making my FBI agent and guardian angel watch me draw people holding hands 〜 NSFT 〜 she/her 〜 old enough to still want to be a green monkey iykyk 🔞minors gtfo🔞
[ ✓ ] unattended terror with a tablet + internet access
[ x ] requests gerbil
[ ✓ ] ‘turn dudes sloppy’ founder, ceo, advocate
this is a side art blog so can’t do much in the way of interaction since i’m keeping my side and main art separate
i’ll still see tags and replies so, idk, unless you’re absolutely hankering for a response i’ll just make little posts if you really, really, really, really needed an answer to something ig
if you get inspired to write and want to credit me in your fics, first: aw thanks, the minimum I’d like is just a little “inspired by/inspo from 8pmblackcoffee” blurb somewhere.
if your fic was very closely modeled to a drawing then a little link to the art in question is very appreciated, and if you wanted to put a drawing in your AO3 (which we love and support in this house) then a hyperlinked “by 8pmblackcoffee” is beloved.
lastly, i’d like a tag so I can go read it! i can’t reply as 8pmblackcoffee but just know I’ll see the tag, and considering the writers I see buzzing around in my notifications-- i love your work already
There are TEN slots open for my sketch commissions, until the 31st! B&W or Colored, whatever you wanna do! If you want something spicy but you've been scared or intimidated to get it, do it NOW. Come into my bosom and be assured you cannot ask for anything I haven't seen before.
There are TEN slots open for my sketch commissions, until the 31st! B&W or Colored, whatever you wanna do! If you want something spicy but you've been scared or intimidated to get it, do it NOW. Come into my bosom and be assured you cannot ask for anything I haven't seen before.
genuinely i don’t think it’s possible to easily explain the explicit part of online friendships to people who don’t Understand. i don’t mean like, explicit in the sense of “oh you’re sexting” or whatever. no. i mean when you and your friend start gleefully making up explicit sexual scenarios for your shared blorbos and you get giddier and giddier as you add more detail and you’ll be grinning at your screen as you type away at mach speeds. and it’s entirely nonsexual in an interpersonal sense, you’re not really getting Into it, but ohhhhh it’s soooooo fun and satisfying. and you can NEVER tell someone who doesn’t also do this that your mood is actively improved like fivefold because you and your friend played Sexual Tuoys together because they’ll go “what the FUCK.”
Summary: the turtles send dick pics to y/n and shit gets stupid
Warnings: sexual themes, swearing
group chat: dr banner's funky little friends
Leo⚔: Y/N we need to ask you a question.
Dontron: are we SERIOUSLY doing this??
Raffff 🔪🔪: lol donnie gettin scared
Dontron: jfc Im not scared i just dont want to make y/n uncomfortable
Mikeeey: idk what u thinks gonna happen OBVIOUSLy shes gonna like mine more
Raffff🔪🔪: HA
y/n's gonna need a fuckin magnifying glass to see urs mike
Leo⚔: Y/N are you there
Y/n: huh?
oh lol hey guys
are y’all comparin tiddy sizes or some shit
Bc if so I hate to say it but Raph’s got y’all beat
Mikeeey: AHAHAHA
Leo⚔: 😂
Dontron: 😭😭😭
Raffff🔪🔪: omfg
STOP CALLING EM TITS.
Y/n: I just tell it like it is man
Mikeeey: u think raphs got better totties than ME??? i'm HURT
Y/n: look. Raph’s just got massive honkers.
There’s no point denying that he's got the mondo bazongas
(Leo⚔, Mikeeey, & Dontron laughed at your message)
Dontron: ^^^
Mikeeey: dang 😔 can’t argue with the facts
Raffff🔪🔪: STOP calling em tits they are MUSCLE
Y/n: Raph,,, Tiddy is an Emotion,,, its a Feeling,,,
(Mikeeey emphasized your message)
Leo⚔: can you elaborate on that
Y/n: No.
(Raffff🔪🔪, Dontron, Mikeeey, & Leo⚔ laughed at your message)
You don’t gotta be a lady to have tiddies case closed
Raffff🔪🔪: THEY ARE NOT TITS JESUS FCUK
Y/n: Idk what to tell you raph u asked and I delivered.
I diagnose you w Huge Milkers
Raffff🔪🔪: THATS NOT WHAT WE WERE EVEN ASKING ABOUT
Y/n: Oh lol my bad ig
Leo⚔: we were hoping we could get your input on a very sensitive matter
Raffff🔪🔪: jfc
Mikeeey: Leo why r u phrasin it like someone DIED
Y/n: Okay someone pls just tell me what it is
Dontron: we’re comparing dicks and we want your input
Y/n: PFFT ARE YOU FOR REAL???
Dontron: I TOLD you
Leo⚔: never mind, forget it. Dumb idea. sorry y/n
Y/n: HOLD UP I DIDNT SAY NO COME BACK
What do you mean you want my opinion?? Like just generally what girls like or?
Bc different girls have different tastes but I know Generally lmao
Dontron: generally would be fine
Mikeeey: or u could tell us what YOU like 😜
Raffff🔪🔪: stfu mikey
Y/n: Are y’all fuckin w me right now Bc I stg
Leo⚔: I think you’d know if we were fucking
Raffff🔪🔪: 🙄🙄
Dontron: 🙄🙄🙄
Mikeeey: 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Raffff🔪🔪: you must be really popular w girls huh
Y/n: Alright I’m game, how am I judging these
[Mikeeey sent an image]
[Raffff🔪🔪 sent an image]
[Dontron sent an image]
[Leo⚔ sent an image]
Y/n: ASJDIAO
FUCK
HOLY SHIT
I FORGTO YOU COULD SEND THOESE
Raffff🔪🔪: WHAT DID YOU EXPECT??
(Dontron, Mikeeey, and Leo⚔ emphasized that message)
Y/n: IDK LIKE
A PWOERPOINT OR SOME SHIT
SHARK TANK BUT DICKS?? I DONT FUCKING KNOW
(Mikeeey, Raffff🔪🔪, and Dontron laughed at your message)
Y/n: HOLD ON
Dontron: btw from longest to shortest it’s me, raph, Leo, and mikey
Y/n: okay now i've calmed down and mentally Prepared myself to see some dick pics
Y/n: Aight aight So. first off. do not have garbage in the bg of a dick pic
Dontron: PFFT
Raffff🔪🔪: @ mike lmaoooo
Mikeeey: 😔😔
Y/n: raph PLEASE wash under your fingernails
or at the very least wash your HANDS
Raffff🔪🔪: the dirts just gonna get back under there tho
Dontron: why am i not surprised
walkin around w dick hands smh
Raffff🔪🔪: its a man thing you wouldnt understand
Mikeeey: wait r u supposed to wash ur hands after touching ur dick
Y/n: Yes.
Dontron: YES OH MY GOD
Mikeeey: I didn't know!!
Raffff🔪🔪: don't listen to em mike they don't know shit
Leo⚔: guys stop interrupting let y/n finish
Raffff🔪🔪: simp
Dontron: simp
Mikeeey: SIMPPP
Y/n: Okay,, so,,,
Mikeeey: 👀👀
Dontron:👀👀👀
Y/n: donnie I mean this in the nicest way possible.
Y/n: why did you take a hostage picture of your dick
(Leo⚔, Raffff🔪🔪, Mikeeey, and Dontron laughed at your message)
Mikeeey: PFFFFFT YOURE RIGHT
Leo⚔: has to be held at gunpoint to cooperate
(Y/n, Raffff🔪🔪, and Mikeeey laughed at that message)
Dontron: how would I get around with this thing otherwise
Mikeeey: wind it up like a garden hose
(Y/n, Raffff🔪🔪, Leo⚔, and Dontron laughed at that message)
Y/n: okay let me actually finish this
Leo. I'm just gonna say.
I can see the wall of your room in the picture
Leo⚔: ?
Mikeeey: wait now i gotta look
Mikeeey: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Dontron: ???MIKU???
Raffff🔪🔪: OH MY GOD 😂😂😂😂😂
Dontron: HEY WAIT THATTS MY MIKU POSTER
Dontron: YOU WHORE
[Leo⚔ has left the chat]
[Y/n added Leo⚔ to 'dr banner's funky little friends']
Mikeeey: YOU CANT RUN
Dontron: homewrecker!!!
Leo⚔: ..........i am ashamed
Y/n: Leo if it makes u feel better its def not the most embarrassing dick pic i've been sent lol
and i've been sent a LOT
like
hundreds lol
Leo⚔: HUH?
Raffff🔪🔪: HUNDRESD??
Dontron: who sends you all these dick pics????
Y/n: random guys mostly
Dontron: i guess that makes sense w the internet lol
Y/n: ((also vern once lmao))
Dontron: WAIT
Raffff🔪🔪: WHT
Leo⚔: WHAT
Dontron: ??
Mikeeey: did you ask for them????
Y/n: of course not!!
Y/n: he is SO not my type lol he's like a billion years old
it was a total accident he meant to text his gf
Leo⚔: do you want me to kill him
(Raffff🔪🔪, Mikeeey, and Dontron emphasized that message)
Y/n: NO it's literally fine he was SUPER embarrassed
got me a new tv after apologizing like a thousand times
Raffff🔪🔪: vern better watch his fucking back
Raffff🔪🔪: drop an addy i just wanna talk
Mikeeey: unsolicited pics are worth like TEN tvs
(Raffff🔪🔪, Leo⚔, and Dontron all emphasized that message)
Y/n: Also sent me some edible arrangements
there was also Not much to see lmao
just self-tanner lines and broken dreams
Mikeeey: gross
Y/n: 🤷🤷 what can i say dicks are terrible to look at
Raffff🔪🔪: what's that supposed to mean
Y/n: usually they look weird and kinda gross? idk
I will say yall got Aesthetically Pleasing dongers
idk how mutation made your dicks look that pretty but it did a great fuckin job
Mikeeey: 🥺🥺🥺
Dontron: that's actually super nice oddly enough
Y/n: in short,,
nice cock 👌
(Raffff🔪🔪, Mikeeey, Dontron, & Leo⚔ liked your message)
Karai knew something was wrong before the message ever reached her.
The air inside the Foot compound had shifted, too still, too controlled, closed off. The kind of silence that only existed when something had already been set into motion. She walked the corridor with measured steps, her expression neutral, but her mind racing
Then she heard it.
“Captured on the West side. Blue leader.”
Her steps stopped.
Just for a fraction of a second, but it was enough.
Leonardo.
A slow breath filled her lungs, deliberate, controlled, but it did nothing to quiet the sharp, immediate heat that coiled in her chest. Not fear. Not exactly.
Something more dangerous.
She turned slightly, just enough to catch the rest of the conversation drifting from the adjacent room.
“...samples are viable. Higher concentration than expected.”
“Of course they are. It’s a stabilized mutagen. That’s the point.”
A pause, then—
“Orders are to extract everything we can before termination.”
Karai’s stomach tightened.
Termination.
Not interrogation. Not leverage. This wasn’t standard protocol, not even close.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as the realization began to settle into something colder.
This wasn’t about intelligence.
This wasn’t about strategy.
This was containment. Which meant someone had changed the objective without her.
Karai stepped back into the corridor, mind moving fast now, connecting threads she hadn’t wanted to look at too closely before.
The rooftop.
The hesitation.
The moment she hadn’t taken the shot.
And worse…the moment she hadn’t stopped, what happened. She had felt it then, a shift, but it wasn’t from weakness, but something dangerously close, because in the Foot, distinction didn’t matter.
Either someone had seen, or someone had reported.
—
A guard rounding the corner stopped, a deep bow with a dip of his head as he saw her.
“Mistress Karai-sama.”
She didn’t stop walking.
“When were these orders given?” she asked, her tone even, controlled, almost bored.
The guard hesitated, his left eye slightly twitched as his hand tightened on the gun strapped to his chest.
“This morning.”
A lie.
At least not the whole truth.
She stopped, turning slowly, hissing with an evident glint in her eye, “and you didn’t think that required my awareness?”
The guard stiffened, his body easily readable, his voice feigning authority, “It came from above.”
Silence. It was as she thought. Karai held his gaze just long enough to watch him squirm, allowing the weight of the truth to settle in before dismissing him with nothing more than a slight turn of her head and a flick of her wrist.
Above her clearance, only one thing meant. She wasn’t being trusted and cut out, which in the Foot, meant that this was the beginning of the end.
She continued, her plans changing as she turned down the next corridor before coming up on a set of metal doors.
The door opened with a quiet hiss, and for the first time since hearing his name…she saw him.
Leonardo.
He was suspended, arms pulled upward, bound tight above his head. Wrists secured to metal restraints embedded in the wall. His body stretched into an X, legs forced apart, ankles locked into place. His weapons were strewn to the side. A series of thin, precisely placed needles was embedded along his arms, the tubing running from them into a clleciton unit at the side.
The darkened vials were slowly filling.
Karai stilled, not out of shock, but recognition. They weren’t interrogating him, but harvesting him. Because why waste something that valuable? Her stomach flipped, jaw tightening just slightly. That same heat from before flared again, but sharper, clearer, angrier.
One of the technicians glanced up, startled.
“Mistress Karai, we weren’t informed you would…”
“You’ve adjusted the extraction rate,” she said, her tone even.
One of the technicians stiffened.
“Yes…orders were to increase yield while maintaining viability.”
Karai’s eyes shifted to him.
“Whose orders?”
A pause, too long to be trustworthy.
Another technician stepped in quickly to smooth things over.
“We were instructed to proceed under revised cleara…”
“By who?” Karai’s voice leaves little room for bullshit; the silence stretched, and with that silence came a shift. She felt the familiar pull of being watched.
She exhaled slowly, posture easily, as if in acceptance, as if she was still playing her role.
“Continue,” she said calmly, stepping closer to Leonardo.
Behind her, the technicians hesitated; she could see one of them move toward the console to flag her presence.
That was enough.
She moved, swift, clean, precise, pivoting on her heel to close the distance in a single step, her hand clutching the technician at the throat, driving him back into the console.
A clean strike to the carotid.
As he dropped without a sound, the second technician barely had time to react before a flash of steel and a breath cut too short. A sudden stillness overtakes the room; the only noise is the resounding beeps of the machines connected to him.
Two bodies, minimal struggle, no mess. But—
The third technician froze, her eyes wide, processing too slowly.
Karai turned, “Stay where you are.”
But she didn’t see the technician bolt, the door sliding open just long enough for her to slip through, and just like that, the silence was shattered. A distant alarm hadn’t sounded, but it would within minutes, and Karai knew she couldn’t afford to let chase her.
That was a choice, and the only thing that mattered now was Leo.
He watched with lidded eyes, but didn’t miss a beat.
His voice came low, edged with sarcasm and a small huff.
“Subtle,” a faint twitch of his lips suggested humor in his dreary tone.
Karai was already moving, hands working quickly at the nearest line, shutting off the flow, removing the needles with practiced precision.
“You think subtle is an option?”
One by one, the lines came free, and drops of darkened blood followed. She could feel him tense as her hands raked over his pebbled flesh, but he made no sound as he tracked each of her movements.
“You just made yourself the problem,” he said, calm and with a half-second pause, just long enough for it to land.
“They changed the objective,” she whispered, “This isn’t about information. It’s about control, removing variables.” Her fingers moved, trailing softly up his neck, across his jaw, and up, stopping at the locking mechanism just below his wrists.
“And right now,” she added, voice tightening as she fumbled with the lock, not making eye contact, “You’re not the only one they’re preparing to eliminate.”
Click.
One restraint loosened. Leo dropped slightly on one side, catching himself through the remaining bindings, muscles tightening against the sudden shift. Their eyes locking, closer now, each hearing the reverberating beats of their hearts, both focusing on calming breaths as they both try to decide what’s next.
“You let him go,” Leonardo stated, eyes burning into hers, flicking as if he were searching for the truth. And without looking away, she says,
“Yes.” No hesitance in her voice. Another click.
“Why?”
The question felt heavy as it sat, heavier this time because it mattered now. She stepped in closer, reaching for the next restraint. Close enough that her voice didn’t need to carry.
“Because,” she quietly said, “If they’re watching… I need them to see it happen.”
Leo’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“See what?”
With a final schnick, the last restraint released. Karai’s hand slid down briefly, steadying him as he shifted his weight, gaining his balance. Her voice dropped, lower, sharper.
“Which side I choose.”
For half a breath, neither one moved as they stood chest to chest.
Then, the sound of fast-paced footsteps echoed, closing in the corridor.
Karai pulled back first, mask back in place, her decision made.
“There are three routes out, but only one buys us time.”
“Then don’t pick the obvious one,” Leo smirks, a flicker of approval as he reaches for his katanas.
—
The escaped technician stumbled forward,
“INTRUDER…KARAI…”
Red lights blaze as the alarm is triggered.
—
Leo’s the first to move, despite being weakened, as the door bursts open.
Disarm. Pivot. Strike.
Karai moves in, finishing the second before he hits the ground. They don’t look at each other; they don’t need to, as they move in perfect unison.
—
A metal hatch SLAMS open as Raph drops through hard, stumbling on impact. His breathing is uneven as he runs through the lair’s entrance.
“Don!”
He catches himself on the way, shakes his head in an attempt to expel the gas that hasn’t fully worn off yet. His eyes are still burning as he moves deeper into the lair.
Donnie and Mikey snap up from the console area.
“Whoa, Raph?! What,”
Raph grabs the edge of the table to steady himself.
“They took’em.” he coughed out, arms scrapping across his brow in a feeble attempt to clear his vision.
“Leo,” Mikey’s frantic whisper was barely heard as Donnie rammed into his chair in front of the monitors.
—
They turned a corner fast, too fast as Leo clips the wall slightly as his body is recovering slower and Karai notices instantly. She shifts her body, positioning herself between him and the next blind turn.
Guards ahead.
“Left.”
“No–right, less traffic,” Leo breathes through bated breath.
They don’t have the time to hesitate, and within a fraction of a second, she follows him.
—
“How long ago?” Donnie asks, already pulling up scanners, typing fast as multiple screens come alive.
“Minutes, maybe less, I don’t know, they dropped some kind of gas,”
He rakes his fist along his brow in an attempt to ease the headache that is brewing just beneath the surface.
“Leo didn’t make—”
“No,” Raph snaps, “he didn’t.”
—
The space is tight, narrow, leaving no room as the Foot soldiers rush down.
Leo engages first, and Karai immediately follows. She sweeps low as he blocks high, she strikes, he finishes. This isn’t practiced, but their connection is evident.
—
“I’ve got him!” Donnie all but jumps, “barely…according to my calculations it's—jumping, like interference…”
April moves in behind him, Casey just arriving from the tunnel entrance.
“Can you trace it?”
“I’m trying…it’s not clean,”
Raphael roars, twisting to slam his fist against the column that’s holding him up.
“Try harder!”
—
The escaped technician, panicked and breathless, “She killed them…Karai, she’s with him—”
A shadowed figure listens, still, cold, distant.
“Seal all exits,” he commands, “Escalate response,” a pause, voice going colder, “terminate if necessary.”
—
Karai stops just before the exit door as she feels the shift, sensing more guards. She looks back at Leo, “They’re adjusting.”
He exhales slowly, “I can feel it too.” He nods in agreement, eyes sweeping along the corridor, calculating.
—
“There’s something else…I’m picking up irregular readings like…like they were pulling something from him.” Donnie reads, his eyes scanning the information he’s hacked.
“What do you mean, pulling?” Raphael growls, eyes narrowing as he tries to decipher Don’s screens.
April’s expression tightens. “That’s not good.”
Casey mutters from beside her, “Yeah, no kiddin’.”
—
For a moment, there’s a stillness in the air, and Karai allows her eyes to scan as he leans against the wall.
There’s blood on his arms, where the needles were, and her jaw tightens at the memory.
“They were harvesting it.” She’s never felt this small before, but being around him, like this, is changing her.
Leo lets out a quiet breath, “Figured.” Her eyes watch as his body shifts along the wall, arm coming up to hold along his lower plastron, head leaned back against the wall, eyes closed as a deep breath racks through his body.
“You stopped it.” He commends, and the words land harder, leaving her unable to answer.
—
Raph turns away from the console, running a hand over his head, fingers digging into the red fabric covering his dome. He continues to pace, more frantic now.
“We’re wasting time.”
“I don’t have a clean location, if we go in bli—”
“Then we go in loud.”
Mikey’s eyes bounce nervously between his brothers, April’s hands wrapped almost protectively around his forearm, grounding him.
“Raph–,”
“No, Mike. They’ve go thim strapped to a table somewhere, and you want to WAIT!?”
His words hit hard, the tension building as April’s fingers dig into Mikey’s flesh, a bated breath escapes her.
—
The brief silence is broken by the echoing sounds of heavy footfalls. A reinforced door ahead is the only way out. Karai moves toward the panel, then stops, pivoting to look back at Leo.
“This is where it turns.” Her eyes searched his, her body coiled in defense, giving him a choice.
“Let it.” He steels, shoulders squaring. That’s all the confirmation she needs.
—
Splinter steps into the room where his sons have gone quiet, eyes watching as Raphael paces, Donatello is coiled with tension, and Michelangelo’s worry is etched on his young face.
“Tell me,” Splinter commands, his voice steady and calm, but his eyes narrowed as he notices that his blue-banded son is nowhere to be seen.
“They took’em. The Foot. And they’re—” Raphael’s head dips briefly before glancing in his brother’s direction, looking for guidance.
Donatello steps up as his hologram downloads information.
“They’re experimenting on him.” This silence weighs heavily as everyone processes the next step.
—
With the help of Leo’s brute strength, Karai is able to override the lock, but as the door bursts open, light floods in. Leo steps forward beside her, only to be met with an overwhelming force.
—
Raphael resheaths his sais.
“We’re goin’.”
This time, his direction isn’t met with arguments, just the quiet nods and rustling of gear being collected.
Splinter nods once.
“Then we move as one.”
—
Leo and Karai launch forward…
Outnumbered, surrounded, but they move fast, aggressively, with no hesitation. Steel clashes while bodies twist and fall. Leo is sharp, but not at his full strength, and Karai notices. His movements are slower by fractions, but that is all it takes when balancing on the end of a blade that dictates the difference between life and death.
A soldier comes in high, Leo blocking while Karai intercepts with clean, efficient precision, dropping the guard before the strike lands.
—
“Signal’s right below us, multiple levels, heavy interference…” Donnie rambles, sifting through the hologram at his wrist.
“Then we’re goin’ through it.” Raphael commands, fist flexing along the worn leather handle of his sai.
—
The numbers don’t stop, the onslaught of Foot soldiers is neverending and they both feel themselves being pushed back by each new wave. She sees Leo take down another, but as he turns, she notices his breathing is heavier. He clocks her immediately, and a silent acknowledgment passes between them as Leo caves, “You noticed,” he says, a brief flicker at the corner of his lips as he shifts into a smile.
Then…
Leo missteps, just slightly, but enough for a shaky guard to land a strike across his side, forcing Leo to drop to one knee.
That was when everything for Karai just…stops.
—
Raphael tears through the corridor ahead of the others, his brutal, relentless strength carrying him further into the narrowed space. No Foot soldier stands a chance as they ricochet off the wall, bones snapping on impact.
“Okay…He’s not even waiting for us,” Mikey grunts, following just behind Donnie and his hologram.
“He can’t,” Donnie confirms, “Leo’s vitals are dropping—”
—
Karai moves, dropping beside him, deflecting another strike aimed at his head. Her voice is sharp now, different.
“Stay up.”
Leonardo exhales, pushing himself up, but his strength is waning, and she bears more of his weight. More guards are closing in, and he feels her body shift, positioning herself in front of him. Blocking. Protecting.
—
The door bursts inward under the force of Raph’s strike, metal buckling and slamming against the wall as he charged through without hesitation. His breathing was still ragged from the gas, his eyes still burning, but none of that mattered the second he saw Leo.
Leo was on his feet, but barely. Raphael clocked the uneasy sway at the same time Karai stood before his brother.
Everything in Raph froze for half a second before exploding. He surged forward with a roar, crossing the distance in an instant.
“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
Karai barely had time to turn before Raph collided with her, grabbing and throwing her hard into the wall. The impact echoed, sharp and violent, but she recovered almost immediately, pushing off the surface as Raph came at her again.
“Raph—wait—!” Leo’s voice cut through, strained, but it didn’t slow him.
Steel met steel as Karai met Raph head-on this time, blocking, redirecting, holding just enough ground to keep him from reaching Leo again. Around them, the room erupted back into motion. Donnie and Mikey flooded in behind Raph, immediately engaging the surrounding Foot soldiers as more poured through the far entrances.
“Yeah, yeah—flanks—got it!” Mikey spun into a pair of soldiers, barely dodging a third as he laughed nervously under his breath. “Okay—there are a LOT more of them than I like—!”
Casey stayed near the blown entry point, fighting where he had to but keeping his eyes moving, tracking exits, and timing his shots. He wasn’t here to hold the line—he was here to get them out.
In the center, Raph drove forward again, relentless.
“You set him up!”
Karai deflected a strike, pivoting just out of range of the next. “If I had,” she shot back sharply, “he’d already be dead!”
It almost landed. Almost slowed him.
But not enough.
Raph lunged again—
“RAPH—STOP!”
The force in Leo’s voice cut through the chaos just enough to stall him. Raph turned, breathing hard, eyes blazing—and Leo stepped between them.
He wasn’t steady. Not even close. But he held his ground anyway.
“She didn’t do this.”
Raph stared at him, chest rising and falling, rage still burning hot beneath the surface.d“You trust her?”
Leo didn’t answer right away. He glanced at Karai—just briefly—then back.
“She got me out.”
It wasn’t trust. Not fully. But it was enough to fracture the moment.
But, before anything else could settle, more Foot soldiers flooded into the chamber, heavier units now, more coordinated, more aggressive. The shift was immediate, suffocating. The room was closing in.
“We’re getting surrounded, we need an exit NOW!” Donnie called, already adjusting his stance as he fought.
“Already working on it,” Casey said, stepping back toward the entrance. He caught Raph’s eye just long enough to make it clear. “Two minutes. I’ll get us a ride.”
Raph didn’t answer, but he didn’t stop him either.
Casey disappeared, already moving. Mikey ducked under a strike, sweeping a soldier off his feet. “Little busy over here, guys—!”
“Less commentary, more moving!” Donnie snapped back, blocking another incoming attack.
Leo faltered again. Just for a second, but it was enough.
Karai noticed instantly. She shifted without thinking, stepping closer, not touching, but close enough to intercept anything coming his way.
Raph saw it. He didn’t say anything. But he saw it.
Then the ground shook slightly as a heavier unit dropped into the chamber, armor thicker, presence overwhelming. Everyone adjusted instinctively, the threat immediate and undeniable.
Karai stepped forward, taking point, which was new to the mutagen bonded brothers. Raph clocked it—but didn’t stop her.
—
Outside, an engine roared to life.
Casey leaned out of the driver’s seat, vehicle angled for a fast exit, eyes locked on the entrance.
“Ride’s up!”
Donnie heard it first. “That’s our window!”
Raph shifted immediately, aggression snapping into focus. “Move! Now!”
Mikey grabbed Leo’s arm, steadying him as best he could. On the other side, Karai mirrored the movement without hesitation, supporting just enough to keep him upright.
Together, they ran.
The corridor tightened around them, footsteps closing in fast behind. Karai turned mid-stride, dropping two pursuing soldiers without breaking pace. Raph covered the rear, brutal and efficient, making sure nothing got too close.
“Left—then straight—then up!” Donnie called, guiding them through.
They burst out into the open air—
Casey was already there, engine running, door open.
“MOVE!”
One by one, they piled in—
Leo stumbled, almost didn’t make it—
Karai went to catch him but Raph watched, knowing that she couldn’t be able to fully support Leo’s weight so he moved. Assisting on getting Leo pushed through the double doors of the van.
The doors slammed shut, and Casey didn’t hesitate, flooring it as the vehicle tore away from the compound, Foot soldiers spilling out behind them, far too late to stop it.
Inside, the silence hit hard.
Leo leaned back, eyes slipping closed, breathing shallow.
The comm crackled.
“Status?” April’s voice cut through.
Donnie answered, quieter now.
“We’re coming in hot.”
“Good,” April replied. “I’m ready.”
Raph looked across the vehicle, eyes landing on Karai.
Still guarded. Still angry. But now, there was something else there. Something uncertain, and he wasn’t sure if he could trust it.
Karai met his gaze, her hands folded in her lap, but her knees spread to brush against Leo’s thigh as Casey tore through the streets of New York.
