Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“No.”

Leo couldn't help but wince at the harsh tone from Splinter. Still, he presses on, “Master Splinter, please, I’m almost sixteen. Shouldn't I get the chance to go out there?”

“Yes,” the mutant rat then gently muses as he strokes his beard. 

Leo dares to twitch a small, hopeful smile. 

“But not now.”

And Leo lets his face fall to a neutral one, hiding his disappointment. 

“It is dangerous up there, my son,” he warns, narrowing his eyes on the blue-clad turtle, “You have to avoid the people, the traffic, and the public bathrooms.” Leo watches as the edges of his master’s eyes soften, love and fondness written all over them, “Have patience, my son. There will be a time and place for you to venture out and beyond the lair, as you desire. But right now, you’re to stay here and watch over your brothers. Understand?”

“Hai, Sensei,” he replies, bowing. 

Satisfied, the faint steps from Splinter fade in the background as he returns to his room. That’s when Leo lets himself up from the bow. And that’s when he acknowledges the little eavesdroppers. 

“This isn't a show, you know,” the blue-clad turtle says, turning his head to the doors of the dojo. There, two pairs of eyes— electric green and reddish-brown— laced with plain amusement, greet him. 

The doors of the dojo fully open and enter Leo’s biggest thorns in his shell. “Then why is it so entertaining?” Raph retorts, coming up to him at a casual pace. 

“That’s the seventh attempt, Leo,” Donnie joins in the taunt, grinning at him, “If you keep at it, you're gonna be the definition of insanity in no time.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at them. Raph continues, “Face it, Leo. You're not gonna go up there anytime soon.”

“Much less on your birthday in a few days,” Donnie adds. 

Leo bonks them on the heads, earning him twin smirks. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys,” he mutters. Then he straightens up, and a small ball of anxiety starts forming in the pit of his stomach, “Where’s Mikey?” 

His question was answered by a small cry in the common room. 

That ball of anxiety quickly grew as Leo dashed out of the dojo to the noise. There were piles of pillows and blankets in one particular area. They cover a chunk of the couch as well as the floor. Upon them was a small figure, clumsily sitting back up from his probable tumble to the floor. 

“Mikey?” Leo slightly raises his voice, hurrying over. 

“I’m okay!” Mikey answers with a big smile, successfully melting away Leo’s anxiety ball. Finding that his older brother was reassured, he returns his attention to the TV screen in front of him

Leo shifts to calmer strides, taking a spot on the couch and inspecting Mikey for any hidden scratches with his eyes. “What are you watching?” 

Behind him, the blue-clad turtle hears the pair of footsteps from Raph and Donnie coming toward him. Mikey was too engrossed in the screen to notice them, “Monkey George. Because he’s a monkey and his name is George— Oh! And his dad is a human banana-na-na-na~”

“We get it,” Raph huffs as he sits down next to Leo, arms crossed. Leo politely doesn't comment on the soft fond look on the red-clad turtle, lest he wants to get himself in another hasty wrestling match. Raph must’ve been as relieved as Leo was about Mikey being uninjured.

“Sounds interesting,” The blue-clad turtle remarks and Mikey beams at him over his shoulder, happy to have someone like what he likes. Somewhere to his left, the sounds of the lab doors open and shut. Donnie has another project in the works. 

“Of course, it is to you,” Leo sends his immediate little brother a questioning glance to which Raph smirks, “Kids programs suit your sense of taste of entertainment.”

His previous expression morphs into one being unamused. “Wow, you’re on a roll with the snark tonight.”

“You make it easy.”

Then Mikey shushes them, sending them both an annoyed glare. Well, the ‘glare’ part is being a bit too generous. Mikey just puffs up his cheeks as he scrunches his face to a pout. It's adorable. 

Getting the hint that they’re being too loud, they lower their voices to not disturb their youngest so much. “It’s not gonna happen you know.”

Leo refrains from rolling his eyes. “Would it kill you to give some form of encouragement, Raph?” 

“Yes.”

He only sighs. 

“What’s that you always say to us?” The red-clad turtle taps a finger at his chin— like how Donnie does it— pretending to be deep in thought before leaning over to Leo with a smug look, “Patience is a virtue? Or some shi- ssshoot?”

Leo stares at him.

Raph kept eye contact, not backing down.

Then Leo sighs, relenting and Raph shoots him a very smug look. You know, wrestling Raph doesn’t sound so bad after all. “If I succeed in getting to go up there on my birthday, I’m not bringing a souvenir for you.”

The red-clad turtle gives him a big grin. “A’right bet.” 

“Don’t worry, Leo,” Mikey cheerfully pipes up, his tone chipper as ever and effectively grabbing the older brothers’ attention. He’s now on his feet, making his way to them, “Eighteen isn’t a big number. Donnie says so! And Donnie is always right so you’ll go up there in no time!”

Leo widely stared at Mikey who landed himself in between the two older brothers on the couch, agape. Raph was cackling his shell off at Mikey who had tried to be encouraging yet didn’t hit his shot (did he even have any idea what he just said?). “I have no words,” he replies.

“Mikey, you’re amazing,” Raph was now chuckling, wiping away a nonexistent tear. 

“I know,” Mikey puffs his chest, proud of himself. 

“Although,” he leans towards the youngest, “Donnie’s not always right, you know? Don’t feed his ego.”

Then the sound of the lab’s doors unlocks and the aforementioned turtle pokes his head out. He glares at his red-clad brother, “You’re one to talk, Meathead.”

“Stick it in your shell,” He retorts.

Donnie grumbles something incomprehensible under his breath— probably violent things— before returning inside his lab once more.

“Wait! Donnie!”

The doors open again and Donnie places his full attention on Mikey. “Yes?”

“We’re gonna watch Monkey George together because Monkey George can and will solve all our problems! Wanna join us?”

Leo turns his head the other way from his brothers while shutting his eyes and covering his mouth, desperately trying to get a hold of himself. 

Oh dear lord. He’s too precious, Leo can’t help but think.

“Careful, Mikey,” Leo can hear Raph’s teasing smile from the position he’s in, “You’re gonna give Fearless a heart attack.”

“Fear my cuteness!” Mikey declares.

“Oh no~” Leo stifled his chuckles, not daring to look back.

“Sure,” Donnie is surely smirking as well as he makes his way over, “While we’re watching, continue activating your little brother powers onto Leo.”

They’re ganging up on me!

“The M for Mikey stands for murder! No mercy!” 

And Leo felt little arms wrapped around his neck, trying to pull him from behind. And he lets them, resulting in him twisting around and pressing his plastron upon Mikey onto the couch. Said child letting out a loud chirp of surprise and now struggling to get away. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo catches Raph avoiding the current scene and entering his room.

“Leo!!”

“Mikey,” Leo smiles.

“I will have your head! I will put nasty sewer stuff into your next meal!”

“You hang out too much with Donnie, otouto.”

“Hey~,” Donnie comes into view, his eyes playfully narrowed, “What are you trying to say?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

With a huff and a roll of his eyes, the purple-clad turtle takes his spot on the couch.

Mikey starts screaming.

And that’s Leo’s cue to get up. “Alright, alright,” he chuckles.

Mikey sat up, pouncing over to Donnie, and wraps his arms around him, “What were you working on?” he asks, eyes seeming to be stars. Then he bounces onto his feet (Leo quickly steadies him by the ankles), hands out and waving frantically at Donnie, “Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait, wait, wait— is it a rocket that’s powered by squirrels running on those wheel thingies and they can make cotton candy on the side? Or is it a big gun that can shoot plushies at Raph from far away? Is it— ooh! A toaster that Leo can touch and it can make breakfast banana pancakes like the ones from Monkey George!”

“I love your enthusiasm, Mikey but no— it’s nothing like those,” The purple-clad turtle answers in a placating manner.

“Oh,” was all that came out of Mikey’s mouth and the energy from before was gone.

“Hey, come on,” Donnie pats him on the back as the youngest sat back on the couch, “Engineering isn’t my first choice in science but I do have something in the works,” he glances over to Leo, “And it’s a surprise.”

“Surprise?” Mikey tilts his head before gasping and pivoting his attention to Leo, “For Leo’s birthday!”

“Yeah,” Donnie affirms, chuckling at Mikey’s airheadedness. 

“Did you forget?” Leo asks with a teasing smile.

“No!” Mikey shakes his head, “It’s just that, what invention from Donnie would Leo need? He’s really good at being a ninja already and games, and makes the best sandwiches in the world even though he’s doo-doo at cooking! That’s all.”

“He is indeed ‘doo-doo at cooking,” Donnie snickers as he side-glances at Leo whose cheeks are quite flush. 

“It’s true though!”

I wonder what it could be.

“R’ we still making fun of Leo before his birthday?” Raph grunts, returning with his pet turtle, Spike. He takes joins on the couch, “Good, it's gonna get chummy and all sappy when it comes. We gotta bring in the insults as much as possible before Doomsday”

“So dramatic,” Leo wraps an arm around Raph— careful not to jostle Spike— giving him a side hug, “Come on, try telling me something nice instead.”

“You’re hilarious,” he deadpans, giving Spike a little scratch on the head.

Leo shrugs as he lets go of him. It’s a back-handed compliment and that’s probably the closest thing he’ll get out of his stubborn, red-clad brother. 

Then Mikey crawled over to him, settling himself onto his lap and snuggling against his plastron. In turn, Leo gently wraps his arms around him. And they all watch Monkey George. 

Huh. That is indeed a human banana.

“Nonononononono— this wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“This is all your fucking fault, Donnie!”

“ Papa ?”

He needs to tune them out. 

He needs to think this through.

He needs to—

Leo shut his eyes and takes a deep breath, remembering what Splinter taught him. In until four, hold it for seven seconds, then let it out for eight. 

Then repeat.

He opens his eyes and in front of him was Splinter laying on a futon bed in the dojo, horribly ill. The remaining soot stained his features, giving him a scarred appearance. Even with the wet towel (currently placed on top of Splinter’s forehead), Leo can't seem to get rid of them. Splinter was wheezing and the high temperature emitting from him successfully made Leo’s anxiety churn inside him. 

It was supposed to be a simple birthday gift for him. A cooking machine of sorts made by Donnie. It was a thoughtful gift even if Leo was a bit embarrassed by it (the laughter from the others adds to it). 

Donnie claimed it could make any meal as long as the recipe was in the listed program and the ingredients were there for the AI to get started it. 

It made pizza.

Sort of.

Everything was going so well; everyone wished him a happy birthday, and they played games and did a marathon on Space Heroes. They all thought Mikey had a cold for a moment but other than that misunderstanding, it was a fun time. 

And then opening presents happened and this predicament came to be. 

Now, Donnie shuffles in place on his knees, staring down at Splinter, no doubt worried and full of guilt. He most likely is thinking this entire thing is his fault as it was his invention that did this. It made Splinter fall to this state and to add more insult to injury, the gift he made caused a chain reaction, an explosion erupted to which the kitchen was in disarray, and ended up with many things to char, including their medical supply. 

Raph isn’t faring any better and is frankly making the situation worse; pointing his finger accusingly at the purple-clad turtle, screaming in anger. But underneath that anger was so much fear for a little kid, helpless in his spot. Tears are pricking at the corner of his eyes, seeping into his mask. 

Mikey was full-out crying; not holding back any tears as snot was coming down his snout. He must be overwhelmed by what’s going on right now. He’s keeping a firm grip on the futon Splinter lays, his little hands shaking and the knuckles turning white. The youngest continues to call for Splinter. And the sight of it painfully squeezes Leo’s heart. 

Splinter doesn’t easily get sick or injured. In fact, Leo believes he has never seen Splinter sick or injured. Not even once. He’s just that careful, and clean, and— realization dawns on Leo. It's because Splinter was avoiding a situation exactly like this. He is the only one amongst them that ever went topside. If he's down then that forces one of them to take his place; to provide for the family. 

“Make a wish! Make a wish!”

“Hurry up~”

“Patience my son.”

“What did you wish for?”

“I can't say what it is, Mikey. Otherwise, it won't come true.”

…

This isn't what he wished for. 

This isn't what he wanted. 

It wasn't supposed to play out like this.

If there really is a God, fuck you . 

Ok, harsh. But this is a fucked up joke the universe is playing. 

Was he being too selfish?

I mean, he could've waited until he was officially an adult. 

But he didn't.

And he paid the price.

And—

Deep breathes. 

As he continues to do the exercise, he can feel his heart slow. Waves of calmness lands on him. 

Clear the mind. 

Focus on your breathing. 

…

Leo comes to a decision.

“Splinter,” Leo leans a bit forward, gently nudging the rat mutant in question. He earns a soft groan, his father’s whiskers twitching, “I’m going up there, ok?”

That got Splinter’s attention if his barely opened eyes said anything. As Leo stares into his father’s eyes, he detects intense protectiveness. That and fear. “No,” his father answers (it’s a plea). It came out hoarse, weak; it sounded so wrong. Yet, there’s some semblance of power underneath that answer, “You’re not— not going up there.”

Leo swallows, pushing down his anxiety. His family needs him, “Father, please understand,” he puts as much conviction as he could into his voice, “You’re ill and you need help. Let me help .”

“I-I want—” that’s Mikey. He’s wiping the snot away as he hiccups. “I want to help to!” He declares, his eyes puffy red yet full of determination. 

“M-me, too,” Donnie stammers, his hands tightening to fists, “We’ll look into what medical items you need so you can heal quickly.”

“Ok— Let’s do this!” Raph appears to be pumped up, a shaky grin is plastered on his face. But…

“Father,” Leo turns to his father who has his brows crinkled with stress (he shouldn’t be this stressed other than when Raph and Leo squabble, or when Mikey does something stupid, or when Donnie forgets to take a break sometime), “Don’t worry. You need your rest.”

There was a pause before Father heaves a sigh and deflates back to the futon. He sees he’s not going to win this argument with his sons, “...Be careful…and stay away from the bathrooms.”

Leo lets a smile grace his face, “Hai Sensei.”

“Hai Sensei!”

“I’m going topside alone.”

“What?!” 

They’re all in Donnie’s lab. The doors are thankfully shut; Splinter won’t be bothered in his rest. 

“You can’t be serious,” Raph grunts, unsurprisingly upset.

“I am,” Spite of irkness swells in Leo. He made this very clear already.

“Why you only?” His immediate brother protested.

“Raph,” Shoving aside his annoyance at his little red-clad brother, Leo continues with a calm voice, “We don’t all need to go. If anything, with there being more of us, it’s gonna be easy to get caught. You guys aren’t the stealthiest.”

“Says you!” Raph growls, shoulders hunched up and fist so tight, the knuckles are white. 

“We’re plenty stealthy!” Donnie huffs indignantly.

Mikey vigorously shakes his head in agreement.

“Then who’s going to watch over Splinter and the lair?” Leo questions, raising an eye ridge.

There was no answer to that.

Leo quietly sighs. “Look, I know we’re all scared—”

“M’ not scared,” Raph grumbles.

“I know we’re all unhappy —” Leo shoots a look at the red-clad turtle at the interruption, “— at what’s going on right now but let’s focus here, ok? You three are to stay here to defend and watch over Master Splinter and the lair, got it?”

“Defend?” Raph snorts, “Who would attack the lairs, huh? You’ve been watching too much of that stupid space show of yours.”

“I dunno, Gator Man?”

Mikey yelps and then goes to hug Donnie tightly around his waist, whimpering “Gator Man sounds scary.”

Donnie pats him reassuringly.

“The point is you can never be too careful, Raph,” Leo explains, “And Space Heroes is anything but stupid,” Leo playfully glares at his immediate brother before looking over to Donnie who’s behind his hand-crafted computer (so cool), “Donnie, you got the list?”

“Yep, got everything,” he replied with a thumbs up. There was a pause and then he starts typing on his keyboard again, “Actually, we’re gonna need Pepto-Bismol, too, for nausea and abdominal pain.”

“What’s ada– ab– aba—”

“Abdominal?” the purple-clad turtle inquires with a nonexistent eyebrow at the youngest; baby blue eyes curious and on his computer screen.

“Uh-huh, that. What does that mean?”

“Your stomach.”

“Then why don’t you just say that?” Mikey pouts, crossing his arms.

Donnie shrugs, “To be accurate.”

“We get it, you’re a nerd and you’re illiterate,” Raph groans, exaggerating his deflated position. 

Mikey giggles at his dramatics. 

“Meathead,” Donnie grunts.

“I will smack you.”

Mikey’s giggles get even louder. 

Leo smiles at their antics before asking, ”Anything else?”

“Uh~” Donnie squints on his screen, checking. Then he nods in approval, “That’s everything. Let me print it.” 

Leo let out a muted sigh. Ok, everything’s going according to plan. He’ll be given the list in a few minutes. 

A few minutes is enough to check on everyone. 

Glancing over to Raph, the red-clad turtle was wearing a scowl as his arms crossed, no doubt still upset by Leo going alone. At least he's not arguing with him anymore. Shifting his attention to Donnie, he’s been staring at his screen like he's willing his computer to go faster. The light reflecting off of him makes his eyebags apparent (they’re gonna talk about that). And Mikey— oh. He's coming over to him. 

And he hugs him, wrapping his arms around his waist. Leo doesn't hesitate to hug. “Hey, otouto.”

“Hi.” 

Leo slightly frowns at the youngest’s sudden meek voice. “Is something the matter?”

“...What do I do?”

He blinks. That was unexpected, especially from Mikey. Leo crouches down to his level and lands his hands on his shoulders, letting his gaze settle onto the other. “What do you mean?”

Mikey fidgets his fingers, his baby blue eyes averted from Leo, “I want to help but…there’s not a lot I can do.”

Ok, time to shut down the negative thoughts. “That’s crazy talk,” Leo starts, grabbing Mikey’s attention as his head snapped up, shocked, “Nobody can tell stories as good as you.”

“How’s telling stories gonna help?” He pouts. 

“Distraction,” Leo easily says with a smile, “And you’re a good artist, draw something nice for Splinter when he’s better.”

“But Raphie’s the artist of the family.”

“We can have two artists.”

“Leo~ I’m serious!” Mikey whines, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. 

Leo gently wipes those away, giving Mikey his most encouraging smile, “I know. I am, too. You’re doing a lot right now even if you don’t know it.”

“Like what?”

“Being yourself,” Leo boops him on the snout, resulting in giggles bursting from Mikey, “But if you really want to do something to help, just watch over everyone like I told you guys before. Ok?”

“Ok!” There’s that smile. 

“Leo!” Donnie called, waving the paper. 

“Thanks, Dee.” He walked over to him and grabbed the list and made his way to the doors but then paused. He pivoted in his spot, narrowing his eyes at the others, “Do not climb the tree, got it?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Raph grunts, waving him off, “Get going already.”

With that, he’s off. The blue-clad turtle jumped over the turnstiles and made his steps light as he swiftly followed the route that leads to the surface. 

Despite the circumstances, his heart pounds with excitement. He’s going up there! He’s going to—

Leo slams the feeling down, something similar to shame bubbles in its place. 

Focus on the task, Leo. This isn’t a fun trip. 

He spots the manhole cover he’s targeting. As he got closer to it, there was no light peeking through the plate. It’s still nighttime, fortunately. 

Leo climbs up the ladders. And gently place his hands on the cover, slowly pushing up.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t even ten seconds and his senses were overwhelmed. The chilly air, car horns, alarms, distance yelling, the muskiness in the air, lights reflecting, and oh god, the smell. Well, actually, the last one isn’t that bad— he lives in the sewers, come on. Still, it contributes to his senses going all over the place. 

Right, stay calm. He needs to think this carefully. 

Leo narrows his eyes, pushing aside the shivers racking in his body. It’s the latter half of the year so it makes sense. That doesn’t mean he likes it— his poor turtle scales. 

There were many trash bags, trash cans filled with trash…cardboard boxes filled with trash. Wow, he knew humans are messy considering the fact there's an area in the sewers where a large number of garbage piles up together on the daily (dubbed Trashtopia by Mikey). But this is a bit much. 

Almost every wall is covered in some stain with layered graffiti, too. Some are random bold words and letterings, some are art pieces. Height and gravity seem to be the only thing stopping people from shrouding the entire walls. 

And there were the noises. So many honking horns, sirens, and people yelling, it's straining his ear holes. Leo tries not to wince.

Compare all this to the sewers and abandoned tunnels where it's much quieter, darker, wetter and musky, and overall meek. It's surreal. 

No humans in sight. 

The perfect time to leave the manhole he's occupying; entering a new world. 

Leo shut his eyes, taking a slow deliberate breath. Then the blue-clad turtle opens them once again, easily pushing the plate up and to the side, and climbs up to his feet. 

The sight that beholds him is something else. Buildings, so many tall buildings, and dots of lights in the distance indicate how many people are still awake even during this time of night. 

The city that never sleeps , his mind supplies. 

Leo feels his lips curl into an eager grin and before he knows it, he bolts off out of the alleyway he was in. “So many possibilities,” he whispers, “Adventures in every corner!” he skits to a stop at, well, a corner, peeking out. 

It’s just an empty street. 

Fine by him, really. He just needs to be patient. 

With that thought, Leo continues his path down this sidewalk. Looking up, he was expecting to see these stars that humans have the privilege of seeing. It always looked amazing in the background of Space Heroes, just specks of light in a sea of darkness which the ship sails in; so beautiful. Though his face fell when he saw no twinkling in the night sky. Where are they? He racks his brain for an explanation, remembering Donnie mentioning something about light pollution in one of his many rambles. 

Then he perks up at the sight of the moon. Half of it faded out; a half-moon. It was covered from the position he stood but a small shift and he found it in all its magnificent-ness. This makes up for the lack of stars at least. 

Leo turns his attention back to the area he’s in, slowing his steps. There were no humans in sight yet and there are little to no lights from the windows of the nearby buildings. Is this an abandoned area of the city by chance? 

A cold feeling washes over him, making him involuntarily shiver. Weather in New York is no joke.

Leo paused in his tracks, eyes darting to a window display of electronics. So many appliances are laid out in the open. Donnie would drool at the sight, wanting to take them all. 

The blue-clad turtle frowns from where he stands. He can’t see anything in the store. The darkness seems much darker than usual. Anxiety bubbles at the pit of his stomach and suddenly he’s very aware of his weapon on his carapace. He pursed his lips, his attention shifting to the door to his right. 

This is stupid. 

Splinter always explicitly told them the reason why they live in the sewers, why they live in hiding, is because of their appearances. That humans are sensitive creatures and are afraid of the unknown. And that they’ll possibly harm their family just because they’re different. Those ‘lessons’ that Splinter always calls them were unpleasant. 

He should be following said ‘lessons’. Leo does not like the idea of being a captured subject for the government to experiment on. He won’t be one. Splinter gave them those lessons for a reason. 

And yet, Leo goes to the entrance of this store. He’s most definitely trespassing and is risking himself in danger. But…

With a twist of the doorknob, he enters halfway, and a bell softly jingles in the dark room. 

He stood there, frozen in his spot. 

Waiting.

Listening.

…

Either the people here are very lousy workers or there’s nobody here. 

Leo lets go of the door and allow himself to breathe. He didn’t even realize he was holding his breath. 

He’s honestly very glad his brothers aren’t here, otherwise, they’d be tearing him apart for his stupidity. Especially Raph. He does not need that little firecracker on his shell. 

Right, no more doing stupid stuff. He has a mission to do. 

But as the blue-clad turtle continues his path to finding the closest pharmacy, he keeps on noticing almost all the windows he passes are dark just like that earlier electronic store. And the thought of unlocked doors pops up in his mind over and over again. The idea of this area being abandoned seems to hold some certitude. 

Leo shakes his head, pushing past the churning anxiety in his stomach. He’s probably overthinking. Besides, he barely knows anything on the surface, he’s jumping to conclusions. 

They can't all be unlocked. 

Don’t get so ahead of yourself , he chastised himself. 

…

He’s not as excited as he was earlier. 

Leo pulls out the list of medicine he needs to get and slowly blinks at what’s in front of him. Donnie really didn’t hold back on the details. All of the items are in alphabetical order going down column by column on the lined paper and each item has notes in bullet form, effectively being easy to read and organized. There were addresses as well. 

Leo huffs, reading the first one. Better late than never. 

There was a soft tap . Followed by another one, and another. 

Footsteps!  

His eyes shoot up and over to the alleyway a little forward to his left where the person is coming from. With that revelation, Leo dived for cover behind a convenient public trash can, his heart hammering behind his chest. 

Someone.

Someone is here.

Crap.

The steps come closer. 

And closer.

Damn it. It shouldn’t be this nerve-wracking!-

Then there was a crinkle of something. That something sounds suspiciously similar to stepping on a piece of paper. Without thinking, Leo peeks over to the side of the trashcan and sees a man in a suit stopped in his tracks, looking down at his shoes. Under it is a familiar piece of paper. 

Leo, without looking away from the man, quickly and silently pats himself around, finding nothing and that— yes, that paper is the list. He watches as the man lifts his leg and picks up the paper. He took a glance before he deemed it wasn’t important to him and let go of the list. It lands perfectly next to Leo within arms reach. 

Leo took a glimpse at the human seeing he was not paying attention before returning to the list—

It's not there anymore. 

With a tilt of his head up, he sees it— the list in the air flying in the opposite direction away from the human. He doesn't hesitate to go after it. 

As Leo chases after the list, seconds become minutes, and uneasiness becomes agitation. Seriously, where did this sudden wind come from?! He needs that damn list!

(No he's not panicking— shut up!)

The paper then falters in the air, fluttering down toward the ground. The very jerky movement of it leads Leo into a random alleyway. 

It was within reach. He just has to—

It was a small breeze. 

Just a tiny one. 

Yet, it was enough to accurately get the list away from him by a mere inch or so and land on a puddle. Leo stood still, blankly staring as the content gets soaked by the dirty water 

It's almost comical how it all happened. Though Leo is not laughing. 

After a few minutes of contemplating his life choices and mourning the loss of the list, Leo mentally dives back into his memory of the address and dashes off to find the nearest CVS. 

He didn't run into any more humans (thank God) and stopped his mind from drifting to the subject of this area being quiet. He cannot afford to be distracted anymore. Just find the pharmacy, get the supply then get out. 

Leo turned to a block and there it was, at the end of the street, his targeted destination. He dashed towards it and stopped at the doors. He had expected the doors to be locked but to his surprise, it’s not. Concerning but again, he has no idea what goes on the surface here so whatever.

The blue-clad turtle ignores the chills as he enters the dark building and what with little light, he sees rows of aisles and products. He goes in deeper, keeping to the shadows as he was trained to do, eyes darting everywhere, searching for anything medicine-like. He soon reaches where the medical supplies are and searches for the first aid kits first then he’ll go through each aisle to search for the (hopefully) necessary items that are needed to help Splinter. 

God, he hopes Splinter is okay. I mean, he will be okay— he’s a master of ninjitsu for crying out loud— but seeing him in the state he is back at the liar was admittedly terrifying. Leo then slaps himself on both his cheeks— he needs to focus. His brothers are there to watch over him anyways, father will be fine. 

A shadow emerges into his vision followed by three more from the tile floors of the pharmacy and Leo instinctually crouches down behind the aisle he’s at. He dares not to breathe as he stares at the moving shadows. They came from the direction of the windows at the front, effectively blocking his exit. 

He quietly peeks around to see his unexpected company. Two of them are pretty thin while the third is buffer, bigger. And all of them have some muscle mass under the uniform leather-sleeveless jackets they wore. In short, they look like thugs. And possibly could be as one is pulling out a crowbar! 

“Let's get this started!” he shouts with glee as the others chant, muffled. 

Oh, crud. 

He needs to do something and he needs to do something now!

Leo piles the items he got next to his spot before darting away and rolling up to the wall. He then silently makes quick steps to the front of the pharmacy and then—

Then what? 

He can’t reveal himself to the humans! They’ll report him and he’ll be fucked! But if he doesn’t do anything then the pharmacy is gonna get robbed and that’s not gonna happen on his watch. It’s the least he can do for potentially breaking and entering after hours.

The thug is winding back the crowbar with a feral smile— damn it! 

Think, think!

Leo grabs hold of the door handle and pulls the door back, effectively preventing any property damage to be done by the thug as he hits the air and stumbles forward. “The fuck?” he says, his voice clear now. 

Deciding to have a little fun, the blue-clad turtle lets go of the door and swings back towards the thug, and hit him, pushing him back out. There was a grunt as he lands on his butt. Leo smirks. 

“It’s haunted!” one of the other two suddenly shouts. 

“No way, idiot,” the thug with the crowbar grunts, “It’s probably some fancy security shit or something. Come on!”

Leo opens the door and they anticipated it this time. What they didn’t anticipate was the shurikens sent their way. Shouts of alarm rang in the air and from his peripheral vision, he caught two of them looking back in the direction of the projectiles that had missed them. 

“What the hell—”

Leo jumped to the front of the doors and pivoted on his left leg. He reaches forward, grabbing the two closest— the thinner men— by the heads and bashing against each other. They groan in pain before dropping to the floor. That leaves only the big guy who’s staring at him dumbly.

So much for not revealing himself, he internally grimaces. 

Without a beat, Leo steps forward and rolls around back into the big guy’s blind spot as he stood in his stupor. He goes for a roundhouse kick to the head, intending to knock him out only to pause in what he was gonna do when a screaming green and red blur drops on top of the big guy. The thug lies unconscious and on top of him sat fucking Hamato Raphael. 

“What are you doing here, Raph?!” Leo whispers in a harsh tone, shoulders hunched up. He watches with panic as the red-clad turtle jumps off the big guy with a satisfied look. 

“Saving your shell, that’s what,” he replies with his arms crossed, “I mean, come on, getting caught already on your first day on the surface?”

“I didn’t have a choice, Raph— and this isn’t about me right now,” he can feel a headache forming as he stresses his next few words, “Why. Are. You. Here?”

“Don’t worry, I placed Donnie in charge.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!” 

“Fine! I wanted to go topside, too, ok?!” Raph growls, stepping in his proximity, “Why do you get to go already and not us, huh? It’s not fair!”

“Because last time I’d check, I’m the big brother here and as you’re big brother, I order you to go back home.”

“What makes you think you can order me around?! You were seen by stupid humans already on your first fucking night on the surface! And you said we suck at stealth- ha!”

“Of all the times of you being difficult, why now?” Leo groans with his palm on his forehead. 

Raph opens his mouth, clearly going to continue this headache-splitting argument when there was a clunk followed by a hissing curse on the other side of the door. Both of them paused in their bickering then slowly turned their heads in the direction of the noises. It was unsurprisingly still dark inside but Leo caught a glimpse of purple in the shadows and the blue-clad turtle can feel himself bristling with anger. 

Yet, in contrast to how he’s feeling, his voice came out calm as he calls out, “Donatello.”

A beat passed.

Then there was subtle movement from a shadow appearing. The doors open to reveal the purple-clad turtle. He fiddles with the ends of his mask as his eyes are averted from them. “H-hey, guys,” he smiles awkwardly. Neither of them is amused. 

“The hell are you doing here?!” Raph hollars. 

His nervousness drops as he scoffs at the other. “You actually thought I was gonna stay in the lair? Fat chance.”

“Alright, then,” the red-clad turtle starts cracking his knuckles, “I’ll bash your head next time—”

“You left Mikey alone?” Leo cuts in, his fists clenched.

“Of course not!” he huffs, hands on hips, “That’s why I brought him along.”

“WHAT?!”

“Hey guys,” Mikey pops up behind Donnie, waving them with an innocent smile, “Whuddup~”

“What the shell, Donnie?!” Raph growls, fists raised, “You’re always claiming you’re the smart one so what’s this?!”

Donnie raises his hands up in a placating manner, “It was either I leave Mikey alone with a sick father unsupervised or I bring him with me up on the surface and watch over him. It wouldn’t matter which one I choose because both result in your guys getting mad at me and Mikey would’ve snuck out anyway!”

“It’s true,” Said little brother nodding sagely.

“If anything, it’s your fault, Raph,” Donnie says, arms crossed and chin raised. 

“My fault?!” you could almost see steam coming out of the aforementioned turtle’s ears as he seethes.

“If you hadn’t left and chased after Leo when he explicitly told us to stay—”

“Oh shut your yap, Dee!”

As the two continue to bicker, Mikey made his way over to Leo who was watching the fight with exasperation. He looks down at his littlest brother as he makes grabby hands at him. Leo sighs as he picks him up, saddling him on his hip. “We’re going to talk about this later but for now, we’re going to grab the supplies I got and go home. No detours.”

The bickering didn’t stop. He sighs. At least Mikey gave him an endearing solute as he straightens up and puffs out his chest. “Me and Donnie put the stuff in a bag,” Mikey informs him.

“Donnie and I,” the purple-clad turtle corrects him before going back to his fight with Raph. 

The tired blue-clad turtle rolls his eyes as he walks around the bickering middle brothers and strides inside the pharmacy. There on the floor, a few feet away from them, was the bag. So he picks it up and left. Simple as that. 

When Leo exits, the thugs are in the process of getting tied together via rope, courtesy of Raph. He sends his immediate brother a questioning look that asks ‘Where did you get the rope?’

He was answered with half-lid eyes and a raised eyebrow ridge that translates to ‘Do you really wanna know?’

After over a decade of putting up with his brother’s shit— no. No, Leo does not want to know. Instead, he turns to Donnie and asks, “Did you leave any money, Donnie?”

“Yes, Leo, I did,” his tone turns to a smug one, “As well as disabling and deleting the camera footage of your scuffle with those human criminals.”

Leo’s face pinched to a displeased one at himself and he sees Raph put on a pouty look as he finishes tying the humans together. “Thanks, Donnie,” he sighs and can’t help chuckling a bit as the purple-clad turtle seems to preen at the response.

“DeeDee is awesome!” Mikey cheers, hands up in the air, making his brother incline his head higher in pride. 

Raph grumbles under his breath, still pouting. They all watch as he pulls the humans along to the mouth of an alleyway before he stops upon a trash container and throws them inside. He dusts his hands as he returns to them. 

Leo stares at the trash container that holds the thugs while the red-clad brother makes his return. “Donnie, do you think you can get the cops here?”

“Yeah, I'm on it.” 

That’s a relief. Leo smiles. 

“Raphie?” Mikey calls for Raph, gaining his attention as his eyes land on him. He smiles at him as he says, “You’re so cool for saving Leo.”

Ah, they must’ve watched what the camera recorded before deleting it. 

And do his eyes deceive him? Is Raph’s cheeks a little red?

“You’re blushing,” Donnie comments, wearing a smirk.

He gets a bonk on the head for that by Raph as he grunts out, “Shuddup.”

Leo gives him his own smirk as Mikey starts cooing and giggles, “Raphie, it’s ok~”

“I said shuddup!” he growls, a fist threateningly raised. 

“Right, since both of you are done fighting,” Leo starts, fixing the bag of medical supplies in his grip, “We can go on our merry way home. If this wasn’t some kind of abandoned area, we would’ve been caught by more humans—”

A rumble comes into earshot and it’s coming behind him. Begrudgingly but also urgently, Leo swivels around and stood in front of the rest of his brothers. Now that they’re all here, they’re top priorities. 

What came up to them was…well, a human. A young one by the looks of it. On some motorbike. He stares at them blankly. 

They stare him back. 

Then Raph, the little shit, starts snarling at the human, causing him to scream and ride off from the way he came. In his panic, he had dropped some box onto the street. Ignoring that, Raph has the audacity to wear a grin as he folds his arms and says, “Well, that was fun.”

Leo exasperates a sigh as he pivots in his step and headed to the alleyway where the thugs are, “We’re too exposed out here now that there are more of us,” he stops as he approaches a hanging ladder that seems to lead up to the roofs, giving him an idea. 

“Dude, we going up!” Mikey giggles on his back now that Leo repositions him there. 

Leo inclines his head at his other brothers, “Come on.” Then climbs up with ease, careful of jostling Mikey as little as possible. 

As he arrives on a flat surface, he listens to his brothers’ steps behind him and they join him quickly on the roof. Turning around, the blue-clad turtle sees both unscathed with Donnie holding onto the box on the street. 

“Why did you bring that along?” He asks.

Donnie responded by lifting it to his chin, showing what was said on the box.

“ Pizz-ah? ” Mikey says with squinted eyes before he gasped in delight and shouted, “PIZZA!”

“I figure we take this short moment to try the infamous junk food that is pizza on a certain someone’s birthday to uh, to make up what happened earlier,” It was so enthusiastic until it trailed off into timid murmuring. He and Donnie are definitely gonna talk about this. But for now;

“Good idea, Donnie,” Leo softly smiles at him as he head-pats the purple-clad brother. His reddish-brown eyes darted away as he held the box close as if to shield himself from the embarrassment. 

“Yeah, good idea,” Raph adds, swiping the box out of his grip and placing it on an air vent, a makeshift table, “I was getting hungry.”

“Open it, open it, open it!” Mikey starts jumping on Leo with obvious excitement as the latter crouches down to be at eye level with the pizza. 

The lid was open, releasing hot steam and a mouthwatering smell filled the air. There it was; an entire whole pizza in the box. The sound of rumbling stomachs erupts. 

“Dips on this slice!”

“This one’s mine!”

“Save some for the rest of us!”

“Gimme gimme gimme gimme!”

Leo grabs two slices, handing one over to the grabby hands Mikey is doing above him before taking a bite of his own. 

Oh yeah, this is good. Leo thought as goodness washes over his mouth. 

“After eating mostly algae and worms my entire life, I’d say this is the best thing I've ever eaten!” Raph says before finishing his slice. 

“I LOVE IT UP HERE!” Mikey shouts.

For his first outing on the surface, it was an overall success in his book. Sure there were some bumps in the road but they got the medical supply needed for Splinter, served some small justice on those thugs, and got to taste pizza. A good way to finish off his birthday he’d say. 

Satisfied, Leo licks off the rest of the grease off his fingers and then fully stands again. “Alright guys, we had our fun and finished our mission. Let's go home.” He's met with groans and protests. He rolls his eyes and with narrow eyes says, “Master Splinter is waiting for us.”

Now that got their attention and they at least had the decency to appear sheepish in their positions. Whatever, the talks will have to wait after Splinter is cared for. 

They make the trip back to the alleyway that holds the manhole Leo came out of via parkcoring on the roofs of the buildings or— roof hopping. Mikey was having a blast as he was hitching a ride by Leo who was taking the lead back home. Raph and Donnie are behind and Leo has to repeatedly assure himself that they're still there. He just needs to listen to their steps. There were no concerning noises and his brothers were within reach if anything goes wrong.

(Unless they go run off on their own. Again. 

If that’s the case, they might as well be grounded for life by Splinter.)

There was the sound of a vehicle coming by. Leo has no idea who would be up this late aside from teenagers having too much time on their hands— humans or mutants alike. 

“Guys wait!” 

They all stop in their tracks and then turn to Donnie and shoot him with confused looks. He’s standing close to the edge of the roof they’re on, looking over down the streets. 

“Look.”

They join him at his side and see what he's seeing. There were two humans at a corner of the street across— a redhead girl around their age and a man, presumably her father. They’re standing a little away from a white van that had screeched to a stop— oh , that's a red flag. Identical suited men— the same man as before— came out of the said van, and are advancing the family of two. The redheads appeared agitated and didn't know them. 

Leo furrowed his nonexistent brows. Seriously? A kidnapping happening right now and on my birthday?

“We gotta save them!” Donnie suddenly declares and wha—

“Wow-ho-ho now wait a second,” Leo stops him by grabbing him by the shoulder. He then glances over them all as he asks, “Uh, why do we gotta save them?”

“Because we’re heroes!” Mikey answers enthusiastically.

Leo blinked at that, turning to the youngest, “What gave you that idea?”

“Those bad guys back at the store. You know, the one that tried to get in but we stop them?”

“That’s different ,” he stresses, “Back there was theft. This is kidnap!”

“You can't seriously be suggesting we let them be taken in front of us?! ” Donnie protested, turning to him with an aghast expression. 

Leo winced. “Why did you say it like that? It makes me sound like such a horrible person!”

Honestly, yes— he is suggesting that…in a way. They’re not obliged to help this family. Heck— they don't even know anything about them. And they're getting kidnapped…

Leo is the bad guy in this argument, huh? 

(The urge to vomit and waste that perfectly good pizza is strong.) 

“...Look,” Donnie starts, his contrite look turning into an intense one, “You’re always saying to do the right thing no matter what . Shouldn’t this count?”

“I—”

“Every second we’re staying here talking is every second wasted on the chance to save them. So why are you hesitating?”

Because no matter how appealing it sounds to be heroes (and for him to rid of this awful guilt), it’s dangerous. Dangerous for Donnie, dangerous for Leo, dangerous for all of them! If they jump in then it’s likely they’ll get captured, too, and it’s gonna be bigger trouble from there!-

Donnie glared at him before jumping off. He jumped off…

“DONNIE!” Leo literally screeched, a hand hanging in the empty air where one of his little brothers was. 

“Eh, can't let the idiot have all the fun,” Raph shrugs and fucking jumps down, too! What the fuck?!

At least Mikey is still here—

“Wait for me!” that's from Mikey. And he sounds like he's a little below the distressed blue-clad turtle. Leo quickly goes toward the voice and sees that Mikey is trying to climb down the building via the fire escape. Keyword; trying. 

Leo curses under his breath and leaps over to Mikey, grabs hold of him under the armpits, and then positions him on his carapace. “Wonder off again and you can say bye-bye to Monkey George for three days,” he grunts.

“...Sorry,” he murmured, and damn it— he has to be strong here. Don't give in…

Leo exasperates a sigh, “It’s ok. Just don't give me a scare like that again. I got enough on my plate with the other two idiots.”

“So…are we helping?”

He sighs once more before jumping off as well, “Yes.”

There was the sound of grunts and struggle as they approached. He needs to hurry if he wants to protect his stupid brothers. Speaking of brothers, Leo stops at the mouth of the alleyway they're in and drops Mikey and the supply bag upon the top of a trash container. 

“Stay here and hide,” he orders before dashing off to join the fight and aid his brothers. 

Leo passes a few of the weird identical men and then pounces on the one that was sneaking up on Donnie from behind and kicks him off to a wall. 

He was gonna turn to the next opponent when the guy he’d just kicked got up again. “Wha—”

Leo ducks from an attempted punch and then swipes the man’s legs under him before standing up again and sending a kick to his face (hopefully) enough to knock him out. The man slides under the van and Leo hides a wince. 

“Help!” Ah, the girl.

“Hang on!” And that’s Donnie.

Ok, he needs to cover for him—

Raph slams into him, putting him off balance. “Watch it!” he grunts.

“You watch it!” Leo retorts, taking a step back before avoiding another swing from one of the men, leaping over him. 

Something went crack. Looking over, Leo sees the man has smashed the road enough to create a small crater with just his fist. He narrows his eyes at the man as he’s joined by two more men. He unsheathes his swords.

Are humans actually that strong?

He goes for a slash at all their abdomen and as expected, they quickly back away. It turns to a song and dance of air slashes and dodging as Leo leads them away from the others. 

Then there were the sounds of steps coming from behind him. Leo swings his daito and his hand on the handle was caught by a surprisingly strong grip. And the man appears unfazed.

The blue-clad turtle doesn’t allow himself to stay surprised for long, he has his back turned to his other opponents. So with a twist of a wrist, Leo manages to get himself into the air with the right maneuvering technique and land his feet onto the man’s back. Then he kicks himself off and sends the human flying toward the other men. 

Screams erupt and that gets Leo tense as he pivots in his steps and runs towards the sound. Ah, it seems like Donnie is trying to calm the girl down as he helps her out. That’s all well and good except when it’s in the middle of the fight!

“Donnie!” Leo shouts, going for a swing at a man that was going to leap onto him. 

He was blocked by the end of a bo staff. Wha— “Ah! I didn’t mean to—” pain blossoms on his face as he staggers backward, “—do that.” Donnie lamely finishes. 

Leo blink the tears away just in time to see Donnie’s shell being sent his way. Then he and his brother crash into a pile of trashcans. 

“They’re getting away!” Donnie was right as Leo hears wheels screeching on the road, the van riding away. The roads are empty now, leaving only them. Donnie makes a swift recovery as he got up. “We gotta hurry after them!”

Leo quickly sheathes his swords and then grabs the purple-clad turtle before he could run off again, sending him a stern look, “Wait.”

“But—”

There was a muffled groan and they both turn to see Raph getting into a sitting position as he rubs his head. “Anybody got the number on that bus?”

“Raph,” Leo starts as he drags Donnie along to the red-clad turtle, “Are you ok? Do you know where you are?”

“Ugh, I’m fine,” he grunts, standing up as he puts grabs and puts away his sais, “Stop doting on me, Leo.”

“I said ‘do you know where you are?’” Leo presses, checking his head while keeping the pouting Donnie in his vision. 

“Topside, in the middle of the road and we just got our shells kicked,” Raph grumps, “Happy?”

“Very,” he answers. Then, “Come on, we gotta grab Mikey—”

“AHHHHHHHHH!” 

“MIKEY!”

They immediately turn to the yelling, meeting him running towards them out of the alleyway Leo had left him. “SCARY BRAIN SCARY BRAIN SCARY BRAIN SCARY BRAIN!”

Leo kneels with his arms wide open and Mikey doesn’t hesitate as he takes the open gesture to safety. “Hey, hey, hey, it’s ok,” he coos as he rocks the youngest in his arms, “You’re alright, everything’s alright.”

Raph has his sais out, a threatening air surrounds him as he scans the area around them, “Where’s the fucker?”

“Language,” he grunts.

“Whatever— who scared you, Mikey? Is it one of those creepy men? I’ll kill him!”

“Well, he appears unharmed,” Donnie says as he looks over Mikey over a third time, “What’s this about a ‘scary brain,’ Mikey?”

“It was so crazy scary, guys!” Mikey hiccups, tears and snot opening falling down his face, “The stranger danger saw me when I was peeking at you guys fighting and then he came over and I went to hide like Leo said to and-” he sniffs, rubbing his beak.

“And then he found me anyways so I hit him- he was so hard to hit- like a rock or something- maybe one of those metal parts Dee owns. Anyways, I grab the closest thing next to me and got to hit him this time- well, I actually stabbed him with something sharp, and then he started glowing and was beeping!”

“The man wasn’t a man! He was an alien robot and has an alien brain in his chest which tried to eat me! Because I didn’t wanna be eaten, I told it I didn’t taste good and kicked it away from me and it ran off. And I thought it’s gonna come back with friends so I ran to you.”

…

“You think the excitement of tonight got to him he lost his own brain?” Donnie not so subtly whispers to Raph behind Leo.

“That or he didn’t have a brain in the first place,” Raph replies.

“I have a brain!” Mikey yells, apparently hearing what they’d said, “And it was almost eaten from the scary brain!”

“Sure bud.”

“You’re not listening to me!” Mikey screeches, tears appearing again out of frustration.

(For a split second, Leo thought about imitating Captain Ryan by slapping Mikey. But yeah no— if anything, that’ll aggravate the child more and they do not need a screeching Mikster home. Maybe if he was older, Leo would do it. Alas he’s not.)

“Hey, it’s ok,” Leo interjects, wiping away the snot and tears away. There were noises of disgust behind him. He ignores it, “Let’s just head home now, it’s getting very late out here.”

“But the family,” Donnie stresses.

“I didn’t forget about them, don’t worry,” he replies as he carries Mikey, “We’ll get back to them but for now it’s family over strangers first.”

Leo heaves a sigh as he washes his hands. He had still found soot in Splinter’s fur when he did an examination again. The fur was damp with sweat, too, so that fever is still around. But he’s doing better; he didn’t look as in pain as before. 

The blue-clad turtle sets his wet hands on the edge of the sink, staring into the running water and just…existing. 

That family and those suited men with the van had unfortunate timing. Couldn’t they appear like the next time he and his brothers go topside? Preferably when they’re older, please?

And there were the thugs, too. Why did they decide to break into a pharmacy? What would it provide for them aside from the obvious? They were grinning; do they enjoy causing trouble?

That entire neighborhood was quiet— no, empty. It had to be empty , abandoned even. 

Because no way in hell did nobody notice any of that; the attempted break-in, the kidnapping, him and his brothers. Someone should’ve seen them. They wouldn’t ignore any of that, right?

…

He doesn’t understand. 

Why are humans like this?

What did those men want with that family?

Why does he still feel like throwing up?!

Knock, knock!

“Hey!” Raph’s muffled voice rang on the other side of the door, “Hurry up in there!”

Leo shakes his head. It does nothing to stop his overflowing thoughts and the growing headache. He needs a minute. Maybe he should check on Splinter. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

He stops the water running and steps out of the room. A grumbling Raph bumps his shoulder into Leo’s arm as he passes but he ignores that. Noises are rumbling from the lab and Mikey is in the pit with the addition of paper and markers. 

Leo crosses the room until he made it to the dojo and quietly enters. Splinter is still in bed.

He silently shuts the dojo doors behind him and comes towards the sleeping rat mutant. He sat down seiza style next to him and breathes in, then out. 

Distantly, he heard Raph exiting the bathroom as the door clicks open and closed. He sounds like he’s talking to Mikey about something, the latter sounding excited, his chipper attitude returning from the frightened, frustrated one. And Donnie is still in his lab.  

His brothers are in the lair. They’re home. They’re safe. 

Despite what happened, it’s oddly peaceful. Like the chaos that happened on the surface didn’t happen at all. 

He cringes at the thought. 

Just when he was calming down— and his stomach is still doing those terrible backflips!

Breathe in, breathe out.

Nobody was there. 

It was clear from the very beginning that that entire neighborhood was abandoned. It became more apparent when nobody came out and bothered screaming about real mutant ninja turtles fighting humans and the kidnapping. 

It was just him and his brothers, the suited men, and the family. It all happened on the open road for spirit’s sake!

It’s possible this was planned from the very beginning. Kidnappings don’t just happen out of the blue (heh). The men intercepted the family from their…night hangouts? (Why were they out so late in the first place?) They knew their route and it just so happens to cross in that abandoned neighborhood. 

Then he and his brothers come into the picture. They accidentally became that family’s last hope before they could get kidnapped. They could’ve saved them if he didn’t hesitate . And they failed. Miserably. 

Leo grunts, unknowingly tightening his fists. 

But why?

Why was that family kidnapped?

What did those men want with them?

What’s so special about them?

The blue-clad turtle heaves a sigh, head lowering in exasperation. Pondering on the ‘why’ isn’t getting him anywhere and well, maybe he’s thinking way too much into this.

Besides, why is he so invested in this family anyways? He has no reason to go after and save them first of all. And he’ll be risking his brothers’ lives if he does because god forbid would his brothers follow after him whether he tells them to stay or not. It’d be better that he lets them come along so he can keep a better eye on them. They always corporate better when they’re all on the same page. 

…Wow, they’re really gonna do this, aren’t they?

They’re seriously gonna risk themselves for a bunch of strangers…

Leo opens his eyes (when did he shut them?) and glances over at Splinter. His father is asleep, just as he should be. His wheezing isn’t as evident as before, his fur is cleaner, and his expression is much more peaceful. He grimaces. 

Sorry, father. 

Leo stood up and exits out of the dojo. “Guys, prepare things you think you’ll need. We’re going out again.”

Chapter Text

“Should’ve complained two hours ago.”

Leo can't help but quirk a smile at Raph’s playful dismay. “Raph, you’re coming with me. Donnie, watch Mikey.”

“Wha— why me?” Donnie protested with a pouting Mikey behind him looking sleepy even after he’d woken up from his little nap.

“Well, someone needs to watch him,” he answers flatly before turning to Raph, “Let’s go.”

As Leo jumps off the rooftop they were waiting on, in the corner of his vision, he spots Raph sticking his tongue out at Donnie and then trailing after him. The blue-clad turtle rolls his eyes out of fondness before they shift what’s in front of him as he lands in the alleyway where their target is; one familiar white van.

The door to the wheel opens and a scrawny human in a white tank top hops out; not one of those identical men. Leo briefly paused because something feels…weird about this guy— like recognition…? The human went rigid when his eyes latched onto the revealing turtles with ninja weapons in their hands.

Splinter’s lessons come into mind;

‘Avoid confrontations.’

‘Stay in the shadows.’

‘Use your weapons only for defense.’

Leo pushes past the awful churning feeling in his guts for disregarding those lessons, for disobeying his father even further, and narrows his eyes at the human.

“Alright, buddy,” Raph casually greets the guy, “We can do this the easy way or—” his brother pauses for a second, turning to him with a feral glint in his eyes and Leo suddenly feels like he should’ve brought Donnie instead, oh god, he’s gonna lunge at him— and then turning his attention back to their target, “— my vote, the hard way.”

The human stiffens and steps back at the threat. Leo was quick to take control of the situation. “You kidnapped a family of two redheads. Why?”

It seems like that was the wrong question to ask first as the guy swiftly pulls some ray gun out of nowhere and starts pulling the trigger. Leo and Raph were quick to act thanks to their training and leaped up onto the fire escape as the pink bullets flies by where they had stood before. While they were busy avoiding getting shot, the guy bolted to his van and drove off to the streets with a screech. 

…That could’ve gone better. 

“I blame Donnie,” Raph spoke up next to him, visibly grumpy. 

“He didn’t do anything,” Leo exasperated as he swung up to the rooftops. His immediate brother follows, “Heck, he isn’t even here.”

They start chasing the van via roof-hopping. “‘It’s two to one, what’s the guy gonna do?’ said Donnie,” he mocks in a high-pitch that sounds nothing like Donnie.

“Language,” The blue-clad turtle lightly chastises, earning himself a snort from the other.

Speaking of their purple-clad brother, on the next rooftop, they reunite along with Mikey on his back who appears to be wide awake now and is having a fun ride as he wears a giddy smile. “He’s getting away again!”

“He wouldn’t be if you didn’t jinx them, Dee!” Mikey comments.

“I knew it!” Raph shouts.

“What did we say about tattle-telling, Mikey?!” Donnie angrily hisses.

“I told you!” he outstretched his hands to Leo as if to emphasize his point. 

“Wha— fuck you!”

“Fuck yourself!”

“Leo! They’re saying bad words in front of me again! My baby-ness is getting dirty!”

“Let’s do the bantering stuff after we get the guy, ok?” Leo firmly expresses as he speeds himself up. His brothers follow suit. 

They kept a relatively good pace with the vehicle no matter how much its driver twisted and swivels around every corner. That seemed like a signal only Raph sees as his bloated confidence got the better of him and he jumped. 

Leo’s heart leaped to his throat as he watched his stupid brother land on the roof of the van, holding onto dear life as the human starts trying to get him off. 

He quickens his steps which in turn manages to get him to keep all of his limps as he dodges the pink bullets from the ray gun again. 

Then he leaped off his rooftop— high — throwing a shuriken mid-air, and then catches himself on the rails of a fire escape. The tall tales of horns blaring make the blue-clad turtle hurry to the street.

As he arrived, Raph was getting up from the road a little away from the van that’s turned to its side, smoke coming off it. Leo rushes to his brother’s side. 

“Before you asked, I’m fine,” Raph says, turning to him with his usual perma-scowl. And yeah, he appears fine so Leo lets himself relax a little. But when they get back, he’s gonna make sure Spike witnesses Raph fall onto the floor repeatedly during their spars.  

“BOOYAKASHA!” Mikey cheers and Leo can’t help but wince at his volume. It seems the rest of his brothers share the same thought as they all shush him. The youngest sends them an apologetic look as he and Donnie join them. They’re both unharmed as well. 

Eyes glancing back to the van, the smoke dissipated and reveals some boxes at the back, indicating the doors are opened. 

Leo unsheaths his swords as a precaution and he hears his brothers follow suit bar Mikey who doesn’t have any weapons (at least not the typical ones). He turns to face Donnie and Mikey over his shoulder, pointing them to stay back. The former scrunches his face in displeasure while the latter pouts. Despite their reactions to being left out of the action, they thankfully didn’t protest. 

Taking that as a reassuring signal, he makes his way around the back of the vehicle on one side while Raph takes the other. 

More boxes revealed themselves, some scattered a little around the street while most were piled inside the van. Raph— god, does he have any self-preservation skills in him?— goes to the door, lifting one and something lands past him with a clink and rolls onto the street. That something was a familiar shape— a canister if you will, with an ominous green glow coming from it. 

Memories of Splinter retelling the stories of their younger selves flood his mind. Where sneaking in the shadows and avoiding every danger was a daily task. Living in an empty and tight water tower with rowdy, hungry little turtle tots, rarely having quiet times. And scary humans tried to hunt them almost every day until cold, sewer waters entered and they escaped. 

Focus, idiot. He chastises himself. 

Carefully, Leo picks the canister up, inspecting it further. Inside appears to be some sort of liquid ooze. It kind of reminds him of some weird lava lamp. There was also some sort of off-beat humming coming from it, making the entire thing seem alien. 

“Is that…” Raph cuts himself off, furrowing his eye ridges. 

“The thing that turned us into us?” Leo finishes for him, “Yeah, I’d say so.”

They both stare at it.

“What now?”

“...Well—”

“GET HIM!”

The two jumped at the shout before immediately rushing to the sound of struggling; to the front of the van. There, they’re greeted by the sight of their younger brothers tackling the human. With quick efficiency, Donnie tied him up and Mikey sat on top of him like a chair. 

The latter waves at them enthusiastically. “Look, look!” he points to the human, “We caught the bad guy!’

“Nice, baby brother,” Raph says, petting his head. Mikey preens at the praise. 

Yes, his brothers did amazing with their quick reflexes and decisiveness. But also— ohmygosh, please get the hell away from the bad human. He doesn’t voice that though, instead, Leo asks, “Where did you get the rope?” 

“Raph gave it to me,” was Donnie’s answer. 

And Leo’s eyes dart to Raph.

Raph met his gaze, expression unreadable.

Nope. You got better things to worry about. Leo thought as he turns away.

“OH! What’s that?” Mikey points to the canister. 

“It’s—”

“— Mutagen that turned us all into what we are now!” Donnie gasped, eyes wide and gleaming with curiosity. He makes grabby hands gestures, “Gimme!’

Which Leo does, faintly amused as he watches the purple-clad turtle intensely inspecting it. He takes over watching the human, rope in hand. 

“Let’s drink some!” Mikey spoke up, getting off the guy and sliding to Donnie's side. Leo makes sure his sigh of relief is muted. 

“What?” Raph shouts in understandable disbelief, “Why would you do that?”

“Cause if you mutate a mutant, you get a super mutant!”

“Or a pile of goo on the sidewalk,” Donnie remarks, still very much inspecting the subject item like his life depended on it.

“Either way, it’s an improvement,” Raph shoots Mikey a teasing grin earning himself a blowing raspberry from the other. 

“Ok guys, focus,” Leo interjects, grabbing their attention. He turns to the human, crouching to see eye to eye, “Let’s try this again: why did you kidnap that family?”

The human gives him a scrutinizing glare before his features twist to disgust, saying, “I got nothing to say to you hideous shitshow.”

Leo narrowed his eyes, irked at his crude language. Before he could continue, he’s shoved out of the way and Raph takes his place, canister open in one hand. “ Let’s try this again : Who are you and what’s going on?”

The guy scoffs as he rolls his eyes, “Snake is the name and he’s on his way to the park smelling the flowers, ok kid?”

Raph smirks as he grabs the guy by the collar of his shirt and pulls him up, “Funny guy, aren’t ya? See, we were just little turtles until we got hit with this glowy stuff.” The canister tilts just enough for the liquid not to spill overheads.

The human has dropped the tough guy act and is now visibly nervous as he eyes the thick liquid. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“We’re gonna see what you turned into obviously! If we’re lucky, maybe you’ll turn into something we can eat like pizza!” he’s grinning at this point and it’s the offputting kind. 

“What?!” Mikey suddenly shouts, overlapping with the human’s terrified groaning, “I don’t wanna eat brain pizza! That sounds terrible!”

Raph growls, turning to the youngest with a glare, easing Snake a bit out of his hold. “You’re ruining my moment here, Mikey.”

“And there’s no brain monster thing you keep talking about, Miguel,” Donnie pipes in.

“Yes, there is!” Mikey stresses, pointing to Snake, “He’s the brain thingy!”

“No, he’s not!”

“Yes, he is! He is a robot under that disguise! An alien robot! With the brain—”

“Stop it with the brain thingy and alien robots! There’s no such thing!”

“Your stupid imagination is getting out of hand, Mikey!”

“I know what I saw!”

Leo resists the urge to facepalm himself. 

It's impressive how lucky they are from not being caught by any further onlookers that dared to come out tonight yet when you factor in the little van chase that ended in the middle of the road (twice, again) and volume range his little brothers have. They don’t even have any information yet. 

Nothing about the family.

The men.

The abandoned neighborhood.

It's getting late and they need to hurry. 

There was shifting at the edge of his vision and Leo promptly pulled the rope in his hand, tightening it. Snake grunts at the rough gesture as he glares at him. The blue-clad turtle shoots his own.

“Please answer the questions. I’d rather not clean up a pile of goo on the ground.”

Thankfully, he did as he seemed to pale at his comment. “They call themselves the Kraang. They’ve been grabbing scientists from all over the city.”

“What do they want with scientists?”

“I don’t know.”

Raph comes into the picture again— apparently done with the squabble in the background— and brandishes the mutagen in the human’s face. 

Snake goes rigid even further as he quickly replies, “All I know is they’re taking them out of the city but I don’t know where!”

“What about the lack of people in this neighborhood?” 

“I don’t—” he pauses in his sentence when Raph tilts the canister closer, “I-It’s been like this for a long while. Rumors say it’s haunted, creepy shit always happening so the place is usually avoided. Gangs and the Kraang just use the rumors to their advantage.”

Mikey gulps, holding onto Donnie tightening by the arm as he stutters and squeaks, “H-haunted? Doesn’t that mean scary ghosts?!”

Donnie groans. 

Pushing back a chill, Leo narrows his eyes at Snake and asks, “Where are these Kraang guys now?” 

After getting and finding the location of this base these Kraang guys are, surveying the area, and triple making sure every one of his brothers understands and comply with the plan, they can get started it. 

The sound of an explosion erupts and that’s their cue to move their shells. 

“Wow,” Mikey’s voice sounds in awe next to Leo’s ear-hole as he carries his littlest brother up with him over the wall, “Where did that helpful van come from? Hopefully, whoever was driving it isn’t hurt so badly in that explot- ex—exploshiiionn~”

“It’s ‘ex-plo-sion,’ Mikey,” Donnie helpfully comments, briefly breaking out of his focus on climbing.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

There was a sigh, a metal smack , and then a noise of pain. 

“The helpful van was thanks to a ghost,” Leo informs as he climbs.

“Ghost?” The youngest sounded slightly nervous but was mostly confused.

“Yeah, he knew what we were going to do and decided to help us.”

“So he was a friendly ghost?” he gasped as if the thought of friendly ghosts never crossed his mind before. He tightens his hold on Leo and the latter has to stop for a moment from the sudden action. Mikey lessens his grip on him quickly. “Sorry— what’s his name?”

“The ghost?” Leo inquires as he resumes climbing and feels Mikey eagerly nod his head. “Franky.”

“Franky~” he breathily sounds the name. “Will we see him? I wanna say thank you!”

Leo refrains from wincing at the sudden increase in volume from the little imp. He’s so lucky the distraction is still going. “Franky’s a shy little ghost.”

“Oh.”

“Hey, Leo!” 

That little—  

The blue-clad turtle turns towards the voice, frowning up to see Raph at the top of the wall with a smug smile looking down at him. “First!” he grins.

“What part of being a quiet , stealthy ninja do you not understand?” Leo grunts after reaching the top and then crouching down, Mikey still latching onto him and turning to Raph with an annoyed look.

The little shit had the audacity to roll his eyes at him, waving him off dismissively. “We’re fine. The dumb humans—”

“Brain thingies.”

“—hadn’t noticed us yet. You’re worrying too much.”

Leo huffs, keeping his eyes on the other as he helps Donnie up.

The purple-clad brother groans, saying, “I’m last.”

“It’s not a race,” Leo sighs.

“You’re just saying that because you weren’t first,” Raph accuses with a smirk. It looks very punchable. 

His frown deepens. “Raph—”

“Then I’m second!” Mikey pipes in.

“Mikey.”

“Hey, Leo, since you technically cheated by helping a fellow competitor out— accident or not— can I take third place?” Donnie’s request would’ve sounded very innocent if it weren’t for the obvious mischievous tone he used. 

Leo throws his hands in the air— careful not to drop Mikey— glaring up at the sky with exasperation. “Sure. Whatever.” He then shoots the only two turtles he can see with a very serious look. “Now will you all please be quiet from here on out? It's gonna get even more dangerous past this point.”

Fortunately, his brothers concede and nod their heads in confirmation, even Mikey. Leo felt the tiniest bit of relief flood his system that hardly quell his anxiety.

They’re dipping their toes into a danger zone just to help a couple of strangers— humans in fact. All for the sake of a sense of delusional heroism with a side of guilt. His stomach is twisting and turning to the point he feels like vomiting where he’s positioned. He can feel himself sweating, particularly under the armpits. And he has to make sure he’s still breathing at a steady pace or else— if his brothers notice, the morale is gonna be shattered.

When they get back, he’s gonna indulge himself because it’s the after-hours of his birthday and he deserves something nice. 

This better be all worth it … Heh.

“Mikey, hold on tight.” The youngest does as he’s told as Leo maneuvers himself to the edge on the other side of the wall. He fixes his other two brothers with a smirk as he says, “First.”

And he drops.

Mikey quickly stifled his yelp by pushing his snout onto the surface of the blue-clad turtle’s carapace and there were the sounds of cut-off shouts and groans from the others as well. Leo can’t help but let out a breathy chuckle as he catches himself somewhere on the lower half of the wall and climbs down from there. They no sooner regroup after twenty seconds— being met with adorably ticked-off expressions from his other brothers, Leo gives them a shit-eating grin— hides in the corner shrouded in shadow, and finds an air vent. 

With little to no hesitation, Leo enters first and quickly knocked out two of the identical humans. As he goes to move the men out of sight, soft thumps hit the metal floor, indicating his brothers have dropped after him. 

“Wow,” Donnie gasped in awe, his red-tinted brown eyes sparkling, “It’s like an evil secret base you’d see in a movie! Granted, it is an evil secret base but— they seem to be using some kind of unknown metal alloy! It’s so cool!”

“Wow~” Raph mockingly remarks, “A whole different type of metal? It really boggles the mind.”

“Dude,” his tone shifts to a challenging one, “You wanna talk metallurgy with me? Bring it.”

“I don’t,” the red-clad turtle sounds unimpressed, “And—”

“Guys,” Leo finally decides to intervene, sending them both a stern look as he harshly whispers, “We agreed to stay quiet. Especially now that we’re in an enemy’s lair.”

Carefully, and quietly, Leo crouches and leads the group forward, internally comforted by the soft steps that come from his brothers from behind. He paused in his tracks at the end of a hall that splits in two, glaring at what he’s guessing are the Kraang— Alien robots. 

Huh, guess Mikey was telling the truth. The blue-clad turtle thought absent-mindedly. 

Some are in some blue coating layer that could be extra protection with the robot bases all being silver (?), whatever metal those are, and their abdomens are pink. But Leo’s more concerned about the fact they’re all carrying similar ray guns. 

All three of them are close-quarter combaters so going up against enemies armed with guns will not be in their favor. Ok, they’ll do the buddy-buddy system and sneak around these guys as long as they keep quiet—

“Woah, Alien robots,” Donnie whispers in wonder and what did we just agree on a moment ago—?!

“Hmmm, alien robots, huh,” Mikey snarks next to him, “Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, I’ve been SAYING IT FOR HOURS!”

The robots all turn to them, beeping in alarm as guns point at them, and start shooting.

Immediately Leo scooped Mikey into his arms as they all scattered and initiate fighting. He dodges the bright pink bolts and took a few steps back, grabbed a few shurikens on him, and threw them straight at the two approaching robots’ heads. Pink sparks danced at the cracks and they both fall onto the floor. 

At the other side of the corner, Leo places Mikey there. “Stay here,” he orders.

“But I—”

He quickly jumps back into the fray, swords unsheathed.

Pink lasers are flying and Leo dodges and sweep past them.

As he goes through the motion of things of dodging, incapacitating, slashing, flipping, there is no sound of distress, no cry for help. Raph and Donnie were holding their own very well. 

A stray bullet shoots his way which he ducks and then deflects the other one, sending it back to the shooter. The Kraang stumbles a few steps back, grabbing its face. Without hesitation, the blue-clad turtle slice through its chest. 

It falls onto the ground and his brothers gather around him as there were no more opponents. With the fight over, Leo decides it’s wise to survey these alien robots more properly. There seems to be an opening where that pink thing resides—

Tiny tendrils spout out of the stomach and out comes a fucking freaky brain creature. It screeches at them, showing off its sharp teeth, and Leo and his brothers can’t help but shout out of surprise. 

And suddenly, a rolling pin slams onto the brain thing a few times, pounding it until it loses consciousness. Mikey swiveled around, glaring at the older brothers. “See?! See?! The brain thingy was real!” he points to the brain thing with the rolling pin that he seemingly got out of thin air. (First, Raph. Now Mikey?) “I told you! I told you! But you didn’t believe me! You thought I was being a bonehead!”

At this point, Mikey was yelling in frustration. Not ideal for where they’re all currently at and made them fail to see the brain creature was awake again until it was chomping down on Mikey’s rolling pin. At which the youngest panicked, trying to get the brain thing off the item by shaking it off. 

“Mikey,” Leo spoke up, hands stretched out to try to help, “Just drop the rolling—”

The rolling pin with the brain creature attached slips out of Mikey’s little hand in his hasty panic and lands on a thing on the walls— said thing is an alarm control apparently because suddenly the place was shrouded in blinking pink lights and a blaring, weird bleeping sound alarm goes off, notifying every living thing in the area. The little pink thing— the real Kraang he’s guessing— screeches once more before quickly crawling away. 

“MIKEY!” Donnie and Raph shout in unison, expression pinched in anger. Leo winced on the side— both for their volume and out of sympathy for Mikey. 

“Ok,” Mikey starts, appropriately appearing to be sheepish, “But I’m still right with the brain thing.”

In the corner of his vision, Leo detects shadows steadily coming closer down the hall on the right, making him narrow his eyes out of concern. He turns to his brothers. “Let’s move,” he orders. 

“Uh, where exactly?” Raph questions, looking at Leo like he’s an idiot. Rude. 

“Anywhere but here,” the blue-clad turtle clarifies, “Preferably where the human family is kept at.”

“I think those are power conduits,” Donnie says as he points at black, pipe-like things on the ceiling. 

“Oh! That’s really interesting!” Raph sends him a fake smile, his tone dripping with sarcasm, “Thanks for sharing, Donnie!” 

“Meathead, the conduits are all conversing that way,” he says all while shooting the red-clad turtle an irked glare and pointing the direction, voice increasing in anger. “Which means that whatever is going on in that direction is important! ” 

Donnie pivots in his spot, then walk down the left hallway, leaving a fuming Raph behind in his embarrassment. 

And like the good older brother he is, Leo slides into view with a smile, head inclining in a silent order to follow their purple-clad brother. 

And like the good little brother he is, Mikey slides into view with a smile, his arms doing wavey motions in a teasing manner. “You got spanked,” he giggles. 

It was cut short though when Raph decides he has had enough and grabs the youngest and carries him like a sack of potatoes, ignoring his indignant cries and protests as he follows the others. 

For a few dozen seconds, it was just them running down hallways with nothing but the annoying alarm and pink lights. They haven’t run into any more of these Kraang-guys yet. Three possibilities come to light; they’re slow as fuck, there are fewer numbers of them than he’d thought, or they’re heading somewhere else more important . Hopefully, it’s not the third one but Leo’s not too confident it won’t happen. 

Then, Donnie stops in his tracks, turning to face a wall?

“Hey! It’s them!” he grins eagerly. 

Oh, it’s a small cell. Leo notes, stopping next to him. From what he can see through the small window, it is indeed the family and they unsurprisingly seemed wary towards them. Raph drops Mikey next to Donnie. 

Pink bolts were shot in their vicinity again. So backup is here. “Raph and I will hold them off,” he says as he unsheaths his swords and deflects a stray shot away from the group, “You pick the lock.”

The two of them charge at the Kraang before splitting away from each other. At the first robot, Leo decapitates it. 

Two of them fire their guns at him and he does a few backflips while aiming some shurikens at their firepower, making them useless. The robot duo stopped to decipher what happened to their ray guns. A red and green blur slams into them, crushing them into the walls. 

Raph throws their limp bodies at the incoming Kraang next to him as Leo slashes through the one that’s behind him. 

Leo’s eyes dart around, looking for his next opponent, only to find no more. Huh.

“Aww,” Raph groans, his body slumped in disappointment, “That’s all of them?”

“That’s odd,” Leo furrows his eye-ridges, scanning the area if there’s more or if there’s a trick involved in this— cries erupt. And a chill runs down his scales. 

“Dee!” That’s Mikey. 

“I know, I’m trying!” And Donnie.

Leo pivots in his steps and rushes to return to the others with Raph right behind him. Their younger brothers appear okay so that means— looking through the small window once again, he sees the humans being carried off by the Kraang on the other side. 

And he realized that small group of Kraang back there was a distraction. 

Tsk, so it is the third option. Figures. The blue-clad turtle internally grumps. 

Pink bolts were shot their way once again and Leo is starting to get annoyed. There were more of them which is concerning. Guess he and his brothers are deemed important as well. Fucking great. 

“Donnie!” Leo grunts, dodging and blocking the bright bullets. 

“Some of these wires and components are very new so it’s trial and error here!” the aforementioned brother hastily informs, “Give me a minute!” 

“A minute is a long time, bro!” Mikey shouts before yelping at a bolt that was close to hitting him and he ducks his head into his shell.

“Oh for the love of— get out of my way!” Raph growls, shoving Donnie to the side, pulls out one of his sais, and stabs it into the box-like lock, electricity crackling. 

The door slides open and they all didn’t hesitate in entering the now-empty cell and chase after the family as guns fire behind them, 

For a minute or so, Leo leads the way with Mikey riding on his back while Raph and Donnie continuously throw whatever projectiles they have on hand, dwindling the Kraang that were pursuing them. And the Kraang they’re pursuing is trying to lose them as well as they take elaborative paths and corners. 

“Doors!” Mikey suddenly shouts, pointing at a pair of gray doors the Kraang and the family are exiting.

Crap!

They plan to leave this base. They’re gonna be gone. Shit, shitshitshitshit—

“Guys!” Donnie yelps, head ducking a bullet, “There’s suddenly an increase to their numbers. The backup is here!”

Raph growls next to him.

Pushing himself a little more, Leo makes it to the doors and pushes them open. The cold air hits him and he can feel Mikey’s grip tighten around his neck. He turns to face over his shoulder and shouts, “Get the door!”

The closest was Raph and he immediately gets to it. He then paused in his tracks as a lone Kraang makes it to the still-opened door and tries to squeeze through. 

Raph snarls at it, grabs its stretched-out arm, and rips it off. He kicks the robot back, shuts the doors, and places its lost limb in between the handles and the door to lock them. The red-clad turtle turns to his brothers, ignoring the crash and rattling behind the doors, and casually says, “That will hold them.”

The blue-clad turtle blinks at his immediate brother.

He frowns at them. “What?” 

“You are seriously twisted,” Leo remarks. 

“Thanks,” he smirks. 

“Let me go!”

Turning to the voice, it was the human girl from the family. They were up a level on a sort of walkway as they were forcibly escorted by a pair of Kraang. 

“Come on, guys—”

They all stop in their tracks at the sight of something that could be part of a horror series. Tendrils with thorns on the stems sprouting out of the main green-layered-leafy body as well as crab-claws-plant for hands. On its chest is its open heart beating behind strands of stems like it’s a cage of protection. The thing also has fangs as well as antennas where a nose should be, and huge sunken eyes of yellow sclera and red pupils. The best part is it’s twice as tall as Leo. Wonderful.

“You did this to me!” it screeches, glaring daggers down at them, “Now you’re gonna pay!”

“It’s Snake the scary van human!” Mikey exclaims as Leo and the others slowly take a few steps back.

“He’s a giant weed?” Donnie murmurs, squinting his eyes at the apparent weed thing. 

“How did he get mutated?” Leo questions, “We left him for the police.”

“He must’ve escaped the ropes somehow,” he replies.

The weed thing formerly known as Snake the human continues to screech at them…is he stuck?

“That’s weird,” Mikey comments, “Shouldn’t he be a snake now?”

“What makes you say that?” Raph questions, looking at the youngest like he’s stupid.

“His name is Snake. ”

“So?”

“You don’t understand science,” the youngest pouts.

The sound of a helicopter pierces through the air— fuck!

Whatever, they don’t have time for this!

“Distract Snake, got it?” Leo lowers Mikey into Donnie’s arms.

“Wha—” Donnie scowls at him, “But—”

“Watch each other!”

Leo throws a few shurikens at Snake, his gaze immediately latch on the projectiles. The blue-clad turtle takes that chance to zip past the former human as he’s distracted and towards the noise of the helicopter. 

It takes a few steps maneuvering onto the next upper layer of this weird alien base and as Leo scans the area, he finds himself on the left side end of the walkway and another platform where the chopper is with the stairs to his right. Taking it, he was just in time to see the chopper lifting off the ground. He and the human girl lock eyes for a moment. 

For a moment, a small part of him thought— maybe I could pretend…that I was too late…that I did all I could.

Again, it’s a family of strangers. Humans that will most likely ridicule him for being a freak or pretend he’s no more than a big, dumb turtle and treat him like an infant.

A bigger part of him, as he sees the utter pitiful desperation in the human’s eyes, thought— DO NOT FAIL.

Come on, Leo! Don’t linger any longer! He berates himself. 

He sprints and leaps forward, grabbing hold of the helicopter landing skid. Leo grits his teeth and tightens his grip, unwilling to let go even as the drop between him and the ground continues to increase. 

Now how is he going to open the door?

The door slides open and out comes a Kraang robot, pointing at him. 

Leo internally groans. Whatever, it’ll do. 

With some upper body strength and momentum, he avoids the shots and swings himself, stabs a small hidden blade into the Kraang’s head, wraps his legs around it, and threw it overboard. 

He heaves himself a bit higher to face his wanted passengers inside. “Make this rescue easier please—”

He was cut off by a couple of pink bullets flying at him and the chopper from below. Leo avoids them. Some of the bullets seemed to have struck something it shouldn’t, causing the helicopter to jostle. 

Then there was screaming and a blur of a redhead. 

Leo swings his leg out and he immediately felt small, smooth hands clutching onto it. A pair of blue eyes looked up at him with pure fear. 

Ok, ok. He just needs to save one more, fast . No biggie.

Returning his attention back inside the chopper for the father, another Kraang takes its place, its gun clicked and pointed at him. And with the added weight of a human on him…

Fuck.

It didn’t hesitate as it shoots at him and his vision is filled with pink. 

In a flash, Leo unsheathed his daito, parrying the shot. 

Then he swipes the blade at the robot’s feet. 

He turns his attention to the cowering human to his left and shouts, “Come on—!”

The weight on his foot was suddenly gone and a scream pierce through the air. Looking down, the human has lost her grip on him. 

Shit—

Then pain. 

It was just a graze on his right shoulder. 

But it was enough to make him let go out of shock.

And he was falling.

…

He needs to catch the human. 

Arms and legs straight, the former pressed tight on his sides, and he nosedived past the falling human. 

As Leo lands in a tuck and roll, he has his arms stretched out and caught the human.

…He has a human in his arms. 

Leo stood up and hastily yet gently place the human on her feet on solid ground then took a step back. Inclining his head towards the sound of the chopper slowly fading, a heavy feeling settles in the pits of his stomach. 

He hesitated again. And because of that, he couldn’t manage to save both of them. Because of his cynicism…

He glances at the human next to him who’s staring in the direction where the helicopter holding her father disappeared. She looks scared. 

“...You okay?” Leo asks. 

After a slight pause, she nods.

“Alright, we need to get back to my brothers.”

She nods again. 

When the duo arrives back where the others are, there is also Kraang shooting at his brothers like there’s no tomorrow. Great~

As the blue-clad turtle was about to join in helping his brothers, he noticed some sort of tech with the power conduits attached that Donnie mentioned as he was standing on it, taunting Snake and the Kraang, and then leaping away as shots fired. 

“Oh, it’s gonna explode,” Leo says.

…

“ OH! IT’S GONNA EXPLODE!”

Pink electricity runs through Snake as he screeched in agony and then he and the Kraang in the vicinity exploded into many pieces. A large cloud of crackling pink lights and gray smoke takes his place. It’s oddly mesmerizing. 

Soft steps snapped him to attention and he sees his brothers joining them. He urges the human to come along as he leads the way. 

“Why’s your hair red?”

“It’s how I was born.”

“Is your favorite food pizza?”

“I like pizza but I wouldn’t call it my favorite.”

“Then what is your favorite food?”

“Hmmm, I’ll get back to you on that.”

“Boo…well, this is a boring one but favorite color?”

“Hmmm, I would say baby blue.”

There’s a gasp. “Like my eyes~”

“Yes, Mikey,” a breathy chuckle, “Like your eyes.”

“Do you go to school?”

“I’ve been homeschooled for the last few years but I’m gonna start my third year in high school next semester.”

“Semester?”

“She means she’ll start somewhere after this year’s end.”

“So after New Year’s?”

“Not quite.”

“I would like to go to school. I could make lots of friends there!”

“Me, too. School sounds nice, especially the part where they usually have lots of books and databases and other resources.”

“You’re drooling on me, Donnie.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“And for the record, you shell-brains can’t go because of our whole situation.”

“Come on, Raph. Let a turtle dream a little. There’s no harm in that.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Then beg.”

“Why you little—”

“What’s being homeschooled like?”

“Mikey, we’ve been homeschooled.”

“I know but what’s it like for a human?”

“Lots of free time and I could do my lessons any time I want. If I need some help, I’ll just ask my…my dad.”

…

“You made her remember!”

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine, guys,” another chuckle but it sounds a bit strained, “I know you didn’t mean to. It’s kinda impossible not to mention my dad since he’s been there my entire life, always quietly supportive in the background and such.”

“He sounds like an awesome dad.”

“He is…when I find those creeps I’m gonna make them pay.”

“...We’ll help you get him back.”

“Yeah!”

“Wait, we will?”

Leo jabs his elbow into Raph’s side, giving him a look. “Yes, we will.”

They were playing Twenty Questions (they modified it because Mikey was getting frustrated with the rules, mostly for the answers only being ‘yes’ and ‘no’.) with the human named April as they travel on the rooftops. Well, more like Mikey and Donnie, the former taking the lead. To be frank, it’s just a friendlier version of an interrogation compared to what they did to Snakeweed (“His name is now Snakeweed we decided,” said Mikey). And unlike Snakeweed, April is just a normal teenage girl. She wouldn’t be armed with anything. It’s the only reason why Leo even let Donnie and Mikey interact with her this freely. Honestly, he figured the trip getting the girl home would be awkward as hell but his youngest pair of brothers never cease to amaze him. And she hasn’t done what humans normally would’ve done already. It’s quite refreshing.

That doesn’t mean it won’t happen yet.

Anyways, it would be a dick move to not help her get her father back considering it was Leo’s fault for hesitating again. The thought of losing Splinter a father sounds absolutely fucking terrifying. 

And besides, they have no choice but to be involved.  

“Thank you,” April says with a small smile. Then it faded, “But it’s not your fight.”

“Technically it is,” Donnie pipes in, “Since the Kraang play a role in what made us sentient. And well, they’re alien robots, evil alien robots at that. Something that would be out of the police’ league. And, well,” he inclines his head at Leo, “Someone has to do something about them.”

Warmth filled his chest and Leo realize he was quite proud of Donnie with his motives here.

…Then the warmth kinda dims as he also realized his purple-clad little brother’s other motive of likely wanting to scavenge any possible parts of the Kraang’s technology. 

Well, at least it’ll drive him to want to be successful. He thought hopefully.

“Sneaky, mutant ninja turtles versus evil alien robots,” Mikey ushers in whispers, his face splitting into a large, excited grin, and eyes shining, “We’re gonna be heroes!”

Leo sighs through his nose, eyeing the next apartment building in front of him. "Is that it?”

“Yep, that’s it,” the human girl affirms. 

They lower themselves down to the alleyway next to the building, dropping off the human. 

“Will you be okay?” Leo inquires. 

“Yeah,” she replies, “I doubt those creeps will try anything right now.”

“Don’t jinx yourself, sister,” Raph sneers as he starts climbing back up.

“Bye April!” Mikey waved as he hitch a ride with the red-clad brother.

“It’s good to meet a nice human like you, April,” Donnie remarks with a smile as he climbs as well. 

Leo follows at the rear. 

He can’t wait for his bed. 

When they arrive, they split with Raph and Mikey checking on Master Splinter and Leo and Donnie going to the lab to fix up the blue-clad turtle’s small wound. The latter just gets some burn cream, a small patch of sticky gauze, and mild scolding from Donnie. When that’s done, they both join the others in the dojo. Splinter was still laying in bed, resting. His breathing improved from the last time they’d checked and his fur was looking cleaner. After their worries are a little settled, Raph went straight for his room with Mikey right behind him. They had a sleepover. Leo had to force Donnie to his room to rest when the latter admitted wanting to go to his lab. He thankfully didn’t protest too much and Leo was able to get a decent amount of sleep despite the guilt churning in his stomach. 

Then it was morning. 

The first thing Leo did after his business in the bathroom was making Splinter’s favorite tea and grabbing his tray of medicine before heading for the dojo. When he entered, the rat mutant sat up in his futon, awake. 

“Master Splinter,” Leo greets with a bow before carefully rushing to his side, “ Ohayō gozaimasu. ”

“Leonardo,” Sensei replies with a rasp, causing him to cough. Leo gives him his tea which he gratefully takes and takes a sip. He hums in satisfaction before saying, with a fond smile, “Thank you.”

Leo nods in acknowledgment and then goes through the motion of checking his temperature, his breathing, and sniffing him a couple of times. His fur appears and felt cleaner now that there’s barely any soot covered in them, he’s steadily breathing with a light wheeze, and the smell of illness is fading. It wasn’t even a full day and Splinter was already recovering at an incredible speed. 

Sensei is amazing as always. Leo thought with a smile. 

“You’re hurt.” He looked up to meet Splinter’s gaze, his features crestfallen. 

Leo tries to hide his wince by glancing at the gauze on his right shoulder. It seems he failed judging by the way his Sensei’s expression deepens. Still, he keeps on a calm facade and made his voice even as he responds with, “It’s nothing severe. Just a small scratch. And no one else is hurt.” He resumes his work as he prepares the necessary medicine. “Drink this please.”

“Leonardo.” Ah, that’s the ‘explain everything to me now’ voice. 

He made sure his report was clean and straightforward. No jumping from one topic to another topic, no unwarranted theories that hold no merit, and none of his opinions on the matter yet. All the while Splinter listens to him with an unreadable expression bar the few seconds his whiskers twitches by how the medicine tasted with the tea. 

“I am impressed, Leonardo,” Splinter said, “Although it is not perfect—” there was a muffled sting on Leo’s right shoulder, “— you proved to be an effective leader under the most difficult of circumstances, and your decision to go up to the surface despite my orders was the best choice.” Then rat mutant’s gaze softens and a small smile graces his face. “Thank you, my son.”

Leo let those words wash over him, utter warmth seeped into his skin, and a pleased feeling settles in his chest. “Thank you, Sensei,” he returns the smile before it drops, his eyes landing on his lap. He absent-mindedly noticed Splinter’s raised brow at him but thankfully didn’t comment on his abrupt contemplative demeanor and returned to enjoying his tea. 

Why is he hesitating again? Stop that. Get it over with already, idiot.

“...Sensei, my brothers, and I need to stop the Kraang and their wicked plans.”

“Hmm, I sense you have a reasonable explanation.”

“Hai Sensei, but this requires a family meeting.”

They’re now all in the dojo. All of them, including Sensei sat seiza style under the tree. The rat mutant sat to the side on the futon, a blanket covering his lap. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey sat next to each other, all having expecting expressions on Leo who’s everyone’s center of attention. It’s strange to be in Master Splinter’s usual spot and normally they would be training right now but Sensei allowed this to happen and it’s important. 

Right, let this family meeting begin. The blue-clad turtle thought with a soft, deep breath.

“What do we know about the Kraang?” Leo inquires.

His brothers blinked at him, not anticipating the question. 

“Is that a trick question?” As expected, Raph answers first, shooting his own query with narrow eyes, arms crossed.

“That I was right about them being the brain thingies and alien robots,” Mikey proclaims, chest puffed out in a proud manner. 

The brothers groan at the youngest. “Let it go, man,” Raph murmurs.

“Well, they appear to have played a part in mutating us,” Donnie replies, hands in a thinking pose, “Have a large supply of mutagen, possibly more which is concerning. Ehhhh, oh! They’re aiming to kidnap every scientist there is in the city for whatever reason, also concerning. And aside from those and their advanced technology, there’s not a lot we know about them.”

“Exactly,” Leo spoke up with narrow eyes, “We barely know anything about the Kraang, where did they come from, what their motives are, what they’re planning.”

“Why does this matter, Leo?” Raph grunts, clearly getting impatient. 

“Snake got mutated into Snakeweed. Just the fact that the Kraang has mutagen opens the possibility for more mutants to appear. And with more mutants in New York City, who’s to say the humans won’t notice?”

“ Oh ,” Donnie spoke up as the horrifying revelation dawned on him, “They’ll do something about it. The government will see it as a problem. They’ll go after every mutant there is in the city including us .”

…

“Fuck,” Raph eloquently puts it. Nobody bothers to reprimand his foul mouth because honestly, it fits the situation they’re all in. 

“It seems there’s little choice in the matter,” Splinter remarks, stroking his beard before turning his attention to Mikey, “Michelangelo.”

The youngest straightens up at the call of his name. “Hai, Sensei,” he replied stiffly.

Cute~

“I believe it’s time for you to join your brothers in their training.”

At those words, Mikey mutely gasped, excitement and anticipation taking over him as he seems to vibrate in his spot, and he says with a wide smile, “ Hai! ”

He nods before his gaze turns to the rest of them. “We will increase the time and difficulty of your training a little to help you as well on this objective, my sons.”

“Hai Sensei!” they all chorus.

Then a tummy grumbles. 

It was Mikey’s.

He groans in his spot in great exaggeration. “Can we get breakfast now?”

Leo rolls his eyes in fondness as he and the others get up; he and Raph help Splinter stand up by holding both on his sides and they all make their way out of the dojo to the kitchen. As they do so, the sound of the TV plays in the background. 

“You didn’t turn off the TV, Mikey?” Raph frowns at the youngest to which he’s met with a sheepish smile. 

“Guess I forgot because I was excited. Sorry.”

“--report of— get this— ninjas in New York.”

They all paused in their steps, slowly having their gazes landing on the TV screen of a man reporting on the news. 

“Don’t believe me? After residents reported a disturbance—”

Excuse me? Leo blinks.

“--the police recovered this.”

The image of a shuriken with the Hamato clan’s symbol embedded in it appears on the screen. 

“For Channel Six News, this is Carlos Chang O’Brien” The man clicks his mouth, “Gambe saying, ‘Hi-ya!”

…

“We will increase the training in stealth and resource management first,” Splinter breaks the silence, “The ninja’s most powerful weapon is the shadows. Being brought out into the light is a dangerous thing.”

“Well, I mean,” Raph slowly starts, even shrugging as he leads Splinter and Leo to the kitchen, “It’s just one little news story. What’s the worse that can happen?”

In Tokyo, a man plated in deadly metal armor that sits on a throne is coming to New York to finish what he started all those years ago.