It turns out none of the ‘turtles’ were up for discussion; Donatello had quickly excused himself from the room and practically ran into the lab, shutting the door behind him quietly. Leo remained vigilant sitting against the sofa with a mate and brother curled into him. The leader in blue tightened his grip on the two before he allowed himself to meditate. Casey soon found himself playing a card game with the mighty mutanimals while Splinter and April went off to do a training session. Leo opened his eyes after two hours of meditation to a smell that made his stomach rumble in delight. Looking down he noticed his mate's peaceful face, Raphael looked more like his age when he was asleep, it brought a smile to the leader in blue but he also saw a vulnerable side of Raphael that Leonardo longed to protect.
A hand on his shoulder made him lose focus on his mate, following the arm of the hand. Leo met the eyes of his father offering some tea which Leo eagerly accepted, not moving much since his mate remained asleep. Splinter smiled at his son who looked with love at Raphael.
“Leoanrdo, how are you feeling?” Splinter’s question came to a surprise to the leader in blue.
“I am fine, father, why do you ask?”
Splinter shook his head with a chuckle.
“Leonardo my son, I mean how do you feel about becoming a father?” Splinter asked with a chuckle. Leo smirked while taking a sip from the herbal tea he loved so much. “Honestly Father, I am scared as well as excited. I fear that I will not be able to protect Raphael and my children from any future danger….”. Splinter shook his head at the anxious leader. Leonardo always worried too much. “Leonardo, my son. You should not worry about the future, although it will be here before you know it. You should focus on what is here in the present. I’m sure if Raphael was awake, he would call you something for being what’s the word…” “An idiot Sensei” Mikey’s voice appeared behind the two as he carried six pizza boxes. “Yes Michelangelo that is the word. Although Raphael has always expressed his emotions through action, I feel he will say the word before punching you to prove his point. My son, I know you are a strong brave warrior but you must use your strengths for when you are a father. It will not be easy but you have family behind you, to protect your own family. Don’t not worry about the future my son, focus on the present” Splinter explained, he patted Leo’s shoulder before taking the empty cups and making his way over to the kitchen. Mikey smirked mimicking his father but shortly stopped as he heard, “Michelangelo that will be 10 flips for your behaviour”. Mikey gasped before settling the pizza’s down and walking over to the nearest wall and doing his punishment with a cheeky smile.
Leo chuckles as someone comes to sit beside him. A gentle voice spoke out, “How is he, Leo?” April asked, looking down at Raphael who remained sound asleep in Leo’s lap. The leader in blue went to speak when a voice cut him off, “Probably hungry, it would be best if you woke him. Leo”. Donnie’s voice materialised with his body on the other side of April. Leo frowned slightly before shaking his mate’s shoulder slightly. Raph stubbornly remained asleep, prompting a laugh out of the brothers, April and Casey.
“Damn! Leo! Good luck waking Raph! If you think he was bad at waking up before he was pregnant, You need all the luck now!” Casey joked, spinning a puck across his fingers effortlessly. Leo frowned down at Raph who remained still to the point it almost worried Leo but Raph’s fingers twitched slightly showing he was waking up.
“PIZZA IS READY!” Mikey shouted alerting everyone still in the lair. The only one not to emerge into the living quarters was Dantzer, Donnie made a face wondering where the assassin had gone off to. “D! Catch!” Donnie turned just in time to catch a slice of pizza Casey had thrown at him, in hopes to catch him off guard. Donnie just smirked when Casey’s plan failed. Leo accepted a slice off April and ate it quickly while still trying to wake his sleeping mate who remained in the land of dreams even through all of the noise.
April gasped out-loud alerting everyone.
“What is it, April!?” Donnie asked out of concern, coming up beside her in case there was trouble.
“Tigerclaw is in trouble!” April said loudly. Her eyes glowed white as she tried to connect with something to find out what was happening, and soon she had visual. “It’s the foot! They have Tigerclaw, Alopex and another human down near the mighty mutanimals warehouse. They need help!” April exclaimed, coming out of her vision. Donnie steadied her when she stumbled slightly.
“Go! I will watch over Raphael” Splinter commanded. The three brothers looked at the curled up Raphael on the sofa sound asleep compared to the rest of the world. “Leo the quicker we leave, the quicker you get back!” Donnie whispered, Leo nodded leaving a peck on Raph’s forehead and wrapping a blanket around his mate. Leo smiled down at him before he left the lair following his brothers, April, Casey and the mighty mutanimals.
Not long after they left the lair, Splinter looked down at Raphael on the sofa and sighed. “I wish I could take back all the abuse I put you through, I know you will never forgive me. But just so you know, I will protect your hatchlings with my life. I wish I could go back in time but then I believe you wouldn’t have turned into who you are today. I love my sons and…” Something made Splinter come to a halt in his speech. Turning around Splinter gasped when there were a dozen of black wolves standing opposite him. “Who are you?” Splinter demanded, placing himself in front of the unconscious Raphael who seemed to be waking up very slowly.
“My name is Acronix” a human male stepped forward from within the mutant wolves. “We are the Crux Clan and we are here for Raphael,” Acronix explained. Splinter instantly recognised the man due to his stance from the other day in the truck. “Why do you want him?” Splinter asked, taking a glance around the room at the number of wolves, he counted 16 and one human. Splinter knew he would be in trouble. “Revenge on Saki” Acronix announced before creating a hand symbol to signal ‘attack’. Hamato Yoshi had been in so many fights and battles over the course of his life, he knew from the start this one would be difficult. As he had to watch Raphael at all times and fight off his opponents. Using everything he had been taught, the legendary master Yoshi attacked with all his strength and skills to defend his son’s mate.
Unbeknownst to Hamato Yoshi the blades the wolves carried were coated in poison and everytime Splinter touched one, the poison would settle on his skin before burning in it. Out of nowhere Splinter began to weaken, he soon found himself on his knees trying to breathe but found it impossible with the amount of poison that had entered his body. “Stop!” Acronix order made any wolves back down and put their blades away. Acronix violently grabbed Splinter’s chin and looked him in the eye, “I would congratulate you but it seems you have lost”. Splinter weakly lifted his hand but soon found a boot connecting with his head. Before he drifted off into the darkness he heard, “Grab Raphael, we have to meet our contact down near the docks in four hours, rough him up a bit will ya”. No! Splinter inwardly cringed at the thought of the pregnant teen being in danger.
Raphael understands that pain is inevitable but did it have to hurt so much? He loved the fact he had managed to get pregnant, he hated the fact that he was comfy and someone, he blamed Leo, was moving him for some odd reason. He snuggled closer to the chest unconsciously only to gasp when his head came into contact with fur. A chuckle made his eyes widen, that was not Leo. The stubborn hothead opened his eyes to find himself in the arms of a wolf, “WHAT! WHO!” Raphael shouted, flipping out of the wolf's arms. Nausea soon took over his body, arms grabbed him, pulling him into arms. He sank into them before realisation kicked in, just where was he? Raph looked up when he heard a chuckle, “You!” Raphael cried out recognising the man from the truck. Raphael backed away in fear, wait what! He wasn’t scared or was he? Raph couldn’t work it out. His thoughts were all over. “Young one settle down, you are stressing too much…” Raph ignored the voice, focusing on himself, he knew a panic attack was on its way but a pinch in his arm and his body slumping forward sent his mind into darkness. Raphael groaned when arms caught him. Acronix chuckled, looking at his second in command who held the unconscious teenager in his arms.
“Let’s go! We must get there on time!” Arconix announced, the wolf following with the sleeping teen.
The two unaware of the piercing purple eyes monitoring their every move.
Meanwhile with the ‘turtles’...
Leonardo was utterly confused, the group had arrived to where April claimed Tigerclaw’s group was in danger only for them to find the small group taking care of business and they were nearly done. The mighty mutanimals had gone to check the nearby warehouse and explained they would meet them back at the lair.
“Leonardo, not that I don’t love the visit but why are here instead of with my nephew?” Alopex asked, dismantling a foot bot. Leo was stuck with words so Donnie stepped in, “April had a vision that you were in trouble so we came to help but only to find it to be a hoax”. Alopex nodded listening intently to the words Donatello spoke.
“Tigerclaw?” Her brother looked up before moving over to his sister with the other human male following. “What is it?” Tigerclaw asked, looking at the brothers suspiciously. Alopex found herself explaining why the ‘turtles’ were here. Tigerclaw frowned as he was about to voice his suspicions when Donatello gasped, “Leo! Rockwell just sent me a message. Father’s hurt, the lair is trashed and Raphael is gone!” Donnie shouted, all attention turned to him. Leo almost dropped his swords. “Damn it! This was a set-up!” Leo shouted towards the sea, seething with anger. Raph! Leo cried inwardly, his mate was in danger. “Do we know who it was?” Mikey asked, turning to Donnie who pulled up his T-phone, an image that had been sent by Leatherhead. Donnie gulped, handing it over to April, “The Crux clan!” Casey announced it to all of them. Leo gripped his swords tightly, he would get Raphael back no matter what. Tigerclaw clenched his fists, nodding in Leonardo’s direction, the two had the exact same thoughts.
“Don! Tell the mighty mutanimals to meet us at Shredder’s lair with father” Leo announced, his brothers looked at him in confusion. “Why?” Mikey asked, voicing his brother's unspoken question. Donnie nodded in thanks. “Because we are going to need some help, lots of it” Alopex spoke for the leader in blue. Donatello did as instructed.
Just as he sent the message off, Alopex’s own communication device went off….
“Pex, let Claw know. He better devise a plan. Acronix has Raph. They are by west docks, here are coordinates. Talks about a shipment, meeting at 21:00. Hurry the hell up!. Tell Shred….aahh!” Dantzer’s coded message came over via voicemail. Alopex gasped, “They have Dantzer! Tigerclaw you know what Acronix will do to him!” Tigerclaw turned to his sister, “Go! Observe! Nothing else” Alopex nodded at her brothers words before racing off in the direction of her partner and nephew.
Elsewhere…
Raphael was not a happy turtle turned human, he had woken up in a small cage with his unconscious Uncle Dantzer who remained in the land of dreams. What freaked Raph out the most was the glowing chains he was in. What did they expect for him to do? He was a bloody pregnant teenager.
“Aah Raphael you are awake” Acronix said, coming into view.
“No shit” Raph’s blunt reply made Acronix chuckle. “I’m glad you still have your attitude but that won’t last long. You see, I have great plans for you but first you need to get wet”. Raph frowned at the information before the cage moved violently and began to lower. Raph froze when he noticed where he was. The docks, which meant. “NO!” Raph shouted but it was too late. The cage was lowered into the sea, Raph held his breath as his head went under the water. Dantzer’s eyes shot open, on instinct he held his breath as soon as water came into contact with his body. Dantzer looked at his frightened nephew and reached over for him. Raph soon found himself pulled into Dantzer’s arms, the older man scrambled to get something out of his pocket and place it over Raphael’s mouth. Thankfully just in time, as Raph couldn;t hold his breath very long. He took a deep breath into the rebreather before Dantzer took it to take a breath but soon the cage lurched upwards violently, swiftly Dantzer put his rebreather away to keep it hidden from the enemies.
The cage came out of the water with a splash, leaving the two humans panting. Acronix kneeled down to their level and smirked when he saw them both alive. “Glad to see you are still alive. I recommend you breathe as much air as possible because you won’t be getting much soon. I believe you should say your goodbyes, it’s 30 minutes until you're gone for good” Arconix laughed walking away from the cage. As soon as Dantzer knew he was out of sight, he turned to his nephew who seemed to slump in on himself. “Raph?” The soaking wet teenager looked up with a raised eyebrow, “I’m sorry, this is all my fault. If I hadn’t killed…” “Shush Uncle, like you said ‘you did what you had to do, to make sure you and the others survived’. I’m not mad at you. I’m furious at Uncle Caton and Uncle Saton, your brothers told me. Acronix had been killed and I believed them. I’m sorry Uncle” Raphael put his head down as he finished his speech. Dantzer frowned, lifting his nephew’s chin up so emerald eyes met purple ones. “I guess, we have both made mistakes. Instead of blaming ourselves. Why don’t we just blame Tigerclaw or the rat, one your father is the clan leader and two I hate the rat. Raphael I will have a word with my brothers next time I see them. I promise” Dantzer chuckled as he spoke. Raph smiled curling into his uncle's side. Pain spread across Raph’s chest but he ignored it, but his face twitch didn’t go unnoticed by Dantzer who was soon aware of the twitches and pain spreading through his nephew.
“Raph? You alright?” Dantzer’s question didn’t get an answer as Acronix and the wolves came back into the room. Dantzer looked up, meeting Acronix who smiled before directing his wolves to move the cage again, while the cage moved. Dantzer caught a glimpse of piercing yellow eyes and a group of ‘heroes’ moving towards them. He moved so he had a tight hold on Raphael who groaned at the movement byt clung tighter to his uncle despite their circumstances.
Stay Tuned! More chapters on the way! :)