Chapter Text
Donnie knows he really only has himself to blame for this. It was supposed to be a straightforward mission; get in, gather the data needed, and get out before anyone suspected they were there.
The Kraang’s defeat six weeks ago had led to stagnant reports of criminal activity. It seemed that even the bad guys wanted a break after the almost end of the world. Donnie couldn’t have been more grateful. With his twin still in recovery, it actually gave him time to focus on his injuries rather than the typical array of mutants.
Leo almost died in the prison dimension. He had died for approximately one minute and twenty-eight seconds while he and Draxum operated on him. And in that horrifying span of time? Donnie learned that their twin bond was most definitely real, despite the fact they couldn’t actually be twins.
It was an experience he did not want to live through again.
And that’s how he found himself in his situation. After Mikey had almost lost the use of his arms opening that portal to get Leo back (completely ignoring that it did just as much damage to his and Raph’s arms), he spent the past five weeks building some kind of portal device that would be able to open to any dimension they needed to access. It would work in the same sense as his brother’s portals, only interdimensional. That way, if one of them found themselves making another dumb dumb self-sacrificing move, they wouldn’t have to risk any of their limbs to save them.
Kraang technology could still be found around New York. Human authorities haven’t had the time to clean it up and really, Donnie would rather the human government keep their hands off the alien machines anyways. Who knew what they’d do with such things. So, shortly after the invasion ended, Raph and April gathered as much as they could and hid the tech in specific abandoned places across the city.
Donnie planned on rummaging through it all eventually. He just found it difficult to leave Leo’s side unless absolutely necessary most days. But, he conceded to the fact that his teleporter really needed to get finished. Who knew when the baddies would make themselves known again.
Raph was with him. His brother led him to the building where he put the original transporter. Using Shelldon to hack the interface was easy enough and the download into his servers would only take a few minutes. That happened to be just the perfect amount of time for everything to go wrong.
“We really gotta find somewhere else to put this stuff.” His oldest brother muttered, kicking a busted scrap of metal away from where he was standing. Donnie leaned against the wall, arms crossed with his signature disinterested look while Shelldon worked.
“Give me the locations and I’ll sift through everything later. Then, I say we throw the rest into the heart of an active volcano.” Raph gave him the patented big brother disappointed look but even Donnie could see the temptation under his gaze.
Raph’s mother-henning tendencies increased tenfold after the invasion happened. He could be found dotting over at least one member of the family at any waking moment. Yet, at the same time, Donnie noticed how terrified he was of touching any of them.
His older brother described the experience of being Kraangified akin to the likes of being a passenger in your own body. He could see and feel everything but had no control over it. Essentially, he was forced to watch himself hurt his brothers. Donnie couldn’t imagine what that must've been like.
Though, the two of them had found common ground in remembering the feel of those disgusting, slimy tentacles invading their mind. Donnie hadn’t lost his willpower like Raph had but neither of them could eat most pastas anymore so at least he wasn’t struggling alone in that regard.
The first time Mikey had made spaghetti after everything, Donnie suffered a panic attack just by the sound of his dad mixing the noodles and sauce together. Splinter and Mikey didn’t understand what had set him off, but Raph had. It felt…good to have shared sensory issues with someone as horrible as that sounded.
“How much longer till Shelly is done? I wanna check up on Leo and Mikey.” A comment that would’ve elicited an eye roll in the past. Nowadays, Donnie was in the same boat as his brother. He hated being away from his family for long periods of time.
He raised his wrist to type a few things on his tech gauntlet, glancing at the progress bar on the bottom. There was only about a quarter left which roughly translated to approximately fifteen more minutes till he had all the necessary data.
Donnie wasn’t able to inform his older brother that though. One of the machines near Shelldon whirred to life, sickening pink hues illuminating the warehouse they were in. His stomach churned at the color.
He dove forward, typing on the interface frantically in an attempt to shut it off. Raph had joined him, eyes watching the device in a panic.
“Donnie? What’s happening?” There were sparks above the machine, swirling energy he’s unfortunately come to associate with the Kraang appearing and growing rapidly.
“I-I don’t know! It shouldn’t be functional!” Donnie took a step back, eyes trained on what he now knew was a portal developing. It was pulling in loose scrap and belatedly, Donnie felt his own body being dragged towards the opening. Raph grabbed his shoulder but he was slipping too.
He didn’t know where this portal would take them. For all he knew, it could be an entrance to the Prison Dimension. The sadistic smile of Kraang Prime flashed through his mind and Donnie knew he couldn’t let Raph get trapped. He just couldn’t live with the near loss of another brother.
His body acted on his own. Donnie pivoted to fully take in the fearful face of his older brother, heart clenching painfully at the idea of this being the last thing he saw of his family. But his mind was made and he refused to fail.
With a few quick motions across his gauntlet, his battle shell opened to allow a new and improved escape pod free. He watched as it wrapped around Raph just as the gravitational pull of the portal became too much. Donnie lost his footing, his world being engulfed in that horrible pink color he’d rather forget.
But Raph was safe. His older brother was headed back to the lair. That’s all that mattered.
~~~
Donnie was flung from the portal, his battle shell crashing against a wall with a resounding crack. The wind was ripped from his lungs and there wasn’t much he could do to break his fall. Behind his closed eyelids, he could make out the flash of light and suddenly, it was quiet. The electric hum of the portal was gone.
Slower than he was willing to admit, Donnie peeled his eyes open to peer at his surroundings. Luckily, the portal had the decency to spit him out in a secluded alleyway. He could make out the sound of cars despite not being able to see the street and, thankfully, it was night. The last thing he needed was a full blown sensory overload.
With a groan, he clutched the wall to pull himself up. The world around him spun dangerously and he had to force the nausea down. None of his bones seemed to be broken but he’d definitely have bruises from how hard he got launched out of the portal. He was pretty sure his shoulder had dislocated briefly and his ankle was certainly sprained. A quick check of his gear showed that they were fully operational.
That only left him to face the growing anxiety he was currently facing. A precursory glance at the world around him was enough to know that he wasn’t in New York. Or at least the New York he was used to. It was dark, dreary. The world here just seemed to be…heavier. A glance at his oddly solid hand only made him feel worse.
And the kicker? No mystic energy. Even when they found themselves in other countries (like that one time Leo accidentally portaled them to Tahiti), there was always an abundance of mysticism. His goggles had never failed them before and they certainly weren’t broken if the diagnostics he ran were to be trusted. And Tahiti definitely never looked this congealed either so it wasn’t just a New York thing. His own Ninpo felt far weaker in this world. He wasn’t even sure if accessing it would work.
None of the trackers he placed all over their new lair nor his family were found either. Even if he had been transported into the far end of the Earth, his tech was good enough to access his lab from miles away.
There was a kink he was trying to work out where his trackers went offline in other dimensions. Leo’s hadn’t worked when he was…trapped and he can’t track any equipment in the Hidden City unless he is physically there with his gauntlet as well. That meant he was probably in another dimension. A weird, 3D dimension that felt all kinds of wrong.
He honestly wasn’t sure how he ended up in this situation. The machines that they had been inspected aren't functional. After the mothership was destroyed, a lot of the tech shut down without its main power source. All they were good for now was scrap metal and any data that may have survived in memory hubs. None of their meddling should have activated the transporter, even if Shelldon-
Donnie’s eyes widened and he hastily pushed off the wall. Shelldon got sucked into the portal with him. He managed to get Raph out of the danger zone but Shelldon had been right there.
There, underneath a pile of garbage that was kicked up from the disturbance, was a sliver of all too familiar purple. He shoved the trash aside to reveal his most beloved creation.
“Shelldon?” No response. Donnie’s fingers swiftly traveled across his wrist gauntlet in an attempt to connect to the AI’s interface with no such luck. The energy from the portal overloaded Shelldon’s systems and Donnie could only hope the damage wasn’t too severe.
Carefully, he cradled the bot in his good arm and rose to his full height once more. He wasn’t going to gather much more information in this alleyway. The buildings around him were all several stories tall. Ignoring the ache in his shoulder, he began to scale the only one that had a fire escape.
He set Shelldon down on the roof, flipping his goggles so they rested over his eyes. As he expected, the only mystic being he could find was himself. Usually, when he peered into his world with his goggles, it was an astonishing swath of colors clashing together. Most humans were void much like his dimension but he’d find mystic energy hidden around everywhere. And looking at his brothers was always astounding.
Mikey’s entire being was orange and lively like the fire his abilities often manifest as. He was so full of life, bright and caring that reflected in the way his Ninpo appeared through his goggles. His energy was the strongest out of any of them, even their father’s, and Donnie can’t say he’s surprised by that. From what he gathered, mystic powers were heavily tied with one’s emotions. Because Mikey was easily the most in tune with his emotions, it made sense he was the most mystically talented.
Raph’s Ninpo was strong and sturdy. He was their protector, their rock when they needed to be grounded in stressful situations. The red was calm, comforting, but absolutely electrifying when fighting those who dare hurt his family. Raph knew exactly who he was. He was their older brother, their defender, their leader and that translated into easy control over what he was able to accomplish with his ability. The months after Shredder, before the invasion, that surety wavered after Splinter had made Leo leader. Raph was doubting himself and that showed in his Ninpo.
Leo was smooth like water, reflecting the ‘go with the flow’ attitude he so often had. It was always moving, always changing like the ever adaptable way his twin always seemed to be. But it would grow sharp and cold like ice when he needed to be. It was like that against the Shredder and again when facing the Kraang. Donnie was proud of his twin, he was really shaping up into the amazing leader he could be while also learning to be true to himself. He could just make do without the self-sacrificial tendencies.
The goggles were shoved back to sit at the top of his head as Donnie shut his eyes to stave off the wave of nausea that overtook him. Past him would have been ecstatic to be in another dimension. Donnie two months ago would have been bouncing off the walls that his multiverse theory had truly been proven.
“Get it together, Donatello.” He snapped to himself, thumping a fist against his thigh. Having a breakdown on a rooftop in an alternate universe wasn’t a great idea. He had no idea what kind of threats existed here. The last thing he needed was to get caught in a situation where he couldn’t defend himself.
He moved to scratch the palm of his hand as he observed the city once more. Even though it was nighttime, New York was quiet. The only lights were the streetlamps and occasional cars he could see on the streets. For the city that never sleeps, everything was awfully dull. The noise, the colors, hell, even the smell.
His thoughts were interrupted by the slightest sound of gravel shifting behind him. Donnie tensed ever so slightly, forcing himself to appear relaxed as he tuned out everything else around him. The argument that he and his brothers weren’t the best ninjas were definitely valid but after the invasion well…things had changed. Techniques they originally struggled with became like second nature.
It took a second but he was eventually able to pick up the sounds of four other breaths. It was quiet enough that Donnie was able to guess they were most likely trained. His own thrumming ankle told him he definitely couldn’t take on four perpetrators by himself. Subtly, he moved the hand that had been scratching his palm to enter a few commands on his wristband.
The one off to the left made the first move. They dashed forward, their footsteps remarkably silent for a run. Before they could reach Donnie, however, a spider arm shot out from his battle shell and grabbed their leg, lifting them off the ground to toss them into the other nearest person. There was indignant squawk as they collided and Donnie snatched his tech bo from where it was on his shell. He spun around, twisting the metal until his weapon was fully extended in time to block an incoming strike from a katana. He pushed the assaulter back, the other three spider arms making their appearance. The bottom two lifted him off the ground to not only give him an advantage but also to alleviate the pressure on his ankle.
The two he had knocked down recovered quickly enough to join the fight. Soon enough, it was four on one and Donnie was quickly losing his edge. His shoulder still ached from when it dislocated in the fall from the portal and swinging his bo around was not helping. This weakness was picked up by the other four and they began focusing attacks on the right side of his body.
Donnie yelled when a nunchuck came into contact with said injured shoulder. The pain was instantaneous, radiating through his neck and rendering his arm utterly useless. One of them took the opportunity to lunge, knocking his bo out of his grip with their own wooden version. Then, he was being thrown to the ground, his spider arm barely grasping the other’s wrist in time to prevent their sai from pressing against his throat.
That’s when Donnie finally noticed who had attacked him. Four turtles identical to each other with colored bandanas tied around their eyes. Blue, red, purple, and orange. Weapons that were the same as his own brothers. By the looks on their faces, they seem to have come to the same conclusion as him.
“Dudes…” Alternate Mikey was the first to lower his weapon, blue eyes wide but sparkling as he took in the pinned turtle. Donnie guessed his own royal purple mask was a dead giveaway of who he was.
“Again?” Alternate Raph groaned, throwing his head but made no move to actually get off of him. The other version of him slowly walked up to stand next to his red-banded brother, taking in the sight of the turtle on the ground. His smile was tentative.
“Wow, you look nothing like the other ones we’ve met.” Donnie raised an eyebrow, regarding that statement briefly before he decided it was a conversation for another time. Instead, he opted to point his glare at the Raphael still pinning him down.
“As fascinating as that sounds, perhaps this could be a discussion we partake in where a dangerous metal weapon isn’t trying to decapitate me.” He deadpanned, watching with satisfaction as the ridge above one of Alternate Raph’s eyes twitched. The other turtle scowled but he did withdraw his weapon and stand up. In turn, Donnie had the spider arm release his wrist.
There was no offer to help him up and he rolled his eyes at that. He wouldn’t accept it, of course, but it was the thought that counted. One of the mechanical arms retrieved his tech bo for him and he gladly took it to use as a makeshift crutch. His shoulder still throbbed rather painfully and the fight hadn’t done his ankle any favors either.
“So, you’re another version of my brother?” Alternate Leo asked, katanas sheathed on his back. He appeared calm but Donnie could see the tension in his muscles. He was ready to strike if need be.
“If you couldn’t tell by the purple bandana.” Was his response. Other-Raph snorted at Other-Leo’s unimpressed frown. Donnie didn’t care if he wasn’t making a good first impression; they attacked him so there was no way he was going to be civil. He bent down a bit to pick up Shelldon, tucking him safely in his battleshell so he wouldn't be damaged further.
“Where’s the other us’s? I wanna see alternate me! They’re always the coolest out of the bunch.” Other-Mikey was suddenly in his field of view, personal bubble be damned. He wasn’t touching luckily but Donnie mused that some things probably wouldn’t change no matter the universe.
“My brother’s aren’t here.” Against his wishes, his gaze softened at the disappointed look washing over this Mikey. It wasn’t his baby brother but he could already see so many similarities between the two. Sue him for his big brother instincts kicking in.
A hand fell on Mikey’s shoulder and pulled him back. Other-Leo looked as if he wanted to scold him but didn’t say anything. Donnie took note of the interaction, namely, how this version of his twin appeared to be far more serious than he was used to. He wasn’t sure what to think about that.
“Sorry about him.” Donnie didn’t understand why he was apologizing for Mikey but he didn’t comment on it. “How did you end up here?” Donnie shrugged.
“My dear brother Raphael and I were collecting data from some Kraang technology when one of them opened a portal. I fell in.” It was a simplified version but they didn’t need to know why they were messing around with Kraang technology in the first place. He certainly wasn’t willing to share the details that occurred merely six weeks ago.
Other-Raph twirled one of the sais around in his hand, taking a step forward so he was standing next to Other-Leo. Donnie assumed he was trying to be threatening but it just kind of fell short (pun fully intended).
“Okay so why isn’t he here too?” Donnie cocked an eyebrow, crossing his arms and peering down his snout at the much shorter version of his older brother.
“Because he didn’t fall in, Chihuahua.” Other-Raph bared his teeth and Donnie only smirked at the response.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He sneered. Donnie leaned forward.
“It means you’re a tiny creature with an astronomical anger management problem-” Before another fight could break loose, the far more mature version of his twin stepped between them.
“That’s enough, you two.” His voice was stern, much like the kind of older sibling voice Raph would use whenever any of them were getting under his skin. It was a weird concept to think about. “I think the best course of action would be for you to stay with us until you’re able to get back to your dimension.”
Tiny-Raph opened his mouth to argue but Mikey swooped past him to link his arm with Donnie, dragging him towards the fire escape. The contact made his skin tingle but it was gone as soon as it was there and he was thankful for not having to make an excuse.
“You have to tell me all about your world!” Mikey’s enthusiasm was contagious, forcing a small smile on his lips as they descended the ladder. Other-him wasn’t too far behind, no doubt wanting to ask his own questions. The remaining two were a bit further away, a hushed conversation between them that Donnie didn’t really care to eavesdrop on.
“Well, I can tell you my dimension has a much more satisfying hue to it than yours.” He kicked a nearby piece of cardboard for emphasis. Who knew something as drab a cellulose could be even more boring than it already was.
“Fascinating.” Other-him caught up to the two of them, his wooden bo tight in his grip as he smiled. He was taller than Donnie, probably taller than his twin too. He’d be lying if he said wasn’t a tad bit envious of that height. “What other differences are there?”
Too many. Donnie thought with a grimace, turning to face forward and follow just a step behind Mikey. There was no mystic energy, the world was so dark, Tiny-Raph wasn’t right, Other-Leo was so many kinds of wrong.
“You all look the same.” Was what he said instead. He brought a finger up to tap against his temple, schooling his face to remain impassive.
“Yeah?” Other-him tilted his head. “Don’t you and your brothers?”
“We’re all different species of turtle.” That caused Mikey to halt in his tracks, spinning on his heels to stare at Donnie wide-eyed.
“Wait, but wouldn’t that mean you aren’t brothers?” Other-Leo and Tiny-Raph were behind them now, their secret discussion seeming to have ended.
“Technically, we’re half brothers. We came from different clutches but the same human DNA was used to mutate us.” Mikey’s eyes got even bigger if that were even possible.
“You’re part human?!” Donnie glanced between the four of them.
“Aren’t you?”
“No.” Other-Leo spoke this time, his own gaze trained curiously on Donnie. “We were regular turtles that accidentally came in contact with mutagen.”
Ah, so they weren’t purposefully created as the perfect soldiers to wipe out humanity. Something told Donnie he shouldn’t just tell that little fact as if it were nothing. They’d probably make a big deal out of it.
“I see.” An awkward lapse of silence overcame the group and eventually, Other-him started walking the rest of the way to a different alleyway. Mikey was practically vibrating next to him with excitement. Donnie suspected the only reason he refrained from asking anything was because of the look Tiny-Raph was giving him.
Admittedly, Donnie was glad the rest of the walk was quiet. He didn’t want to talk about the differences between their worlds.
The group reached a manhole cover and disappeared into the sewers one by one. Donnie spared one last glance at the city that was so different yet nearly the same, ignoring the lump in his throat as he followed the others to the underground.