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Chapter 16
Break Away
Donnie stood in front of the portal with the others standing behind him. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked through the portal into his home. The robot versions of his brothers wandered through the lair aimlessly.
“There are a few things I want to get,” Donnie mumbled. He looked over his shoulder at Mikey. “You have a good freezer, right?”
“Uh?” Mikey scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. Why?”
“My brother’s pet needs to be kept cold,” Donnie answered. The plan was to go into the lair first to get whatever Donnie wanted to keep before they tried to save Karai. There was a possibility that Shredder knew where the lair was.
Leo walked up to Donnie and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I will go with you and help you carry whatever you want to bring. Raph and Mikey will stay here to help us get back out.”
Donnie nodded, took a deep breath and the stepped through the portal. The smell was different and the familiarity of it brought tears to his eyes. He knew it was the last time he was going to be there. He looked at Leo, “Take whatever you want. I’m going to my lab to get a few things.”
“Okay,” Leo nodded. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Donnie shook his head, “No. It’s okay.” He turned and headed into his lab. He felt numb as he walked and it was hard for him to keep his mind focused on the task. All he wanted to do was cry. Fishing though his supplies, Donnie found the one tube of retro-mutagen he had been saving.
“I’m sorry I didn’t give this to you sooner,” Donnie said as he walked up to Timothy. “I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I made this for my father and I hit it from him. I wanted him to have it but at the same time… I didn’t. Maybe if I had given it to him, things would have been different.” Looking down at the tube, Donnie chuckled. “Who am I kidding? If I had tried to give this to Master Splinter, he would have told me to give it to you.”
Donatello poured the retro-mutagen into the tank. “Since you’re frozen, it will take a little while for it to work but you will defrost and be human again. Just find your way home and try to stay out of trouble.”
Moving around the lab, Donnie collected everything he thought he would need and things he didn’t want to fall into the wrong hands, including a few canisters of mutagen. He then took some time to write out a two notes. One was for Timothy, explaining what had happened. The other he was going to attach to the tree, just in case someone, someday found the lair. He wanted their story to be known.
Once he was done, Donnie placed the note for Timothy where he would be able to find it, on top of a pile of clothes and then slung his bag over his shoulder and left the lab. When he entered the common room, Donnie saw Leo wandering through the room with a bag over his shoulder. Leo ran his hand across the pinball machine. “If Mikey was here, he would be trying to come up with a way to take this with us.”
Despite the tears in his eyes, Donnie chuckled softly, “My brother is… was… the same way. He would try to take all of the junk in his room, some pizza, and all the games. Did you find anything?”
Leo nodded and patted his bag, “A few useful things. I stayed out of the bedrooms though. It just seemed like a violation of their privacy.”
“You’re very kind,” Donnie softly smiled. “But they are gone. Go through every room, take anything that you find useful.”
Leo nodded and Donnie continued through the lair to collect what he could and turned off the robots. Sliding open the door to the dojo, Donnie steadied himself before going inside. When his eyes fell on the unfinished robot of his father, he felt his heart sink. He told himself that he would attack Shredder once he had completed all of the robots. He could never bring himself to finish the one of his father. So he set it to look like he was meditating.
He hurried around the room, collecting all of the weapons. He just wanted to get it over with. He heard Leonardo enter the dojo and gasp, “Wow.”
“The tree is impressive, isn’t it,” Donnie said without turning around. “Do you think you can use these rugs?”
“We could probably use them,” Leo nodded. “I’m sure my father would like a few of the decorations as well. We are still trying to make the lair a little more like a home.”
Donnie looked up at the entrance to Splinter’s room and froze. “Do you think you can go into that room there and look around for anything that can be salvaged? I don’t think I can bring myself to go in there.”
“Sure,” Leo said as he walked past Donnie. “Start rolling up the rugs and I’ll be right back.”
Leonardo entered Splinter’s room and Donnie got to work with the rugs. When Leo returned he handed Donnie a few framed pictures of his family. “There really wasn’t much in there worth salvaging. The tatami had seen better days. Your father kept his room pretty sparse. I thought you might want these though.”
“Thank you,” Donnie mumbled, accepting the pictures.
After the rugs were rolled up and the weapons were collected, Leo and Donnie started carrying things out of the room and placed them in a pile near the portal. As Leo carried the last of the items out of the room, Donnie left the note and one of the photos by the tree.
Donnie exited the dojo to see Leo passing the items through the portal and went over to help. Once everything was passed though, Donnie turned back towards his lab. “There is one thing I want to check on and one more thing I need to get before we leave.”
“Okay,” Leo nodded. “I’ll wait.”
Donnie nodded in return and headed back to his lab. He looked in to check on Timmy’s progress and was pleased to see that he was human again, sleeping off the shock of the whole ordeal. “Take care of yourself,” Donnie whispered and then closed the door. He passed back through the common room and into the kitchen.
“Are you ready for one of the strangest things you will ever see?” Donnie smiled past the pain as he opened the freezer. “My brother’s pet.” Ice Cream Kitty mewed when she saw Donnie and didn’t put up a fight as he pulled her out. Holding her out for Leo to see, Donnie said, “This is Ice Cream Kitty. My brother had a way with naming things. She more or less feeds herself since she is made of ice cream and regenerates what is lost. I give her cream ever once and a while, just for good measure. And she is perfectly content living in the freezer so she won’t be any trouble.”
Mikey’s head poked through the portal and he reached out his hands, “That is literally the coolest thing I have ever seen. Oh, can I have her? Please?”
“I thought you might like her,” Donnie smiled, passing Ice Cream Kitty though the portal. “Just make sure Klunk doesn’t eat her.”
“They are gonna be the best of friends,” Mikey declared and disappeared back through the portal.
“Ready?” Leo asked, holding out his hand.
Donnie accepted Leo’s hand and nodded. “I am.”
Raph’s hand appeared through the portal and he pulled them back through. Donnie looked around and noticed that everything had been taken out of the lab and was probably piled just outside the door. They will need to sort through it all later once everything was done.
Donnie turned to look back through the portal for one last look at his home. After saying his silent goodbyes, he sat at the desk and got to work finding Karai. It was easy for him to figure out the mechanics Donatello had put in place and it wasn’t long before Karai appeared on the other side of the portal.
It seemed that Shredder did not trust her and was still keeping her in a cell. She looked dejected. Her hair had grown over the year of her captivity, the bright blond had faided, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup. She was also without her armor and in a simple shirt and pants that looked like a prison uniform.
“You guys should probably leave the room, for now,” Donnie suggested. “I don’t know her mental state.”
“Okay,” Leo nodded and led the others out.
Raph stopped and turned from the door way. “We’ll be right outside. Yell if you end up getting stuck in there or if you need anything.”
“Yeah,” Donnie nodded. “I will.”
He positioned the portal as close to Karai as he could get it and then moved away from the controls. After taking a deep steading breath Donnie walked up to the portal, got down on his knees, and pushed his head through.
“Karai?” Donnie said in a soft voice. It didn’t keep her from jumping in fear.
“Are you a ghost?” He eyes were wide with fear but at least she didn’t look as if she had lost her mind. She was a strong girl. She was going to get through this trauma. But fist, Donnie had to set her free.
“No,” Donnie whispered. “I’m using a portal.” He reached out to her. “Come on. I’m getting you out of here.”
She hesitated for a moment but took his hand and he pulled her through. He got to his feet as she came through the portal and as soon as she was through he pulled her into a warm hug. She fell into his arms and started to cry. “I knew he was lying. I knew you were alive.”
Tears fell from Donnie’s eyes as he struggled to find his voice. “I’m the only one who’s left,” he managed to choke out, sending Karai into a fit of tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t get you out of there sooner. I thought you were dead. Shredder told us that he had killed you.”
“There were some days that I wish he had,” Karai sobbed. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”
As much as he wanted to hold her and cry, Donnie knew that he had to move fast. Pulling away from Karai, he looked into her eyes. “I’ll explain everything later. But for now I need you to listen. You are going to be confused for a little while but there are things I need to do. Okay? Can you trust me?”
Still in a minor amount of shock, Karai nodded and let Donnie guide her to the door. She gasped and her eyes went wide when she saw the others. She held on to him but Donnie ushered her towards Splinter. “Will you take her to the dojo to use the orb?”
“Of course,” Splinter nodded, taking Karai’s hand. “Do not be afraid. All will be explained shortly, my dear. Please, follow me.”
“Why are you so short?” Karai asked in a small voice as they walked away.
There wasn’t time to worry over Karai now. He had one more thing to do before the Shredder realized what was going on. The others followed him back into the lab and once again Donnie sat down at the controls. He did the necessary adjustments to have the portal enter into the Shredder’s throne room.
“Dude…,” Mikey said under his breath. “That’s sick but not in the good way. It’s just messed up.”
Once again Donnie had to steady himself before he was able to move. Taking a deep breath he pushed away from the controls to look through the portal. His brothers’ shells hanged on a wall with their weapons and masks preserved in frames, while Splinter’s pelt was on the floor like a bear skin rug.
“What a sick fuck,” Raph hissed in anger.
“Keep your emotions in check, Raph,” Leo said as he moved towards the portal. “This is the only opportunity we will have to do this. We are not going in there it do anything but collect his family’s remains. I will get Splinter and Leonardo. Mikey, you get Michelangelo and, Raph, you get Raphael.”
“Got it,” Mikey nodded.
And Raph grunted, “Yeah,” though he sounded like he would rather kill someone while he was there.
“Be careful,” Donnie warned. “He has some skilled mutants fighting for him and he is a ninja master as well.”
“We can handle him,” Raph smirked. “We took out aliens and demons. One man will be nothing by comparison.”
“Don’t get over confidant,” Leo chided him. “We don’t know him or what is his capable of.”
“We know exactly what the sick bastard is capable of,” Mikey scowled.
Leo sighed, “Let’s go.”
They rushed in and all Donnie could do was watch and pray that they were not caught. They were as respectful with his family’s remains as they could be in their haste. Leo rolled Splinter’s pelt and tucked it under his arm before turning to the wall to grab Leonardo’s shell and weapons.
Raph was the first back to the portal, followed closely by Mikey. Donnie helped them through and then waited with bated breath for Leo. Once Leo was through the portal, Donnie turned it off for good measure.
They had done it, without event. He had expected the worst but now it was over. Finally he was able to let all of the emotions he had been keeping in check, out. He crumpled to the floor in tears and just sat there sobbing. Relief, pain, anguish, hope all flooded him at once. He was free but he had lost so much.
A pair of arms wrapped around him and held him close. Curling up, Donnie rested his head on the other turtle’s chest. By the scars in the plastron, Donnie could tell that it was Raphael. Just like his brother, the tough guy was a big softy deep down. It was oddly soothing and heartbreaking at the same time.
“You did it,” Raph soothed. “You saved them. Now they can be a peace.”
