It was a normal day of confrontation. Nothing strange. Nothing unusual. Humans — mutant allies — had gone on a mission in the morning: to check the warehouses on the outskirts and get everything that could still be useful. Food, water, first aid kits.

The mutants remained at the base — underground, in a shelter that had no walls for a long time, only concrete columns and an old generator powered by solar panels. Donatello was fixing something. Raphael was dozing, leaning against the wall. Leo was drinking water, staring at the same corner, as if there could be an answer to the question he had been asking himself for the past weeks.

You left with the others. He watched you go. You grinned — habitually, to hide how scared you were. He didn't tell you to "take care of yourself." He just watched.

When the sky burst into flames — no one understood what it was.

A dull, dense sound, as if someone had struck the Earth from the other side of the atmosphere. The ground shook. The light beyond the walls took on a purple hue. A low, trembling hum sounded in the distance, shaking the rusty beams.

"What was that?" Mikey whispered quietly, already typing commands into the portable analyzer.

Leo darted toward the passage leading outside. The others rose, too. No one moved suddenly - the Kraang could still be nearby. They peered out cautiously, like animals from a hiding place. The sky was as thick as glass. It shimmered, blue and purple, streaked with scarlet, as if blood had spilled in it.

A column of pulsating light rose from the center of the city. It wasn't burning. It was beating, like a heart.

Leonardo narrowed his eyes. — "That doesn't look like a normal explosion…"

"That's not normal," Donnie snapped. — "I did a quick atmospheric analysis."

He froze. His eyes darted over the lines. His hands clenched. — "…Leo."

"What?..."

"The air. It's… toxic to humans. It's not just poison, it's a modified biogas. Created by the Kraang. Humans can't survive in it. Even five minutes and their lungs will burn from the inside. It's a trap. The Kraang knew they had reached the surface."

Leo wasn't listening anymore.

He rose to his feet. His mask had slipped off the hook as he moved. His katana was on his back. The radio was in his ear.

"It's Leonardo. Can you hear everyone?The men are on a mission. I'm coming for them."

"If there are survivors, I'll get them out."

He was running. The city, covered in a murky film of dust and smoke, seemed to be dead. The buildings became black silhouettes. The windows were broken, the streetlights crackled, distorted by the impulse wave. There were bodies at every step.

People.

Motionless. Some lay with their hands pressed to their throats, their eyes glassy, their skin already starting to turn blue. Others had distorted faces, as if they realized at the last second that they had inhaled something alien. Their skin was no longer blue - it was burgundy, as if they had been boiled alive. And the eyes were black, like emptiness.

The mutants from the squad that followed dispersed along the perimeter.

"Check." — Leo did not raise his voice. He was barely breathing.

One by one, they examined the bodies. Zero. This one is dead.And this one. All.

One mutant stood up and said quietly. — "Leo. I found her jacket. Here... is it her?"

Leo picked it up. Yes. He closed his eyes.

And at that moment - the earpiece exploded with static. — "ALIVE. IN THE WAREHOUSE. BREATHING, BUT STRANGELY. HELP IS NEEDED."

He jumped up. He threw away the mask - one breath hold would be enough for it to cease to be needed.

The building was an old supermarket. Half of the roof - blown off by the shock wave. The stairs down - collapsed. Leo jumped. Landed, rolled to the left.

Steam from the destroyed pipes enveloped the air. It smelled of burnt metal and... something alien.

He saw you. Lying on your side, in the dust, between the rubble. Your skin wasn't blue. Not burgundy. But ash-gold, as if the blood vessels underneath were starting to glow. You were breathing.