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Raphael fiddles with a shuriken in the living room while he watches Leonardo pace nearby. The blue-masked turtle mutters under his breath every now and then, running a hand over his head repeatedly as if trying to pull answers right from his brain.

"Sorry, Leo," Donatello says as he leaves the lab, Sarina at his side. "All the information about Mutacorp that we could find online is blocked with special security codes."

"And you can't hack them?" he demands.

"We both tried. Even I couldn't, and I tried plugging myself into the system itself," Sarina says with a tired, defeated look. "Whatever is going on over there, they want to keep it hidden from the public eye."

"Keep trying," Leonardo says. He waves their hand at them and turns away, muttering again. "There has to be something..."

"Leo, we've tried everything! We're working our shells off just to—" Donatello starts.

"TRY. HARDER!" Leonardo bellows. Sarina steps behind Donatello as he takes a step back, one arm extended in front of her body.

Michelangelo pokes his head out of the kitchen, a bowl full of Ice Cream Kitty in his arms. The frozen feline mews in concern and Michelangelo turns around to return her to the freezer.

Donatello narrows his eyes, maintaining his protective stance. "We can't, Leo. We've exhausted all the options. We've tried computers, we've tried investigating, we even tried to question a Purple Dragon—"

"Raph failed that. We can still do that," Leonardo says, his tone gaining an air of panic. "We have to."

Destiny moves into the room, bobbing her head to the music streaming through her earbuds. She looks up from her t-phone to see three nervous looks aimed at Leonardo and shuts off the music without a second thought.

"We don't kidnap people, Fearless," Raphael says. "That's a line we can't cross and you should know that."

Leonardo spins to face his brother, teeth gritted. "You should be working too, Raph. Keep digging with Taylor and try to get everything you can out of her!"

Raphael's eyes narrow. "Sorry, but I don't exactly want to spend the time I get with her like that. She doesn't know."

"That's what you think. She could be lying, or...or the Dragons paid her to keep quiet! Force it out of her if you have to!"

"Leonardo, are you even hearing yourself?" Sarina whispers. She steps closer to Donatello's shell, one hand resting on her boyfriend's shoulder.

"She's told me everything she can!" Raphael shouts, getting to his feet and storming towards Leonardo. "What are you doing to help, huh? Sitting around and whining about it? Maybe you should move your shell and get working too!"

"Dudes, can we—" Michelangelo starts.

"I am working! If we've got more Kraang wannabes on our hands, we need to exterminate the threat. I can't have anything bad happening again!" Leonardo retorts, bordering on a scream.

Destiny reaches out and touches Leonardo's shoulder, opening her mouth to speak, and he whirls around with his fist raised. She flinches hard, hands flying up to protect her face as her knees buckle, ears flattening against her hair, and Leonardo stops in an instant. He looks at his fist, then her, and lowers his arm as if it isn't his to control anymore.

"I...I..." He sucks in a shaky breath, shoulders slumping as he clasps his hands around his head. "I don't know. I don't know."

Michelangelo hears something move at his left and looks up at Master Splinter. The rat's face is troubled as he stares at his family. Destiny takes a hesitant step towards Leonardo as he sinks to the floor and when he doesn't move, she brings herself to her knees and wraps her arms around him. He buries his face against her shoulder and she extends her wings to surround him, giving him privacy from the staring eyes all around them.

"My sons, my daughters, why can't any of you find clarity?" Splinter asks gently, sweeping closer to them.

"We're working too hard on something that's too difficult to understand," Donatello says.

"Only because our intel is limited," Sarina points out. "Perhaps...we have to do what Leonardo wanted, with—"

"No," Raphael snaps, eyes sparking with protectiveness.

"We...we do need answers, dude," Michelangelo whispers.

Splinter's gaze narrows. "What are you talking about? What is Leonardo's plan?"

"He wants to capture a Purple Dragon girl and interrogate her about Mutacorp," Destiny says, a bitter edge to her tone. Leonardo's quivering body stills for just a second as he sucks in a breath, making her arms tighten around him.

Splinter's gaze hardens. "That is not what we do," he says. "Besides...did you not already try that plan and it failed?"

"We have to try again," Leonardo says. He forces himself to look up, making Destiny fold her wings away from him. "She's a Purple Dragon. She's the only one we'd have a chance of capturing."

"Are you sure?" Raphael asks. "She's a teenage girl. We can't put her through that."

"You seem defensive, Raphael," Sarina comments, eyes flashing as her eyebrows lift. "I thought you hated her."

Raphael purses his lips. "No...I don't hate—I mean, I don't think we should capture her. What if she's more innocent than we think?"

Splinter sighs heavily and shuts his eyes. "My meditation brings me nothing but negativity. I fear we may have no choice soon..."

Raphael clenches his hands into tight fists, his biceps bulging a little as he forces back his rage. He can't let them snatch Taylor. She'll never trust him again and he'll lose her. He won't let that happen.

"Guys, we have to think about this," he pleads.

"No, we can't," Leonardo says, his gaze still on the floor. "We have to stop whatever Mutacorp is planning and that girl is one of our only options left." His sapphire stare meets his brother's green. "Sorry, Raph, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

Raphael doesn't answer as he averts his eyes. He hardly listens as Leonardo talks to the others about the plan, the sentences passing him, heard, yet never computed.

"We need you to track her."

"I don't like this. It's...harsh."

"It's only as harsh as we make it."

He has to warn Taylor before it's too late.

----------

Taylor arches an eyebrow as Raphael appears on their usual rooftop looking completely worried, half out of breath.

"What's got you so freaked? Did you tick off that giant lubo?" she teases.

He pulls her against him and clamps a hand over her mouth. "Ssh, listen to me very carefully."

Her eyebrows furrow and she squirms against his grip. When that fails, she licks his palm, making him yelp and release his hand from her mouth.

"Ew!" he complains.

"I wanted to breathe," she retorts. "What's happening?"

He looks behind him again and, still seeing nothing, he releases her from his arms. He still keeps one hand on her forearm, holding her in place. Her hazel eyes swim with confusion and she reaches up to brush her thumb against the worry lines on his face.

"Raphael," she whispers. "What is it?"

"My family is trying to capture you," he explains, a little rushed. "They want to drill you for answers about Mutacorp."

Her eyes widen. "But...Hun doesn't tell me everything! I told you what I knew!"

"They don't know that. Leo...he's so stressed over these break-ins that he's starting to lose it," he says.

She shakes her head. "They can't find out that I'm Taylor and the PD girl. They won't let us see each other anymore."

He smirks a little and brings her closer, mouth near her ear. "Like that'd stop me."

She punches his chest lightly. "Not the time for jokes, Raph," she says, although unable to hide her tiny smile. "What do I do?"

He looks around again. "Well, I thought you could just hide, but Leo got Destiny to help this time and she can track anything once she gets the scent. So...I snuck out ahead of time to warn you, and now..." He puts his hands up as he shrugs. "I got nothing."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "Raphael, I swear—"

A dark shape knocks her to the ground and she lets out a small shriek. Raphael startles, heart rate spiking at the sight of Destiny pinning Taylor to the ground. Her pointed teeth are bared and her wings are spread so that she looks three times bigger than she truly is. Taylor seems frozen, mouth hanging open.

"Des, don't!" Raphael shouts, rushing towards them.

She looks up at him just as he grabs her around the middle and tugs her off, letting Taylor get back up. Destiny snarls at her brother and yanks at the grip around her, wings smacking him repeatedly in the face as she struggles to fold them back.

"Raph, I don't like it either, but we have to. Whatever this is—" She cuts herself off as her nostrils flare, head swivelling back to Taylor. "Hold on..."

She sniffs again and her eyes go wide. Raphael cusses under his breath and Taylor takes a wary step back.

"Raph...what is she doing?" she asks.

Raphael knows that in about two seconds, his life will be over and he will never be able to look Destiny in the eyes ever again.

"Oh my god," Destiny breathes. She shoves out of Raphael's grip and turns on him. "Why does she have the exact same scent as Taylor?"

He flashes a wobbly grin. "She...doesn't?"

"Don't lie to me, Raphael," she hisses, making him flinch. "She's got the same scent that's all over you whenever you get back from your outings with Taylor. Thing is..." She casts a glare to the Mexican girl still standing there. "She also smells exactly like the PD girl."

"She knows what I smell like?!" Taylor repeats, mouth falling open as she backs up even further. "¿Qué cojones?"

"She scent catalogues everyone she comes across so she can track people and I maaayyy have forgotten about that little detail," Raphael says with an apologetic, guilty smile.

"Oh, por el amor de Dios!" she grumbles, raking her fingers through her hair. "No podrías decirme eso antes?!"

"Tay, the Spanish thing again—"

"¡El español me calma! ¡Cállate!"

"Halt, villain!"

Taylor spins around to find Leonardo's blade at her throat, Donatello and Sarina flanking him. Michelangelo appears on the other side of the building and joins Destiny and Raphael, his expression nervous.

"Again with the halting thing?!" Raphael groans.

Leonardo rolls his eyes. "Don't ruin the moment, Raph." He aims his glare and his blade at Taylor again. "Come along quietly and we won't do anything drastic."

"No, you're not taking her anywhere," Raphael snaps. Within a few seconds and a few short footsteps, he's placed himself between the girl and his brother. "She doesn't know anything. You're wasting your time!"

Sarina's eyes flash. "Now I'm even more confused. Isn't this the same girl who fought with you multiple times?"

"Yeah, and she's the same girl that he's been meeting up with," Destiny calls. "Taylor and the Purple Dragon girl are one and the same."

Leonardo's expression floods with realization. "Raph..." he utters.

Taylor presses herself against Raphael's shell. "Look, I wanted to meet your family, but not like this."

He stays in his protective position, fierce green eyes still locked on his leader. "She's my friend. We can't do this," he insists.

Leonardo bristles and Donatello places a hand on his shoulder. "Think before you speak," he reminds him.

The older turtle shoves his hand off, focused only on Raphael. "I expected you to be the suspicious one. You can't trust her!"

"Funny, because I already do," Raphael snarls. "If you want her, you have to go through me."

"You're picking her over us? Some team member you are," Leonardo growls.

"I'm not picking sides. I'm doing what's right," he retorts. "You're so invested in stopping the bad guys that you don't realize that you've become one of them! Open your eyes!"

Leonardo's arms shake with rage, his biceps bulging as his eyes go white. Before either side can throw a punch, there's a flash and Destiny is in front of him, wings spread before Raphael and Taylor. She takes his hand and rests her hand on his plastron as she meets his gaze.

"Leo, this didn't work," she murmurs. "We'll find answers another way. Let's just go home, please."

"We can't—"

"Please?"

Her voice breaks and his stony exterior does too. He looks up at Raphael, just able to see his face between Destiny's head and her wings, a rare kind of hatred in his eyes. Raphael doesn't flinch. Taylor lowers her head to the top of his shell, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I agree," Sarina says, taking Donatello's hand. Even her gentle voice is too loud at the moment. "Let us go."

Donatello doesn't fight it as she leads him away from the scene, his expression wrought with distress. Destiny folds her wings against her back again and tugs Leonardo's hand, the two of them walking away together. Her ears are drooped, her chest far too tight, and Leonardo's expression is a mask.

Michelangelo is the last one on the roof. He takes a few steps after his family, but stops and turns back to Raphael and Taylor. His smile to outshine the sun only outshines the moon today.

"Um...nice to meet you, Taylor," he says sweetly. "Come home soon, Raph."

He hops off the roof, disappearing from sight. Raphael releases the tension as soon as they're alone. He turns to look at Taylor and she's already looking at him, her face a kaleidoscope of feelings far too complex to categorize.

"Raph, why would you do that?" she asks.

He looks at his feet, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks turn pink. "It's...it's what we do for each other, right?"

She leans up and kisses his cheek. Somehow, the motion feels better than anything she's given him before. He feels like the hero finally getting a kiss from his princess.

"Gracias, Raph. I'll...see you later," she murmurs.

She turns and hurries away and he watches her go. He touches his cheek and shuts his eyes, the wind rustling his mask tails.