was no valid counterpoint to Hueso’s words. This wasn’t what he wanted for tonight.

“Shut up!” Hueso was so surprised at Leo’s outburst that he let go of him, and even the kitchen workers who had heard stopped whatever they were doing, turning to the entrance to watch as the great Leonardo finally stopped joking around and using humor to hide himself, not caring if anybody else in the dining room was listening in too.

“Not that it excuses me of letting things get from bad to worse or taking things into account more or listening more to my team or whatever else little wrong thing you want to point out about me since the day we met, but I don’t need to explain anything to you. I live with every single thing I either did wrong or didn’t do at all since The Krang came and just because it’s been over a year doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly completely different person, even though I wish I was.” He was sick of everyone reminding him how it could’ve been much worse, as if things hadn’t ended better before, as if he had never even reflected on any awful scenario where they hadn’t. “I was concerned with being too brazen or startling and wanted to make sure it was safe before intervening, and as you can see with Casey, IT WORKED.”

If he had skin and tear ducts, Señor Hueso might’ve been close to crying right now. Any other night, Leo would’ve felt pity and tried to be more understanding, albeit jokingly. He actually felt a small rumble of pity within his chest right now. All of their worst moments before were never so bad that he could imagine being this harsh towards Hueso. But they had never involved a Krang invasion either.

Leo strengthened up, going back to contemplating whatever terrible repercussions might be soon resulting from what he had just said.

“If I’m not welcome here after saying all of that, so be it. But don’t take it out on my family." He refused to leave or look away from Hueso's eyes until he got the next sentence out. "Excuse me if I don’t want to apologize for waiting and being cautious and doing whatever I can to not be the impulsive, prideful joke of a warrior that almost got the world destroyed.”

He could feel tears of his own surfacing as he turned towards the entrance of the kitchen, walking through the flapping doors. Terry and her friends had come back with Casey from the restrooms and were marveling at some gadget of Donnie’s at their table, and Leo was thankful that nobody was looking at his own remorseful but peaceful exit out of the restaurant. He had at least a little bit of time to think of an excuse to suddenly disappear, maybe talk to Splinter about training. Raph was just turning in his direction when he portaled out of the dining room, landing on top of a building where he could easily see the Chrysler building to his left. He held up his phone, signing into messages and spoke a message to translate into a text for Donnie.
I had to step out. Tell everyone I’m sorry, but I can’t be there right now. I’ll probably go see Dad.

He stopped, looked over the text, and sent it, sitting down cross legged atop the roof and leaning into the chorus of everyday ruckus of New York City livelihoods on the street below to begin his meditation. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there, but his watch hummed sooner than he expected. He slowly began counting down from twenty before he would allow himself to look. When he had gotten to nine, a flaring hum sounded across the roof, and he leapt to his feet, turning around to see Raph standing across from him with the fading flickers of what had to have been another portal of Mikey’s.

Great. He kept forgetting that he could do that now.

“What are you doing here?” Leo asked Raph, taking care to make sure no ego whatsoever was coming through his words.

“Hueso just said that our pizza was on the house.”

Leo froze. That was not the reaction he had been expecting, and especially since Hueso hadn’t even offered them free pizza after stopping the invasion.

“But—”

“Yeah, we know it’s not like him.” Raph sounded more generous than Leo thought he should have, but he still wasn’t leaving. “What did you say to him?”

“I wasn’t trying to get us free pizza, Raph!”

“That’s not what I thought you were trying to do.” Leo wasn’t sure where this was going. But he didn’t know how to answer Raph. He actually did, but he wasn’t ready to share it yet.

“How’s Casey?”

“He’s having the time of his life with that girl. You’re not answering my question.”

Leo swallowed whatever angry thought arose about Raph still leading them and taking control and calling him irresponsible. He supposed that there would be worse ways of finding out what happened between them in that kitchen.

“He was mad at me for waiting so long to intervene with the girls, beckoning you guys over. How I could’ve waited too late and they’d be in or get themselves hurt. I—” he was suddenly very, very thankful to not be sharing this with Casey “—I yelled at him to stop pushing every single failure in my face and judging me for trying to be the opposite of who I was before the Krang invaded.”

Raph wasn’t judgmental at the sound of this, but his slight exhale and sad glance downward was more than Leo could handle, and he turned away again, checking Donnie’s watch message at last.

We’re coming, don’t worry.

“Please go away.” Leo’s tears punctured his words as he stared out amongst the happy nightlife of New York beneath him and his brother. “You don’t get free pizza every day. Hueso doesn’t want me there.”

“Hueso deserved it.”

Leo snapped his head back over to his brother, who was starting to walk forward.

“You can’t be serious.”

“You DID take more time to respond than I would’ve.” Raph inquired. “And it was Casey who stepped in and brought those girls back from the entrance. But he doesn’t get bonus points for rubbing it in your face.”

“I don’t know why you’re saying this.”

“You think we never want the old Leo back?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I think.” Leo couldn’t believe the sincerity behind Raph’s question. Surprisingly, he wasn’t even moved from his brother’s anguished gaze on him at that response, or the long pause that it accompanied. Still, it wasn’t how he wanted to end the conversation. “I should probably apologize to him anyway.”

“It’s your decision.” Raph replied supportingly. “But even if you not coming in sooner was wrong, he doesn’t know what you’ve survived.”

“You seriously don’t agree with him?”

“I don’t. And if he wasn’t sorry, I don’t think he’d be giving us free pizza.” That was true as far as Leo knew Hueso. He had been fully reconciled with Piel for over a year and even his brother wouldn’t get any free pizza from him. Raph lifted a hand underneath Leo’s chin and steered it upwards to look him in the eye.

“We want you to come back, Leo. If you hadn’t run for the key, The Krang would’ve ended the world before Donnie’s pods even arrived back at the lair. You bought us time. You intended to take the fall yourself.” Leo couldn’t even open his mouth to tell Raph to stop, even though he didn’t want him to stop “You’re smarter than you believe. Just because a part of you made a mess of things doesn’t mean that you have to throw it all away.”

Leo could barely even see Raph through the amassing tears around his eyes. He hated being in this state so so much, especially as a leader. He hated not being completely together, nothing working out, everybody out to find something wrong with him even if he’d do every single thing right. It was bad enough when he wasn’t the leader. In hindsight, it was a large part of why he neglected being a leader in the first place.

But he had watched Raph break down because he had been “failing” them, and he had seen Splinter cry too. He had never thought of them as lesser leaders when they showed tears. It wouldn’t be fair to then assume that his own was somehow different.

He walked forward and wrapped his arms around Raph’s neck in a heartbroken hug. Raph snuggly held on to him around his back, gently shushing him and welcoming the sharp sobs breaking out from his teeth.

“It’s alright, little bro. It’s alright.”

“Stop. It’s not alright.”

“It’s alright now.” He held on tightly to Leo, sturdy and protective as he had always been.

“All we wanted was some pizza.” Leo moaned upsettingly.

“We’ve got some now.” Raph reassured him “It’s just for the ‘heroes.’”

The laugh was out of Leo before he could think. He pushed himself away from Raph to take out his Katana and they were soon back within the Dining room, three large pizzas sitting atop the group table. Leo regretfully looked around himself to see if Señor Hueso was in the area. He couldn’t see him anywhere, deciding to finally just enjoy some slices with his family until he had a chance to apologize later.

“Are you enjoying yourselves?” Señor Hueso finally arrived back over to the table after what seemed like nearly an hour according to when Leo had last checked his watch.

“We are, Señor Hueso!” Mikey answered before Leo could answer the same. Hueso turned towards Terry, Nessa & Elaine, obviously swallowing their unnerve at witnessing a walking, living human skeleton address them.

“I apologize for the bizarre introductions. We do not get a lot of human guests at Run Of The Mill.”

“This is so delicious!” Terry gestured towards the two half-eaten pieces of triple pepperoni pizza on her table.

“If you ever wanted to see The Hidden City,” Señor Hueso continued, “all you have to do is knock and we’d be happy to show you around ourselves.” Terry leaned back, her eyebrows playfully popping up with a mischievousness that tickled Leo’s own.

“Are you serious?”

“Unapologetically.” Hueso proudly admitted, turning towards Elaine and Nessa “And your friends are as welcome as you are. We actually just installed an extended dessert menu that includes milkshakes. Would you like to see?”

“Yes!” Nessa immediately consented, almost yelling. The hot flush of embarrassment cooled amongst the giggles of Elaine and Terry, inviting her to laugh at her own enthusiasm as the irreplaceable gift that it was. Casey leaned over towards them all.

“I’ve had three of them here already!” All of the turtles turned back to him, just as intrigued at this detail as their guests.

“You’ve come back here without us?” Donnie reiterated with a puncture of betrayal.

“Where’s the law that says I can’t?”

“But—”

“I said ALL you have to do,” Hueso interjected “is knock.” Terry turned over towards the flushed, black-haired boy beside her.

“What flavor did you like the best?” Casey confidently straightened up, as if he was pitching a sale.

“Well, I had Salted Caramel, the Peppermint and the Triple Berry. But I’m feeling like trying the Salted Caramel tonight…”

Leo left Casey and his swooning of milkshakes behind, watching Hueso go back to his office and rising to follow him in. He hoped that Raph wouldn’t stop him, even though he could honestly see Raph doing the same thing if he had yelled at Hueso that night.

He had only begun the barely audible first knock when Hueso loudly cleared his throat.

“You can come in.”

That was as welcome of an invitation as Leo would ever get from him. He delicately pushed the door open, expecting Hueso to be hunched over a balance sheet or putting another ship together or anything other than expectantly looking at him with an expression as blank as Raph’s had been for the entire night.

Still, he had to face it sooner than later.

“Señor Hueso, I’d like to-”

“Please forgive me.”

“What?” Both Mutants were temporarily incapable of speaking within their own time and space throughout the several seconds and few words between them. Leo took Raph’s sympathies from the roof to heart and decided to wing it again, regardless of the irritability it would inevitably bring.

“I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.”

“You threw yourself into the Krang dimension.”

“What does that have to do with tonight?”

“It was wrong for me to judge you for being slow and scared after all you’ve suffered—”

“I still have to lead no matter what happens to me or how I feel!”

“Leo.” Hueso stood up and stared Leo right into the eyes, the concern and regret far more painful than all the insults the bone-man had ever thrown Leo all snowballed together. “I was wrong to being so harsh on you even though things had ended safely. The way you handled those girls wasn’t what I would’ve done…”

“Casey handled the girls.”

“…I wouldn’t have done it, but that doesn’t always mean that it’s wrong.” Hueso’s hands drifted to the front edge of the desk, slightly leaning downward as if to indicate humbleness. “Please let me apologize to you.”

Leo really REALLY didn’t want him to. But he didn’t argue. And he knew that Hueso would never accept any of his own apologies either.

“Thank you.” Hueso straightened up and drew his arms back to his side.

“I owe you even more thanks.” Leo felt a tiny crumble of a giggle rise up at the incredulity, but kept his face level as they shook hands.

“Bet you didn’t see this ever happening on the day that we met, did you?”

“Even less on all the days since.”

Leo opened his mouth to crack another glorious joke, only for the room to suddenly be swallowed into sudden darkness.

“Hueso?”

The lights came on as soon as they had gone out, but they wouldn’t stay steady, convulsing on and off as if they the final breaths of someone drowning.

Hueso stepped out from behind his desk and strode right out of his office, Leo hot behind him. Customers were startled and yelling out random squeaks and words, and Leo could spot the rest of the group backed up against the benches, even though his brothers didn’t look quite as scared as the girls.

“Everybody calm down, we’ll handle this.” Hueso addressed the room. “We’ll unfortunately not be taking or preparing any more orders until we can completely restore the power. Thank you for your patience.” He turned towards the kitchen. “Ginger! Harold!” Two Employees from the kitchen, a crustacean-raven Yokai and a gorilla-armadillo Yokai, emerged from the side door, carrying their own coats and heading down the hallway towards the Minotaur Maze. As soon as they had rounded the corner, the lights completely died, casting everything black for a couple of breaths until the emergency lights went up, and the glowing decals of the wallpaper grew brighter and brighter until the patrons could see everyone around them again.

Casey was the first one to turn at Donnie with a disapproving expectation, which Donnie didn’t seem to recognize until Mikey and Raph joined in.

“What are you looking at me for?”

“You’re going to know how to fix the lights better than those two ever will.” Leo pushed.

“Señor Hueso asked them, not me. Excuse me if I don’t want to make every night about how well I fix things.”

“Hueso gave us FREE pizza.” Raph refused to accept his answer.

“And we can’t order our milkshakes without the power!” Mikey pleaded.

“You mean YOU can’t order your milkshakes without the power.” Donnie made sure to not look at to the girls as he said this. “And besides, you know he’d never let me touch anything in here.”

As if on cue, a loud ZAP sounded from down the hallway to the maze, and a series of rapid “ows” sounded shortly afterwards. As if he had activated a portal himself, Hueso came heading back from the Maze Hallway over to their table, his eyes on Donnie.

“Donnie…” No. Mikey wouldn’t dare bring out Dr. Delicate Touch here. “…All we wanted was some pizza.”

He would.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Donnie wished he brought S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. with him. Hueso had lead him through the main entryway into the maze and down the preceding path until they were roughly a hundred feet from the start, turning right down a diverging miniature canyon of ragged sediment rock to come across both Yokai huddled and groaning in disgust at the fusebox built within the side. Donnie was barely able to pick up any words between them, unable to decide if that was because they were improbably better experienced than he was at things like this or if they were really dumber than they looked and were here to make his job more difficult after they had hurt themselves.

“Alright, guys.” Donnie came forward to take a look at the panel. “Did you find anything wrong?”

“We just opened it and tried to reset the Main Switch, and it exploded at the touch!” Harold informed Donnie as he and Ginger backed away to give him space. Donnie had only regularly stepped in front of the fuse box when the rotting smell made his eyes bulge before seeing the gurgling drops of a fleshy-fluorescent matter, scattered throughout the rest of the switches.

“You tried to touch it with THIS all over?!?” Donnie fought back a retch as he stood transfixed in horror over the mess, his eyes then suddenly catching over a slight crack enveloped in a eerily red & gold glow down the middle of the panel.

“We weren’t thinking of that!” Ginger shot back defensively. “We were just doing as we were trained here."

In spite of his very very apparent disgust, Donnie leaned closer to the crack, to at least hear if it was making any noise. There was none. He removed three rectangles from his Bo Staff, secured them around the fusebox’s interior and leaned back, activating his troubleshooter for his FuseBox repair programed within his watch.

“For future reference,” Donnie stepped back besides the two Yokai, taking care to be more intentionally considerate “a burning or boiling smell within your fusebox means that it’s an immediate and serious emergency and most likely something that you definitely should not touch.”

“Thank you.” Ginger responded after a questionably long pause. Donnie could see her kneeing Harold in accusatory annoyance, and her work partner turned to him to repeat the gratitude.

“Thank you for coming to help us.”

“No problem.” Donnie happily, watching his Fusebox Pods hum to life and begin crawling up the case, promptly brushing away the slime to fasten onto the wiring.

“Are you guys seeing that?” Harold asked, squinting towards the Fusebox as all three of Donnie’s Pods crawled towards the opening of the crack. Before Donnie could say “tech,” a massive CRUNCH sounded within the opening, widening the gap enough for three small but screeching tentacles to shoot out, secure themselves around each of Donnie’s pods, and yank them back behind the gap, which promptly closed with a sucking momentum that eventually brought the entire fusebox into a folded crumple of medal, crashing on the ground.

Donnie yelped in shock, stumbling backwards and barely regaining his balance in time to step forward and avoid tumbling to his imminent death that would’ve obviously awaited him at the bottom of whatever massive gorge had suddenly appeared beneath them with red, pulsating clouds of what seemed to be smokey blood enveloping everything less than five feet from below the ledge.

“ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS?!?!?” Donnie yelled, his echo rotating around the chasm of the maze, long after his head finished turning upon the two employees, standing stock still, eyes rolled upward without any hint of expression.

“Uh, guys?” He could barely make out their own features amongst the smothered red glow of the emerging clouds of multiple reds. Slowly inching towards them, he instinctively reached for his watch, but nothing beeped in response to any of his taps. He looked down to see it black and functionless, strapped atop his wrist. His fingers went to the reset button on the top, until suddenly the watch became as heavy as a cannonball, sinking his entire wrist to the floor and bringing him to his knees.

“WHAT?!” He screamed, trying to pull the watch up, and then struggling to release the band with his remaining hand. He had finally finished his fumbling and began pulling out the end of the band when something fleshy and determined and too familiar to his own body fastened around the other wrist, snapping his other arm to the other side of him on the ground. Donnie screamed in terrified pain, a brief glimpse of the source of the tentacle seizing him being from another crack in the ground less than five feet away.

He had to be dreaming. He had to be dreaming. He had to be dreaming. He had to be dreaming. He had to—

“Donnie…”

It was Ginger who said that, but it shouldn’t have been. The menace and condescension was nothing like he would’ve imagined ever hearing again since the Krang had Raph and Leo fighting. Neither Yokai in front of him moved, staying as still and monotone as the drawl of the words someone else was speaking for them.

“How does it feel, Donnie?” Ginger slowly continued, and Donnie could miraculously see their own eyes becoming as infused with red and white as the clouds around them, as Harold joined in to speak the rest with her in unison. “How does it feel to watch everything you’ve designed…everything you loved…everything that you are…rendered so weak and helpless at what someone like me can do?”

Donnie was sure that he would never have any more air within his body again at this sight. The two mutants had done nothing but stand and talk and it was already something terrible and consuming enough for make him forget the pain that he otherwise would’ve made him dread when both of his hands would inevitably be severed.

“There is more of this for you, Donnie.” Harold spoke alone, and Donnie could see Ginger rise a little behind him, as if she were levitating “There are terrors that you can never vanquish with your creations. There are reigns that no amount of love can prevent. And there is nothing stopping me from making sure your brothers never find you.”

“SHUT. UP.” Donnie would’ve never found his courage if it wasn’t for that final sentence. He strained against the bonds, lifting his knees off of the ground in effort to get up, getting far up enough to get a fuller view of Harold rising up off of the ground with Ginger, their arms and legs swaying slightly amidst a gentle breeze that was still deadly enough for Donnie to pause. He gained his right foot behind him level on the ground right when both Yokai’s heads suddenly thrust backward, and their bodies gave a sharp spike up into the air, resting in a way that cast them as silhouettes over the enveloping red clouds, their arms and legs also at an increasing angle.

Whatever air Donnie thought had left his body slammed back onto his chest as Ginger’s and Harold’s arms and legs suddenly began viciously crumpling with wet-fused and nauseating crunches.

“NO! STOP! STOP!” In a vicious fear, he began screaming out words of his own through whatever brain scattered words arose within his lips. His own right leg suddenly twisted to the side in a painful wrench, though he couldn’t feel any breaks, and his head threw back to a fuller look at Ginger and Harold right when both pairs of their bleeding eyes were sucked away within the dark sockets, somewhere up within an unknown space in their heads. Donnie then lost any words or any thoughts of words remaining within his body, his silence reinforced seconds later by a hand suddenly appearing from behind him, its greased and rottenly textured grip upon his lips threatening to make him vomit immediately, before he felt another one on the back of his shell cover, recognizing the movement too late as that hand then viciously pulled down, ripping the cover off to the ground, exposing his soft shell to the mercy of whatever belonged to both arms as it let out a mighty and concentrated roar.

“Donnie!”

The screams didn’t stop, but they were getting quieter.

“Donnie!”

“Donnie?”

The violent, bloody haze of clouds around him and Ginger & Harold’s bodies vanished along with every trace of the nightmarish void. Donnie was awake on the ground of the Maze Entrance, both of his previously accompanying Yokai partners standing above him able-bodied, eyes intact and completely unharmed everywhere else. Señor Hueso was standing by the somehow still standing and pristine fusebox, humming with a glow. The purple turtle couldn’t move, pressing his back to the ground, his fingers clawing into the dirt around him in spite of his habitual mental analysis about how many germs he had to be absorbing within his palms right now. As long as it could reassure him that he wasn’t where he was before.

He didn’t know what he had just seen. It was nothing like the worst Hypno had conjured on them. It was especially nothing like that giant clock that had just appeared within the side of the abandoned office building before they had arrived at Tony Bro's. He felt a wetness on his right cheek and twitched in fear, shortly stopping once he realized it was his own drool, falling out of his mouth as if it was as equally desperate to leave the memory of those visions behind. The fuzz abated enough for him to focus in on two other figures closing in. The silhouette of them was joined in a manner unable to explain unless they were holding hands, and it was enough for Donnie to finally roll over on his stomach to properly rise to his feet.

“What happened?” Casey asked, Terry watching the turtle as intently as he was. “Should I get Leo?”

Donnie opened his mouth, only letting out an “Ah…” that frustratingly couldn’t speak everything he needed to.

“We’ll take care of him.” Harold intervened, gently stepping forward and placing a hand on Donnie’s shoulder to safely guide him towards the exit. “You two go on and enjoy the maze.” Donnie immediately shrugged his grip away, staring around himself at the wide caverns surrounding them all.
“No no no.” He turned to the teenage couple, setting his own hands on each of their shoulders, and steering them towards the exit himself. “As much as I have already despised being a third wheel tonight, we definitely need to get out of here, and I will personally see to it.”

“Donnie, tell us what’s going on.” Casey gently encouraged him.

“We’ll talk about it once we’re back with my brothers.”

The lights began convulsing again. Donnie froze, unable to take another step in spite of how obviously wrong everything was right now, so frightened that Terry had to shake him to get him to let go of her shoulder.

“We just fixed this!” Ginger exclaimed in questionable unease as she and Harold stared up around the cavern as the lights kept flickering. No sooner than her sentence ended when a loud rumble and shake began within the space, enough for Donnie to hear the small screams of surprise from the guests on the other side of the hallway. He, Casey and Terry all were thrust backward from the motions, but managed to stay on their feet, and a loud cracking noise sounded from further within the maze. Donnie turned around to see a constant glow increasing from somewhere within the maze walls, brighter and brighter until a long crack appeared from atop one of the walls, snaking over the edge to the other side and dropping out of sight. A loud, squelching rip sounded from that same direction, spanning out enough seconds for Donnie to know that whatever nightmare he had just experienced was far from over.

“WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?” Harold yelled over the noise as he turned around to see the same sight, right when the quakes ended but the lights remained unsteady. They did illuminate the cavern enough for Donnie and Casey to see Terry watching the maze as if it was her gravesite.

“We need to get out of here.” Terry urgently whimpered.

“Casey, get Terry back to her friends and my brothers.”

“What about you?” Casey grabbed the girl’s hand, but wouldn’t leave Donnie’s side.

“You need to make sure they all get out of here safely and ONLY come back for me when they are.”

“I’ll stay with him.” Hueso came forward, joining Donnie’s side, then turning and gesturing for Harold and Ginger to follow him. “You two make sure these two get out safely and start evacuating the customers.”

“Got it, Señor.” Ginger stepped after him, Harold following with his own response and steps

“We’re on it!”

No sooner than they had taken about two steps did the sudden, horrific crunches from his earlier vision return, and both employees’ left legs twisted into crumpled withers, each Yokai crashing into the ground with painful screams of surprise. Donnie didn’t freeze this time, turning towards the frightened teenagers behind him.

“RUN.”

Casey and Terry fled into the hallway towards the dining room, their hands welded together and nearly white from the strength of their grip. Hueso had already run to his employees’ sides, kneeling on the ground to calm them both.

“Donnie, what kind of technology do you have for broken legs?”

“This is beyond anything I can either do or carry!” Donnie could barely keep himself appropriately calm for a First Aid intervention as it was. He had never even imagined an injury like the ones he was staring at right now.

Hueso’s eyes arched up, as if catching on to the incredulousness that Donnie somehow hadn’t already “You’re telling me you don’t have anything immediately on you in the event that you and your brothers are injured?!?”

“…All we wanted was some pizza!”

Hueso opened his mouth to protest some more, but the lights began to rapidly blink again. No rumbles came, but even Ginger and Harold’s sobs stopped when the other noise came: a throaty, inhuman moan, with a series of clicking growls and quiet, but slowly advancing steps from somewhere outside of the maze…somewhere closer and closer to them.

Donnie wielded his bo staff, unsure if he was in another vision, and unsure if he preferred this to be another vision just to reassure himself that this wasn’t real.

“All of you guys stay here and don’t move.”

Hueso turned down to Ginger and Harold, holding a finger to his mouth as a “sshh,” as Donnie stood at the ready, silently tapping his own wrist band to activate a motion detector. His heart rose into his throat, suppressed by the deep breaths he forced himself to take to remain silent. He calmed enough so that his staff glowed violet with his Ninpo, softly illuminating the few feet around him and remaining a constant amongst the unsteady lights. Enough of a silence passed to make him believe that maybe he had gone back into another vision…

The monster leaped out from behind a pile of rocks, soaring through the air and lunging with its front claws outstretched towards Donnie’s face as he swung his staff up, the end taking the form of the drill he had spiked into Krang Prime’s face sixteen months ago, skewering into the creature’s chest and sending it soaring into the cliffside with a resounding smash, some smaller rocks following it down to a hidden landing behind the rest of the terrace. He could barely hear the second one in time, closing in on his left as he swung, the outstretched claw of this monster barely missing his eye as it also collided with his drill and flung off into the same direction, crashing and landing in an identical fashion to the monster from before. Donnie was too shaken to briefly celebrate the repeat, though the exhilaration wore off enough to gain a proud smile out of him until he heard another step besides him, swirling around to see Hueso duck right in time from his drill.

“If you would be so KIND to not send me flying,”

“Oh, could you really blame me after all of that, Bone-” Another monster had perched atop the tall rock right behind Hueso, pouncing right when Donnie had looked up to see it. “LOOK OUT!” He grabbed Hueso’s arm and yanked him down as they both narrowly ducked the creature soaring over them, barely landing on its feet from the momentum. It shook its head, rising on its hind legs to turn back and give both mutants a better look at its sickly, frail but steely body, scorched with grayed flesh that seemed to be covered in sweat. A violent, consuming roar sounded from within a mouth that had split open its entire head into five petals of flesh, each lined with as much teeth as a shark. Donnie couldn’t make out any eyes, ears or nose.

“Come on, diablo!” Hueso ripped his jacket open to expose a rib cage, blooming into dagger-like points of bone, ready for a challenge. “You think I haven’t seen worse than you?”

“I have!” Donnie stood at the ready beside him, his bo staff glowing in alternating forms of weapons. The monster arched its legs back, getting ready to charge right at the two of them, its launch barely off the ground sabotaged by Raph’s glowing red Ninpo fist slamming into its side with such force that it blew into the Maze Wall far away, slumping over in a lifeless heap from impact.

Donnie and Hueso heaved over in relief as Raph, Leo and Mikey came around the rock’s edge, weapons at the ready even after the threats had all been eliminated.

“Are you okay, little bro?” Raph asked, dashing over to them.

“Though I’m honestly a bit disappointed that we interrupted a battle for the ages.” Leo’s confidence reigned back, gesturing to Donnie and Hueso with his katana. It was in enough good taste for Donnie to give a little smile and for Hueso to not pout or complain. Mikey’s eyes widened in horror at the two employees laying on the ground, and he ran over to kneel by their sides.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m gonna help you. Just take deep breaths with me. Ready?” He began sweeping his hands up and down by his chest, simulating breaths that Ginger and Harold were slowly making progress on. One look at their legs, and Leo pulled his katana back to his side, holding it with both hands.

“I’ll portal them to the Hidden City Emergency Room.”

“Stop.” Raph held his hand out. “We can’t risk having them land at an angle that’ll worsen their injuries.” Leo narrowed his eyes, offended only for a moment before nodding understandably and sheathing his katanas.

“Mikey, can you do anything?”

“PLEASE can you do anything?!?” Harold wheezed in impatient anger on the ground.

“N-no. My mystic powers aren’t advanced enough to heal broken bones.”

“You could rip a hole through time and space to get me!”

“That was with Donnie and Raph’s help! And that’s not the same as healing body parts!” Mikey paused after finishing his sentence, then he closed his eyes for a few seconds before laying a hand on each leg. The whimpers of either Yokai quickly quieted, and their breathing finally followed the deepened, relaxed pattern Mikey had shown to them before.

“What’s going on with them?” Hueso asked. “You didn’t-”

“Their legs are only numbed.” Mikey turned around to them. “It’ll last for about a half an hour, but that’ll be more than enough for us to make a plan.” Donnie turned back to Raph and Leo.

“Did Casey and the girls make it out?”

“Yeah.” Leo reassured.

“What about the rest of the customers?” Hueso asked.

“They were confused, but they largely stayed in their seats.” Raph responded. “I mean, plenty of injuries have happened in the Minotaur Maze, they probably thought it was just a rough attempt.”

“We need to get everyone out of there.” Hueso instructed. “Donnie and I barely avoided three of those things, and who knows how many more have shown up amidst the tremors.”

“You think the tremors had something to do with it?” Raph asked

“It’s a surefire sign.” Mikey got up, coming back over to them. “So much activity and tears within voids and dimensions would definitely signal openings for other kinds of life to come through.” He suddenly froze on the spot, staring into the distance for a brief but incredibly heavy silence “You don’t think—?”

Several more seconds of silence passed, the unspoken words hitting the rest with such silent dread.

“We don’t know if this has anything to do with The Krang.” Raph finally reassured.

“It might.” Donnie murmured frighteningly.

“We won’t know until—”

“I’ve been seeing things.” Donnie didn’t let Raph finish. “Before you came in, before we were attacked, I—”

Another growl sounded from within the maze, exactly like the growls from the first three monsters. A shrill scream sounded right afterwards, almost from the same direction, and surprisingly human. Two giant thuds of smashing rock sounded before the outer wall of the maze was suddenly punctured by a flying figure crashing through and rolling amongst the rubble until coming to a stop prostrate on the ground. Raph advanced to the front, protectively holding his arms around the rest of the group as they recognized the figure as another flesh-flowered monster, and everybody eyed the remaining hole with the footsteps on the other side gradually increasing in volume until a hand-a human hand-gripped the edge and held on until the arm following it followed through on the body of the victor.

Mikey had already gotten around Raph by the time the figure had stumbled through the hole. It was too far away for anybody to properly identify as it had hopped down from the hole and stared around, as if this was the first time it had ever seen the cavern. With a strengthening speed in spite of its jagged, confused walk, the stranger turned towards the path and began hurriedly walking towards the source of light from the hallway entrance.

Mikey had begun hurrying down the path towards the stranger, who halted and yelped in shock upon seeing him, starting to raise a hand when Mikey raised both of his.

“Hey, hey!” He gently coaxed, slowing down to a more comfortable pace. “It’s okay!” He slowed to a stop, drifting to the side of the path, but enough in line for his brothers to watch. “Was that YOU that took down that monster? You’re pretty powerful!”

Donnie could see the stranger more clearly now: it was a human kid, maybe right around Mikey’s age. The kid wore a dark blue jumpsuit, its high collar chest with diagonal stripes of red and white, with orange sneakers that seemed very 80’s reminiscent, and a yellow windbreaker jacket with some abstract design, even though Donnie could make out “Pizza” in cursive upon the left chest. The head was nearly shaved clean in a buzzcut, though Donnie couldn’t quite bring himself to admit that the kid was—

“Don’t say another word to him, Michelangelo.” Hueso had followed Mikey, stepping out with much more authority as if he hadn’t watched the monster be slammed through the wall by whoever was before them.

“But this isn't a—”

“Not another word, Turtle.” He narrowed his glare at the stranger, watching him back with a stare enough to set even Raph on edge “Who are you, young man? Humans cannot access my maze or restaurant without—”

Hueso’s feet had left the ground, his entire body rising around four feet in the air before stopping. The stranger had lifted an arm in his direction, still and concentrated, and Donnie could see a trickle of blood coming out of the right nostril. Mikey hurriedly turned back from the sight.

“Whoa whoa hey! Don’t worry about Señor Hueso. He’s just defensive! He’s safe, please put him down.” The kid turned towards Mikey, though Donnie could see sympathy shining through their eyes as much as apprehension. The arm slowly lowered, and Hueso came to a steady stop atop the pathway, as if he had just been brought back from somewhere he was never meant to go. The kid’s eyes suddenly fluttered, and they stumbled forward right into Mikey’s arms from a sudden flash of exhaustion. Mikey swiftly brought them back upright, holding onto the kid’s shoulders until their head straightened and their posture realigned. Mikey squinted, and then turned back to the rest of the group.

“She’s okay!”

“She?” Hueso finally snapped out of his shock at the unexpected pronoun.

“Yes, Hueso. She has a buzz cut just like Cassandra, she just saved us from battling another one of those things, and she is…” He turned back towards her, keeping their eyes locked. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice was soft and jagged, as unsure as their own feelings. Donnie could sense something about her, probably something too similar to what Mikey had to be feeling, but when he came forward to give his own questions, Raphs question broke their trains of thought.

“Wait, where’s Leo?”

The girl began to speak slowly

“Who is—”

A sudden whoosh sounded behind them all, further towards the site of where Ginger and Harold lay. Everybody turned around to see Leo accompanied by half a dozen paramedics and two stretchers with medical supplies, the fade of a recent portal behind them.

“When did you go get these guys?!?” Raph exclaimed as Leo gestured them over towards Ginger and Harold.

“Right after Hueso said the customers had to be evacuated.” Their leader didn’t look back, ushering the medics over as they raced past him and gathered around the employees. “Mikey, I think you need to take the numbing off.”

“Numbing?” The lead paramedic turned back as all turtles, Hueso and the girl gathered around.

“It was to make them more comfortable.” Mikey crouched down, his hands glowing yellow. “I’m sorry, guys.” He concentrated, and the groans on both Yokai grew louder and more anguished. The paramedics immediately worked to comfort them both, gently shushing and reassuring. The girl’s breath hitched within her mouth when she came closer and saw their injuries. Leo turned back at the sound, transfixed on their new arrival in wonder.

“Who is this?”

“She came right after you left.” Raph admitted as the girl stepped forward after Mikey, who stepped back to take his place between the two of them. She knelt down, offering her hands to them both, which they took in comfort.

“I am sorry.” She whispered, “I am sorry this happened to you.”

Ginger, who had taken ahold of the girl’s left hand, was suddenly staring intently at it, around the wrist. The girl tried to pull away, but Ginger’s grip was too tight.

“Ginger!” Harold called to her “Stop!”

“But didn’t he have a number here, too?” The girl stopped trying to get away, leaning into the conversation.

“Who had a number?”

“It was a hideous, hideous being.” Ginger continued as Mikey and Leo advanced as close as they could, Raph and Donnie following behind enough to hear. “He was shaped like a human, but he was covered in…so much slime and vines. And he had a voice like…like the Krang.” The girl listened, but didn’t freeze in fear like everyone else in the room.

“I do not know what the Krang is.”

“We pray that you never learn.” Harold sobbed. “If this means that…” He stopped talking, sharing a terrified glance with Ginger. The girl kept asking questions, alternating glances between the two Yokai.

“When did you two see this man?”

“We had visions.” Harold whispered. “When we first arrived at the fusebox. He advanced on us, saying that we cannot stop him the way we cannot stop time. And he reached for us, pulling us through the air until we began to have our arms snapped, and then our legs, until we woke up.”

“They were dreams.” Ginger finished. “I had them first, and then Harold had them the next night. We just thought it was some kind of…mystic manifestation of the trauma of the Krang, but…” The girl looked down, in such guilt that Donnie began to wonder if she was about to confess to breaking their legs herself.

“He is One.” She mourned. “He and I are alike.”

“So your name is…11?” Ginger asked, as gentle as a mother soothing her child after a nightmare of their own.

“Yes, you can call me Eleven.” The girl kept eye contact, even though Donnie could see how much she didn’t want to. The paramedics were almost done with bandaging and securing both Yokai employees to the stretchers. Ginger adjusted her grip to be further up in Eleven’s hand, as if hoisting a soldier up to invoke the next fight out of them.

“Then if anyone knows how to defeat him, it’s you.” Eleven’s lip wobbled, but she smiled in spite of the sparse tears pouring out of her eyes.

“I will make him pay.” She turned to Harold to address him too. “I promise.”

“I am going with them.” Señor Hueso came to the party, passing by Eleven and standing by the leading paramedics, turning to address the girl. “Thank you.” He turned to the turtles. “Protect my customers. Get them out.”

“You got it, Hueso.” Leo reassured him. The Lead Paramedics took out a small remote.

“Everybody hang on to each other, and secure the patients!” Assembling in a steady web of secure grips and stretches, the top button was pressed, and all of the medical crew vanished along with the Run of The Mill staff, leaving the turtles and Eleven behind in the dark, humming caverns of Minotaur Maze Entrance. The silence was eventually interrupted by Leo and Donnie both addressing Eleven at once.

“You know about this?”

“I’ve been having visions too.”

It was as if he had just announced the return of the Krang, a silence so resonant and terrifying that Donnie was beginning to wonder if he had been pulled back into another vision when Eleven walked forward and Leo turned to him.

“Donnie…?”

“There was a…clock.” Donnie hesitantly continued “It was a regular grandfather clock, those don’t frighten me. But the sound it made…and the cracks within the face and the body…I didn’t like it. I had another vision a few minutes ago too. Casey and Terry came in right when I came out, and the rest of the guys saw it too.” Eleven made sure to step into his line of sight.

“Did you see anybody?”

“There were these giant, clawed hands coming out from behind me.” Donnie shuddered. “I didn’t see who was—”

“That’s enough.” Leo spoke out in a jarring, steel tone, intervening between the two. “Hueso told us that we need to make sure everyone here is safe, and we need to see to that before discussing this.”

“Leo,” Raph turned towards their brother, advancing in saddened outrage “How could you-”

“This what you’d do in my place, and you know it.” Leo held his ground against the big turtle, gently taking Donnie by the arm to lead him towards the exit. Eleven followed them, addressing Leo as if they were the only two in the entire cavern

“You can’t stop him.”

“He’ll have plenty of time afterwards to explain what—”

“You cannot stop One.” Eleven wouldn’t let him finish, looking at Donnie after she stepped into their path. “He is going to be coming for him next. And we need to hear what you” she pointed at Donnie "know about him now.”

“And he could be coming for anybody on the other side of that wall while we’re standing here.” Leo spoke back, oblivious to Donnie’s awkwardly open mouth, unable to respond to Eleven’s request. “We can get to that quicker if you want to help us.” Eleven glared in frustration at Leo, her eyes darting away as if to craft another argument until they froze at the sight of something behind him and Donnie. She thrust her arms forward in an enforcing yell as both turtles turned to watch one of the monsters from earlier at a surprisingly close distance, flung into the soaring airspace of the cavern, soaring over the edge of the maze walls into a narrow pocket somewhere on the far left side with a distant thud. A trickle of blood went out from her left nostril, and she brushed it away before turning back to them.

“Have you seen more of them?”

“There were two more earlier.” Donnie informed her. “Me and Hueso fought them off.”

A loud crash sounded, reminiscent of breaking plates. Some screams sounded from within the dining hall on the other side of the wall, and Donnie’s stomach plummeted as if it would never come back up.

“No!” Leo ran to the wall, unsheathing his Katana and opening a portal into the hallway-right into the path of another monster charging right through the hole, its mouth and claws heading straight for his face.

Donnie never wanted to feel any of the things he felt from pulling his brother out of the Prison Dimension, but they all returned at once at the sight, freezing him to the spot as if some opposing force was preventing him from being the hero and saving him again. The monster collided into Leo, pinning him to the ground in a painful landing with a slobbering, threatening moan. Donnie’s hands were on his staff before they had reached the ground, but Eleven already had her arm stretched out, the monster flinging away from Leo into a towering rock, spinning nightmarishly from hitting the ridge until it rolled to a stop on the ground, with a gradually growing puddle of what had to be blood blooming around it.

“Come on!” Leo was already on his feet, Eleven right behind him, and the Turtles in hot pursuit. Another scream sounded from the dining hall, accompanied by a resounding crash. Donnie recognized the scream before Leo and Eleven had even made it to the end of the hall, activating his bo staff before Leo could yell at him being too big for the hallway.

The only remaining patrons within the dining room were cowering behind the toppled tables, staring in terror at the rampaging monster engaging with Casey Jr, who was staying fairly focused for the most part, though Donnie could notice the increasing erraticness of his hockey stick swipes. He struck a blow across the creature’s abdomen, infuriating it even further, to where it stood on its hind legs, towering over the brave but fumbling boy, beginning its roar until Eleven ran forward, thrusting her arm forward to send the creature flying into the entry wall, splayed out like a jumping jack. Casey stumbled over onto his backside in shock, looking up at the girl steadily advancing on his unknown opponent as it strained and groaned against the wall. Leo ran over to him, helping him to his feet.

“Who is that, Sensei?” Casey asked, transfixed on the back of her buzzcut head.

“She’s uh…she’s new here.” Leo watched her advance, turning towards the rest of the patrons and calling out. “Have any more of these come in? Did anybody else get hurt?”

Everybody shook their head or mouthed “no,” but more and more of them were transfixed at Eleven holding the monster within her powers. She stopped within a couple yards of the beast, and narrowed her eyes, locking her arm even further and sharpening her breaths. Donnie could see the opening appearing within the monster’s chest, glowing and white, with some black scattered specks fluttering free into the air. He resisted the urge to cover his mouth, even though he was several feet away.

The white light was growing and growing, humming further and further into the atmosphere of the dining room. Her power was strong enough to shake the ground beneath them, resonating thumps resounding from whatever void she had to be sending the creature back to.

But his sensors activated, determining an incoming mass from the other side of the entry wall, confirming that something else was advancing towards them.

Donnie stepped forward, opening his mouth to warn Eleven, only getting a “Wait” out before the wall exploded, sending rubble soaring throughout the dining room, and the monster collapsing into a frightened scream as Eleven was blown backward right into Donnie’s arms, his ninpo activating into an industrial shield to cover them both. All the patrons fled from the gaping hole towards the kitchen, as the rest of the turtles advanced in front, activating their own weapons and bracing amongst the suffocating dust as the growls of the monster dissolved into panicked squeals and a consuming series of smacking flesh. Donnie froze against Eleven, steeling out all the horrifying visions those sounds provoked within his own mind, and making sure that she was protected from at least some of the threat they had to carry.

Nobody moved as the dust thickened and a throbbing, hoarse roar sounded from the site where the demogorgon had once been pinned to the wall. Eleven tried to push Donnie off of her, but coughed as soon as she stuck her head within the dust cloud.

“No, no. Stay down!” Donnie shouted it to anybody who could hear amidst the grayness. But a light orange glow resonated within the cloud, and Mikey came forward into his vision, landing on his knees beside them.

“Are you guys okay?”

“I am.” Donnie looked down at the girl protected underneath him. “What about you, Eleven?”

“I’m okay.” She coughed long enough to get the words out. But she sucked her breath in, trying to glance at the spot where the wall once remained. “Where’s the Demogorgon?”

“That’s what they’re called?” Mikey turned, very attentive at this new information.

“My friends came up with the name.”

A chorus of shrieks sounded from the other side of the entry wall, down in the direction of New York’s streets. The dust was clearing out enough for everybody remaining in the pizzeria to see the massive hole within the entry wall, out in the open for human and Yokai to witness and enter.

“We are totally banned for life.” Leo whimpered at the empty space.

“Get off!” Donnie was bumped off of the ground by an invisible force, and Eleven lowered her hand as he landed within Raph’s arms. She was able to rise on to her feet by herself, but there was a wobble to her run as she exited through the hole and turned towards the direction of the screaming.

“Hey wait!” Mikey yelled, breaking into a run after her as soon as she had ran past the edge of the hole.

“Mikey!” Leo ran after his youngest brother. Raph tightened his hold on Donnie and hustled both of them out after Leo.

“I can still run fine on my own, Raph!” Donnie yelled as they entered the alleyway. He immediately stopped talking when Raph kept advancing towards the road, both of them staring up at the towering sliver of whatever bigger monster awaited them at the entryway.

Several more cracks had appeared within the street, and the growing mass of flesh was rising and weaning throughout the scattered automobiles and fleeing citizens. Donnie could witness the girl off with Leo and Mikey to the other sidewalk, constantly adjusting her posture as if trying to get better aim. Casey caught up to them, struck silent in terror at the sight alongside them.

“What should I do?”

“Get back to Hueso’s and protect the customers in there.” Raph turned to him.

“The Hidden City Police are already on it.” Hueso’s voice came in from behind them both, and he came forward to watch the wonder of the beast alongside them. “You should help your brothers,” he encouraged, also turning to Casey “and your Sensei.”

At that moment, Eleven struck her arm out and the monster was suddenly flattened into the ground, unable to move. Donnie could see the power of the effort horrifically shaking her as she steadily advanced towards it. He turned to Casey, who was watching along.

“They honestly might not need it.”

Mikey and Leo slowly advanced behind Eleven, eyes alternating between her and the beast within her power grip.

“We’ll get the people away from here!” Leo yelled at her, motioning to Casey, Raph and Donnie on the sides. Eleven turned back at him.

“We need fire!” She yelled back at him. “Fire will work better than anything-”

The limb had shot out of the flesh mass and secured itself around her waist, throwing her airborne like a stone before Donnie could make a sound. He had never seen Leo look so terrified since the Krang invasion, vanishing into his blue portal light right when she was sailing over the edge of the beast and towards the edge of a skyscraper with a bewildering scream. Donnie turned to Raph, who had already activated his red fist and was scooping up Donnie for a throw when the portal light flashed again, and both turtles looked up to see Leo soaring towards Eleven with his arms outstretched, and wrapping her into a protective hug on contact before vanishing right when they barely missed the building’s edge, reappearing through another portal to land atop the roof of a building back where they had previously been.

As soon as he had seen Leo and Eleven land safely, Mikey activated his kusari and turned towards the monster, whipping the chain over its body as he leaped around a pulsating knob, throwing the coils over until he came to a landing and yanked it down to subdue the beast to the ground. The creature moaned but remained still. Mikey strained his teeth and didn’t smile, but Donnie could already hear the wholesome boasting that awaited them once they had arrived back at the lair. He and Raph and Casey still raced over to help at the sign of Mikey’s very obvious straining from holding the beast down.

“What the heck is it?” Raph whispered in horrified wonder

“NOW you’re asking?” Mikey wheezed from his effort.

Casey turned away, looking back up at the building where Leo and Eleven had landed, seeing the secondary lump of rotting flesh rising over the edge of the building’s room right when Donnie did.

“SENSEI, WATCH OUT!”

One look behind her and Eleven thrust her arm out in Leo’s direction, and their leader was soaring over the edge towards them with a surprised scream. By the time Donnie had yelled Raph’s name, his big brother already extending a red hand, catching Leo securely on the ground. Leo rose fuming from the red fist, even though uninjured.

“The NEXT Time someone throws me off of a roof…”

The monster under Mikey’s bondage suddenly increased the volume of its growl, and surged back in their direction, threatening to break its captivity. Everyone on the ground grabbed ahold of Mikey to help enforce it.

“Casey!” Mikey yelled at the only human next to them. “Let go and get back!”

“What?”

“DO IT!”

Casey obeyed, dashing over towards the building where Eleven kept ahold on the other monster from the roof. Mikey waited until he was out of earshot before talking to his brothers.

“I need all of you guys to help me.”

“We ARE.”

“I need you to get ready to support my mystic hands.” He strained, not giving them any further explanation as he was consumed in a bright orange glow. The little sparks began to appear on the side of the road besides the straining creature. Donnie turned to see Leo frozen in terror, immediately protesting with their youngest brother.

“Mikey, NO.”

“It’ll get him out of here!”

“If Krang Prime gets anywhere near this thing-”

“They won’t get out on their own!”

“You still can’t just-”

A shriek sounded from behind them, all turtles turning around to see Casey seized around the ankle by the former remains of the second monster and dragged dangerously fast towards the midpoint its fuming mass. Before any of them could scream his name, the limb severed with a sudden tear, arousing another agonizing cry from the being. Casey scrambled into a sit, taking out a club and beating the remaining tear fastened on his leg limp in only a few swift smacks before pulling it free. Atop the roof, Eleven’s arm wavered, shaking from all of the previous effort, and Donnie could see her teetering towards the roof’s edge.

“Casey!” He screamed.

“On it!” Casey’s grappling hook shot up the building, looping somewhere on the other side of a vacant window on the top floor, and he leaped up, beginning his ascent to the girl as consciousness continued to flee her. She had flopped over the precipice, facing the sky as he reached the final floor and caught her right into the crook of his left arm, the momentum of her body threatening the steadiness of the line, but not breaking it.

“We need to get them down!” Leo yelled at Mikey.

“If we let this thing go—”

“You guys go.” Donnie wielded his bo staff, remembering Eleven’s yell for fire. “Raph, if you’re going to stay here, you should stand back.” His Ninpo morphed into a giant flamethrower. Leo and Mikey immediately took the hint, dissipating the chains and hurrying back towards Casey and Eleven. Donnie turned on the flame thrower and let the fires fly.

The creature did indeed cower and screech, agonizingly bending into the road from the heat and the black ruins ruminating on its body from the flame. Raph stood facing behind him, the both of them back to back as the other mass turned towards his brother’s technological offense and humming with what sounded like increasing fury. Donnie could feel Raph’s fists activating, ready to beat back. Donnie, though, got another idea.

“Raph, stand aside.” He informed him. “Let them join.” Raph whipped around incredulously.

“We can’t stop him that huge!”

“It’ll give us a better chance to burn it all at once.”

Raph hesitated, and then turned back up to their other brothers, pulling Eleven and Casey to safety back on the roof.

“LEO!” He motioned to a covered area on the street, and Leo took the hint, gathering everyone together. They disappeared in a flash of blue, reappearing safely on the ground half a block away from Raph and Donnie battling both masses. The purple and red turtles then deactivated their powers and leapt to the side as the two halves of flesh teetered, as if dizzy from all of the previous fighting. Then they turned to each other and oozed closer and closer from opposite ends of the street, eventually coming together to fuse and mutate into something bubbling, growling and forming a mouth. Donnie turned back to the rest of his brothers.

“Get your weapons ready!”

They were back in their stances, Donnie firing up his flamethrower for another torching and summoning all of his fire-wielding contraptions from the lair to follow them to their location. The monster had gotten possibly forty feet tall, turning towards them with a vengeful roar—

—only interrupted the Turtle Tank suddenly speeding airborne like a missile down the street, colliding full-force into the monster and both making a whistling, booming crash into the abandoned building right next door to the block where Run of The Mill was located.

None of the turtles moved, too shaken to even question who would’ve had the power to fling their vehicle in such a manner. Eleven, having regained consciousness already, slowly began walking towards the site of the crash. Casey watched her the most intently, wandering to Leo’s side.

“Should…should we be angry?” Leo’s lip curled downward, uncomfortable with the uncertainty, but answering honestly

“Maybe later.”

“I won’t be as long as we can still drive the tank out of here.” Donnie was the first to walk after her, paying heed to her cautiousness. By the time they reached the point of impact, the turtle tank lay in a diagonal heap of rubble and plaster and wood, and the fleshy monster was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s…gone?” Donnie asked aloud. “Just like that?”

“The Mind Flayer would never go away that easily.” Eleven responded, staring at the sight right alongside him. Donnie could see blood coming out of both nostrils.

“That really doesn’t look good.” He said, pressing another button on his wrist panel that brought out a little crane with a washcloth and some soapy water.

“It happens whenever I use my powers.” Eleven took the cloth and washed her upper lip. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“You said that was ‘The Mind Flayer?’” Donnie asked her, holding out a plastic bag to put the used washcloth once she was done.

“Yes.” She replied, and the rest of the group had caught up to Donnie’s side as Eleven continued. “It attacked my home town a year ago…and it killed my best friend’s brother.” Donnie closed his eyes, blotting out any image of what Leo’s, Raph’s or Mikey’s faces had to be at this admission "I thought for a long time that it killed my dad too.”

“But, he’s alive, isn’t he?” Casey asked her.

She turned to him.

“Yes.” She turned back to Donnie, her voice taking a sudden and perilous, warped drop.

“But next time, he won’t be so lucky.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Turtle Tank landed within the corner of the former after school program with a sickening explosion of concrete and drywall and splinters. Leo could hear the faint but determined moan of pain from wherever the monster was pinned within the wreckage.

“Should…should we be angry?” Casey asked his Sensei, gazing in wonder at the superpowered girl having once again saved them all, confidently but reservedly approach the crash site.

“Maybe later.” Leo’s face had gone down, but his wonder at this new hero in their city was soaring further and further with each step she took.

She had only taken maybe half a dozen steps before she buckled to her knees and toppled to the ground in an exhausted faint.

Casey had left first, but Leo reached her before he did, so fast that someone would’ve thought it was thanks to a portal. The leader was on his knees, twirling the girl in his arms to face him, only offering closed eyes and a double trickle of blood out of her nose with another exposure of blood from a pretty painful-looking scratch upon the left side of her chin. He examined around her head. Nothing felt like a concussion or an extensive injury. He tried shaking her.

“Hey, hey! Eleven? Come on, Eleven. Eleven?” Raph and Mikey were already by his side, Mikey stretching his hand out and emitting a mystic glow upon her head.

“What are you doing?”

“It should comfort her.” Mikey said. “I’ve done it to Donnie to help him sleep, Dad too.”

Grateful that Mikey had reminded him, Leo turned back towards Donnie, inexplicably standing in the exact same spot after everybody had just watched Eleven collapse on the street.

“Donnie! We need your smelling salts, maybe running a scan on her.”

Donnie didn’t move.

“Donnie, come on. You have all the PPE you need to do this safely!”

Donnie didn’t move. Casey rose to his feet and ran over, his annoyed scowl melting into confused fear once he got close enough to witness the purple turtle’s blank expression and eyes nearly white from rolling upwards.

“He had this look on his face when Terry and I found him.”

“What look?” Raph turned to look at Donnie himself, and so much color drained from his face that Leo was wondering if he was about to get trapped in a vision himself. He hopped up and hustled over, unapologetically shaking Donnie with increasing panic.

“Donnie! Donnie! Donnie, what is this? Donnie, what’s going on?”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All of New York around Donnie had been plunged into dark blue with whisps of white smoke and the smell of spilled fuel. There wasn’t anywhere nearly as much red, but he almost missed it after being surrounded by a darkness like this. Eleven and his brothers and Casey had vanished, and he was so desperate to figure out where he was he briefly forgot whether or not he was even standing on solid ground.

A heave upwards confirmed that his suspicions had weight, and the turtle was flung upside down to hang from an impromptu tree of fused mud and webs, thickening and coiling further and further underneath the feel of his body. He could only bring himself to squirm, attempting to break free once he saw the silhouette approaching at the other end of a cloud of fog, able-bodied enough to resemble a human, but its steps heavy enough for Donnie to know deep within his stomach that no human could ever make.

The same claws from his vision within Hueso’s emerged from the fog, the index finger and thumb hovering so simply and almost carefree. But as soon as they had moved, Donnie was right side up, facing the Giant Mech rampaging through New York. He ignored the growing nausea and shame within his stomach as the wicked voice returned.

“You see, Donatello?” Donnie, thankful that his hands weren’t bound, brought one to his face to muffle the squeaks threatening to break his courageous facade. “What can your creations do but break who lives among you?” He was thrust again into WitchTown: ruining the statue, worsening the worms. The worms continued to grow, expanding into a size that not even the Krang had frightened him by. “The ones like you who create only create to express your control.” The horrible voice drawled, deeper and deeper into Donnie’s head as he began to sweat. “From your own inner helplessness and seeing the greatness of whoever you cannot ever live up to. I knew a man like you. His most infamous creation was me. And every day he sought to control and spread me was a day closer to when he would die with nothing.” A violent lunge sent Donnie soaring away from the vision and back into his spot from before, his head bumping against the trunk of the tree, and settling for him to finally see his tormentor’s face.

He was gray, slimy and as infused with red as the clouds in any vision he’d had since. If Donnie was standing right side up, they probably would’ve been the exact same height. The being’s eyes were a glassy blue, sharply accentuating the cavity beneath them there a human nose would normally be. His entire body was covered in vines and thick, ropey growth around his limbs. It was nothing like Donnie had ever seen The Krang do to people, but it still was enough to be just as terrifying.

Donnie felt himself being rotated upward on the tree, turning counterclockwise until both of his arms were bound to his sides and his feet had sunk into some pits of the trunk. The creature-which had to be One-tilted his head at him and took a couple of steps more as in enveloped in a sinister curiosity.

“Now you will be my creation, Donatello.” One spoke again, Donnie squeezing his eyes shut and his lips together to avoid whatever bacteria or airborne pathogen had to be emitting from his attacker. “Be a creation in a better world than your Krang could ever build.”

Donnie could swear that he began to hear singing, but he refused to believe it.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Donnie!” Mikey yelled, having joined Raph and Casey back on the street and taking more forceful shoves to wake him up. Leo was still on the ground with Eleven in his arms, staring in helplessness at his twin standing paralyzed to the sidewalk. The girl suddenly let out a moan, stirring in his grip. Leo looked back down to make sure she was waking up, and gently shook her to speed up the process.

“Hey, hey. Are you okay?” Her eyes completely opened, and she slowly took in her surroundings. The blood beneath her nostrils was beginning to try, and some drool was leaking out of the corner of her lip. Mikey had raced back over, hoisting her up in a sitting position so she’d see Donnie.

“Mikey, you’ve got to be-”

“We need help, Leo!” He turned to her as her focus grew establishing. “He went like this after you defeated the monster, and we can’t wake him up!” Eleven squinted, her eyes hovering for a good moment before she tensed back up and rose to her knees in worried determination.

“He needs music.”

“Music?” Raph repeated?

“We need music right now, especially his favorite song, or at least one of his favorites.”

Leo made sure she was secure in Mikey’s arms before vanishing in another portal into the lopsided Turtle Tank. Donnie’s phone was laying into the handle of the passenger door, with some cracks in the screen when Leo grabbed it, but still activating without issue or low battery life. He immediately teleported back, and Eleven had fully risen to her feet under Mikey’s support. After holding the phone up to Donnie’s immovable face for unlocking it, Leo raced to the settings and selected Donnie’s built in wireless headphones until they were connected.

“Let me pick the song!” Mikey stuck his arm out, but didn’t try to take the phone. “There’s one that he’s especially been repeating in the lab for the past couple of days!” Leo handed the phone over, and Mikey typed the title in Donnie’s search bar within his music library. He pressed “Play,” and Leo could hear the faint echo of the lyrics from his ears, proof that they were connected and working.

Supercomputer status, walking’ along streets

Everyone is an addict, stumbling concrete,

What was the motivation? Constant Communication.

Everybody wanna get chose like Moses

Came out Mother Earth smelling like roses

A moan sounded out of their brother, but Leo could see some little twitches, at least more movement than there was when they had first spotted him.

Summon the New Edition, made it way too efficient

Made us the guinea pig, and did it with no permission

Told it to call a friend, didn’t tell it to listen

Casey yelped as Donnie began rising off of the ground, his arms hanging limp with palms up, as if awaiting a blessing. Raph and Mikey and Leo let out their own shouts of fear, and Eleven immediately began to tear up, her lips forming what Leo read as “Come on, come on…”

So very scary, so binary, zero or one

Like or dislike, coal mine canary

I dream in color, not black and white

You sell your daughter on that data stream

Dopamine make it hit now

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The bonds around Donnie had tightened, so much he couldn’t even find the mobility he needed to meditate enough to activate his Ninpo. He and his brothers had summoned it back with The Krang. He had to at least try some more.

If it wasn’t for One’s surprised pause and look back at the new, distant portal into the New York Street where Donnie could see himself standing as his brothers and Casey and Eleven clamored around him, frantically waiting and begging for him to come back, he would’ve thought he was hallucinating it. But not only had One’s pause convinced him that this had to indeed be real, it was enough to Donnie to properly finally think of all the ways this could be possible. One had turned back around by the time Donnie had recalled music activating both halves of the brain.

But One kept advancing with no uncertainty, his clawed hand reaching up towards Donnie’s head, and Donnie couldn’t fight his own eyes beginning to roll backward from the force they emitted.

Humans don’t understand, humans gon’ sell a lie

Humans gotta survive, we know we gon’ die

Nothing can live forever, you know we gon’ try

Life, is it really worth it?

The Algorhythm is perfect

A combination of biology and physics that he could only regard as Song.

Donnie stopped trying to think, let the music embrace his consciousness and kicked One right between the eyes. The monster yowled in shocked pain, and Donnie’s adrenaline fully activated, the vines snapping free as if they were being towed free by an automobile. He didn’t waste any time running away, never daring to look back as he went faster and faster to reach the end of the hole, shoving away any accompanying thought that Leo had to be this scared when they had rescued him.

He had briefly lost consciousness before he came to, landing right on the sidewalk with a surprised yelp of pain, his ankle barely missing injury. His hands had gotten to the sidewalk when Mikey collided into his side, wrapping his arms around his torso with a sob of relief. Raph was frozen but relieved from what Donnie could decipher from his expression, and Leo was lunging over to give him the next hug. Over his twin brother’s shoulder, Eleven was sitting on the pavement, hugging her knees and watching in heartbroken relief as Raph and Casey joined in the hug.

Donnie let them hold him and swallowed all complaints of close contact until he couldn’t even see Eleven anymore from everyone else crowding around him. He brushed them aside, leaning up towards the strange girl watching him in return. There was so much to ask her, so much to find out. But no matter how scared he felt now, he wasn’t prepared to actually hear it within the only three words he could tell her.

“I saw him.”