The Way Back

Crouching down Raph closed his eyes and tried to hear the two human guardians. Just a hint of their step coming back towards them, or in a worst case scenario a clue they were in trouble so they could go help them. Hopefully the last wouldn't be needed, but after Leo's little theatre performance Raph was starting to wonder what his brother had heard, and whether he had actually heard anything at all. It was probably nothing though. Yeah, it probably really was nerves, because he was feeling it as well. Had been feeling it ever since they got here. Raph couldn't hear anything however. A good sign, there was neither any trouble, nor did they make enough sound to be heard. By anyone.

Raph opened his eyes again and glanced up at Leo standing next to him. It was very plausible he was just as nervous. Right? His brother was staring intently at the hallway ahead. Leo got nervous too. Just because he looked like a frowning statue right now didn't mean anything, it had probably just been nerves and Leo hadn't actually heard anything.

Suddenly Raph heard something.

His eyes widened and all he could do was quickly sprint after Leo as his brother tore down the hallway towards where the sound had come from, turning a few corners. His left hand closed around one of his sai.

It had sounded like a soft clicking sound?

Suddenly Leo came to a stop and held out his hand for Raph to do the same. A voice could be heard now around the next corner. Ah crud, that was Baxter Stockman's voice…he'd heard it before, though never from this close. Raph strained to make out some of the words.

"…better have a good explanation! …intruders…- …police will like that! Now tell me who…- AAAHHHH!"

Startled Raph exchanged a look with Leo. That had sounded like a smoke bomb going off? That's all he could process before two blurs in blue came towards them, the two human guardians, one of them hissing "Move!" to the turtles.

No need to think twice about that, Raph turned on his heel and ran back towards the staircase.

"Get them!" The voice was almost drowned out by the sudden loud sound of a siren going off in the building. Great.

It however drowned out another strange sound, more clicking? After a second of doubt Raph glanced behind him without slowing down his run. What the shell were those?! Small, white, two legged…things were chasing them! What were they?!

The four of them reached the door towards the staircase just as the first of the small white…robots?... reached them and being at the front Raph grabbed the door knob and pulled. Nothing. Uh oh. Using a little more force he tried again but the door didn't budge.

"Raph! Move!" Leo called as his brother reached behind him to grab one of his swords.

Raph flung himself to the side, now properly seeing there were more than half a dozen of the little white robot things coming their way, their mouths opening and closing in a rather creepy chomping movement. The two human guardians had pulled out their own swords and had chopped up one of them. Taking out his sai Raph lunged forwards and drove his weapons into another one of the chomping things. Using his boot he kicked the now sizzling chomper off of his sai. Behind him he heard the sound of Leo attacking the door, hopefully slicing an entrance for them. But in front of him, behind the little chompers he now saw a couple of men in security uniforms rounding the last corner that had cut them out of their view, coming towards them, followed by a shouting Baxter Stockman. For one incredibly uncomfortable moment Raph locked eyes with the scientist, then looked away. Crud, the number one rule for the turtles outside of the Utrom base is to never let a human see them! Raph was suddenly very aware of the green skin on his face, only a small strip around his eyes covered by his red mask. At least the rest of his body was covered in the same blue material as the two humans, his shell just a bulge on his back. He did not need a scientist of all people to see him!

"Move!" This was one of the human guardians who grabbed Raph by his arm and then forcefully shoved him back towards the door, which had been kicked open by Leo after cutting out the lock. Sometimes Raph wondered what Leo's swords were actually made off.

All four of them ran into the staircase, then Leo slammed the door back shut. Kind of pointless considering it couldn't be locked, but it might give them a extra second of a head start. Right as Raph meant to tear down the stairs, his eye caught a small bulge at the bottom of the door, which almost instantly gave way for one of those little chompers. They could chew through doors?!

That's all Raph needed to know before he ran downstairs, behind the other three, not being able to shake the feeling of getting his feet nipped. Nipped to the point of getting his feet chewed off. Thankfully he could hear the little things behind them, though it was getting harder to hear them over the sound of the siren again. But the sound of the door banging open however was very distinct and he dare not look up and see the security guards or Stockman coming after them.

Suddenly he heard a loud sound right next to him, making him jump but not slow down. Were they shooting at them?! Ah shell, that's all they needed, there was nowhere to run or hide in this staircase! Were turtle shells bullet proof? Probably not.

As luck would have it however the security guards had about as much accurate aim as a storm trooper on the Death Star, and while some of the bullets came way too close, none of them had hit them so far. Apparently moving targets with a bunch of railings in the way made it very hard to actually hit someone with a gun. How convenient!

After what felt like an eternity of running down the winding stairs, one floor after the other, they arrived at the very bottom, only to be met by a bunch of security guards lying unconscious on the floor, Mikey and Donnie standing over them.

"Heard the alarm," Mikey panted, then led them all to the entrance they had used to come inside. Which would probably be locked as well by now, hopefully Leo's swords weren't too dulled down to repeat his slicing action from before!

But as they rounded the last corner Raph could see the door was in fact propped open by what appeared to be a piece of a brick? No time to think about it as they all ran outside into the night. Donnie let them all go by and Raph looked back long enough to see him kick the brick out of the way, then do something to the terminal by the door before turning to follow the rest of them to the nearest roof. The moment the door closed the sound of the alarm was cut off. Talk about sound proof.

Raph grabbed the rungs of the ladder in front of him, then changed his mind and let go and took a step to the side. He watched Donnie catch up, then waved at him to climb up first, then took his place at the back of their little group as they raced upwards towards the safety of the shadows. He thought he heard something coming from the other side of the door far behind him now, but considering the distance it was most likely his imagination, and he wasn't about to stop and look back now!

Reaching the edge of the roof he swung himself over and landed softly on the solid surface. He didn't wait however and immediately got up from his crouch to make his way after the others as they silently moved across the roof. Absolute silence was important now, as well as a swift escape. Raph tried to look in all directions at once, feeling his rapid heartbeat for the first time as he tried to calm himself down now. He needed to be able to hear and his own heartbeat was getting in the way of it! Inside with the alarm blaring in his ears he hadn't even noticed it, but now in the relative silence of the night with only the traffic far below them it was very distracting.

At least he heard no obvious loud sounds behind them and as he reached the other side of the roof he risked a glance behind him. He saw nothing in the shadows, and couldn't hear anything coming from below either. Had they given up on the chase? This thought made him feel uneasy for some reason.

Jumping lightly onto the edge Raph launched himself across the alley below towards the slight lower building in front of him, landing neatly in the same spot Don had just vacated as his brother ran after the others. As he got up from his crouch again Raph suddenly heard a loud sound behind them, coming from the ground, from Baxter's building. He couldn't be sure, but the crashing noise sure sounded like a bunch of little metal teeth chomping through a heavy door. He swallowed and quickly followed his brothers.

Mikey felt like his heart was trying to escape his chest and he had to actively fight a whimper down from being verbalized. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened inside, but whatever it was, it was bad. He'd only gotten a glimpse of the two legged robots storming down the stairs behind his brothers and the other guardians, but it had been enough to convince him that running was a very, very good idea.

Thankfully they'd been standing in the door opening when all the alarms went off, technically outside as Leo had ordered them to do, but still able to rush back inside had it been needed. And apparently it had been needed! They'd heard the locking mechanism in the door go off and suspected the same must have happened to the other doors in the building. Thankfully between the two of them they'd been able to keep the door from slamming shut, and with some wizardry from Don on that door terminal had kept it from forcefully trying to close. A conveniently nearby lying brick had been enough to keep the door from closing, and potentially locking them all in.

On top of that the alarm had freaked him out! Adrenaline was still pumping through his body right now! But now he was also worried because obviously something had gone wrong. Someone knew there had been intruders. What if someone told The Shredder scaring him away from doing business with Stockman? They'd lose everything they'd accomplished in the last few months! They'd have to start all over again!

At least they all got out unseen. Hopefully unseen. He actually had no idea if the others had been seen. Did those little white robots chasing them count as being seen? Mikey had no idea and his mind was running around at top speed. He wanted to take a deep breath and calm down, but that was very hard to do while running yet staying as quiet and as fast as possible. He was right behind Leo, the two human guardians leading the way, silently jumping from building to building, darting from shadow to shadow, moving from fire escape to alley and back again. A quick glance behind him assured him his other two brothers were behind him, though Raph was easier to spot in his blue guardian outfit compared to Donnie's black ninja getup. But he saw enough.

The sound coming from behind them could no longer be heard, whatever it had been. Possibly Baxter's security men? Or those little robots? Hopefully that meant they'd lost them; usually people didn't think to look to the roofs till after searching the roads, which gave them an even longer head start to get away.

Just as he finished this thought a sudden bright light nearly blinded him and Mikey only barely managed to keep from yelling out in surprise. A quick hiss from one of the human guardians told them to hide, and he quickly threw himself to the side, away from the light and into the shadows cast by some pipes. Breathing quickly and trying to make his heartbeat calm own Mikey looked up to find the source of the light, suddenly aware of a faint buzzing sound coming from the silence somewhere above.

Raph and Don dove next to him for cover, and he thought he had seen Leo and the other two guardians move towards the other side of the roof.

"A helicopter!" Donnie suddenly whispered, immediately shushed by Raph.

A helicopter? It would explain the search light moving around, but where was the sound of the blades? The only sound Mikey could hear was almost too soft to be heard. For just a moment the idea of a ufo crossed his mind, then he dismissed it. He already knew aliens were real, he lived with them! And Utroms did not have quiet helicopter things. So who did?

Oh. Right. Stockman would. So that meant this thing above them really was searching for them specifically, great!

Mikey glanced at his two brothers, hoping one of them had an idea on what to do next, because that light was carefully combing the roof they were on while cutting off the way they were heading, and was bound to hit them sooner or later. Raph was looking down, frowning. Thinking hard Mikey guessed. Don however was looking up, his eyes wide. Admiring? Not now, Donnie!

"No infrared, no heat searching…" Donnie mumbled so softly Mikey wouldn't have heard it if he hadn't been right next to him.

"They're searching by sight only!"

Judging by the excited tone in Donnie's voice this was a good thing? Raph hit Don on the arm, trying to get him to keep quiet. The eerie silence was creeping Mikey out. The concentrated column of bright light was moving faster now, moving towards where he thought Leo and the others were. The light revealed a stack of old crates, the wood barely holding together, but nothing else. The light kept moving. Either the others were hidden underneath or inside of those crates, or they had already moved on. Actually, now that the light was on the other side, move was exactly what they should do!

Mikey got into a crouch and pushed Don to do the same, motioning to Raph with a quick signal to follow suit. Now Mikey didn't actually know what was on this side of the building whose roof they were on as that wasn't the direction they had been meaning to go in, but how bad could it be? Looking over the nearest edge showed a much smaller building on the other side of a narrow alley. Not great, the landing would be a little painful, but this was doable, right? Mikey glanced at Raph who looked back and nodded. Glancing over his shoulder Mikey saw the light traveling towards them at a now alarming speed. No time to think of another way out, they were already cut off from the direction they had intended to travel, so a small detour past that smaller building should do the trick.

Mikey leaned back, taking just one step back as they had no time to actually get a running start to make the leap, then threw his weight forwards, using his booted feet to gain some extra momentum by pushing off of the edge towards the much lower roof on the other side. The moment his feet lost contact with the building he realized this was a bad idea. He could make it, easily, he'd done similar jumps a hundred times before, though under better circumstances of course and without ever getting hurt or anything. So had Raph and Leo. As he saw the darkened roof approach he twisted his body to land in a practiced roll, guided mostly by quick judgement calls and calculations on distance as his sight was temporarily blinded from looking at the bright light from the silent helicopter. Again, no problem, and he landed silently, though harder than he would have liked, but he managed to stay quiet.

Donnie had never done this before and he'd have to do it blindly now. This was a bad idea and Mikey smacked his palm against his face, he should have thought of this! Quickly turning around he looked up at the building he had just jumped from and could clearly see his brother's silhouettes with the bright light behind them. Oh shell, their presence looked so obvious from this angle! They had to hurry! How close was that beam of light by now? It had to be almost on top of them, what were they waiting for?! Oh right…for Donnie to do something he'd never done before.

Suddenly he saw one of the silhouettes move and jump towards him, immediately followed by the second. Mikey moved slightly to the side, crouched down, and tried to stand ready to catch Donnie, help him not break anything. Unfortunately the moment his brothers were no longer outlined by the bright light his eyes could no longer distinguish their shapes against the dark of night. He had no idea where they were going to land! Admitting defeat Mikey moved a couple of steps to the side, his hands opening and closing helplessly as he narrowed his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of movement, but it was useless.

A loud thud followed by some scrapes and a muffled curse announced the first landing, a much softer thump the next one. Mikey could make out where his brothers were now and rushed towards the darker shape; Donnie dressed in black. He helped his brother up, though he heard a sharp intake of breath when he pulled his arm, that couldn't mean anything good.

But he had no time to ask questions or be concerned; Raph gave a quick grunt and when Mikey looked back up he saw the beam of light clearly moving in their direction. They literally had seconds before it would reveal them. Placing a hand on Donnie's shell Mikey gave him a nudge forwards before taking the lead again, away from that light! Breaking into a run he followed along the long stretch of roof in front of him, having no idea what was waiting on the other side of them. Coming to stop at the edge saw it: a road. Oh no, dead end, they couldn't exactly cross a road right now. Not only would their clothing stand out, they'd be out in the open under the light of the street lamps, easily visible for that quiet helicopter.

He glanced to the side, trying to decide which side of the building to go to next, as no way would they have enough time to check out all possibilities before that thing caught up to them! The light was already…hey, wait, where did the light go? There was only darkness behind them! Maybe it left? But through the noise of his heartbeat Mikey could hear that faint buzzing again. It was still above them somewhere, but without that beam of light they had no way of knowing where exactly!

"They don't want to be seen either," Donnie whispered between pants. Pained pants Mikey noted absently, not tired pants. Great. He got his brother hurt. No, focus, Mikey, this was no time to be distracted by guilt. Remember your training. Focus on the mission, everything else can come later. Mikey swallowed as he winced at the thought. Later.

"Come on," he whispered, nudging both his brothers towards a protrusion he figured led to either a ladder or a fire escape. It was the second and he quickly swung his legs over the edge. He glanced back long enough to make sure Donnie would follow before making his way down. This would lead towards the sidewalk along the road, but thankfully he could neither hear nor see any cars. And he had no intention of actually crossing the road. Why did the turtle cross the road? To get caught by the scientist and turned into turtle soup, no thanks!

The building was only five stories high. Reaching the last landing Mikey crouched down in the weak lights of the lamps around them. Hopefully the fire escape above them shielded them from the view of the helicopter. Seeing still no traffic and only one sleeping homeless person huddled in a doorway he decided they could take the risk, and moved to jump the last distance towards the sidewalk. His boots made almost no sound on impact.

Quickly Mikey moved to press himself against the wall of the building they had just scaled down, his eyes darting from left to right to keep an eye on their surroundings. He swallowed hard when he heard a grunt. Donnie. He didn't hear Raph land but both brothers suddenly stood next to him, shells pressed against the wall. Carefully avoiding Donnie's eyes in the light of the street lamps Mikey glanced at Raph who gave him a nod again. Alright, let's go!

Shoving himself away from the wall Mikey sprinted along the sidewalk, catching his own reflection in a window next to him, seeing Donnie's black shape right behind him, Raph bringing up the rear. It was weird to see himself on a street like that. Creepy too. He looked up, but could see absolutely nothing. He also couldn't hear that buzz anymore, but had no idea whether this was because they had finally lost it, or whether they were just too far away here on the street to even hear it. He ran past one alley but didn't slow down. When they reach a second one he turned into it, but didn't stop. He was fairly sure he knew where they were now, and wanted to reach the next street over. They'd be able to get up to the roofs there and continue on their way back to the Utrom base.

"Hey, who was that? We can't have witnesses! Get them!"

What? Mikey looked back and saw some people crawl out of a window they had just passed. Seriously? Burglars? He had no intention of stopping, but then he felt something hit him in the chest and he gasped as he nearly fell down. A quick flip saved his balance and he landed kneeling on one knee. Surprised he looked around to see he had run into what he suspected to have been a lookout for the burglars, who was backed by two others behind him, all three thugs rather wide and definitely taller them the three of them. Behind Raph came five others, all smaller, but still nasty looking. All eight of them seemed determined to remove the witnesses. Great. Wait, did he spot some purple colored tattoos? Oh great, the purple dragons. He'd heard of them as an up and coming new street gang, but never actually encountered one himself yet. Great moment for a first meeting. He grabbed his nunchuks.

Had they just run into gang activity? Donnie spotted a pile of objects underneath the window the gang members had just come out of, mostly expensive looking appliances. Definitely criminals.

He wanted to cradle his right arm, he was sure he had dislocated his shoulder and it was continuously sending him shots of pain every time he moved, like when he breathed. But that might make him look weak, and he didn't think looking weak was a particular good idea right now, so he tried to stand up straight, clenching his teeth to keep from grunting in pain. Oh shell that hurt.

"What is this?! They're freaks!"

"Their faces are green!"

"They're hunchbacks!"

At least they couldn't see that the humps were shells on their backs. Not that it was all that great they could see Mikey and Raph had green skin. Donnie's face was mostly covered by his black hood, but these thugs would had to be pretty stupid not to make out they were mostly the same size and shape to make the connection, regardless of the different gear they were wearing. If only this alley had been darker, but there was a small lamp by the entrance that illuminated them just enough for the thugs to make out the more obvious details.

"Who cares what they are, they're witnesses! Get them!"

And that was the only warning they had before the gang members grabbed whatever weapons they had on them and attacked. While outnumbered, Donnie quickly saw the thugs were not exactly well trained and weren't much of a match for the turtles, but they did fight mean, and Mikey and Raph had the disadvantage of having to protect Donnie. Not only could Don not do much without hurting himself even more, he also had no weapons. Just a few throwing stars inside his outfit, but he didn't think he'd be able to throw one very accurately in such close quarters, especially with every movement sending up a shock of pain. He tried to make himself as small as possible, a tiny target, while keeping an eye on the thugs not currently trying to beat or cut up his brothers so he'd be able to warn Raph and Mikey if one of them tried to sneak up on them.

While observing the thugs, male and female alike, he noticed they all had a similar design somewhere visible on their body, whether it was a tattoo or an emblem on their clothing; a purple figure he couldn't quite make out in the faint light with so much movement going on. A snake maybe? It looked like a purple snake in the shape on an S.

He quickly ducked as Raph threw one of them over his shoulder into another one that had been trying to stab Mikey. Carefully shuffling more to the side Donnie couldn't help but admire how his brothers fought almost effortlessly as a team. It didn't even look like the two were communicating, yet managed to add to each other's movements by striking and moving at just the right time, making it hard for the thugs to predict their next move, or even see it coming when it did. This wasn't the same as when they were training together. They were fiercer, colder, faster than when they practiced against him.

Feeling the pit of stomach fall away Donnie suddenly wondered just how far behind he actually was. The sight in front of him almost showed him how terrifying it must be to be facing his brothers in combat. Did he look anywhere near as competent and intimidating? Trying to straighten up again -then deciding against it when pain answered him- he could only assume that the answer to that was "no". Not yet? Hopefully. But he thought he'd been closer to them in skill than he now knew. It was going to take forever to join the guardian ranks…

Maybe he should give up? His throbbing shoulder seemed to be chanting "yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…" Maybe it was enough to just be a scientist? But the moment he considered the idea he felt a stab of loneliness. No. It wasn't enough. He missed his brothers, the only others on the planet who were like him. He could barely bear the separation they already had going on, he wasn't going to make it worse. Mashimi seemed to handle it a lot better than him, spending so little time together, but at least he got to spend time with other humans, like himself. Surely that's what made it easier for his eldest brother to be away from their family so much?

The last thug was knocked into unconsciousness and his two brothers put away their weapons before turning towards him. Quickly Don tried to wipe his doubts from his face, forgetting only his eyes and mouth were visible anyway. Again he tried to straighten up, but winced and gave up.

"You alright, Donnie?" Raph asked as he reached for his shoulder. His hurting shoulder.

Don leaned back, "Yeah, just my shoulder. Dislocated I think. I'll be fine." Raph let his arm fall back to his side as he nodded.

"Come on, guys! We gotta go!" Mikey whispered urgently while pointing at the alley entrance they had been heading towards.

Don glanced at the pile of expensive objects the thugs had been in the process of stealing, then at the pile of unconscious bodies at their feet. Could they just leave them like this?

"Don't worry, Donnie," Raph assured him, "Once we get back to base we'll call the cops and they can deal with the Purple Dragons."

Dragons? Those snakes were dragons? Alright then. He nodded back at Raph.

Mikey quickly led them forwards. He made him and Raph wait while he checked the area before leading them out of the alley, along the wall, crossing a small side road, and eventually into another alley where they climbed another fire escape to the roof. Donnie was a little surprised at how…competent Mikey was. He was showing no signs of his usual goofball self, just efficiently leading them along. Don glanced at his other brother. And Raph was easily following him without any protest whatsoever. It felt…weird. This wasn't how they behaved back home. Mikey usually talked loudly, limbs flailing about as he flung himself into whatever he was doing. And Raph complained. A lot. And did not go along with suggestions as easily as he was now. Was this what they were like when they were working? When they were guardians? Don swallowed as he processed just how much he was missing out on in his brothers' lives.

At least he got this brief window this night. Had even helped them. Hopefully the information they had gotten off of Stockman's computer would be enough to compensate for almost being caught. Provided they wouldn't still be caught now. Don glanced up at the sky above them but saw nothing suspicious, nor could he hear the slight whirr he had heard earlier. He wasn't sure what kind of construction Stockman had sent after them, but it had left him slightly disappointed. It had been able to fly so silently they would have missed it completely if not for that light it shone about, yet that light had been all they used to search for them? Pilots glancing out of a window? Seriously? All it would have taken was a simple heat seeking sensor and they would have been caught immediately before even realizing it was over. It was like a seriously advanced device furbished with only the most primitive technology they could think of. Don thought someone like Stockman would have had something better, much better. Maybe the aircraft hadn't been intended for a search though; it was the only explanation Don could think of. It was a lame one though.

He had to be very careful not to jostle his arm too much while jumping or he'd risk fumbling his landing and possibly injuring himself even more. His shoulder was killing him, and with every jump it became harder and harder not to make a sound in pain. He didn't want to slow them down.

And where were Leo and the other two guardians? Had they been able to get away as well? Suddenly Don stumbled as the thought hit him that the reason the silent helicopter had stopped following them could be because it had spotted the others?

"Donnie?"

"I'm ok, Mikey…I…What about Leo and the others?"

"They can take care of themselves, and we'll find out when we get back to base," Raph answered gruffly. Too gruffly. He was worried as well but trying not to show it.

"Right now we gotta get you back to base so they can fix your arm."

Donnie nodded in the darkness but didn't answer. He hoped he wasn't the reason they weren't trying to find Leo.

Leo was pacing back and forth, glancing at the double doors every other second. How could he have let them all get split up like that, who knew where his brothers were right now? He and the other two guardians had doubled back and searched for Raph, Mikey and Donnie, but found no sign of them. Did that mean they had gotten away? Or that they had been caught? They had made their way back to the Utrom base hoping to find them there, but they weren't. Fresh teams had been sent out instead to look for them and all he could do now was wait.

Master Splinter stood off to the side, his eyes closed as he leaned on his walking stick. Completely still, completely calm. Or was he? Leo thought he saw his whiskers tremble for a moment.

Leo increased the speed of his pacing as he shook his head. While he hadn't been in charge of the mission, it was still his fault his brothers were missing. He should have stayed with them. Shouldn't have allowed them to be split up. If something had happened to them, if something had happened to Donnie... On a mission that never should have happened in the first place! A useless mission! He smacked his fist against his thigh. Belatedly he realized this caught Splinter's attention. He looked away from his uncle and mumbled something that hopefully passed for an apology for disturbing his peace.

"Calm yourself, Leonardo, this will not help your brothers."

Before Leonardo could reply another door off to the side opened, distracting them both.

"Leo? Uncle Splinter? They told me I could find you here, what's wrong? Where are the others?"

Oh great, Mashimi was home. Leo felt a new wave of guilt and shame wash over him as he looked at his older brother. Mashimi was kept just as much in the dark about their secret mission as Donnie was, Leo would not be able to convey just how stupid what had happened actually was, how much blame they actually carried if something had happened to the others.

"Your brothers have not returned from their mission yet, Mashimi, we are now awaiting their return," Splinter calmly told the teenage boy.

Judging from Shimi's frown that was not enough of an explanation, and Leo's guilt couldn't keep him quiet, "We accidentally got split up," he told him, not meaning to sound as angry as he did.

"Was there trouble? Shall I go and help them search?" Mashimi sounded all business now, his face not showing it was several hours past midnight now.

"No. Already others are looking for your brothers, you must remain here," Splinter instantly replied, emphasizing his last words by loudly tapping his walking stick on the round.

"There was trouble," Leo said quietly, "We had to hide. I lost track of them." He thought they would follow them when they had an opening, but maybe they couldn't, or didn't get a chance, or went another way. He simply had no idea what happened to them.

Mashimi stared at Leo. It was a cold stare, but he didn't say anything. He was holding back. Leo looked away.

"I'm sure Raph and Mikey can make their way back," Mashimi eventually mumbled softly.

Right. He didn't know about Don. Leo opened his mouth to tell him, then changed his mind and closed it again. Then again, he was going to find out soon enough, "…Donnie is with them."

"What? Why?!"

"It was a training mission for your brother, Mashimi. They needed his expertise with computers to successfully complete it," Splinter replied.

"Are you kidding me, you let Don go on a dangerous mission because he's good with computers?! Lots of guardians are good with computers! I'M good with computers and I'm an actual guardian! Why didn't you tell me! I could have gone along! I could have kept my little brothers safe! I could have-"

Mashimi's increasingly louder tirade was suddenly interrupted as the double doors in front of them gently swished open, revealing Mikey, Raph and Don as they walked inside, a single human guardian walking behind them.

"You're back!" Mashimi quickly rushed towards them, intending to hug them, but Don motioned him back with a single hand. Why did he do that? Leo hesitantly followed his older brother while the human guardian reported to Splinter.

"What's wrong, Donnie, are you hurt? What happened?!"

"Dislocated my shoulder, Shimi, just a bad landing, nothing to worry about."

Don was obviously downplaying it. Even though Leo couldn't see his face behind that black mask he could hear his voice was strained. He was in pain.

"After all the mission was a success and we got what we came for!" Don fished into his pocket with his left hand and triumphantly held up a storage device holding the stolen data from Baxter Stockman's personal computer. Unable to stop himself Leo locked eyes with first Raph, then Mikey. They both looked back at him. They were silent, but they were all thinking the same thing. They got their brother hurt on a mission that never should happened, and on top of that Don might have unearthed enough information on Stockman's connection with the Shredder to ruin their own secret mission of vengeance. This night had been a disaster.

"Good for you, Donnie!" Mashimi congratulated their brother with a laugh, sounding obviously relieved, and gently grabbed Don's uninjured shoulder.

"Now let's get you to a doctor."

"You did good, Donatello," Splinter chimed in solemnly as he looked past the human guardian he was talking to. Leo didn't think uncle Splinter sounded all that celebratory, but Don still grinned happily.

"Mashimi, take Donatello to have his shoulder treated. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, I must speak with you."

"Uncle Splinter, it wasn't their fault I got injured," Donatello quickly spoke up, sounding concerned, "I just misjudged the distance when I jumped, there wasn't anyt-"

"Do not worry yourself, Donatello, I simply wish to debrief your brothers on their mission. Now go," Splinter said, sounding final as he folded both hands over his walking stick and stared at Donatello and Mashimi.

Both of them bowed their heads and walked towards the side door. Splinter said something to the human Utrom that Leonardo couldn't quite catch, who then followed his two brothers out of the hallway. This left just the four of them.

"The other guardians will be informed they can end their search," Splinter said, then motioned them to follow him, and led them through the single door as well.

Leo quietly followed him, Raph and Mikey right behind to either side of him. Splinter eventually led them to an empty dojo, stood by the door as they entered, then closed and locked the door behind them. He motioned for them to sit down on the mat and did so as well so he was facing the three of them. Leo kneeled down, his example followed by his younger brothers. He couldn't quite face Master Splinter so he kept his eyes downcast.

"I already heard Leonardo's story, I would now like to hear yours," Splinter finally broke the silence.

Leo kept his eyes down.

After a couple of seconds it was Raph who spoke up, "After we all met up we followed the plan to get inside Stockman's-"

Splinter held up a hand, "I already heard this part, it does not concern me. What does concern me is what you found. And what happened when you got separated from your brother and the other guardians."

Mikey took over, "Well, I'm not sure what we found, Master Splinter. Donnie tried to tell me, but it didn't make sense to me, and we were in kind of a hurry…"

"Will it affect our mission?"

Silence answered master Splinter's question and Leo looked up to glance at Mikey. His youngest brother was biting his lip.

"I don't know, Master Splinter, but…but I think so. Donnie sounded pretty happy so it's gotta be something good, right?"

Splinter sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Alright, Michelangelo. I shall speak with Donatello and find out more."

"I can do that, Master Splinter," Leonardo volunteered. He wanted to do something, make up for his failure somehow.

"You may come along if you wish, Leonardo. But first I wish to hear what happened when you were separated. Michelangelo? Raphael?"

"Well, I suppose you heard about Stockman's super helicopter, right?" Michelangelo continued, "So Raph, Donnie and I hid behind some water pipes so they wouldn't be able to see us. We couldn't see Leo and the others anymore, but I guess they hid behind some crates?" At this Mikey looked questioningly at Leo.

Leo nodded, "Yes, we kept the crates between us and the light, then when it moved away we jumped to the next building. I…I thought you would follow us…"

Mikey grinned, and Leo was sure it was meant to cheer him up, "Yeah, we totally would have too, but they totally cut us off from going that way. So we took a little detour back to the base instead."

That sounded a little too simplified.

"And how did Donatello get injured?" Splinter asked.

"Oh, yeah. That was my fault. I totally forgot Donnie doesn't have that much experience doing long distance jumps with differing heights. Oh, and the light had totally blinded us so we were jumping blind." At Splinter's frown Mikey nervously laughed and held up his hands, "Not literally! It was just hard to see where we were going!"

"Yeah, Mikey's right. Donnie did great considering we didn't have any time to prepare or anythin', but he still fumbled the landing," Raph continued, "And we would've been caught for sure if Mikey hadn't led us to that jump. It was just an accident. Coulda been worse."

"And then we kind of had to take it easy because of Donnie's shoulder so it took a while to get back to base," Mikey finished the story.

Master Splinter stayed silent for a while, staring at his folded hands in his lap, a frown on his face. Leo used the time to think himself. He still blamed himself for what happened, but it seemed like Mikey and Raph were telling the truth, and Don getting hurt really was an accident they couldn't have avoided. Maybe he couldn't have avoided it either if they truly had been cornered. Maybe. Then again, he would never really know if he could have changed anything. He couldn't go back in time.

Then Master Splinter cleared his throat to get the turtles' attention, "I shall speak to Donatello first, but you must know I received a letter from your father."

This got Leonardo's attention alright, it had been a while since they had heard anything from their father.

"He is planning on returning to us soon and when he does, we must be prepared. I believe it is time we include Mashimi and Donatello in our planning."

Suddenly his guilt was being drowned out by a lot of other emotions. Leo felt a mixture of relief, excitement and dread. Finally they could tell their two brothers the truth, their father was finally coming home, but they were also going to undertake something very dangerous, against the Utroms' wishes. He took a deep breath before bowing like Raph and Mikey were doing.

"Go to sleep, it is very late and we have much to do still."

Leonardo lifted his head again and spoke in unison with Raph and Mikey, "Yes, Master Splinter."

A/N: In case you were wondering: yes, those "robots" were mousers.

Also, I'd like to know if people are still reading this fic, thanks! :D