Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Whew. Wait. Stop. Pause. I know… I know the series is finally over. I’m as ecstatic as you are. I was so indecisive about how to end this story. So I decided to keep both endings. If you want to read both, read both, if you just want one, pick your favorite. 

Chapter 2 is the good ending. 

Chapter 3 is the bad ending.

How does it end? That depends on the path you take as a reader. 

Chapter Text

“This.. isn’t this-”

“Shush.” Raph muffles Mikey's voice. The red light blinks steadily above them. The portal had landed them in Raph's room. Raph’s room at home. The twins never left….oh my fucking god. 

They have a single breath of silence before a gas fills the room. 

“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” CJ yells shoving out of the room before the doors seal shut. They all race out as Raph's room gets sealed behind them. Drones appear from hidden compartments in the walls. 

Fuck.

“Donnie! Donnie, listen to me, I know what you did!!” Leo slams his fist against the one-way observation window. He knew Donnie was on the other side. Donnie must've made this in his lab… a secret door or panel somewhere that leads to this room. But how? How could he have built it if he was always around me? 

“I know I'm in some freak chamber you built in your lab!! Donnie let me out!!” Leo yells, 

“Sorry Leo. But I can't do that right now. Not while there's intruders.” A voice crackles from over the speakers. Intruders?

“GET TO DONNIE'S LAB! LEO HAS TO BE THERE!” April yells,

“WE'RE TRYING APRIL!” Raph tries to fire up his ninpo. It sputters out, and he nearly sags. 

“THE INHIBITOR! WE NEED TO FIND IT!” Draxum yells, 

“WHAT EXACTLY ABOUT THE WORDS ‘IN HIS LAB’ DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!” April screams, swinging her baseball bat and smashing some of the drones. 

“WE CAN'T GET IN THERE!” CJ yells as he and Splinter crash 2 drones into each other. 

“WE HAVE TO TRY!” Mikey charges forward jumping and smashing through drones as they make their way to Donnie's lab.

Intruders. Intruders. Intruders. Somebody else… plural was in the lair. Leo could only think of a few people who would know to come back here for him. Mikey and Raph. 

“Donnie, they aren't intruders! Donnie! Donnie! It's Mikey and Raph! It's Mikey and Raph isn't it! You have to stop! You need to let me out, they just want to know that I'm okay!” Leo bangs against the glass panel.

They want to know if Leo's okay? Obviously Leo's okay. He was safer than he would be in his own room! Donnie ignores his brother and turns back to the cameras. He didn't want to hurt his family. He only wanted to keep them safe. Why was that so hard for everyone to understand? He frowns at the screen. They were damaging a lot of his drones, and those were costly to make. 

“DONNIE YOU NEED TO LET THEM IN!” Leo yells, Donnie frowns. If he let them in they would insist on taking Leo. He couldn't have that happening. They don't take Leo's safety as seriously as Donnie does. No that won't do at all. Leo can't leave. 

“WHAT IF THE INHIBITOR ISN'T IN HIS LAB?” Mikey yells as a laser nearly singes his shell. For fucks sake. 

“WHY WOULD HE KEEP IT ANYWHERE ELSE?” Splinter asks, he smacks more drones down but more just keep coming. Each equipped with lasers, and weapons sharper than the last. Why wasn't Donnie calling them off? He must know by now that they weren't actually intruders. 

April spins past Mikey knocking down 2 bots behind him. 

“We have to find his backup.” April whispers, quiet enough the cameras couldn't pick it up. A bot, not a drone flies at them, they both strike it down. “You know Donnie. He's paranoid. He's even more paranoid now. He must have a backup. A… a.. shit.” April curses as one of the knives digs into her arm. 

“APRIL!” Raph slams the bot into one of the locked down train cars. “Are you?” A bot slams into Raph's back taking him down. 

“The human girl is right, come on.” Draxum yanks Mikey out of the way as a throwing star lands right where he was. “Donetello will have a remote access we need to find it and shut it down and-” Draxum gets cut off into a wheeze as something hits him in the back. He falls down. A bot looms over him with a ginormous hammer. Mikey pulls him out of the way as the hammer crashes down again, splintering the concrete beneath them. Oh shit. 

“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” Mikey yells, dragging Draxum behind him.

“Donnie! DONNIE THEY AREN'T INTRUDERS!! IT'S RAPH AND MIKEY I KNOW IT IS!!” Leo yells, he had heard something massive outside. A mech tech or a huge suit like thing. It sounded like a huge robot just crashed its foot down on something. He was scared. 

“My security is merely handling them. Don't worry Nardo everything is being taken care of.” Donnie's voice is too calm. Make it stop. 

“Taken care of? What the hell does that mean?!” Leo shouts, feeling a tremor as the massive thing is slammed down again. He prays it isn't somebody's shell, or foot, or spine, or anything. “THEIR OUR BROTHERS! 

“Yes and I'm taking care of them.”

“BARRY! BARRY GET UP!” Mikey yells, the goat curses as he's shoved forward but immediately moves, back hurting like hell as the hammer swings down again. 

“WHY ISN'T DONNIE CALLING THESE THINGS OFF?!” Raph shouts, another bot with a hammer had appeared. Fuck. Without their ninpos functioning they wouldn't last much longer. They needed to find the remote access. 

CJ jumps onto one of the hammer wielding bots but it chucks him off into the wall. 

“CJ!!!” Mikey screams, the boy is bleeding. 

“Feels like I'm back home.” CJ gets up wiping some blood off of his face. He picks up a chuck of concrete and runs, smashing through a drone and then hurtling the concrete at the bot whose hammer gets knocked out. The hammer goes flying crashing into a nearby wall. The bot's arms turn into whirling saws. Fucking hell. 

“RUN! SPREAD OUT!!” Mikey yells over the din. They all separate, heading in different directions. Mikey heads to the kitchen. He laments his beautiful knife set before he takes them and starts chucking them at the oncoming bots and drones. A shurkin digs into his side and he shouts in agony. Fuck fuck fuck. He dives as another flies towards him. Where the fuck would Donnie keep the back up? He tries to jump over a bot but it grabs him and slams him into their table, the entire thing smashes to pieces and Mikey hits the ground hard. He sees stars before rolling away and a hammer swings down where he was before. They were running out of time. 

Splinter drags himself forward, ducking behind his dresser as the bot flies by him. His leg was bleeding, it hurt to move. Outside he could hear his family fighting. 

“Purple please. If you're listening you need to stop this.” Splinter murmurs, the red dot blinks inhumanely at him. Splinter takes a shallow breath as he shakily pulls himself up using the dresser. He feels something along the bottom. Now what is this…  Before he can pull it, a shurkin slams and embeds into his shoulder. He shouts, turning and hurtling a nearby lamp at the drone. The drone cuts through it with a laser, the deadly heat follows Splinter as he races through the room. The laser cuts through the bed frame and the mirror, Splinter runs past, willing the laser to cut through the dresser. It does. He leaps around the bot, chucking the broken pieces of his dresser at it. It has to be destroyed. It must be what the others are looking for. 

The pieces are chewed up. The bot hurtles more shurkins at him pinning him to the wall. The device must have been destroyed. The bot advances with whirring blades. It had to be destroyed.

“WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO HURT YOUR OWN FAMILY?!” Leo yells,

“I'm not trying to hurt our family Leo, I'm trying to keep you safe.” Donnie's voice is calm. Calm as if he wasn't considering their brothers' intruders. As if he wasn’t currently trying to hurt their brothers. As if Leo was being the unreasonable one. 

“Keep me safe?! You're HURTING THEM Donnie!” Leo's voice cracks; he hates himself a bit for it. The sounds were getting louder. If he strained he could hear them, and it wasn't just Raph and Mikey. 

“No I'm not. They chose to come here.” Donnie's voice is neutral. It reminds Leo of that unfeeling look he had seen in his twin’s eyes.

“Donnie. I am begging you. Let them in. Just let them see me.” Leo nearly begs, nearly. He feels his ninpo coursing with his emotions, building under the steady panic and clawing fear. But it won’t work… but it needs to work. 

“So that they can try and break you out? No fucking way. The world is a dangerous place Leo and they can't protect you like I can.” Donnie's voice sounds strange now. 

“DANGEROUS? MORE DANGEROUS THAN YOU? I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO!!?” Leo shouts, 

There's a sharp intake of breath. Donnie pauses.

MORE DANGEROUS THAN YOU?! MORE DANGEROUS THAN YOU?! DANGEROUS THAN YOU?! DANGEROUS YOU! YOU’RE DANGEROUS! 

You’re dangerous. You. Are. Dangerous. 

Leo is at the door to his room, no, his cell. His cell. There’s tears tracking down his face and he’s shaking. He’s scared. Scared of you. Donnie’s mind whispers. He turns away from the window and looks at the camera monitors. Mikey was in the kitchen, his mystic shield the only thing keeping the bot hammering him from breaking his bones. Raph was in the gym, heavy weights getting tossed and smashed, his ninpo faltering as he lost energy and bled. Blood. Splinter was in his room. Pinned by shurkins, a bot advancing on him with gleaming blades, the only thing stopping them was a shield Splinter was keeping up using his ninpo energy. Draxum was out cold and tied up in Donnie’s room. April and CJ were back-to-back as a circle of bots surrounded them in the living room. They were trying to get to Mikey. 

What am I doing? Donnie was frozen, dismay and horror warring in his body. This.. no.. no.. he.. He was trying to protect them. All he wanted was to protect them. 

What have I done?

“Donnie please. I love you and I need you. I NEED YOU to listen to me.” Leo’s voice is balm on his nerves. On his ever-rising realisation of what he was doing. Clarity was coming back. It was like waking up from a fugue state. He did this. Not the Krang, not Big Mama, not Meat Sweats, not anybody. Donnie did this to himself. To his family. He feels the battle shell on his back respond to his ninpo. A hand extending out to the door locking Leo in. Oh my god. He hears the click of the lock. He hears Leo’s intake of breath. Donnie turns to the cameras. He needs to stop this. He needs to put a stop to this. His fingers are shaky as they type out the passwords and necessary information to shut down his extensive security system. The same system that he used to try and hurt his family. The last button is hit. The system shuts down. 

On the screen, the bots turn off and power down. Donnie can’t look at it anymore. He shuts the screen off and turns in his chair. When he looks, Leo is towering over him, not unlike how Donnie was a few months ago. Anxiety churns in his gut. Anxiety that threatens to spill over and eat him alive. 

“Donnie.” Leo kneels down to his level. Donnie suddenly can’t look at him anymore. Can’t look at him knowing what he’s done. All those months that I have.. What on earth is wrong with me?

“Donnie look at me.” Leo repeats, his voice wispy and thin. They make eye contact. Leo’s eyes are terrified, and heartbreakingly soft. Donnie doesn’t deserve it. Doesn’t deserve it after treating his brother, his TWIN like a prisoner like… Like the Krang did. Leo extends his arms out silently in invitation. Donnie scoots over and hugs him. Holds him tightly and then loosens and well.. He doesn’t really know what to do right now. Because Leo isn’t as mad as he should be. 

The door to his lab is open, he can see Raph, Mikey, April, and CJ all there. Donnie wonders why they aren’t storming in yet. Why aren't they yelling and disowning Donnie after everything he’s done? After all the pain he put them through. 

“Donnie. Hey… hey Tello. It’s… It’s okay… We’ll figure this out.” Leo says gently, pulling away. Donnie looks at him. He means it. Leo really means it. 

“How? How on earth can I… god I’m so sorry I haven’t even apologized but how… HOW can we?” 

“Maybe start with actual therapy.” Mikey interrupts, both twins snap their heads to the door. 

“We’re kinda in the middle of a moment right now Dr. Feelings.” Leo scowls, 

“Yeah well Dr. Delicate Touch doesn’t really CARE about your MOMENT Leonardo.” Mikey imitates the scowl, he pulls away from the others, there’s cuts and bruises, and blood seeping out of his wounds. Donnie is going to die. He already knows it. “YOU are in SO MUCH TROUBLE Donatello.” 

“Yeah I know.” 

“You are going to actual therapy. Scratch that ALL OF US are going to therapy.” Mikey declares, 

“While we’re at it can we find an actual doctor in the hidden city too?” CJ pipes up, 

“Whether it’s mental help or physical help this entire family is getting it. No buts, especially not from you two.” Mikey glares at Donnie and Leo. 

“Uh..” 

“Now come on. Give me a hug and let’s go to an actual fucking doctor.” Mikey steps closer despite his limp, wrapping his arms around both twins.  Raph exhales shakily and joins the pile, dragging April and CJ with him. The room is finally quiet. Donnie can feel the tension within his other siblings. The pain in their bodies. The pain HE inflicted. 

 “I’m… I’m so sorry,” he whispers, voice cracking.

Raph squeezes his shoulder.  “We know Donnie. We all have some apologizing to do.” Raph’s gaze lands on Leo for a brief second before looking back to Donnie. “We’ll have time for that too. Just not here… not now.” 

“Yeah Dee. I’m frankly exhausted after fighting your endless supply of killer murder machines.” April agrees, 

“And for the record I’m still kinda mad about you throwing me into jail for ½ the year.” CJ adds, 

Donnie winces. He’d… genuinely forgotten he'd done that. God. What was he thinking?

“Guys. Focus. Real doctor. Real therapy. Real sleep.” Leo says, “We can deal with everything else later.” Leo turns to Donnie. “Together this time right Don?” 

“Yeah… together this time.” Donnie’s smile is small but genuine.

Chapter Text

“This.. isn’t this-”

“Shush.” Raph muffles Mikey's voice. The red light blinks steadily above them. The portal had landed them in Raph's room. Raph’s room at home. The twins never left….oh my fucking god. 

They have a single breath of silence before a gas fills the room. 

“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” CJ yells shoving out of the room before the doors seal shut. They all race out as Raph's room gets sealed behind them. Drones appear from hidden compartments in the walls. 

Fuck. 

“Donnie! Donnie, listen to me, I know what you did!!” Leo slams his fist against the one-way observation window. He knew Donnie was on the other side. Donnie must've made this in his lab… a secret door or panel somewhere that leads to this room. But how? How could he have built it if he was always around me? 

“I know I'm in some freak chamber you built in your lab!! Donnie let me out!!” Leo yells, 

“Sorry Leo. But I can't do that right now. Not while there's intruders.” A voice crackles from over the speakers. Intruders? 

“GET TO DONNIE'S LAB! LEO HAS TO BE THERE!” April yells,

“WE'RE TRYING APRIL!” Raph tries to fire up his ninpo. It sputters out, and he nearly sags. 

“THE INHIBITOR! WE NEED TO FIND IT!” Draxum yells, 

“WHAT EXACTLY ABOUT THE WORDS ‘IN HIS LAB’ DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!” April screams, swinging her baseball bat and smashing some of the drones. 

“WE CAN'T GET IN THERE!” CJ yells as he and Splinter crash 2 drones into each other. 

“WE HAVE TO TRY!” Mikey charges forward jumping and smashing through drones as they make their way to Donnie's lab. 

Intruders. Intruders. Intruders. Somebody else… plural was in the lair. Leo could only think of a few people who would know to come back here for him. Mikey and Raph. 

“Donnie, they aren't intruders! Donnie! Donnie! It's Mikey and Raph! It's Mikey and Raph isn't it! You have to stop! You need to let me out, they just want to know that I'm okay!” Leo bangs against the glass panel. 

They want to know if Leo's okay? Obviously Leo's okay. He was safer than he would be in his own room! Donnie ignores his brother and turns back to the cameras. He didn't want to hurt his family. He only wanted to keep them safe. Why was that so hard for everyone to understand? He frowns at the screen. They were damaging a lot of his drones, and those were costly to make. 

“DONNIE YOU NEED TO LET THEM IN!” Leo yells, Donnie frowns. If he let them in they would insist on taking Leo. He couldn't have that happening. They don't take Leo's safety as seriously as Donnie does. No that won't do at all. Leo can't leave. 

“WHAT IF THE INHIBITOR ISN'T IN HIS LAB?” Mikey yells as a laser nearly singes his shell. For fucks sake. 

“WHY WOULD HE KEEP IT ANYWHERE ELSE?” Splinter asks, he smacks more drones down but more just keep coming. Each equipped with lasers, and weapons sharper than the last. Why wasn't Donnie calling them off? He must know by now that they weren't actually intruders. 

April spins past Mikey knocking down 2 bots behind him. 

“We have to find his backup.” April whispers, quiet enough the cameras couldn't pick it up. A bot, not a drone flies at them, they both strike it down. “You know Donnie. He's paranoid. He's even more paranoid now. He must have a backup. A… a.. shit.” April curses as one of the knives digs into her arm. 

“APRIL!” Raph slams the bot into one of the locked down train cars. “Are you?” A bot slams into Raph's back taking him down. 

“The human girl is right, come on.” Draxum yanks Mikey out of the way as a throwing star lands right where he was. “Donetello will have a remote access we need to find it and shut it down and-” Draxum gets cut off into a wheeze as something hits him in the back. He falls down. A bot looms over him with a ginormous hammer. Mikey pulls him out of the way as the hammer crashes down again, splintering the concrete beneath them. Oh shit. 

“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” Mikey yells, dragging Draxum behind him. 

“Donnie! DONNIE THEY AREN'T INTRUDERS!! IT'S RAPH AND MIKEY I KNOW IT IS!!” Leo yells, he had heard something massive outside. A mech tech or a huge suit like thing. It sounded like a huge robot just crashed its foot down on something. He was scared. 

“My security is merely handling them. Don't worry Nardo everything is being taken care of.” Donnie's voice is too calm. Make it stop. 

“Taken care of? What the hell does that mean?!” Leo shouts, feeling a tremor as the massive thing is slammed down again. He prays it isn't somebody's shell, or foot, or spine, or anything. “THEIR OUR BROTHERS! 

“Yes and I'm taking care of them.” 

“BARRY! BARRY GET UP!” Mikey yells, the goat curses as he's shoved forward but immediately moves, back hurting like hell as the hammer swings down again. 

“WHY ISN'T DONNIE CALLING THESE THINGS OFF?!” Raph shouts, another bot with a hammer had appeared. Fuck. Without their ninpos functioning they wouldn't last much longer. They needed to find the remote access. 

CJ jumps onto one of the hammer wielding bots but it chucks him off into the wall. 

“CJ!!!” Mikey screams, the boy is bleeding. 

“Feels like I'm back home.” CJ gets up wiping some blood off of his face. He picks up a chuck of concrete and runs, smashing through a drone and then hurtling the concrete at the bot whose hammer gets knocked out. The hammer goes flying crashing into a nearby wall. The bot's arms turn into whirling saws. Fucking hell. 

“RUN! SPREAD OUT!!” Mikey yells over the din. They all separate, heading in different directions. Mikey heads to the kitchen. He laments his beautiful knife set before he takes them and starts chucking them at the oncoming bots and drones. A shurkin digs into his side and he shouts in agony. Fuck fuck fuck. He dives as another flies towards him. Where the fuck would Donnie keep the back up? He tries to jump over a bot but it grabs him and slams him into their table, the entire thing smashes to pieces and Mikey hits the ground hard. He sees stars before rolling away and a hammer swings down where he was before. They were running out of time. 

Splinter drags himself forward, ducking behind his dresser as the bot flies by him. His leg was bleeding, it hurt to move. Outside he could hear his family fighting. 

“Purple please. If you're listening you need to stop this.” Splinter murmurs, the red dot blinks inhumanely at him. Splinter takes a shallow breath as he shakily pulls himself up using the dresser. He feels something along the bottom. Now what is this…  Before he can pull it, a shurkin slams and embeds into his shoulder. He shouts, turning and hurtling a nearby lamp at the drone. The drone cuts through it with a laser, the deadly heat follows Splinter as he races through the room. The laser cuts through the bed frame and the mirror, Splinter runs past, willing the laser to cut through the dresser. It does. He leaps around the bot, chucking the broken pieces of his dresser at it. It has to be destroyed. It must be what the others are looking for. 

The pieces are chewed up. The bot hurtles more shurkins at him pinning him to the wall. The device must have been destroyed. The bot advances with whirring blades. It had to be destroyed. 

“WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO HURT YOUR OWN FAMILY?!” Leo yells,

“I'm not trying to hurt our family Leo, I'm trying to keep you safe.” Donnie's voice is calm. Calm as if he wasn't considering their brothers' intruders. As if he wasn’t currently trying to hurt their brothers. As if Leo was being the unreasonable one. 

“Keep me safe?! You're HURTING THEM Donnie!” Leo's voice cracks; he hates himself a bit for it. The sounds were getting louder. If he strained he could hear them, and it wasn't just Raph and Mikey. 

“No I'm not. They chose to come here.” Donnie's voice is neutral. It reminds Leo of that unfeeling look he had seen in his twin’s eyes.

“Donnie. I am begging you. Let them in. Just let them see me.” Leo nearly begs, nearly. He feels his ninpo coursing with his emotions, building under the steady panic and clawing fear. But it won’t work… but it needs to work. 

“So that they can try and break you out? No fucking way. The world is a dangerous place Leo and they can't protect you like I can.” Donnie's voice sounds strange now. 

“DANGEROUS? MORE DANGEROUS THAN YOU? I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO!!?” Leo shouts, 

There's a sharp intake of breath. Donnie pauses. 

Dangerous? Me? DANGEROUS? White hot rage bubbles up, eradicating all rational thought. HE was dangerous? Was Leo out of his goddamn mind? 

“You know what you little shit.” Donnie seethes storming over to the door to the room. He yanks it open, unprepared for his twin’s eyes and marks to be glowing brilliantly after so long being dulled. 

“How the hell?” 

“See ya Dee.” Leo winks, a portal forming underneath him as he vanishes. Donnie’s muscles are faster than his brain, he leaps into the portal before it disappears completely. It lands him in the living room. 

“LEO!” Somebody calls joyously. 

“DONNIE?” Another voice is shell-shocked. Donnie’s mind is laser-focused, blurring out the faces and voices around him. 

“LEO GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!” Donnie weaves and jumps over his bots and drones as they fight around him while he tries to grab his wayward twin. What the fuck is Leo thinking? He knows the security system is dealing with the intruders! Why the hell would he teleport here? “LEO STOP THIS NONSENSE!” 

Donnie smashes a bot that comes his way. Leo is making his way to the kitchen. Does he want a snack? Donnie could’ve easily given him one in his room. Leo’s still running, Donnie speeds up and tackles him down. 

“DONNIE WHAT THE HELL?” Leo snaps, 

“WE are going back to-” 

“I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE! YOU NEED TO STOP THIS OR YOU NEED TO LET ME GO!” Leo yells, 

“Their dealing with the INTRUDERS we’ll get-” Donnie tugs Leo out of the way as a whirring blade zips by them. Leo breaks free from his grasp and sprints towards the kitchen. Motherfucker.

Donnie slams his bo staff into another bot as he takes after his idiotic twin. And he wonders why I don’t want him to leave the lair! He has a martyr complex the size of the sun! Donnie curses as a bot rams into him, knocking him down. He shuts it down before continuing after Leo. 

“LEONARDO!” Donnie yells furiously. He dodges flying shurkins as he enters the kitchen. Leo had smashed down a bot and was racing towards a figure who was surrounded. Leo you piece of-

“MIKEY!” Leo screams, portaling in and out. The idiot hadn’t even grabbed his swords. Fucking dumbass. Donnie leaps forward defending Leo’s back from the bots while disabling others. 

“LEO GET BACK HERE!” Donnie yanks him back by the shell. Leo kicks him off and dives back into the fray. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!  Donnie smashes a bot as the anger comes roaring back. Why the hell was Leo being so stubborn? What was he hoping to accomplish by doing this? What was—he sees the blade coming from his peripherals.

“LEO MOVE!” Donnie yells, but he isn’t fast enough. He isn’t there. Leo flickers for a brief second, but his ninpo is exhausted, used. The shuriken pierces into Leo’s side. Blood. Fuck. Donnie reaches Leo dragging him out of the way as a bot with a massive hammer smashes down where they were. Fucking idiot. 

“Leo. LEO GOD DAMMIT!” Donnie drags them away into the hallway. Leo, the idiot, fights him. Blood was soaking on Donnie’s hands. His brother’s blood. No no No NO.

“DONNIE STOP LET ME-” 

“YOU’RE GOING TO BLEED OUT DUMBASS!” 

“THE HAMMER DONNIE THE HAMMER!” Leo screams with all of his might. His eyes were locked across the space towards the kitchen.  

“HAMMER? WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU—”

Then he hears it. Not just him but everyone hears it. A sickening crack, like concrete being shattered by a sledgehammer—but there’s also a scream. A raw sound that rips through the air sending shockwaves throughout the lair. A heart-stopping howl that reeked of unimaginable pain. Unimaginable to all except 1. 

“MIKEY! MIKEY NO!” Leo is moving, pushing away from his frozen twin. Leo’s a whirlwind, his drained ninpo bright and furiously glimmering as he destroys and dumps bots and drones into portals sending them to fuck knows where. The blood and the pain long forgotten as he reaches the kitchen. 

Donnie’s senses are dulled. It feels like he’s been taken out of his body and is merely spectating the destruction now. He pulls his phone out, mindlessly thumbing to his applications and shutting off the security system. All around them the bots depower and the drones crash to the ground. From other rooms the “intruders” come out. They were never intruders. Blood drips down onto the floor as Raph and Splinter, April and CJ, even Draxum all haul themselves to the kitchen. There’s more blurring of time. At some point he takes out his phone and calls ahead to the hospital. There’s a flash of blue. By the time his mind resurfaces, he’s alone. 

All that’s left is blood on the floor and pieces of shell. 

Blood on the floor, pieces of shell, and Donnie’s realization that none of it is his. Yet this is all on him.