So… Um, this has taken a while, but I have a sort-of good reason; I had a ton of other stuff to do and this seemed like it could wait. (Also I've been on Tumblr and Discord FOREVER btw xD)

Leo didn't have time to get out of the way of the creature, and it bit him on his - once again - already-injured shoulder. He screamed out, despite trying to muffle it, as it lifted him off the ground, swinging him around and ripping skin out of his shoulder.

"GRAH!" he yelled out, trying desperately to unlatch himself from the beast's teeth, to no avail.

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Hun exclaimed. "That thing's still alive?! I must've unloaded a thousand rounds into it!"

Casey, from behind him, jumped on his shoulder and leapt towards his friend and the creature. He wrapped his hockey stick around its neck, pulling. "Caough 'im up, Goonzilla!"

Hun muttered something to himself and ran a few yards away from the fray, looking on with a growl.

Leo yelled again as he was thrown across the room behind the crates, groaning on impact as blood pooled on the floor.

Casey repeatedly hit the creature with his bat, then yelped as it ran up a support beam with him still on it. He couldn't hold on and fell down onto a pile of crates, cracking a few ribs.

"CASEY!" Leo yelled, jumping over, not caring about the blood still leaking profusely from his shoulder. Using his other arm, he helped Casey, up.

"Man, Leo. I wish I had a shell, too. One'a dem would be real handy right now!" Casey moaned, trying not to stand up to straight, lest he damage his ribs more (idk how that works leave me alone). He looked up as Leo was already pulling him away. "Look out!"

Leo threw him to the floor, not really knowing how injured Casey was, but then helped him up as the ran away from the creature again.

Leo gasped lightly as he drew his swords, standing in front of Casey, who obviously couldn't fight. "Bring it!" he growled out.

The creature looked ready to attack, but stopped as it heard the bell ringing outside, signalling a new hour.

Leo stared on in confusion, glancing at Casey, who shrugged, as the creature zoned out. Casey leaned on Leo's good shoulder, staring at the blood coming out of his friend's other shoulder and sucking in through his teeth. Leo glared at him, saying nothing.

The creature started moaning all of a sudden and turned around, running away. Leo mentally cursed as he awkwardly picked Casey up on his good shoulder (as to not leave him there defenseless against Hun) and tried to run after it.

"This just gets weirder and weirder!" Casey groaned as Leo jumped through the hole in the wall that the creature had made.

"We can't just let that thing run free in the city, Casey! I'm gonna take you to your motorcycle since you can't fight!" Leo ordered, running towards the motorcycle. "Get away from here, about a mile so Hun doesn't find you!"

Casey, unable to do much else, nodded as he was dumped unceremoniously by his motorcycle and Leo took off after the creature.

Casey hid painfully behind his motorcycle as Hun watched Leo run after it. "Let 'im go! Purple Dragons, time to move those goods!"

"Agent Bishop, sir, T9581 is moving out to the salt marshes," one of Bishop's agents informed him.

"Keep on it's trail. I have an idea where he's going," Bishop ordered.

Leo groaned lightly as he wrapped his mask around his shoulder awkwardly, not wanting to leave a blood trail. He'd be the one fixing this, anyway. Donnie was still mad at him.

The creature, slowly, walked towards a set of apartments on the docks.

'It's going towards the apartments… They won't survive!' Leo thought to himself as he ran towards it. He needed to stop that thing. He didn't need anymore blood on his hands. He felt bad about what had happened at the power plant 2 weeks ago still.

"Agent Bishop, T9581 is heading toward a housing complex near the Brooklyn Naval yard!"

"He still remembers," Bishop mused, "Fascinating."

The creature continued going towards the bell, but Leo leapt in front of it. "Alright, big guy! This is as far as you go!"

Leo leapt at the monster, who blocked with his giant arms.

"What's this?" Bishop asked, straightening his glasses as his lackey zoomed in on the creature. "It's one of those turtles! I thought they were destroyed!"

"Orders, sir?"

"We need to get T9581 under control at any cost. Prepare for containment. Then we'll worry about the turtle."

Leo yelled out as he was thrown into a steel tank connected to a tractor trailer, further aggravating his shoulder. He moaned a bit, but leapt out of the way as the creature came at him again, jumping on its arm.

Before he could do anything else, though, a spotlight found itself on the monster, which looked up in confusion.

Leo jumped out of the way as something almost exploded where he'd stood, and ropes wrapped themselves around the creature.

"What the…?" Leo muttered to himself as the monster started pulling on the cables.

"Get the rest of the cables on it! More power to the rotors!" Bishop ordered.

The monster snapped two of the cables, one of which grazed the tank Leo had earlier crashed into, causing some kind of gas to leak out.

Leo ran over, cutting the ropes binding the monster. "C'mon! We have to go!" he yelled at the creature, pulling at it's arm.

It seemed hesitant to follow him, but one look at the helicopter and it came with him, neither of the noticing the woman staring at them through her curtains.

Bishop let out a growl of anger. "Go! Follow them! Destroy the turtle for all I care, but get T9581!"

Leo and the monster continued to run, but the monster seemed to be looking for something.

"Come on!" Leo screamed at it. "Or would you rather let Bishop catch you and probably kill you!?"

T9581 let out an almost whine, but followed him again.

They ran back towards the warehouse district, towards Casey, who was still there, for some reason.

"Casey, what the hell?!" Leo yelled at him. "I told you to get away from here before Hun finds you again!"

"I was gonna follow ya, but I was waitin'!" Casey retorted.

"What?! You know what, nevermind! We have to get the creature away from Bishop!"

"Bishop? The wacko that survived a hook to the throat?" Casey asked in confusion.

"I think it was his fault it's like this, Casey. I think Bishop mutated him!" Leo explained quickly.

"Fine! Where ya wanna take 'im, then?"

Leo's ever-angry eyes widened a fraction. "Um…"

"Ya don't know?!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Casey! It's…! Wh-Where is it?"

They both looked around, but the creature was gone.

"Oh, no, oh, no…!" Leo muttered to himself, covering his face. "This is bad… What if Bishop captures it?"

"I see it! Maybe we can get to it in time!" Casey exclaimed, pointing back in the direction they'd come. "Get on, quick!"

Leo did so, and they sped back towards the naval yard.

The pair gasped as they saw the scene before them. The gas pumps that had been there were collapsed, and a leak of gasoline headed towards the tank that had earlier been punctured. They had heard the explosion from half the ride over.

"We-We're too late!" Leo exclaimed, looking up at the black helicopter as it retreated.

He looked to the side, as he'd seen movement in a window, and his eyes widened as he saw a woman standing at the window.

"We gotta go, Casey. Before the authorities arrive. Go, Case!" Leo ordered, although his angry exterior had faltered a bit.

Casey, reluctantly, drove away, back towards his apartment.

The adrenaline coursing through his veins wore off in Leo, and the pain in his shoulder started to really sink in. He let out a small whimper, trying to hold it in but failing. Casey glanced at him as they pulled up to his apartment.

"Let's get fixed up, yeah?" he suggested, and Leo, his eyelids fluttering all of a sudden, nodded weakly.

Casey, groaning as he strained his ribs, helped his friend up the stairs, and Leo didn't really notice, just tried to get his legs to work.

The next thing Leo knew, he was on a couch, a towel underneath him, and a stinging in his shoulder, causing him to hiss. He looked over and saw Casey gently wiping the blood off his shoulder with an alcohol-soaked washcloth.

"Ho-How are your ribs?" Leo asked.

"Wrapped up'n shit. Wasn't 's bad as I thought."

Leo nodded, hissing again as a drop of straight-alcohol dropped on his shoulder.

"I think that's enough…" Casey muttered to himself as he started to wrap Leo's shoulder. Leo lifted his arm as needed, sighing. He shouldn't need this. He should've been able to hear the creature before it tore up his barely-healed shoulder.

"Son of a bitch…" he muttered to himself, looking away from Casey.

"Hey. It's OK. It happens ta everybody," Casey assured him.

"I wanted to save the creature, Casey! The woman in the window, at the naval yard… She looked like she knew it! Like… maybe she'd known him before he was mutated. And I… I couldn't save it… Because I wasn't fast enough…" Leo rambled, rubbing his face with his good arm. "And now it had to pay the price…"

"Well…" Casey sighed, trying to think of something. "Maybe… Maybe it survived."

Leo scoffed, his angry demeanor starting to return, much to Casey's dismay. "How, Casey? We heard the explosion from almost a mile away. And Bishop wouldn't just give up on his chase if there was a chance it was still alive."

Casey sighed, leaning back in the chair he was sitting in. "I'm sorry, man. I don't get why ya wanted ta save it, though."

"I… I still feel bad about the plant worker from Northampton. Don was so sad about not saving him, and he's still mad at me. That's why I came out tonight. I needed to get away from everyone being mad at me, come topside for a bit to blow off some steam. All I accomplished was getting an innocent creature killed and the Dragons some weapons," Leo kept rambling, punching Casey's couch in anger.

Casey, unsure of what to say, stayed silent, seeing if Leo would say something else that was on his mind.

Leo, seeing Casey staring at him, tried to shrink in his shell a bit. "Sorry…" he apologized.

"Nah, man, it's all good. Ya needed ta get it off yer chest. I get it," Casey reassured him.

Leo sighed, starting to sit up, despite the pain that overwhelmed him. "I think I should get going, Case. Thanks for tonight-"

"Nuh, nuh. Ya ain't goin' down dere wit' an open wound like dat. Stay da night ta make sure it dun get infected."

Leo blew out of his nostrils. "I really don't want to be a bother-"

"I insist, Leo."

Leo sighed, relenting. "Fine. One night. Then I go back to the Lair."

Casey nodded, getting up. "Here, lemme get you a blanket and…"

Leo watched him leave, and a small smile graced his lips. Casey was a good person. He was glad he and his brothers had him.

Near the naval yard, floating in the water, was the body of T9581 floated along the water, in multiple pieces, slowly disintegrating.

The woman in the window sighed ruefully, comforting her son, who'd had a nightmare about his father.

"He's in a better place now…" she said, looking at the picture of her and her husband, with the tag that said T9581 on it.

That was a doozy! I just needed that creature to die so I wouldn't be plagued by it sorry ^^; Review, please!

Shadow