Chapter Text
Mikey had always wondered what it would be like to have a 4th brother.
Turns out, he soon wouldn’t have too.
After he, Leo, and Donnie opened a portal to find April and that cat-dog thingy, they had met Baron Draxum. A weird goat legged dude with a strange mask.
But that was the least weird thing there.
A fight ensued, the glowy weapons they found proved to be less than useful at the moment when it sent Mikey flying around the room while Leo was falling infinitely and April was attempting to free herself from those Goyle things.
Donnie was doing good though… Until Mikey crashed into him.
“Tsk, you fight like untrained buffoons. But with the proper help…” That Draxum guy spoke, after successfully catching them.
“Goyles, go fetch Red. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking them to the dungeons.”
“Dungeons?! I’m too young to be in prison!” Mikey cried out.
“Dungeons aren’t the same thing as prison and- Oh boy HEY, I DON’T KNOW IF YOU KNOW THIS BUT THIS PLACE IS ABOUT TO BLOW!” Donnie shouted at all of them, as the odd orb thing above the vat of glowy green mosquitos began blinking rapidly. Mikey knew enough Jupiter Jim movies to know that that means it's about to explode.
The cat dog thing teleported over to them, just as a new voice appeared.
“I’m here. What did you need-?”
Just before the animal took them away, Mikey saw the smallest glimpse of the stranger. Green skin, red spikes, tail, and a maybe 7 foot frame taking up the entire doorway.
They vanished from sight as Leo, Donnie, April, and Mikey showed up outside of the lab, back at the wall.
Mikey immediately jumped into action, using the magic doohickey to make the portal they had previously entered from, and leapt through.
All 4 of them stopped to catch their breath.
“You know what, that went pretty well-” Leo tried saying, before a wave of the green mosquitos (oozesquitos, maybe?) poured out of the portal from behind them, now flying all around New York. April held onto the cat thing and named it Mayhem, deciding then and there to keep it.
“... You think those’ll be a problem?” Mikey wondered aloud.
“We should go. People's blinds are beginning to open,” Donnie spoke, everyone agreeing and going down to the sewers.
As they walked through the questionably clean sewers, Mikey suddenly remembered that other guy.
“Hey, did you see that other dude?”
“Other dude?” April asked.
“Yeah! I didn’t see much of him but he was green, really tall, and he had a tail! Oh and uh, his chest was like… yellow. Like armor or something!”
“Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we’ve seen today,” Leo commented.
April thought for a moment.
“Nah, I don’t remember seeing him.”
“Neither do I,” Donnie mentioned.
“Well, I guess it makes sense. It was right before Mayhem teleported us away.”
And that was that. They were back at the lair, Splinter was none the wiser to their shenanigans, and they all promptly forgot about the strange unnamed jolly green giant (Was it mean to call him that?)
Well, sort of. Mikey didn’t.
There was this strange feeling, Like he knew who that person was.
It was faint, but there was something in his mind telling him he was important.
A vague memory suddenly materialized.
“Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we had a 4th brother?” The 8 year old Mikey discussed with Leo
“I guess. But you already have an amazing one! And Donnie too, I guess.”
“Well yeah that's true but… I dunno, imagine all the fun we could have with another one! Like April's cool and all, but she's not a brother .”
“Mm, yeah, and Donnie is just boring.”
Mikey giggled.
“I’m gonna tell him you said that!”
Leo gasped dramatically.
“No! He’ll get rid of my screen time privileges! How could you! our hypothetical fourth brother would never.”
“What are you boys talking about?” Splinter appeared out of nowhere
“Our secret fourth brother!” Mikey grinned. But his smile fell when he saw the look on Splinter's face.
“Your… What ?”
“Um… We were just talking about if we had a fourth brother. But we don’t actually!”
Splinter stood there, frozen. A few seconds passed until he finally sighed and pinched the space between his eyebrows.
“I’ll… Be sleeping. Wake me up if you need anything.” He began hobbling off
“But you were just…! Asleep…” The words died in Mikeys throat as Splinter left.
Leo rolled his eyes
“Ugh. Every Time. He did the same thing when me and Donnie showed him a teddy bear we found…”
“You found a stuffed animal? I wanna see!”
“I’d show you… If dad didn’t take it for no reason.”
“Aw boo.” Mikey frowned. Why was his dad like this? He hardly ever left the couch, and when he did, it was to go to sleep, even though he just slept on the armchair!
Mikey didn’t get it. Neither did Leo, and Donnies theories didn’t seem very likely.
Something must have happened a while back though. Mikey couldn't remember a whole lot but it felt like there was a sudden change in Splinters demeanor. He didn’t let them even wander in the sewers anymore! Either he was asleep, or constantly watching over them. It changed by the second.
Donnie said something must have happened on the surface and that's why he doesn’t let them even talk about going there.
Leo called that stupid.
Mikey didn’t understand.
Splinter overheard and stopped the conversation. It never continued. They still don’t know why.
The first time they were allowed out was when Mikey was 12, and even then all 3 of them (And April) had to beg.
Such a random memory for Mikey to recall. He didn’t have a 4th brother, Splinter would have told them all if they did! His brain is just messing with him or something.
Oh boy was he wrong.
_____
(Leo’s perspective)
Ever since those ooze-squito things were released into New York, it's been non-stop fighting. First they had to deal with paper thieves, then Donnie, then Alberto (Also Donnie’s fault), Mikey and Don had to deal with some repo-mantis person, then dad, and dad again- Point is , it's been crazy. But the wildest had to be when they first encountered Big Mama.
It was any normal day. They came up with a plan to catch the bugs mutating everyone, and Mikey would not shut up about that t-rex person he saw ages ago.
“I'm just saying I think he’s important somehow!”
“What if he’s also a reptile-mutant thing!”
“Don’t you wanna know too?”
Truth is, Leo did want to know. He wanted to understand why Mikey was so insistent that they could be of significance. But he never even saw the guy! He only heard a vague description from Mikey, which wasn’t really enough to put together a full image.
Donnie on the other hand, was more focused on Draxum and the oozesquitos. Which as you know, is why they were at this hotel in some pretty awesome suits.
It all went downhill when the owner of the hotel showed up. Mikey was blinded by excitement, and Donnie with praise. Leo wasn’t buying it. But despite his argument, Mikey and Donnie still elected to help Big Mama.
And guess who was right. Yeah! Leo! The freaking leader! Who could have known? LEO!! He had to save his brothers from being thrown into the Battle Nexus and everything! They so owed him a thank you.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to gloat since they had to get the oozesquitos back first... Which didn't go super well and they may or may not have gotten captured by Big Mama but that was hardly even his fault! It was aaaaall Donnie... Or something like that- point was, he wasn't about to take the blame.
And then, Leo was proved right again when Draxum and the green guy showed up!
Wait, the green guy? Spikes, tail, green… Yeah that's-!
“That's him! That's the guy! I knew I wasn’t crazy!” Mikey cheered.
“No one said you were.” Donnie pointed out.
Leo would have said something if he wasn’t in shock. Mikey was right- This guy was HUGE! Even taller than Draxum!
Scars stretched across his arms. He had some sort of wolverine claws in his hands (Donnie said they were called Tekko kagis or something) which seemed unnecessary considering the claws he already had.
His face seemed stuck in a constant scowl, really showing off the snaggletooth he had. His stature reminded Leo of Godzilla the way he was built like an industrial sized refrigerator. (Which he meant in the nicest way possible, by the way) The Goyles (Leo forgot their names) were perched on his wide shoulders while the incredible hulk lookalike surveyed the room. He didn’t have a shirt for whatever reason, but he did have dark red pants with gold embroidery as well as decorative bandages covering his feet and forearms.
Everything about him was sharp. His shoulders, his teeth, his tail, and his… shell.
He had a plastron. And a shell. And was green.
He looked a lot like a turtle… really like a turtle.
It didn’t seem like he noticed (Or maybe cared) about Mikey’s comment, because while Draxum and Big Mama engaged in discussion he stood off to the side, arms crossed and staring straight ahead.
“Red,” Draxum turned towards him and he immediately straightened out, “Go get the turtles. But make sure not to kill them.”
‘Red’ (That seemed to be his name,) Nodded sternly and began approaching the 3 who were currently trapped in web (What a shocker Big Mama would trap them. Leo was going to hold this over his brother's heads forever!)
Leo could swear he felt the ground shake as Red walked to them.
“Ah ah, those turtley-boos are mine. I need them to work in my Battle Nexus!” Big Mama interrupted.
“Did you mutate them? They are my warriors.” Draxum argued.
“Yeah, I don’t think either of you guys own us.” Leo spoke up, as Red ignored Big Mama and hoisted all 3 of them over his shoulders.
Unluckily for him, Leo had gotten the perfect amount of time to cut himself open. That's what you get when you don’t take weapons away from your hostages!
Leo slashed at the web his brothers were stuck in once he was free. Mikey jumped into action, using his weapons and knocking down Red, whilst Donnie grabbed his tech bo and used it as a grappling hook to grab the jar of oozesquitos. Leo ushered them towards the elevator, pressing the ‘close door’ button as many times as he could while watching Red stand up then start to run towards them.
Luckily enough, the doors shut just on time and began moving up, right after a crater appeared in the metal.
The elevator music playing did very little to calm their nerves.
“So… Another turtle, huh?” Leo finally said.
“It appears so,” Donnie responded, currently catching his breath “Shame he was trying to capture us.”
“Yeah, but I can’t believe I was right! He’s even cooler than I remembered!” Mikey rejoiced, throwing his hands up into the air.
“More like terrifying,” Leo disagreed. “Did you see the way he was running at us?! One moment too late and our heads could have been ripped clean off.”
“Actually no, since Draxum said not to kill us. More likely he would’ve broken our legs so we couldn’t escape. But maybe he isn’t smart enough for that.”
Leo nodded.
“Yeah, Bowser Sr. seems a little more brawn than brain.”
“Hey! His name is red!” Mikey scolded.
“Sounds like what dad calls us.” Donnie rolled his eyes.
“What are the chances we run into another mutant turtle, honestly. It's starting to not sound like a coincidence.” Leo sighed.
“That's what I mean! Red has to be important somehow! Doesn’t he feel familiar??”
Leo and Donnie automatically responded with “No”.
Mikey groaned.
“There's no way-”
His sentence was cut off, however, by the sound of rumbling from below the elevator floor. The 3 looked at each other in confusion for a moment before there was a sudden jolt and the elevator started propelling incredibly fast upwards.
Leo grabbed onto the handrail and jar while Mikey held onto Donnie for dear life when there was a shortstop and then an explosion noise as the ceiling caved in and they could now see the bright lights of New York.
Crawling out of the now destroyed elevator, they saw the reason for its massacre. Draxum standing on in his weird purple vine things coming from the new hole in the roof, and Red standing next to him.
“Give me my specimens back.” Draxum ordered.
“And if I didn’t do that?” Leo asked, resulting in Draxum summoning more vines and holding him above the streets of New York. Leo yelped, dropping the jar which Donnie thankfully caught, while Leo's sword fell helplessly into the no-ground beneath Leo.
“Red,” Draxum began “Get the jar.”
Red nodded and started to near Donnie, who seemed terrified as the 7 foot tall mutant towered over him, reaching out a giant clawed hand and glaring menacingly down. towards him.
“Give me the bugs, or he dies.” Draxum commanded, very clearly referring to dropping Leo onto the road and turning him into a pancake.
“GIVE HIM THE BUGS GIVE HIM THE BUGS!!” He shouted at Donnie who simply rolled his eyes.
“These villains are all talk, No way he’s actually going to-”
“Ok,” Draxum stated simply, releasing Leo and letting him tumble to his death.
“With my dying breath I told you soooo!”
Is this what skydiving is like? Less scary than he thought it would be… minus the fact he was about to splatter onto the concrete.
This was taking forever. When were his brothers gonna-
The weightlessness was replaced by the feeling of a semi-truck crashing into Leo. There was the sound of glass shattering, and behind Leo’s closed eyes opened, blinding him with the bright color of red which dissipated.
Leo lifted himself up from the floor to see who or what saved him.
It was Red.
???
“You- what-? Why did-”
“You’re too young to die.” Red answered simply, pulling some weird orb things out of his pocket and throwing it onto the ground, opening a portal.
“I won’t save you next time.” He stepped through it, the mystic quickly disappearing. Leo sat in utter confusion and shock, along with the shattered remains of glass.
Did that guy seriously just pull a Mr. Incredible and crash both of them into a building to save him? Thankfully the room was empty, but come morning they were probably going to see the giant crater in the wall.
Ok, ouch, Leo thought as he stood up, glass cutting into his feet. Outside he heard the quiet whirring of fans. Ah, must be Donnie.
And it was, carrying Mikey on his back as they landed on the carpeted office floor, both looking very shaken. Mikey was the first to run over to him.
“LEO!! I swear I was going to jump after you to try and save you but then Red leapt off the roof first and he turned really big and red for some reason and saved you first- But if he didn’t I totally was gonna so please-!”
“Mikey! It's fine! I’m more worried about the fact you're standing on glass shards right now.”
“ You landed in them. But lucky enough, it seems ‘Red’ took most of the blow.” Donnie spoke, tapping on his armband as he approached the 2.
“But congrats on not dying. That would be really hard to explain to papa.”
“I’m glad that's the thing you’re worrying about. Where's the love!”
“On a work vacation.” Donnie said “Anyway, we should head home. I think Draxum and Red are distracted arguing, but I’m more worried about Big Mama.”
Right! Big Mama!
“HAH! I told you guys we couldn’t trust her! But did you believe me?? Nooooo. This is why you trust your leader!”
“Yes yes Leo you are amazing and everything. But how about you talk about how right you are when you portal us home.” Donnie rolled his eyes.
“Wha? But-”
Donnie tossed Leo his sword.
“I picked it up on the way here.”
Ugh. Donnie. Always one step ahead. Whatever! He was also right that they should leave now.
“Ok fine. But if we end up in Tahiti it's not my fault!”
He cut a portal into the air, Mikey the first one to jump through it. Leo and Donnie looked at each other awaiting the other to go through
“Well? People with 5-heads first!” Leo teased, bowing down slightly
“Offended gasp! My forehead is not that big.”
Leo stuck his tongue out and fell backwards into the portal… Landing straight on his shell and hitting the concrete floor.
Mikey helped him up,
“Good news, You didn’t portal us to Tahiti. But you did only manage to get us to a manhole; Which I count as a win!”
“Eh, close enough,” Leo agreed. Donnie walked through the portal just as it closed
“Oh wow, we’re still in New York. Shocking.”
“I know! Aren’t I amazing?”
“No.”
“Ok, rude-”
“Manholes open!” Mikey interrupted, gesturing downwards to the sewers, jumping down into it. Leo followed after, and Donnie went last.
There were a few moments of silence as they walked through the sewage system.
“... So Red's name is kind of bad huh.” Mikey mentioned.
“Not any different from our nicknames.” Donnie pointed out.
“Yeah but that's his name ! He needs something better like uh… John! No wait that doesn’t fit… Maybe like, um…”
“Raphael?” Donnie suggested, looking at his phone.
“ Raphael ? What kind of name is that .” Leo asked, looking over his brother's shoulder.
“A renaissance artist. You know, like our names.”
“I like it!” Mikey said, “It fits!”
“It does… But it makes him sound like our brother .” Leo realized.
“And what's wrong with that?”
“Well you know, he’s not our brother. Just some Yokai or whatever”
Mikey frowned,
“You’re just too narrow minded. Found family trope you guys!”
“Please, for the sake of our lives, find a different family member than that guy.” Donnie voiced.
“Mhm,” Leo agreed. “That dude is not good news. It's best we just stick to fighting him, and not making him an honorary brother.”
Donnie nodded.
“Besides, we hardly know the guy. He could be a psychotic murderer for all we know.”
“Exactly! If he’s working with the guy who dropped me off a freaking roof , no way he is a good person.”
Mikey rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
“I just don’t think… Whatever, fine. You’re probably right.” He said, defeated. 1 point for Leo!