Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

. . . . . .

It has been a year since the Kraang incident, and the city was starting to come back together. The outside world was noisy with all the construction going on. But down in the turtle’s lair, it was quiet. Since they patched up their lair with soundproofing technology, the whole lair had fell into silence. The only sounds that could be hear was the sound of Donnie’s backup generator whirring. Everyone was asleep and peace had loomed over the place. 

Well. Maybe except for one person- or should I say turtle?

Raph was sitting at the edge of his bed, staring at the ground of his room mindlessly. His big clad finger traced over the eyepatch on his right eye.
After they defeated the Kraang, Raph could’ve sworn his right eye felt like going blind. Donnie had it analysed a few months ago, but there was no risk of going blind. At least, not yet. 

But, Raph wasn’t worried about that. He’s worried about everything. He feels like someone could pounce on him at any moment and had cases where he collapsed due to too much pressure from his hallucinations. There were time he could feel like his brain and eyes were about to pop out.

….

Raph does not want to talk about it.

Hallucinations weren’t the only problem, the poor big guy also feels paranoid. And his brother’s “safety” was driving him crazy. There was just so much to list about this snapper turtle’s fears. No words can describe how much fear he’s feeling right now. Heck, maybe just make up a new word for it.

But the one he fears the most. Is his Kraang self. He could practically hear the growls and roars he let out as a Kraang. The guilt he had to carry because he tried to kill his brothers was overbearing. It could just bring him down and make him weak to his knees. He hated thinking about it. He hated that it won’t leave his brain.

He hated that the image was laughing darkly at him.

Raph was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his bedroom door open. He went to self defence mode immediately, only to see a small shadow looming from the door. A head peeked out of the door and it was-

“Mikey.” Raph mumbled as he turn to his younger brother. “What’re you doing up late?”

The box turtle frowned a bit at his big brother. 

“I should be asking you the same thing.”

Raph shifted uncomfortably onto his bed, his hands on his own lap.

”t’was nothing. Just…insomnia kicking in I guess.”

Mikey sat beside Raph, looking up at his tall figure. He knew how much the incident had burdened Raph, but he just doesn’t exactly how much.

”C’mon. You haven’t been sleeping for a few days. There’s obviously something bothering you.”

Raph’s jaw clenched and he fiddled with his fingers. He didn’t want to tell Mikey in case it just makes him worry about him more. But a half of him is telling to just spill everything. 

“Like I said, it’s nothing.” Raph stubbornly replied, trying to avoid eye contact. Mikey’s frown spread wider.

“Raph. Look at me.” Mikey ordered, his expression now serious. Raph flinched at his tone and turn his head to him.

”Have you even tried Dr. Feeling’s methods on how to beat the insomnia?”

Raph shrugged hesitantly, frowning as he remembered the “Dr. Feelings session” last week.

”m’just not really feeling like sleeping to be honest.”

His younger brother looked down at the ground, his eyes narrowing in worry. He looked around the room, trying to get Raph to look at him again.

”Oh. Alright.” Mikey saw the sleeping pills Donnie gave Raph a few days ago on his bedside table.

“How about the sleeping pills? Have you been taking them?”

“No.” Raph replied blankly, making Mikey let out a loud sigh.

“Look, Raph. You need to at least sleep.”

Raph’s eyes darkened, getting slightly annoyed with his brother’s constant worry.

”Like I said, I don’t really feel like sleeping.”

Mikey just sighed and flopped down backwards onto Raph’s bed.

”But you can’t just keep going like this. All of us had already finished taking care of ourselves.”

He looked back at Raph.

”Except for you.” “And we’re all worried about you, Raph.”

Raph returned Mikey’s expression with a guilty one, his eyes softened. He knew his brothers were worried about him, the turtles- even Casey and April had tried everything to cheer Raph up and hopefully lift his spirits again. They even tried getting rid of Mrs. Cuddles so that Raph could be a little less anxious.

But nothing worked. He once fooled them into thinking he was already better, but one day he passed out and they weren’t going to give him a shot to lie again.

“Look. Raph’s fine. You guys don’t need to worry about me. I can take care of myself whenever.” He grumbled.

Both of them just went silent at each other, until Mikey glanced at Raph’s alarm clock.

2:48 a.m.

Mikey got up from Raph’s bed, the sudden action startling him.

”I’m heading back to bed. You can talk to me in the morning if you want.”

”m’kay. Goodnight.” Raph faced away from Mikey, making him frown again.

”Yeah. Goodnight.”

Mikey went out and closed the door behind him, leaning against the wall beside it. He doesn’t know how long Raph would keep this up. The city will need them again eventually, but Raph is just being stubborn and it frustrates him. Mikey shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

It’s fine. Raph would come around one day. Now just wasn’t the time. Mikey walked back to room as he left his thoughts astray.

Going back to Raph, he felt a lot of guilty thoughts. He just tried to shrug it off and laid down onto his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. 

“At least let me sleep.” He muttered.

. . . . . .

When morning arrived, Raph got no sleep at all. He had slight sleep paralysis but it went away after a few minutes. Raph doesn’t even know where this came from all of a sudden, he didn’t have it for the past few months. Maybe he can just ask Donnie. So, he just grumbled and exited his room, looking to see that everyone had sat down for breakfast. Except for Casey. He went out to live with his mom, who probably is still confused why he keeps calling her that.

Leo was the first one to see him, and waved while smiling at his brother.

”Hey Raph! Did you sleep well?” But Leo knew too well that Raph didn’t sleep at all.

“Mmh. Yeah. Slept like a baby.” Raph tried not to sound grumpy, but his tone gave it away.

Donnie and April glanced at each other worriedly. They all tried not to point out the fact he gave away his grumpy voice, and Leo patted on the empty seat beside him.

”Maybe you should eat Raph. Mikey made waffles with berries in it. Isn’t that your favourite?”

Raph made a small smile. Alright- forget about what he thought about nothing can cheer him up. Waffles with berries in it probably does the trick.

”I-alright.” He walked over the seat beside Leo and sat on it.

The others quietly sighed in relief, at least now he’s smiling. That’s a start.

”They’re almost done- i just need to cook the last few ones.” Mikey poured the last of the waffle batter, quickly closing the top of the waffle cooker.

Raph nodded, his fingers drumming at the end of the table excitedly, making the others laugh at his expression.

Donnie realised Raph was sweating a little. It wasn’t even hot last night. But he’ll just ask about it later. He doesn’t want to ruin Raph’s current mood of craving for waffles.

. . . . . .

They all had their breakfast and Raph was the one who ate the most. He ate them rather greedily if you ask them.(“Raph! Don’t eat too fast! You’ll choke!” Mikey swatted Raph’s hand with a spatula.)

Most of the day went by pretty well. The guys, except for Raph, went out on patrol. Even though Raph had argued with Donnie whether he should go out or not, Mikey stepped in and made him shut up. Then Raph agreed to let them patrol without him. (Not before Raph gave Leo an hour long of rambling at him the rules before going out.)

April had set up Raph an ‘origami corner’ so that she can teach how to make them. She learned a thing or two from Mikey. 

Raph had try to make this day a bit better than the last few days. So that he at least try to forget about every traumatic event he had to deal.

When the other turtles had came back from patrol, they were glad Raph was doing better than yesterday- then the day after that, and the day after that-

The point is, Raph’s cheered up now. And that’s all that matters.

…

Raph and Donnie were both in the living room, playing a video game with Leo and Mikey watching them from behind the couch.

”Are you-C’mon! Raph! Stop throwing shells at me!” Donnie spoke loudly, but not yelling. Raph chuckled and smiled mischievously.

”It’s not my fault you keep bumping into the shells that I tried to throw at someone else.”

Donnie frowned and kept his focus on the game. It seems that Mikey forgot about the appointment he wanted to have with Raph with all the excitement around.

The game was over and Raph won, he did his victory laugh while Donnie muttered something about Raph using hacks or something. Although, Donnie did let him win on purpose. Then it was Leo and Mikey’s turn to play against each other.

While they were playing Raph felt thirsty.

”Hey. I’m gonna go to the kitchen. Be back in a minute.” He walked away while looking at Donnie, who nodded and continued to look at Leo and Mikey.

Raph walked over to the kitchen, going to grab a cup when he suddenly froze.

Wait…what’s going on..? Why is his surroundings suddenly cold? Why is his breathing shallow? Why is there a shadow behind him? Is it April? Splinter? No.

The shadow was taller and bigger. Before Raph could try to snap out of it, a cold, dark voice came from behind him.

“Don’t get too happy now. Remember that you tried to kill your brothers when you were a Kraang.”

Raph’s eyes widened and his pupils dilated, his gaze looking at the ground. But he shook his head, his voice trying to take over the sentence the voice said.

”It doesn’t matter now. It’s over now and I’m trying to forget about it.”

The voice laughed loudly in a very chilling way.

“What if The Kraang has a way of trying to make you into one of them again? What if one day you get brainwashed again?”

He couldn’t even scream or call for the others. He turned around, and his breathing laboured even more.

It was him…but he was like a walking shadow with white glowy eyes. The appearance itself was already scary enough.

”Wha-Who are you??”

“I’m you. Isn’t that obvious?” The dark chuckle the shadow let out was sending chills down his shell.

“No! Y-you’re just the- negative part of me! I-”

“No. I am you. I was created from your self doubt and fear. I was sure you were aware of that already.”

For a second, Raph forgot how to breathe. The atmosphere of the kitchen was slowly disappearing and it’s replaced by a black and red void.

The shadow walked closer to him, but Raph couldn’t move. He couldn’t run. Tears started to form in his eyes as the shadow got closer.

“G-get back! Please!” He cried, but the shadow didn’t listen. Instead it laughed darkly. Very. Loudly.

“You can’t get rid of me. I’m stuck to your mind forever. As long as you have fear inside of you, I’ll always exist.”

After it said that, it was face to face to Raph. And it grabbed Raph’s face.

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̸̛̯̅̆́̋̇̋̓̄͘͘̕

Before Raph could react, images of him as a Kraang flashed in his head. Next, it was him trying to kill Leo. Next again, it was an

image of his brothers getting tied up in the Kraang’s bind.

He could hear muffled sounds from the images. His hearing going blank and letting out an eerie noise.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the black and red void started to close in. The walls were getting smaller and smaller. Raph couldn’t breathe. He needs to get out. He needs to move. But his legs won’t. He tried to shout. But his mouth won’t. The walls are getting closer to him. He’s going to get crushed.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

And he collapsed.

Chapter Text

……

The last thing Raph could remember was that he was in the kitchen…then…a shadow thing of himself tried to literally obliterate him on the spot…? What were the images he saw again?

But, he could tell he wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. The air was cold, there’s something soft placed on his legs and there was a constant noises of people talking. His hearing was still blank. Even so, he could make out a little of the chatter around him.

”Is he going to be okay??”

”Relax, he’ll be fine. I checked his vitals and he seems alright.”

”How did this even happened in the first place?”

“Well-I found him laying flat on the kitchen floor and then-”

Raph immediately shot open his eyes, sitting up and panting loudly. This sudden movement startled the people around him. His eyes flickered around his surroundings.

It seems like he was on a bed, in a room with a lot of technical stuff- Oh.

He’s in Donnie’s lab.

”Raph!” Suddenly Mikey threw himself onto Raph, making him flinch. “We were so worried!”

”Yeah, well…this isn’t the first time he passed out you know.” Raph could hear Donnie’s voice at the front of the bed.

Mikey glared back at him with a frown.

”So? I’m still worried!”

Donnie raised his hands up, signaling that he doesn’t want to argue.

April, who was beside him, shook her head and looked straight at Raph which he looked back at her.

”Leo said he found you laying on the kitchen floor an hour ago.”

An hour?? He’s been out for that long?

“Oh. Yeah.” That was the only response he could muster now. His brain is still painful and wrecked from the impact of the fall.

He turned to Leo, who was on the other side of the bed from Donnie and April. The red-ear slider turtle was gazing at him with the same expression as April.

”Sorry. I don’t know what gotten into me.” Raph rubbed the back of his head, trying to soothe out the pain.

”It’s alright. We’re just glad you’re fine.” Leo muttered loud enough for Raph to hear.

Raph looked down at Mikey, who was still hugging him. He had a small sad frown on his face. The big one sighed as Mikey climbed off him.

”Anyway. What made you pass out this time? Usually you wake up when it’s only a few minutes, but now it’s an hour.” Donnie had a notepad in his hand along with a pen. He’s probably going to check him. 

Raph looked down at his lap, trying to avoid eye contact.

“I..I think..I saw a shadow version of myself and it had glowing white eyes. A-and he keeps reminding me about when i was a Kraang…then..”

He looked up to see the others staring at him in horror, as if they had seen a ghost. Practically, they had heard about a ghost in this current situation.

”He grabbed my face..and..” Raph continued. “There were does..horrible images. But i don’t really remember what they were.”

They all turned to each other, their faces looking tense. Donnie had written out what Raph had said on his notepad. The softshell hummed in amusement and closed the notepad.

”Alright. I’ll just look this up, it shouldn’t be too hard since it’s-”

The lab door suddenly opened, revealing a worried looking short rat. He rushed into the lab and ran straight to the bed Raph was sitting on.

”Raphael! Are you alright?!” The rat immediately took Raph’s hand in his and shook it.

Raph was a bit surprised that their dad was back so soon. He nodded, avoiding his eyes.
Splinter had went on a 3 day trip with Draxum, but he was supposed to come back by tomorrow. He could guess that Donnie told him about and it made him scared out of his life that he rushed back home.

“Mhm. Yeah. Raph’s alright.”

Splinter did not take that as an ‘alright’. Though, he decided not to push his son’s boundaries. He knows he’s going to get uncomfortable telling him about it.

”Good. You made me had 2 heart attacks.”

Mikey snorted a little, and quickly kept a straight face as soon Splinter turn his head to him.

”Wait- Dad, how about the trip with Draxum?” Leo asked as he looked from Splinter to Raph.

”Well. Draxum said we could just finish the trip another time.”

The old rat felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to the person who did it.

”Father, can we talk?” Donnie suddenly spoke up, making Splinter nod in response.

Donnie had a serious expression which worried Splinter a bit. They both went to another corner in the lab, trying not to let anybody else hear them.

While both of them were doing that, the others tried to occupy Raph with something else so that he could get his mind off of the thing he saw before.

But from the corner of Raph’s eye, he saw Splinter and Donnie glancing back at him with a worried expression.

Wonder what that was about.

……

Everyone had left Donnie’s lab, Leo said they were going to get some stuff from the mystic city. As usual, Donnie wanted to stay behind. Now it was just Raph and Donnie. The tech turtle was too busy to talk to Raph anyway. He was too busy burying his snout into his invention he had been working on for a few months.

Which didn’t really last for a while, surprisingly.

Donnie had turned his chair around to look at Raph. Narrowing his eyes at his big brother’s behaviour.

Raph was staring at his legs that were covered in a blanket, all Donnie could see in his eyes were just plain horror. He rubbed the side of his neck as he sighed, getting up and walking to Raph.

“Raph.”

The snapper turtle flinched at the sound of someone calling his name. He looked up from his legs to see Donnie, standing at the edge of the bed.

“Oh. Hi Dee.” 
Donnie didn’t like how Raph responded to him, but he understood that he was still thinking about his…you know.

”I need to ask you about something.” Donnie had a mix of serious and concerned tone in his voice. Raph widened his eyes in confusion and nodded.

”Sure. About what?”

“Well. This morning I noticed that you were sweating after you came out of your room.”

Raph’s face changed from confusion to realisation.

”What made you sweat like that? It wasn’t even hot last night…”

“I-I just slept with the wrong position-That’s all.” Raph stammered, which made Donnie more suspicious.

“Raph. Just tell me. How am I supposed to help you if you don’t tell me anything?” Donnie had a brooding face, clearly not wanting to deal with Raph’s stubbornness.

“Fine. I had sleep paralysis. Happy?” Raph trailed off, mumbling quietly.

Donnie grinned a little after Raph spoke

”See, that wasn’t so hard. Wasn’t it?” But he continued it with a grimaced face.

”Sleep paralysis, huh…?”

Raph waited for Donnie to respond, his eyes moving all over the place to occupy himself.

”I’ll see what I can do. But you’ll have to take the sleeping pills this time.”

Raph huffed, there really isn’t any other way to avoid that.

”Okay. And to make it clear, I’m not taking two.” he added.

Donnie let out a cheeky chuckle and nod.

”Yes sir.”

……

It was in the middle of the night again. Donnie was making some last minute check ups before letting Raph eat some pills which made him drowsy.

Soon enough, Raph was fast asleep, finally getting the sleep he had wanted for a few days.

But he suddenly heard a distant voice, he opened his eyes to a see a horrible scene before him.

Mikey was on the ground not moving, with Leo beside him. He seems to be trying to stop Mikey from bleeding any more. Donnie was leaning against something, looking as lifeless as Mikey. 
Leo was clutching Mikey’s body, tears spilling from his eyes. Raph was horrified. He tried to move, run to them, but his feet were stuck again. He looked down at his legs and tried to pull them, tugging them as hard as he can.

“Raph…please…don’t..” Raph heard a weak cry, and he froze. He stopped pulling his feet and his eyes averted back to Leo. There was something different this time. He was in front of him.

No. His Kraang self.

The Kraang version of himself was laughing maniacally, while Raph was just standing on the side. Unable to do anything to stop this. His eyes widen in fear with his mouth opened.

Kraang Raph raised his arm with claws, aiming it towards Leo. The real Raph tried to scream, his voice broken.

”NO, STOP!!”

Alas, they couldn’t neither hear and see him. He was just a mere ghost to them. A hallucination. 
Before Raph had time to scream again, his Kraang self slashed his claw at Leo. He let out a pained scream as blood splattered out all over the place and fell backwards, dead.

Raph was paralysed. Some blood had splashed onto him. He could smell the metal-like scent of his brother’s spill.

Wait.

Isn’t this a dream?

His thoughts stopped when his Kraang self laughed again, this time louder and ear deafening.

Raph looked from Mikey to Leo and Donnie’s bodies. This would’ve happened if Leo hadn’t saved him.

He felt some tears on his face, not even realising he was crying.

And he stood there, staring at the bodies.

……

Donnie stretched as his gaze fell onto the invention on his working table. He glanced at the clock on the wall.

4:51 a.m.

Man. It’s getting late. He should’ve called it a night a few hours ago. He swore it was only 12 when he last looked at the clock.
Oh well. The later the better.

Donnie stood up from his swivel chair and took his empty mug as he walked to the door of the lab door.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard a broken sob and cry. It was coming from his lab.

So, Donnie turned around to find where it was coming from. It was coming from the medical area-

Oh no.

Raph.

He quickly dashed to the medical area, pulling open the curtains that was covering the bed.

Raph was sleeping, but there were tears coming out from his eyes.

Donnie exhaled deeply before breathing out. He thought Raph had hurt himself again.

But why is he crying? Is he having a nightmare?

Donnie’s eyebrows furrowed and the sudden movement of Raph opening his eyes scared him for a minute. Raph sat up and said nothing.

“Raph? A-are you-” Donnie sputtered. Before he could even finish his sentence, Raph’s eyes gazed at him, making the purple one shiver.

“D-Donnie…?” Raph croaked out. Donnie flinched and gazed back at him.

”Yeah?”

Raph didn’t answer.

Donnie also fell silent.

”I t-thought you were…dead.” Raph let out a shaky sob as his hands trembled.

Donnie widened his eyes, did he just said he thought he was dead??

”A-and..where’s Mikey. And-Leo??” He stammered, and he had fear in his voice.

Ah. So that’s what the nightmare was about.

”T-they are fine. They’re sleeping.” Donnie tried to sound reassuring, and couldn’t help but feel scared too. His eyes blinking quickly.

Raph looked like he didn’t believe him.

Donnie was having a hard time wracking another response for him.

Then, as he was thinking, Raph laid down on the bed and mumbled as he closed his eyes.

”Don’t die yet.”

”….”

That was weird.

……

Morning came again, Raph had a heck of a sleep. He couldn’t remember why, but he did remember that it involves his brothers getting killed in some sort of dream. He wished he forgot about that part too.

He was currently on the living room sofa, sitting beside his dad as he curled up with his head pressing onto his knees.

Splinter had a feeling something was wrong with him, but didn’t want to bother him. Mikey came out of his room and saw both of them, skipping over to the sofa with a bright smile on his face.

“Good morning dad, Raph!”

Splinter replied back a ‘good morning’ while Raph only mumbled. Mikey’s cheerful demeanour disappeared and was replaced with concern.

“Raph. Donnie told me what happened last night.”

Oh great.

“Really? And what’re you gonna do about it?” Raph grunted. Mikey and Splinter glanced at each other.

”Donnie said he’s making something to help you with it.” Mikey added. “And then he’ll fill it up in a needle-”

Raph jerked abruptly. Did he heard that right??

”I’m sorry, did you just said needle?”

”Uhm-yeah. But don’t worry, he’s making sure it won’t cause you pain-”

Raph jerked again, this time scooting over to Splinter.

Both Splinter and Mikey exchanged confused looks.

”What’s wrong? Are you afraid of them?” Mikey tilted his head to the side. 

“What?? Afraid?? Of needles? Please Mikey. Raph isn’t afraid of those..” Raph’s confident tone faded away as he continued.

”…very small…and sharp things…” he shuddered as he thought of the sharp and ‘scary’ needles.

Mikey opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by an alarm.

The emergency alarm.

Splinter, Mikey and Raph turn to each other. Raph stood up from the sofa, his legs shaking a slightly.

He gestured Mikey to follow him with his hand, Mikey responded by nodding silently.

Raph and Mikey rushed to Donnie’s lab, seeing Leo and Donnie already there. Donnie was finding out the source from his computer screen, tapping along the keyboard.

”Donnie. What’s going on?” Raph asked with a serious tone.

Donnie looked at Raph and back to his computer.

”Looks like we have a code 78.009-2.” He explained before any of them could ask. “It means someone sent a signal to us.”

Leo let out a ‘hm’ as he stared at Donnie’s screen.

”Where is it coming from?”

”Wait. The signal’s getting a little weak.”

Donnie typed away on his computer, dragging the map everywhere as he looked for the signal’s source.

”Ahah! Found it.” All of them walked over to Donnie and looked at the screen as well.

”It seems it’s coming from…”

Donnie gasped, the other turtles look at him.

”What? Where is it coming from?” Mikey asked, sounding more panicking.

Donnie turned his body to face them and he took a deep breath.

”Hotel Nexus. It’s coming from The Hotel Nexus.”

Chapter Text

“What??!”

The three turtles were as shocked as Donnie was. Nexus Hotel?? Who on earth would send a signal from there? And in the middle of the city? That’s kinda sketchy.

“Are you sure it’s from there, Dee?” Mikey asked, peeking at Donnie’s screen.

Donnie doubled checked the GPS signal, turning back to his screen and proceeding to look at them again.

”Yes. I’m positive. The signal is coming from the other side of the hotel.”

They give each other confused and alerted looks. They have a…not good history with Hotel Nexus to say the least. How are they going to get in?

”What if it’s a trap? What if Big Mama sent it?” Raph’s voice was shaky. He doesn’t want to risk the team to go straight into an obvious trap. It would be a huge mistake to run into it.

“I…I don’t know. It could either be a false alarm, or someone actually needs us.” Donnie sounded hesitant. Seems like he isn’t sure about his own statement. He looked around his brothers, who were in a tense state.

Leo could sense the tension and alerted feeling in the room. He decided to speak up, with a quiet determination in his voice.

“You know what, we should go. Big Mama was weak the last time we saw her.” Leo assured them. “I’m sure she’s got nothing up her sleeves.”

“Or worse…the disgusting spider goo.” Donnie shivered, the image of a bunch of spider goo in his brain spawning from his imagination.

“Alright.” Raph spoke up. “We’ll go to The Nexus Hotel and see what’s up.”

”But-are you good? A reminder that you just woke up from a huge concussion.” Donnie interrupted his older brother. 
Leo and Mikey turned to Donnie and then Raph. 

“Yeah, maybe you should-”

”I’m fine guys! You don’t have to worry. I can’t just let you all run into a trap that’s just probably going to get you the moment she gets the chance. I’m going to need to protect you.” Raph reasoned. He’s trying to push the worry away from his brothers.

Doubtful expressions were seen on their faces and it irritated Raph a bit. Can’t they understand that he’s getting sick of being pampered with constant worrying??

”Come one! You guys had already seen what she can do! It doesn’t matter if she’s ill or not, Big Mama’s still dangerous!”

Leo let out a surrendered sigh, patting Raph on the shoulder.

”Okay, okay. You can come. But just don’t pass out again or something.”

Raph smiled at the blue one and nodded.

”Raph always keeps his promise.”

Mikey and Donnie wasn’t too sure. Well, they just have to just let this slide then. With no more time to waste, they headed to their rooms to gear up.

Splinter noticed that his sons were preparing for something. He decided to ask Mikey instead of the others since he’s the most truthful one.

”Orange? Where are you all going?”

”Oh, we’re going to The Nexus Hotel.” Mikey looked at his dad while spinning his nunchucks in his hand. “We got an emergency signal coming from there. So we’re gonna go check it out.”

Splinter couldn’t oversee this. Going to the Nexus Hotel where danger could literally happen any time? Not on his watch.

“Wh-You know that it’s-”

”-Dangerous there. We know dad. But we’ll be fine!” Mikey could tell that Splinter was overprotective of them ever since the Kraang incident happened, not letting any of them out his sight for even a second.

The old rat furrowed his eyebrows and his tail dropped halfway. Sure, he trusts his sons that they would come back safely. He was just scared that they won’t come back, or one of them goes missing. But he was more concerned about one person.

”How about Red? Is he coming along?”

Mikey’s breathing hitched a bit at this question. He felt the urge to lie, but he couldn’t say that to his beloved father.

“Uhm. Yeah, he is.” he admitted with slight guilt.

Splinter’s eyes widened.

“Why did you let him? What if he- he-” Splinter was having a hard time finding his words. He doesn’t want Raph to risk himself again. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen all over again.

Luckily, Mikey understood what Splinter was implying. It’s not like he didn’t cared about Raph’s safety or health. He just wants Raph to feel less pressured about being trapped inside, as if he was a damsel in distress waiting for someone to save him. (This is too corny im so sorry.)

The box turtle crouched down to match his dad’s height and placed his three-fingered hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry dad. We’ll make sure Raph will come back home. Safe and sound.” Mikey smiled.

Splinter could hear the sincere tone in his youngest son’s words. He laughed quietly and nodded.

”Okay. Take care.” Splinter said as Mikey stood up from him, getting ready to leave with his brothers.

Mikey smiled back at his dad, quickly went up to the area near the sewer exit to see his brothers were already there.

“Sorry-Dad keeps nagging me about our safety, but we’re good to go now!”

”Then let’s deliver Big Mama her package.” Raph grinned darkly as he slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.

“We’ll use Nardo’s portal. For now.” Donnie sighed. “The Turtle Tank is out of order.”

Leo quietly yelled “Yes!!” and immediately sliced his sword through the air, creating a portal to the part near The Nexus Hotel.

The four of them went through the portal and the moment the it closed, the city turned dark. Donnie turned on the lights on his battle shell and guided them throughout the whole city.

As they were walking down, there was something weird about it. They just can’t put their finger on it.

Oh.

Maybe it’s the fact that there’s nearly no one in here. The streets looked empty, most of the shops were closed and worst of all, stains of blood along with traces of explosion can be seen.

“This is oddly…quiet.” Donnie murmured and flipped on his goggles. “I can sense through my goggles that this city had gone through…something.”

“And kinda creepy.” Leo rubbed his arm, seeing some more blood stains.

“Tell me about it. It was just fine yesterday!” Mikey said, looking at some of the closed shops.

And to their surprise, The Nexus Hotel was just as abandoned as the part of the city.

Shattered windows, malfunctioning automatic doors, growing vines, rusty leaking pipes and broken lights? Something wasn’t right. 

“Think we’re at the right place?” Leo checked the map on Donnie’s  tech gauntlet as soon he opened it.

“Yep. It looks like the signal is coming from the other side of those vines.”

They checked their surroundings. Nothing suspicious.

”Let’s go. I’ll clear out these stupid vines.” Raph grunted and ripped put some vines that were blocking the door.

He gestured his brothers to run inside, and the lights suddenly turned on.

“Woah. Very spoopy.” Mikey stared above at the flickering ceiling lights with Raph dragging him.

They went through every hallway, trying to find the sender of the signal. And every time they enter a different hallway, the ceiling lights would turn on.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Donnie whispered as he saw at the map that they were getting closer.

He told them to turn into another section of the hotel and now they have ended up in a room with creaky floorboards and flimsy walls.

The room was dead silent, only the sounds of water dripping from pipes and creaking floors could be heard.

”Well. This is the place.”

”What? But there’s literally no one here!” Leo threw his hands up the air and groaned. “Did we traveled here for nothing??”

Raph shushed him and narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t think so. I think-”

Suddenly the whole room shook. The turtles were trying to keep their balance and Mikey fell flat on his bottom.

“What the shell?!” Mikey bounced back up, clinging onto Raph the moment it stopped.

Then they could hear a loud ‘thud’ noise. It was coming from in front of them.

“Donnie. Lights.” Raph ordered. Donnie nodded hesitantly and pointed his battle shell lights at the direction of the noise. All they could see was nothing. But then a bunch of small red eyes opened.

”Surprise!!” Big Mama bellowed, and the turtles jumped. They backed up, realising the door had locked. Mikey panicked a bit, holding onto Raph even more and taking out his weapon.

“Big Mama! I knew it.” Raph gritted his teeth, shielding his brothers from her view.

Big Mama was in her spider form and she looked like a wreck. It wasn’t really surprising considering the hotel’s status. Which made all of them wonder what happened to the place even more.

“What do you want from us?!” Leo pointed his sword at the giant spider, his hands trembling slightly.

“It’s alright dearies. I’m not here for a duel.” 

Leo glanced at Donnie, who shook his head in denial. Leo pointed his sword further.

“Just tell us what you want.” “Were you the one who sent the signal?” Donnie added after his twin.

Big Mama giggled deeply and crawled closer to them.

“Why yes. I have sent it. I wanted to ask you all a favour.”

They all jerked back as she went closer to them, Donnie getting a bit nauseous from looking at her spider mouth.

“What is it? Tell now and then we’ll just leave.” Raph said this time, his hands gripping on his sais.

Big Mama chuckled, her gross spider legs tapping onto the floor.

“I wanted to ask you if…any one of you would help me revive back the Battle Nexus.”

“How? We can’t do anything to it.” Leo said as he got flashbacks from when he was fighting in the Battle Nexus. A chill going down his shell.

Donnie and Mikey frowned with Leo, they didn’t like the sound of this.

“I was wondering…why don’t you volunteer to fight in it and become the champion?”

“Okay. And what makes you think we’ll say yes to that?” Raph scowled.

“That’s the point. You don’t have to.” Big Mama backed up, making a huge room between them.

“I’ll just take you by force.” She snapped her fingers, and the room shook again.

This time, a giant plant in a pot with a big head, and a smiling face appeared from the roof, making a giant hole through it. The plant also had long vines attached to it, acting like arms. The colour of its leaves and stem was green while the head was yellow. Not to mention the smile looked really creepy. The inside of the mouth were sharp teeth and blood stains were on them.

“Holy!-” Leo went out of the way, the vines of the plants nearly hitting him

“What the?!” Raph looked up at the plant, it was bigger than Big Mama herself.

“Oh no.” Donnie hid behind Raph and frowned.

“What Dee? What kind of plant is that?!” Mikey hid behind Donnie, with Leo following his action.

“It’s a Fertonyle Vine. It uses its vines to grab its prey and weaken them by inserting poison inside of their bloodstream.” 

They gasped, it was obvious this plant was bad news.

Before they had time to think of a plan, the plant’s vines started to move around.

They split up around the plant, running away from the vines.

“Its attacks have a pattern!!” Donnie yelled at them from the other side of the room. “Try to remember the pattern, you have to jump or duck down but it depends on the height level of the vines!”

They all nodded and focused on the plant’s attack.

Alright Raph. Try to remember the pattern…try to remember the pattern…

Raph jumped, ducked down and jumped again, the pattern registering in his head. Mikey, Leo and Donnie did the same thing. They were doing pretty good so far.

Okay. Remember it.

Up, up, down, up, down. Up, up, down, up, down. Up, u- Shit!-

Raph missed the second jump and tripped, his brothers trying to rush into help. But his foot got wrapped in by the vine, and the plant started to slam him into different directions of the room. The impact on the floors were creating more and more holes. Raph was slowly feeling the poison entering his body. He was starting to feel drowsy.

Leo and Donnie managed to get out of the plant’s way, except for Mikey. The youngest was trying to save his older brother.

“RAPH!!” Mikey wrapped the chains of his nunchucks around the vine, pulling it towards him. Donnie and Leo went to him, Leo tried helping him pull the vine while Donnie attacked the plant to distract it.

Big Mama saw their plan and spit some goo near Donnie and he flinched away.

“Nope, nope!” The disgusted softshell ran to Leo, his body feeling like gagging.

“Hold on Raph!!” Leo shouted at Raph, but he didn’t respond to it. He was getting worse. The poison spread throughout his body in the most painful way. He can’t even describe how the pain felt. His vision slowly faded away, the sounds of grunting and fighting ringing in his head.

The plant got mad and its smile turn into a frown. The yellow colour on his face turned into red and suddenly went violent.

”Woah!-” Mikey was being pulled by the plant this time, Leo pulled him backwards to prevent Mikey from getting thrown.

“Mikey!! You have to let go!” Donnie had to raise his voice due to the loud noises.

“I can’t just let her take Raph away! I’m not letting him get hurt again!” Mikey was pulling back as hard as he can, tears forming in his eyes as he tried to save Raph.

“Please! The plants to strong and we don’t know how to defeat it!” Leo ducked down along with Mikey, narrowly avoiding the vines the plant swatted at them.

Mikey started to sob and the tears ran down his face, still not letting go.

“No!! RAPH!-”

Mikey got pulled by the plant, Leo gripped slipped from him. He panicked and Donnie tried not to gag at the sight of the plant’s mouth watering.

“MIKEY!!”  Leo and Donnie  climbed onto the pot of the plant and chased after the vine that had Mikey in his grip. Raph was way too far out of their reach.

Leo managed to cut the vines and free Mikey, avoiding the other vines that tried to strangle them. The plant was even more furious. Its mouth aimed at them and they avoided it too.

But the plant’s mouth snapped at Leo’s leg and he got caught, making blood gash out of it. He tripped and screamed as he clutched onto his bleeding leg that had been cut off. Raph could hear the scream. It sounded like the scream he heard from his dream. Oh no. His nightmare is becoming a reality.

“AH!- ouch, ow, ow!” 

Donnie and Mikey stopped, running towards him to rush him back down the plant. Donnie went alarmed and dragged him with Mikey as Leo muttered something they couldn’t understand.

“LEO! Are you alright??!”

Donnie had a distressed face, trying to calm down as he tried to stop Leo’s leg from bleeding even more. Leo didn’t answer and panted as the pain in his leg throbbed even more. Mikey meanwhile, was looking at the plant. The vine that had Raph placed him into a cage that was carried by a helicopter, Big Mama was in the passenger seat beside the driver. He could see she was in her human form and was smiling.

That jerk.

“Good. Now carry him to the location.” He heard Big Mama say to the driver of the helicopter, who was a blob Yōkai.

“Yes ma’am.” The helly started to move away from them as the other helicopter beside it picked up the plant. Both flew away as the room started to collapse.

“Mikey! We have to move now!!” Donnie yelled at Mikey as he helped Leo up, his leg now wrapped in a cloth but was still bleeding. Mikey looked back at the moving helicopter with Raph in the cage and frowned, running along with Donnie and Leo as they exit the collapsing room.

“How about Raph??!” Mikey cried as tears blinded his eyes.

”Don’t worry. We’ll get him soon. We have to help Leo for now, he’s going to die like this.” Donnie glanced at Mikey and Leo, who was losing consciousness.

Mikey looked down, they arrived back at solid ground and Donnie used his tech gauntlet to contact April.

“April! We need you to come to the front of the Nexus Hotel. ASAP. Leo’s injured and…”

But Mikey wasn’t listening to any of Donnie’s words. His gaze fixated on the sky as the helicopter flew further and further away. He could hear Big Mama’s evil laugh and it made him clutch Leo way too hard.

“Mikey! Don’t grip on him too hard!” Donnie paused his call with April after he heard Leo said ‘ow.’ and continued his emergency call.

 Mikey apologised and stared at Leo. He probably feels guilty for letting Raph come along with them.

They need to get him back.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god.”

April got off the motorcycle, taking off her helmet and throwing it somewhere while running to Donnie. He and Mikey were still holding up Leo so that he can stand. He seems a bit wobbly because of his chomped off leg. April stared at it and shook her head to snap out of it and placed a hand under Leo’s.

Donnie let go of Leo, letting April hold him up with Mikey this time.

“Wh-what happened? And where’s Raph??”

All of them went quiet. April stared at them, wide eyed and gasped quietly.

“Is-is he-”

“Big Mama took him.”

April’s breath hitched and she shook her head.

“No, no. Where did she take him?” Her voice sounded desperate, hoping that Raph is at least alright.

”We don’t know.” Donnie answered, opening his tech gauntlet and tried to find Raph’s icon. “His location isn’t shown in the map. As if he just vanished off the map.”

April glanced at Mikey and she could see the terrified expression on his face. She pursed her lips together, picking up Leo’s sword that was beside her.

“We’ll just get back to the lair first. Raph is probably going to be fine.” There was slight doubt in April’s tone, which didn’t help at all.

Donnie and Mikey nodded, looking at April as she sliced a portal in front of them. She dragged Leo with Mikey helping her from behind. Donnie followed from behind to make sure Leo wasn’t bleeding anymore.

They entered the portal and were now at the lair, April placed Leo onto a nearby couch and looked down at his leg. Leo hissed slightly and placed his head on one of the cushion. Donnie started to scan for something on Leo’s leg, a purple hologram scanner scanned across his leg and Donnie sighed.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t that serious.” Donnie looked up at April’s worried face. “But It’ll need time to recover. He lost a lot of blood.” He checked Leo’s blood pressure on his tech gauntlet’s screen.

April frowned a bit and turned to see that Mikey had brought in Splinter, looking terrified.

“Purple! What happened?! Orange told me that-”

“Yeah. Big Mama took Raph.” Donnie continued his dad’s sentence.

Splinter had never looked so shocked.

“What…?” Donnie and April could hear the fear in his tone. Mikey, who was behind Splinter, rubbed his eyes and keeping the tears from coming out.
“I’m so sorry dad…I tried to save him- I really did, I-” “It’s alright.” Splinter’s eyes averted to Mikey and he shook his head.

The orange one closed his mouth tightly and sniffed quietly. 

“Is he somewhere in New York?” Splinter asked, turning to Donnie this time. The purple turtle frowned a bit and sighed. 
“No. We don’t know where he is. He isn’t anywhere here.”

April and Splinter met each other’s gaze and she shook her head. The rat looked away and sat on the couch, beside Leo and stared blankly at the ground.

Everyone, except Splinter, looked at Leo and they could see that he had passed out. Mikey panicked slightly before Donnie shut him up.
“Don’t worry. He should wake up in a few hours or so. I just injected some sleeping medicine into him.” 
Mikey sighed in relief but he could practically feel Splinter’s worries.

The lair fell silent as Donnie and April carried Leo over to the medical area.

All they could do is hope that Raph is still alive. 

………

Mikey turned, flopped and turned in his bed again. He couldn’t sleep at all. His worry for Raph was increasing. He had enough and decided to get out and visit Donnie. He’s sure that his scientist brother was still awake, trying to figure out where Raph was and probably make something to help them get him back.

And, he was right. Donnie was fidgeting with a kind of machinery, his other hand was doing something on his tech gauntlet while he turn from the tech he was making to the gauntlet.

“Hey…Dee?” Donnie jumped a bit at the voice, his body stiff. But his body and expression soften as he turn to Mikey, who was behind him rubbing his own eyes.

“Oh. Hello Micheal.” the purple turtle looked at him as Mikey sat beside him, glancing at his machine and to his youngest brother’s eyes.

“May I ask, why are you still up?” Donnie asked while quickly look at the clock on his tech gauntlet and back to Mikey. 1:57 a.m.
“Dunno. I’m just…worried about Raph. That’s all.”

Donnie’s face was a bit sympathetic, he was also worried about their oldest brother. But he didn’t really know how to reply to that. He turn his attention back to his tech and sighed. The lack of response made Mikey feel guilty for bringing it up. So, he changed the subject.

“How’s Leo? Is he doing okay?”  
“Yeah. He’s fine. He woke up an hour ago and complained that the pillows were too hard.” 

Both of them laughed, Donnie’s sounded quiet but it was a laugh.

“I swear, he makes jokes at the wrong time.”

“Sounds like Leo alright.” Mikey agreed on Donnie’s statement.

“I hope Raph’s alright.” Mikey suddenly murmured. Donnie stopped and sighed again. 
“Mhm. Same.”

More lack of response. Donnie probably doesn’t want to talk about it right now. He’s not in the mood.

Both of them were quiet for a few minutes, there were only the noises from Donnie’s tech. 

Donnie noticed that Mikey was still here and moved slightly.

“You should go to bed now. It’s late.”

Mikey huffed in protest, “I don’t really feel like it.”

“Can I just hang with you?”

Donnie looked down at Mikey and smiled, chuckling a little.

“Alright. Fine.”

……

Raph felt a heavy weight was placed onto his eyelids. He couldn’t even open them. His whole body felt stuck. His arms were dropped.

…

“HOLY-” Raph immediately snapped his eyes open, taking in his surroundings.
He looked and saw that he was placed in a cage, but a pair of handcuffs were keeping his hands from moving. Worst of all, a muzzle was placed over his snout and mouth, keeping them from opening. The room his cage was in was dark and the only thing that was lighting it up were the torches that were lit by fire. 

“Oh? Up so soon?” Raph heard a deep voice that chuckled as he turn to the direction of the voice. It was coming from a really dark hallway, the torches were put out.

The dark hallway he looked at soon lit up with fire magically, revealing Big Mama in her human form with a grin on her face. She slowly walked up to the cage Raph was in, he let out a quiet snarl and glared at her as soon she got closer. That made her grin wider. Big Mama stopped a few inches away from the cage and let out another chuckle.

“It seems like I need to make a stronger drug. You were supposed to wake up in half an hour.”

Raph bared his teeth to her and tried to free his hands from the cuffs, but it was no use. He tugged and tugged, the cuffs not even slipping off an inch. Next, he shook his head violently to take off the muzzle, which turned out the same as the cuffs.
The spider lady just laughed lightly and placed a hand on one of the bars of the cage, gripping it tightly.

“I’m sorry. But you’re not getting out of here anytime soon.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you out soon enough.”

There was a pause before she smiled, showing her teeth in return. “After I’ve done some stuff first.”

Raph tensed slightly, he didn’t like the sound of it. He doesn’t want to find out what it is either way. 

Before he could say something back, he heard the sound of wheels rolling on the ground, creaking sounds coming along with it. Big Mama stepped back a bit and a dog Yōkai stepped into the room from the same hallway she went through, the dog was pushing a cart with a tray on it. Raph looked at it and shivered.

The tray had a bottle with drugs in it and a needle was places beside it. He had a feeling what she’s trying to do.

Uh oh.

Big Mama took the needle and put the medicine-like drug into it, before suddenly injecting the dog Yōkai with it. The needle sunk into his skin and he hissed in pain. Raph stared at her, she was a maniac.

She pulled the needle away from the dog and backed away, as the Yōkai started to twitch, scratching his arm and letting out howls. He suddenly fell to the ground, startling Raph but not Big Mama. She just smiled and turn to Raph.

“This, drug is a brain controlling liquid.” She gestured to the bottle with drugs in it. “If it injects into a living organism, the creator can control them as they please.”

This sounded like whenever Donnie shows him something cool from his lab, Raph thought.

He snapped out of it, the dog Yōkai got up but there was something off. His movements were sluggish and when he look up, his eyes were white. Not even a pupil was seen. Raph gasped as the Yōkai charged at his cage, shaking it very hard making him panicked. He was baring his sharp teeth at the snapping turtle, growling and barking at him.

Big Mama wasn’t even in the slightest panic. She called the dog with a whistle and he immediately stopped shaking Raph’s cage. He crawled over and sat down in front of her, like he was an actual dog.

“See? This drug will soon spread all over the body and nothing can shake them out of it.” She had a dangerous tone in her words, narrowing her eyes at Raph as she patted the dog on the head, making him sweat a little. 

Big Mama noticed his panicked state and smiled again.

“Don’t worry. We’re currently making another batch.” the spider ordered the dog to go somewhere else, he obeyed and ran into the hallway. Once he was gone, she tilted her head at him.

“Just. For. You.” 

 

Raph gulped and scowled at her. He looked at her as she walked away, disappearing into the hallway and the torches went out. And everything went dark.
The dark room made it hard to see everything around him.

He froze.

Was it just him or is the cage getting smaller?

Chapter Text

Raph opened his eyes, again. His surroundings had changed now. Wasn’t he in a cage just then?
He is now in a huge enclosure with a glass showcase. It wasn’t any more different than the cage, but it was bigger at least. He looked around, only to hear loud roars, snarls and screams. 

He flinched at those loud noises and rushed to the showcase glass.

“What…the?”

His enclosure was surrounded by other enclosures, but they all had ugly, horrifying monsters in them.

”What…? Wh-where am I?!”

Raph just realised that his arms felt weird, he looked down to see that an electric wristband on both his arms. 
Before he could even react, he heard a loud screeching sound coming from one of the enclosure. Raph turned to the direction of it and widened his eyes.

A weird looking-deer was getting stabbed in the stomach, blood gushing all over the place and caused the glass showcase to be covered with blood, blocking the view of what’s happening in there.

Raph forced himself to look away, not wanting to imagine of what’s going on in there. That’s when the door behind him opened.

“Ah, already awake it seems.” Big Mama chuckled. “At least we know which drug makes you knocked out longer.”
“What do you want from me?!” Raph snarled.

Finally, after not being able to talk for so long. He nearly thought his voice was gone. Big Mama grinned.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Bad turtle. You’re not supposed to yell at ladies.” 
“Well, if the woman is a darned villain, then I supposed it’s fine by me.”

Big Mama bent over, her face levelled in front of Raph. “My….a smart mouth too. I guess Splinter really did teach you a lot of things.”

“But…to answer your question, I’m basically going to use you to be my next champion.” She clapped her hands together as she laughed. “Isn’t that exciting?!”

…

Raph only silently glared at her. He was itching to punch her in the face, but one wrong move and these electric wristbands could probably explode. (Based on experience)

“Awh, not responding are we?” she frowned, looking like a puppy. “That’s fine. As long you keep your fiddly mouth to yourself, I’m good.” her expression changed to a bitter looking smile.
Big Mama turned around and walk through the door, and came back again but this time, with a bottle from before when he was in a cage along with a needle.

Raph shuddered and knew what she was about to do. He immediately got up and got defensive.
”Ah, ah, ah- One wrong move, and your pretty little wristband goes- kaboom.” Big Mama pointed at the wristbands on his wrists. 

“Dang it. I was right.” Raph thought.

“But that doesn’t mean I’ll let you have your ways!” Raph tried to activate his ninpō, but it didn’t appear for some reason. 
“Wha-?!”

Big Mama just smiled at his futile attempts. “Oh! I forgot to tell you. This place is armed with anti-magic blingies. You can’t use any of your…pathetic powers.”

Are you kidding me?!
Now he doesn’t even care if these wristbands explode or not, which would probably injured his arms and hands. He just wants to get out of here.

“Oh yeah? But that doesn’t mean I can’t fight!”  Raph tried to land a punch on Big Mama, but she somehow gracefully dodged it without any efforts.

”Bad turtly-poo.” She injected the needle into Raph and he screamed in pain.
As soon she pulled out the needle, Raph was starting to feel dizzy. He tried to get up, but he ended up throwing up instead. The downed snapping turtle looked up at Big Mama, who was towering over him with a smile.

“Don’t worry, you’ll wake up f̴̨̱͖̻̗̣͍̝̋͐̿̑e̵͔̺̬͐̏͂͆͝e̶̫͌͛l̶͖͙͚̤͗̀̅̄͠ï̷̳̰̈́n̸̨͈̯̩̘̤̒̅g̸̡̛̦̲̭̯̟͔͖̦̅̐̔͑͗͊̕͘ ̴̨̙͓̋͌̐̄̚m̶̪̣̂̓̚u̷̝̠̘̯̻͔͖̍͋ç̴̢̨͍͎̼̤̩͔͌͑́h̷͙͙͕͍̆ ̵͍̩̔͂ḇ̸͖͙̇̿ͅe̶̹̭͚͙͐̋͗͠ț̸̜͌̒̄͛̀͝t̵͙̯̺͈̭̹͊̚e̷̡̛̦͙̰̭͇͔̽͋̏ͅr̵̦͔̙͎̋̃”̶̰̫̖̗͙̼͉͉̓̄̌̄̀̚͝

……

“Guys!” Donnie yelled out from his lab, making everyone in the lounge look up at him. 
“What is it Don?” Leo got up from a beanbag, walking towards his twin.

“I’ve got a new lead of where Raph might be.”

All of them stared at him and rushed over. 
“Really, where?!” (April)
“How did you know??” (Mikey)
“Did you went to a black market and promised to sell them our organs?” (Leo)

Donnie, getting a little too stimulated, pushed everyone away and gestured them to follow him.
“Actually, it’s thanks to Casey. He was walking around the hidden city’s market and heard some rumours of another Battle Nexus is opening.”

Everyone, especially Leo, shivered.
“A new one? How is that even possible??” 
“Even a genius like me won’t know the answer to that.”
Donnie stopped at the kitchen island counter, everyone else surrounding it.

“But, I do know it’s somewhere near London-” “WHAT??!”
Mikey yelled out, cutting out Donnie.
“You got a problem with that, Michael?”

“Yeah! The last time we went there for a mission, you started yelling out: ‘HATSUNE MIKU DOES NOT TALK TO BRITISH PEOPLE!!’ which made us nearly banned there!”

Donnie let out an unamused sigh, shaking his head. “My point back then still stands. Miku does not-” “Just get on with the plan already!” 
“Sigh. Fine, fine.”

Donnie took out a hologram machine and it popped out a hologram version of the London map.
“Alright, so- according to the information I got from Casey, the new Battle Nexus is located near the Big Ben.” He took out a hologram version of them and placed it at the Eye of London.

“But we have two problems.” 
“One: We have to teleport there without being spotted. Which is bad because there are a lot of buildings and people there.”
“Two: Getting Raph out of there without making a mess. The best way to do it is at night.”

April raised her hand, trying to get Donnie’s attention.
“But how about getting in? Wouldn’t there be any guards at the entrance or something?” Splinter looked at her and nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. Since she’s back, stronger than ever, won’t her guards be more difficult to take out too then?”

“That, I have the answer to that.” The softshell pointed at his dad. “Her guards at the entrance are only robots. It’ll be easy to hack into them to deactivate them.”

Leo looked narrowly at him.
“Alright, I’m convinced that you promised a sketchy guy to sell our organs if they tell you these stuff.”
“Since when did you convinced yourself that I’ve been to a black market??”
“Since the ‘Purple Game’ incident. Duh.” Leo scoffed. Donnie scoffed back and looked back at his hologram map.

“We still don’t know what the layout of the inside is. So our best shot is to get there and just try to figure out the plan on the way.”
“Alright. I trust Purple. We’re gonna get Raphael back and stop Big Mama once and for all.” Splinter looked up at Donnie, smiling proudly.

The purple turtle didn’t know how to react to that and just smiled back at his father.

“We’re gonna need the help we can get then.” Leo added in. “I know! We can ask Casey and Casey Jr.!” Mikey jumped. 
“Mkay, I’ll call them and tell them what’s up.” April took out her phone, pointedly showing she’s about to call the Caseys.

“Alright. Let’s go save Raph everyone!”

“Yeah!!”

Chapter Text

……

“Dad..? Leo? Dee? M…Mikey…?” 

The turtles were just playing hide and seek. since it was Leo’s turn to count, the others ran into other parts of the sewers to hide. But apparently Raph…got lost. He accidentally tripped over a rock while running, falling down into another section of the sewer. Now he can’t find his way back. And it’s dark. Poor guy.

“G-guys..?”
Raph didn’t want to keep moving forward. It’s scary there. But he just wants to find his family again.

Plop

Plop

Plop

He keeps getting startled by the sound of water dripping. It makes him think someone is behind him.
Getting tired of walking he sat down, trying not to cry.

Hic “Dad….” he wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall down his face. Maybe playing hide and seek wasn’t the best idea after all.

————————

“No, you can’t play hide and seek. What if you get lost?” Splinter told Raph in a loud voice. He wasn’t mad. He’s just worried.

“But- I’ll be okay! I won’t go far, I promise!” Raph bounced up and down, getting agitated.

“……” 
“Fine. But don’t go too far, alright?”

“Okay! Thanks dad!” Raph yelled out as he ran towards his brothers, who were waiting for him.

————————

Oh well. It’s too late to regret it. Just as he was about to stand up again, he heard footsteps. It’s coming towards him. 
“Wh- Who’s there?!” immediately standing up, he stood in a fighting stance. He can at least fight, that’s for sure.

Just as he was about to brace himself, the darkness where the footsteps were coming from had light glowing. And someone was holding a lantern. It was-

“D-Donnie?” Raph widened his eyes the moment the light casted a glow on his brother. 
“Raph!” Donnie ran towards him, panting and fixing his glasses when he stopped in front of Raph. “Where were you? Dad was worried!”

“…’m sorry.” the small snapping turtle glanced away, feeling bad. 
“Say that to dad. He literally had a heart attack.”

Raph went silent and looked at Donnie, thinking he was joking. Before he could ask him, Donnie turned away.

“Let’s go now. I know a shortcut.” he turned his head to Raph. “That’s how I got here.”
“Ah….alright.”

Both of them started walking the opposite direction Raph just went. Apparently the shortcut was a ladder that led up to another sewer pipe.

“So….how did you lit up that lantern? Wasn’t there any gas anymore?” Raph asked.
“Great question. I used flint and steel. It’s pretty easy actually.” Donnie answered.

“Woah…that’s so cool! Raph’s impressed!” that statement made Donnie looked away in embarrassment. 

Compliments…that felt oddly comforting.

“Anyway,” Donnie wanted to change the subject. “How did you even ended up back there?

“Oh…Raph tripped and fell.”

“That’s it? Bruh.” Donnie sighed.

“But- but- It was brave of you to go and find Raph all alone.” Raph smiled, his snaggletooth showing. “Don’t you get scared?”

Scared…?

“If I know where I’m going, then no. Not really.”

“Wow, I wish I was like you, Dee.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean…I get scared easily. But you’re brave, and smart. I wished I had those too.” Raph frowned, which caught Donnie off guard.

“Hey Raph.” Donnie stopped walking, and so did Raph, who looked back at him confusingly.
“I wished I was like you too. I’m not strong or big like you. I don’t know if my inventions are even going to help me one day. All of these smarts might be useless.”

Raph stared at him, speechless. Is that how Donnie think of him…?

“No! Being smart is strong! Raph thinks so!” Raph took a step towards Donnie, making him flinch.
“And- and- I’m sure your inventions will help us one day! I’m sure of it!”

Donnie looked up at him, mouth hanged open a little. Not even his own twin ever say that.
“T-thanks…Raph.” Donnie looked away, avoiding eye contact. He pretended to fix his glasses up his face.
Raph thinks of that a way of him showing embarrassment, making him laugh.

“Now let’s keep going. I’m sure the others are waiting.” Donnie said, walking past Raph and he followed behind, smiling.

“Alright!- Oh, and should I try to beat Leo’s Mario Kart record later??”
“Yeah, sure big brother. Just don’t go overload.”

“If I know where I’m going, then not really.”

Chapter Text

Leo had sliced open a portal to London, looking down at where they’re going to land.
“Alright, it’s nearly night, so we should be good.”

Donnie nodded at Leo, turning to the others.

“Listen up. We only have one shot at this. If we get caught, they’ll probably move again.”
“Does this mean you know where the entrance to the hidden city there?”

“…”

“Donnie!” The purple turtle glanced away guiltily, laughing awkwardly. 
“I didn’t have time! We were on a time crunch anyway. We’ll have to try and find it ourselves.”

The others sighed and turned to each other.
“Oh well. But I don’t think there would be anything obvious that would be the entrance…” April mumbled, loud enough for Donnie to hear.

“So, you guys remember the plan right?” Splinter asked, looking sternly at everyone. He’s taking this very seriously, which isn’t surprising to them.
“Yep! Don’t worry dad!” Mikey jumped.

“Okay, if you guys are ready,” Donnie looked down at the blue portal, seeing that it’s already night there. “-then let’s go and save our brother!” He jumped into the portal, with the others following him behind. Leo was the last one out and he closed the portal on the way.

Apparently, they have landed on top of a random roof apartment, which was decorated with plants by the residents who lived there.
“Woah, the view is so pretty!” Mikey stared at the lit up road lights and lanterns that were near the road, glowing up the whole streets.
“Yeah. Too bad we don’t have enough time to enjoy it enough.”

Donnie turned away from the others, looking at his gauntlet with a frown.
If Raph’s tracker was on, he would be tracking him by now. But nothing.

Mikey noticed the grim expression on Donnie’s face and tugged his arm.
“You alright Dee?”
“…yeah.”

“Hey guys! I think I see something!” Leo called out, pointing at something. The other turned to the direction he was pointing at.
It was…a telephone booth. It looked normal, like any other telephone booths. But his one had strange green lighting inside.

“Huh…” Donnie rubbed his chin and flipped his goggles on.
“Leo’s right. It is something alright. There’s mystic magic all around that thing.”

All of them looked around the area, before jumping off the rooftop and quickly went to the telephone booth. Donnie opened the glass door and scratched his head.

“Um…how do you?-” Donnie started to tap the numbers on the pad, picking the phone up as well. Suddenly, there was a voice on the other side of the line.

“Where do you take a sick boat?”
“Wh-what?” Donnie looked around at the others, who shrugged. But Mikey jumped up and down, waving his hand.

“Me! Me! I know the answer!”
Donnie sighed and hesitantly gave Mikey the phone. The orange turtle fake coughed before answering the phone.

“You take it to the dock-tor!” (Leo snorted, trying to hold in his laughter)
The other side grumbled before saying;
“Password accepted.”

“That’s the most weak ass password I ever heard.” Cassandra chuckled. Everyone looked around, expecting for something to happened. But nothing did.

“Oh come on! I didn’t answer that question for nothi-!” Suddenly, the floor underneath them opened and all of them fell through it. 

“WAAAAHHHH!!!” Leo started screaming at the top of his lungs as they started falling into the dark hole below. Mikey started to cling onto Donnie’s arm, who didn’t even bother to push him away because he was still processing the fact that they’re falling. Once he did though, he started panicking and did the same thing Leo did.

Then, Casey jr. could see the ground, it was getting really close. 
“Uhh…guys??! Get ready to land!!”

All of them safely landed on their feet, except for Leo, who landed on his face first.
“Youch…” Leo sat up, Mikey helping him stand. (Leo’s wearing a robotic leg for now btw)

“Woah…this looks just like the hidden city in our place!” April said, looking around the place. In fact, she was right. It looked exactly like the one in New York.
“Okay…we need to find the Battle Nexus arena…or whatever they call it now.” 

The team split into two groups; Mikey with Donnie, Leo and Splinter, while Cassandra went with Casey jr. and April.
“You guys have to report if you see anything. Good luck.” Donnie handed them each an ear piece, everyone nodding before going separate places.

————————————

Raph, once again, felt like his eyelids were heavy. But this time, even his body felt heavy, like he couldn’t move it.

“Make sure he doesn’t escape. The drug hasn’t fully taken over his body yet.”
“Yes ma’am.”

Raph grunted the moment he heard the sound of a door opening and closing, trying to get up.
He picked himself up and sat silently, looking down but still not opening his eyes.
He felt tired, and…cold.

Once he did opened his eyes, he realised he was in the same enclosure. And, he saw two yōkai guards standing in front of the entrance of the enclosure.

“Holy cheese…” Raph rubbed his head. The drug Big Mama injected in him was starting to give him a headache. He brushed it off and stood up, but when he did, the guards got defensive.
Raph put his hands up in surrender.

“Woah, woah! Chill guys, I’m not gonna do anything…” The guards looked at each other before putting their weapons down.
“…yet…” Raph mumbled, he looked around, but something was different this time.

The other monsters…or yōkai that were in the other enclosures had disappeared. Weird.

Though, Raph had no time to think about that. He needs to find a way out of here. But not without these guards watching him like hawks. 

He looked at the guards and the door. He saw a place to swipe a card and a keycard in the guard’s pockets. Alright…now time to do something.

“Hey…could one of you fellas get me some water? Raph’s thirsty from all this…kidnapped thing…” Raph awkwardly laughed, smiling wearily.
The two guards looked at each other and sighed. Then one of them went out of the enclosure, leaving the other alone with Raph.
“Wow, I thought those only worked in cartoons.” Raph thought.

The other guard’s walkie talkie started beeping, and he turned away from Raph to answer it.
Now’s the chance!

Raph quietly tiptoed behind the yōkai guard, and quickly knocked him out by punching at the back of his head.
“Yeah! Good job Raph!” Raph chuckled quietly and high-three himself.

Raph grabbed the keycard from the guard’s pocket and unlocked the door, quickly dashing out of the room.
“That was close…” Raph used his ninja stealth to quietly walk around the place, trying to find an exit or something. While doing so, he saw a big glass window. He peeked through it and was surprised at the sight he saw.

It was the Battle Nexus. The arena looked bigger and there were the monster yōkais, but they were fighting each other. Fighting to the death.
Raph gulped. That could be him next if he doesn’t get out here soon.

He shake those thoughts away and focused on trying to get out.

……

 
It felt like this place was a maze…it’s been a while now, but he still hasn’t find a way out.
He’s getting worried, by now Big Mama would notice he was not in the enclosure anymore.

“Ugh…c’mon stupid exit…where are you?” Raph groaned in his head, making sure no one sees him. Just as he was passing by a closed room, he could hear voices.

“Are you sure ma’am? Won’t his brothers be looking for him?”
“Don’t worry. That’s the plan. When they come and try to save him, we’ll capture them and inject the same drugs like we did to their big brother.”

Oh no…were they talking about his brothers?? He has to find them and warn about this!
Before he could even process, he could hear the door opening, he quickly ducked behind a nearby plant.

He peeked through the plant’s leaves, the people who were talking was…Big Mama with a coyote yōkai? That guy looks new. His white jacket and top hat made him look a little mysterious. Raph could tell this guy was also bad news.

“Can I see this…turtle guy?” The coyote man asked, his yellow eyes averting to Big Mama.
“Why, yes! Of course…follow me, sir.” Big Mama started to lead him to where Raph’s enclosure was.

Oh shoot. Raph needs to get out of here now.
He got up immediately and turned around the corner, but saw that there were three yōkai guards standing in the way, pointing their rifle guns at him.

“Woah…okay, we can talk about this- right?” Raph turned around, this time blocked by Big Mama and that coyote guy.
“My, my…don’t you know how to be a good turtle and stay in your enclosure?”

Raph scowled at both of them, getting into a fighting stance.
“I heard what you’re gonna do to my brothers…I won’t let you hurt them!” Raph yelled out, which made the guards behind him getting ready to hit the trigger.

Big Mama held her hand up, which made the guards put down their guns.
“I’m afraid you’re too late…we got data from the people here that some turtles and humans are roaming in this city as we speak.” She chuckled, smiling widely.

“And I’ll make sure you won’t be able to even get to them!” Raph quickly turned to the guards, landing punches on them.
Big Mama’s smile faltered and she called in back up.
Soon, more guards came in, shooting bullets and trying to land a shot at Raph.

He started to beat up every single guard that came through his way. 
“Yeah! Keep ‘em coming!” Raph laughed, smashing two of the guards head against the wall.

The snapping turtle dodged all of them, despite his huge headache. Just as he was wrestling one of the guards to the ground, another one who he thought he had beaten up, picked up their rifle and aimed at Raph’s arm.

BANG!

Raph fell to the ground and screamed in pain, blood gashing out of his right arm. It spilled everywhere, staining the floor.
Big Mama walked towards him and looked down at him, making Raph frown. But he kept wincing in pain because of the wound, making him less intimidating.

“That’s enough. Get the others and tell them to pick him up.” Big Mama ordered one of the remaining guards, they nodded and rushed off to somewhere.

The coyote yōkai, crouched down at Raph and held his face with his hand, squeezing it a bit.
“Interesting…I supposed you’re one of the turtles that saved the world from the Kraang, right?” He said, showing his sharp teeths. Raph didn’t have the energy to reply, so he just growled. He was starting to lose consciousness.
The coyote laughed deeply and stood up, fixing his jacket, before looking at Big Mama.

“I’ll be delighted to pay you extras for this…guy.” 
“Ah, that’s wonderful!” Big Mama smiled at him. “Thank you, Mr. Dira.”
“It’s my pleasure, ma’am.”

And that was the last thing Raph heard, before getting taken away and passing out.

——————————

The others weren’t having any luck on finding wherever Raph is. They had asked the yōkais around here, but no one really knows where this Battle Nexus is.

“Ughh…we’ve been everywhere! How come no one knows about the Battle Nexus?!” Leo frowned and sat down, starting to get tired from all the walking.

“I don’t know…maybe they never heard of it?” Mikey tilted his head, scratching his chin.
“Or, someone paid them to not tell anyone about it.” Donnie suggested, making a grim expression.

“Huh? How would you know that?” Leo got up and walked to his twin.
“I don’t know…but it’s kind of obvious.” Donnie pulled up the notes he wrote down on his hologram notepad, which had all the things the people there has answered to their question.

“According to these answers, it really sounds like they were hiding something. Obviously, someone told them to hushed out about this.”
“Hmm…that does make sense…” Splinter hummed. “But, I don’t think Big Mama has that much money to even pay those amount of people.”

“Yeah…that’s what I’m confused about.” Donnie shook his head, turning off his gauntlet. “Somehow, Big Mama was able to pay for a helicopter, a wild ferocious rare plant and weapons…”
“Is there…someone else helping her or something??” Leo asked, getting chills just thinking about it.

“That…could be a possibility.” 
“The problem is…who would even work with her?” 
“Someone crazy I’m guessing.”

“Sigh…I’ll ask the others about how they’re doing. I hope they got an answer for goodness sake…” Donnie tapped onto his gauntlet, trying to call April.

“Huh…” Mikey looked around and saw an information centre. He looked at it curiously and walked over to the counter.
The yōkai worker at that information desk, saw Mikey and smiled.

“Hello there. How may I be of assistance?” 
“Uhh…do you anything about the Battle Nexus?”
The worker’s smile immediately faded and narrowed her eyes.

“Sure…but maybe for a few bucks?” 
Mikey looked bewildered, but dug through his mini bag on his waist, trying to find at least some money.
He found 20 dollars and handed it to her.

“There, is that enough?” Mikey placed it onto the counter. The worker looked at it and sighed, taking it.
“Fine. The Battle Nexus is said to be reopened tomorrow, the entrance is near by a pizza shop.”
“Cool…how do we get in though?”

The worker placed her hand out, silently telling him to pay her again. Mikey groaned and pulled out another 20 dollars. She smiled and snatched it from his hands.
“You’ll have to get past some guards and give them the code. The code is Cobwebs.”
“Okay! Thanks mrs.!”

Mikey ran off to the others, waving his hands.

“Guys! I know where it is!” 
“What? Really??” Leo gasped, running towards Mikey. Splinter and Donnie also looked at Mikey in surprise.
“Yeah…had to waste 40 dollars- Anyway, it’s near at a pizza shop…I don’t know which one, but we need to give the guards a code at the entrance.”

“Where…did you get this from?” Donnie asked, looking suspicious.
“Uhh…at the information desk?” Mikey pointed to the place he just came back from.

“Alright then…We’ll find it first before telling the others.”
“Well…we could take a quick snack break…-Ow! What was that for?!” Leo scowled at Donnie, who kicked his non-robotic leg.
“We don’t have time for that! C’mon, let’s go!”

————————

Cassandra, Casey jr. and April had just gotten out of an antique shop, the owner was really loud…and angry for some reason.

“I think that guy just broke my ear…” Cassandra rubbed one her ears, sighing.
“Yeah…and the guys haven’t had any luck either.” April looked at her phone, checking Donnie’s message.
“How are we gonna find the Battle Nexus at this rate?!” Casey jr. yelled out in frustration, stomping his foot.

“I think I could assist you in that.”

The three of them turned their heads to the right, the voice was coming from a hooded old woman that was sitting in an alleyway.

“Uhh…you mean the Battle Nexus?” April asked.
“Why yes…”

“Okay then…where is it, and how do we get there?”
“You’ll have to go to a bookstore and find a…red book. Pull it and it should open up a door behind the store.” The old woman explained. “But…you’ll have to be careful…the guards are ferocious. Give them the code; Cobwebs.”

“Alright…? Thanks…” Cassandra narrowed her eyes at the old woman as they walked away from her.

“Should we believe it though? It could be a trap.” Casey jr. said, a bit worried about this information.
“I don’t know…but we have to. It’s our only lead right now.” April turned to them, looking determined. Both Cassandra and Casey jr. nodded.

“I’ll tell the guys once we know if it’s a trap or not.” 
“Well? Let’s go then!” Cassandra ran off, taking out her hockey stick.

“Cassandra! Wait!”
April and Casey jr. huffed and chased after her, trying to catch up.