Chapter Text
The sharp ring of metal clicked in the air followed by that oh-so-familiar flare of a lighter igniting. Normally an innocuous sound, something that went unnoticed and unheard. However, after the 400th time, any tiny sound can become an unbearable agony and frankly, Leo had had enough.
“Donnie, if you don’t stop fidgeting with that goddamn lighter, I’m gonna throw it out the window. It’ll give away our position, which will lead us to be captured. I’ll easily escape, since I’ll use you as a distraction, and leave you behind. So, in oh, I dunno, fifteen days when you’re beaten, tortured and bloodied, and are hanging in some dank concrete basement with a drain in the floor, I won’t show up to save you. Because I’ll still be annoyed at you for listening to that fucking lighter for twelve straight hours and will be safe and snug at home, with all of your precious vintage lighters long since ironically incinerated within the bowels of Mikey’s pottery kiln. So please don’t make me throw your lighter out the window. Do you want me to throw your lighter out the window Donnie?”
From his prone position on the dusty stone floor of a crumbling building he and Leo were currently hidden in, Donnie quickly met his brother’s annoyed look with a blasé one of his own before returning his eye to look down the scope of his rifle.
“Jesus man, you need to get laid.”
Donnie grunted as the sharp tip of Leo’s boot collided with his shin. “Fuck off Don and stay focused.” Leo adjusted himself after kicking his brother and dialed back into the task at hand. They were here to do a job, and this job would be the last one they would have to do for a long time.
Leo and his brothers liked to think of themselves as heroes when they were kids. They ran around the city saving people from mutants and monsters, from the things that crawled in the shadows. Eventually as they grew up though, nosy people started to peer into those shadows, interested in the skills of the so-called heroes of New York. He and his brothers were quickly scouted. Every imaginable crime group and governmental agency offered them a job doing what they did best, sticking to the shadows and moving in the dark. Obviously, his whole family told them all to fuck off and they kept doing what they wanted instead of working for the whims of a shadow government with questionable motives.
Eventually though, things got… complicated. Other mutants that had taken jobs at agencies started to get organized. With proper funding, support, and intelligence, even low level mutants like Repo Mantis could do some serious damage. The government had also cracked down with agents of their own, making the turtle’s vigilante style of help ineffective by comparison and highly illegal to boot. With a final offer extended by a new branch of government created to utilize the abilities of mutants to their fullest potential, Leo and his family agreed. It’s been years since they became official-unofficial agents of the state, and now that they were nearing thirty, Leo and his brothers were wanting to retire. Their contract was up for renewal and each of his siblings had a different dream they wanted to pursue outside of crime fighting and violence.
As he adjusted his own scope to get another reading of the distance to the target’s hideout, he could remember the conversation that he had with his CO before they departed for this mission.
…..
“Alright, so to recap - Captain Blue, “T-cell” are to infiltrate and eliminate any and all traces of The Oshi Syndicate’s most elite special ops team, codename: “The Stygian”. This small elite team functions as a highly effective cell of elegant meat grinding operatives with skills ranging from physics-defying sniper kills, and tactically profound intelligence avoidance, to cutting edge demolitions expertise, and an unflinchingly perfect success rate in foreign espionage. They are responsible for countless unsanctioned murders and atrocities across Europe and Asia, all at the beck and call of the Oshi Syndicate - the current world leader in shadow governmental lobbying as well as a not so silent partner in nearly every organized crime family in Asia and Europe. Not only are they wanted by the United States and the EU, but after what they did in Switzerland, not even the Swiss want them alive anymore.
We will drop your team thirty klicks from their last known hideout, an old warehouse on the far rural outskirts of Sverdlovsk, Russia. Our intel shows that all four active members are holed up there awaiting orders from the Oshi family head. They are supposedly moving out of the country in a week and you and your team will take them out before they move. Your extraction point will be exactly seven days after the mission begins at this address in Moscow.”
Leo nodded and quickly read and memorized the documents in front of him as his CO spoke, a plan already forming in his head. “Yes sir. Consider it done. And this will be good timing, I’d like to address our contract renewal when we get back. We should be back before the week deadline and before our contracts are up.” Leo stood and returned the colonel’s firm nod.
“Your team has done this country a great service Captain, and this is strictly off the record - but when you’re speaking with the negotiator, ask for the ‘Twin Rocks package’ if you’re planning on leaving. It has great dental.” He gave Leo a wink which he chuckled at.
Colonel Mosac had been the one who recruited his family and had become a good friend over the years. “Thanks colonel, I'll keep that in mind.” Leo stepped forward and gave his CO a quick hug, which he returned with a slap to his shell, quietly wincing at the hard material.
“Keep a sharp eye out there, this hitman squad is dangerously similar to your team, but unflinchingly ruthless. So be careful, and ya know… stick to the shadows.”
…..
Leo breathed a heavy sigh, the fog of his breath being carried away by the substantial draft blowing through the cracked and crumbling holes in the walls. With a quip on his tongue, Donnie opened his mouth to pester Leo when he snapped it shut. His propped up tablet lit up with a notification, movement had finally been detected by the motion sensors he set up on the road to the building.
“Blue, we got activity on the VMS on road route two, it looks like one - no, two vehicles inbound. ETA 2 minutes.” Donnie said calmly as he adjusted his angle and set his rifle on a different stand so it could swivel easily.
Leo instantly sobered, touching the comms link on his neck to signal Raph and Mikey, who were waiting in position. “OJ, Red Rain, we got two inbound vehicles, be prepared to go on my mark, over.”
“Wilco.” Mikey whispered.
“Wilco.” Raph muttered.
Leo slowed his breathing as he waited for the cars to come into view among the tall trees. Two minutes on the dot, two beat-up vans came into view and parked in front of the abandoned warehouse. He breathed out again, watching as the fog of his breath got carried away in the night air. “Hold nine-thou, we’re too far out to get clean hits with this side wind and I want to engage them once they’re inside.”
“Heard.” Donnie whispered, taking his finger off the trigger.
“Patch us into the audio Dee.”
“Already done.” Donnie tapped on the tablet and touched his comms unit to send the feed of the long range listening device he had placed along the treeline through the coms. They could all hear the rusty creak of doors opening and two men stepping out with heavy sighs. They spoke conversationally to each other in Russian, laughing at some joke as they both went to open the sliding doors of their cars. Mikey translated helpfully for Donnie and Raph into the comms - Leo was doing the same in his head.
“Fucking hell man, I had to blast the radio so loud when I was going through that last neighborhood. These bitches wouldn’t shut up.”
“That’s because you didn’t rough them up enough. Mine are nice and quiet after I had a little… chat with them. Hahaha!”
Leo’s eye twitched and made a note to himself to kill that one with some extra creative flair.
“For fucks sake man, that’s not safe! You don’t know where they’ve been! Your dick’s gonna fall off from some crazy American STD or something! Ha!”
“Yeah, yeah, fuck you. Just get yours inside before one tries to bite you like mine did.”
Leo’s slowly tightening grip on his scope threatened to break the instrument entirely as he saw them each drag two bound and head-bagged bodies roughly out of their vans and into the building. The two from the van of the man who would die by Leo’s personal hand weren’t moving, but he could hear high-pitched shrieks and cries from the other two hostages. His brain went into overdrive as this new ripple began to alter the plan.
“Alright, everybody hold while I adjust.” Leo heard his brothers all reply in the affirmative, and dragged his hand down his face as he thought. As a special operations team that technically didn’t exist, they had certain freedoms that they could work within. As long as they achieved results, he could be flexible with the plans and methods that he used. Saving some potentially American citizens was not on the list of things that were required for this mission, but they had just made it to the top of his list of priorities. Leo reworked the entire plan and began giving each member an updated set of roles and go points. Not five minutes had passed as the two men came back outside.
“Hey man, while we wait for Vlad and Alexi to get into town, let’s go get a drink! should we go to that new place that opened up?”
“You and your fancy shit! Fuck off, I’m going to where we always end up going after you hate some disappointing new spot. I’ll see you at Gryaznyye Tantsy brother.”
They both got into the vans and left, Leo committing the sound of their voices to memory, other plans formulating in his head to find them later and take care of them like they were ordered to. The mere mention of the potential names of two members of the Sygian gave Leo all the jurisdiction they needed to take them all out however they pleased once the hostages were safe.
"Nine-thou, get cyberbishop on follow detail, no placeable trackers, I don't want them getting spooked before we're done here."
"Wilco" Donnie's arm lit up with input commands for Sheldon and he gave a nod to Leo once the nearly silent whir of Sheldon's drone motors blurred by their window to follow the vans.
“Alright, let’s go.” Leo put his scope away and Donnie sat up in a crouched position. Placing his hand on Donnie's shoulder, Leo’s eyes and markings flashed with blue light as streaks of thin blue mystic energy cut through his form, both him and Donnie flashing out of existence in an instant, dust lightly billowing into the space they left behind.
They appeared on a makeshift platform high up in the trees that Raph was currently huddled on, his big brother already in a crouched position for Leo to place his hand on his shoulder as well. In seconds, they were gone. They all touched down onto soft, damp soil, as Mikey looked up at Leo from where he hovered just above the ground. Hovering perfectly still in midair, he drifted over to Leo and placed a hand on his shell. With the warehouse only about 100 feet out from Mikey’s hiding spot along the treeline surrounding the building, Leo felt the anxious buzz of the potential contingencies and worst case scenarios fill his head should they fail the plan.
“Alright guys, comms link off, focus up.” They all reached to disable and take out the comms that they were communicating with, potential jammers and comm hacking making them obsolete when compared to the mind melding abilities that came so naturally to them. A deep pupiless red glow shifted their faces into serious facades as Leo unsheathed a small throwing knife. Taking a steadying breath, Leo reeled back and threw the knife at a sharp angle through a perfect gap in the trees and towards a broken window on the side of the building. With a silent whisper, the knife found it’s target into a soft bag labeled ‘rock salt’ that was leaning against the inside wall beneath the window with peerless accuracy. He could hear Donnie in his mind.
“Show off.”
Leo couldn’t help but smirk as he teleported his brothers again, the leaves of the forest floor swirling in their wake. They touched down onto the upper floor of the warehouse without making a sound.
Leo used minimal hand signals and communication through the meld that they had used a thousand times to begin clearing rooms, looking for the hostages. Top floor cleared, they descended down to the main floor, filled with broken farming equipment, scrap metal, and ten foot high stacked piles of bags of salt. They worked around the floor to clear different alcoves and found nothing other than some large metallic tanks storing more bags of rock salt until they could hear noises. Making a line towards the sound, Leo led his brothers to an area of open floor in the center of the room.
There, tied to a support beam, were all four hostages. Two still not moving, the third trying to quietly rouse them, and the fourth actively trying to break out of the bonds that held them affixed to the pillar. He stared at the group for a moment, a contemplative squint to his eye. Leo unsheathed his katanas, and stabbed one into the wood of the floor. Teleporting back to the knife he threw into the bag of salt, Leo placed the bag on it’s back before silently removing the knife from the canvas without displacing any bits of rock salt. He stood and leaned out the window, deftly throwing his katana through the air and into the soft soil of the tree line.
Appearing back with his brothers and other katana, he sheathed the sword and threw the throwing knife into the wooden pillar right above the head of the struggling hostage. The ‘thock’ of the knife hitting wood made the figure freeze, stiffening and turning their head to listen for sounds. Leo teleported to the pillar and crouched in front of the hostage, hand on the knife with his voice low and commanding.
“Shh, don’t panic, stay calm, speak quietly. Can you speak English?” The hostage nodded quickly, breathing heavy and labored. “Good. We are here to help you alright? We’re going to keep you safe. I’m going to take off your hoods now.” He made quick work of the canvas hood that was affixed to the same rope that the hostage’s hands were tied to. He revealed the first, seeing that she appeared to be a woman, wet, tear streaked face under her dark eyes and mussed brown hair, with another cloth gag tied around her mouth. As he undid the knot of the gag, he started to cut them all free as he asked, ”Are any of you injured enough that you cannot walk?”
Rubbing her freed hands around her mouth, she responded in a ragged voice, “I’m not sure, they haven't moved since we got here I think.” gesturing to the two unmoving bodies. “What are we gonna do? You can’t carry both of them!” The woman reached out and clung to Leo’s vest and started to sob. He just reached a hand up to soothe over her hair as he took off another bag.
“Shh, don’t panic.” Leo’s head turned slightly toward his brothers as he reached out to them,
“Guys? Is the building totally clear? Don, have you found any cameras?”
“I am 98 percent positive that we are the only ones here, and no cameras or any tech for that matter that I can pick up on my scanner.”
“Good. Alright guys, get over here, we’re gonna take them back to the embassy in town, then we’ll pivot to the Stygian.”
“How can I not panic? Please don’t leave them behind, they’re really good… people… are you a… turtle?” He glanced down at her surprised face as she leaned back and studied his face for the first time. Leo gave a small grin and a wink.
“Tell you what, help me wake your friends and I’ll tell you all about it once we’re out of here, deal?” she nodded hesitantly as he nodded over his shoulder, “and trust me, we’re all getting out of here.” Her eyes widened at the sight of three similarly large and militant-looking turtle people walking towards the pillar.
Shortly, the hostages were all freed, and they were checking the vitals of the unconscious women. Leo was itching to help, but Mikey and Raph had it handled and the first hostage was still clinging to his chest, her trembling form keeping a tight grip on the steps of his vest.
“What’re your names? And where are you from?” He asked, mostly to the woman he continued to attempt to comfort, hoping to distract her enough to keep her from panicking too loudly.
“Um, I’m- hic -I’m Yin, that’s Shiko,” she muttered, pointing to the other conscious woman, a quite muscular and tall asian woman with long dark hair. “and those two are Talulla,” she pointed to the unconscious woman that Mikey was working on, a pale and petite curvy redhead covered in freckles, “and Grace.” she gestured last to the woman Raph was seeing to, gently shaking her shoulder, her deep umber-brown skin flashing in the pale light streaming through the cracks in the ceiling. “We’re all American, we were here on a group trip through our school, o-our college.” Leo grabbed Yin’s hand and pulled it away from his chest and froze. Looking down at her wrist, he asked another question as he reached out in the mind meld to his brothers.
“How long has it been since they captured you? Do we need to notify your parents that you’re missing?”
“They grabbed us on the first day we got here, they’ve had us for weeks. The only water we’ve had has been from a leak in the van roof. I honestly don’t know if I can even stand, I’m so exhausted…” She leaned on Leo and he strong-armed her shoulder. Raph, who had started to pick Grace up, froze as Leo looked over at him pointedly, giving Leo a small nod. Mikey looked up at Leo and shook his head. Donnie was peering up at the rafters and walking among the bags of salt that were piled up nearby.
Leo looked down at Yin and gripped her wrist tighter as he spoke in a low voice. “Alright. We’re all professionals here. We’ve been waiting for you to get here for like twelve hours so let’s just cut to the chase so one of us can go home.” Everyone froze, looking at Leo and Yin.
Time stood still as her eyes flitted back and forth to both eyes of Leo’s calm stare. Confused facade fading into something cold and serious in the blink of an eye. Time started again as all four women lunged, Grace in Raph’s arms shot up and swung at Raph with a trench knife that she had somehow concealed, Tululla sat up and pulled Mikey down by the neck from where he hovered, Shiko threw some previously hidden knives towards Donnie, and Yin slashed upwards with a knife that she took off of Leo’s vest - aiming for his jugular.
Leo instantly teleported, using the previously thrown knife in the pillar to appear immediately above Yin and put a knee in her back. Leo reached back for his Katana, but before he could unsheath it, Shiko tackled him and attempted to pin him, slashing down towards Leo’s face. He grabbed her arm and kicked off with his foot, rolling them backwards and slamming her head into the concrete. Continuing the roll, Leo stood and unsheathed his katana, briefly checking on his brothers in the mind meld.
“Is everyone okay? Sound Off.”
“Yeah I’m good, thanks for that heads up” Raph chimed
“Yeah, coming in clutch. For real though, this-this tiny one is stronger than she looks!” Mikey pleaded.
“I’m fine, but- agh! The buff one’s got some killer aim.” Leo looked up at Donnie high up in the air so see what he meant and his brow rose in surprise.
As if on cue, Shiko grabbed a long bar of scrap metal and threw it like a javelin up at Donnie, who was using his battle shell to conveniently fly up into the high ceilings of the warehouse in an attempt to avoid her. He just managed to dodge, the rebar spear flying past him and into the dilapidated ceiling. Loud metallic creaking echoed through the space as some of the old stone ceiling collapsed, murky stagnant rainwater flowing down from above. It crashed and splattered over a large section of the materials stored on the ground floor and a pungent smell started to seep out of the poorly sealed bags of now wet salt.
Donnie immediately pivoted towards the sudden smell of ammonium, flying over the ruined bags and collecting a sample of the white crystalline salt with one of the long metallic armatures from his battle shell. The analysis didn’t take long, he only had to dodge three more chunks of thrown debris before his stomach dropped at the result.
“Oh my god… IT”S ALL AMMONIUM NITRATE! GUYS! IT’S NOT SALT! ” He called out loud, too shocked with the sheer quantity of the chemical that was in this warehouse to speak through the mind meld. His own mind was still reeling as to why thousands of bags were falsely labeled ‘rock salt’.
The women all froze, confused looks being thrown between them as they fought. Talulla had Mikey in a triangle choke as he floated through the air, ramming her into the hard metal walls to try and shake her off as she focused back on her tight hold on Mikey’s windpipe as she fiercely shouted,
“How did you get this much in here without us knowing? We’ve had this place under surveillance and there’s been no shipments in or out of this place for years!”
Grace was throwing quick jabs and slashes at Raph, double wielding trench knives in both fists, “You guys rigged this place to explode? What are you? Suicidal? Why are you even here fighting us when you had this place set to blow? ”
Raph just parried each swipe with his tonfas, throwing punches at her, but she was quick on her feet. “What? We don’t do demolition shit like that! It would catch the whole forest on fire! What kind of plan would that be?”
Leo threw Yin over at a wall of the ammonium nitrate bags, spilling the contents down over her crumpled form. Yin just smiled and reached into a nearby crate and pulled out a hidden machete and charged at him. Blades clashing in the middle, a single spark flew from their colliding steel and they both froze. The spark went out quickly, and they both exhaled in relief. Yin blew a strand of hair out of her face as they continued to push against each other’s blade in a stalemate,
“So what’s the deal? Are you guys suicidal? I thought you were the best in the game? What could make the infamous Killer T-cell get so sloppy? Ya getting old? ” She threw him a pitying frown as he laughed.
“Ha! And what about you? You went overboard with the theatrics, you of all people should know that hostages can’t cry after like, two days! Not if they’re as weak and dehydrated as you were playing it.” He chided with an arched brow.
She just sighed and rolled her eyes as Shiko laughed and kept her eyes on Donnie, lining up her next throw of rebar at him. “Ha! Told you they would notice! HYAGHH!” She grunted from the effort and reached for another object she could throw.
Yin just groaned and kicked Leo’s knee to get him off balance, going after him with a flurry of blows, enunciating with each clang of metal, “I - just - wanted - to see - if I - could still - cry - on - command!” Leo faltered slightly, his back hitting the wall as one of her strikes slashed through the soft fabric on his elbow, her body pinning his to the wall as their blades shuddered against each other in another stalemate. “I’ve always wanted to use it on a job so this was my last chance! So sue me if I wanted to actually use my art degree for something for once!”
“This is your last job too?” Leo grunted. “Congrats on your retirement! It’s a shame we’ll have to cut it short.” Leo let go of his sword and teleported, all of the opposing force disappearing and throwing Yin and her machete falling forward into the metal wall as he teleported back to catch his sword before it fell to the ground. Pivoting, he grabbed her wrist holding her weapon and thrust it into the metal wall, and pinned her against the wall with his plastron. Leo wedged his knees into her thighs to pin her further as he whispered low in her ear, “Some professional criticism though, you gotta commit to the bit if you wanna convince me .” he squeezed her wrist again to illustrate his point, “no bruises from the rope. If you’re playing the hostage role, you gotta have proof of some… struggle.” Leo cracked a smile as she rolled her eyes at his comment as she fought against his pin. His smile peaked into a sudden frown and his brow furrowed as he leaned forward and sniffed. “Also, and this isn’t me being a creep, but you look and smell too clean to be real hostages.”
Yin snorted lightly and smiled. Eyes flaring with sudden sultry intensity, she bit her lip and writhed against Leo’s full-body press, letting out a salacious moan. “Mmm then let me go and I’ll show you just how dirty I can be big boy~ ” she practically purred, head rolling back over the crook in his shoulder.
A split second of confused hesitation was all she needed. She spun against his momentarily loose hold and kicked off the wall, sending them both falling backwards. Ditching the machete, Yin used her free hands to maneuver Leo so that she landed on top of him, knees pinning him effectively beneath her. She grabbed for his sword and nearly broke one of his fingers wrenching it away from him. She grazed it along his jugular and frowned down at his stunned expression. She shook her head and clicked her tongue chidingly.
“Really? That’s all it took? Dude, you need to get laid.”
A barking laughter echoed overhead from Donnie as he was kicking Shiko as she clung to one of his legs twenty feet in the air. “Ha! Ha! I told you!” he looked down at her and started to accelerate quickly in a tight spiral, trying to gain enough G-force to throw her off. “So what’s the deal? Why would you put yourselves in here as bait? Just get like, real hostages if you’re gonna go all evil bomb crazy.”
Shiko winced and strained against the forces threatening to fling her into the air and climbed up Donnie’s torso. “Ugh, with your reputation, of course that’s what you would assume! Your team is as bloodthirsty as it is stupid!” She reached up to the rotating blades keeping them both aloft and grabbed the edge of the housing and pulled, smoke and debris flying in all directions, slicing up both Donnie and Shiko in the process. They plummeted towards the ground, Donnie grabbing Shiko by the shoulders in a tight grip and shook her as they descended.
“Wait, what? Our reputation? What does that mean? You’re the blood thirsty maniacs!”
A look of genuine confusion spread across her face as the second rotating blade slowed their fall enough to roughly set them both on the ground. “You’re calling us bloodthirsty maniacs? After what your team did in Switzerland? ” She shoved his chest accusingly.
A cold drop settled in his stomach as he put the pieces together. In the mind meld and out loud Donnie shouted, “EVERYBODY STOP.”
The turtles all froze, and the women hesitated at the sudden ceasefire. Donnie turned to Shiko with a haunted look and muttered, “Professional courtesy time - we’ve been set up. We were told Switzerland was you. Think about it for two seconds and tell your team to stop. We need to get out of here, something’s off.”
Shiko’s eyes flew open as she considered the circumstances, looked over to Yin and started walking towards her, hands signing in ASL. As she finished her truncated explanation of what she and Donnie had possibly uncovered, the other turtles each gasped. Leo shaking his head in disbelief.
“Wait WHAT? Donnie, are you sure?” He teleported over to Donnie, hand on the insignia they all wore and had enchanted with Leo’s mystic signature. Yin landed on the ground with huff and grabbed Shiko’s hand to stand up.
“Ugh, of course they know ASL. Alright, well. Temporary ceasefire until we figure this out. Grace, Talulla- Talulla! ”
Everyone turned to where the tiny redhead was floating through the air, a clearly unconscious Mikey in-between her thighs. “What? He didn’t tap! I mean, we’re still floating so that probably means he’s still alive!” The hard stare from her teammates compelled her to release Mikey with a scoff, walking over to her group and speaking in a small huddle.
Raph grabbed Mikey and dragged him over to a huddle of their own. “Alright, he’s still breathing so he’s fine. What’re we gonna do guys?”
Leo rubbed his hand over his mouth and glanced over to the Stygian, making eye contact with Yin as he spoke in a low voice to his brothers. “We can’t know for sure whose department set this up, so I think we should keep them around until we’re sure-”
“-if they’re bullshitting. It’ll be easier and faster to find out what’s going on with these guys. Then, once we find out, we can decide if we wanna kill them then. Sound good?” Yin muttered to her team, throwing a smiling wave over to Leo who reciprocated back with a wide grin of his own. She crooned through clenched teeth to her squad, “I can’t believe that bastard let me pin him for that long when he could teleport to places other than his swords. I’m gonna cut off his-”
“-the balls on that one are unreal guys, I can’t believe she would go for a cheap tactic like that, and throwing around such baseless accusations… I can get laid if I want to! ” Leo’s smile became more pinched as he spit angrily through his tight smile, their waves to one another becoming more aggressive with each passing moment.
The other members of both teams made eye contact with each other and they all shared a communal eye roll for their captains.
They all walked towards each other and Leo held out a hand, “Truce?”
Yin studied his face and shook his hand with a firm grip, “For now.” She twirled Leo’s sword she still had in her hand and rested the blade on her shoulder she and her team walked towards the exit, “Just don’t think for a second th-”
The sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the high metallic ceilings and time slowed down. They all turned to see a small innocuous black object being thrown through the window and onto a large pile of chemicals for a single second before it exploded. Still in their mind meld, Leo thought through a plan and instantly transmitted it to his brothers. Completely on reflex, he teleported forward to the sword in Yin’s hand and wrapped his arms around the group in a huddle as the flames started to catch and the first shockwave rippled towards them. Raph’s red aura expanded as he morphed around Donnie and Mikey, mystic energy warping against the concussive blast. Leo stepped forward and teleported the women to his other sword he had thrown outside to the tree line. They all landed with a huff as Leo muttered out raggedly,
“Stay here, I’ll-I’ll be right back” and he disappeared. Teleporting back to his brothers was easier, they each had focal points that lightened the load, but he still wobbled slightly as he stepped into the protective red space of Raph’s energy. Even so, the now raging inferno was starting to be felt inside the field already. Minor explosions were firing off every second from every direction. Leo wrapped his arms around an unconscious Mikey while Donnie and Raph placed their hands on his shoulders. Leo took a deep breath and winced as he teleported his brothers to the group outside.
The fire had already completely engulfed the warehouse, the heat burning hotter with each minor explosion. Donnie took some readings through his goggles and did some quick calculations in his head as he shook Leo’s shoulder.
“Leo, we gotta go now . That fire’s already reaching 200 degrees celsius, it could blow at any time.”
The panic in Donnie's voice cut through Leo’s foggy brain and he huffed out a harsh breath and handed his sword to Raph as he slumped to the ground and mumbled into the dirt. “Raph, y-you gotta throw it, I can’t… chuck it far enough.”
“What? Leo, just make a regular portal!”
“I can’t… I’m too wiped. If I make a regular portal right now, with a possible bounty on our heads, we’ll get portal jacked and chopped up for sure. I’ll just… teleport all of us. Just make sure they don't steal my kidneys while I’m out. Haahaaaa.” He pointed to Yin who was looking stunned and a bit green in the face. “That was supposed to be funny. Whatever, fuck you guys, just throw it Raph.”
A sudden surge of heat singed the hair off of the arms of the Stygian as Donnie motioned for them to place their hands on Leo’s shell while Raph extended his mystical arm like a slingshot and sent the sword careening over the trees and towards the horizon. Leo held up his hand in the general direction of where it got thrown, tiny spurts of electricity sparking out from his palm and into the soil. He sucked in a sharp breath and attempted to teleport all eight of them at once to a location hundreds of feet away. Their form rippled a bit, and with a jolting flash, bright blue light carved through their bodies and they disappeared.
Moments later, they all found themselves falling a few feet onto soft, damp earth. Ears ringing, stomachs churning, and heads fuzzy. Yin tried to stand up immediately, and regretted it just as immediately as the entirety of her stomach came up, retching into a small ditch nearby. Talulla held her hair back and crooned niceties while she got over her very intense motion sickness.
Not quite back to normal functioning, but wanting to look put together, she stumbled over to the members of T-cell to demand to know what exactly the hell that was until a flash of light in the distance distracted her from whatever tirade she was about to go on. The brightness drew everyone’s gaze as they watched the warehouse, at a much farther distance than Yin thought possible, explode with a fantastic display of bright orange fire. Donnie flicked down his goggles at the light with a hum, nonchalantly laying down face first on the forest floor.
“Hmm. That’s gonna be loud. Everybody get down and cover your ears, unless you like having your organs concussed.” They all quickly hit the dirt as the shockwave hurtled towards them, the force of the blast knocking tree branches and dirt in every direction. Once it had passed, Yin looked around for Leo, worried about his drained state before he had… apparently teleported and saved everyone.
She stumbled around until she found his unmoving body clenching a sword in his hand that was embedded halfway into a tree trunk. “Oh my god!” she ran over to him and turned him over, and tried to find a pulse. She let out a sigh once she felt a steady rhythm in the column of his neck and muttered. “Okay… truce. And… thank you for saving my team. I promise they’re worth it.”
“...And you're not?” Yin jumped at Leo’s ragged voice and sputtered out,
“That’s… that’s not what I said. Just… go to sleep so I can steal your kidneys.”
“Woah at least ask me out to dinner first.”
“You’re such a dumbass.”
“No I’m not!” Leo’s eyes lit up as he gasped, a stupid grin stretching across his face, ”Hey! Oh my gosh, you know what I am? C'mon. C’mon, ask me what I am!” Yin just shook her head with a furrow to her brow and Leo continued to whine. “ C’mon I saved your teams life and this is the-”
“Fucking christ fine! What are you?”
“I’m a real… bomb- shell -.” He shot you some finger guns and you just stared at him, unblinking as he continued, “So a bombshell like me and a hot thing like you shouldn’t go out to dinner because together… we’re explosive .” Leo held up weak hands and made an explosive motion with his hands as he added a shitty sound effect to boot.
Unbeknownst to the both of you, a crowd had formed of the entirety of both team’s members as they all took in the… choice of words Leo had gone with. Yin looked up to his brothers who all had different levels of embarrassed disappointment on their faces as Yin pleaded,
“Please let me kill him.”