Chapter Text
“Something troubles you, my son.”
Leonardo opens his eyes, shoulders slumping from their rigid posture. Crossed-legged, surrounded by the gentle flickering flames of candles and the sweet aroma of incense, the eldest turtle lets his meditative pose unravel as he breathes a deep sigh. He feels his father’s sympathetic gaze as he scrubs a hand over one of his eyes.
“I’m just not in the right mindset today, I guess.” Leo feels the familiar bubble of frustration rise at the back of his mind. Releasing another breath, he pushes the negative emotion away. “I’ve been…distracted.”
He feels bad; he had been the one to suggest a meditation session, after all. His mind was restless, echoing another time where similar feelings almost lead to his own self destruction.
“A weary mind often has trouble focusing on one task, no matter how hard you try to steer it steady.” Master Splinter says. His hand moves to rest on Leonardo’s shoulder, an invitation to talk. “Perhaps I can offer an ear for you to speak this burden to.”
Leonardo furrows his brow, leaning into the warm touch his father provides. It’s nice, the way the heat from his palm seeps into his scales and unravels the knotted muscle underneath. Being cold blooded means they naturally have a cooler temperature – their father’s touches, therefore, have always been cherished for the sunspot of warmth that embedded itself into their early childhood. When the night was cold and the shadows long, Master Splinter would curl around them in their tattered nest, promising safety. Leonardo reflects on these memories, and it brings a small smile onto his face before it dies once more.
“For the past few nights, I’ve been having these…dreams. Nightmares.” Leo confesses into the silence of the dojo. “It’s always the same.”
The turtle’s finger traces the pattern on the mat he sits on for a few moments. Master Splinter is patient, supporting him silently from where he kneels next to him.
“I see them, getting hurt. Or…or leaving me because I’m not a good leader. I fail them, every time.” He swallows, throat dry. His hand runs down his face, loosening his mask so it hangs around his neck.
“Every leader faces this fear sometime. I would be concerned if you did not face this conflict at all. The strength of a leader can not only be measured by the success of his team, but also the care expressed for every member.” His father smiles, his frail hands tugging the mask fully off his face. Leo, at the signal of his sensei, bows his head forward. Master Splinter hums a single note thoughtfully as he begins to retie the turtle’s mask over his face.
“The very fact that you have these anxieties shows that you are a good leader and brother.” Master Splinter ties the knot at the back of his head with extreme care. Leo lets him fuss over the fabric, straightening it around his eyes and flattening the creases.
“If only you could see yourself through your brothers’ eyes, my son.” Leo rests his cheek on his father’s palm for a few moments. The knot in his gut hasn’t unravelled at the words of his master, but it has notably been loosened for now. They sit in comfortable silence for a few moments, enjoying the tranquility the dojo provides. Leo is almost considering entering a mediative state again but is interrupted when a loud bang makes him stand instantly, swords drawn.
“Son of a –“ Raphael is storming into the room with an array of mumbled curses and growls following him. He does not pay attention to Leo’s swords, swatting them away as he storms past and grabs his sai from the wall.
“Speak of the devil.” Leonardo murmurs with his brow rig raised. He sheathes just katana and looks back up at his angry brother. At the sight of bright pink silly string messily scrawled all over the back of his shell, Leo can instantly guess what had occurred. Only one brother carried around copious amounts of neon silly string on a regular basis.
“I’m gonna kill ‘im this time, I swear –“ Leo knows his brother better than to believe his words. Instead he rolls his eyes, grabbing the lip of Raph’s shell before he can inflict his rage upon the prankster responsible.
“If are to engage in conflict, may I suggest you do so away from the kitchen this time? I am rather fond of the large collection of mugs Donatello has collected for me over the years.” Splinter asks with a raised brow. It was a sure dig at the last time such a fight had escalated in the kitchen, resulting in one of Splinter’s mugs – his favourite, with a faded picture of a blossom on the front – getting caught in the crossfire of two warring mutant turtles. All because Raph had decided to tell Mikey he looked fat in a dress he had insisted on trying on from the junkyard (which Leo tried to tell him was completely unsanitary, but Mikey just grinned and shoved the dress in his face, which was very nice and considerate of him).
At least Raphael had the decency to look sheepish for a few moments, chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his head.
“Yeah, well…we fixed it up for ya, so uh…” The mug now sits at the top of the cabinet with duct tape wrapped all around it, slanting to the left and a large hole in the bottom where one of the shards had got stuck in Mikey’s foot. Leo wouldn’t call it fixing himself but it was now oddly a landmark of the kitchen.
“Wassup, Raphie?”
Michelangelo, Leo is reminded, has a way of insisting he needs to stir up trouble whenever the lair is too calm. The phrase “don’t poke the bear” is only a challenge for the youngest – he is the one, in a game of chicken, that refuses to slow down and instead drives forward faster with crazed laughter. The name Michelangelo might as well be an anagram for “trouble” as far as Leo is concerned. Pure, chaotic trouble with a recklessness and attention span that can and will be weaponised in the name of mischief.
And here he is now, practically skipping towards Raphael. He is once again poking the bear and he knows it; the smug grin and teasing eyes give it away.
Mikey hasn’t even fully entered the room and Raph is already lunging towards the younger with an angry yell. At this moment, several things happen at once.
As Raph leaps, Leo (who still has a hand gripping the top edge of his shell) is yanked forward. The movement gives him a clear view to watch as, within the split second, Mikey’s expression changes from cheekily amused to dangerously delighted. A hand that had been tucked behind his shell swings forward, holding a can of pink silly string. Momentum leaves Leo helpless to watch as Mikey, the epitome of impishness and devilment, sidesteps the attack and launches a counterattack of his own with a cackle. Copious amounts of silly string are rained down upon them as they fly past, finishing very gracefully by slamming into the opposite dojo wall.
“You –“ Raph, an experienced victim of Mikey’s reign of terror, wastes no time in spinning around to face his opponent. It would be intimidating if it isn’t for the pink that now covers his face.
Covers their faces, Leo notes grimly as he wipes away the remains from his cheek. He does so whilst summoning his most intimidating glare towards Michelangelo, refusing to break eye contact. A once neutral party has now picked a side – Leo can see the exact point Mikey realises this with the way his expression twists into fear. He shrinks under his gaze which Leo only increases with a narrowed brow. Slyly, he glances at Raph, an invitation of alliance against a common enemy. Raph grins, cracking his knuckles.
“Eep!” Mikey intelligently says in response before booking it, vaulting over the dojo equipment as he tries to escape.
“Grab him!” Leo orders. His tone is firm despite the growing smile he can feel as he dashes after the youngest brother. Somehow, the orange clad ninja had managed to chase away the darkened emotion entirely in a mere two minutes.
“Don! Help me!” Leo and Raph chase Mikey through to the pit, where Donny stands bewildered with a laptop clutched in his hands. Raph finally catches up enough with the youngest and, resembling a charging bull, tackles Mikey to the ground.
“Watch it! Watch it!” Donny yelps as the two turtles crash against his legs. Leonardo wastes no time joining the scrap on the floor, diving on top of Mikey as he grapples with Raph. The rolling ball of turtles knocks Donatello over, his laptop falling to the ground.
“Hey!” Donny protests and suddenly he’s apart of the wrestling, limbs flying in various directions. Leo’s bandana is tugged, his shell knocked, and he’s pretty sure Mikey bites his arm at one point, but it’s mindless roughhousing that he didn’t realise he needed.
“I just thought you would look good in pink – wait!” In synch, Leonardo and Raphael both grab an arm of Michelangelo and pin him to the ground. Donny sides with the majority, sitting on Mikey’s shell. It’s a fact that Mikey doesn’t take kindly to.
“Betrayal! Donny, I trusted you! How could –“ Mikey cuts off when he spots Leo cracking his neck, ready to invoke justice and regain his dignity. His hands are outstretched, approaching Mikey’s left arm.
“No! Not the Big Brother Burn! Have mercy!” Leo doesn’t listen to Mikey at all. He’s not going to give him mercy when it’s going to take weeks to clean out all the pink from the crevices of his carapace. Ruthless, he grips Mikey’s wrist with both hands and twists the skin sharply in opposite directions. Michelangelo, the drama queen that he is, shrieks. This only fuels Raph’s laughter and Leo’s drive to continue the same action all the way up his arm. It’s an unforgiving attack that he had created in their youth, reserved only to the eldest brother to use against the youngest.
“No! No!” Michelangelo squirms frantically. Raph is about to dunk the rest of the silly string can over Mikey as Leo twists his skin again when Donny’s laptop unexpectedly blares. The surprise allows Mikey to weasel from their hold, clutching his arm.
“What the –?” The alarm rings again and Raphael looks ready to throw the can in his hand at the fallen laptop. Donny, sensing the possible murder of his electronic device, hops past them with a quick chirp.
“Donny, what does that mean?” Leo stands. It’s hard to determine what the alert could mean when the genius has loins notifications that range from “Someone has broken into our home again and is threatening violence” to “The American Museum of Natural History has a new dinosaur fossil on display”. However, the way Don’s expression dances between concern and curious indicates it’s something new.
“This is what I was wanting to show you guys!” Donatello opens the laptop (clicking his tongue a little at the now cracked screen). Leo leans over Donny’s shoulder with a hum. A moment later, Mikey leans on him, his chin resting on his head.
“Is it something cool, like skate hawks?” He asks.
“What the shell is a skate hawk?” Raph grumbles from where he is resting on Donny’s shoulder, also staring at the screen.
“Well, I was thinking we could wrangle some hawks –“
“Is that the sewers in our old home?” Leo interrupts before Mikey can start to ramble. In front of him, the laptop screen flickers as the old tunnels stemming from the Y’Lyntian lair that now lay in ruin. Pixelated camera feed shows it absent of any life.
“You still have cameras down that place? That run?” Raph asks in surprise, clamping a hand around Mikey’s mouth to stop him from talking. A moment later he regrets it as he withdraws his hand in disgust, a trail of spit hanging from the fingers.
“You’re gonna regret that ya little –“
“The creepy underground place? With the scary monsters and freaky frozen people that tried to kill us?!” Mikey thrusts himself forward, a hand dunking Leo’s head as he dangles close to the computer screen. Leo shrugs him off, sending him sprawling to the floor with a yelp.
“Used to have monsters, remember? And of course I do, that place is still a scientific wonder! Not to mention the old foot bases have a lot of great technology that I can –“ Donny begins to ramble until he cuts himself off with a wave of his hand. “You’re getting me off track. What I wanted to tell you guys is that camera 37B is detecting frequent movement!” Donny points to the screen.
“You’re too excited about this. Why are you excited by this?” Mikey pipes up, pointing a finger at Don accusingly. Don, who is now openly showing his curiosity and endless desire to discover.
“Well, I thought we could go and –“
“Nope. Not again! Remember last time you didn’t listen me when I told you guys it was totally a bad idea? We walked straight into a horror movie!” Mikey throws his hands out wide. Leonardo sighs, folding his arms when he feels Donny’s gaze fall on him. Of course the genius would want to explore the collapsed sewer tunnels just because camera thirty whatever detected movement.
Curiosity certainly killed the cat, Leo muses. He can’t help but soften his expression. Or in this case, the turtle.
“What if it’s a rat. Or a roach.” Raph asks flatly. Donny raises a finger in the air as if he had rehearsed the answer to the question. Which he probably had.
“That’s what I thought! But then, if you watch…” In synch, they all crowd around the laptop screen (in Mikey’s case, hiding behind Raph’s shell and peaking over fearfully). They are sat for a few moments, Raph looking ready to announce his disbelief, when something casts a shadow at the corner of the screen. It is quick, unnaturally so. Leonardo can make out a low, blue glow and what could have been a piercing amber eye staring directly at the camera, almost as if it can see through the lens –
And then it’s gone. The camera feed flickers and the sewer tunnel is empty again.
“You saw it, right?” Donny asks, pointing at the screen. Leo narrows his eyes, straightening his stance.
“I saw it.” He confirms. “What was that thing?”
“Didn’t look threatenin’ whatever it was. Just a blue light, big deal.” Raph waves a dismissive hand, twirling his sai in the other.
“That was creepy dude. And not in a kinda unsettling way, but in a “this is really bad” way…” Mikey tries to explain, oddly quiet. Leo looks over to find the youngest still staring at the screen from over Raph’s shell.
“It could be something new, and I want to assess it to see if it is dangerous. And I have to admit, I’m quite curious. I have only caught glimpses of it like this one.” Donatello shrugs. “What do you think, Leo?”
“I agree.” Leonardo recalls the various creatures they have found in the sewer, friend or foe. “Especially that close to the Y’Lyntian tunnels, it could be lost or –“
“Pest control?” Raph interrupts. He looks more motivated at the sound of violence is typical Raph fashion. He tucks his sai into his belt with a small grin. “I could get behind that.”
“Maybe not going in with weapons drawn is a good idea? I want to study whatever is there –“ Donny protests. Raph chuckles.
“Don’t worry Donny, I’ll leave ya a few pieces.”
Donatello makes a wounded sound at the declaration. He turns to Leo.
“Leo, tell Raph he can’t –“
“We shouldn’t go down there.” Michelangelo draws attention to himself with the hard words that are almost spat out of his mouth. The change in character, combined with the stubborn expression etched into his usually joyful face, causes Leonardo to move towards Mikey in concern.
“Quit whinin’, we flushed that place of monsters years ago.” Raphael huffs. Mikey shakes his head.
“I can’t – I can’t explain it. But there’s something seriously wrong about all this…I got that same feeling as before.” Mikey shudders. His eyes move away from the screen for the first time, casting down to his hands as they fiddle with his wrist straps.
“I’m sure it’s nothing dangerous. It’s too small to be another one of those creatures, or any other enemy we’ve encountered.” Leonardo tries to comfort the youngest. It’s still throwing him off, seeing his personality lock away so quickly. It’s a somewhat known fact that Mikey has a strange affinity for sensing looming danger, though Leo is guilty for dismissing him during their teen years. Only a couple of months after the whole adventure with the Underground City did Mikey confess to them he had dreamt an omen of sorts for the events that were about to unfold. The eldest brother can see that same uncertainty cloud in Michelangelo’s eyes as he tries to explain, twisting with the frustration building at Raph’s mockery.
“I know, but…” Michelangelo looks up at Leo. “…I…it feels like something’s going to go wrong. Like how you feel before you walk into a trap.” The youngest’s frown deepens as he struggles to explain. Leo understands enough, raising a hand to silence Raph as it looks like he’s about to tease him again.
“The sensors indicate it’s not big at all. And we would be in known territory this time, or at least close to it - it’s near our old home, like Leo said.” Donny pipes up. Leo rests a hand on Mikey’s shoulder, which he leans into.
“I know. We have to check it out because we all have stupid hero complexes.” Michelangelo says with a dry chuckle. “Man, why couldn’t we just stay normal turtles that don’t know ninjitsu? Or even just mutant turtles, chilling in the sewers and watching tv all day?”
Tension that Leo didn’t even realise had built unravels at the return of Mikey’s usual jokes. He gives an encouraging smile, taking time to rub his shoulder before removing his hand. A silent message of support. He’s right, of course. Leonardo can’t knowingly turn his back now there could be a threat. Though, as Raph suggested, he would much prefer it to be a stray rat that has explored too deep.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Raphael says, nudging Mikey in the plastron. Mikey whines.
“I would! I like tv! I like sitting on my shell all day!” The youngest yelps when Raph smacks him lightly on the back of the head. “Ow!”
Loudly, the laptop’s alarm sounds again. Another wink of blue light then static again.
“Let’s get going, before it gets too late.” Leonardo orders. Raph cracks his knuckles, striding towards the front entrance. As he passes Donatello, he takes extra care to push the genius’ head into the keyboard of the laptop that he is still hunched over. Don lets out an undignified squeak and pouts at Raph sulkily.
“Come on, nerd.” Raph says with a grin. Donny rolls his eyes, closing his laptop and shoving it in his duffel bag. Leo hadn’t even realised he had it on – he really had been planning this from the start, hadn’t he? In all fairness, a curious Donatello is almost as hard to control than a bored Michelangelo.
Speaking of…Leonardo turns his attention back to Mikey. The youngest is still looking unsure, despite the grin he throws on his face when he spots Leo looking at him.
“We’ll be fine as long as we stick together, no matter what it is.” Leonardo shrugs. “Even if it’s a lost rat. That glows.”
This earns a smile from Michelangelo, who mock-glares at him with his arms folded.
“Don’t underestimate the rat, dude. Have you seen Master Splinter?”
“Oh, right – we should tell Master Splinter before we leave.” Leonardo remembers.
“No need, my sons.” Master Splinter stands at the entrance to the pit, leaning on his cane. “Though it would be nice if you could avoid any trouble this time.” He says dryly.
“No promises!” Mikey grins, throwing a peace sign and walks forward to meet with Raph and Donny. Leo bows to Master Splinter, nodding.
“We will try.” Is all he can promise. His father nods in return.
“That is all a father can ask of his sons.” His sensei says.
“We won’t be long! Just a few samples!” Donatello waves with one hand. The other is packing various pieces of equipment that looks too much to be just a few samples.
“Remember, Leonardo…” Leo turns back towards Master Splinter as he lays a hand on his forearm. Have confidence in not just your actions, but your own spirit as well.”
“Yes, father.” Leonardo bows again, briefly this time. The blurred shadows of his nightmares still lurk in the corners of his mind. As always, the anxiety of the probability of failure makes his heart flutter.
“Come on, Leo!” Raph calls to him. Leo does roll his eyes this time, but is grateful for the distraction of his darker thoughts. Master Splinter gives his arm one last pat before fondly gesturing him to join his brothers.
“Right. Let’s head out.” Leonardo walks to his brothers, who have started a chattering amongst themselves.
“‘Bout time.” Raph grumbles.
“Donny?” Leonardo asks, knowing Raph well enough to dismiss his apparent impatience.
“We can take the Sewer Slider and be arrive within the thirty minutes.” He points to a blinking marker on his shell cell that displays the map of the sewers around them.
“If we end up in a horror film again, I expect apology pizza!” Mikey says. Raph scoffs and smacks the back of his head again.
“Be careful. He doesn’t have many brain cells left.” Donny teases lightly, leaning towards Raph in a mock whisper.
“Hey! Leo, make them stop bullying me!” Mikey dances around him, pointing at the other two brothers dramatically. Leo gives a wry smile, rubbing his head.
“Come on. I’ll let you ride shotgun.” The eldest bargains. Michelangelo whoops, running forward. For now, at least it appeared Mikey was more at ease. Leo hopes it stays that way, not wanting his youngest brother to be burdened with the same anxieties he carries for every mission.
“Hey! That ain’t fair!” Raph follows him with a curse, followed by Donny. Only when they round the corner does Leo frown, a hand tightening to a clenched fist. For some reason, the yellow eye he had seen in the pixelated camera feed flashes behind his eyelids as he blinks. Images from his nightmares follow and the terrible failures they had haunted him with for the past couple of weeks.
No matter. Leo takes a deep breath, composing himself. Master Splinter’s words from earlier that morning shield him from the worst of his fears and he is able to fight them away from his mind. It’s only a small mission – not even that. More of an investigation born from a mutual curiosity.
Right?