Chapter Text
Leonardo let out an annoyed sigh as he checked the warehouse once again. He and his brothers were used to quiet nights, they used to be his favourite actually. But lately, it's been too quiet. They were twenty-five now, the Kraang and Foot long gone, yet the paranoia never left, not after all they have lost. And now? Now there were no enemy attacks at all, no Foot bots, no Kraang, no nothing!
Which made sense, they defeated those a long time ago. But it was starting to become unsettling, New York was not a quiet city even after invasions and such. Not to mention crime rate has decreased these past few weeks even more, and for no good reason either it seems.
"Found anything?" the blue-masked turtle asked, turning towards his brothers, this place smelled like ash.
"Nothing over here Fearless," Raphael answered, clearly dissatisfied.
"Me neither," Donatello said as well, disappointment in his voice, "it's so weird, I'm positive there should be something here."
"Eh, bros!" Michelangelo's voice calls out, gaining everyone's attention, "I think I found something!"
The brothers rushed towards the orange-masked turtle, eager to see anything new.
"What is it?" Leonardo asked as he eyed his younger brother.
"Look," the other pointed towards a small puddle of neon green ooze, mutogen .
"Seems like someone got here before us," Raphael answered, a bit annoyed by that.
"Who would be looking for mutogen now?" Leonardo thought out loud, "do you think the Foot Clan is trying to make more mutants or something?"
"I don't think so," Donatello answered, "look, it seems whoever got it wasn't careful, they probably didn't know what it's used for."
"So it could be a new threat," Leonardo mulled over that suggestion.
"Or new friends!" Michelangelo quickly added, earning confused glances from the others. "I'm just saying that maybe there are some more good-doers that just want to help? Maybe they've been kicking villain butt and that's why there's nothing for us to do these past few days," he suggested, "just keeping our options open."
"But why show up just now dumbass?" Raphael critiqued the theory.
"I don't know!" the other answered a little too loudly, "but the same question could be made if they are bad guys."
"Either way, it seems like they took most of the mutogen," Donatello butted in. "I don't see any indication of a fight or struggle, do you think they stole it using stealth?" he turned towards the leader.
"Probably, I doubt the place wasn't guarded, they probably snuck in to get it to avoid fighting," the blue-masked turtle responds, "looks like we'll have to locate whoever stole this mutogen, we all know what can happen if it falls in the wrong hands."
The others nodded in response as they left the warehouse to go patrol the city once more before going home.
---
Donnie sat in their makeshift lab in the apartment they and Leo rented. It's been almost a month since they've landed in this new universe thanks to the softshell's dimension-teleportation device malfunctioning. Since then, they rented an apartment with three bedrooms ( because yes, Leo I need a lab anywhere we go! ) while disguised as humans thanks to Leo and his habit of carrying cloaking brooches everywhere the slider goes.
Now, they were in the lab, working on figuring out the contents of the ooze Leo had brought back from their last mission. 'Some weird dudes were guarding this,' their brother said, 'seems pretty important Dee, could you look what this is?'
Speaking of their twin, Leo was laying on the couch, watching some telenovelas or something. Leo has been rather quiet these past few days, not that they're surprised by that, Leo has been learning to unmask outside of battles and missions, so the 'face-man' persona lies dormant when it's just him and Donnie.
Then, the TV was turned off, and calculated footsteps heading Donnie's way were heard.
"Hey Dee," their twin enters the room, "how's everything going with that thing?"
"Smoothly," the softshell answered, "I'm reverse engineering the liquid you brought to see its contents. It's been a bit tricky at the start but I got it now."
Leo sits on a spare chair Donnie kept around for nights like these, when their twin was in the mood to just listen to Donnie's ramblings, it's one of Donnie's favourite nights, not that the softshell would ever admit that, they'd rather eat a bunch of worms with Hawwain pizza instead. Leo stayed quiet and Donnie took it as a sign to continue.
"I think it's strong enough to be the power source for the interdimensional travelling machine," the purple-masked turtle continues.
"You think it's that strong?" the slider looked up.
"Hmm," the other answered, "there's no need to look for more just yet since I have yet to figure out what went wrong with the machine in the first place. But it's nice to be prepared."
Leo just hummed, "then I should start looking for more, right?"
"It would be nice, yes," Donnie nodded, "but don't overwork yourself. I can wait, I'm not in immediate need of it."
"I know," the other sighed, "but I heard those bozos who were guarding this stuff mentioned another shipment in, like, two days. All I need is a location. Could you help with that?"
"Sure," the softshell says, not looking up from their work, "shouldn't be too hard, those guys work in patterns."
"Very traceable patterns," Leo agreed, "it's almost as if they don't know how to do this whole evil business thing at all."
"Yeah," the softshell agreed, "they did seem rather inexperienced during our last heist."
"Not surprising," Leo shrugged, "it seems all the big threats in this universe have been eliminated."
"What do you mean?" Donnie finally looked up from their work.
"I read a bit about major events here," the slider answered as he toyed with Donnie's screwdriver, "apparently they had an invasion too. And their Foot Clan is basically crumbling apart under 'new management', not much info on those guys, but apparently, there's another Foot Clan as well? The New Foot Clan? It's very weird, and there's not much information on the inner workings either, only speculation and rumours about them being unethical in more ways than one, which isn't all that surprising."
Donnie hummed at that, turning back to their work, "interesting..." they said. "Anything else I should know about?"
"Eh... let me think..." Leo whispered, "not much is known about the invasion, maybe if you hack in the government system or whatever?" he offered, "again, about the Foot Clan it's pretty muddy. Oh, and the purple dragons aren't a high school tech club like back home, it's just some dumbass gang that allegedly worked for/with the Foot Clan at some point."
"Good enough for now," the softshell thought out loud. "Good job Nardo."
Leo smiled at the praise, almost giddy. Donnie smiled in return, it was nice seeing their brother truly smile, it's been a rather rare sight nowadays, being in a different universe and all. It also kind of hurt the softshell, an uncomfortable twisting gut feeling at just how happy that small comment made him.
They and Leo are a lot alike in that factor, they muse. Both seek praise validation desperately and absorb it like a sponge. Although they did have different ways of gaining it. Donnie, of course, worked for it using their knowledge of technology and the like, trying to show their usefulness with gadgets and gifts.
Leo makes himself the centre of attention, positive or negative, by being loud and obnoxious. Or well, that's what he used to do. Now, he tried to help whenever possible and trains way more. He even started learning how to use a bow! The slider had mentioned wanting to master more weapons for battles and stuff.
"Hey Donnie?" Leo whispered softly, gaining the softshell's attention. "Would you mind checking my hearing aid? It's been acting up a bit after that one fight."
"Which one?" Donnie asked, reaching their hands towards Leo, silently asking for the device.
"The one during the storm," Leo responded, taking his mask off and giving it to his twin.
"The one during the...- wha- Leo! That was over a week ago!" Donnie scolded, "why did you tell me just now?!"
"You seemed busy," the other whispered, "didn't wanna bother you."
Donnie let out a long sigh (while saying 'long sigh' of course), massaging their temple, "Leo, while I appreciate you respecting my space when I work, it's rather important for you to hear , we are in unknown territory after all. Next time there's a malfunction with any of your devices inform me immediately."
Leo just nodded, even if he couldn't hear, he could understand through vibrations, he had enough practice as well, having gone most of his childhood using just vibrations to navigate conversations.
The softshell started checking the thin inner mechanisms hidden in the somewhat thick fabric. There wasn't much wrong with it, it seems as though it just short-circuited a couple of times.
Just like Donnie said, they were done fairly quickly, it took only thirty minutes.
They handed the fabric to the slider who seemed to almost dose off but not completely. Leo took it eagerly, wrapping the mask back on his head.
"Thanks," he mumured. "I was planning on doing a small patrol in a few and then heading to bed. Wanna join me?"
"You go ahead," Donnie answers, "I'll stay behind on this one."
"You're not planning on pulling an all-nighter again, are you?" their twin frowned.
"What?" the softshell laughed, "of course... not!"
Leo didn't say anything, just glared at them.
"Defeated sigh, yes," the softshell admits, they could never trick their twin by lying, Leo was too good at detecting lies sometimes, especially Donnie's, "I wanted to see what went wrong with the machine. I just don't understand!"
Leo's frown deepened with what Donnie could easily decipher as concern. They hated when Leo did that, it reminded them of Raph.
"Don, you haven't slept well all week," the slider pointed out, "of course you're not going to figure out anything like that. Plus, you've been holed in here for days now!"
Donnie gave Leo an unimpressed look.
"Tell you what," their twin smiled, "you join me for patrol tonight and once we get back we take a shower and have a turtle pile, maybe even watch a movie or something?"
"Reluctant sigh," Donnie slumped on their chair, "alright, but you're wearing your battle shell tonight! No more reckless patrols without your gear."
Leo's smile fell, "do I really have to?" he whined, "I'm a-okay! My shell is healed and all."
"Nardo," Donnie used the combo of their stern voice with the childhood nickname, it always worked making the slider listen. "You and I both know that even if your shell is healed, it'll never be the same. It's just protection with some side gadgets."
"I know, I know," the other one responded, "it's just... I don't know, it just doesn't feel like me, it's weird, you know?"
"I do not," Donnie shook their head, "I'll need you to elaborate on that. Is the battle shell uncomfortable for you?"
"No, it doesn't hurt," Leo said.
"Feeling uncomfortable isn't the same as being hurt Lee," the softshell answered, "you know that."
"It's just... it doesn't hurt, right? But it still feels wrong," their twin looked down, not facing the purple-masked brother, "it feels bulky and I know that's how it's supposed to be, but I feel as though it's slowing me down and I don't like it."
Donnie let out a hum, "why didn't you say so earlier?" they asked, "I could've already made you a new one with lighter metal, would that help?"
Leo nodded.
"Lee, why didn't you say so earlier?" the softshell repeated themselves with a frown.
"I didn't want to bother you," Leo looked everywhere and anywhere but Donnie, "you already did so much for me, the hearing aids, my prosthetic, the battle shell, you even helped me with my mystic leg booster!"
"Of course I did all those things," Donnie's frown got deeper, "you're my brother, I couldn't just let you walk around deaf, without an arm and a cracked shell. Like it or not, I will take care of you when you don't or can't."
Leo just laughed dryly at that.
"Don't laugh!" the softshell glared at the slider, "and don't be so hesitant to tell me if anything is bothering you about my gifts, they're meant for you and they're meant to be comfortable. Personalized to your needs, not mine, not Mikey's, not Raph's, not dad's, not April's, not the two Caseys', yours and yours alone. So if there are any issues in the future, tell me. I won't get offended or anything, and I'm never too busy to help you."
Leo smiled teary-eyed. Oh no, were they too harsh?!
"Thanks Don," the slider whispered, his smile widening, "can I hug you?"
Normally, Donnie would've said no, they have a reputation to keep thank you very much! Plus, physical contact was never their strong suit, and after the Kraang... it's been a bit harder. But a hug did sound nice right now. They'll allow it, this once.
"Yeah sure, whatever," they tried to act as if they didn't care, they have an image to maintain after all!
Of course, that image crumbled to nothing the moment Leo wrapped his hands around their twin, Donnie melting into his embrace almost immediately. Were they always this tired? They didn't remember feeling so tired.
"Woah," they heard their twin say, "Tello, are you okay?"
Donnie just went limp in their twin's arms, enjoying the warmth and the soothing sound of the slider's heartbeat. It was grounding, assuring the softshell their twin wasn't going anywhere. Donnie closed their eyes, letting out a content sigh (while whispering 'content sigh' of course).
"Alright so seems like patrol is out of the question for today," Leo laughed, "turtle pile it is!"
---
Donatello had called the others to his lab, saying he had some news and a possible lead on who took the mutogen. Leonardo had entered first upon hearing that, Raph and Mikey close behind, then Casey and April, when did they get in here? He doesn't remember hearing them enter the lair. How long was he holed up in his lab? Engrossed in his work.
"Hey Donnie," the leader greeted, "did you find anything?" he came close to the main computer and Donatello.
The purple-masked turtle nodded in return, "there's going to be a similar shipment in the same warehouse in a day," he informed the group, "the new group should come tomorrow there for more mutogen."
"I see..." Leonardo mumbled, "are you sure?"
"Not one hundred per cent," Donatello shook his head, "it's like, a seventy per cent chance they come there tomorrow."
"Good enough, no?" Raphael butted in, "we've worked with lower odds before and still came on top."
"Yeah!" Michelangelo agreed with a huge grin plastered on his face, "maybe we'll meet the dudes who stole mutogen last time!"
"So what you say fearless?" Raphael turned towards the leader.
"I say we take a more stealthy approach for now," the blue-masked turtle hummed, "we know nothing about who we're dealing with. I say we try to gather information about them first. Donnie, is there any way we can listen in to their conversation without getting inside the building or being found out?"
"I have been working on this new bug..." Donatello answered, "it's made to be hidden under a pizza box. I could use that?" he offered.
"Sounds perfect," the leader nodded, "once we get enough information about who we're dealing with we'll act accordingly."
"How exactly are we going to get the bug inside?" April asked.
"Oh!" Michelangelo beamed, "we could just act like April is a pizza deliverer that got the wrong address and gives them the pizza or something!"
"Would they really believe that?" Raphael rolled his eyes at that.
"Seems good enough," Casey shrugged, "plus maybe April can use her psychic powers on them to get more info or something."
"Should work well enough," Leonardo finally decided, "we'll be close as well, keeping an eye out if anything goes wrong."
"Alright then," Donatello nodded, "I'll prepare everything for tomorrow."
"We'll get going then," Leonardo nodded as everyone started leaving the room. The leader was the last one to leave, confusing the scientist. "Once you're done setting everything up go get some rest," he said, "you've been overworking yourself a lot these past few days."
Donatello just hummed absently, searching for everything he needs. "I will," he said, "you too, get some rest, you've been stressing too much about the new whatever we're dealing with, I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle."
---
Though he might never admit it, missions with just him and Donnie were his favourite. He, of course, loved his siblings to death. Literally, he was ready to die for each and every one of them, his sacrifice to the Prison dimension proved that fact.
But there was just something so nice, so freeing , about having solo missions with his twin. With Raph, he had to be extra careful not to get hurt so that Raph's chasm doesn't get deeper, the snapper tended to blame himself for even the slightest of injuries.
And with Mikey, while enjoyable, made Leo feel as if he was under immense pressure and responsibility to protect the box turtle. He tried to be more reasonable than Raph, but the worry was always there.
With Donnie, those problems weren't present. He didn't need to worry about bruising and he didn't feel the need to protect so strongly as he did with Mikey.
He knew it was unreasonable for Leo to feel the way he does with Mikey, he wasn't that young or helpless, the orange-masked ninja was the furthest thing from helpless. It came to instincts, he mussed, his instincts just screamed at Leo to protect when he was near Mikey, although it seemed more toned down than Raph's, or maybe Raph wasn't holding back. Who knows?
Point is, he liked having missions with Donnie. His twin matched his energy in missions, having fun committing a crime or two that would definitely get disapproving lectures from the elder snapping turtle if he ever found out.
Now though the missions were much more serious. While they still goofed around, they took them more seriously. After the Kraang and being thrown into a completely different universe, they had to be more careful and a bit less... merciful.
Now, they stood hidden in the shadows of the same warehouse Leo stole from a few days ago. Donnie had found the location and time of the shipment. They had already checked the place, only two men were there. Leo listened to the men working, getting a bunch of the same weird liquid from boxes and shoving them into different ones. Was it cover their tracks or something?
He watched a bit more before getting bored. he tapped his twin's arm, getting his sibling's attention.
' Make sure all the cameras of this place are deactivated .'
His twin nodded, activating the gadget around their wrist and typing something that Leo didn't bother deciphering. He continued observing the men. They weren't that fit, lanky, and they were struggling to lift the boxes.
"Ugh, what does boss even needs this for?" he heard one of the men complain.
"I don't know," another one shrugged, "but I heard they sell this stuff on the black market for a fortune, for boss to buy it must be very important."
"Whatever, let's just get this over with," the first man answered. "I swear to god I don't get paid enough to deal with this shit."
"You aren't getting paid," the other deadpanned, "we both were blackmailed. All of the people working for the boss are."
Interesting, it seems this 'boss' character isn't interested in paying his workers and spends most of his money on the strange liquid.
The first one hummed, "what did you get blackmailed with?" he asked.
"Murder," the second one answered dryly, "cheated on my wife, she found out, a fight happened, I got angry and killed her with a kitchen knife on the spot. You?"
"Something similar," the other one answered, "I was angry and killed a guy for owing me too much money."
The second one hummed and the conversation ended.
Okay, so they were dealing with murderers, wonderful.
' I'm in, the cameras are off .'
' Good, with my signal we go down and kill the other two .'
' You sure? '
' One hundred per cent. They're murderers. They have killed people for no reason .'
Donnie didn't respond, but they did nod at that, eyes fixating on the two men. With a simple hand motion, Leo and Donnie jumped on top of them. The fight was easy, their hits were weak and they were still disoriented from before.
Once they were done, two precise stab wounds right in their hearts, Leo opened a portal. He and his twin started pushing the boxes in the portal that led to their shared apartment.
"What are we going to do with the bodies?" the softshell asked suddenly.
"Just burn them or something," Leo answered, "make sure to leave no trace, I'll deal with the boxes."
The other hummed in response, walking towards the corpses as the slider continued pushing the boxes. They weren't that heavy, but they certainly were full of that weird green liquid.
The two siblings sat in comfortable silence as they continued working on their own individual tasks.
Then, suddenly, someone knocked on the door of the warehouse, making the sound echo. Leo turned towards his twin with a confused expression and the other answered with a shrug.
Open the cameras , the slider had begun to sign in TSL when a female-sounding voice was heard.
"Pizza's here!" the voice said, knocking on the door again. Did the two goons order pizza? Leo didn't remember that.
Thankfully, Donnie had already opened the cameras to the outside, showing Leo the intruder. It was a feminine-looking person holding a pizza, they were alone.
Leo sighed and walked towards the door, his twin close behind. As he opened the door, he was greeted with a ginger-haired feminine person. The hair was short, neatly tied in a low ponytail. They had blue eyes and were pretty pale with freckles. They were wearing a black hair piece, some weird black jumpsuit with yellow accents and a white shirt underneath.
There wasn't anything notable about them, they looked like any other New Yorker with boring taste, only the ginger hair was somewhat notable. Their reaction however...
Their eyes widened when they saw the twins as the two gave them pretty bored glances. They didn't look scared and Leo couldn't smell any either, surprise? Sure. Curiosity, confusion? It's there. But no fear. Only underlying anxiety, but that's it.
Leo felt as though they were being watched, and discreetly eyed all the shadowy places on the street, but he saw nothing.
"Your pizza..." they said nervously, offering the box. Donnie took it as Leo opened his waist bag, searching for money to give her.
"No need to pay," they quickly said, "it's em... it's pre-paid."
Leo grinned at that, sending a look to his sibling to see how they were doing. They looked bored, seemingly lost in thought. Leo still reached for his waist bag, taking out a one hundred dollar bill and giving it to the ginger.
"Consider this a tip," the slider's grin grew. "And we would really appreciate it if you kept quiet about... this whole situation."
In return, they gulped and nodded, making Leo turn back inside with his twin, shutting the door right in front of the person's face.
Donnie set down the pizza box and as Leo was about to talk, the softshell signed to him. ' It's a bug .'
A bug huh? Seems like this 'delivery person' wasn't as normal as Leo would've hoped.
' Is there a camera? ' the blue-masked turtle signed back.
' No, it processes only audio it seems ,' his twin answered, making the slider grin. Time to have some fun .
"Dave, did you hear what Linda said?" Leo smiled as he opened the pizza box. God, it's been so long since he pranked someone via spying bugs.
"Linda?" his twin repeated, matching grin plastered on his face. "The one from finance or the one from the HR department?"
"HR," the slider responded. ' Can you get rid of the bug? ' he signed to his sibling.
"No, what did she do again?" Donnie continued. ' Scoff, obviously ,' they signed back.
"She slept with the boss last Monday, right?" the blue ninja lied with ease, ' tell me when you're done, I'll continue moving the boxes .'
"Last Monday? Didn't he die last Tuesday?" his twin asked. 'It should be done soon .'
"Uh-huh, reason still unknown, suspicious, don't ya think?" Leo responded, ' wonderful, once you're done you'll help me clean the warehouse and hide any evidence .'
"Does his wife know?" the softshell asked, not really looking up from their work. ' Whine, do I have to? I've already done more than enough for this mission, you can do the cleaning up .'
"Yeah, the police told her," the slider answered, ' yeah but your battle shell speeds up the process by a bazillion per cent! Come on Tello, do it for your favourite twin! Pretty please? '
"Where's Linda now anyway? I haven't seen her all week," Donnie rolled their eyes, ' you're my only twin Nardo. And this is not how percentages work! You know it! '
"Oh, she took the bag and left. Girlboss move, if I do say so myself. She didn't even put her two weeks' notice, she just left," Leo said, not really paying attention to the fake conversation he was having with his twin. ' So is that a yes? '
"Queen behaviour," Donnie responded, ' reluctant sigh, fine. But I'll do only twenty-five per cent of the clean up .'
"Agreed," Leo smiled, ' works for me! '
"Alright the bug is turned off," Donnie announced.
"Damn, this fast? Good job Dee, I didn't even get to mention the wife's affair with the boss's sister!" Leo laughed.
"Eye roll, you'll get to talk about that next time Nardo," the softshell rolled their eyes, although there was a fond smile creeping on their face.
---
Leonardo watched from a distance with his brothers as April was holding the fake pizza box as she knocked on the door of the warehouse. The audio of the bug was playing near them as Donatello was sitting in front of his laptop, listening.
Raphael and Michelangelo were near Donatello, curious to hear what was going on.
"Pizza's here!" April's voice was heard through the speakers.
A few moments later, Leonardo saw the door open. From his point of view, he couldn't see who was inside, he could only see April.
"Your pizza..." she said awkwardly, almost hesitantly.
She handed it to whoever was inside.
"No need to pay," she then said quickly, "it's em... it's pre-paid."
Silence for a few minutes as Leonardo watched before a smooth yet playful voice responded, "Consider this a tip," the voice said, it sounded awfully cocky, "and we would really appreciate it if you kept quiet about... this whole situation."
'This whole situation?' what was that voice talking about? Were they mutants? That seemed to be the most probable but then why open the door? Maybe they were full of blood or something? He really wished Donatello had installed a video feed for the bug.
April nodded and the door was shut right in front of her face. Kinda rude but whatever. The leader watched as she walked towards the rooftop Leonardo and his brothers were preoccupied.
The feed was silent, which was weird, but he didn't question it yet. Once April was there with the others Leonardo was about to ask her what she saw when suddenly-
"Dave, did you hear what Linda said?" the same voice from before asked playfully.
"Linda?" a new voice, a more monotone one, repeated. "The one from finance or the one from the HR department?"
"HR," the previous voice answered.
"No, what did she do again?" the monotone voice asked.
"She slept with the boss last Monday, right?"
"Last Monday? Didn't he die last Tuesday?"
"Uh-huh, reason still unknown, suspicious, don't ya think?"
"Does his wife know?"
"Yeah, the police told her."
"Where's Linda now anyway? I haven't seen her all week."
"Oh, she took the bag and left. Girlboss move if I do say so myself. She didn't even put on her two weeks' notice, she just left."
"Queen behaviour."
"Agreed."
And then the feed was cut. What the shell? Were they normal employees for some company? But that didn't make sense, why pay for silence money if there's nothing to hide?
"What the-!" he heard the purple-masked turtle's voice say, "how did they cut me off?!"
"They seemed pretty weird to me," Raphael answered, "silence money? The co-worker gossip and then cutting off Donnie's bug? Something going on with these guys."
"Who even are they?" Michelangelo agreed, "I've never heard their voice before."
"April," Leonardo turned towards the woman, "you saw them, can you tell us anything?"
"They're mutants," April answered, okay, that made sense, kinda .
"Oh!" Michelangelo let out a joyful noise, "are they friendly? What did they look like? What animal are they? Do they look good?"
"They're turtles..." she starts, earning everyone's attention.
"Turtles?" Leonardo repeats, "you sure?"
"Yeah," she nods, "although they were wearing clothes, it was pretty weird."
The other stayed silent and she continued, "there were two of them, as you probably guessed. They both had masks on, one of them had a blue one and the other had a purple one."
"Oh my god, don't tell me it's going to be like those other idiots," Raphael grumbled, "I swear to god, if those guys scream 'turtle power' every two minutes as well I'm going to commit homicide."
Leonardo hated to agree with his red-masked brother on homicide but he really couldn't handle another group of inexperienced turtles that yell every five minutes again.
"I don't think so," April answered, "they seemed different than you guys."
"Different how?" Donatello asked.
"Well, for one, they seemed younger," she started, "they couldn't be older than seventeen. Second, one of them, the blue one, had a prosthetic arm. The blue one also had weird red and yellow strips and his skin was a lime-like colour. He was the one that spoke to me. He was wearing a blue scarf, some black battle pants and a loose white shirt. He also had these weird black wrappings on his normal arm. I also saw a lot of scarring and all."
So a teen mutant without an arm and a lot of scarring? That sounded bad. And from the sounds of it, they are another version of Leonardo. Great, just great .
"What about the other one?" Michelangelo butted in.
"Well for one, he looks very similar to the blue one," April continues, "but his skin was a darker colour, like a jade shade? He had weird goggles on top of his head, and I think he has drawn on eyebrows? It looked like they were drawn with a sharpie or something to be honest. He was wearing similar pants but with some weird purple technological belt or something? He was wearing a purple hoodie as well."
Okay, so they have two mutant teenagers on the loose, wonderful. But wait, if they are other versions of Leonardo and Donatello, then that means there's also a Raphael and Michelangelo. Great, just great, Leonardo can feel a headache forming.
"Is there anything else?" Leonardo asked.
"They smelled like ashes," she answered, "but I don't think there's anything else."
"Wait, if it's really other Donnie and Leo then does that mean somewhere there's also other me and Raph?" Michelangelo asked, turning all eyes on him.
"There's a high possibility of that, yes," Donatello nodded, "but we still need to make sure it's other me and Leo, they could just be some other mutants that just happen to like blue and purple."
"Should we go after them now?" Raphael asks, "I doubt they've left already."
Leonardo hummed, "yeah, it's better not to let those guys get out of our sight."
"Woo-hoo!" Michelangelo cheers, "time to meet another other me!"
The four turtles and April started going towards the warehouse, entering through one of the windows.
They made sure to be silent, but it seemed like it was pointless as they looked around, searching for the mutants.
"What the hell?" Raphael almost yells, "where did they go?!"
---
Donnie sat in their lab, counting each bottle containing the weird liquid. Leo rested on the couch in Donnie's lab. He had gotten nonverbal once they got home, signing that he was tired.
"There are fifty containers of this liquid," the softshell stated.
' Do you think that's enough? ' their twin signed back to them, his head tilting in the process.
"More than enough," Donnie nodded, "it should last us for at least two months and I'll have enough to experiment on."
Leo didn't reply, he had this almost dreamy expression on his face, with serious undertones. It's the expression the slider wears when he's deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about Nardo?" Donnie asked as they took a seat in front of their desk.
' Can you find out who was trying to spy on us? ' their twin answered.
Oh right, that . Donnie almost completely forgot about that sad attempt. While the circuiting and coding of the bug were ingenious, the extra weight it added to the box itself was a pretty dead giveaway.
The softshell hummed in response, "yeah," they answered, "I can take a look. Is that all that's on your mind?"
' I'm just thinking who could it be ,' Leo signed, ' my best guess right now is that it's other us .'
"Could be," the purple-masked sibling nodded, "I'll work on it now if you want."
' Don't push yourself ,' their brother reminded them. ' Someone will come by in an hour or so .'
"Someone will come by?" Donnie raised a drawn eyebrow, "who?"
' I promised one of our neighbours to help their kid with Spanish ,' Leo answered, ' don't worry, we'll be in my room so we'll not bother you. Although I would like to borrow your whiteboard .'
"Go ahead," the softshell waved their hand dismissively, "but are you sure you wanna do it today? Aren't you tired?"
' It'll only be an hour long ,' their brother reassured them as he walked towards the whiteboard on wheels. ' I can handle it .'
"Alright," Donnie answered, "but if it gets too much don't hesitate to call me."
' Thanks Don ,' Leo smiled.
Leo left the room with the whiteboard and a few coloured markers and Donnie let out a tired sigh. Time to turn their attention to the bug they supposed.
---
Casey looked around his messy room, shoving random pencils, erasers, pens and whichever notebook is the less scribbled and doodled in. Some cartoon was playing in the background his sister was watching, his mum was loudly talking to one of her friends over the phone and his dad was loudly snoring.
Overall, a pretty normal evening, the only difference being that his mother decided to ask their new neighbour to tutor Casey in Spanish because he was failing. Or well, more accurately, his teacher was failing him because she didn't like him.
He was pretty bumped out by that, he wanted to go for a patrol this evening and then play some video games with Raphael or something. Sure, maybe not the best thing a twenty-four-year-old would do, but after fighting aliens and beating furries, it's kind of hard to concentrate on focusing on his higher education.
He doesn't really need it, and he is more than okay moving out of his parent's house and living in the sewers with the turtles but no... his mum wouldn't let him move out until he gets his degree! Saying he 'won't survive in the real world without one'.
He survived space, I think I can handle being jobless mum .
Either way, because of the Kraang, his education came to a halt, and now he was making up for the lost time.
Suddenly, his T-phone started ringing, snapping his attention and answering the call.
"Yeah?" he asked as he shoved the Spanish books in his backpack.
"Where the hell are you Case?" Raphael's voice was heard through the speaker, "pizza's getting cold."
"Change of plans," the vigilante answered, "my mum signed me up for Spanish classes from my neighbour and it starts in a bit."
"What the hell?" the mutant asked, "why do you need Spanish classes?"
"They're for extra credit," Casey explains, "well, they were supposed to be for extra credit but the teacher is failing me. My mum asked this new neighbour she heard speak Spanish once to help me study."
"Great," Casey could practically hear Raphael's eye-roll, "when will you be done? There's some news you should know about."
"Eh... in an hour or so," the black-haired human answered, "at least I hope so. What are the news anyway?"
"Apparently new mutants are roaming around stealing mutogen," the red-masked ninja stated with a bitter tone.
"New mutants?" the other repeated, "what animal are they? Oh, have you talked to them? What do they look like?"
Before Raphael could answer, Casey's mum was heard, "Casey hurry up! Your class is starting soon!"
"Oh shit," Casey cursed under his breath, "I have to go, but you gotta tell me all about those new mutants when I get there!"
"Yeah, yeah," the other responded, "hurry up, don't be late."
Casey hummed, "alright, see ya soon!"
He hung up and rushed towards the door, quickly telling 'bye' to his family as he walked towards his new tutor's apartment.
In all honestly, he didn't want to have lessons with someone, he had tutors before and he dreaded all of them. They always nagged him to study and when he tried to explain that he struggled to force himself to do so and actually focus on studying they all just called him lazy. So knowing he'll have to listen to the same 'advice' filled the man with dread.
Finally, he was in front of his neighbour's apartment. He knocked on the door as he heard movement from inside.
A guy with shoulder-length blonde fluffy hair, no older than seventeen, opened the door. His skin colour was a paler shade of cognac (if he remembers the name of the shade correctly). He had something similar to strips all over his body, they were a shade lighter than his skin colour. One of his arms was a prosthetic and the other bore a lot of scars, big and small. His eyes were of electric blue, the shade darkening a bit on the outline of his iris.
He was wearing black battle pants, a baggy white T-shirt and a comically long blue scarf. His hair was tied up in a braid, held together by some blue fabric.
"You must be Casey!" the stranger greeted, "hola! The name's Leonardo, he/him, I just go by Leo, Leon, Lee and anything else that comes to mind for simplicity's sake."
"Oh, em, nice to meet ya I guess," Casey greeted back, "he/him".
"Come in," the blonde moved out of the way, "where do you wanna have the lesson? I was thinking my room but if that makes you uncomfortable we can do it in the dining room or the living room, I don't mind."
"Living room's fine," Casey responded, it would be faster to leave once the class was over , he thought and although a silly thought, he still went along with it.
"Alright," the other shrugged, "I'll go get the whiteboard and some other stuff, you wait in the living room, make yourself comfortable."
"Okay," the vigilante answered as Leo disappeared somewhere in the hallway.
The living room itself felt homey, it was colourful and bright with a bunch of different colours, although blue and purple seemed to dominate the space. The cushions were soft and comfortable. There was a table in front of him that had a bunch of papers, some of them Casey recognised as blueprints and others looked like... he wasn't sure, they looked like personal notes so he didn't peak.
A few moments later, Leo came back with a whiteboard, different coloured markers, a notebook and some papers.
"Alright, here are the rules," the blonde starts, "we do an hour every two to three days with breaks whenever you want. The breaks can last twenty minutes and after that, we go back to the lesson. The bathroom is at the end of the hall, whenever you need just go, no need to ask for permission, just tell me you're going to the bathroom. Please don't be too loud, my twin is working and I don't wanna bother them too much. Got it? Or do you want me to repeat anything?"
"Two times a week, twenty-minute breaks whenever I want, no need for bathroom permission, don't be loud," Casey repeated, "I think I got it."
"Great!" Leo smiled brightly. "Now, I prepared some exercises to see your level, nothing hard, just a small test to see your level and what you struggle with," he passed the papers towards Casey.
"Alright," Casey shrugged as he took the papers and started reading them.
"If you have any questions or need a more in-depth explanation of an exercise just ask me at any point in time," Leo said as he took a seat on an armchair.
"I've got one," the vigilante said, "how old are you?"
"It's rude to ask a maiden's age," Leo answered playfully.
"Sorry," the other scratched the back of his head, "you just look very young."
"No need to apologise, I was just joking," the blonde laughed, "I'm sixteen."
"Sixteen?!" Casey repeated in shock, "how the hell did you afford this?! Can you even legally rent an apartment at sixteen?"
"I and my twin both have jobs that pay well," Leo shrugged, "and we have parental consent written too, so we're fine."
"Damn, a teenager has his life together and not me," Casey laughed.
Leo didn't answer that, only going back to the lesson, "alright, we talked about my age, do you have any questions for the test?"
And just like that, Casey and Leo started going through the test together. It was quite nice if he was being honest. Leo would ask questions and Casey would answer, sometimes, when he struggled, Leo would make a joke that acted as a hint and such. The class was full of energy and Casey was eating that shit up.
After the test, Casey took a break where he and Leo talked about their respective hobbies. Apparently, Leo liked to write, knows how to make weapons (blades, swords and other similar stuff) and enjoys skateboarding.
Casey mentioned his love for hockey and the rest of the break was spent with Casey talking about the sport. Best of all, Leo didn't seem bored at all while Casey was talking non stop about hockey, he just nodded along and asked clarifying questions here and there.
After that, Leo explained some basic grammatical rules Casey missed in the test, giving him advice on how to remember the rules with minimal studying.
Then another guy walked towards the living room. He had unruly black hair tied in a small low ponytail, they looked a bit curly as well. His hair was a lot shorter than Leo's. His skin was a darker shade than Leo's. His eye colour was dark brown, black even.
He was wearing a purple hoodie and similar battle pants to Leo. He also had weird goggles on top of his head.
"Hey Leo and stranger," Leo's twin greeted the two unenthusiastically.
"Hey Don," Leo smiled in return, "how's your project going?"
"Smoothly," the other replied, "should be done by the time you're done with your class."
"Oh great!" the blonde smiled brightly, "good job Dee!"
Leo's brother - Don/Dee - didn't reply, he just hummed and went to get a cup, probably for some coffee.
"Are you making coffee right now?" Leo glared.
"Wha- of course... not...!" Don obviously lied, is he always this bad at lying?
"Donald you promised not to drink coffee before bed!" the blonde whined.
"Scoff, I'm not going to bed after I finish the project," Dee scoffed, "I have other projects to work on."
"Come on Tello! Don't overwork yourself today!" Leo said, "we have a big day tomorrow, we can't be tired tomorrow! Or well, you can't be tired tomorrow. Make tea instead or something."
"Nardo, you know for a fact I don't like any other tea except the one you make and you still have to give me the recipe," Leo's twin shoots back.
"Okay, okay, I'll make it for you, just cover for me for a bit," Leo got up and started walking towards his brother's direction.
Wordlessly, Don sat exactly where Leo sat before, eyeing the board and Leo's notes then Casey.
"Your name is Casey?" Don asked.
"Yeah," Casey answered, "and you?"
"Donatello, they/them, I usually go by nicknames like Donnie or something similar," they answered.
Oh. He was misgendering Leo's sibling in his mind the entire time, fuck.
"He/him," Casey said, "nice to meet you."
Donnie hummed, "I have yet to decide if I agree with that statement," okay that was weird . "Anyway, here are some exercises, do them while Leo is making tea."
"Do you want anything Casey?" Leo chimes in, "we have juice, I'm making tea, some sodas and just plain water."
"Juice would be nice," Casey answers simply, Leo nods and pours a glass of juice, walking over and giving it to Casey. "Thanks."
The blonde just smiles as he goes back to the kitchen, hiding what he's adding to the tea he was making for his twin.
Then, the vigilante starts working on the exercises Donnie gave him. A few minutes later, Leo joined them and gave Donnie their cup as the other retreated back to what Casey assumed was their room.
The lesson continued smoothly after that and soon enough, Casey was done. He didn't notice the way time had passed and he felt kind of sad the class ended which was weird, but whatever.
---
It was around ten P.M. and Raphael was mindlessly watching the television, bored out of his mind waiting for his best friend to come by. Why was he so late anyway? He said he would be there in an hour, an hour and a half had passed.
He was getting worked up when a familiar voice was heard. "I'm here!" Casey announced.
"Fucking finally," the red-masked ninja rolled his eyes, "what took you so long?"
"Aw, you missed me?" Casey joked, earning a glare from the other.
"Oh shut up," Raphael glared, "answer the question, why were you late?"
"Alright, alright, calm down," Casey laughed as he sat next to the mutant, "I got a new Spanish tutor and he's literally so cool!"
Raphael raised a none existent eyebrow, "how come? You usually shit on your teachers."
"Raph he's so cool!" the vigilante answered, "he lets me take 20-minute breaks whenever I want, I don't need permission to use the bathroom and he's funny!"
"Is that all that it takes for you to like a teacher?" the red-coded turtle deadpanned.
Casey ignored the remark, "he also has a sibling, their name is Donnie, pretty cool, right?"
"Donnie?" Raphael repeated, "are you sure?"
"Yeah, why?"
"And what was your teacher's name?"
"Leo? Why? Is something wrong?"
"Oh my fucking God," Raphael facepalmed, "hey guys, get your asses over here!"
Casey gave him a questioning look as the other called the others. Leonardo came out of the dojo with April, Michelangelo left his room and Donatello his lab with his laptop in front of him.
"What is it Raph?" the leader asked.
"Casey's new teacher's name is Leo and he has a sibling called Donnie," Raphael answered.
"What's so weird about that?" Casey asked, "sure it's kind of a weird coincidence that they share names with Leo and Donnie and both like the same colours but that's it!"
"Case, do you remember the two mutants I mentioned?" the red-coded mutant asked.
"Yeah?" the other answered with a confused tone, "what does that have to do with anything?"
"They were turtles," Donatello answered, "turtles that were wearing blue and purple masks."
"No way," Casey whispered, "you think it's another version of yall?"
"That's the ongoing theory, yes," the purple-masked turtle nodded, "although we can't be one hundred per cent sure until we talk to them."
"And you think my teacher and his sibling are the same mutants," the vigilante deadpanned.
"Did they look at all mutant-y?" Michelangelo asked.
"No!" Casey almost yelled, "they looked completely human! With hair and all."
"This could be a coincidence Raph," Donatello answered, "how could they even look human? If there was a way we would've found it already."
"I guess," Raph grumbled, "it's still weird though."
"We should keep an eye out for them," Leonardo said, "Casey, when do you have your next lesson?"
"Thursday," Casey answered.
"Alright, make your teacher talk about himself a bit," the leader said, "I don't think your teacher is the guy we're looking for but there's a chance they are, a slim one yes, but it's here nonetheless."
"Okay," Casey nodded, "I'll let you guys know if he says anything suspicious."
Donatello was in front of his laptop screen, typing away when a small gasp from him was heard.
"What is it Donnie?" Leonardo inched closer to the inventor.
"I was trying to find the location of the bug, right?" the other starts, "but now I got a message from them. They sent a message to us using the bug!"
Now that got Raphael's attention. He moved closer to the screen, curious to read the message. He felt Michelangelo lean against him as well, Casey close behind.
The message itself was in blue font.
'Hey strangers that spied on us!'
---
Donnie was sitting in front of the screen of their computer.
"Hey Dee!" Leo entered the room, "sorry for taking so long, I cleaned up the living room and moved all the notes and such to my room and then got distracted by this video that I saw and then..." he musted realising he was rambling because he changed the topic immediately, "here's your whiteboard, don't worry I didn't erase any of your sciency terms."
"Thanks Nardo," Donnie didn't look up from their screen. "I'm done with this by the way, we can send a message to what most likely are our counterparts."
"Great," the slider sat next to Donnie, "good job Donald!"
The softshell grinned at the praise, "thank you, thank you, you may applaud me."
Leo just snickered before turning his attention to the screen. "What do you think we should say to them first?"
The genius hummed at that, "well, first of all, we should inform them of who we are and that we can communicate with them."
"You want us to tell them who we are?" Leo turned towards his twin, "like our names and such?"
"Of course not," the softshell shook their head, "I meant we should inform them that it's us as in the ones who they tried to spy on."
"Oh..." their twin let out a noise, "yeah, I was thinking of doing that too."
"I say we also greet them," Donnie said, "to show at least some respect."
"Too much respect," the slider answered, "I'm not showing respect towards the people who tried to spy on us."
"Makes sense," Donnie shrugged, "maybe we should say nothing and just find out their location and bomb their lair?"
"Donnie no!" their twin stopped them, "they could be good allies, let's just start out neutral for now, okay?"
Donnie grumbled under their breath, "you never let me have fun," they whined.
Leo gave them an unamused look, "here, I'll write the first message, okay?"
"Change the colour of the font then, yawn," the softshell yawned, "it'll be easier for them to know who they are talking to."
Leo hummed in return, "if they really are other us," he started slowly, "do you think they have figured out who we are?"
"I don't know," Donnie mumbled sheepishly as they watched their twin type something on the keyboard. "If their Donnie is as interested in the theory of parallel universes then maybe."
"Alright, here," the slider said, making Donnie look up and face their screen. The message their twin wrote said 'hey strangers that spied on us!' making them snicker a bit.
"I think it's good," the softshell responds, "just press enter and they'll get it."
"Alright," Leo did as told.
The twins just sat there in pleasant silence afterwards, waiting for a reply from the others. Soon enough, a notification was heard from Donnie's computer.
"Oh hey, they answered!" the slider beamed, "let's see what they have to say... 'who are you?' ugh really?! Not even a 'hi!' or something, our stalkers are rude as hell!" his smile immediately fell as he whined.
"Rather rude, yes," Donnie agreed, "the offer of bombing their place is still on the table by the way."
"No bombing yet Tello," their twin glared at them. "I'll just politely explain why I don't appreciate their answer."
The softshell didn't say anything as they watched Leo type again. ''Wow, rude, not even a 'hey sorry for trying to listen in to your private conversation! or anything. You ain't getting any info just because of your reply,' the new message in blue said and Leo pressed enter.
Donnie smiled weakly at their brother's response when a new message appeared.
"'We're sorry, we didn't mean to offend you, we just wish to know what we're dealing with'," Leo read the message out for them, "yeah right," he rolled his eyes, "I bet they wouldn't feel at all sorry if they didn't get caught."
"May I answer for you?" the softshell tried.
"You're going to send death threats, no," Leo gave them a look. Darn it, their brother knew them too well sometimes!
"Well, what are you going to tell them?" Donnie asked.
"My thoughts," the slider answered bluntly, "and that we don't want to start any beef with them," Donnie frowned at that. "Yet," their brother finished, making the genius grin like a madman.
Leo started typing yet again, using the same blue for the font. 'You're not 'dealing with' anything, we don't want to start any beef with you so as long as you don't bother us, we won't bother you.'
Another ping from the computer, "let's see... 'you have all the mutogen, right? Why do you need it? What are you using it for?'" their brother read out loud, "mutogen?" he repeated, "do they mean that weird green thing I found?"
"Probably," Donnie answered, "from the sounds of it, mutogen is what creates mutants in this universe. Explains why it's so strong."
Leo hummed at that and started typing. 'We aren't using it to mutate others, if that's what you're worried about, we're using it for more personal usage. You needn't worry about it, we're not going to harm anyone.'
A few moments later, another ping, "okay... 'personal use? Are you trying to have a secondary mutation?' huh, it seems like someone can get double mutated like back home," the slider commented.
"We should ask them about their names," Donnie voice their opinion, "we need to know who tried to spy on us."
"Yeah, I know," Leo answered as he typed, "it's kind of rude to change the topic so suddenly though Tello, we need to tell them we aren't planning on mutating ourselves again."
Would it even work, Donnie found themselves thinking. The ooze Draxum had created mutated the person depending on what animal or living organism they had come into contact with last. For Donnie it was Leo and for Leo it was Donnie.
So does that mean that if Donnie decided to have a second mutation their shell would harden like Leo's? Would they get strips like their twin? Would their eyesight get better? Would their hearing get worse?
What about Leo? Would he get pixel markings? Would his skin darken or his forehead get bigger? Would he get smarter? Would his shell get weaker?
So many possibilities Donnie was curious to research and they wish they could, but with the situation at hand? They doubted they could, they had bigger things to worry about. Like getting home.
They shook their head at that, sulking will get them nowhere. They eyed the screen, seeing their twin's new message. 'No, we're not interested in that. You don't need to know anything about our practices except the fact that we're not using it on living organisms. On another note, who the hell are you people?'
"Are you okay Dee?" Leo suddenly asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"Yeah," the softshell nodded, "just tired, I think I'll go to sleep after we're done with this."
Leo smiled at that when another ping was heard, earning their twin's attention. "Oh, that was fast!" he beamed, "they want to know our names," he clicked his tongue.
He started typing yet again as Donnie lazily watched the screen. 'Just call us Cyan and Violet.'
Donnie smiled at that, the two used those nicknames back in their childhood when they thought blue and purple was boring and shades were cooler. 'Come on dad, cyan and violet are way cooler than blue and purple!' they used to pester their father. Donnie missed those times, not that they would even admit it.
Another ping. 'Those aren't your real names are they?'
They heard their twin scoff at that as he typed away. 'Of course they are, didn't really have time to think about it with the whole recent mutant situation you know. Just answer our question, what are your names?'
That, of course, was a blatant lie, Donnie and Leo have been mutants almost their whole life, not that their stalkers needed to know that.
Another ping. 'Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Casey and April,' it said.
"So it is other us," Leo confirmed, "not surprising."
"Wait," realization hit Donnie like a truck, earning a raised eyebrow from Leo, "that means the person who gave us the bug was April!"
"Oh my God," the slider breathed out, realizing the implications, "that means that April in this universe is a basic bitch! Oh my God, this can't be happening."
"Oh dear Newton," Donnie joined in their twin's panicking, "I never thought such thing would be possible a boring and, gasp, straight-looking April would be possible!"
"Don this is terrible!" Leo turned and almost yelled, "if April of all people looks so boring, what about us?!"
"Oh dear Galileo, you're so right Leon," Donnie whispered.
The two just stared at each other before starting to laugh loudly at the surrealness of the situation. It took them a while to calm down, their stomachs hurt from so much laughing but they didn't care.
"We should answer them," Leo signed, "what should we tell them?"
"I'm not sure," Donnie answered, "how do you answer that? What is socially acceptable to say in this situation."
"Eh... let me think..." the slider whispered before starting to type yet again. Donnie looked at the screen, 'nice to meet you all, I'm sure we'll become great friends. Now good night, we're rather tired.'
He didn't wait for a response as he turned off the computer and got up, the softshell following suit.
"Do you think the Casey I taught Spanish today is the same Casey?" Leo suddenly said, earning a hum from Donnie.
"Probably," they shrugged in return, "would be weird if it wasn't, you know?"
Leo hummed in return and Donnie eyed their twin again before saying, "now what was that video that distracted you?"
Such a simple question made Leo grin like a mad man as he started ranting about the video he saw. Donnie wasn't sure when they fell asleep during the slider's rant, but they were pleasantly surprised to wake in the comfort of their bed with their favourite weighted blanket and a cup of coffee ready and waiting to be consumed.
They'll have to thank Leo later.