A/N: This chapter is dark, read at your own risk. Warnings for death, descriptions of dying. Raphael is put into a tough spot and makes a hard choice. 2003 cartoon centric.

All rights belong to Mirage Comics and Nickelodion Studios. I own nothing.

Elemental Evolution

... "We talk to Splinter." Leo turned and headed to their sensei's room.

"My sons, you have found something?" Splinter asked as they lined up before him. Leo nodded and detailed Don's discoveries. "We should go to Japan, sensei."

Splinter nodded once, his hand trailing lightly down his long beard. "I must meditate on this my sons. Give me until tomorrow before we decide." The brothers nodded, none expecting less but each unhappy with the wait ...

Time is strange. It can stand still in a battle, stretching a second in time to last an eternity. When busy on a new project time flies, an hour condensed into a single moment. Yet, Don mused, time is at its strangest when waiting. As the hours ticked by and sunrise approached each second was an eternity refusing to pass no matter how long he waited, and yet the night flew by in a heated rush making him wish it would slow down and let him think. Don looked to his brothers, none of them had slept since Splinter had retreated into his quarters.

Raphael was in the surface garage guised in his hologram as he worked on his beloved bike. Leo meditated, somehow managing to find his calm and center despite this anxiety that gnawed painfully at Don's insides. Mikey played his video games, his shining eyes the only tell to his uncertainty as he used mindless entertainment to keep him from panicking over their Sensei's response.

A loud whining gurgle pulled Don from his thoughts and made Mikey hit the pause button as they looked at each other in surprise. Both shook their heads, neither of them were hungry. They looked to the screen where Raphael was currently running his bike, the roar of the engine audible through the thick concrete. Slowly both brothers looked to Leo and snickered as another loud snarl of hunger sounded from the eldest turtle's stomach as he meditated.

"Guess I should make breakfast, huh?" Mike asked with a grin. Don nodded and followed, the long night had left him in need of coffee and Mikey could never make it strong enough.

Don watched as Mike cooked, his mind finally calm and quiet as schematics played through his head of current projects he needed to complete. As the sun rose outside, above their human facade home, below the cool chill of morning finally hit and suddenly Don felt very much awake. Down the hall Raph's shower started, the second eldest somehow managing to slip into the lair without anyone noticing.

"Splinter should be out soon." Leo's voice made Don jump, his cooled coffee splashing down his plastron.

"Ah! Shell." Don switched the coffee cup between hands and shook off his dripping hand before reaching for a kitchen towel. "Good." Don muttered absently as he tried to remember how long he had stood there for his piping hot coffee to become cold.

"It's okay, this has been a long night for all of us." Leo patted Don on the shoulder and poured his brother a fresh cup of coffee. Don finally sat down, ignoring the stale stink of spilled coffee in favor of waiting for Splinter to appear.

"My sons," Splinter finally spoke, his voice startling Don out of his own mind with a small flinch. Don blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked around as if he had just woken up. Raph was sitting across from him, Mikey was shoveling pancakes and toast down his throat and Leo just finished pouring himself some orange juice that had been out long enough to sweat.

"Morning Sensei," Mikey greeted around a mouthful of breakfast. Leo and Raph chorused with him, Raph smacking Mikey on the back of his head making the youngest shoot milk out of his nose at the force.

"Ew, Raph!" Don gagged and pushed back from the tabled, saving only his once more cold coffee from the white and greenish spray.

Splinter sighed, passed Mikey a towel and sat down next to Leo. "My sons," his voice admonished, "I have meditated over your findings."

"Can we go?" Don asked with wide, hopeful eyes, silently amazed at how badly he wanted to find the data DORESS owned that could make the Hunter. He wanted this data, this technology. He had to know what they did and find out if they could turn his brothers into simple turtles - or worse.

As Don waited for his father's answer he looked to Raph and Leo. Both fought to protect their family with their weapons and their fists, this was Don's way. The cameras, the motion sensors, data mining for any whisper of Utrom or Triceraton technology. Any rumors of human experimentation or genetic manipulation, he had to find them, he had to make sure nothing could ever happen to his brothers. He wasn't the fighter they were, but he would never let anything happen to them either.

"You can," Splinter nodded with calm acceptance, "You must leave immediately my sons, and go as turtles. The Hunter has been stopped, but another, something worse may yet come. Hurry, and be safe." The brothers stilled and slowly ate. This was good news, this was what they wanted. They balked though as reality hit them. Times had changed. Leo had been able to sneak on board a plane to South America. Four turtles could not sneak onto a plane, not anymore.

Don sighed, Raph's shell alone probably weighed over six-hundred pounds. Each of them were massive due to their denser muscles and heavier bones - it was the main reason they never took elevators. "How can we get there?" Don asked bewildered as the logistics of their mass alone boggled his mind.

"Easy," Raph replied, "A cadet graduated from Gayle Sykes and owes me a favor. We can hitch a ride in a C-17. He's headin' towards Japan anyways."

"But," Leo looked around them, "Can we hold our holograms for that long?"

"Yes we can." Don stood and finally downed his lukewarm coffee. "We can hold them without charging for a month and they now have kinetic energy capturing oscillators - they charge themselves as we move."

"So," Mike looked up from his plate with the towel still held to his nose, "Guess we need to pack."

Their plane was scheduled to leave in three days. Once Raph had confirmed with the former cadet for flight information the brothers started planning. They helped Splinter clean and organize the lair. Don improved his security and built in extra layers of protection to keep Splinter safe while they were gone. Leo contacted Casey and April, notifying them of their impending trip and to ask them to watch over their father while they were gone. Mikey filled the cupboards with staples for their master. Mostly rice and various dry goods to keep their master from having to go topside too often.

"My sons, I have lived alone before. Do not fret over me. I will be fine. Besides," he continued with a bright smile, "My garden is growing well. Soon the vegetables will become ripe. I will eat well while you are away." He smiled warmly at his sons, despite the slight nagging worry at Raph's increased solitude.

With the announcement of their plans Splinter watched his sons become separate individuals instead of their cohesive whole. The slowly ticking two days before they readied for their final departure seeming to wear on the turtles more than Splinter could ever imagine. He watched Raphael closest of all, the dark eyed turtle kept more to himself although he kept up with his training and chores. Yet, once his duties to the family were fulfilled Raph slipped away again to places unknown often with his holographic illusion in place where he could walk topside without suspect.

"Sensei," Raph asked softly the night before they left, calling to his father from the comfort of his room. "I – I got somethin' for ya."

"Yes, my son?" Splinter asked, hiding a smile at Raph's shy expression, dark eyes shimmering with inadequacy.

"In Little Japan down on the east side they've got Bokashi starter kits. I got ya one ta help the garden grow." He hedged slightly, eyes downcast.

"Then show me what this is, my son," he smiled warmly, "And be sure to explain how I use it." Splinter chuckled at Raph's grin, pleased to see his son loosening up. "Will you also be running your path before bed as usual?" Splinter asked as they walked to the garden plot Raph and Leo had built earlier that year.

"Yeah, I've gotten kinda addicted to it." Raph shrugged, "One good thing 'bout the ROTC, they're gonna make me faster than Mikey." He smiled as he showed Splinter the miniature compost bin that was little more than a locking drum held off the ground by a spindly base. On one side was a handle used to turn and aerate the compost. "This is Bokashi, chicken meal, bone meal, fish meal, rape seed meal, just add a little soil to the mix and some of this powder. It's a type of bacteria that keeps the soil healthy. Churn the compost mix in 'ere for a week then add it to the soil." Raph swatted at a passing gnat.

"It'll also keep these damn bugs outta our home wid'out the pesticides ya refuse to use."

Splinter chuckled lightly, "But it gives me practice to catch them with my copsticks."

"Ugh! Sensei, watchin' Mr. Miyagi do that once was once too many. Just practice after I've gone ta Japan. Alright?" Raph replied gruffly, not amused by the image of Splinter catching the filthy, nasty insects with his chopsticks during dinner, but he didn't mind his master's warm laugh at his expense. Not at all.

The night passed peacefully and quietly as each brother completed their last minute checks over their bags. Then Raph left for his nightly run through the sewers while his family went to bed. The runs had become habit, allowing Raph to clear his mind and tire his body in solitude then return to the dark, quiet lair for a shower and bed. It allowed him to relax, free himself from the strain of living in such close proximity to his family without violence.

He slipped into the moonlit darkness, a hazy crescent moon warring with the city lights below for victory over the night. From the rooftops, as high as Raph could go, he figured the moon won. From here the city was nothing more than a glowing haze, like hot exhaust over tail lights.

"You weren't thinkin' of going away without saying goodbye, were you?" Casey's voice filled the darkness.

"Wouldn't think of it." Raph grinned lopsidedly, "I had to follow your stench all the way up here."

"Hey! I don't stink." Casey countered.

"Of course not, Ape just likes ya smelling like man-sweat." Raph grinned ferally, enjoying watching his friend squirm.

Casey lifted his arm, sniffed and winced, "Whew, okay, maybe I do stink." They fell silent as a distant scream caught their ears. Sirens were already flashing in that area. Knowing this night had potential for some excitement the pair turned in the other direction looking for some heads to bash.

He and Casey raced along the rooftops, their feet pounding along the New York skyline of the lower East Side. As they raced, Raph spotted small knots of Purple Dragons preparing to invade multiple targets, indicating that tonight would be a busy night. When the Shredder was revealed to be an Utrom Hun severed all ties with the Foot, taking complete control of his Purple Dragons. His years of serving his master had educated him in the fine art of duplicity allowing him to create a profitable business façade that covered his black market dealings and allowing him to hide in plain sight.

Raph flashed a dark grin into the night, a plan filling his mind, its call refusing to let him ignore it. Tonight, his last night in New York for a while, would be the last night for Hun to get what he deserved, one big strike before they left would leave him reeling, and too weak to attack them for a while. "Yo Case, ya alive back there or what?" Raph called softly as he retraced his footsteps back a couple of rooftops. There, Casey had stretched out; for once too tired to continue with the rooftop race they had started earlier.

"I'm beat Raph, I mean April can be a pretty tough task master, and now with us planning the wedding and getting everything moved into her place and all, it's exhausting." Casey yawned hugely.

"Need me ta get ya home?" Raph asked gruffly, hiding his concern for his soon to be brother-in-law behind his usual tough guy façade.

"Sure Raph. April's been keeping us pretty busy. This cargo company she's dreamed up has me hauling crates every which way. Trust me a fight is a whole lot easier than hauling a bunch of heavy wooden crates filled with ancient stone artifacts. Fighting you can run from, hauling cargo, especially when you're working for your girlfriend, you can't." The two slipped back to Casey's apartment, which was just a messy, one room bachelor pad and turned on the tv. Raph grabbed them a couple sodas, slipping a small pinch of sleeping powder into Casey's.

"Here ya go." The human took the soda willingly with a self depreciating smirk, he used to drink a brew every night after head bashing when he had worked alone, but now he drank either a soda or an energy drink when Raph was here, the turtle getting on his case for drinking something that would only dehydrate him further and hurt his body. The kid cracked him up sometimes.

Casey paused mid sip, Raph still really was just a kid. He and his brothers had just turned eighteen. The thought was mind numbing - and unnerving. Case remembered two or three times coming to his apartment just to find all his beers gone, his cheap whiskey empty and Raph cussing out his brothers as he downed more alcohol. After the third time, Casey stopped keeping his alcohol in his apartment - it was cheaper at the bar.

These boys had been on the streets fighting criminals and crime lords for three years now they had started when they were fifteen. Now he understood his Ma a little better, he too had started to really bust up the criminals at fifteen in retribution for killing his dad when he was eight.

Both Casey and Raph focused their attention to the glowing TV before them, watching the wrestling match highlights. It took only a few minutes more before Casey was snoring softly. Raph slid the empty can from his companion's hand, placing it upon the coffee table and slipped out the window to the deepening night beyond.

With one last look behind him, Raph moved to go straight to the last spot he had seen the dragons, and froze mid step. An all too familiar black van stopped along a nearby alley caught his eye. It was Bishop. And, wherever Bishop was, Stockman was always there as well - that meant they weren't dead like he had thought and desperately hoped.

Raph growled lowly, and flicked on his tracking module. If anything happened to him, at least his brothers would know where he had fallen. It was Stockman who had started everything they had put up with over the past years. Stockman had built the Mousers, destroyed their first home, and forced them to the surface to face the Dragons, and the Foot. Stockman had the technology to create the Foot-Tek ninja. Stockman created the Outbreak Virust that mutated Donn and nearly cost them a brother. Stockman was the reason they had met April, and the force behind them encountering every villain who had nearly killed them is their sort lives.

Raph snarled softly, he should forget the van. He should go home and prepare for tomorrow's departure, but something in his gut kept pulling him to follow the van as it pulled away from the curb.

'If we're gone then what's ta stop Bishop, or the Foot or any of the gangs from invadin' the sewers? LH can hold his own, but every fight tears him up inside. And Splinta'? He ain't as young as he used ta be. He had to recova for a month aftah the Foot found our old lair, and that was three years ago. What if they found him alone? I gotta do somethin'.'

Raph thought of his options as he watched the van slowly crawl to the end of the alley, his hand trailing hesitantly over his shell-cell before clenching into a resolute fist. He had to be the protector tonight, he had to walk in Leo's tracks just this once and be the one to keep his family safe.

Raph's mind immediately focused on the most straight forward route, that being to simply take out Stockman and Bishop however, here he ran into Leo's best argument for keeping the humans alive. He knew from their adventures in the future that Bishop had the potential to bring peace to earth and embrace the many alien races in a vast treaty, and to become the best President in memory. Bishop also had the potential to turn around his cruelty and focus his misguided science on preservation and helping others. However that was still a hundred years in the future and right now the pair were just this side of being evil incarnate.

Raph leapt across the rooftops, remaining in the shadows as he slipped from shadow to shadow tailing the van, concealed in the night's darkness as he followed it to its headquarters. He used every techno trick he had learned from Don, every technique he had pretended to ignore from Splinter and Leo, and every creative notion he had ever witnessed from Mikey to get him past the perimeter without setting off any alarms.

When he finally reached the hidden labs, he was not expecting to find Stockman back in a floating jar with a single three fingered claw as his only outside link to the world. Raph looked around and smirked. The ever overconfident psychopath had the lab's video recordings rerouted to a main terminal, showing him as he worked. Another screen showed him working just the same, however this one that was being seen by the security team only showed him muttering as he worked, omitting his raving about the injustice of his position and the sorrows of his genius being used as brute force to decimate Bishop's opponents when his true talent was being smothered by the near immortal's lack of vision.

"So Bishop wants a poison for those turtles? He wishes them to be utterly destroyed and all traces of their existence utterly wiped from the sewers! I will give him his wish, only I will make it something far worse! The turtles will all perish, as will everything within the sewers! I will create destruction raging across this city to make everyone know the true depths of my suffering! The Turtles will finally be destroyed and I will have my revenge!" Stockman held up a large vile of glowing yellow liquid, admiring his work oblivious within his own raving to Raph's dark, seething form behind.

Raph swallowed a bitter growl. Leave it to Stockman to go in for the overkill. He slunk across the lab deep within the shadows to a recessed computer console and pulled his newest shell cell Don had just completed that week from its hiding spot within his belt. The newest cell had been upgraded with a universal computer hookup so that they all could access the computers on missions in case if Don was busy and could not check out the data himself. Raph connected the phone to the computer starting the hack program Don had installed to gain access into Stockman's computers and had to silence a whistle at the arsenal Stockman had created this time.

Regardless of how much he hated the cyborg Raph had to give the doc props for creative ingenuity at least. The yellow vial held a highly lethal condensed poison containing enough to kill the whole of the East Coast. Condensed gas canisters could disperse a single drop to clear an entire building of life. The silver tubes were small, easily carried by a shoulder holster and simple to operate. Micro darts were also on the holster complete with a dart gun. Each small projectile the size of a house fly held just enough to take down a single human.

He grimaced, he was about to do the only part of his job he disliked. He was about to kill, not just one person, but many. This was all to protect his family and his home from the very monsters that had created this latest lethal threat.

Raph snuck through the shadows of the lab, collecting everything he needed, strapping on the holster and hip belt in complete silence. He caught a dim reflection of himself in a clear panel, his double resembling a turtle version of an old western cowboy complete with gun belt. He might have grinned at the image, except this time Bishop and Stockman had gone too far. This time they had targeted his home turf and planned to bury his family.

Raph checked the phone one more time, finally disconnecting it when it flashed 'Download Complete' on its dim face. Slipping the phone back in its pouch Raph at last felt ready and stilled only for a moment more silently wishing he had his bros to watch his back, and grateful they weren't here to see him become a killer. Then he turned and launched his attack directly upon Stockman.

Raph reached into a special pouch sewn into the lining of his belt withdrawing a micro EMP explosive shuriken. With a flick of his wrist the small, dully shinning star sunk into the tank and exploded, deactivating Stockman's floating capsule. After the small thump and passing smoke vanished the disembodied brain was trapped within its glass prison. Raph bashed a thick crack into the jar, allowing a slow leak to drain away the fluids that kept the last bit of Stockman alive. When the jar ran dry Stockman would finally die - or so Raph fervently hoped. No matter what happened to their enemies they kept finding ways to come back.

Swallowing the bile that built in his throat Raph placed a gas mask over his beak securing it tightly behind his head and injected three of the gas canisters with poison before melting once more into the shadows.

He moved to the vents placing the gas canisters within the main air ducts of the complex and slipped from the compound that lie on the outskirts of New York. With a cold sense that Death was close by Raph fled into the night, leaving through the same entrance he had slipped in through, and prayed he had evaded the security scans. He could not have Bishop targeting his family directly and hoped the psychopath would soon follow Stockman into oblivion.

Slipping from the Hudson River onto an abandoned jetty Raph gagged and dry heaved his empty stomach once he reached dry ground. He had killed, his hands stained with blood. How much? He didn't know, but he was a murderer and the night was still young. He rinsed his mouth with the brackish waters of the river disregarding how many pollutants it contained then slipped off to the upscale warehouse that served as the Purple Dragons' main head quarters.

He could hear Hun screaming at his followers within, goading his minions to fight for some prize won during their night's raid. Clambering onto the rooftop Raph tugged the gas mask from its place on the gun belt and secured it back on, slipping a gas canister from its sheath and into the central air duct of the warehouse, praying that there were no good guys inside, working undercover.

He waited, listening with growing revulsion and self loathing as the sounds of combat suddenly changed into terrified gasping coughs and cries of despair that just as swiftly vanished into all too still silence. None left the building, no one had even tried. Raph could not think about what he had just done. These were hardened thugs they knew when to fight, and like rats in the sewers, they had a nose for when to flee. Yet none did, no one had escaped. Raph looked sickened at the yellow vial still clasped within his hand and swallowed weakly.

With despair growing in his gut he pushed off of the rooftop, bounding across his beloved city to the glittering office complex that served at the largest mafia family's headquarters. He only stilled long enough to drop a pair of canisters into the air ducts and fled before they had even deployed. He couldn't listen to the death rattles within the lungs of victims again.

Raph raced to the Foot building, wishing he could think of another way to keep the Foot out of his territory without taking further lives. Some way, anyway, but nothing came to mind and Raph prepared the last six canisters with a cold emptiness building inside. Once every ten floors he dropped a canister. The small dart gun was ready in its holster already filled with darts. He hit every ninja that approached him on his ascent, using a stolen pair of night goggles from Bishop to spot the Foot–Tek before they could strike.

For once Raph was thankful for the completely encasing garments the Foot wore, knowing that the serum was most probably doing things to the Foot he did not want to know about. Raph rushed the rest of the job, rapidly firing darts into the Elites, showering the penthouse with the poisoned darts without being seen and without looking too closely at the figures he fired at.

Raph looked around as if coming out of a daze. He stood in the throne room. Here the wooden floor gleamed its familiar golden hue, patches gleamed brighter from being replaced after he and his brothers had faced both Shredder and Karai here in previous battles. Every time they had fought Leo and their brothers had hoped that the father-daughter pair could be convinced to accept a peace. Yet peace never came and all too often their efforts only awarded them dead opponents and grievous wounds for themselves.

With a sickened groan Raph threw the entire lot of partially used serum and every other vile creation he had taken from Stockman with all his might into the throne room. They smashed upon the hardwood floor releasing a rising plume of yellow smoke that rose into the ventilation. As he vanished through a high window and fled back home to face the future to come in deathly still silence Raphael felt the cold hands of Death touch his shoulders like a knight of old gaining his rank. The image of Death knighting him with a cold scythe sent shivers down Raph's spine.

Four hours. Raph slunk into his home unnoticed four hours after heading out for his run. His body reeked of the polluted Hudson River, his eyes red and stinging from unshead tears for what he had done. A new grief shone within the depths of his dark eyes that made them harrowed and haunted. The silence of what he had done weighed visibly on him, making him hunch more like a caged animal.

Haunted eyes raked over the lair, Raph looked for anything out of place. It was like walking out of a nightmare. His family slumbered in their rooms, the lair warm and inviting as usual, yet it made him twitchy. The lives he had taken, the murders he had just committed would now be the second major secret he had kept from his family. This one so dark and horrid he would never be able to speak of it.

With a shudder Raph closed his eyes and remembered Raj, the ethereal boy, the spirit naga, he had loved and lost in the span of a single night nearly two years ago when he and his brothers had been changed into humans and left in an orphanage. He had never spoken of his affections for the boy in the spirit paths, never breathed a word of the intimate exchange they had had there. But, where Raj had given him hope, this night had taken everything from him, save despair.

... to be continued.