Chapter Text
Grimacing in pain, Leo lowered his katana from the practice pose he had been completing. He hadn’t been able to get through his kata all afternoon and it was driving him crazy. That feeling was back in his chest. Burning, tight pain that extended from the scar on his left shoulder to the top of his plastron and, strangely, the back of his right hand. It usually appeared so randomly that he could ignore it, but for the last three days that discomfort had grown exponentially. Rubbing his shoulder, he couldn’t stop the grunt as the ache radiated outward and consumed him. He had been trying to ignore the feeling that something was wrong, but nothing he did shook the discomfort in his soul.
“Hurting again?” Raph asked from the doorway. Perhaps he hadn’t been as covert as he’d thought in hiding the pain.
“It’s nothing. Just an old wound. Must be a storm coming and I’m showing my age,” Leo joked.
“Is it the one you got from that freak that worked for Sacks?”
None of them had come out of the Sacks incident without scars, either physical or mental. It was always a sore subject. They had almost lost their father. They had almost lost each other. Some wounds never heal.
“It’s fine Raph,” he said adding a note of finality.
Raph nodded his head in deference of Leo’s role, giving in to the command without a fight. Leo could see the ache there. Raph carried a lot of guilt from that day no matter how much they assured him that he was the one that saved them. He didn’t bow in humility often, his irrational nature strong and stubborn, needing to be in control. In this moment, it was a look Leo didn’t enjoy seeing on his brother’s face. He conceded just a bit and softened his tone, “I just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. It’s been an unsteady feeling growing in me the last three days. I can’t meditate, and my focus has been shot. I can’t even get through my practice routine.”
He didn’t tell him that his dreams had been noticeably empty. Dreams that had been so vibrant and full of color, life, mystery, and a face that made sleep a welcome escape.
“What do you think it is?” Raph asked resuming his show of strength, but this time in support.
“I don’t know, but I feel like something is coming.”
As if in answer to his response, alarms started ringing around the Lair. Together the brothers moved as one and converged on Donnie’s computer array.
“Talk to me Donnie,” Leo asked as he started scanning the screens in front of him.
“We’ve got Foot Clan activity in Manhattan. I’m tracking four of the license plates that have been on my BOLO list and I’ve got video feed uploadingggg…..now.”
Instantly the screens loaded with several different angles from around the area Donnie had located and Leo felt his breath catch in his lungs.
The different feeds showed a vacant street in New York and a young woman running with above average speed as she kept looking over her shoulder in fear. Several other cameras displayed large off road vehicles converging onto the street in pursuit. But it was the face he saw running that drew his attention the most. It was the same face that had appeared in his dreams for the last ten years. It was thinner and more hollow, but he recognized it all the same.
“They appear to be following this woman. She looks familiar, but I can’t place from where,” Donnie mumbled edging closer to the screen. “And where did she learn to run like that? Her speed is way above average.”
Leo was turning around and running before he had a chance to plan the next step. Strategy flew out the window as instinct took over.
“We’re moving. NOW!” His tone left no room for argument and the room burst in a flurry of movement. “MIKEY! LET’S GO!”
The brothers converged on the garage as Donnie remotely cranked the Turtle Tank. Piling into the cab Leo jumped ahead of his techy brother and into the driver’s seat and floored the gas. Mikey rolled to the back of the tank as Raph and Donnie grasped onto any handholds they could find.
“Leo!” Donnie yelled out. “What are you doing?”
“Track her Donnie and tell me where I’m going! I need you to figure this out, NOW. What’s our ETA?” Leo ordered. His adrenaline was pumping and he could hear the blood rushing in his head as all his thoughts zeroed in on one thing. The woman from the video. She was alive and she was in trouble. His sole focus was on getting to her as quickly as possible.
Instantly realizing there was more to the situation than Foot activity, Donnie pulled up his video scans on the back monitors and began searching. It took too many seconds before he finally caught sight of her again. She had cleverly taken refuge in a dark alley, but it would be no match for the Foot, he was sure.
“She’s hiding behind a dumpster outside of the Verdant Cafe. Once you get to the main access road, take a left and floor it and we can be there in less than two minutes,” Donnie shouted.
Anticipating the change in acceleration, Donnie and Raph gripped their arm rests harder as Mikey once again lost his balance and continued to roll on his shell when the Tank lurched onto a side street. “Dude!” Came his exasperated yell.
Two minutes. So much could go wrong in two minutes. Time felt like it was dragging around him even though the speedometer said differently. He heard movement behind him as Donnie made a sound of alarm and began typing furiously.
“Leo, we got about 15 Foot soldiers that just rolled up in that alley! They’ve blocked off the entrance with their vehicles,” Raph yelled. He watched as the girl on the video crawled backwards and tried hiding herself in the dark even though it was no use. “We gotta hurry Leo! She ain’t got a chance against this!”
The accelerator was pushed to the floor at this point, but Leo felt as though he would never get there in time. He was gritting his teeth and the steering wheel so hard it felt as though they would shatter into dust.
“I’m sending an alert to Casey and Chief Vincent. We’re gonna need their support in clearing the scene. Luckily this is a smaller neighborhood and it looks like all the businesses are closed for the night so we don’t have to worry about a lot of prying eyes,” Donnie called out as he typed in his tech gauntlet. “Prepare to engage guys!”
The pain in Leo’s chest had gone from a dull ache to sharp stabs. He could feel his heart beating rapidly and his breathing was quickly spiraling out of control. He had to get to her. As the Tank careened around a corner, he saw the four large vehicles blocking the alley. “Hold on to something!”
Realizing what his brother was about to do, Donnie streaked forward flipping a switch engaging the battering ram before holding onto the back of the driver’s seat to brace for the impact. “Raph, grab Mikey!” He yelled looking over his shoulder. Raph latched onto Mikey’s arm as he rolled by once more and gripped one of the stabilizing bars. The Tank rammed the first vehicle with the force of a bomb and obliterated it in an instant. It ravaged the remaining trucks and left them irreparable and the Foot with no means of escape, not that there would be one anyway.
Leo exited first with his brothers scrambling to follow behind. There was no plan in his mind save for one. Save the girl.
“Raph, take point and you three handle this group.” He didn’t wait to see if his orders were being followed. He moved with the stealth and ease that his training and genetics had programmed into him. Leaping over the main group he streaked towards the back of the alley where he could see two Foot soldiers, guns aimed into the darkness.
Katanas raised, he didn’t think, only moved. The guns clattered to the pavement and the concussed thuds of the soldier’s heads were the only sounds Leo was processing in that moment. Time slowed as her shape took form in the shadows of the building. It was her.
Moving slowly he tried to take in everything in that moment. Slowly you came out of the shadows and stared at him as though he were a star, eyes in wonder and not fear or revulsion. He took in everything in a moment. He noticed the blood on the ground around you and the steady trickle from your leg. The kunai sticking out of your thigh. The dirt on your cheeks. The rips in your clothes. Your hair falling messily from the ponytail that secured the rest. But mostly he noticed your face and your eyes as they trained on him. He couldn’t look away. He couldn’t breath. All he could do was move towards you and in that moment he felt his universe shift.
“It’s you,” your whispered voice trembled, scooting closer to him and coming out of the shadows.
He slowly kneeled in front of you. “It’s me,” he whispered back. Your hand extended and touched his cheek. The same hand which held a scar on the back. A scar that aligned and matched perfectly if placed just right to the one that bisected his shoulder and upper plastron.
Together the two of you orbited one another and let the moment close in around you. The only sound was the silence of your shared breaths until his brother’s voice cut through the moment causing you both to jump.
“I think,” Raph growled, “that you owe us an explanation.”
Leo glanced helplessly at his brothers knowing that everything was about to change, then back at the you as your eyes rolled back and you began to slump in unconsciousness. Your hand started to slip from his face and he grasped it firmly before hauling you into the safety of his arms.