Chapter 14: As the smoke clears, all in the room recognize the form that came barging in from the hole in the side of the building. The flash of green and orange in unmistakable, walking closer into the room. “Mikey!” Leonardo shouts, happy but afraid. Michelangelo looks at his lover for a split second, then he turns to look at Shukinabo. “Shukinabo, you let all of them go, right NOW!”. Shukinabo turns to Michelangelo and says: “Michelangelo! Nice of you to finally join us…”. Michelangelo start spinning his nun chucks and says: “ Well, you know me, I’m never late to a party, when I arrive the party begins… But you, you are definitely a party crasher, and you should really lay off my family and our doubles!”. Surprised, Dark Donatello shakes his head , he is shaken up that Michelangelo is here and just said that Shukinabo should leave him and his brothers alone too, His brothers… His lover… Trying to clear the fog out of his head, he feels more of himself, the control is getting weaker. It might be the aura Michelangelo is giving out. Even though he puts Michelangelo all through the trauma, he feels only hate towards Shukinabo, not him. Michelangelo sees that Dark Donatello is still fighting the control Shukinabo has over him. Shuinabo doesn’t notice it and says to Michelangelo: “See, this is exactly what I said earlier towards your family and my failures of your copies… Because of this kind of behavior YOU have been through this predicament! It is your own fault! You asked for this yourself!”. “DON’T LISTEN TO HIM!”. All in the room turns to the person who shouted. It turns out to be Dark Donatello. Dark Donatello is rubbing his eyes, and as his hands fall away, his eyes are back to his own normal eyes. “You used me, you made me hurt my brother Mikey… You made me put the other Mikey through the same… You made me hurt my lover… You used me, my body, my mind… YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! If there is someone who’s in a predicament, it is YOU!”. At that moment Dark Donatello picks his weapons up. As everyone advances slowly towards Shukinabo, he is panicking, franticly looking around for an escape. Her dashes for the hole in the wall, but he is stopped bij Michelangelo and Raphael. Then he dashes for the door, only to be stopped by Dark Michelangelo and Dark Leonardo. Shukinabo moves back to the middle of the room. Leonardo then takes the lead: “Alright, everyone ready?”. ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- Flashback to the talk before confronting Shukinabo. Serling is explaining something. “There is also a emergency frequency, if you trigger that, all the weapons will give out a very bright light, which could be useful when facing Shukinabo.”. Raphael walks closer to Shukinabo and asks: “So, how do you trigger the sequence?” Raphael says. “May I?” Serling holds out his hand and Raphael hands him one of his sais. “All of you, gather around and look here…”. All close in and show their weapons. Then Serling continues: “You see this small button here at the handles? All of your weapons have that… You need to push them at the exact same time or within 3 seconds of each other in order for the emergency sequence to trigger… Then you must all direct the light towards Shukinabo and close your eyes… Otherwise it will damage your eyes as well… So keep it in mind…”. ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- “Cody! Get ready for the emergency frequency!” Leonardo shouts. Cody responds to Leonardo almost immediately: “Ready, everyone… Activate the frequency!”. Everyone in the room activates their weapons. Then Cody shouts: “Aim at Shukinabo… NOW!”. As all the weapons are directed to Shukinabo and a extremely bright light erupts from the weapons. Combined the light is getting bigger and bigger. Shukinabo is heard screaming in pain, throwing his form around but there is no escape for him. Slowly his body is shrinking in size, less and less, until he turns to ashes. As the light fades, everyone remaining in the room breathes a sigh of relief, glad to be rid of their enemy once and for all. Then Leonardo runs over to his lover, but before he gets to close, he stops himself, unsure if Michelangelo even wants to be touched. But Michelangelo eases his mind, and opens his arms hide as a invitation. Leonardo doesn’t hesitate this time and he envelops his lover in a strong hug, holding on each other tightly, and he says: “I’m so happy you’re awake, Mikey… I missed you…”. Michelangelo says back: “As am I, Leo… I missed you too…”. As the other turtles see this exchange of heartfelt emotion, the other lovers give their significant other the same attention. Serling and Master Splinter are watching it develop in the room. “Serling… Did it work?” Cody asks through the connection he has with Serling. “Yes, Master Cody… All of us are fine… Shukinabo is destroyed… We are coming home soon…”. As Michelangelo opens his eyes, he looks towards the Dark Turtles. All of them are in a big bear hug with each other, celebrating they got their lost brother back. Dark Donatello feels eyes on him and opens his eyes to look at Michelangelo. He pulls away from the hug and walks closer. Michelangelo does the same with Leonardo. Leonardo turns around and, when he sees Dark Donatello approaches, he steps in front of Michelangelo to protect him still. Michelangelo puts his hand on his lover’s shoulder and shakes his head: “It’s okay Leo, it wasn’t his choice, so it’s not his fault… Look at him…”. Leonardo looks from his lover to Dark Donatello, whom stopped walking towards them when Leonardo stepped in front of Michelangelo. He holds his hands up in a non-threatening matter, and tries talking to them both: “Please, Leonardo, I want to apologize… To you… To your Mikey…”. Then he turns around towards his family and continues: “To my Mikey… But, most of all, to my Raph…”. As Dark Donatello looks at Dark Raphael he feels tears in his eyes and he is getting choked. He takes a deep breath, trying to release his throat and failing. He still tries to talk to Dark Raphael: “Raph… I-I can’t even begin… Because I-I don’t know where to begin… Wh-When Mikey and me were here… During the-the mission… I didn’t even realize I-I stepped in or onto anything… I-I don’t know… It-it all ha-happened so fast… I-I lost control of my body, but-but I saw… And-and felt… Everything… And-and I-I couldn’t st-stop it… None of it…”. Dark Donatello starts shaking and hyperventilating. Dark Raphael, who remained quiet and unmoving, starts walking towards Dark Donatello. Dark Donatello does not even notice it because of his state and continues talking: “When-when he… I… threatened Mikey… After-after… I screamed my lungs out ‘Lemme out! You monster! How could you?!’… And then… Then I heard him… M-Master… He-he was laughing! Laughing at what he made me do… At me screaming for him to stop… Begging to release me… And why… Why did he do this… Why-Why did I do this... I wanted to tear myself limb from limb, to get him out of my head…” Then he starts sobbing. Dark Raphael does not hesitate and envelops Dark Donatello into a hug. The both fall to their knees as Dark Donatello loses his balance. Dark Donatello is sobbing so hard, he barely takes a breath in between the sobs. Dark Raphael tries to calm his lover down by talking to him: “Shhh, he’s gone Donnie… He can’t do anything to you anymore… It was all his fault, not yours… We’re all angry at what Shukinabo put us through… None should put the blame on you, you were tricked into this… As you said it yourself, you were trapped, both your body and soul weren’t under your own control… You fought with everything you had, you tried to get out, fight him off and out of your head… Donnie… Look at me… Please?”. At first Dark Donatello shakes his head and does not want to look up at Dark Raphael’s request, but when Dark Raphael puts his hand underneath Dark Donatello’s chin, he has no choice but to look up at his lover. As Dark Donatello looks into Dark Raphael’s eyes, Dark Raphael continues: “Even after all this, my love for you never faded… I knew, from the bottom of my heart, that this wasn’t you… You fought with all your might, and you broke the spell Shukinabo had on you… You could’ve murdered me easily, but you stayed your hand…”. “I’m just glad it’s all over…” Dark Donatello sighs. Dark Raphael rubs Dark Donatello’s back as a reassurance. Then Dark Donatello tries to talk to Michelangelo again: “Michelangelo… I am so sorry… If I wasn’t so stupid and looked where I put my stupid big feet, none of this would’ve happened… Can you… All of you, forgive me? The room is quiet for a long minute, none dare to say anything, watching and waiting on Leonardo and Michelangelo for their reaction. Leonardo is still standing partly in front of Michelangelo. Michelangelo steps around Leonardo, before he can walk away he feels a hand around his, pulling him to a halt, he looks back at his lover and says: “It’s okay Leo, I believe him… Trust me…”. Leonardo looks from Michelangelo to Dark Donatello and nods. Then he lets go of Michelangelo’s hand. Michelangelo continues closer to Dark Donatello. As he is close enough to Dark Donatello he stops walking and says: “Well… You wanted to know how I feel?”. Dark Donatello nods but keeps silent. Michelangelo continues: “Hmm… I think your lover over there pretty much explained it how I feel about it…”. Dark Donatello looks shocked towards Dark Raphael before turning back to Michelangelo and Michelangelo is smiling back at him. Then he continues: “Revenge might be a fools game, but we did kick it’s ass, didn’t we? Your master did you wrong, even though you are made because of our DNA, must we fight every time? Is that what is becoming of us? I don’t believe it… What about you?” And he holds out his hand for Dark Donatello to take. Dark Donatello looks around towards his family. All of them, including their Leonardo nod their head at the offer. Dark Donatello then makes up his mind and shakes Michelangelo’s hand. What he does not expect, is that he is pulled into a brotherly hug from the smaller turtle. Michelangelo pats his back and both of them sigh. As they let go, they notice their lovers coming closer to them and both give them a hug as well. The spirits in the room are lifted and their hearts are lighter. The others in the room seek comfort with one another and even Serling puts his hand on Master Splinter’s back, glad this nightmare and the fighting is over. Then all of them hear sirens getting closer and closer to the building. Lights in blue and red are getting more visible with each passing second until they hear a familiar voice ask: “Hello, hello, hello… What’s all this then?”. Constable Biggles is looking around in awe of the hole created by the explosion and the chaos created inside the room. Serling speaks up and says to Master Splinter: “Guess the robots must have a conversation…” and walks towards the Constable. ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- 2 hours later, back at Cody’s apartment. ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- As the door opens, Cody stops worrying around the living room. He looks up, sees that everyone is save and sound, and says: “Guys, you’re here, you’re back!”. Raphael speaks up: “That we are indeed.. Thanks for the help Cody, the suits worked perfectly”. “Of course, wasn’t going for a third round of turning into a purple monster for fun…”. “You can say that again” and with that Raphael ruffles Cody’s hair at which he laughs about before saying: “Hey, cut it out!”. Then Master Splinter says: “That’s enough Raphael… Cody has done an excellent job and I am proud of each and every one of you, my sons… But mostly, I am glad that you Michelangelo is back among us…”. Michelangelo looks a bit unsure but then bows to his father and Master and says: “Thank you Sensei, and I am glad to be back too…”. Then he turns around towards his lover, and says: “Especially when I can be with you again, Leo… I missed you…”. Then he turns back to Master Splinter. “Sensei, I uh… We uh…”. “It’s alright my son… I already know… And as I have told your brothers, you have my consent for your relationships… All of you…”. All of the turtles look a little shocked at first, looking at each other. Then Master Splinter continues: “My sons… Love is one of the greatest things, and I know it is not easy for any of you in our normal timeline to find a lover… So I am glad you have found it, and that you have found it in each other… Just promise me one thing?”. Everyone responds at the same time with: “Yes Sensei?”. “Do keep it quiet when you are in the apartment and the lair, I may be old, but my hearing has not diminished in the slightest… Remember, if I hear one peep out of anyone…” Master Splinter smirks at the blushing faces of his sons, speechless and completely baffled. Even Cody, who is standing near the group is lost for words. Eventually Serling clears his robot throat and then all the turtles bow in agreement, saying: “Hai, Sensei…”. ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<- ->O<-