I snarled, side stepping as a mutant swung a heavy fist at me, only for me to run alongside their clumsy arm, swords ready as I swing precisely and cut clean through the mutants neck.

"Raph! On your left!" I called, dodging the huge, bloodletting body as it collapsed.

My brother jumped back, narrowly dodging a spear from one of the multitudes of ninja. He jumped with a powerful spin, knocking his foot to the back of the attackers head and flinging them forward, incapacitated.

"This isn't going anywhere Leo!" Raph snarled back at me as he threw another ninja over his shoulder before twisting their arm harshly, snapping the bone like a toothpick.

"I hate to agree, but I will." Mikey's swift swinging nunchucks managed to clear three ninja at a time, with their calm, rapid speed. "We're outnumbered fifteen to one. We have to regroup!"

There was an angry rage rising at the onslaught of enemies. Another of the aforementioned clan members jumped into my back, sending a wave of aggrieved adrenaline through my already exhausted body. The guy's position on my back doesn't last very long, he winds his arm up to stab me only for his wrist to be caught firmly in my grasp, ripping him off before he can even understand what's happening and flinging him into a five others as hard as possible.

I send my fist cracking against another approaching ninja's jaw, katana still tight in my grasp. "Fuck!" An intense and increasingly familiar frustration fell over me.

"Okay, okay" I fight to regain myself as I turn to my brothers, tossing my head back outside of the warehouse flooded with the foot. "Go! I'll cover the flank!" I command.

For once they don't question me and run out as I cut down anyone who tries to follow us. The blood spatters hot along my blade and sticky around my grip.

Our escape route was anything but flawless, the ninja chased us like coins to a magnet. I momentarily wondered if I could even manage a swing of my katanas with how suffocated I was becoming.

Blood was everywhere, limbs and bodies fell heavy to the floor, yelling and crying filled my ears. But I can't stop now. I peer over my shoulder and Mikey and Raph are making their escape, leaping up and through the large window we came in through not even thirty minutes ago.

I swing one final, powerful arc through anyone close enough to get cut and turn tail to run after them. "Go!" I yell, leaping and climbing to the window, the locusts of black gi's swarming.

Mikey hesitated, but Raph jammed a metal pole in the window before grabbing him and jumped through.

I was close to follow, heat racing over me in hot, thick rivulets.

It felt as though my katanas were getting stuck in the masses as I cut through the amount of enemies that I did. I waded through water that fought to pull me back. It held me back. Restricted my movement. Why is it holding me back?

I look to where my brothers escaped through the window. Why won't it let me join them?

What if I was hit with a dart?

What about Y/n?

A hot, boiling hatred ripped through my body. I thrashed and punched and cut, there was no rhyme to my reasoning, I just had to do what it takes to survive. To get back home.

Finally the weight on me lightened enough for me to make my escape. I leapt up, running the wall with a speed I didn't expect I could conjure now. I grasped the pane and flipped through, tumbling out the window only to land flat on my plastron. I wasted not a second before scrambling to my feet and rushing off down the alleyway. They had to be close. But they can't risk another exposure like they had when Y/n apartment burned down.

I look over my shoulder as I run through the alleys. They're crawling out of the window like a spiders nest, all with one mission to complete.

Shaking hands feel about the smoke eggs in my belt pouch, there were only five. I look back to the swarm folding over itself as it gave chase.

I guess five will have to do.

I turn forward again and run through the streets, following the heaviest sounds of traffic. I tore through the alleys, desperately clawing my way out as I zip passed condemned building, piles of trash and shopping carts, and drugged out humans slumped over and forgotten to the streets. A few watched me fly past with passive interest. Others more tethered to reality who happened across me widened their eyes and pointed or gaped, making some kind of alarmed expression as they yelled after me only for their eyes to be overtaken by the dark troves of ninja on my tail.

The harsh stench of New York scraped down through my achy lungs, splashing it's street water along the backs of my legs and feet. Despite this, all my senses felt dull beneath my banging heart, clattering and tossing my bones within it's panic. The copper taste in the back of my throat intensified the longer I ran. Despite my training to disconnect from fatigue and pain, I knew it was there, growing stronger and ready to swallow me whole like a looming monster.

There.

I could hear a crowd, a big one. Where was I? I should be on the cusp of downtown Flushing by now. Yes, I can feel it. The smell of food was the only thing strong enough to overcome New York's natural stench as the noise of the streets began to rise.

There were far more people in the streets I found myself in now as I shoved passed people who decorated the street. They screamed and yelled in alarm, but I was quick to turn streets before anyone had a chance to pull out their cameras. Still, it's a shoddy solution as the screaming wasn't exactly muted from street to street.

I looked over my shoulder only to see the ninja becoming less confident under more and more eyes of the public. Staggering in their chase but not giving up.

Still, it's easier to hide one mutant as opposed to an army of one hundred assailants.

Thirsty for freedom, I throw myself forward into a hugely populated road, the heart of Chinatown.

I throw down two egg smoke bombs as I enter, obscuring myself from the majority of the public, and most importantly the foot clan.

Swift hands robbed an old man of his sun visor that found its way onto my body, followed by a grey hoodie that had been slipped from the waist of a large woman as well as her partners shawl. I launched another smoke bomb into the crowd, ten feet from me, trailing attention away as I went the other way.

The humans started to get restless at the sudden smoke bombs going off as a few spotted the foot soldiers at the cusp of the street. The notice was not brushed under any matt as screams and pointing brought attention towards the shying ninja. Spooked at the sight some civilians pulled out their phones to either record or report the incident to the city while most ran the other way.

Blessed by this and the dark of the evening, I went along with the crowd away until I was on another road. I jogged away to less populated areas, shawl tied tightly around my waist to cover my green legs.

I ran for at least fifteen minutes and walked for three more. Finally, I was out of sight.

I tucked behind a dumpster and caught my breath. But every second topside was another second they could find me, but if they saw me slipping down a manhole or god forbid followed me down? There's nothing that could forgive that kind of idiocy. I took a scrutinizing look about the world around me, chaos left long behind me in an entirely different borough.

The manhole beckons me to take refuge, and after a moment of looking around once more I comply. I roll forward and yank the lid off just enough for me to all but throw myself in. As the manhole slides closed above me a sigh of relief eases my anxiousness just a sliver... until I remember Mikey and Raph.

I attempt to even my breathing as I slip down the ladder. All I can do is hope they made it home before me.

And so I wander home through the sewers, ears open and ready to hear any intruder sneaking up on me.

I firmly wiped my arms and face clean of blood on the shawl tied around me. Another lead, as well as our safety had thrown to the wind once again.

How many more times we can do this? How many more times can we be this lucky?

*•.*•.*•.*•.

You pace back and forth at the lair's entrance, eyes glued down the darkened abandoned tunnels as you gnaw at your nails, spit out what you chew off, then return to gnawing them.

"Relax Y/n, he's gonna be fine. He can handle himself," Raph's voice calls from the other room, while he wraps his arm up, "there's a reason that try hard is in charge, he survives like a roach."

The noise you made in response was absentminded and consisted only of a poorly pronounced affirmation; it may as well have been a grunt. Raph's sentiment was appreciated, but it did nothing to settle your troubled mind or fretful feet.

Mikey chuckled, but it felt weighed down, "Y/n, you're going to worry yourself through the planet." He mused, pointing squarely at the ground.

You look down at your restless feet, momentarily stopping my incessant pacing. You grunt passively before continuing on.

"Leave her alone," April chastised while working a throwing star from Mikey's shell, "it's difficult to wait for you guys to come back, it makes a person feel wary," The sharp metal was freed from its superficial lodging in his shell and is tossed to a pale with a muted, gentle clatter. "It's reasonable to feel that way." She turns her attention to another star sunk in his shell slightly deeper.

You barely heard their conversation as shluffed footsteps came into earshot. "Leo?" You asked into the darkness. With strained eyes you squinted down the darkness where it was coming from and hopped from the platform onto the tracks below eagerly, walking with a barely contained haste.

A few seconds pass before you call out again, this time a little louder. "Leo?"

"Yeah, it's me." An absolutely exhausted voice replied as his vague figure peeked from the darkness.

You sprint forward and launch yourself into his ready yet tired arms. You let time slide by, taking your gruesome imagination with it. He sighs into you and tightened his hold for a long pause until leaning away enough for his eyes to scour your face lazily, a relieved smile pulls itself from beneath his arduous expression.

His tender grin tips ever so slightly as he pressed his palm to your face, running a thumb across the arch of your cheek. "It's good to see you." He speaks in earnest.

You chuckle and lean into his hold, only now taking note of his appearance. "Good to see you too Justine."

He tilts his head slightly as you point to his chest.

Following your finger he finds the name Justine embroidered on the stolen sweater he still had draped over his body. A tired chuckle leaves him as he meet your eyes again. "It was a close call today," He says, reaching up and flipping the hood back, "needed to blend into a crowd." He explains while pulling the sun visor from his head before placing it onto your head, pushing the brim down over your face playfully.

You fight to lift the hat from your eyesight as he wraps an arm over your shoulder, guiding you both back to the lair's entry.

"What happened to you?" Mikey asks as you and Leo step into the lair.

Raph let out a short, abrasive burst of laughter, "Just what I was about to ask." He said while eyeing Leo's makeshift skirt-shawl tied sloppily around his waist, smudged with blood not his own.

The leader groaned as he made his way to the couch, slipping from you as he flopped heavily between his brothers. "Needed to run through a few busy streets, and we don't need more media attention then we've already had," He mutters, stretching his triceps over his head before his body fully relaxes into the couch.

April hums at this, a pointed stare at Leo, "Should I even look at the news tonight?"

He waves his hand dismissively, "it'll just be the same things as last time," he sighs as his head falls back, blue eyes scouring the ceiling frustratedly, "and the time before that, and so on and so forth."

His dejected attitude wasn't exactly unexpected or unwarranted, he'd been unrelenting in his search for the whereabouts of the purple goo's manufacturer. But every lead —no matter how promising— turned to ash in his mouth, and ends in a fight with an unimaginable number of foot clan soldiers and mind controlled mutants, seemingly growing in numbers.

Thanks to all these close calls the city has become paranoid, and rightfully so. A curfew has been set and the number of police seemed to have skyrocketed over night. It's not so much the cruisers that causes issues as it is the number of choppers that fly overhead. There's at least three deployed per night, consistently keeping a close watch over the city.

"It's a wonder what three months of panic can do." You sigh and sit down on the ground, spine pressed to the couch between Leo's legs as your head rolled onto his thigh. Without looking he placed a hand on your head. You smiled timidly at the contact as you all sat quietly, April still tending to the youngest brother. "We need to do something different," You say tilting you head back to look at the others, "you guys can't keep chasing these whispers,"

"No kidding." Raph huffed, his teeth firmly clenched on one end of the gauze as he finalized his fresh bandage on his arm, "At this point we'd have better luck relying on Don and Roy to make a cure and be done with it."

Leo looked to April, "Anything new from them today?"

The red head shakes her head grimly. "Not yet." She mutters, shimmying the lodged star blade out of Mikey's stubborn shell, "I only poked my head in this morning, but nothing of note to report."

Leo's lips thin before his eyes fall to you, "Did you have an idea Y/n?"

You lift your head off his leg and stare into space, hoping to find eloquent words for your plan, "A foot soldier would know the inner workings of the foot clan..." Still unsure of yourself, you turn fully to face him as your hands place themselves on his knees, "so what if we took one?"

All four pairs of eyes stared owlishly back at you.

"Took one?" Mikey asked.

"Like... kidnapping?" Leo asked. You could tell by the look on his face that he didn't love the idea, "I'm not super comfortable with doing that."

You frowned, slumping in confusion. "Oh what, so now you're against kidnapping?"

Leo's eyes widened a smidge as an awkward laugh left him "No, no it's not that."

"It should be." April says with a shocked and almost horrified look painting her face.

Leo clammed up for only a second until he grunted exhaustively, pinching the bridge of his nose, "No, I mean I'm not willing to bring one into our home," he points at the ground, "here."

Raph hums in affirmation, "They probably have some kind of tag or something in their suits to keep track of numbers." He sits forward to get a better look at everyone, "so not the best idea."

"You don't need to bring them here, maybe you could just find one? Isolate them for long enough to get some information. Isn't that worth considering?" You asked, eyes scanning the others in the room.

They all share quick glances, not quite long enough to spark more than a general yes or no. April seemed to be the most undecided of the four, looking warily between everyone.

Finally Leo met your eyes with a sigh. "It's a new idea, and we need to do something new." He placed his hand atop your head, sliding down to your cheek.

You grabbed his hand from your face and squeezed it with a firm hand, "you have to be smart about this. Please, please be safe," you turn your eyes to land on Raph then Mikey, "all of you."

A tender smile adorned Leo's face with the slightest of tension between his brows as you meet his eyes again, determined. Despite the strong front, he could see the cracks —an inherent nervousness about this entire ordeal, for his safety.

"We will be." He says softly, leaving his hand in yours as he leans forward and places a small kiss on your forehead.

You smile at him, a bandaid promise for his life. You knew deep down he couldn't ever truly be safe until the foot clan was abolished or —better yet— entirely destroyed, but you chose to take solace in his sweet words instead of the horror you knew their lives had become.

"Alright," You stood from the floor, letting his hand slip from yours. "I'm gonna say goodbye to Roy then head out."

Leo's eyes widen a fraction. "Oh, are you sure?" He shoots a look at the clock above the exit, "It's late, you know you can stay here if you want." He says, standing up after you.

"We all know how much you love that." Raph chuckles, jeeringly. Leo's head snaps towards his brother with a deadly glare painting his reddening face.

You can't help the small laugh that pushes from your chest before you shake your head. "I know, but I kinda need to use the place the city gave me," I say with a light chuckle, "maybe I'll get a semblance of normalcy."

Honestly, you didn't know whether the shoebox apartment could tether you to a normal life or not, but a little piece of you ran wild with that possibility and slowly made you feel helpless to be away for too long.

Leo smiled softly, almost sombrely, "Alright," He says, rubbing your arms, "I'll get you some leftovers to take home." He says, walking towards the kitchen before you can say anything.

You smile after him and shake your head to yourself before heading to his room to collect your things. As you walk in, you spot your enormous turtle themed phone lying on the bedside table. As of recently you'd become ever appreciative of having it, a direct and secure link to the people you cared about most. You pick it up and run your hand fondly over the bumpy back of it before sliding it into you back pack that lay next to the nightstand.

You clean up some of your extra clothes you'd rummaged through earlier in the day and put them back in their drawer in his hilariously vacant dresser.

Once everything had been squared away, you grab your back pack and head towards the lab. Carefully, you poke your head in to see Donnie and Roy hunched over a petri dish placed under a microscope. You couldn't quite make out what they were doing, but decided to wait until they stepped away before making your presence know.

You quietly step in and deftly close the door behind you.

A few seconds of observation served you well, as you watched them poking at whatever was in the dish with sharp tweezers before pouring in a murky brownish-red liquid. A few seconds pass and they only observe, stalk still, as if waiting for something to happen.

Finally after maybe a minute of waiting they both slump as Donnie reaches for a clipboard, scribbling down something, "Hey Y/n," he greets glancing at me.

"Hey Don." You greet back, "I was just heading out and wanted to say bye."

Roy looks at you, lifting his magnifying goggles from his eyes as a tired smile lifts his cheeks. "Heading home?" He asks, taking off his gloves and tossing them into the garbage behind him.

You nod, taking a few steps forward until about a foot from the dividing tape on the floor, "unfortunately," you say with a wry smile before a small lump forms in your throat, "has uh... Floyd got a new place yet?"

Roy clears his throat walking up to the line on his side. "Not yet, unfortunately."

"Ah... I see..." a guilt settles over you, "how's he doing?"

Roy shrugs, taking off his medical mask, "Jamie says it's up and down, but by how much seems to be kept vague."

Jamie. A saint on this earth. He and his roommates have been housing Floyd no questions asked for the past three months. Then again, Floyd was never a bad roommate to have... Except the time he dismissed me as a liar. Or when he blamed the force of nature that was Polly and the turtles on me.

Your sour, complicated thoughts twisted about in your skull uncontrollably. It must've been visible because Roy spoke again with the words you'd been dreading. "You should talk to him."

You scoff, but Roy wasn't finished. "I'm serious Y/n. He needs someone right now, and you're the closest person he has that could possibly get what he's going through."

"Not much I can do about that. He's stonewalled me." You say, looking away.

"Then climb over." Roy all but pleads.

"Why should I? Why is it up to me?" You ask crossly, "He thinks I did this to him. How am I expected to fix that kind of thing?"

Looking back to your friend, you nearly clam up. The look on Roy's face was scary to see, "Y/n, I don't know what I can say to you to make you do this. I understand you don't want to, but I also understand that Floyd isn't letting anyone in and that's a problem." He says. He was desperate, like I was a lifeline. A lifeline he was trying to throw out to someone drowning.

You eye him scrutinizingly as your frown deepens across your face. There was nothing in your mind that could tell him yes, but nothing in the pits of your heart that could bear to genuinely say no.

Instead, opting to not give an answer at all, "I've gotta go," you say, readjusting the back pack strap on your shoulders, "I'll talk to you later."

With that you turn tail and speed out of the lab, calling one last goodbye to the pair.

As you step out you see Leo waiting for you at the exit, a plastic ball sagging with food in hand. It lightens your heart the slightest bit as you step forward, waving goodbye to Raph, Mikey, and April.

You step up next to Leo with a shaky smile as you look down the abandoned tunnels, lately you avoid topside as much as possible, and your place is only about a block from one of the tunnels. A convenient, scarily unsecured grate in an alley is the doorway home.

"Ready?" He asks, pushing himself off the wall.

An unsteadiness that only seemed grow as the passed bubbled into your throat. "I think so."

Empathy poured from him in waves as he reached his free hand out to yours. "Alright..."

________________________

Hellurrr, this is going to have many moving pieces I'm shitting myself. I'm gonna do my best to make it flow tho! The arc 2 spotify playlist is up now (it's called 'Woven arc 2', and done by Uraneus — my spotify so you know)

Anyway, welcome to arc 2! :)