Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles... just the new character I created out of my imagination...

Leonardo and Donatello couldn't believe what they had heard, their youngest brother was a father, not by choice but a father non the less. Donnie checked Mike over one more time before joining the others in preparing for their journey "Don, am I going to be OK?" looking at his little brother questioningly he asked "how do you mean?" Mikey sat on the edge of the cot and said "well... Bishop injected a lot of things, what if one of them kills me? Or turns me human? Or into a monster? or..." Donnie put his hand up to silence his freaked out brother "Mike, wow slow down, would you feel better if I ran a blood test on you to find out what he injected you with?" "if you could..." Leo entered the room to see Donnie preparing to do blood work "Don? What's the matter with Mikey?" Donnie turned to his oldest brother and told him "nothing we hope, Mike wants to know what Bishop injected him with, so I told him I would do some blood work, now Mikey we wont know till tomorrow evening what the results are OK." Mikey didn't like this answer but agreed to it anyway, Leo nodded and said "OK guys lets move out." Leo left the lab and went into the kitchen to find Raphael making coffee "since when do you drink coffee?" "since I gotta stay up all night traveling across the country then stay up all day and fight." Leo shook his head and then said to his brother in a serious tone "Raph I have been thinking about something, when we get to area 51 I want you to lead this mission."

Raph coughed his coffee when down the wrong pipe in surprise "what? Are you serious?" Leo motioned for his brother to sit down at the table "Look Raph, you know where the baby is, you know what path you and Mike took to get from the army base to the clearing. It only makes sense for you to lead this mission cause I would be leading you guys blind and that wouldn't be safe. You know how I feel about your guys safety being top priority, and charging in blind wouldn't be good." Raph couldn't believe his older brother was giving him the reigns to lead the team, Raph looked into Leo's eyes seriously and said to him mater of factly "i wont let you down Leonardo that is a promise. But if things start getting hairy I want you to take back over." Leo shook his head and told him "no, Raph one of these days I may not walk away from a fight and I am going to need some one with the passion, drive and love I have for this family. You have all of that and then some, we all have our rolls in this family bro, and your roll is protector as mine is leader. But there will come a time when I need help, don't give me that look Raphael its not easy for me to admit that." Raph was giving him a look of disbelief, he knew the two of them always fought for control of the team but as of lately Raph has calmed down in his temper and Leo had noticed it. "Leo, don't talk like that, your going to be fine." "I've been lucky so far Raph, and luck does run out after so long." "do you think this could be your final battle? Is that why your telling me all of this?"

Leo sighed and said softly "any battle could be our last Raph, like the time the Shredder threw me threw April's window and I was knocked out for a while..." both brother's remembered that, Raph shook his head from the memory and said to him "yea I remember that all too well, but I wont let you down Leo, we will get the baby back." Donnie and Mike came around the corner and saw their two oldest brothers sitting at the table Raph had coffee in front of him and Leo had tea and it looked like they were actually talking. Mikey spoke first "is this a bad time?" both brothers looked up and Leo said "no guys, come on in, we need to think of a game plan." in saying he looked at Raph and then said to the other two "because Raph knows more about the situation at the army base I felt is was best to hand over the reins to him for leading this mission." both younger brothers looked at each other and then at Leo "you sure that wont cause problems?" Donnie told him, Leo smiled slightly and said "no, Raph and I have agreed to this, and if this mission goes well then I will let him lead more often, sharing the roll." Donnie spoke up again "so basically Raph's gonna be your second in command?" "in a nut shell yes." "should you talk it over with Splinter first?" Leo looked at Mikey and told him "i will talk to Splinter before we leave, but I don't think he will have a problem with it just so long as Raph and I don't start fighting over control anymore." Raph nodded in agreement, Splinter walked in with April and Casey "my sons, we should go now, time is of the essence."

The team headed out of the lair and made the journey for the helicopter, Leo hung back slightly and said to his father "Splinter, I decided to let Raph lead this mission since he knows more about the location and the perimeter." Splinter looked up at his oldest and said to him "that is a wise decision my son, did you tell Raphael the plan?" "yes, we talked about it, I think he is shocked but he agreed with me." Splinter chuckled and agreed. Once they got to the helicopter they all piled in April flew, with Raph next to her after a few moments she said to him "let me know when we get close OK?" "sure." he absently stared out the window of the chopper as they flew across the United States, he jumped when a hand landed softly on his shoulder he turned to see Mikey "whats up bro?" he could see that Mikey was nervous "Raphie we aren't going to get captured again are we?"

Raph looked at April then back to his brother "no, we wont get captured, we get in, get the baby and get out as fast as we can." Leo leaned over Mikey and spoke near Raph's ear "hey, what is the plan for getting in? Are we splitting up or staying together?" Raph hadn't thought that far ahead, "need advice on that one bro, there are 8 of us would it be smarter to pair off or go in two separate groups?" Leo thought it over "how armed is the outside?" Raph thought about it "it wasn't too guarded when we left but that may have changed in the last few weeks." Leo thought about it for a moment then said "well, if we are not that sure, I saw we split up in to two groups it would be the safest plan." Raph turned to April "how long till we reach the base?" "about twenty minutes or so." Raph stood up and went past his brothers to the rear Leo and Mike followed once they were back by the remaining four Raph said "OK guys, the plan is we split up into two teams of four, my self, Leo, April and Splinter will go to the main lab where I last saw the baby, the rest of you make sure we have an exit when we get him. Either my self or Leo will call on the shell cell when we have the baby, we have to get him out of there safely that is our priority." April shouted from the front "Raph! Get up here! Quick!" Raph pushed past his brothers and ran for the front, Leo close behind, "Raph I think they know we are coming, cause here's the clearing and there are tanks and all sorts of weapons down there."

"OK find another place to land, go west of the base and see whats there." Leo put a hand on Raph's shoulder for support and said softly but mater of factley "Raph, we need to use the tracking device this thing has first to indicate if there is anything near the base other wise we will just be using up gas and we wont have anything to get back." Raph bowed his head for a minute why didn't I think of that... glad Leo's hear to help. April flipped the switch and turned on the tracking and saw they were clear more to the east and it was closer to the base, makes for better escape time. "OK, I guess we land east, thanks bro." patting his shoulder Leo said "no problem." Raph took his seat as Leo stayed standing, flying around the base April went east and landed. "Raph you have around ten minutes to get inside before the troops discover we changed course and are heading in from the east side." Raph stood up to head out with his team when April said to him "hey, I brought some things we will need for when we get the baby, I brought medical supplies as well as baby supplies. Oh here I rigged this up so you can carry the baby and run." April handed Raph a baby harness, but it had a small flap on the top with Velcro to shut it he put it on and had it where the baby would be on his chest. Looking back at his brothers he said "OK guys Donnie, Mikey, Casey and Leather Head I want you guys to be out front and make sure we can get out of there. Now we don't know what this guy has done to the baby since we left, hopefully nothing, we know they will fight us with every thing they got in there so be ready." Leo looked at his brother impressed, he was proud of him they normally couldn't agree on a plan of action and when Raph would think of a plan they didn't agree with then that would cause a huge fight between them.

He put a hand on his shoulder and told him "good plan bro." Raph looked at April and told her "your with Leo, Splinter and me, OK guys lets move out." Leonardo and Splinter looked at Raph proudly before following him along with April out of the helicopter and threw the forest. Moving silently threw the woods they saw the structure ahead, the remaining part of their team had followed behind them and Donnie said "OK we will go ahead and make sure the coast is clear before you guys run in OK?" Raph replied "works for me." the forest wasn't dense because they were in the desert but it was light enough to hide them, now they were walking in the open and were vulnerable to attack. Donnie lead his group ahead and almost immediately they were under fire, several men with lazar guns ran out of the building the four went into battle. Raph wanted so bad to join them but he knew he had to get inside, they went to the edge of the fight and ran for all they were worth for the door.

To their surprise they got inside undetected, Raph looked around at the familiar machines, he noticed the curtain had been taken down and the medical supplies were now gone. They all remained on guard as they walked silently towards the lab, Raphael could hear crying as they got closer. He pushed the door open with his sia and peaked inside, he didn't see any one in there but the crying was louder this time. He looked back at his father, brother and April and said quietly "looks like he is in here." he pushed the door open and was almost waiting for them to be attacked, once they were all in the room they could hear a low growl. Leo turned around and said to his brother "uh Raph... we are not alone in here..." Raph turned and felt his stomach drop when he saw an almost 7 foot tall version of himself, Raph knew he would be white right now if he wasn't green to begin with. He could hear Splinter say softly "Raphael I think I know why he took your blood..." "yea, to make a monster..." the creature was nearly two feet taller then Raphael, with green skin, and yellow eyes. The hands had large claws, and the face was distorted and had fangs out of his mouth, the creature growled again and charged at the team.

April kept her eye out for any sign of the baby during their fight with this monster, she spotted him when she was thrown across the room. She got up and looked into the little bed he was now in, she looked around and then an evil voice said "ah, ah I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see I need this baby for my experiments, and unless you want to be test subject number two I wouldn't touch that baby." she saw Bishop walking out of the shadows and walking towards her, he looked over at the fight, he saw his monster was loosing but he didn't care the monster was nearly just a diversion. Raph saw what was going on and turned to Leo "you two OK to handle this while I check on April?" "go we will hold it off." Raph ran forward and said "Bishop, you have something of ours and we want it back." Raph charged forward and swung the baby's bed that was on wheels away from Bishop, "Damn you turtle! Get back here!" Raph reached inside and took out the little baby, looking down at him he could see how small and frail he was. He said to the baby "its OK little one, we will get you out of here."

He slipped the baby into the baby carrying bag and shouted to Leo "got him!" Leo sliced at the monster and made the creature fall, and this time he wasn't getting back up. Splinter and Leonardo ran to Raphael's side as Bishop raced forward and grabbed April "OK here's the deal, give me back the experiment and I will give you the girl... that's the deal." Leonardo spoke up in his leader voice "why should we give this child back? What are you planing to do with him?" "why make my own army of half human mutants of course, besides that experiment belongs to me." Leonardo looked at the innocent baby strapped to Raphael's chest and said to Bishop "its a helpless baby! There's no way your going to get him!" Bishop pulled out a knife from his lab coat and held it to April's throat and said "very well..." Raph shouted at him "NO! Leave her alone! take me to do your sick experiments on! But leave this baby and April alone!" in saying he took the straps off his shoulders and handed the baby over to his brother. Leonardo looked with wide eyes at his brother and said "Raph? No don't do this..." Bishop released his grip on April and let her go and told them "i am not interested in an adult turtle, I can hunt you all down when ever I want... my interest is in that half mutant I created... he is of most interest... I could take you Raphael but then that would mean I would loose my experiment... cant have that... I just want him and I don't wanna play games about it.." Raphael moved closer to Bishop now that April was out of harms way, he now stood mere inches and said "fine, you wanna kill one of us? Then kill me but your not hurting that child." "Oh, Raphael, I can just recapture Michelangelo and use him again for this same experiment... he is just right outside isn't he?"

Raphael glanced at the door then back to Bishop "you have done enough to my little brother, if you think of doing that experiment again you can forget it! Not on him at least!" Leo handed the infant off to Splinter and spoke up "Bishop, this is enough, we wont let you do this again." Bishop pulled out a remote from his pocket and said "oh? And what makes you so sure I haven't already?" Splinter looked down at the baby then back to Bishop and said "you have better not hurt this baby, he is just an infant!" Raphael could feel his temper rising, he could hear shuffling and turned and saw a swarm of Bishop's men surrounding them. Picking up his phone he called Donnie

"Donnie! We need and exit!" "you got it!" Splinter ducked behind some machinery with the baby as another fight broke out. He watched as his sons and April fought Bishop and his men opened fire and sent lazar shots all across the room. He picked up his own phone and called Donatello back "my son, please hurry! We are under attack again! And out numbered this time!" on Donatello's end he looked around at his own battle trying to think of a plan to rescue them, he saw the door wasn't blocked and said "hang in there Sensei!" Donnie bolted for the door the first chance he got and ran inside where he could hear the battle raging on. He ran in the direction of the fight, opening the door with his BO staff he ran inside and saw the fight, he could tell his brother's and April were tiring. Splinter looked over to him from his hiding spot and said "Donatello!"

Donnie looked over to his Sensei and went to him "are you alright?" "yes my son, but your brother's cant hold them off much longer we need to escape." Donnie looked at the bundle in his father's arms and asked "is that the baby?" "yes it is, now please hurry." thinking fast he looked around at the machinery, he wondered if he rewired some things if he could cause an explosion. No one had noticed him so far so he went to the circuit board and opened them with one of Raph's discarded sia, placing the sia in his own belt he cut the wires and reversed some and tied them together. When he smelled smoke he knew something was going to happen. He ran back to Splinter and said "either this place is going to blow or catch fire, either way we need to get outta here now!" he took the baby from his father and turned to Leo who was now only feet away from him "Leo! Raph! Lets get outta here!" both brothers turned to their younger one and Raph said "OK enough of this!" he did a round house kick on the men in front of him and grabbed April, "lets go!" all three took off out of the room Leo stopped just outside the door "where's Splinter?" Donnie was waiting by the main door "he's out here! Move now!" nodding they all ran out of the building just as an explosion occurred Raph was the last out and could feel the heat of flames on his shell.

Mikey could see his two oldest brothers come running but saw Raph empty handed "did you not get him?" Donnie yelled to him "i got him Mike! He's safe! But we need to get out of here before more of Bishop's men show up!" all eight ran for the helicopter, once inside April took the controls and got them in the air, no one said a word until they were miles away from the army base. Donatello busied himself with checking every one over for injuries and treating them, he then took the baby from Splinter who he had handed off when they got back on the helicopter. Laying the infant down he unwrapped the thin blanket that was wrapped around the tiny child, he noticed some bruising, and scratches but other then that and being malnourished he seemed OK. Mikey watched his brother examine the baby and he said from his seat "there's not a tracking device on him is there?" Donnie looked over at his younger brother and then said "don't know..." Leather Head handed him a scanner from the back and said "Donatello, this will detect any tracking devices that may be on the baby."

Donnie ran the scanner over the child, nothing happened the machine was programed to make a loud buzzing sound if a tracking device was near. When he set it aside it buzzed suddenly, every one froze, Splinter asked "where is the tracking device? You ran it over the baby and its not on him..." Raph knelt down at the head of the baby and noticed how Donnie had laid the device down "hold up, you laid it on the blanket... the blanket is the tracking device!" Casey looked over from his seat and said "how are we going to get rid of it? That kid needs to keep warm?" Mikey then walked over to them and picked the baby up off the med cot and said "i will keep him warm just get rid of the blanket." April yelled back to them "guys, hand it up to me, I will throw it out the window!" Raph took the blanket and handed it to April who in turn opened the window and sent it out. Donnie walked over to his younger brother and the baby and ran the scanner over him again, nothing happened so he knew they were safe now.

Up until now Michelangelo had not said a word about the baby he looked at Splinter who was sitting on the floor next to his feet and said "Master Splinter... what should we call him? We cant keep calling him 'the kid' 'the baby' its just not right." Splinter looked up at his son and said to him "well, that would be up to you my son, he is your child after all." Casey looked over at Mikey and the baby and said "ya know, that baby hasn't cried this entire time, is something wrong?" Mikey looked down at his son and told Casey "no he is asleep right now." Raph spoke up "he cried up until I handed him off to Leo, then he settled down some." Leo spoke next "he fussed a little till I handed him off to Splinter." Splinter smiled at his sons and took the small child from Michelangelo "my sons, there is nothing wrong with the baby, his is so much like his father." Casey asked first "how do you mean?" Raph commented "uh oh... flash back time..." every one chuckled at that as Splinter continued "when Michelangelo was a baby turtle he would cry like the rest when something was the matter, but I do recall one time that he didn't cry at all it had me worried yes but there was something about the incident that should have made any normal baby scream uncontrollably...

flashback:

Splinter was out scavenging for food and took little Michelangelo with him, the small turtle was little enough to fit in his over sized coat. The small turtle fussed once in a while, nearly getting them discovered. Going down an ally Splinter thought they were alone when some thugs jumped out of no where and said "how much money you got mack?" Splinter looked up at the large men and said to them "non I don't have any money." "then why is your pocket bulged like that?" up until now Michelangelo had been fussy but now the baby turtle was silent and not moving. Then men grabbed at Splinter but having fast reflexes he avoided being hit and jumped away, Splinter told them "i don't want to fight you, just let me pass." one guy pulled out a gun and said "not a chance." Splinter saw a blanket laying on the ground and picked it up quickly and then took the small turtle out of his pocket "you would shoot a man with a baby would you?" then men noticed that the bulge was gone from his pocket and lowered their guns "you got a kid? Damn didn't know that..." Splinter looked down at Michelangelo and saw the child had his eyes open wide but choose not to cry even though his eyes were filled up with tears. One of the smaller men looked at their leader and said "oh come on your gonna let him go? He has seen us, he will go to the cops!" Splinter looked at him and said "no, I wont... I can not be seen by the police my self so we are even..." the leader of the gang said "what you do? Kidnap the kid or something?" "or something but not kidnapping." the little guy spoke up again this time pointing his gun back at Splinter, "enough talk!" every one heard him ready the gun one of the men knocked his arm out of the way just as the gun went off, the bullet shot up in the air. The leader punched the little guy and said to Splinter "you have about ten minutes to get out of here before the cops show up." Splinter jumped off the dumpster he had been standing on and ran for the nearest manhole and went back under ground, once back at the lair Splinter saw that Michelangelo was staring at him intently and said "my son, you are as brave as a lion... no normal child would have been that quiet during that ordeal... I just hope you remain this brave through out your life..."

end flashback

Every one listened to Splinter's story, Raph looked at his baby brother and said "Mikey wasn't scared?" Mikey looked at him and said "what you think I would be a chicken?" Donnie was also shocked "no offense Mike but your not the bravest turtle out there..." Leo looked at Donnie and Raph and said to them both "guys, he is braver then he leads you to believe, but Splinter what does this have to do with the baby?" Splinter looked at his sons and then to his grandson and said "true Michelangelo, has nightmares and does get scared often it does not mean he does not have bravery in him the point of my story was that Michelangelo knew there was danger but that he would not be harmed in any way... he knew as long as the one he loved had a hold of him he would be safe... so there for he did not cry, he found no reason for it. A normal human child would have screamed their lungs out in a situation like that but your brother did not."

Mikey looked down at the baby in his father's arms and said "ya know... I wonder what name would suit him..." Casey asked "what happened to his mother?" Raph looked down at the ground, he felt the shame come back to him, looking at his nephew he said "she died... I couldn't save her... I- I only remembered what Donnie and I watched on the medical channel... I didn't know how to save her... s- she told me to save him... no matter what... so I did." Donnie put a hand on his shoulder and said "Raph, its OK... no one blames you, it happens... was she mutant or human?" Raph looked at his family and said "human." Casey looked at Raph and said "she died having a half mutant baby?" Leo spoke next "Casey even if she was having a human baby she could have died, it happens... its a risk all women take when pregnant." Splinter looked down at his grandson again and said to him softly "you are as brave as your father you know that. Leonardo do you know what your name means?" Leo looked at his father and said "not really." "it means brave as a lion." April looked back and said "you know I know a name for him, it was going to be my little brother's name." Casey looked at her and said "you have a little brother?" "no, well sort of, he... my mother miscarried him... any way his name was going to be Deangelo... that's what she ended up naming him any way." Splinter asked her "what does the name mean?" she looked back as they approached New York "of the angels." once she found where she was going to land Michelangelo looked down at his son and said "how about we name him Deangelo Leonard Homato?"

the small baby looked up at his father from his grandfathers arms and gave him a cooing sound every one smiled and Raph said to his little brother "that is a perfect name." Leo frowned and asked "why Leonard?" Mikey smiled at him and said "cause it would get confusing having two Leonardo's around." every one laughed at Michelangelo's logic, Leather Head asked the next question "does any one think that Bishop will try and come after little Deangelo again?" every one looked at each other and Leo said "he might, that possibility will always be there, but we will protect Deangelo with our lives and train him the ways of the ninja." Splinter looked down at Deangelo and said "Leonardo is correct, when Deangelo is ready we will start his training." Raph looked at the baby and said "i wonder what weapon he will have? You think it would be chucks like Mikey's?" Splinter looked at his son and said to him "only time will tell my son." So they made the journey back to their home where little Deangelo would grow up and learn from his uncles, his grandfather and his father. What does the future hold for the child? Only time will tell...

A/N: sorry for such a long wait, this chapter is the longest of all of them. What do you all think? Should I continue the story? I have ideas if the answer is yes... but let me know in reviews if you all want me to continue. If I have enough reviews then I will continue with chapter six or start all over again with a sequel but it wont be as long. Please let me know! And thank you for all of the kind reviews so far!