April kneels over Master Splinter's unconscious body, shaking his shoulder. "Come on, Master Splinter. Come on!" she pleads.

Splinter's eyes snap open and he hisses as he bats the redhead aside. He gets to his feet and bares his teeth.

"I got this, Red," Casey says, moving April behind him.

He whips out his baseball bat. Splinter lunges, knocking Casey aside far too easily, and pins April to the wall, snapping at her savagely as she flails and evades his sharp teeth.

"Aah! Master Splinter!" she screams. She steels her nerve and wrenches her arms forward, grabbing his face in her hands and focusing on him. "Look."

He goes still as his mind is overrun with memories. He sees the turtles, Destiny, April, and Casey. He feels hugs, hears laughter, sees tears, smiles, shared sorrows, hard times, good times, Karai. A final image of Tang Shen's soft smile and baby Miwa fills his head and he softens. Splinter slowly touches April's hand, his furry face peaceful, and she trembles. She opens her eyes as he pulls away from her.

She hesitates. "Master Splinter?"

He stands up to his full height, his russet eyes full of warmth again. She smiles as Casey rejoins her and the rat nods to both of them. Nearby, the crab roars. Splinter's ear flicks and he turns around, observing the battle for hardly a second before he attacks the crustacean mutants. First, he takes out the shrimp with a few quick kicks, sending it flying to its doom in a rotating fan. Donatello breathes a sigh of relief.

Leonardo lets out a sharp gasp as his last katana goes sailing into a vat of mutagen. He spins around, eyes wide as he faces the lobster mutant, weaponless. As the lobster closes in, Master Splinter appears and kicks it aside. He spins, kicks, punches, and leaps with such agility and grace that the lobster doesn't stand a chance. It too is thrown into the fan.

The last, the crab mutant, uses its four arms to try and yank Raphael apart limb from limb. Splinter's foot hits it square in the chest, making it drop Raphael with a roar. It turns on the new opponent without a second thought, throwing punches, all four fists flying, but Splinter dodges each one. The crab throws a final punch and Splinter grabs its fist, kicking its knee in and disabling it. He swings it over by the neck and smashes it into the ground, then grips its shell and sends it flying into the same fan that its companions fell into.

Splinter stares down at the fan, chest heaving, and the turtles gather in a scattered group behind him.

"Father?" Raphael whispers.

"Sensei," Leonardo confirms.

Splinter turns to them with a smile and extends his arms. "My sons."

They waste no time in racing forwards and embracing him tightly.

"You're back," Michelangelo says.

"I...I can't believe it," Donatello whispers.

"How I have missed you, my sons," Splinter says, love burning in every part of his being. "And the rest of my family," he adds as he looks up at Casey and April.

"Just please don't try and eat my face anymore," Casey comments.

"Sensei, we've got so much to tell you," Leonardo says, unable to stop smiling. "Destiny came back and—" He trails off, his face falling. "Destiny," he repeats.

The others slowly realize what he's saying and look around. Splinter frowns and steps away from the group.

"So the turtles live," the deep voice of Shredder rumbles above them. "And the rat thinks like a man again. Now you will know when my blade is at your throat."

Shredder stands on a high-up platform flanked by Foot soldiers and Tiger Claw. Destiny is in his grasp, her eyes blazing as she struggles against his blade. A little ways back, Emery stands with Diaval. There's a gun held against the pale boy's jaw and there's blood trickling down his eyebrow ridge. His chest heaves as he stares at the back of Shredder's head, his stance rigid.

"Des..." Leonardo whispers.

"For now, my blade is at her throat," Shredder hisses. Destiny yanks against him and his blade digs against her jugular, making her go stock still save for the nervous twitching of her ears and the darting of her eyes.

Splinter's eyes narrow and he takes a step forward, but Leonardo places a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, Sensei. If you do anything..." he starts.

"He will harm her," Splinter finishes.

Every mutant and person looks up at their enemy and the wolf girl in his grasp. Emery presses the barrel of her gun harder against the underside of Diaval's jaw and an audible whimper echoes in the room. Leonardo waits for Destiny to turn into a wolf and burst out of Shredder's clutches, but she doesn't do it. Instead, she stills and takes a deep breath.

"I may have failed before, but you will still lose something tonight," Shredder promises.

He can hardly lift a pinky before Destiny unsheathes her claws and jams them into Shredder's bad eye, right through the gap in his helmet. He roars in pain and she takes the moment to spin and high-kick him in the face, the same move she learned with Leonardo so long ago.

The Shredder stumbles into the wall with a clanging thud and Destiny locks eyes with Diaval. The other Foot members surge forwards to snatch her, her footsteps hesitating as she stares at her friend.

"Go!" Diaval pleads as Emery starts to drag him away from the fray, him tripping over his feet the entire time as he cranes to see Destiny one last time. "GO!"

Tiger Claw's paw comes straight for Destiny and she lurches backwards, twisting out of the way. Unable to do anything more, she dashes to the edge of the platform and leaps off. She spins around in midair, deploying three smoke bombs at once and covering her tracks in purple smoke.

When it clears, every member of the Hamato clan is gone.

----------

Back in the Party Wagon, Casey drives down the subway rails as swiftly as possible. April breathes a sigh of relief just as Tiger Claw lands on the roof, his face appearing in the windshield.

"There is no escape!" he shouts in his roaring voice.

"Hey Tiger Claw! Meet Sir Sizllot!" Michelangelo calls, unleashing their stuffed deer head from the roof.

It blasts a stream of fire onto the tiger's butt and he screeches in pain before falling off the roof and rolling off down the tunnels. The wagon reappears onto the streets of New York, tires squealing as they escape.

"Party Wagon in full effect, boy!" Michelangelo whoops.

Donatello exhales heavily and slumps against the vehicle walls. "We made it."

"Yeah, by the skin of our shells," Raphael says, rubbing the back of his neck.

Destiny can't sit still, fingers tapping against her leg, her entire body bursting with adrenaline. She doesn't smile. She keeps looking over her shoulder out the window. She doesn't even notice that there's a small nick on her throat, only about the size of a paper cut, that's still bleeding. Leonardo keeps his head turned away from her, his arms crossed over his plastron.

"So where to now? We have no home to go back to," Michelangelo says.

"Homes are transitory. What matters is that we are together," Splinter says, a pleasant smile on his face. His gaze falls on Destiny. "Including you, Destiny." She gives a barely there nod and keeps looking out the window, her fangs snagging on her bottom lip.

"But we still need a place to hang our masks, Sensei," Leonardo cuts in. "Where are we gonna live?"

"Well, there's the old power plant, or maybe an abandoned subway tunnel," Donatello suggests.

"Wait, I have the greatest idea ever!" Michelangelo exclaims, standing up.

"Do we really want to hear this?" Raphael groans.

"It's secret, fortified, and no one would ever think to look for us there!" the orange-clad turtle continues.

----------

Antonio's Pizza sits alone, its windows boarded up and the smell of fresh pizza missing from the surrounding area. The turtles and their companions drop inside, scanning the area, and Destiny does a scent check to confirm that the place is empty.

"Perfect, right?" Michelangelo asks.

"I wouldn't exactly say 'perfect'," Raphael disagrees.

"It will serve, for now," Splinter says.

"Next up, take the city back." Casey grins.

"And find my dad. He's out there somewhere," April says. She moves to the boarded windows and peers through the slats at the empty street.

Destiny sets her uchigatana down on the nearest surface before she goes into the kitchen, still tapping her toes and nibbling at her nails and every other nervous habit. Leonardo appears at the entrance and leans against the doorframe, his face deadpan. Destiny faces him, exhaling.

"Leo, we have to go back. Diaval—"

"I'm going to stop you right there," he says with a scowl, holding his hand up. She blinks, mouth still open. "Would you like to explain to me how the shell Shredder got a hold of you? Why weren't you fighting with us?"

She looks taken aback. "Diaval was looking for Karai. I saw him leave, I went with him, we were going to find information that could help us find her—"

"And you did that on our rescue mission for Splinter?!" he exclaims. He jabs his finger at her and she steps backwards. "For all you know, Diaval could've been scurrying back to Shredder. You could've sabotaged our entire plan!"

Her ears flatten as her eyes narrow. "Why do you care anyways? I wasn't getting in your way!"

"I care because you went off with a Foot Clan soldier, alone, in enemy territory! You got captured!"

"Ex-Foot Clan soldier, and we only got caught because the alarms went off. That wasn't Diaval or my fault." Her jaw clenches and she lets out a growling noise from the back of her throat. "Whatever, I'm done being scolded. Diaval's still in trouble. He needs us." She starts towards the door. "If we gather the others and—"

"Don't you dare walk out that door," Leonardo orders as she reaches the exit. She halts, her shoulders tensing. "If you had changed into your wolf right at the start, I bet you both could've escaped. I'm not putting the rest of my family in danger because you made a mistake."

"A...a mista—you think I—" She laughs harshly and spins around, ferocity darkening her expression. "I told you after our vision quests, Leo, I'm not using my wolf unless I really need to. That was part of my—"

"I think a life or death situation is a pretty good time to use your beast mode!"

"Um, guys? Are you—" Donatello asks, poking his head into the room.

"GO AWAY!" they both shout, and he instantly retreats.

Leonardo narrows his eyes, glaring at the wolf mutant before him. "You screwed up, Destiny. Admit it," he says. "You wanted to be the hot shot hero and it cost you Diaval's freedom. We're not cleaning up your mess, not for him."

Destiny's lip trembles and her nostrils flare. "He betrayed Shredder when he ran away. He's my friend and your ally, whether you like it or not." Her breath hitches and her voice comes out slightly softer when she says, "You don't even know what they could be doing to him in there."

"I think he's being welcomed home like a hero," he retorts. "He gotten into your good books and now Shredder will use that to get to us."

"That's a lie and you know it."

"The only person lying here is you, and you're lying to yourself."

"You don't know anything about Diaval!"

"I know enough!"

"You know NOTHING!" Destiny screams as her fist flies up to connect with his jaw. He stumbles back, his rage giving way to shock as she grips her aching hand, shoulders heaving. "You don't know what's happening! You can't imagine what it's like!" she keeps going, her voice shaking and fluctuating in volume. "You didn't leave me behind when I was getting the crap beaten out of me, so why would you leave Diaval to the same fate?" He grips his jaw and her eyes seem to burn. "TELL ME WHY!"

"You don't know him," Leonardo snaps, advancing towards her. She backs against the wall, glaring at him as he bares over her. "You don't know what he's done to us, what he's capable of. I'm sure he's never told you anything."

"I don't care! He's nothing like—"

"SHUT UP!" His fist makes contact with the stove, directly next to her head, and almost dents it. Her mouth slams shut and the blue-masked turtle seethes, his breaths just managing to escape through his gritted teeth. "He's dangerous, Destiny. Sure, he's good at coming off as harmless because he's a clumsy idiot with the IQ of a pepperoni, but he's dangerous. He's dangerous and you're being stupid, playing right into his hands. He's going to hurt you again."

A snarl rises in her throat and her pointed teeth glint. "I'm not stupid," she says, drawing herself up, the watery sheen in her eyes giving away more than she'd like. "I'm trying to move past what happened and give him a second chance! Why can't you do the same?"

"Because some people don't deserve second chances," he responds, refusing to break their intense eye contact. "Some people can't be saved."

She stiffens, tears now completely visible against her eyelashes. "S-So," she nearly croaks, swallowing, "Diaval is a lost cause but I'm not? I nearly killed all of you. I wounded you, broke you, I've made horrible mistakes and yet you aren't ready to give up on me? In what world does that make any sense?"

Only then does Leonardo soften. Some of the fire dies and his head droops as she looks away from him. He leans in, her hair brushing his forehead. "I know who you really are, Des," he murmurs. "You're not like that. You're worth it."

If this was any other scenario, she would be comforted by his words. She would relax at the sound of his voice, revel in the smooth, gentle tones and focus on nothing but him. Right now, nothing about this is comforting. She wishes he would just keep yelling at her rather than suddenly becoming soft and gentle, like he cares.

She braces her hands against his plastron and shoves him away, brushing past him. "The only difference between Diaval and I," she says, but stops to cough, giving a quick wipe to her cheeks, "is that you met his bad side before his good side, and you met my good side before the bad. So, really," she laughs, the sound void of any amusement or joy, "your only problem is that you're stuck in the past."

Leonardo's lips part. "Destiny, if you could just see—" he starts, reaching his hand out to touch her arm.

She pushes his hand away, the hard look of negativity eradicating any vulnerability again. "Stop trying to make me more like you, Leo. I'm trying to move on."

"I'm trying too, but some things are hard to let go of."

She exhales sharply and squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head so much that some stray curls cling to the damp surfaces of her lips and cheeks. "I have to save him. I'm not leaving him alone," she utters.

"Destiny, don't—"

She's already out of the kitchen and moving at full speed towards the exit. She brushes past the others, her gaze focused straight ahead, and the tension in the room seems to thicken. She snatches her uchigatana up and straps it to her belt.

"What's going on? Where are you—" Raphael starts.

"I'm going out. I don't know when I'll be back," she says, disappearing out the exit and into the night.

The turtles, April, Casey, and Splinter look towards the kitchen as Leonardo stalks out, feet dragging and his jaw clenched. He winces at the latter action, reaching his hand up to prod the growing bruise on his chin, but he straightens up when he notices his family watching him, although he can't make himself smile.

"Dude, what the shell happened?" Michelangelo whispers.

Leonardo's face softens slightly, but only just. He wants to explain what happened, but he fears that his composure will break and nothing good will come out of it, so instead, he presses his lips together and shakes his head.

"Nothing important," he answers stiffly.