Requiem AU

Chapter 4

     The previous night was rough, but everyone managed to sleep through it. Rosa awakened to discover her boyfriend had vanished. It only took a little wandering before she found him in the ICU, standing in a doorway. "Leo?" she spoke up, startling him. "Sorry, hon. You okay?" "Yeah... I'm fine, honey. I'm fine," he reassured with a weak smile. Rosa stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him from behind, kissing his cheek. "I know it's hard... but at least it's all over now, right?" "Yeah..." Leo answered, trailing off as he gazed back at his father. For a short while, the two stood in silence, taking in... everything.

     Jimmy was sent out to grab breakfast for everyone. He was half an hour late, and when he did finally show up, he was panicked. "There you are, James," John said, standing. "What took ya so long?" In response, Jimmy simply pulled out his phone and showed his siblings a photo. The three of them gasped, horrified. "What is it?" "What's the problem?" Kole, Raph, and Oliver were the first to see the photo: a mutant, blade-decorated arm reaching out of a garbage truck. "What the fuck?" "Are you kidding me?!" "How did he survive getting crushed to death?!" One by one, everyone except Zinbella (you best believe mama covered her eyes) gave the same reaction to seeing Shredder alive.

     Leo almost fainted. "Easy, hon. Careful..." Rosa said, gently guiding him to a chair. "He's... still alive..." "Which means, sooner or later he'll attempt this again. And look where it got us last time!" Donnie said, gesturing around the room. "We have to end this shit, by any means necessary," Kole said bitterly, giving Raph's hand a gentle squeeze. "But where could he have gone?" "Karai knows," Freddi spoke up. "We were discussing a plan of action last night, and she told us, but..." she held her head, closing her eyes and trying to remember. "e-everything from that moment is... blurred..." "...Dove?" Donnie spoke up, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. Freddi shook her head and looked up at him. "I... I'm sorry..." she said shamefully, placing her hands atop his. "It's okay..." he reassured, kissing her forehead.

     "She's in room 426..." Freddi informed as the others ate. When finished, Leo rallied up a team: himself, Rosa, Donnie, Mikey, Ollie, Kole, and... when Raph stood, he couldn't even take one step before freezing, blinded by the pain. "Do I even need to say anything at this point?" Kole asked as he held Raph so he didn't fall. Raph just shook his head no, biting his lip as pained tears fell down his face. "Go easy on that leg, a'ight?" he warned as he helped him back into bed. Raph just nodded without a word, relieved when he received an ice pack for the sprain. "Sorry, Raph, but we gotta go. C'mon," Leo said sympathetically before leading his team out... after Mikey said bye-bye to Zinbella, of course. Austen chuckled, kissing his forehead before he headed out.

     Everyone walked into their sister/teammate's room. "Karai? ... you awake?" Leo asked gently, stepping forward. "And here I thought TM was having a bad day," Kole chuckled, crossing his arms. Karai just grinned in response. "I could still take on Raphael, even with a broken arm," "How ya doing, Karai?" She paused for a moment before asking: "What... happened to him? I had a dream... that..." "The nurses say he's stable for now," Donnie informed. "It'll be a while before he regains consciousness again, though," "Listen," Kole interrupted. "That freak's still out there somewhere. Fred said you know where he's hiding," "I... wanted to help... bring him down..." "We need to know, Karai. Before Shredder comes after you, or Sensei again, or anyone's family!" Mikey piped up, unleashing the puppydog eyes. "It's 20 miles north of here..." Karai informed finally before giving her immediate younger brother a request: "And Leo? ... give Shredder a couple of hits from me," she says, exchanging a smile with him

      Everyone returned home, gearing up for their final showdown. They chose to wear mostly black and silver metal. Once ready with their new gear and weapons, they gathered around a map, where Leo placed a pushpin. "Okay, based on Karai's intel, Shredder has a secret mansion in the middle of the woods right here. It's heavily fortified, and there are traps and Footbots everywhere. We'll have to keep on our toes," "Got it," "Switching to the mini-arrow-daggar-thingies now," Ollie said, opening the compartment of his metal arm. "Let's take this fucker down. Once and for all," Kole said, initiating everyone to place their hands in the middle of their circle. Once complete they threw their hands up and declared: "BOOYAKASHA!"