Chapter Text
The energy in the Hamato/O'Neil apartment is buzzing in the last few minutes before the teenagers head out. Splinter can't blame Carol and Kirby; this is the first real mission that the kids are going on, and it's of the utmost importance. April and Leo plan to find the three other turtles that Draxum had mutated and train them before the Foot Clan can ressurect the Shredder. Just tracking down the others is a big enough task, but on top of that, once they're all located, they have to be trained, unlock their ninpo, and defeat the Hamato Clan's greatest enemy.
It's a lot to put on two teenagers, so all the worrying is warranted.
The O'Neil's are doting on the two while Splinter sits by the window in silence, looking over the city. His ears, however, turn towards the living room where Carol and Kirby go through the supply checklist.
"You got your bat?"
"Right here, mama," April says, pointing to where it rests in its sling.
Kirby nods and checks that off the list, then reads the next item. "And you have the first-aid kit?"
"In the bag."
She motions to the backpack Leo holds up before taking it from the turtle and slinging it over her shoulder. April doesn't really mind the way her parents are worrying over them and she knows Leonardo doesn't either.
Yeah, sure, in front of the adults, he'll put on a confident, borderline arrogant, front, but she knows damn well that he's terrified inside. Hell, he nearly had a panic attack the night he'd unlocked his ninpo. If doesn't let someone else worry, he can't put on his mask of false confidence. He needs their concern and overbearing carefulness because it'll give him something to focus on other than his fear. And his feelings of inadequacy.
April doesn't blame him for that. She feels the same way. After all, she doesn't have any mystical powers passed down to her through her family, and she doesn't have any authentic weapons. She has to work twice as hard as Leonardo does to be the best ninja she can be, and sometimes she's not even sure if she's good enough at that.
Before she can get too lost in those thoughts, her mom's voice brings her back to reality.
"Y'all know where you're going?"
"Yes!" She rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. Honestly, it's nice that her parents still worry over her so much. She still feels like their baby, and right now, that's a real comforting thought. Like Leo, it's keeping her together.
"And—"
"Mom, relax!" Leo interjects as he puts an arm around April's shoulders. "For years, we've been training to take down the Shredder. We've fought new mutants and we come out on top every time. This is child's play!"
Carol looks at each of them for several seconds, and April thinks that maybe she's trying to decide whether or not the slider's lying. Maybe she can sense the unease and fear he's really feeling inside and is just waiting for him to admit it. And if that's the case, she ends up saying nothing, only nodding her head, seemingly choosing to be satisfied by the answer.
"Alright," she murmurs. Then she cups their cheeks and presses a kiss to each of their foreheads. Kirby gives both of them a tight hug.
Splinter turns his head, just slightly, and in his peripheral he can see the teenagers looking over their bags one last time. The O'Neil parents have stepped back and do their best not to worry, although they still will—he's known them long enough to know that. And he's grateful for it; it spares him from having to show those types of emotions himself. He's always had to be the stoic and knowledgeable single father and ninjitsu teacher. That image would be destroyed if Leo and April ever found out that he worries just as much about them as her own parents do.
He shrugs away the thoughts and stands up straighter; they're about to leave for their mission and he still needs to speak to them. It's time for him to put on the stern-ninja-master persona.
"Leonardo! April!"
Although his tone is serious, the two aren't intimidated. They turn and stand shoulder to shoulder as he walks over and gives them both a quick examination. The bags are packed with their supplies and their weapons are in their sheaths.
It's a good start, but he has to temper their altruistic attitudes with a strong dose of reality.
"Don't let past victories make you arrogant. This journey will not be easy, for either of you," he warns.
In the corner of his eye, he notices April stand a little taller. She's excited about the challenges ahead, but she'll attempt to implement her training in combat. April's always been a very passionate student and she doesn't like to squander what she's learned. "Of course, Master Splinter."
Leonardo, on the other hand, lets his mask of confidence, or borderline arrogance, fall. Even without looking directly at his son, Splinter can make out the nervous expression on his face.
"Sorry, dad," Leo mumbles, just loud enough for the rat to hear him.
Splinter decides not to linger on the subject. The point isn't to make his children feel bad about themselves.
"Remember your training. Stay in the shadows, do not get caught." He warns as he turns to them. Just for a moment, he lets his stoic demeanor fall. "And stay safe."
Before they leave, he motions for them both to lean down, and once they do, he presses a kiss to each of their foreheads. Then he steps aside and allows them to head out into the city while he ignores the smug look the O'Neil's send him.
And now the teenagers are off, trying to find the place to start on their mission.
They already know that their brothers are still in the Hidden City. And they know that Master Splinter reached the surface not too far from the place where Leo and April had met, just outside the cardboard shack the turtle had first lived. So, that's where they start.
It's not long before they arrive. As soon as they land, and have made sure there's nobody around to spot Leo, April starts looking around to see if there's any clues to where the closest entrance is.
Meanwhile Leo, as he looks around, gets lost in his memories.
Truth be told, he hardly remembers this place, yet a rush of familiarity flows through him. Only certain details come to the forefront of his mind: the warmth of his father's fur on a cold and rainy night; the warmth of the sunlight filtering in through the cracks of the cardboard roof; the smell of fresh food his dad had managed to sneak out of a nearby cafe. That last one makes his stomach grumble, despite having eaten before leaving home.
Of course, the clearest memory from this place is from the day he and April met.
More than anything, he remembers the way the sun shone in the alleyway and how it reflected in the puddles he played in. His dad had been occupied with fortifying the shack, and finding some fabric to use as a towel without taking any from their bed piles, that even the rat hadn't noticed how much noise he'd been making. It wasn't long after the young turtle started playing that he'd caught the attention of a young girl who lived nearby.
Her parents allowed her to play outside the day after it rained, just so long as she wore her rain boots and coat. Leo can vividly remember the bright yellow as she appeared and fearlessly asked him if she could play too.
He said yes, of course, and made a new friend. The answer that changed both of their lives forever.
Looking around the area now, Leo can almost see the younger versions of themselves, running around and jumping in the puddles, getting water all over themselves as they laughed and cried out in joy.
He's brought back to reality as his sister lets out a frustrated sigh. She looks over at him and he raises his hands to prevent her from getting too upset.
"Pops said there was an entrance a few blocks from here," he points out. Then he winces as he remembers something pretty important. "Only problem is he doesn't remember in which direction, sooo...."
"We've got a lot of searching to do."
This time he joins her in letting out an exasperated groan. There's really no way to spin all that searching into a good thing; they've got a lot of blocks and alleyways to look in. So they head back onto the rooftops and head in a random direction. After all, at some point they've gotta find an entrance. Doesn't necessarily have to be the same one Pops used.
Only problem? Leo's not even sure how to find one of these entrances.
April thinks because he's got mystic powers, then he must be connected to the Hidden City somehow. It doesn't matter how many times he explains it to her that that's not how his ninpo works, she insists on following his lead. After the third time of trying to get her to understand, he just gives up and tries to follow his gut.
Nearly an hour into their search, after several failures, they pass by a construction zone. Leo doesn't take notice of it.
But April does. On a rooftop across the street from the site, April spot a little dog, or cat, creature out in the open looking scared.
And how can she just ignore a cute thing like him?
"Little guy!" April calls as she rushes across the street to meet the creature.
The exclamation from his older sister startles Leonardo and his stomach drops as he sees her heading to the thing. They're supposed to be looking for a way into the Hidden City! They don't have time for this!
"April!" He calls after her, but it does nothing to stop her in her tracks. The turtle lets out a curse under his breath.
Let's hope this doesn't take long.
Seconds later, he opens a portal in the shadowy portion of the construction site. When he steps out, he sees April now holding the creature in her arms. And not to be heartless, but they've got other things to worry about at the moment. Like the Shredder being ressurected and finding their brothers and him not being seen!
"Aw, he's shaking!" April coos as if she doesn't even notice Leo standing there, petting the thing in her arms. It calms him down a little. "Are you lost?"
The animal whines and clings to her clothes. He finds April comforting, it seems.
Now that he's seeing the animal up close, Leo notices the blue and red areas of its fur, and the tusks protruding from his mouth. Not to mention the bottle around its neck, but he doesn't think much of that. It occurs to the turtle that this animal's likely from the Hidden City.
So he supposes they can make time for it
"What is he?" Leo asks as he tentatively reaches a hand out to pet the creature.
April shrugs.
"I... don't know. Some kind of cat, dog, thing?"
Then, without warning, the animal whines and teleports to a support beam above their heads.
Leo's eyes widen, sort of in shock but also in amazement, as he stares at the little guy. "It can teleport?!"
"It can teleport!" April cheers.
The creature isn't as excited as she is and immediately after teleports back into her arms. He whines and tugs on her jacket to pull her in a certain direction.
Neither ninja pick up on what he's trying to convey to them, and the animal only gets more panicked as he hears the two bounty hunters enter the area. At the reaction, April looks over her shoulder and sees two men with small dogs strapped to their chests.
She doesn't get what's so intimidating about them, she's fought much worse, but they scare the cat/dog/thing she's holding, and that's reason enough not to like them.
"Who the hell are those guys?" She asks as she motions to the figures.
Leo just shrugs.
One of the guys points to the animal in April's arms.
"Hand over the agent," he speaks in some kind of accent. It's not one that either O'Neil/Hamato recognize.
It doesn't matter anyway. April holds the animal closer to her chest, if that's possible, and Leo narrows his eyes. What could a couple of guys possibly want with the little guy in his sister's arms?
"And just what are you gonna do if we don't?" Leo asks as he steps in front of April and unsheathes his katanas.
"Your puny swords do not scare us," the second figure spits out.
And then before either ninja can react, the two guys start to glow—actually glow—and a purple smoke encompasses them both, and it only gets bigger.
At the sight, the animal shakes and cowers in April's arms, and she doesn't blame him. If she wasn't a trained ninja, she'd be doing the same. Then there's another glow and the smoke disappears, leaving the figures in their true yokai forms, riding their hell hounds.
That's definitely not what Leo had expected.
"Eugh, boy."
April doesn't share the same sense of unease. She grins and nudges Leo, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Hey, this is what we trained for, remember?" She throws his own words back at him, which the turtle hates, and shoves the animal in her bag.
When she brings out the bat, Leo gets worried.
Sure, they've been training for years, and they've fought off more than one mutant in the past year or so, but none of them have ever had mystical powers like this. These guys aren't like anybody they've fought before. He's not even sure how he knows that, other than the mystical display of their powers that they'd just witnessed.
"Yeah, but—"
She doesn't let him finish before she's throwing herself at the yokai warriors.
"April O'Neil!"
SHIT.
Without hesitating, he launches himself after her, fully prepared to portal her out of the line of fire.
And the yokai warriors rush forward too, weapons at the ready.
Leo doesn't need to be a genius to know that April's bat won't be enough to fight them off; hell, his own katanas, even with his ninpo, won't be enough to deter them. Thankfully, the animal in her backpack seems to sense how close April is to meeting her maker, and, from inside her bag, teleports her across the construction site before the turtle has enough time to do that himself.
The yokai aren't deterred by the sudden teleportation. One warrior rushes past Leonardo while the other tries to keep the turtle occupied. He can tell it's mostly to keep his attention away from April, and it sorta feels like he's being babysat.
By his adversary.
He shrugs off the feeling. It's not working anyway, he's well aware of where both yokai are and he's already opening portals in front of each of them. The warriors just barely avoid running into one another and April has enough time to change her position.
The warriors aren't dumb, though. They just move to the side and attempt to capture them one more. Leo just keeps dodging and opening new portals to cut off their paths to April.
It gets old very quickly, and he knows it won't work forever.
"Apes? Maybe your new friend should get us out of here?" Leo shouts over his shoulder.
"What, can't do it yourself?" She taunts him.
She's having too much fun keeping the creature away from these guys. It helps her that she barely has to fight, considering Leo's the one doing all the work and the little guy in her bag is teleporting her all over the place.
He can't help how frustrated he gets at the response. "I'm kinda busy down here!"
"Okay, okay!" He can tell she's rolling her eyes by the tone of her voice. Then her voice gets soft as she opens the bag and addresses the animal hidden in there. "Hey little guy, can you help us out here?"
She expects him to just teleport them over to Leo and then to a street several blocks away.
Simple!
But the little guy just whines and shakes his head. She can even recognize the apologetic expression on his face.
April's pretty sure she gets the hint. "You... can't?"
He nods and whines again. Her eyes widen and an uneasy feeling bubbles up in her stomach. She's really stepped in it now, hasn't she....
Oh, that's not good.
April leans over and yells down to her brother. "We have a problem!"
Leo glances in her direction. He intends to ask just what kind of problem, they already have a couple to deal with at the moment, but he doesn't get the chance. The yokai warriors just... stop fighting and they both keep their attention in April.
He doesn't think anything of it at first. She's gonna have her friend teleport her out of here and he'll be close behind.
Then one of the warriors holds hid hand out, and it glows, and he hears April yelp.
Leonardo turns and looks up to see the little guy in a magical sphere being pulled towards the yokai. April's holding onto it and putting up a hell of a fight to break it open and yet it doesn't work.
Without having to think, Leo swings his katanas again and tries opening a portal in the sphere to get him out.
And it actually works! The little guy lands beside him. April falls and lands on her feet as the sphere disappears.
Just as he's about to let himself be excited about this small victory, the yokai just trap him again and try to pull him back. So Leo opens a portal again and lets the little guy escape.
The third time this happens, as the animal leaps towards April, Leo's katana slices through the rope holding the bottle around his neck. He doesn't think much of that; his focus is on the little guy himself and how he's now clinging to April's jacket. And he almost doesn't notice how the yokai catch the bottle before it hits the ground.
They all notice how the yokai start to escape, however.
April and Leo watch as the warriors open an entrance on a nearby wall and jump into it. Before the entryway can close, Leo throws a katana past the entrance and grabs April's jacket.
Then he closes his eyes and concentrates. When he opens them, the three are falling towards a colorful ground.
Leo lands first and he holds his arms out to catch April as she lands and makes sure the animal, still holding onto her, is alright. She brushes the slider off and insists that she's fine so he picks up his swords and looks around. He doesn't see the yokai warriors anywhere.
"They're gone." He says as he sheathes his katanas, looking over at April. "Think we should head after them?"
She considers the question and looks towards the creature in her arms before shaking her head.
"Mm. Not anymore, as long as they leave this little guy alone."
Leo nods and turns his attention to the animal. Now that he's thinking about it, it's gonna get difficult to talk about him, or even think about him if he doesn't have a name. And he seems to like April well enough; he's not trying to get away from them. Might as well make him a part of the family.
"What would be a good name for him, anyway?" He asks.
"How about... Mayhem?"
Mayhem churrs and closes his eyes, almost smiling in a way. From what Leo can tell, the little guy likes it.
"Huh, oddly fitting." Leo lifts a hand to pet Mayhem, who allows it, and takes a good look around. He freezes as he realizes they're in the Hidden City.
His mind races with thoughts, the most prominent being those of their brothers.
Their brothers are here, somewhere. After all these years, they're going to find the other turtles, and meet them face to face. They're going to find out where they are and how they were raised, and just who they are, because while he and April were raised with the idea of who they would've been, that's not necessarily who they became.
And now they're going to find out exactly that.
Eventually Leo brings himself out of his thoughts and nudges April.
"Look."
She tears her attention away from Mayhem and looks up at him, then turning her gaze to what he's staring at. And she lets out an awestruck gasp.
"The Hidden City!"
It's so beautiful. The city is glowing and made of bright colors, and it stands out against the dark confines of the earth. From where they are she can make out yokai citizens going about their lives. In the distance she can even see some flashes of brightly colored lights, and some colored smoke. This is like a place that she would see in her dreams.
"Our brothers are here, somewhere."
April looks over at him upon hearing his comment and she takes in the hopeful, yet longing, look on his face. He's been waiting for this for a long time now, to meet the other turtles he was mutated with. To finally meet the rest of their family.
She'll be lying if she says she doesn't feel the same way.
"Then what are we waiting for?" April grins as she takes Leo's hand and pulls him towards the city. "We've got some brothers to bring home!"