Chapter Text
Naturally, and as per usual, Donnie’s lab was once again exploding. Or, more like it was imploding, if he were to be scientifically accurate. However, as this thought passed, he decided to not mention it to his three siblings, who were currently holding on to anything they could find for dear life as the portal he had accidentally created was doing its best to suck them through for some unknown reason.
Honestly, if he weren’t clinging to Leo’s ankle in the present moment as his staff was slowly being ripped out of its holder and one of the loose ties on his foot wraps was starting to come unraveled, he would be marveling at his success!
An actual interdimensional portal that he had managed to build without bullshit 80s cartoon logic or the power of one very evil alien hivemind! He really was a genius!
If only he had known that all he’d really needed was to not be fighting something or other 24/7 to do this, he’d have been much more lethal when he was younger!
Unfortunately, and despite his success, Donnie’s absolute feat of engineering was not being very helpful at the moment.
It was probably some kind of issue with the kraang power source he’d used; he’d found it in the back of his closet, and it had likely been there, forgotten, since he was fifteen, meaning it was almost definitely obsolete by now.
He’d only used it because he didn’t expect the device to even power on after the first try, let alone suck all the furniture in his lab that he hadn’t gotten around to bolting down towards it as fast as possible. If only he could get close without being pulled in, he’d almost definitely be able to find what was causing it to create such an intense vortex (and study it).
To Donnie’s great dismay, his machine had instead decided to lift a stray filing cabinet through the air and clock Raph in the head with it, sending him flying off the ground where he’d been grabbing one of the bolted-down legs of Donnie’s desk,
and directly into the portal. The cabinet slammed into one of the device’s edges and fell to the ground.
He could hear Leo cursing as more not-bolted-down furniture and stray papers began to fly and Mikey launched himself through the portal, yelling something incomprehensible.
“I’m gonna let go!” Leo yelled over the wind. Donnie didn’t have time to nod, because he was suddenly airborne and flying through a long tunnel of endless purple rings, slowly fading in and out and distorting his vision. He wanted to throw up. Why was this so much worse than any other portal he’d ever been in? It must’ve been the outdated tech. All the kraang portals they’d ever gone through had obviously been well-maintained, and the 80s portal was made with technology considered up to date in their dimension.
The tunnel was so long, and where was Leo? She was no longer in his line of vision, and the acceleration of his body kept Donnie unable, or at least afraid, to move his head to look.
It felt like forever. It felt like a second, because before he knew it he was bouncing across a rooftop in an unusually bright New York, Leo skidding beside him.
He opened his mouth to say something, but a hand clapped over it. It was Mikey, who silently shushed him and jerked his head towards the edge of the roof.
Despite his scraped skin and already aching bruises, Donnie peered over the ledge.
In the alley below, a manhole cover rolled around its rim once, twice, and then it was silent. Next to it, in plain sight, was one of their shurikens. To be specific, one of Raph’s shurikens, and even in the faint purple light their family crest glittered in red.
“Fuuuck, guys.” Mikey whispered.
“Language.” Leo immediately shot back through her teeth on instinct, hands dragging down her face comically.
“No, no, I totally agree. What are we gonna do?”
Raph woke up to soft light, way too many colors, the weird feeling of the 80s dimension, and the almost-familiar sensation of being tied to a chair.
He stayed as still as possible, as the voices in the room around him started to register. His head ached with a passion, and he was pretty sure he’d been hit with…Donnie’s filing cabinet?? Something big with sharp corners. He was still a little nauseous, probably from what he assumed was portal travel.
There was something (probably blood), dripping into his good eye, so that was definitely a clue as to what had happened. Jesus, another concussion? He was getting a little too old for this shit. He should be at home, on the couch, with a nice cup of tea that he had definitely asked Leo if he could use some of her stash for, and an order from Murakami’s on the way via April and Casey. It was the end of August, the lair’s air conditioning was on high, and he hadn’t been in a hostage situation in over seven years. Life was good.
Now, of course, he’d broken that streak, but at least he was probably in a different dimension, meaning this wasn’t some kind of new threat he’d have to devote three more years of his life to fighting.
Raph was just about to try and run some sort of impact vision test on himself (ironic, given he was nearly half blind), when he was spun around quicker than he would’ve liked and faced with what generally appeared to be a group of colorful blobs. Much more colorful that what even existed in his dimension, so yay! At least he could go back into retirement when he got home.
His good eye was stuck shut from the blood that had dried, because of course it was, and he had absolutely no idea what any of these people looked like. Hopefully they weren’t humans, and he wasn’t about to get vivisected.
He just hoped his siblings would get here soon and they could be home before April and Casey arrived.
Shit. Someone was talking to him.
“I said, who are you???”
Raph squinted as best he could. As usual, it did nothing.
“Yeah, could you just wipe this stuff off first? I kinda can’t see out of this eye very well.” Definitely a cocky move, but fuck this, Raph was determined to stay retired and he was not about to try and fight his way out not being able to see.
The same voice let out an annoyed grunt and left, but after a while their breathing and footsteps returned, and a distinctly three-fingered hand carefully held his face in place while the blood was wiped off.
Once he had regained his vision, he was met with a very…expected sight. Or. Almost expected. Something was a little different, but hey, who was he to judge?
Four eye-bleachingly colorful (presumably ninja) turtles stood (mostly) in front of him, of various heights and varyingly bandaged. And, bonus! They were also color coded! Life is beautiful and everything is real!
The one closest to him, probably this world’s Donnie stepped back, glaring at him and quiet.
Behind him was a mutant the size of Slash who was apparently…this dimension’s Raph? He felt cheated out of a good deal. Sure, he’d grown, but he was only, what, five four? This guy must have been over six feet.
Next to him and perched on the leg of an armchair was who must have been the other Mikey, who was, by the way, tiny, and slumped next to him in the seat was (of course) the other Leo. He looked exhausted (and more banged up than the rest of them), and Raph couldn’t help but feel a bit of a twinge in his chest.
After so many years, he still remembered exactly that same look and what it meant. Ah, fuck. Immediately he was getting attached.
They broke your ‘no hostage situation’ streak! Snap out of it!
“Ok, I fixed it, now tell me who you are and what you want!” Other Donnie snapped at him, stepping up to him once again.
“Jeez, calm down, it’s not like I’m going anywhere.” He noticed the alternate’s hand move, maybe to reach for something, maybe a weapon? His eyes narrowed, so he was definitely not looking to mess around. Raph wouldn’t blame him. He had a right to be jumpy, going off the state he and his brothers were in.
He needed to deescalate. “Look, it’s ok. I can’t do anything to you, alright? And I also don’t want to. I’ll tell you, but, like. Take a breather.” He was pretty sure dropping the multidimensional bomb on them right now would maybe not be for the best.
Other Donnie rubbed at the inner corners of his eyes and stepped back towards Raph’s alternate, leaning against him, and wow, now that he got a better look at them, they all looked so young. Other Mikey couldn’t have been older than fifteen or sixteen, although the other three looked like they could be around seventeen (or maybe a little younger) if he squinted. He hoped they were older than they looked.
Meanwhile, his siblings were currently creeping along the ceiling beams, no doubt here to get him out. The alternates had begun to talk quietly, likely unaware.
Raph did his best to try and signal to Leo to stop, or wait, but there wasn’t much he could do with his arms stuck, and too many sudden movements would make them suspicious.
Surely they’d seen how banged up these possibly younger versions of themselves were? And, yeah, Raph wasn’t the biggest fan of being tied to a chair, but he’d take that for a few more hours rather than attacking a bunch of teenagers.
But apparently they had not seen, or at least didn’t take the time to look.
Silently, all three of them fell into position, almost invisible save for the whites of their eyes. Yeah, this was about to be an absolute shitshow.
There was a sudden movement in the rafters, and all Raph could do was watch as the lights shut off. Almost instantly, Mikey appeared in a cloud of smoke, yelling his head off and throwing what must have been one of Casey’s spare paint grenades at the alternates, who immediately wiped the paint out of their eyes and dropped into fighting stance, although Raph was certain they were in no shape to attack anyone.
At the same time, Leo dropped behind him and cut the ropes, then threw a smoke bomb at the ground and yanked him up and back to the ceiling with her grappling hook (for once someone was prepared) before signaling down to their younger brother.
Below them, there was sudden chaos in the dark. Mikey zipped back up next to them after a moment, and Donnie materialized from wherever he’d just been meddling with the lights.
“Great work, let’s go.” Leo took off along the beam they had all been standing on. The three of them followed, as the voices from below grew louder, until suddenly there was a bright red flash and the terrible wrenching sound of metal ripping in all the wrong places, and a cloud of smoke, almost as though a huge fist had punched through the ceiling and just barely missed them. Dust and dirt rained from the ceiling, along with tiny slivers of metal, further obscuring the view down.
The beam was bent at a harsh angle, almost detached and curled to the side where they had been about to run. Paper thin slices of metal emerged from the sides, and there was the telltale ragged edge of a huge rip where it ended.
Leo slid to a stop, almost teetering over the edge until Donnie yanked her back. She looked back at Raph (as if he knew), eyes wide with shock.
“What the hell happened p??”
“Hey, language!” Raph flicked the back of Mikey’s head at that.
“I don’t know, but maybe I would’ve if you’d decided to even hesitate before attacking a bunch of kids! What are you asking me for?!” He practically hissed.
“You were down there that whole time! Why didn’t you signal??”
“MY HANDS WERE TIED TO A CHAIR!!”
“You—“
“As nostalgic as this is, I really think we should get a move on before we get squashed like a bunch of roaches!” Donnie whisper-yelled, hopping the next beam over, Mikey close behind him. Raph and Leo followed, although their argument wasn’t forgotten.
“Just be glad I didn’t let Donnie flashbang them, ok?”
Raph punched her in the shoulder.
Below them, neon purple and red glowed through the dust clouds, almost swiveling. There was the sound of footsteps too, one set quick and the other more sluggish, accompanied with the clack of what must have been crutches. They disappeared as the shouts of (probably) Other him and Other Donnie finally began to reach his ears.
“…stay here, you track them through the tunnels or wherever they are.” It must have been his alternate, since the voice responding sounded way too nerdy to be any version of him.
“What do I do when I find them??”
“I dunno, trap them??”
“Right, so lethal force. Got it, bye!”
“DONNIE!”
The purple vanished from below, and was Raph the only one who had heard that? The ceiling was sloping lower as they ran, and the beam appeared to be coming to an end soon.
Ahead of him, Donnie jumped to the side and disappeared through a dark crevice in the wall, which must have been how they’d come in. Mikey followed, and Leo grabbed him by the wrist as they jumped, making sure he didn’t miss. Raph internally rolled his eyes, but oh well. He was, he’d admit, a little shaky, and he preferred not flying off into the darkness of the passage as they fell through it.
They landed on the warm floor of a dry tunnel, and promptly collapsed against the walls. Jesus, he was getting too old for this. Mikey sprawled out on the floor, huffing and puffing dramatically, and Leo somehow had brought a water bottle with her and was chugging it.
“Let me get a look at your head, Raph.” Sure enough, it was still bleeding, although it had barely welled onto his forehead.
“I think it’s fine.”
“Nuh uh,” Donnie shook his head. “Sit down.”
“C’mon, it’s just a cut. Save the meds for if we really need ‘em.”
Raph knew he was lying as soon as the words left his mouth. He assumed it was the adrenaline that had let him run, and he was almost definitely right.
His head ached with his pulse, and the heat wasn’t doing him any favors. The air felt thick, and he was apparently extremely nauseous. He swayed on his feet once, twice, and then everything was a little too much and spinning around him, and he shut his eyes.