Admittedly, Sarina isn't having the best time in the focus department. It takes everything she has to wait for Leonardo's orders while the Mutanimals (plus wolfed-out Destiny) take care of the goons on the street. She wonders if this is how Destiny and Raphael feel a lot of the time—just jonesing to pound something into the ground.

She's never been so eager to punch somebody before, or at least blast them in the face. Whatever she chooses, she wants them to experience at least half the pain she felt when she thought Donatello was dead.

It isn't the first time her own thought processes and emotions have frightened her.

The man with the pompadour and sunglasses has joined the fight, wearing a giant red mech suit that Sarina thinks looks like a cracked-out can opener. It seems sturdy and doesn't encase the wearer, instead creating extensions for his arms and legs along with a missile launcher on his shoulders. Fascinating, indeed.

"Go," Leonardo whispers.

She snaps back to reality just in time to watch Leonardo and Raphael zip-line from their current perch towards the hotel. She shakes her head, takes a deep, soothing breath, and follows.

The three mutants drop in through a window, finding themselves in a simple room. The yellow flowered wallpaper peels with age and the bed seems dusty, like no one has bothered to enter this room in years.

Leonardo pads across the floor and pulls the door open, checking the hallway. There are four masked goons stationed outside one of the doors and Leonardo motions for Raphael and Sarina to follow.

They make it quick. Leonardo knocks one aside and Raphael tackles the second. Sarina hits one square in the chest with a blast from her palms, then sends a finger rocket at the second. It blasts him back and through the door, leaving him groaning on top of a pile of splinters.

"Damn, that looked lethal," Raphael says.

She shrugs. "It could be."

They look inside the busted door. The Fulci twins stand on either side of a single bed, each holding two chef's knives, and Don Vizioso hovers in his giant floating half-moon seat. For a second, all they see is Donatello's shell—not a limb or head in sight—and Mondo Gecko tied to his back.

In hindsight, Sarina should have been a little more insightful. She should have noticed the lack of fresh blood on the floor or the twins' blades. She should've reminded herself that turtles can tuck themselves inside their shells as a defence mechanism.

But she was already ready to fight, ready to make someone pay for the agony she felt when she pictured her life without Donatello, and she reacted.

She raises her hands, palms glowing. "You'll pay for this, all of you!"

Donatello's head pops out. "Woah, wait! I'm alive!"

"Dudes, get me out of here! I've gotta pee so bad!" Mondo cries.

Too late, Sarina's already blasting, knocking one of the Fulci twins onto his back. The other shouts as he rushes forward, aiming at her, but Leonardo and Raphael intercept. Vizioso cackles as a mounted gun drops from below his seat and starts firing off mutant-hunter rockets.

"Sarina, just get Donnie and Mondo!" Leonardo shouts.

She stops firing and nods. "Affirmative."

She dodges past the combat as best she can, using the heat from her palms to burn through the ropes and free Donatello and Mondo. Donatello exhales as he's released and Sarina throws her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly.

Alive. Still alive. In an instant, the life she pictured of endless solitude without her soulmate disappears, the moment she gets her arms around him.

"I feared the worst, darling," she whispers.

"I'm okay. Still breathing and intact," he promises, returning the hug.

"You'll never win, muties!" Vizioso calls over the chaos of clanging metal and rockets exploding. "My guy, the Hammer, is pulverizing your biggest muscle! None of you can take him down!"

Raphael hops onto the bed, ramming his sai into the window and shattering it. "I'm gonna help the Mutanimals. You take care of the Don and his goons."

"On it, Raph!" Donatello says, getting to his feet and spinning his bō staff.

"Save a blow for me," Sarina calls after him.

Raphael nods and disappears through the window.

He drops down to street level and surveys the damage. Leatherhead tussles with the Hammer, earning a hard blow to the jaw from the mech's hammer attachment. Destiny roars as she tackles him from behind in her wolf form, but he throws her off of him.

"Des!" Raphael shouts. She shakes out her coat as her attention flits to him. "I need a lift!"

He points to an overpass high above the hotel roof. Slash and Rockwell engage the Hammer and, seeing the opening, Destiny runs to Raphael and shifts into human form.

"I trust you have a plan?" she asks as she steps behind him, spreading her wings.

"Something like that."

She hooks her arms around his middle and with a mighty flap, takes to the air. She drops him off on the overpass, right near the railing, and they both turn to survey the battle below. Raphael cracks his neck and Destiny's tail lashes.

"You're sure you're up for this?" she asks.

"Oh, yeah. I'm already gonna hurt in the morning, might as well go all out," he says. He spins his sai, then raises his voice. "HEY, HAMMER!"

The Hammer turns, having just knocked Leatherhead down again.

"Come and get me!" Raphael shouts. "I'll carve you right out of that tin can!"

"What, with those little can openers?" Hammer asks, raising the mallet-handed side of the mech towards him. He squats, boosters on the back of his mech firing up. "It's your move, freak!"

He flies into the air and Raphael turns. "Okay, now run!"

"Great plan, Raph!" Destiny shouts.

The Hammer touches down just as they duck behind the nearest car parked on the road. The Hammer tromps towards them, his mech creaking as it moves.

"Hey yo, stay still so I can shoot you!" he says.

Destiny and Raphael do their best to evade more of his rockets, but they seek them out. Destiny slices one from the air and it explodes, flooding her with red gas. She coughs and backs away.

"Seriously, did you have a plan?" she snaps at Raphael.

"My plan was to run away!"

The Hammer chuckles, firing off more rockets. The mutants keep running.

Then, rising like a mutant totem pole, the Mutanimals appear behind the hammer. Rockwell perches on top of Leatherhead, arms outstretched and eyes bugging out. Leatherhead holds Slash under his arms.

Slash kicks the back of the Hammer's mech and knocks him forward. He lands face first on the pavement as the Mutanimals land next to Destiny and Raphael.

"Nice," Raphael says, grinning at Slash.

The Hammer gets back up, baring his teeth as she shakes his now-shattered sunglasses from his face. "Hey yo, gonna turn these mutants into street meat," he says, rising to his full mech-assisted height.

He sets off more rockets but Rockwell catches them psychically, holding them in place for a second as he smirks. He forces them to each side of the group, sending up a cloud of smoke on either side, and Raphael and Slash move forward.

They move in synch, taking turns striking at the Hammer, again and again without giving him a chance to recover. With each blow, he stumbles further and further back. When his back legs touch the railing, Slash and Raphael back off, paving the way for Leatherhead.

Leatherhead roars as he rushes forward, an entire car in his hands, and he uses it to knock the Hammer over the railing.

"HEYYYY YOOOOOO!" he screams as he plummets to the ground.

He hits the ground hard, cracking the concrete. A second later, there's a crash from the hotel and the mutants look up just in time to see a floating seat zoom out of the hotel and far far away, Don Vizioso's screaming voice fading away with him.

"Ha! Victory!" Raphael says, pumping his fist.

Leatherhead roars, pounding his chest, and Slash and Rockwell high-five. Destiny moves to the railing, gripping it as she peers down at the Hammer.

"Is he still alive? I think he's still alive," she says.

"Come, let us go reunite with our friends," Rockwell says. "Leatherhead, Slash?"

The three of them reassemble in their totem pole and Rockwell lifts them into the air, intent on bringing them back to the ground. Destiny steps behind Raphael, he lifts his arms, and she carries him after them.

----------

"Dudes, I'm alive!" Mondo says as he rushes to join his friends. "Bet you were worried, huh?"

"Terribly," Rockwell says, patting the gecko's head.

"Good to have you back, Mondo," Slash says.

"Well done, team. I'd consider this mission a success," Leonardo says, hands on his hips.

"Raphael, it doesn't look like you saved a punch for me," Sarina chides good-naturedly, jerking her chin towards Hammer.

"Ah, Leatherhead really wanted to get that final blow in," Raphael says.

Leatherhead rumbles. "I did..."

There's a groan from the Hammer's mech suit and every eye turns to him as the mech creaks. One leg shifts, then the other, and the Hammer slowly gets up. Multiple joints on the mech spark, twitching even as the Hammer turns. The claw on his left arm extension jerks open and closed sporadically as he points at them.

"Damn muties," he growls. "You gonna regret coming here. I'll pound ya!"

Everyone looks at each other. Raphael grins, gesturing. "Looks like he's got a hit or two left in him, Sarina. Would you like to do the honours?" he asks.

Sarina nods as she steps forward, cracking her knuckles and giving her hands a shake. "I would be delighted."

The Hammer laughs. Another joint creaks and spits out sparks. "What? You sending a tiny little girl mutie to finish the job?" He cackles again.

"I wouldn't underestimate her!" Donatello calls.

Sarina stops in front of the Hammer, looking up at him. "You stole my boyfriend, Mr. Hammer. Therefore, I am not responsible for your injuries."

Another chuckle. "You gonna hurt me? I'd like to see you—"

His words cut off as Sarina sinks a hearty punch right into his diaphragm. He chokes, gasping for air, and she blasts the mech back to the concrete with her palm lasers. As the Hammer groans, his voice still a wheeze, she hops on top of the mech, her feet planted on his hip bones and earning another groan.

"Now, I do hope you don't mind," she says sweetly as she reaches down, "but I'll be procuring your mech now."

She blasts a mechanism near the right leg and the plates covering the Hammer's pecs seem to gasp as they pop open. Sarina grips the hammer by the collar, peeling him from the mech and holding him up for a second. He stares at her with wide, terrified eyes.

"I'll take this too," she says, tugging the golden hammer-shaped necklace from his neck and snapping the cord. "I'll consider it a trophy. Hasta la vista, as you say."

She turns and throws him like a baseball pitcher. He hits the pavement and rolls, hitting the far wall, and he groans but doesn't get back up. Sarina dusts off her hands, resting them on her hips as she turns back to her spectators.

"Would a much larger mutant help me drag this home, pretty please?" she calls.

Leatherhead rumbles low in his chest as he lumbers over to help her. As he goes, the others wait and observe.

"You know, I forget how strong she is," Leonardo admits, a little wide-eyed. "I mean physically."

"I know," Donatello sighs, a dopey smile spreading across his face. "She's so hot."

"You're starting to let flies in, Don," Raphael says, reaching over and tapping Donatello's hanging chin. Donatello shuts his mouth, letting out a sheepish chuckle.