A/N: I feel like I've moved to a new town. Okay, hello Ninja Turtle fandom! Hi there, I'm a new writer. This is a quick 'what if' coda that I've churned out. I've got another story that I'm working on which is longer, and I'll let you know when that'll be posted. In the meantime, enjoy and please review, folks!

"INCOMING!"

Mikey's cry was promptly drowned out by the deafening roar of the military missile. They all saw where it was headed, and jumped away as the bridge beneath their feet was swallowed up in a fiery explosion.

Don was closest to the ship. He lunged and caught hold of ledge, scrambling not to fall down towards the rumbling engines. Smoke stung his eyes and intense heat washed across his shell. He couldn't look behind him, bringing all of his focus onto holding on to his tenuous position as other missiles detonated around the launch pad.

He heard his brothers coughing. Good, they were alive! The heat and smoke clearing, Don twisted his head over his shoulder, trying to glimpse their condition. Only half of the bridge remained, the hot, melted metal horribly twisted at one end. And there was nothing where he was. He only had the ship.

There was a large, thrumming sensation. The ledge vibrated violently underneath Don's fingers, and he got the acute sensation that he was slowly but surely moving up.

The ship was launching.

"Uh, fellas?" he called out, trying to keep panic from setting in. There were shouts behind him, getting lost in the shrill whine of the engines kicking up. Heat exploded from underneath, and Don knew that the rockets had switched on.

"We have to jump!" he heard Leo yell.

No way could they make that, and Don was glad to hear Raph say so. Besides, it wasn't a straight-across leap anymore. His brothers' voices were coming from lower and lower beneath him.

He knew what he had to do.

Crawling, gasping, muscles trembling, Don climbed. It had to be now, before the force of the launch stripped one turtle off of its side and tumbling down to be consumed by its fire. Before the G-forces really set in.

He may have heard Mikey call his name. He may have heard Raph and Leo shouting and may have heard Splinter speak in that voice that transcends sound, saying "my son…"

He may have heard all of this, but he couldn't process it. Not while he was surging onto the ledge, rolling to the floor as the outer door snapped shut.

Not while he was trapped on his back, pinned to the floor by forces beyond any human control, as the ship sped up.

Not until he was shivering after the adrenaline rush, shell against the wall, alone in the Shredder's massive starship.

He didn't know how long it was until his mind finally slammed back into reality. He had to move. A ship like this was bound to have sensors. They could locate him easily.

Unless, they didn't know he was there.

Not daring to believe such luck, Don got to his feet and examined a nearby panel. Quickly deducing its operative properties, he opened the correct door into a hallway. He slipped out quietly, darting near some pipes.

He had to think. What was he going to do? His brothers, Master Splinter…

Don stubbornly wiped away some surprise tears. Shock, he told himself. He didn't have time to worry about them now. If anything, they were alright and he should be worrying about himself. What could he do? Shredder was in the stars, en route to conquering worlds and enslaving so many innocent people. And he was just one turtle, all alone…

There was a beep near his belt. Don's eyes widened and he grinned as he unclipped the tech-tab. "Professor!" he greeted gladly.

"Glad to see we've made it, Donatello," Honeycutt replied from his digital position. "But I must ask: where is it we've made it to?"

"We're on Shredder's starship," Don answered grimly. "It's taken off into space."

"Oh dear," Honeycutt said. "That is unfortunate." The icon paused. "And where are your brothers?"

Don fought the lump of panic forming up in his throat. "They didn't make it on," he forced out. He sounded strained, like his voice box was going through a cheese grater. "It's just you and me."

"I see," Honeycutt answered. "Well, what are we going to do now?"

Just what were they going to do? Okay, slow down, think, Don, think! He knew for sure Shredder and Karai were on the ship. It would be best to not run into them. He was no match to take on one single-handedly, much less both. Okay, it was just him. Well, him and Professor Honeycutt. He didn't have his brothers' skills to rely on. Alright, well what did they have?

Don popped open his eyes and took a closer look at the ship. The large, empty ship. The large, technical, empty ship.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He wasn't done yet. And if he was going down then by God, this ship was coming with him. Sure, he couldn't fight the Shredder in direct combat. But could the Shredder fight him on Don's turf? A techno-war. Battle of superior minds.

"Professor," Don said softly. "We have some work to do."

"I take it you have a plan?" Honeycutt inquired.

"A plan," Don whispered. Leo always came up with the plans. "Perhaps. I don't have the particulars sorted out. We just need to avoid Shredder and Karai and somehow take out this ship."

There were some blips from the tech-tab before Honeycutt replied. "Very well. I've been sending messages to the Utrom homeworld, but there's been no reply. I wonder if I'm not getting through…"

"Wonder about it later, Professor," Don said, clipping him back to his belt and taking out his bo staff. "We need to find the power room. Can you check the ship mainframe and find locations?"

"Yes, provided I don't run into any security programs," came the assurance. "I understand Utrom technology quite well. Once you understand their systems it's a simple matter of merely unlocking-" Don let Honeycutt ramble as he set off briskly, hoping to elude any enemies.

He could not fail this.

"NOOOOO!" Leonardo screamed. He shouted incoherently at the sky, after the fading bit of light that held his brother. He threw a sword in the air, not knowing what it was meant to accomplish. No way could it strike the launching rocket. It dropped back down to him, clattering on the bridge.

Splinter laid a hand on his arm. "We must go, my son," he said urgently. Leonardo was dimly aware of this. The compound was burning. There were still Foot soldiers running around. Bishop was talking urgently into his earpiece, for now ignoring them. Now was their chance to slip away.

His sensei touched his arm again. "Leonardo, we must go. We cannot help Donatello now. We can only hope that Fate will return him to us."

"Leo! We gotta go!"

Leo heard Raph's yell and stumbled towards his brother. Raph and Mikey were standing near the edge of the starship's hold. "We gotta go down, bro. It's the only way outta here."

Leo nodded. He sucked in a breath and jumped. The freefall did nothing to clear his mind. The four of them rebounded off of loose supports and dented walls. The hit the floor quickly, and started running for the direction of the sewer. The way, Leonardo realized with a choke, the way Donnie had come in.

Rounding a corner they froze at an unusual sight. Hun lay unconscious before them. His features had certainly taken a beating. Instinctively, Leo drew out his katanas, ready to face the force that took down the huge, mighty Hun.

"Leonardo. Master Splinter. Are you well?"

Leo relaxed when Leatherhead stepped from the shadows. Of course. The crocodile had been engaged in brawling Hun when they both fell out of sight. Apparently Leatherhead won.

"We're fine, Leatherhead," he said tightly.

The crocodile observed the small group. His features changed to worry. "Where is Donatello?"

"He's on the Shredder's starship," Raph spat. "An' there's nuthin' we can do about it."

"The Shredder?" Leatherhead growled, his muscles tensing.

"The ship launched, Leatherhead," Leo said tiredly, strength fading from his voice. "They're probably outside the atmosphere by now. We failed." I failed.

Mikey had been quiet during this exchange, but now he spoke up. "I dunno, dudes. It's not over yet."

Everyone looked at him, confused, but waiting for him to go on.

"I mean, think about it," Mikey continued. "Of all of us to get stuck on that ship, Donnie's the best one we could get. Remember when we had that Star Trek marathon and I was trying to figure out who each of us would be and I called Donnie Scotty? Because he fixes everything, right? And then we joked how he would go crazy with his very own starship? Well, now he's on a starship, and if anyone knows how to stop a technologically-advanced machine, it's Donatello."

Nobody spoke, but instead absorbed the unusually logical words coming from the youngest turtle.

"Besides," Mikey added. "Doesn't he have Honeycutt with him?"

Splinter was the first to react. "You may be correct, my son," he answered. "We do not know Donatello's condition, but we do know that he is aboard. And we know that he will continue to fight the Shredder as long as he lives."

Leo looked away from the group and focused on the wall. The bricks mingled and swam before his eyes. "We just have to hope he'll succeed," he said curtly. "Right now, we need to meet up with April and Casey. There's going to be a lot of public fallout from what happened here today."

"Uh, sir?" Dr. Chaplin was a bit nervous whenever he paged 'the boss' but that was only because he didn't completely have good news. "The good news is: we're out in space now. The bad news is… well, one of the turtles has… kind of hitched a ride."

"What?" came the enraged response. "Which one? I shall deal with him immediately!"

"Unknown, sir," Chaplin replied. "We only have a thermal-scan. But, I do have some good news: he's heading for the main power room. You can find him there."

"Good. Continue with the ship's procedures, Chaplin. Karai and I shall deal with this hitchhiker."

"You got it, boss!" Chaplin chirped cheerfully. He signed off and turned to a beeping panel.

A dozen missiles were headed towards them.

"Oh, darn," he muttered.

Donatello did not expect to get thrown around the starship so soon… and he hadn't even met Shredder.

Bishop, he thought instantly as explosions seemed to rock the ship from the outside. With all of his acquired alien technology, of course the agent would have spatial resources.

He wondered if Bishop would succeed in his plan. Launching missiles at the starship… it might very well destroy them all.

Including the Shredder.

Donatello stopped dead in the hallway as the grim answer hit him. Who was he kidding, just disabling the starship? Anyone could make repairs, or there could be escape shuttles. But if everything was destroyed…

He reached the power room and looked in awe at the blue, energetic column. It was beautiful, really. So much power, so much technology. It was a shame that it was being used to pilot a vessel of evil.

He hadn't told Honeycutt his plan yet. He would do it later, once the professor was in the system. "Here's a maintenance relay," Donatello informed the digital robot, sliding in the tech-tab. "I need you to access the power mainframe."

"Right-o. I should be fully connected in a matter of minutes," Honeycutt told him.

"If you can make it faster, that would be great." Donatello pulled out his bo staff and had it ready. They would be in the power room for a while. There was no doubt that whatever crew was on this ship would locate him shortly.

He had to be ready.

Shredder stormed quickly to the power room. The entire venture was not going well. First the surprise attack from the turtles and Bishop (were they in league with each other?) and now the constant bombardment of missiles was another annoyance to deal with. Apparently Stockman's defense system wasn't working so well. How typical.

He surged to the main doors, Karai at his side. With his improved exosuit, he kicked open the doors and leapt into the power room, ready to destroy the remaining terrapin in his path.

The room was empty.

Karai was also surprised by this, and warily slowed down next to him.

"Chaplin," Shredder paged. "Are you sure the turtle is in the power room?"

"He's still there, boss!" came the enthusiastic, if strained, reply.

"He must be hiding somewhere," Karai observed.

"Find him," Shredder ordered. "I do not want this to have to take too long."

Donatello, meanwhile, was crouched behind some beams. He was hoping that in their search for him, Shredder and Karai would fail to notice Honeycutt hacking their system. He needed to keep them interested, but off his tail, for a little while longer. There was no way he could take on Shredder and Karai single-handedly in combat.

So for now he hid.

From his position, he lost sight of Karai. That worried him, but he stayed focus on Shredder, who was prowling around the power core. Just don't look up. Please, don't look up.

"Accessing power mainframe," Honeycutt announced, sending alarm bells throughout Donatello's body. "In 5."

Shredder turned to the voice.

"4, 3."

He strode up and reached for the tech-tab.

"2."

"NO!" Don shouted and lunged from his high hiding place. Bo expertly aimed, he knocked Shredder in the middle of his back. The move would paralyze any human, but only caused the metallic exosuit to stumble. Shredder turned towards him as he landed, red eyes narrowing in hatred.

"You…" he growled.

"Me," Donatello stated, planting his feet. "Now whatcha gonna do about it?" Keep him off Honeycutt, keep him off Honeycutt…

"You shall soon find out," Shredder threatened, advancing towards him. Don gripped his bo staff for battle…

…and the entire ship lurched to the side.

Donatello stumbled against the power consoles, and it proved that the missile hit saved his life, for now, at least. Karai sailed past on his right, her sword missing him by inches. She stumbled when she landed, the deck tilting beneath everyone's feet.

"Professor!" Don commanded urgently, frantically using the distraction. "You have to overload this power core. Take out the ship. It's the only way."

"But Donatello I- I see. Oh, dear…"

"No time, Professor!" Don snapped. His voice softened. "We have to make sure this ends here."

"I understand," Honeycutt replied. "I am with you to the end."

Don smiled, thankful for a friend. He whirled back to his foes, who were regaining their balance.

"You have meddled in my affairs for the last time, turtle," Shredder snarled. He lunged, and his sharp spikes caught Don's arm, leaving two, long gouges across his forearm. Don bit on a cry of pain and swung his bo, trying to take out Shredder's legs. The new suit must have been made from a different metal, however, because the wood failed to take out the strong legs. Karai jumped in, landing a roundhouse kick against the back of his shell, sending him closer into Shredder's reach. Something connected with his head and left him stunned. Blindly, he thrust his bo backwards, and cheered when he felt it collide with Karai. She flew back and rolled, clutching her ribs and wheezing. He'd gotten her right in the diaphragm.

But now Shredder had a hold of him. He twisted the bo out of Don's grip, breaking his wrist in the process. In a smooth, rapid movement, he seized the turtle by the throat and lifted him into the air, his feet dangling.

"Any last words, turtle?" Shredder mocked him.

Don struggled against the iron grip. But he grinned at the Shredder.

"This is for my brothers," he rasped.

And light ripped across the ship.

It was so bright. Was he in Heaven? Heaven was supposed to bright, right? It certainly was white. Only, wasn't Heaven bigger? This room looked kinda small…

Don bolted up when he realized he was in a medical ward. "What happened? Where am I? What-"

There was a whirring sound nearby and he whirled. An Utrom was sitting on its floating device, a metal claw held up in a gesture of peace. "It is alright, Donatello. You are in a Utrom infirmary. The Shredder and his accomplices are in our custody."

Don just stared at the alien. "I am dead," he said slowly. "This is Heaven and I'm dead. The blast killed me."

The Utrom chuckled. "While I'm flattered that you think this is Heaven, you are not dead. We received Professor Honeycutt's signals and dispatched a ship promptly. We were just in time, too. Your plan succeeded; the ship was destroyed."

"Then how-" Don began, but the Utrom held up its claw.

"We activated a stasis field which suspended you for enough time for retrieval. You were the only one bearing substantial injuries, so we transported you to the infirmary. Ch'rell, Karai, and the young doctor are all in the brig, awaiting trial."

"Trial?" Don asked numbly.

The Utrom nodded. "The time has come for him to answer for his crimes. There is no doubt of a guilty verdict. Do you wish to attend?"

Did he? To see the end, the final end, of the Shredder? Raph would agree in a heartbeat, Don knew. Leo and Splinter too, probably. Their need for vengeance and justice would be satisfied. But for him? It made him sick.

Why would he want to watch a miserable existence come to an end? He saw no reason to stand and watch in distaste. He was also not one to gloat. No, he would not. He did not want to hear whatever final words that pathetic, horrible creature would say. It was over. He wanted to be done with it already, and not have it drawn out.

"With all due respect, I would just want to go home and see my brothers," Don said tiredly.

The Utrom nodded. "Understood. You are not needed as a witness, as someone else has willingly stepped forward."

"Who?" Don asked.

The Utrom activated a button and a holographic screen projected out of the floater. "Hello, Donatello."

"Professor Honeycutt!" Don greeted enthusiastically. "I take it they pulled you from my tech-tab?"

"Indeed. I have documented footage of the Shredder's crimes on Earth, as well as my own testimony. It should be more than enough, combined with the proven atrocities he has performed on other worlds."

Don nodded. "I guess this is where we part ways," he mentioned.

"I may visit you again. Leatherhead and I were involved in a most fascinating breakthrough in AI mechanics," the robot chatted.

Don chuckled weakly. "I'll have to pop in on that, I hate to think of what I'm missing."

"Indeed. It's very promising," Honeycutt added.

The Utrom peered around the screen. "Time to go, Donatello. A transmat is ready for you."

Don nodded. "Take care, Professor."

"You too. I am," the professor paused. "I am glad that we had this adventure, despite the near-fatal consequences."

Don felt his injuries twinge. "It worked out in the end."

"It did."

"Until next time."

The infirmary doors opened and some more Utroms floated in. "If you may follow us to the transmat, Donatello," one said.

"Of course." He rose from the hospital bed. "Send me home."

Leo sat in the dojo, staring out at the sewer. The mood had been quiet and dismal that last couple days. Nobody spoke of Donatello. Nobody ventured near the now-empty lab. Everyone was trying to come to grips that they might very well never see the purple-banded turtle ever again.

April and Casey visited often, trying to help out. They too, were shaken, especially April, who had been closer to Don. Leo wondered when they would get the message that they just couldn't fill that void.

He started to lapse into meditation, trying again to achieve internal peace. He'd been failing miserably at that ever since Don vanished. Just close his eyes. Breathe in. Out. Listen to the silence. Feel the darkness. Find peace, find stability…

A large, blue-white light struck the middle of the lair, shaking the surrounding walls in a violent strike. Leo bolted to his feet and has his katanas out before he knew what was happening. Raph and Mikey came running from their rooms, and Splinter threw open the door from his.

A form was building up in the middle of the light. It started from the feet, and finally finished with the head. The light vanished and… and Donatello stood before them.

He grinned weakly. "Hey, guys…"

"DONNIE!" Flying down from his room Mikey tackled his older brother. Don winced and absorbed the hug, and that was when Leo noticed the injuries. His wrist, forearm, and head were bandaged.

He stepped closer, around Mikey and Raph who were peppering him with questions. "What happened? What'd you do? I knew you could do it! So the Shredder's gone? What about Karai? It's over? How do you know? Did you get the ship? Why are you hurt? What-"

Don held up a hand and staved off the curious flow of questions. "I'm fine, guys, it's fine. Just a little banged up, but the Utroms took care of it."

"I am glad, my son," Splinter said warmly, hands clasped over his walking stick. Nobody noticed their slight tremble.

Leo still stood frozen. "And the Shredder, Don?" he asked, barely breathing. His heart pounded in his chest.

Don met his eyes and Leo saw something dark, but old and tired, flash behind the mask. "It's over," he said quietly. "It's over at last."