Donatello paces in his laboratory, stroking his chin as he thinks. Raphael and Michelangelo are all out with their families, while Leonardo took his out for a movie.

The purple-masked turtle stops, making up his mind. He leaves his lab, finding Sarina reading a National Geographic magazine on the couch while Asher and Dakota play a mind-bending video game together.

"No! It's a one there, not a three," Dakota argues.

Asher frowns a little. "The sequence won't make any sense unless it's a-"

The gate they're trying to unlock in the game pops open. Dakota shoots her brother a smug look, to which he retorts by jostling her shoulder with his own.

"Look who's the smarter twin," she teases, tugging on his mask tails.

His mismatched eyes sparkle with the same sort of teasing light. "Just at puzzles. Remember last week in science class? I-"

She claps a hand over his mouth. "Fine. We're both smart."

"Wife, son, daughter, I have a preposition," Donnie interrupts the fun.

Sarina looks up from her reading material, her curiosity perked. Asher and Dakota pause their game and turn to face their father.

"What would that be?" Sarina asks.

"Family patrol night!" he answers happily.

Asher flashes a gap-toothed grin. "That sounds awesome! Maybe we'll find more mutagen to work with!"

Sarina ruffles her son's hair as she gets to her feet. "Ash, you know that mutagen has been scarce ever since the Kraang disappeared."

He shrugs. "I know, but they left a bunch of abandoned labs to search. That'll be fun, right?"

"Shell yeah, it will." Dakota grins, leaping to her feet. "I've got to get my knives!"

"And my hanbō," Asher adds.

The twins dash off to the dojo, smiling widely. Sarina sidles up to Donnie and rests her head on his shoulder.

"I like this idea," she murmurs.

He kisses her forehead. "I do too."

🍕🐢🍕🐢🍕🐢🍕🐢🍕

The rooftops remain silent in the night, four shapes moving along swiftly. Donnie leads the pack, Sarina following on his tail with Asher and Dakota behind them.

"I forgot how quiet this city can get...around here at least," Asher observes.

The other three mutants nod in agreement.

"All the better for us, I say," Dakota points out.

"Good point, Kota," Sarina praises. She looks to Donnie. "Anything?"

He shrugs, fiddling with a few knobs on his mutagen scanner. "Faint traces of mutagen nearby, but I highly doubt it's gonna be any good."

"We oughta try, right?" Dakota asks. "Come on!"

"Dakota, don't. Stay here and let me work out a plan," Donnie orders.

She pauses for a moment, shrugs, and front-flips off the building. Donnie lets out a small squeak of surprise, racing to the edge and watching her land on a fire escape nimbly. She looks back up at her family with a proud grin.

"Dakota Grace, get back up here!" he orders.

She frowns a little. "You said the mutagen was nearby. This is a good path!"

"You're too young to be deciding things like that! Come back up while I work out a plan!"

She scoffs a little. "Dad, you and your brothers took down giant missiles and travelled to separate dimensions when you were fifteen. I'm sixteen, in case you don't remember. I'm fine."

Donnie is about to argue again when Sarina places a hand on his shoulder.

"Just let it go. She didn't do anything majorly drastic," she murmurs.

The purple-masked turtle sighs. "Right...I'm just not used to the rebellious thing, I guess."

Asher shrugs and hops off the building too, landing next to his sister. They high-three, grinning widely as their eyes flash. Donnie pouts a little at being ignored.

"They're acting like they can just ignore me. I'm their father, they can't-" he starts.

"Donnie, the group of us took down Shredder when we were sixteen. I think they can choose when to hop off a building onto a ledge or not," Sarina reminds him gently.

He exhales heavily. "Right. Okay. Let's just go."

She smiles, kicking her boots in gear and launching into the air, landing beside her children a second or two later. Donnie joins them, his scanner beeping a little more.

"That way," he says pointedly, his finger aiming down the correct path.

The family takes off. The further they go down the path, the more Donnie's scanner beeps. The purple-masked turtle's eyes widen in surprise as he jolts to a stop, his device going wild.

"Well, I think this is the right spot," he mutters.

Dakota looks up, her heterochromic eyes widening.

"Um...anyone else notice that we're right near TCRI?" she asks in a small voice.

Her violet-masked brother turns his attention to the old office building, frowning a little.

"Huh, no I didn't," he answers. "Good thing there aren't any more Kraang up there. That would end-"

Sarina lets out a gasp as a sudden pain lurches through her skull, buzzing loudly. Her eyes flash in surprise as she stumbles back.

"Sarina?" Donnie asks, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Impossible..." she mumbles. "It can't be...I haven't felt that since-"

There's a loud whirring as a bright light switches on above the cyborg woman, bathing her in a halo of purple. Donnie and the twins shield their eyes, startled by the light as they blindly unsheathe their weapons.

Sarina, however, looks up into the beam, her eyes going wide with fear.

"Donnie," she says, her voice small and terrified. There's a humming noise, and her voice grows even more panicked as she looks out at her family and reaches her hand out to them in warning. "DONNIE!"

Her husband blinks rapidly, his vision refocusing. When it does, his heart almost stops. One second, his wife is there, and then in a flash of white and a small noise, she disappears. The intelligent terrapin looks to the sky as the wind whips his mask tails around, his expression freezing with horror when he sees the Kraang ship hovering above them.

"MOM!" Asher screams.

"MOM!" Dakota shouts.

"Dad, is that-" Asher starts.

"Kraang...it's the Kraang," Donnie whispers as the ship's weapons make a familiar buzzing sound. He stumbles back and grabs each teen by the wrist. "Run. RUN!"

They turn and take off, their hearts beating rapidly as lasers go off, scorching the pavement behind their feet. They don't stop running until they get to a manhole cover, where they throw themselves into the sewers without any hesitation.

The three geniuses try to catch their breath, their eyes stinging with tears from the wind and what just happened. Donnie looks up at the ceiling, his expression crushed and heartbroken.

Dakota moves to her dad's side, touching his shoulder carefully.

"What...what was that? Where's mom?" she asks softly, hoping that her thoughts are wrong.

The older turtle makes a dry choking sound and buries his face in his hands, trying to keep himself from crying.

"Dad?" Asher whispers, his tone sick with worry.

"The Kraang took her, and we've got to get her back," Donnie answers thickly. He stands up, wiping his face harshly. "Come on, let's go get the others."