TMNT(2018/2012) Horsemen AU

Chapter four

Donnie groaned, waking up. Of course, he fell asleep working on his shell again. His anxiety rised as he patted his broken carapace. He didn't feel any new cracks, any sharp objects or grains of anything, so he knew no one tried to kill him the night before.

He wiped off the spit from his face and the shell. After finishing fixing the wiring, he put it back on. As he latched the shoulder hooks to his natural plastron, he caught himself thinking about his family. He shook his head, removing his family from his mind again. He couldn't think about them, if he did he broke down and became soft. He couldn't let that happen again.

He grabbed his hoodie from the back of his chair and threw it on, grabbing his staff. He had upgraded it from a wooden bo-staff to one made of titanium alloy with weapons in it.
Donnie put his hood on and walked out. He had to go get some food and extra stuff for his battle shell.
He knew how bad he could harm the people around him, so he wanted to move quickly.
He didn't stop and be picky, he just grabbed the supplies from the market and gave them their money.
Having a lot of people around him, his anxiety rised. Small flashbacks of his shell being torn open began to appear in his mind, the feeling of blood pour down his back feeling almost real.

Wanting to get out of the crowded area quick, he ran and hid in an alleyway. He sat down by a dumpster, breathing quickly. He tried to calm himself, mumbling quietly about things.
After about an hour of calming himself, he breathed in and out as he stood. He walked out and headed back to the abandoned shack he called his home.
Once back, he felt something was off. Something was watching him.
Donnie's first instinct was, of course, to run. But he knew if he did, he would be chased. So why not face the enemy now?

"Show yourself." He demanded, putting down his stuff and taking off hid hoodie. His reddish-brown gaze slowly went across the room, checking the shadows with detail.

Quickly realizing there was someone huge standing in the corner, he jumped back and aimed his staff at it, whirring.

"Easy. I don't want to fight." The large mutant said. "My boss wanted to give you a message."

Keeping cautious, Donnie glanced around.

"I'm alone. Paranoia much?" They sounded annoyed as they spoke. "Here. All the way from Las Vegas." They tossed an envelope by Donnie's feet and left, disappearing in the shadows.
Looking down at the envelope, a few thoughts crosses Donatello's mind.

What if it was laced with poison that would harm him upon contact with his skin? What about if it was explosive? There were many threats. He picked up the red and black envelope, inspecting it closely.
There didn't seem to be anything to wrong with it, and he couldn't smell anything blocking any scents of it being laced with anything.

Just to be safe, he threw on some gloves and set it down on the desk. Inhaling deeply, he braced himself.
He quickly tore open the envelope, pulling out the paper inside. He shut his eyes tightly, preparing for the worst. To his surprise, nothing happened.

"Oh. Huh." He mumbled, opening the paper.
Confetti flew at his face, throwing him off. He yelled in surprise, dropping the paper. Once he realized it was nothing more than more paper, he frowned.
That's something Mikey or Raph would've done. He picked up the paper and read the black writing.

---"Don't know if this'll reach you, Don. If it doesn't, I apologize for the idiot that brought you this."
"So it's been a few years, huh? Time went by fast. I'm going to skip all the greetings and asking how you're doing and get to the point. I need you to come to me, we have to talk. Something weird is going on with the Kraang down here in the L.A area, and I don't have the brains you do to figure out what's going on. If you don't want to see or come to me, I understand. But the Kraang need to be stopped. I hope you understand that you may be able to help save the world again. Or, hell, if we can get the whole group back together, all of us."
"Signing off, War."---

When he finished reading, a few thoughts ran through his mind. Why would Raph want to contact him first, out of all his brothers? Donnie knew he was the smartest, but Leo usually came up with the plans.
Why would Raph need him?
The answer should've been obvious, but it wasn't to him. Ever since he cut off all social conact from anyone, he never really understood others needs and wants much.

But the message seemed urgent. He was majorly needed by his brother. All but one question remained.

"How am I gonna get to L.A?"

He pulled out a map and blueprint he had brought with him. The map had many places marked off, as if had once moved place to place.
He opened the blueprints and looked over them. "The last invention I worked on before leaving."

"The Shell Raiser."

Smiling, he grabbed a pencil from the desk and began sketching new things and erasing some old stuff, redesigning and upgrading it a bit.
Within a few hours at about noon, he finished the sketch. He looked at it with pride and slight amazement.
Rolling it up, he realized something.

Groaning, he sat back down. He had to go back to the original lair to get to the original Shell Raiser. He didn't want to go back, it brought back to many memories and he feared that Mikey, Leo or Casey and April would still be there.

What was he thinking? He was a ninja! He could just sneak in there and get the Shell Raiser!

But his brothers were ninjas too. He would get caught.
He had to make up his mind. If he wanted to get to Raph, he had to take the Shell Raiser.

Mumbling to himself, he grabbed his stuff and walked out. He gripped his staff in one hand and the letter in the other.
His eyes filled with determination, he began running to the middle of New York.