Chapter Text
Leo was actually sort of excited by the idea of going undercover.
Sure, it was dangerous, and could go wrong at any second, but there was just something so freeing about a completely solo mission.
The application had been easy enough to fake, and to his pleasure he had qualified on the medical skill test, (who's the family medic NOW, Donnie?!) leading him right to his first day's training.
He was in a gilded waiting room, wallpaper sparkling and an overuse of neon colors blasting his eyes from a nearby painting on the wall. Gentle hip hop played from an unknown source, and Leo squeezed his application papers slightly, sweat beading up on his palms. It felt like he had been waiting hours, but only minutes had ticked by on the giant clock to his left.
He had begun to count the number of flowers on the rug when someone walked in, startling him to sit straight in his seat.
The yokai was short, with pale periwinkle skin, and small, oval-shaped glasses, eyes completely hidden by their glare. A prim white doctor's coat hugged his features, and Leo noticed the heavy scent of alcohol clinging to it. Most unsettling, there was a splatter of blood staining his upper left collar that grew more and more distracting as he approached.
Leo snapped back to attention, realizing he had been asked something. "What did you say?"
"I said excuse me, are you here for the Nexus medic position?" The glasses flashed, as if the newt's eyes were narrowing at him from beneath them. "I see you have the proper paperwork...Leopold?"
An undercover name may have been a little overkill, but he and his brothers had all deemed it necessary, partially because it was downright hilarious. Leo slapped on a confident smile, thrusting the papers out of his sticky hands. "Yes sir, that's me. Leopold Hamatso, your newest Nexus medic in-training!"
The yokai straightened his glasses against his snout, mouth never moving from a perfectly straight line. "Excellent. We recently lost two medics and are in need of a replacement."
Leo wasn't sure he liked the tone there, it gave him a lurking feeling that the medics hadn't simply resigned in search of different work. "Happy to help..."
The yokai turned with a swish of his coat, motioning to the door. "Come, follow me. We begin immediately." Another flash of his glasses and he slipped out the door, leaving Leo struggling to catch up to where he was speed-walking down the hallway.
"What're we-"
The yokai cut off the question. "My name is Dr. Grant Elsis, you will call me Dr. Elsis. We work in the clinic just next to the cool-down room, and you will train on the job. I believe in learning through experience." He straightened his collar, drawing Leo's eye back to the blood stain.
Leo pushed down the wondering horror at what could've caused such a bloodstain, instead brightening into a smile. He was of the opinion that almost anything could be fixed with a little dash of confidence, so he widened his feet further into his stride. "On-the-job. I like it!" He waited a beat, trying to bait out more information. When the doctor remained silent, he prodded. "There's not like...anything I get to have a little heads-up about though?"
Dr. Elsis stopped so suddenly that Leo kicked the back of his heels, almost set off balance. The door in front of them looked like any other door in the endless hallway, except that from behind it could be heard the screaming of the crowd and the blur of an announcer. The doctor's head swiveled back towards Leo.
"Don't upset the patients."
That was Leo’s only warning before Dr. Elsis pushed the door open and strode inside without another glance. The sound got slightly less muffled, and Leo noted absently that though they were in a room directly next to the arena, it still had annoyingly fancy wallpaper that exuded a falsely luxurious atmosphere. He didn't doubt that the walls had been scrubbed clean of blood more than once.
Dr. Elsis had crossed the room to an extensive shelving unit of medical supplies. Leo whistled low as he surveyed the neat organizational system, printed labels and stacked drawers filled with bandages. It was impressive, especially compared to the medbay's comparatively meager supply back home.
"Have you never worked in a professional office before?" The doctor was looking at him, eyebrows raised above silver glasses. Leo startled a little, but quickly leaned an elbow on a table to appear cool. He decided against lying, this time, at least.
"You can tell that easily, huh? I'm self-taught." He flicked his eyes away to the far wall. He was surprised to find it covered in large windows providing a view of the ground level of the arena, where two fighters were engaged in combat. The fight stole his attention completely, and he flinched again when Dr. Elsis tapped his shoulder.
"We are provided a view of the fight to watch for injuries. No other reason." The doctor chided, turning briskly around with a 'follow me' flick of his finger. "Let's hope your so-called 'self-taught' experience will serve you well, as we've got no other options."
Dr. Elsis walked him through the room, the rules, the supplies, and where to take different patients to use certain tools. Leo paid careful attention, taking mental notes on what things he could bring back home to improve the medbay.
The Nexus medical office was set up for fast treatment, expecting over a dozen patients every few hours. This meant the room was full of treatment tables rather than gurneys, and more serious ailments would have to take themselves elsewhere. The thought of slapping a time limit on healing reminded Leo achingly of his brothers.
Mikey hated the medbay with all his heart and soul, complaining that the room was boring and quote: "smelled sad". The instant his little brother started feeling a smidgen better, he would insist to be moved, and completely overdo it out of sheer happiness. It was a good thing that laughter seemed to be Mikey’s secondary medicine, or Leo wondered if he could've ever kept him in the bay long enough to heal when they were kids.
Raph was squeamish, which was a more foreign problem to Leo, but there was always Mikey to be the ever effervescent distractor and entertainer, keeping Raph from thinking about it all while Leo worked out of his eyesight. If it came to a long stay, Leo always found Raph trying to sneak away and do things himself so he wouldn't have to be waited on by their other brothers. It took much convincing that maybe the brother with the broken leg shouldn't walk to the kitchen to get a drink with no help, even if he was the oldest.
Donnie was usually an alright patient, though he too insisted on leaving the medbay as quickly as possible, more to get away from Leo than anything else, in his words. He was an insufferable know-it-all, so constant arguments about Donnie’s own treatment were just something Leo had learned to ignore. Donnie had said from the beginning he didn't want the title of medic and Leo knew he never would. His twin just liked being difficult.
By the end of the walk-through the fight was coming to a close, and Leo felt confident in his ability to handle whatever the Nexus could throw at him. He would prove to the unconvinced Dr. Elsis that he could roll with the punches. Or, as a more accurate metaphor, roll with bandaging up the punches.
A door to the far left of the windows swung open, and Dr. Elsis and Leo looked up in unison.
"Need a bandage." The yokai grunted, stepping through the door and infiltrating the sterile environment with arena dust and dripping blood.
Leo analyzed the deep cut on his forearm, blood matting his striped fur maroon where it slithered down his arm and onto the tile. The skin had split clean open, and Leo suspected it came from one of the opposing fighter's many horns. He wagered it'd take about three or four stitches, and some of the thinner bandages from drawer...four.
Woah, he really had managed to pay attention during that walk-through.
"The nurse will attend to you." Dr. Elsis responded, gesturing to Leo. The tiger-man's gaze focused on him, but Leo stilled, waiting for further instruction. At his glance, Dr. Elsis only walked to the back of the room, adjusting his glasses once so they flashed in his direction. Leo understood. He was on his own.
"Come sit on this table, I'll stitch you up." He led the tiger towards a treatment table, finding the tools while the large cat hopped up to sit.
"You did not treat me yesterday." He remarked dully, the same low, gravelly voice scraping past Leo’s ears.
"Yes, I'm the new trainee, Leopold Hamatso, at your service." He swept his arms into a dramatic half-bow, making the fighter sniff out a gruff chuckle. "Do you fight often?" Leo took the tiger-man's forearm, and the question answered itself in the form of several, old-healed scars. They were pink and stretched bald between the fur, doomed never to grow soft again.
"Tuesdays and Wednesdays."
Leo began making tight, neat, stitches, and the conversation lapsed while he focused. It was hard to tell if it was nerves or ninja-sense, but he could feel the doctor watching him from afar.
"You haven't seen hell yet, have you?"
The deep voice startled him again, suddenly thrust out of the quiet focus-zone he'd achieved. Leo finished tying off the stitch, looking up at the dusty fighter. "What do you mean by that?"
The tiger shifted, pulling his arm back to inspect the stitches, quiet for a moment. "You have soft hands. A gentle touch, meant to heal. Not a kind I've felt for a long time."
Leo scrunched his snout up, caught somewhere between pride and offense as he started wrapping the injury. "I've got glimpses." He sniffed. "Of hell, I mean. I'm just cool enough to keep my hands soft." The bandage ran out at the perfect time, and he set down the empty roll to secure the wrap.
"Well then, I wish you luck when hell inevitably finds you again." The yokai’s yellow eyes gazed out the windows at the current fight, reflecting in them the arena's light. Leo did his best not to shift on his feet uncomfortably. It felt weird to be analyzed by a stranger, and it felt worse knowing there were two pairs of judging eyes upon him.
Speaking of which, Dr. Elsis re-entered the situation, grabbing the empty roll and inspecting Leo’s work. "Good."
He left it at that.
...
The day passed without incident, and Leo had memorized the office's layout before lunch, taking care of every patient that got sent his way.
It was relatively easy work: treating scrapes, bruises, one nasty bout of head trauma and a bad second-degree burn. Still, Leo felt a little relieved when the day's fights were over, a small bell chiming from the hallway's sound system.
"That's it?" He turned to the doctor, who was stacking away loose bandages and burn ointment. Leo was leaning the backs of his elbows against a treatment table, watching through the windows as an elite team of bellhops swept and re-turned the dust.
"Not even close. Tomorrow is a brawl day, and you won't get a second off your feet. Injuries are worse when the fighters get a free-for-all." The periwinkle doctor pushed up his glasses like that wasn't a worrisome statement, the glare still constantly shielding his eyes no matter the angle. "You will do well though. I'll lock up, and you can collect the day's payment at the front desk." He shooed Leo forward as he flicked off the lights. "Room 308." He clarified, pulling out a wrist lanyard of keys.
"You pay per day?"
Dr. Elsis peered over his glasses for the first time, small silver pupils pinpointing themselves at Leo. "Can't pay anyone for a week if they don't stay that long."
Leo burst out a laugh, letting it ring as he watched the doctor lock the door behind them. "Okay, el Medico, I believe you. But if you're trying to scare me off, it won't work!" He tossed the last part over his shoulder, already striding down the carpeted hallway.
The lab-coated newt didn't even raise his voice. "Call me Doctor Elsis."
Leo turned away to mutter to himself under his breath. "Eh, he'll come around. They always do." And he flashed a pearly grin as he pushed open the door to get his payment.
…
“Guess who just got paid for going undercover? Uh this guy!”
Leo proudly jabbed a thumb into his plastron, lifting his chin to accept accolades.
Donnie only scoffed. “We all got paid, dum-dum. In my case, a pretty penny.” He waved a fat stack of cash in Leo’s face arrogantly, flashing a brilliant smirk.
“Whaaatt??” Leo’s jaw dropped, looking back at his own meager-seeming stack in disappointment. “Mikey, how much did you get?”
His bubbly orange brother for once looked sort of tired, his usual energy just a little distilled. “I don’t know. I haven’t counted it. Probably less than you.” Mikey stepped around him, beelining for the couch as he allowed his own cash to be taken from his hands. Leo counted it quickly.
“Dang little bro, you aren’t kidding. Did they work you hard at the hotel?”
“Like a dog.” Mikey mumbled grumpily, face squished against a pillow already, one eye closed. “Being a bellhop is the worst.”
“And that’s such a shame Michael, really, but guess what I did today!” Donnie pulled up footage from his gauntlet, and on the pixelated screen two incredibly souped-up cars crashed directly into each other and exploded immediately. “They gave me complete design freedom at the Demolition Derby!”
“I always forget Big Mama runs that place.”
Leo looked up at Raph as he entered, scanning his hands for any cash. “Did you get paid, big guy?”
Raph shrugged, running a hand at the back of his neck. “Not yet. They said they’d pay me once I had my first arena fight. Today it was just trainin’.”
“Oh. Then Donnie did get the best pay…” Leo grumbled, glancing over as Donnie continued to replay the footage obnoxiously. However, the softshell stiffened and suddenly stopped.
“Oh yes! I almost forgot! The undercover part of the undercover mission.” Donnie pulled up a new holographic screen from his gauntlet, this time a recording, and with a click it began, a white line moving up and down with the patterns of a familiar voice.
“No, you iddily-idiot! I cannot attend tomorrow's demolition, I have something very important to attend to!” Big Mama’s voice screeched through with a crackle. Another voice responded murkily before it came in again. “I’ve found a piece of that fizzy-whizzle armor, that’s what. Now will you just shut up and go back to running this place!? I want those cars crash-washing into each other righto! Hop to it! Yes, dearie, literally!”
The recording morphed into static and ended abruptly.
Donnie looked up, smirking again. “How do you like that for reconnaissance!?”
Raph clapped his hands together happily. “That’s great, Dee. I was sneaking around corners and I heard one of the other fighters talking on his crystal phone-thing about a job involving something secret . I’m gonna see if I can get brought along as backup, because I bet the job is retrieving the armor piece!”
Mikey raised a pointed finger from the couch, still talking through the pillows. “It is. The bellhops are all preparing for some kinda mission, we had to clean the whole safe to make room.” His hand flopped back down. “Ugh, it was so much work.”
Raph looked towards Leo. “So, Leo, what did you find out?” Donnie stared as well, and even Mikey seemed to shuffle on his pillow so he could hear better.
Leo stiffened, searching frantically around the room like he could suddenly procure undercover information. Sweat dampened his hands as he squeezed them together. “I…uh…” He paused, trying to think of a way out. “You know, in the medical world, there really isn’t much talk of secret plots and stuff, so…you know…”
Raph just stared, still confused. “So...what?”
Donnie leaned closer, peering at him suspiciously. “Leo…did you not do any reconnaissance?”
Raph’s eyes widened at this.
“Fine! You’re right, I completely forgot to do any sneaking around, and I didn’t discover squat about the dark armor. Are you happy!?” Leo squawked, folding his arms and turning the other way.
“What were you doing then? That’s the whole point of the mission!” Raph exclaimed. “We still don’t know when or where the heist is happening; we need more info, Leo! You have to stay focused!”
Leo brooded, looking down at the floor with his arms still crossed. “It’s fine, Raph, I’ll find out a bunch of stuff tomorrow, okay? Lay off.”
Raph sighed. “Okay. Everyone get some rest. We'll wake up fresh and get the information we need. Undercover Day Two, yeah?”