Hey all! Another new story to sink your teeth into:) I hope you all enjoy and don't worry, t have not abandoned any of my other fics, I should have updates for all of them soon!

A huge thank you to Amonraphoenix for this lovely plot bunny and for beta reading this chapter for me, thank you sooo much!

Chapter 1

Raphael took in a slow breath; easy, measured, purposeful. The next moment, a soft exhalation left his parched lips. This outpouring of air was just as slow, measured and purposeful as the previous inhalation.

Taking in another slow breath, he listened to the soft, steady breathing of Michelangelo who was curled up on the floor beside him, unconscious.

He wanted to reach over and place his hand on his brother's shoulder, but the effort to move his arm felt too great.

Another soft exhalation of breath was taken, this one even slower and shorter than the last. His eyes slipped closed, a feeling of extreme exhaustion passing over him. His body felt so cold and oddly numb despite the numerous injuries that marred his body. He couldn't even feel the pain from his wounds anymore. He could tell that the pain was still there, but it felt as if it was part of something else; a part of someone else.

Dully, he could feel himself slowly drifting away, his eyes slipping closed. Someone was calling his name, but it sounded as if the voice was coming from far away and echoing strangely, as if he was hearing it through a long dark tunnel...

6 hours earlier...

Raphael changed the channel on the TV looking for something to watch, and couldn't find anything.

"Two hundred channels and there ain't nothin' on," Raphael grumbled out loud in disgust, tossing the remote onto the couch in disgust.

Suddenly, Michelangelo leapt over the back of the couch and landed on the cushion next to him.

"That's why they invented video games, Raphie-boy." Michelangelo grinned happily as he leaned over and picked up the game controller from the coffee table and turned on his game consol.

Raphael glared at his baby brother with narrowed eyes, which didn't faze Michelangelo one bit. In fact, Michelangelo's grin only widened.

"I'm trying to watch TV, Mikey," he snapped angrily.

"You just said there was nothing on," Michelangelo pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I wasn't still watchin' the crap that was on!" Raphael snarled furiously.

"I'm not deaf," Michelangelo complained as he winced slightly, throwing a glare back at him.

"Go away," Raphael barked, grabbing at the game controller and yanking if from Michelangelo's fingers.

"Hey!" Michelangelo protested loudly.

Raphael growled threateningly at Michelangelo daring him to try to take the control back.

Michelangelo, taking the hint, crossed his arms over his chest and flopped back against the cushions of the couch, an exaggerated pout upon his features. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Raphael continued to channel surf.

"But I'm so bored!" Michelangelo griped, slumping further down into the couch cushions.

Raphael attempted to ignore his brother as best as he could, finally managing to find what looked to be an action movie on TV.

Leaning forward he watched a high speed car chase and ensuing fire fight. He had seen the movie before and it wasn't even a good one, but he did enjoy the chase scene.

And then his brother's face was right in front of his own, wide, honey brown eyes pleading. "Come on, Raph, play Death Raiders with me, pleeeeease!"

"No," he stated firmly as he pushed his brother's face out of the way with his hand.

"Come on, Raph."

"If you don't get out of my face, I'm gonna rearrange yours," Raphael threatened, the chase scene over and his own boredom beginning to claw at him like an itch he couldn't scratch.

Michelangelo let out a heartfelt sigh designed to tug at Raphael's heart strings, but Raphael resolutely ignored the small twang.

Seeing that his tactics were failing, Michelangelo flopped back down on the couch again, picking up a much read comic book from the coffee table's surface.

"When are Leo and Donny supposed to be back anyway?" Michelangelo asked, a hint of hurt and dejection lacing his words.

"Later," Raphael answered vaguely, changing the channel, his interest caught against his will.

"How much later?" Michelangelo asked insistently.

"When they're done," Raphael answered offhandedly, wondering if the knives they were showing on TV were really as sharp as they said they were. He didn't cook, that was usually Michelangelo's thing, but still, a knife that could cut through a can was pretty awesome.

"But when will they be done?" he moaned persistently.

Closing his eyes in irritation Raphael tried to keep his temper in check. "When they're done, Mikey," he replied sharply through clenched teeth.

"But-"

"I don't know!" Raphael snapped, his attention focused solely upon his irritating baby brother. "Okay? I don't know! They went to help Casey fix the boiler in the basement of April's apartment building. So, however long that takes."

"You're just cranky because Leo made you stay here," Michelangelo pointed out.

"Leo was being an ass," Raphael grumbled.

"You were supposed to take out the garbage and do the dishes, but you didn't," Michelangelo reasonably pointed out the reason for his oldest brother's actions.

"I didn't want to go," Raphael refuted his baby brother's observation that he was angry because he had been told to stay at the lair. "You think I wanna go poke around in a dusty basement and listen to Donny jibber-jabber on about what the hell is wrong with the boiler? No thank you."

Michelangelo looked at him sceptically. "So you're saying you wanted Leo to punish you and tell you to stay here, which meant that he had to go instead?"

"Something' like that," Raphael answered smugly. "It ain't like I didn't wanna see Casey and April, but-"

"You just didn't want to crawl around in the dark, dank old basement where there are a ton of spiders and other creepy crawly bugs hanging around," Michelangelo finished with a broad, teasing grin.

"That ain't it!" Raphael protested indignantly, heat spreading across his cheeks.

"Sure it isn't," Michelangelo mocked.

"I owe Casey twenty bucks after I bet him that the Soxs would win their last game." Raphael groused. "I lost and I'm avoidin him."

"Uh-huh," Michelangelo nodded sagely, not fooled for a minute.

"Shut up, Mikey," he growled as he turned his attention back to the TV, ignoring his baby brother's presence.

Time ticked painfully by and Michelangelo let out another long suffering sigh. Raphael gave up his pretence of actually enjoying what he was watching.

"Fine, let's go," Raphael said, suddenly getting to his feet.

Michelangelo copied his action and asked, "Go where?"

"Out," Raphael answered firmly, even though he wasn't sure where he wanted to go yet either.

"But Leo said not to leave the lair," Michelangelo offered nervously.

"Yeah, well, Leo can stuff it," Raphael answered Michelangelo's concern with distain dripping in his voice. "Just 'cause Master Splinter is gone doesn't mean Leo's in charge."

"But..." Michelangelo paused for a moment before continuing. "Master Splinter did leave Leo in charge."

"Doesn't mean I gotta like it," Raphael answered with bitterness. It wasn't like they were children or even teenagers anymore. Master Splinter had passed away two years ago after contracting pneumonia. It still hurt thinking about it, and Raphael knew that Donatello had tried everything he could to help their father, but the truth was, their father was old, and there was nothing any of them could do.

"But Leo said the Purple Dragons have been more active lately and-"

"Enough, Mikey!" Raphael roared, tired of listening to his baby brother repeat Leonardo's words back to him. "Leo said we had to stay here, but he didn't say we couldn't go out for pizza."

"Pizza?" Michelangelo asked carefully.

"Yeah, Bonehead, pizza. I'm starvin,' and this place is so low on food that the jar of pickles and bottle of mustard are looking pretty appetizin'. So I say, lets' get somethin' actually food-like to eat."

Michelangelo hesitated for a moment.

"You can get whatever you like on you pizza," Raphael offered enticingly.

Michelangelo grinned, but wasn't yet convinced. "Even jellybeans and anchovies?"

Raphael felt his stomach roll at the suggestion and he repressed a grimace. "Whatever you want," he replied tightly.

"Awesome!" Michelangelo said excitedly, giving the air a fist pump.

"Great, let's go," Raphael said as he strode towards the entrance of the lair. He slid on a pair of boots, jeans, jacket and a hat; Michelangelo doing the same. Both of them, attired to blend in with the human world, exited the lair.

Raphael acknowledged to himself that he needed the exercise and the fresh air. And if they were really lucky, they would run into some scumbags that needed a good beat-down.

Grinning, Raphael cracked his knuckles in anticipation. It had been a week since they had left the lair and he was having a hard time not going stir-crazy. He could only beat the hell out of his heavy bag so many times before it became tedious and repetitive. A little skirmish with some gangland scum would be just what he needed; not that he was actually looking for a fight, but still. He was hopeful, but not expecting any trouble.

With Michelangelo following him, they made their way from the lair, into the city' s sewer system. They followed the winding tunnels to the manhole cover that was closest to their favourite pizza joint.

Removing the cover Raphael and his brother slipped out of the hole, and once the coast was clear, slid into the darkened shadows of the early night. It was just past dinnertime and the pizza joint was busy, but not overly so.

Pulling out his phone, Raphael called the pizza place and ordered four extra-large pizzas for pick up. Waiting the required fifteen minutes before the pizza would be ready, he listened to Michelangelo's effusive chatter on some new video game that April had bought for him.

A sudden awareness descended upon him as he slowly looked around. His keen eyes searched for trouble and found none. Relaxing slightly, he crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the rough brick wall of the alley.

Checking his phone, he pushed away from the wall a few minutes later. "Come on, Mikey. Let's get our pizza and go home," Raphael stated, not able to shake the heavy, uneasy feeling he felt slowly crawling its way across his skin.

As much a Raphael was itching for a fight, he didn't like the sick feeling of apprehension that had begun to twist in his gut.

Walking into the shop he quickly paid for the pizzas and walked with Michelangelo out of the shop and into the quiet, deserted street.

Looking around warily Raphael indicated for them to head back towards the manhole cover they had emerged from.

Shadows darker than the surrounding darkness shifted as three shapes slinked out from the darkness.

Raphael took two steps backward, bumping into Michelangelo. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed that Michelangelo had backed into him because nine Purple Dragons had emerged from the darkness, led by a hulking human that smiled at them maliciously.

"Looked like thirteen's your unlucky number, Freaks," Hun intoned viciously as he made a movement with his hand.

Raphael spun, his fist connecting with a jaw. The Purple Dragon's head snapped back and he hit the ground unconscious. A roundhouse kick took out the second Dragon, and the third had his feet swept out from beneath him and a crack on the head for good measure.

Smiling, Raphael cracked his knuckles in anticipation as he faced Hun. "That all you got?" he taunted with a smirk.

Hun crossed his arms over his chest and grinned broadly. "No," he answered smugly, the sound of more feet entering the alley.

Raphael took a step back, grabbing Michelangelo, pulling him around and pushing him in the opposite direction.

"Run!" Raphael barked sharply, shoving Michelangelo who dropped the pizzas as he stumbled forward.

"The Pizza!" Michelangelo gasped in horror.

Raphael ignored him, the sound of guns being armed and loaded nearly deafening as the first shot was fired, harmlessly tearing through the fabric of Raphael's jacket.

Through alleyways, twisting and turning they ran, trying to lose the Purple Dragons who pursued them.

Shots were fired and Raphael led them closer and closer to an abandoned section of warehouses, away from the general public and their scrutiny; not that the Purple Dragons cared if any innocent bystanders got in the way, but Raphael did.

Regretting his decision to go out and knowing that he was never going to hear the end of this when Leonardo found out that he and Michelangelo had left the lair and gotten dragged into trouble, he turned, determined to take out as many of the Purple Dragons as he could.

Michelangelo at his side, they moved from being on the defensive, to the offensive. More Purple Dragons were arriving by vehicle and no matter how many of the gang members he and his baby brother took out, two more seemed to take their place.

Panting with exertion, Raphael let out a frustrated battle cry as he charged a group of five Dragons who had managed to surround Michelangelo after knocking him to the ground and kicking him hard in the side. A chain suddenly wrapped around Michelangelo's throat and his baby brother made a distressed noise, clawing and struggling as his life was brutally choked out of him.

Crashing into the mob, Raphael swiped his sai through the air, the prong sliding effortlessly through the links of the chain, yanking it from both Michelangelo's throat as well as the Dragon's hand.

Raphael snarled angrily as he wrapped the chain around his free hand and pulled back his fist, smashing it into the Dragon's face. Blood spurted out of the gang member's ruined mouth as he lost a few teeth.

Quickly pulling a coughing and gagging Michelangelo up from the ground, Raphael backed away, searching for a way to escape.

He didn't mind taking on a few Purple Dragon goons, but he knew that he and Michelangelo couldn't take on the entire gang by themselves, especially not with Hun leading the pack.

Raphael made sure Michelangelo was okay, and receiving an affirmative from his brother, made his way through a writhing mass of Purple Dragons, taking out as many of them as he possibly could trying to make a path for his baby brother to get away.

Shouts and cries collided with the grunts and exertions of the cool night as the writhing mass of odorous human bodies enveloped him. Battered and bloody he was suddenly pulled from the throng by Michelangelo, who smashed a pursuing Purple Dragon in the kneecap with his nunckuck, while another got the hardened length of wood smashed into his gut.

Looking a little worse for wear, Michelangelo pulled Raphael into the narrow space between two buildings, a few Dragons following them as they ran.

"We need to get out of here, Raph," Michelangelo panted in exertion.

"I know that," Raphael hissed, not needing his baby brother pointing out the obvious.

"FREAKS!" Hun roared, his fury at the incompetence of his followers to corner and subdue them ringing through the icy night air.

Running out from between the two buildings, Raphael ducked a crowbar that suddenly lashed out, nearly smashing him right in the face

Michelangelo leapt over him and launched himself at the hidden Dragon, easily disarming him and knocking him unconscious.

Raphael stepped over the unconscious human and looked around. Hun stood thirty feet away, with what amounted to a small army standing alongside him.

"Give up, Mutant Freaks, you have nowhere to run," Hun taunted them condescendingly .

"Go suck it, Hun!" Raphael shouted defiantly.

"Hey, you can't talk to our boss like that!" a lanky, sharp featured Dragon holding a rocket launcher shouted back.

"Put that thing away you Idiot. We want 'em alive. They're no use to us in pieces," Hun growled in warning.

"Yeah, Stupid, kids shouldn't play with guns," Raphael mocked.

"Hey, who, you callin' stupid?! And I'm not a kid!" he shouted as his voice cracked, giving lie to his words.

Raphael snickered.

"Enough!" Hun shouted. "Get them, and bring them back to me alive." Hun paused. "But if they put up any resistance, well…feel free to use whatever force is necessary. After all, alive doesn't mean they have to come to me with all of their bits and pieces," Hun purred smoothly and Raphael felt himself shift one foot backwards followed by another until his carapace hit the side of the building and he quickly looked over his shoulder.

"Mikey, door," he quietly hissed at his brother who quickly turned and slammed his shoulder against the locked door of the warehouse at their backs.

Raphael held off the three ambitious Purple Dragons that managed to make it to them. He took a punch to his plastron that knocked the air from his lungs followed by a hard blow to his head.

His world spun as he tasted the sharp bite of copper in his mouth from when he bit his tongue. Agony shooting through all of his synapses, he attempted to recover, but another blow to the head caught him off guard and he nearly passed out as he fell to his knees, stunned. Fighting to hold onto his consciousness and push away the darkness that floated at the edge of his vision, he took in a deep breath and screamed at himself and willed himself not to pass out, because Michelangelo needed him.

Giving a feral roar of rage and pain he smashed his fist into a thigh, bringing the Dragon to his knees with a howl of pain.

Raphael elbowed the dragon in the head and then struggled to his feet.

"Hey! Back off!" the youth holding the rocket launcher bellowed as a Dragon attempted to take the launcher from the kid, who resisted this act and caused a tug of war over the deadly weapon.

There was a hissing sound just as Michelangelo managed to break down the door.

"Run!" Raphael shouted pushing Michelangelo into the building as Purple Dragons scattered with terrified shouts and panicked screams as the rocket launcher fired.

Raphael and his brother drove for cover inside the building which suddenly turned into a blazing inferno filled with flying shrapnel, choking black smoke, searing heat and the ominous groan of the building as the explosion shook the building around them.

Clutching Michelangelo close to his chest, he shielded his baby brother as much as he could from the blast, twisting to protect Michelangelo as the floor beneath them suddenly gave way and Raphael felt them both fall into the darkness below them.

So what does everyone think so far?