Leonardo stands at a distance from Foot Headquarters with Raphael and Michelangelo flanking him. April and Casey stay near Donatello, who takes up the rear of the group with his nose aimed at his phone.

"No doubt about it, she's in there," he says, shutting off his phone as he slips it into his belt. "From what I can see, she's in Shredder's throne room."

"You know, this is the only time I'm gonna say it, but I'm glad there's a tracker in that thing," Raphael says. He cracks his knuckles, rolling his head from side to the side with the motion of his shoulders.

"They aren't keeping her in the dungeons like last time," Michelangelo says. For a second, his expression brightens with hope. "Maybe it'll be easier to get her out!"

Leonardo purses his lips. He wants to believe in his brother's optimism, but this whole situation gives him the opposite feeling. She's in the throne room, easy to access, like a prize waiting to be claimed.

Or a trap.

"April, Casey," he speaks, turning to them. "I don't know what's waiting for us in there. If you want to wait here, no one will stop you. You have to be ready for whatever may come."

"You want us to take the bench when wolfie needs us?" Casey asks. He flips his hockey mask down, dark eyes narrowing. "Casey Jones was born ready. Heh."

April flips her tessen open and nods, her lips pursing, and Leonardo returns the gesture. With her confirmation, he reaches for the hilts of his katanas, letting out a long breath through his nose. He gives a single wave and they move out.

—————

It's quiet inside, far too quiet, as the Hamato clan makes their way through the inner halls of Shredder's sanctum. They watch every corner, eyes white, waiting for their enemies to come for them, but it's as dark and quiet as a tomb. Not even a dust bunny scampers across the cold floors.

Shredder's throne room looms before them and for a moment, Leonardo wonders if they should have just gone in through the roof, avoiding the doors entirely. The thought leaves him a moment later—it wouldn't change anything. Shredder is expecting them.

Leonardo aims his katana at the door, activating the automation, and they slide open with a whisper. Shredder's throne casts a shadow across the stone and glass flooring, the pool beneath casting rippling glimpses of light on the walls. The throne stays empty. No mutants. No humans. The place is abandoned.

He motions for his brothers to stay put and steps into the room. The air feels heavy, wrought with this creeping feeling that trails itself up his legs and crawls right into his shell.

"Destiny?" Leonardo calls. He keeps his katanas aimed, sparing a glance back at his brothers, his friends. "Des, are you here?"

Nothing. Then, from above, a shadow.

Leonardo whips around, katana aimed. There's a ledge far above the ground, backed by a stained glass window that glows with moonlight. A tall shadow lingers there, too thin to be the Shredder, but no less dangerous.

Diaval, Leonardo's sure of it, and just the idea of him sets a flare of anger burning in his chest.

"Leo?" Raphael calls, his voice a harsh whisper.

Leonardo nods even as he keeps his weapon aloft. "Where is the Shredder?" he calls.

Diaval's figure moves, just for a second, before he extends his hand out in a single, sustained point. From beside Shredder's throne, a metallic screeching noise echoes through the room before a Mouser appears. It opens its mouth, allowing a red beam to take the form of a holographic Shredder, standing just before his throne. Leonardo feels the presence of his brothers at his back as he turns towards the throne, sword slowly lowering.

"Turtles," the recording greets. "While I wish I could be there to watch your end, I will take great pride in watching you die from afar."

"Pre-recorded?" Leonardo whispers, hoping Donatello will hear him. He watches the walls, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Is he watching us right now?"

"Hard to say," Donatello replies.

Leonardo grits his teeth. Worth a shot then. "Where's Destiny?" he demands. His voice is far too loud in the emptiness of it all. "Return her to us!"

Shredder's hologram lets out a low, menacing chuckle. "If that's what you want," he says.

He lifts his chin and Leonardo throws another look back toward Diaval. At his master's eye contact, Diaval nods, and his eyes fall shut.

The ground trembles and a low growl spreads across the room like fog. Leonardo's skin prickles. In an instant, a hulking black mass of fur appears from behind the throne as if out of thin air, and the creature stalks from its hiding place. It stops next to the Shredder, growls still rumbling, thunder before the storm.

Leonardo's strong stance falters as he takes a step back.

Destiny stands in her full wolf form, but she's nothing like the Destiny they've come to know, like the Foot have ripped her humanity from her. Her green eyes are glassy, hollow, her fangs glistening with drool as she bares them, and her back heaves with every breath she takes. Shredder, an imposing man in his own right, looks dwarfed next to her, barely reaching her shoulder at full height.

It dawns on Leonardo that this is only the second time he's seen her wolf form in the flesh. He hadn't realized how truly massive she is.

"Wolfie?" Casey whispers.

She snarls, muscles bulging beneath her rippling black fur. Shredder's hologram reaches out and, for a moment, Leonardo forgets that he isn't really here. He can't touch her. Raphael's got his hand around his bicep before Leonardo's realized that he moved, his breaths too fast. Raphael's grip stays tight.

"Let her go, Shredhead!" Michelangelo yells. His nunchaku rattle as he readies them.

Shredder's hologram laughs. Destiny doesn't look at him, her eyes locked on the turtles, on Casey and April, her chest still rumbling. Her long tongue drags across her lips, another flash of five-inch-long canines.

Leonardo feels like prey. He can't even spare a look back at his brothers, too afraid that a single movement will trigger her into action.

The Shredder starts to laugh, the hologram flickering.

"If you want her back, take her," he says.

Behind them, a hissing noise sounds from the doors and they all startle, whipping around the look at them. Small puffs of smoke leave the hinges and Donatello hurries to them, digging his fingers against the gap between the two doors.

His eyes widen as he looks back at his brothers. "We're locked in." His breaths sharpen. "We have to kill that Mouser, now!"

Michelangelo whips three shurikens from his belt and sends them flying at the Mouser, but Destiny acts first. She leaps in front of them, protecting the hologram even as the shuriken bury themselves in her fur. She lets out a sharp bark, lowering her haunches.

"Shell," Michelangelo squeaks.

"Destiny," Shredder speaks. Her ears perk. "Kill them all, and have some fun with it."

Far above them, Leonardo hears the single clear snap of Diaval's fingers against each other.

Destiny lunges.

"LEO, LOOK OUT!" Raphael roars.

Leonardo can barely breathe before Raphael tackles him out of the way just as Destiny touches down, effectively crushing the spot where he once stood. She growls and swings her head towards the two of them, hackles raised, and she's on them again. Raphael gets between them, sais up, and he fends off her first snap with a quick jab, soaking up her attacks in a desperate bid to buy Leonardo time.

Leonardo shakes his head. Focus! he tells himself. Katanas, where are—

His swords, knocked aside by the force of Raphael's tackle, lay a few feet away. Leonardo gets up and runs for them, heart in his throat, and he hears Destiny howl behind him. The ground shakes.

"LEO!"

Leonardo snatches up his katanas and turns, but he's too slow. Destiny's paw catches him, full frontal, and he goes flying. He lands hard against the steps leading up to the throne, the wind knocked out of him, and Destiny's still coming.

But he can't move. He can't breathe.

He doesn't want to hurt her.

There's a whoop and a battle cry before Michelangelo's kusarigama chain soars out and wraps around Destiny's front legs. Her legs tangle and she falls forward, front half skidding against the floor while her back half scrambles to compensate.

Michelangelo pulls with every ounce of strength he has, struggling to keep her tangled. Destiny snarls and snaps at the chains, but then Casey's in the fight too, nailing her head, shoulders, and legs with hockey puck after hockey puck.

"Get up, bro!" Michelangelo hollers. "I know you don't want to fight her, but we've gotta! Just until—"

Destiny throws her entire body weight towards Michelangelo and he lets out a scream as she body-slams the ground beside him. In his moment of fear, she yanks her legs apart, snapping the kusarigama chain keeping her twisted, and then she's back up and snapping at his heels.

"Desti-bear! STOP! IT'S US!" Michelangelo screams.

Donatello and Raphael rush back into the fray. Donatello leaps onto Destiny's shoulders, hooks his staff around her neck, and wrenches her head back. Destiny lets out a strangled bark as she skids to a stop, starting to spin and buck like an enraged bull in an attempt to lose her new rider. Raphael dodges around her feet, looking for an opening.

Leonardo stumbles as he tries to get up, only to be greeted by a gentle pair of hands as April steadies him. He forces breaths, his stomach and shell aching.

"Could you get through to her?" he demands.

April wrings her hands. "I could try, but I can't promise it'll work!"

They both look at the fight, at Destiny holding her own against three turtles and Casey. Their attacks land but it's like they're flies, annoyances that she's desperate to flatten.

Leonardo grabs his katanas. "We'll get you an opening and then you have to move fast." April nods. "Guys, get her down! Do whatever you can!"

It makes him feel sick, but he has to. Temporary pain, but he has to believe she'll be okay with it as long as they get her to stop before she makes any huge mistakes.

Raphael pulls out his grappling hook from his belt and rushes in. He ducks underneath her belly, around her legs, narrowly avoiding the jaws of death even as Donatello strains to keep yanking her head back. Leonardo and Michelangelo rush in with their own hooks, hog-tying her in ropes. She's snarling, barking with fury.

She's getting angrier, her lips starting to foam at the corners, but Casey keeps grabbing her attention, using his loud voice and arsenal of sports equipment to their fullest.

"Over here, wolfie! Look at me! GOONGALA!"

Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo split off, yanking their ropes with them, and Destiny goes down like a rodeo animal. She strains and struggles, jaw still snapping, when Donatello gets his own rope around her muzzle and yanks it tight.

April rushes in, planting her hands on either side of Destiny's giant, fluffy head, eyes screwing shut.

"Look past the lies," she begs. "It's us! Your friends! Please, stop!"

For a moment, Destiny goes still, ears flat to her head, whimpering and writhing. April keeps focusing, pushing every bit of psychic energy she has into Destiny.

"Please!"

April feels it—like an invisible wall blocking her way. She tries to force herself through and, for a second, she makes it. She feels the wall give.

April screams. She rears back, hands flying to her hair, and Destiny snaps. She forces her jaws open, snapping Donatello's grappling rope, and she lunges for April, maw open wide and hungry.

"NO!"

Donatello leaps between them, bō staff up, and Destiny's jaws clamp around it. She growls, eyes snapping with rage, and her teeth cleave the staff in two before Donatello can even try to stop it. She lunges and he tries to dodge out of the way, but her jaws clamp down around his ankle and he lets out a blood-curdling scream.

"DONNIE!"

Destiny drags him back even as he punches her in the muzzle, again and again, blood dripping down his skin, staining her teeth. She rears back, bringing the turtle with her, and he gets one last punch on her muzzle.

Her jaw releases and Donatello goes flying: up, up, up...then down, down, down. He lands hard on the other side of the room and doesn't stir again. Destiny licks her blood-stained lips and stalks toward Donatello.

"HEY! OVER HERE!"

Michelangelo dashes in front of her, nunchucks spinning, and he smacks her across the nose. She shakes her head, snarls, and takes off after him even as he races away. Casey follows as Raphael rushes to Donatello's side.

Leonardo gets to April as she gasps for breath, tears running down her face.

"April—" Leonardo starts.

"Oh, god, the pain," April gasps, reaching to clutch her chest. She looks up at Leonardo with wide, reddened eyes. "She's...she's so scared. She has no idea what's going on, Leo." She shakes her head. "I couldn't get through. It...it felt like whatever is controlling her tried to take hold of me too."

It sinks like a stone in his gut. She's mindless, her will stolen from her, and April will fall victim too if she tries again. They need something else, another plan, and they need it quick if they're going to survive this.

Leonardo helps April to his feet as his eyes turn towards the ledge again, Diaval watching it all. "It's him, isn't it?" he says, half to himself. Of course, it is. If he could control her remotely, he'd be far away with the Shredder.

"GOONGALA!"

Leonardo and April's heads snap up as Casey skates in to snag the attention again, Raphael pinned beneath Destiny's paw. Her head snaps to him an instant before he strikes and she reacts instantly. She shoves away from Raphael and swipes her paw. Her claws catch Casey by the stick, knocking him down with a sharp grunt. She pounces again and he gasps, almost rolling out of the way. Her claws catch his stomach as they come down, ripping through his sweater, his shirt, and he can barely scream before she's batted him across the floor like the very hockey pucks he's been lobbing at her all night.

Casey struggles to get up, blood dripping steadily from the deep gashes in his skin, and Destiny snarls low in her throat.

"Casey!" April shouts, alerting the wolf to her presence.

Destiny looks up just in time for April's tessen to slice across the softest part of her nose. Destiny howls and backs up, swinging her head from side to side as if to shake away the pain. Casey groans as April returns to his side and tries to patch the wound.

Leonardo grips his katanas and blinks hard against growing tears. He tells himself that she's gone, that he has to do something. If he can just distract her for long enough for one of them to get to Diaval...

Raphael's the only one whose grappling hook wasn't snapped by Destiny. He's their best shot. He's still watching over Donatello, trying to staunch the bleeding while leaving Michelangelo to fend off Destiny alone. Michelangelo is sweating with effort, his movements getting slower and slower, and Leonardo pushes through the fear and rushes in, letting out a fierce battle cry.

Go for the weak points, he tells himself. They're all holding back and they can't afford that anymore. It'll all be over soon.

He ducks beneath her jaws and slides underneath her, gritting his teeth as he slices her front leg. She stumbles even as a red gash appears on her skin, howling in pain, but she stays upright.

Michelangelo takes the moment of weakness to jump onto her back, gripping her ears.

"DESTI-BEAR! PLEASE COME BACK!" he screams into them.

She responds by rearing back onto her hind legs and flinging him off of her with a mighty swing of her head. He flies a good twenty feet before crashing into the wall hard enough to shatter the concrete. He collapses into a heap on the ground.

"Mikey!" Raphael shouts.

"Raph!" Leonardo hollers as he keeps evading Destiny's attacks. Raphael's head whips to him. "You have to get to Diaval!"

Raphael's brow furrows for just a second before realization dawns. "Then you've gotta cover me, Fearless!"

Leonardo nods and Raphael takes off, mask tails whipping behind him as he readies his grappling hook. Leonardo swings his katanas at Destiny, keeping her attention locked on him while half-watching Raphael.

Raphael pulls the trigger on his grappling gun and the hook goes flying. The sharp edge embeds itself into the roof and, immediately, Diaval's eyes fly open.

He snaps his fingers against his side.

Destiny turns instantly, attention locking on Raphael. Leonardo starts hollering as he jabs at her, doing everything he can to get her attention, but she's gone. She gallops towards Raphael as he starts his ascent.

"RAPH!" Leonardo shouts.

Raphael swings to the side, expecting her jaws to go for him, but she aims higher, claws out. She snaps the grappling hook string and for a single, horrifying second, Raphael goes into a free-fall.

The world moves in slow motion as Leonardo watches, mouth open in a silent scream. Destiny twists towards Raphael, mouth open, and the slow second ends as her jaws close around his arm.

He screams, the bones in his arm snapping as she rattles him back and forth before throwing him away. He hits the ground, bounces, rolls once, and then she's on top of him again, clawing at his shell, biting the hard bits in a desperate attempt to get to anything vital, an animal desperate for a kill.

Raphael grabs one sai with his unhurt arm and jams it into her gums as she goes for another bite. She howls and stumbles back, leaving Raphael beaten and bruised, a bloody bite mark engraved into his crushed arm.

Leonardo's stomach churns, but he finds his voice. "Destiny!"

Her ears perk, swivelling to him as slowly, she raises her shaggy head. His heart pounds as he stares deep into her eyes, searching for any remnants of the stubborn girl he's come to know, but she glows with madness, hatred, her teeth stained with the blood of his brothers.

"Destiny, please," he begs. Her dark fur hides her injuries well, but she must be tiring. Her breaths shake. "Please, just...come back. Come home."

She growls, hackles raising, and then she's on him again. He swings his katanas, but she's learning, and she goes for the blades. She catches one in her teeth and, with a sharp twist of her neck, the steel shatters. Leonardo can barely recover from the sudden loss of weight in his hand before she's knocked the other sword away.

She's on top of him in an instant, claws digging into his arms, and a guttural scream erupts from his throat as she pins him down. Tongues of fire roll up his biceps and her face gets closer to him, hot iron-smelling breath seeping across his face.

"L-Leo!" Raphael cries.

Leonardo looks past Destiny at his brother as he tries to get up. Raphael stumbles, letting out a curse as he grips his arm.

Leonardo doesn't respond. He looks up at the wolf above him. He hears the Mouser screech from a distance, cold laughter; the Shredder is still watching, revelling in the destruction. Destiny bares her teeth and Leonardo realizes that she's being held back, letting him sit with his untimely demise.

There's only one thing he wants to say before it's all over. He only wishes he had said it sooner, when she was falling asleep in his arms instead of him dying at her hands.

"Des, I don't want it to end like this," he whispers. "But if this is how it's going to be—" She snarls. He gulps, but refuses to look away. "Just...just know that I love you."

Shredder's laughter seems to echo in his ears, but her eyes shift for a brief moment, like a spark in the shallow pools of green. He always thought blue was his favourite colour until he saw her eyes. He closes his own.

"I know you're in there, Destiny. I love you," he repeats. "I love you."

"Now—" Shredder's voice starts, but it cuts off with a metallic screen and a crackle of electricity. From far off in the room, there's the heavy sound of someone hitting the floor and Leonardo feels a rush of wind as Destiny lunges for his throat.

He waits for darkness, for the pain he hopes will be brief, but it never comes.

A voice sounds in the tense silence of the room, clear as a bell.

"Leonardo?"