Chapter 1: He guessed from the get-go
Chapter Text
Being an important figure of organized crime wasn’t an easy job.
It has a… higher risk of getting you killed than most jobs do, you see.
Is only natural, really. When you’re part of the underground world in society, you know that your days are counted. It comes with the job. Someone is always trying to kill you, someone is constantly against you.
Grudges are easy to form when your job is to manipulate the system in your favor by any means necessary, and morals are hardly something to consider. They don’t stop people from trying things against you.
A lot of people want to kill you, all the time.
Being in a high position however, secures many, many days to come.
No one wants to risk attacking you because you’re difficult to get to in the first place.
Big Mama appreciated that. Even if anyone did get to her, between the guards and her own abilities, it was hard to reach her, to hurt her, or kill her.
So being as powerful and well positioned as she was, she had secured herself a long life.
Sadly, it didn’t secure immortality; it didn’t secure immunity.
And big Mama felt it a long time before she knew about it.
Many think that you can feel an Illness before it actually forms.
The way your bones crack more and more often, how your limbs sometimes ache in places that shouldn’t, or maybe just a tiredness that fills your body like the sea would if you just let it. A little headache coming over and over, blood flooding your ears for no reason, a pressure in your chest that hadn’t been there before…
One day, you’re healthy and powerful and on top of the world, the next one, you’re aware that something is very wrong.
The darkness inside her, slowly turning into something far more dangerous, eating her from somewhere in her body, carelessly consuming her whole without her caring or noticing until one day she coughed up blood in the middle of a very important meeting.
That had been the turning point, probably. The “ oh ” moment in which she could no longer ignore the little symptoms, or chalk them up to something else.
Terrible timing, too. It had been… inconvenient certainly. She had been waiting for months for an answer, and then a bunch of important papers were splattered with dirty dots of a brownish green, and the contract that she had been excited to get her hands on became completely unusable; truly that had been what bothered her the most at the time.
It too didn’t help that she had to get rid of the witnesses—lest she wanted the rumors of her newfound condition running around. She had made her concerns clear before striking them down—they tried to run, clearly not wanting to help her out despite her precarious health, the inconsiderate bastards, fighting to the end for their lives.
She didn’t go check what was wrong with her until she had sorted out the situation, even adding a week to that just in case, before actually going with someone that could diagnose her.
“There’s no cure,” the shaman had told her apologetically, mostly out of fear that she would take it against him for giving her such terrible news. “I fear there isn't anything to counter it, m’am.”
It was only then that she knew that her time limit was tighter than she would’ve liked.
Say, a year and as the limit tighter, when her species normally would’ve lasted at least another century.
There were no tears—on her part, at least. Some of her most loyal followers did that part while she focused on searching for a solution.
Because if she went down, it wouldn’t be without fighting, no sir.
She sent her best workers in search of anything that could be of use on her… condition. She, herself, spent weeks inside the library, looking for anything that might have an effect on her woes, even if it was only extending her span a little.
Elixirs, cleansing rituals, witches, potions on the black market. Anything that might have helped her fix her little problem.
The best she could get of both worlds worked in finding a cure, day and night without rest for months, without making progress on either side, no matter the quality of the tools that were used or how smart nor powerful were the people in the research teams.
She wasn’t one to throw money at things in hopes of fixing them-she spent it wisely, carefully. Act poor and stay rich, someone had told her once, before she became the powerful lady she was, and she agreed wholeheartedly, living to that motto.
However, her life came first, so she spared no expense.
What good were all her treasures if she was dead? Her life was her utmost priority. She would have time to retrieve anything she had exchanged in her search after she was sure she wasn’t just going to drop dead at any point in time.
Day after day, the amount of funds invested in a solution became bigger, and the hopes of actually finding anything of use were proportionally smaller.
It took her months before she came to terms with the fact that there was nothing to cure her. That she would die.
Big Mama had just a few months before tragically passing away from some stupid disease.
But honestly, that wasn’t what annoyed her the most, not at all.
She wasn’t thrilled to die, no. But she had been aware of her own mortality from the second she decided to form an illegal business. She knew that all her crimes would eventually catch up with her.
If anything, it bothered her that an illness would be what would take her out.
So… graceless, insulting.
Big Mama deserved a better death than that!
The blood in her hands should’ve painted a grand finale instead of poisoning her insides, leading her to a boring end. It didn’t match her, she didn’t want it.
And more importantly, she didn’t want her empire to fall into oblivion once she died. All her life had been dedicated to the Nexus. She wanted it to continue after her death, to live on once she died. A place that lived up to its bloody origins for longer than her lifespan would last.
Big Mama was a renowned name! For her, death was just a temporary inconvenience. The legend she had built with her own—several—hands would not be destroyed just because immortality hadn’t been yet achieved.
If she died, someone would have to take her place.
Who, she didn’t know. There weren’t many picks she could choose from.
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in her employees, but none of them showed the qualifications. And there wasn’t enough time to train someone from cero.
Her little assistant would be the closest thing to an heir she could think of, but even she wasn’t good enough for the job.
She needed someone with enough prowess to defend themselves if the situation arised, but that didn’t depend on mere strength, unlike her assistant did. Someone that could make their way out of almost any problem, that could turn the tides on any situation, someone who knew how to use all of their assets without waste, someone who could match her wits.
Someone like…
A glint through the window blinded her for a second. Like something big and metallic had passed by, reflecting the sun.
Big Mama dragged her feet to the crystal panel, looking through it at the broken skyline that danced over metro city, remains of the invasion that had happened mere months ago.
She remembers the day clearly.
The way the ground shook, and the horror of yokai and humans alike as the city was drowned in chaos.
Big Mama hadn’t paid much attention—the danger fortunately never got too close to her territory, and she was busy searching for a way to stay alive at the time. All damage from the last explosion was fixed with haste, and for her that day had been almost as uneventful as the others.
But like the rest of the world, she heard the news, and she saw the videos, and she knew a little about what had transpired that day past the safety of her Hotel.
Big Mama knew that it had been the turtles who saved New York—and the Hidden City underneath by association.
The same turtles that currently pursued some low life criminal through her territory.
In the past, they wouldn’t have gotten near her territory unless it was one of those ‘special’ occasions in which they broke into her Hotel—or in which she all but dragged them there for one reason or another. However, after The Shredder’s return, they had a tentative truce.
She would leave them alone and they’d do the same in return.
Huggypoo would even reach out to her, from time to time, just to talk about amenities, though he wasn’t the… sweetest—not that she could blame him at all.
With that in mind, it barely surprised her to see the four teenagers running around through the street in front of her Hotel playing around with a yokai that she couldn’t recognize.
Flashes of orange and a red projection closed the end of the street while a purple blur chased the creature from up in the sky.
From her place, none of the shouting could be heard, but she saw their little forms wildly gesturing as they tried to communicate something between themselves.
For a second, the chasing stopped. Purple boy descended as fast as possible, forming a wall of purple energy behind him, while red became the wall himself on the other side.
Desperate, the criminal raised something in his arms, a small weapon that she couldn’t discern, straight at the Orange spot near the red projection.
It was then that a blue portal opened behind the criminal, yanking him in.
There were a few seconds of peace before a second portal appeared, this time closer to Orange, and both the criminal and little Leonardo fell through, in perfect position for the older of the two to catch the criminal from behind while the younger turtle tied him for arrest.
And that was exactly the missing piece of her puzzle.
Now, she knew exactly who would continue her legacy—whether he wanted to or not.
The perfect replacement for Big Mama, proudly raising his arms in victory and exclaiming something while the rest of his team joined in the celebration.
He patted the head of the defeated creature, and laughed lively as he threw his hand back after it tried to bite him, sheepishly scratching his neck while the other three—specifically Red over there—scolded him over it.
It wouldn’t be easy. Big Mama didn’t know much about the teenager except what she had seen from their past interactions. He wasn’t academically smart, but he was sly and charming, and held his ground well in any fighting. Most importantly, he was stubborn; he wouldn’t join her willingly.
If she wanted him under her, she would have to use the rest of his family. Capturing them wouldn’t work—he had already freed them from her grasp before, he would 100% do it again.
Maybe a direct threat to their lives would keep him from trying anything! She was willing to go forth with it.
A bigger issue was that that wouldn’t stop him from keeping the Nexus going once she was gone… But Big Mama knew a lot of methods to keep him in line.
And if plan A didn’t work out as intended, she could use him to…
Well, she had a lot of planning to do if she wanted everything to go according to her idea.
With giddiness building in her chest, she pressed a button, and it took less than a few seconds for her people to appear in the room, and she didn’t even look away from the prize in the street while declaring the next order.
“Get me Leonardo Hamato. I want that turtle inside my office as soon as possible. Alive, in a pristine condition. Awake or not, I do not mind.”
“Yes, Big Mama,” several voices answered, before everyone left her alone once again.
She felt pressure building in the back of her throat, and she reached for a towel paper from her desk, covering his mouth before the inevitable cough attack started.
Lightly she tapped the piece of paper over her lips, cleaning the remains of blood that stained her face, attentively watching how the prize opened a new portal, inviting the rest of his team to go through before them.
The criminal, now dragged with a rope by Red, seemed to scream obscenities at them, but the vigilantes cared little, mocking or ignoring him as they went through the blue rupture.
Just as he was about to cross, Leonardo halted his steps. He looked around for something—someone—, as if he knew that he was being observed.
And he probably did, because he turned his back on the portal and raised his head towards her.
A sting from her lip followed when she bit it with exhilaration. Her new little boy was so attuned to her that he noticed her looking at him.
He couldn’t see her—not only because it was impossible from his position, he was too far away, the perspective was difficult at best, and the windows were tinted. But Big Mama felt as if he knew that she was looking at him anyways. One of her tarsus tapped against the window, as if trying to reach the boy.
The boy’s eyes lingered on the building—on her—for just a second more before he turned back and entered the portal, the rupture flickering out of existence as soon as he was gone.
Big Mama only felt more excited by the second, her mind already made up.
Little Blue would make an excellent replacement for her. He would be her son
Surely, her Boo wouldn’t mind sharing his sonny for a little while. She would’ve been, after all, his momma, right?
_________________________
“Woo!” Mikey exclaimed, dropping on the couch, loudly popping the joints around his neck to Raph’s horror. “I’m exhausted!”
A whole day of brawling for their shells wasn’t exactly easy on the muscles, especially in heavy clothes for the snow, and every single one of the brothers was well aware now that they had gone through that .
In the many years of world-saving and constant shenanigans, few times had they felt as tired as they did at the moment, and most of those included world-ending threats rather than the low time gangs and criminals that had been chasing them around the city.
It had been a nice morning, before the whole persecution started. Casey had returned to visit them for the week after a few months of globetrotting with Cass, so they had prepared a schedule in advance, and all of them were very excited to visit the planned places with Future Boy.
Sadly, right as they started their journey through New York, their adventure was cut short by an absurd amount of Yokai that refused to tell them why they were attacking them.
And sure, there were plenty of reasons to attack them !
But no question they asked was ever answered, and the Mad Dogs were left with as many questions as they started.
Even worse was the fact that it hadn’t been the first attack in the week—It probably had been the worst because they spent far more time on the surface than other days, but it clearly wasn’t just because it was a secret ‘beat up the turtle teenagers’ holiday or something.
All plans were cut short, and Casey just smiled apologetically as he left with Cass to their apartment, taking April along with them for the night.
And that’s how they found themselves dragging their asses back to the lair through a portal, drained beyond measure and wanting to drop dead somewhere comfortable for a week or two.
“You can say that again,” Leo groaned, taking his phone out as he laid on top of his little brother, who pushed him off with little strength behind, making him settle into a different position for Mikey’s comfort. “God, is it me, or are criminals more active lately? Because, let’s be honest, that was bullshit.”
Donnie hummed in agreement. “Yeah, statistics show that these past week there’s been a forty three percent increment in the amount of Yokai related attacks we’ve had,” he mumbled while typing in his gauntlet, pausing just a second before correcting himself, “Well, today the percentage raised up to seventy point ninety four. Most of which have happened while we were doing absolutely nothing besides being, you know, outside… which is why we should stay inside and—.”
“No, Donnie, you can’t stay in your lab all day,” Raph crossed his arms.
“Alas, once again my brilliance is overshadowed by the ignorance of my brethren”
Leo raised an invisible brow towards his twin’s direction, unsurprised at the dramatic demeanor of the soft shell, who scrunched his face in annoyance the second he noticed Leonardo’s eyes on him.
The slider snorted “Because of course, eating and sleeping and seeing the sunlight is ignorant.”
“Shut up,” Donnie groaned. “If I’m taking anyone’s opinion it’s definitely not yours.”
“High Intelligence, low wisdom roll. You’re really the worst kind of nerd”.
“You make Dungeons and Dragons references yet insist on calling me a nerd.”
“Rawrfences.”
Donnie did not answer him verbally, but the absolute disgust and disappointment he sent Leo’s way was enough.
Then, the soft shell pinched his brows in frustration. “Returning to the important topic at hand…” he rolled his eyes, turning back to the gauntlet. “This sudden increase in hostility towards our person means that it’s highly possible that these are orchestrated and not, in fact, coincidental.” He exhaled, dropping his arm and sitting in the armrest of the same couch Mikey and Leo were in. “Not that I think any of us thinks is coincidental at this point,” he groaned, the back of the couch croaking when his weight got added to the pile.
Raph let out a big sigh, scratching the nape of his neck and sitting on the ground near the couch, eyes trained on Donnie. “What do ya’ think they’re attacking us for?”
“Annoyed sigh,” the genius narrated his own action, fiddling with the edge of the gauntlet. “I have no idea. My hypothesis is that we accidentally ruined some big time criminal’s plan and now they’re hunting us for sport.”
To the monotonous response, Leo added; “or maybe some royalty are trying to capture us to make us their heirs, because we’re that awesome,” he winked, looking at each of his brothers’ unamused faces before shrugging with a smile. “You never know!”
Whatever it was, Leo was starting to get frustrated with it.
He couldn’t remember anything that might be relevant to their situation; the whole past month they had focused on stopping petty criminals, and little more.
It was the best they could do while falling back into routine after the invasion
Speaking of which… Leonardo opened the calendar app, finger trailing over the edge of the screen to let him see the date. A few more days and they would reach the six month mark since the invasion.
It was weird, the thought that after such an event, the world just…went on.
Neither of them talked much about it nowadays.
They did, while the wounds were still fresh, and Leo was still stuck to the medbay, connected to three different machines that monitored his vitals—as time went by though? even Mikey felt more comfortable leaving out anything that had to do with that day.
It was an unanimous agreement to acknowledge the fact that it happened , and that was that.
Time had slowly faded the cracks around Mikey’s arms the same way it did to Donnie’s and Raph’s. Raph’s slightly clouded eye became clearer each day—it wouldn’t be the same as it was, but it was getting better. Donnie felt more and more comfortable without his battle shell.
And Leo could ignore the nightmares, the scars, the pain that lingered, the memories…
Admittedly it was easier once Casey left—not that Leo would ever admit that outloud.
It was just…easier to act as if the invasion hadn’t happened when Future Boy wasn’t around.
It had been a turning point in their lives. For him, especially, now that he began to take the leader role more seriously. At least during combat; no one minded if he joked about it whenever they were in idle rather than on a mission, and though his bantering still got side eyes and groans, as long as he listened to his team and took planning and leading seriously, no one told him off… that much.
Besides! He liked Casey, the kid—well, as much as he could call him a kid considering they were the same age and all—was nice, with a good head on his shoulders, strong and resourceful. It was clear he thought the world of Leo and his brothers. But it was also clear that, for both sides, their relationship wasn’t the best.
Casey always looked at them with a melancholy that would never go away, no matter what they tried, because they weren’t the family he lost. And for them, Casey was a reminder of what they could’ve lost—what they did lose that day.
So he liked the boy, and enjoyed having him over, just for a little while, just for enough time that he wouldn’t overthink his presence there.
Which is why he was annoyed at the stupid criminals that were ruining the few days he could have with Future Boy!
And back to the topic: why?
Future Boy wasn’t the problem; they had been attacking them more and more for a whole week even before Casey showed his face in New York.
Donnie’s theory was the only theory there was, and really, Leo was one hundred percent sure that it wasn’t that.Analyzing every interaction, every criminal they stopped, every villain that had a reason to try to kill them, Leo couldn’t understand why . Why now? What changed? What happened?
It also didn’t help that they were targeting him .
His brothers were gleefully unaware, and to be fair to them, it hadn’t been outright clear to him either. But Leo caught their enemies looking at him, pursuing him specifically during combat.
One too many enemies dodging Raph’s attacks and going against Leonardo instead of following up with the snapping turtle. Or someone with an open path to hit Mikey, and instead wasting the opportunity trying to sneak up on Leo.
Donnie probably noticed it too, all things considered, because he had stopped one of the villains from stabbing Leo with a syringe , though he hadn’t said a thing about it.
With that as his only clue, the only thing that ever crossed his mind when looking for a reason, was that one day.
When they captured some bear looking yokai in front of the Nexus Hotel.
They hadn’t gotten close to the Nexus Hotel in months, even before the invasion. Big Mama and they had a silent agreement not to mess with the other, and in the already three years that had transcurred since The Shredder, the amount of times they had interacted could be counted with a single one of his hands. Sans Splinter, that had his own agenda. (Yes, they knew, though the knowledge was certainly a curse).
Entering inside Mama’s territory hadn’t been purposeful. The plan had derailed when the yokai suddenly sniffed the trap, turned on his heels, and ran for it, hoping that they wouldn’t follow him into the mastermind criminal’s territory. It went terribly for the criminal, because they didn’t even think once before setting foot inside the zone and turning to plan B until they caught him directly in front of the Hotel.
He hadn’t paid much attention to their surroundings. Following his orders, Raph blocked one side, Donnie the other, and when the yokai pointed a gun at Mikey, he set the rest of his plan in motion, transporting the poor dude through a wide variety of countries before kicking him back to the street where Mikey received him with a cute rope to match with the bear’s ugly personality.
Leo got him from behind, Mikey tied him up, and after annoying the yokai a little, he himself opened a portal to the Hidden City to drop the criminal before they went for something to eat before going home.
Raph patted him in the back for a well done job, “but please don’t ever make a bear pun again.” He said, not letting him answer before pulling the bear with him through the portal, followed by Donnie whose only reaction was to snort at the abhorrent storm of insults that the yokai hauled at them.
Leo couldn’t remember what Mikey said next, but it had been something along the lines of “we better hurry before they close that ramen place,” then following his other two brothers into the portal.
It was then when he felt it, someone staring at him.
The sensation filled his body, making him shiver, and he looked for the intruding eyes, finding no one in the vicinity that could watch him with such creepy intentions that he could feel them.
So he looked up.
He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he had locked eyes with that someone, high up in the Nexus Hotel, around the place where Big Mama’s office would be.
But surely after the radio silence and the tentative peace between them, Big Mama wouldn’t just…attack them for fun. Right?
It didn’t sound like something she would do, it was a waste of time, energy and resources, because simply attacking them benefited her in no way.
There was a missing piece in his puzzle, and it bothered him to no end.
“I don’t wanna cook anything,” Mikey patted Leo’s shell in a ‘move’ gesture that the Slider followed, sitting up. “ Should we get takeout?”
“Pizza?” Raph offered hesitantly, as if not sure he fully agreed with the idea but with nothing else to offer in exchange.
Donnie was having none of their bullshit; “ Scoff , yes, of course. Let’s go eat outside and potentially reveal our position, specifically during the week when we’ve been actively attacked twenty times more than usual, that will go perfectly, he said, not being sarcastic and judging his brothers at all .”
With a small snort, Leo reached to pat his brother. He wouldn’t reach his arm, not from his position, so he settled for the closest leg, widening his grin when his twin made a face at the touch.
“Relax, hermano ! I can just pick up something at Hueso’s,” Leo made a big motion with his arms, dramatizing in an attempt to lessen the genius’ worries. “I can portal in and out, make it quick and be back in a jiffy, no problema !”
Offering that was a gamble; after the invasion, none of his brothers—siblings. April too wouldn’t cover for his escapades anymore unless she was allowed to join—would let him out of their sight.
And to be fair, after the invasion, he didn’t want his siblings out of his sight either, so most of the time he didn’t mind.
But Leo was an adventurer at heart. He couldn’t stay in one place, still. He needed to go out, and create chaos, and terrorize people with his incredible personality, and then fix anything he messed up along the way. And while it didn’t bother him to bring one or all or his siblings along, sometimes he needed a bit of freedom.
They’d been working on that lately, giving each other space and keeping some boundaries even when it meant leaving someone on their own for more than an hour.
At first, Raph had been the one with the hardest time actually giving them space. The big guy just couldn’t stop worrying about them. Or so they thought.
Turns out Donnie had been making new records as the family's worrier.
It took just one little peek at one of the genius computer’s while the other was asleep, and suddenly an intervention was set in place because chipping all their phones, weaponry and equipment was way out of line.
And yes, Donnie, the subcutaneous tracker had to go too.
Since then, Donnie had tried to be a little less…overprotective with all of them.
Clearly he was making an effort. But not enough to let Leo go on his own, and less when he seemed to know that something was going on.
Eyes squinted in his direction, disapproval painted in Don’s expression. The genius shook his head into a negative.
That was all it took to make up Raph’s mind.
Donnie continued, “You know I would usually agree on this, if only because I am undeniably starving, but numbers —”
“-Are just numbers!” He interceded, making a big show of surrounding Mikey’s shoulders with a single arm, pulling the youngest towards him in the universal ‘help-me-convince-him-with-a-puppy-face’ act that Mikey flawlessly performed. “Are you really gonna deny Michael here a well deserved rest?”
The slider didn’t look at Michaelangelo, but he could already see the switch in the other’s expressions as they let their guards down over Mikey’s puppy eyes.
He could feel the hesitance, but he had left no open path for the worrywarts’ team in this battlefield.
Leo wouldn’t cook, not in a million years, and letting either of the two remaining brothers to the job wasn’t really an option if they wanted the kitchen to remain in good condition.
Obviously forcing Mikey to cook wouldn’t work out, and their dad was busy with his telenovela, so, what option did they have?
Donnie covered his mouth with a hand, mind hovering over the many choices they had, like going to sleep without eating, or having a bag of chips for dinner, or you know, simply going for pizza at Run of the Mill through portals to avoid any risks.
He arrived at the same conclusion the rest had, and narrated a “deep sigh,” before nodding.
“So, what do yer big numbers say, Don?,” Raph asked. “Is it safe to let him go? Because if ya don’t think so…” His chasm made a presence in the room.
Aware of Raph’s new standing, Leo’s tongue clicked as the battlefield shifted. Mikey’s status as the youngest and Raph’s status as the eldest had the same weight whenever it came to almost any generic decisions—everyone wanted to spoil Mikey and give in, but anything Raph said had weight .
Leo didn’t miss the sound of calculated tapping that came from Donnie’s fingers against the metal gauntlet. Morse code, he realized.
‘Danger’, the succession of dots spelled. ‘After you’. Then made the sign for ‘before’ with his hands.
‘I’ll be fine’, he signed back, receiving an unsure look from Donnie.
“My—as Raph called them—big numbers say that he’ll survive even if he does get attacked, but just for the record, I did say this was a terrible idea, and if you get attacked, it’s all on you for not listening to me,” Purple crossed his arms, looking in a random direction, clearly irritated with his twin’s apparent lack of worry. “Do whatever you want!”
“I don’t know guys…,” Raph stood up using the other armrest as a crutch on his way up. “If Donnie isn’t sure that is safe, I don’t wanna just send Leo outside,” he laughed anxiously, a wavy smile that didn’t reach his eyes and his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“I’ll go with Leo,” Mikey volunteered, stretching a little as he also stood from his seat, leaving Leo behind. “In case anything happens!”
“Weren’t ya tired?” The eldest scowled, suspiciously eyeing the box turtle, who shrugged with a smile.
“Would you rather Leo go alone?”
“I mean, I can always go with him,” Raph crossed his arms and straightened his posture. “Or we can—… uh…. I don’t know. Raph’ll think of something else.”
Leonardo, always happy to cater to the youngest if only because he knew how he felt, appeasingly patted Raph’s arm as well as he could from his place in the couch, flashing a confident smirk.
“Don’t worry, Raphie! Portals, remember? We’re not looking for a fight!” He once again dropped his weight against the back of the couch, tilted towards the free armrest, with his elbow on the furniture and the hand supporting his head.
To appeal to the others even more, Leo took a little keychain with a button from the inside of one of his belt pouches, the metallic color only disrupted by the small purple logo that their brother had imprinted in it once it was finalized.
“I’ll even have the panic button in my hand this whole time, alright? Ya two can be sure that absolutely nothing will happen and stop being a couple of worrywarts!”
With a roll of his eyes, Donnie quipped back, “Worrying about you ? Scoff. I just don’t want my food to end up somewhere in the ground if you do end up getting attacked.”
“Sure,” Leo snorted, straightening before throwing himself against Donnie. “Just admit it, you love me!”
As if grossed out, Donnie frowned and pushed his head away from his leg with a single finger. “Get off of me, you’re sweaty and disgusting.”
“And you’re getting a hawaiian,” he grumbled, finally standing up, not before sticking his tongue at his twin.
“You wouldn’t!!”
“Would too!!”
“‘Nardo, I swear on the greatest minds of this planet, if you—“
“Yadayadayada, extra piña , got it!”
“Leo!”
Donatello got no chance to continue as Leo reached for one of his twin katanas, stepping away from his brothers then slashing the air, feeling the electrifying energy rupturing through space. The warm sensation that his portals always left washed over his body, and though he definitely wasn’t ready for another fight, yet, it did make him feel refreshed.
Mikey was by his side in a second, almost pushing Leo himself into the portal to avoid any more complaining from Raph and Donnie.
“You guys need to chillax!” he side-hugged Mikey once more, retreating towards the portal.
“That’s not a word!” Donnie whined, an accusing finger pointing at Leo.
“The people who deny chillaxing are the ones that need to chillax the most!” Mikey raised an arm as if doing a toast, then high fiving Leo, who winked at the two brothers that stayed in the lair, and pulled Mikey with himself through the portal.
“Leo—“ Raph’s voice got cut off as soon as the rupture ate them and spat them somewhere different.
A familiar wall welcomed them back to the world.
The cold air of the first hours of the night in New York was certainly a delight to witness. It bit at the skin of his hands as he sheathed back the weapon; at the late days of february there still was snow everywhere, though that particular day had been one of the hottest by winter standards.
They hadn’t bothered to take off the heavy snow jackets when they got to the lair, so that wasn’t one of their worries, but the thought that they would be slowed down by the weather condition and the extra weight of their covering made Leo hesitate.
If—and only if—they were attacked, they definitely would have a hard time fighting back thanks to their attires and the exhaustion that served as invisible weights in their limbs.
‘No overthinking’, he chastised himself, tucking the button on one of the jacket pockets before taking a step back as Mikey took the lead and opened the wall to Run of the Mill. ‘The second you panic, you lose’.
Someone was watching them.
But they wouldn’t follow inside the restaurant—Hueso didn’t allow troublemakers that weren’t Leo, his absolute favorite customer of course. Whoever was there, looking from one of the roofs, would be left waiting for them forever.
He would just ask Hueso to let him open the portal from his office or something, so they didn’t have to take the risk, and if Mikey asked, he’d just complain about the cold outside.
“Come on, Leo, I’m hungry!” Mikey complained when he took a second too long to join him. He pointed at the wall with his head, waiting until Leo was by his side to actually enter.
A smile tugged on his face the second the scenery changed. He had half a mind to take off the heavy jacket and embrace the warmth of a packed place with working ovens and a lot of movement, but honestly, he didn’t want to have to carry the piece of clothing everywhere, so he kept it on.
As a second thought, he raised his head as high as he could, searching for Hueso over the sea of Yokai that filled the place, but he couldn’t find the man’s distinctive hat anywhere, and Mikey was impatiently pulling him by the wrist, so he let it go. He’d search for the owner later.
Or so he thought.
Both of the turtles were already a few steps away from the counter when a bony hand grabbed Leo’s shoulder with urgency.
He recognized him the second Hueso placed a hand on his shoulder, and turned to look at him with a huge excited grin, “hey! Bone man! It’s been a while. A whole week, huh? You—“
“Leonardo.” The skeleton interrupted with a his hiss of his name, face pinched in what felt like out of place panic.
His smile fell.
Señor Hueso never used his full name, not anymore. Tense shoulders, a strong grip where the skeleton’s hand trembles slightly, pinpricks that acted as pupils staring into Leo’s soul with a ferocity that did not feel like it belonged in the man’s face.
An uncomfortable feeling of ‘danger’ dropped like bricks on his stomach, suddenly aware that he made a big mistake, somewhere in the stream of choices he had taken, though he wasn’t sure where in the timeline it was.
How much time he’d spent making light of something that could condemn him, again.
“Okay, sure, I’m listening,” Leo played it off, his free arm going up in Mikey’s direction, getting ahold of the edge of his jacket.
Hueso pulled away, a small sign of ‘follow me’ as he made a beeline towards his office, and Leo sent a small look at Mikey, who looked as serious as he felt. Both nodded to the other before following the owner.
For the first time in his life, since they found Run of the Mill, Leonardo felt anxious inside the restaurant. He’d had his worries while visiting, of course. It was impossible not to bring his mind with him wherever he entered the restaurant. But he had never felt like he did at the time.
Like… prey.
What had been a single set of eyes watching from afar outside the entrance, had turned into an absurd amount of eyes following his every move, observing like he was a zoo animal sent to be put down.
He hovered over Mikey; as far as he was aware, they were only looking at him—but in case they weren’t, he preferred to cover his little brother from prying eyes.
A sigh of relief escaped from the hold he hadn’t realized he had on it the second they went through the door that Hueso kept wide open for them.
The skeleton quickly slammed the door and closed the blinds behind him, with a speed that Leo had only ever seen when Señor Hueso ran from Captain Piel’s hugs.
“You can’t be here!” The yokai pointed at Leonardo, almost accusingly. “¿¡Eres tonto, pepino?! Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be here right now?!”
“What?” Mikey muttered, puzzled with Señor Hueso’s reaction.
Mikey wasn’t the only one. Taken aback by the aggression that the skeleton showed, the slider jumped to his own defense. “Hey! We just came for some pizza, I swear we didn’t bring any kind of fight to your restaurant this time!”
Exasperated, the skeleton dragged a hand over his skull, disbelief shaking his shoulders.
“No, Leo, I mean that it’s dangerous for you !!”
Oh.
Well, the change was unexpected.
But not a surprise. It just confirmed his—and Donnie’s—suspicions.
“What do you mean?” Mikey asked, his voice softer than usual with genuine confusion. “How’s it dangerous for us?”
“You… don’t know?”.
Left to right, Hueso’s pupils bounced between the two turtles, searching for something, anything. And when he didn’t find it, he gave a sharp inhale, drumming his fingers over one of his eyebrows.
“Mierda, of course you don’t know.” Came the whisper from the owner’s mouth. Leo didn’t think he intended for them to hear, but they did, and it did little to nothing to calm his rising anxiety.
The skeleton man turned his back on them, reaching for the desk and making a mess out of the papers, searching for something specific. “I don’t know the specifics,” he admitted. “But whatever you did, someone disliked enough to put a bounty on you.” Señor Hueso said, finally grabbing a piece of paper and shoving it in their direction.
A million snails, read the bottom of the paper, numbers painted in bright red.
His face plastered the rest of the paper, with big bold letters spelling ‘Alive’ over his plastron. He didn’t remember ever seeing that photo, but by the quality and angle, it had to be taken during one of their missions, in the midst of a fight.
Now that was a surprise.
It must have shocked Mikey as much as it did him, the news, because Leo felt a pair of arms linking between one of his, as if trying to keep him in place, or at least close.
Everything started to make sense.
The sudden amount of yokai attacking them, the clear focus on his person during combat, the eyes following him as soon as he was outside.
People waiting near places he frequented.
And the bounty had been on for at least a week—that was around the time it all started, it couldn’t have been longer than that.
But the question of ‘why?’ Remained.
“Wow…I look good, for a creepy photo taken from a distance and without permission,” Leo put on a brave face, sliding back into his fun persona.
“Pepino, this is serious!” Señor Hueso raised his voice the slightest. “Whoever this person is, they’re paying a big amount of money for you, alive. It has to be someone in a high position.”
“I promise I didn’t do anything wrong! Someone must have noticed how cool I am!” He snorted, and with his free hand, patted Mikey’s head. “See? What did I tell you? Totally some royal dude that wants to marry me off into the family line!”
“Leo!” Mikey whined, clearly unhappy with his attitude. “Dude, this is serious! We gotta tell the others!”
It did pose a problem, because considering they were after him, he couldn’t play this off as well as he wanted.
Had it been Mikey, or Donnie, or even Raph, he could’ve just banned them for a few days while they looked for whatever and whoever had put them in this position, maybe let Donnie loose for enough time to make them regret their choices, and then go back to normal.
But it was him.
The second they went back to the lair, Mikey would tattle to the other two, and he’d be put in time out.
And he knew why, he understood. He was just thinking that he’d do the same to his brothers if they were in the same position.
But he was supposed to be the leader. He was supposed to fix this situation. Not be the reason why his brothers were beaten to exhaustion.
Not again.
Not after—
He drew a breath and pushed Mikey down with the same hand he had just patted him with, laughing at his complaints, feeling better when the box turtle smacked his hands away, dropping his hold on Leo.
“Relax, lil bro.” He looked back at Hueso, ignoring the youngest’s yelp. The skeleton seemed to relax with their interactions. “Vamos, Tío Hueso, we just came for some pizzas to eat. It’s been a long day. We’ll get out of your skin and portal straight home, sí?” He gave a small chirp and the softest smile he could muster towards the man.
Hueso was weak to that, he’d discovered recently. For all he acted mean and constantly scolded Leo for absolutely everything the teen did, he could almost never deny him anything whenever he pulled the ‘tío’ card, and this was no exception.
A sigh rattled from the yokai’s ribs, making Blue brittle with anticipation.
“Fine. I’ll bring you the usuals; then, you leave, and stay home until this whole—“he waved at the air, figuratively pointing at the situation,”—thing is resolved. Por favor .”
Win!
“Yes, yes, of course! I swear, scout’s honor!”
The man raised a single eyebrow at him, before turning and leaving through the same door they had gone through before.
The feeling of danger never left his chest.
“I can’t believe someone just put a hit on you,” Mikey whispered, sitting on the companion chair, fingers playing with the loose ends of his own jacked, barely noticing the heat. “Like- honestly if anyone got a hit on them I figured it’d be Do—no, you know what? This makes sense.”
A mock gasp of offense filled the room. “Excuse me? Moi could never do something so bad I’d get a hit on me! Because this, Angelo, is not a hit. They don’t want my head or anything,” he made a big show off showcasing his head, walking to the desk and sitting on the edge. “Im telling you, hermanito. This is totally a proposal. Someone saw how hot and amazing I am and wanted a piece of this!” He pointed to himself.
Mikey made a face, and Leo thought that his little brother had been spending too much time with Donnie. He was about to point that out when he noticed a glimmer of something through the blinds.
“No offense Leo, but—“
Something made contact, the sound of metal against something soft, like the pad of a finger, and—
“Mikey, down!!”
Both reacted quick enough. Mikey screeched, dropping to the ground, and Leo unsheathed his katanas, skidding towards his brother as he slid down to the floor, both dodging the laser that just went through the crystal.
“Leo!”
He heard Hueso shouting from outside the room, things that were most definitely not pizzas clattering with a metallic echo against the ground as the man dropped them, but he couldn’t care less—Leo didn’t give a shit if they attacked him, but Mikey?!
Gritting his teeth, Leo tried to discern their attacker, but he couldn’t see their face through the charred blinds, and rather than drop everything and fight, he knew that retreating was the smart choice. He wasn’t gonna go against what his brothers had explicitly asked him.
He knew how that ended.
More importantly, neither Mikey or he were in a condition to fight, even if they wanted to.
A sting from his own teeth biting through the skin of his inner cheek marked the second he took a decision, and he slashed the ground beneath them to make a portal.
Too late he realized the way the energy shifted from his own into a cold slimy one that reminded him of the portals Draxum used sometimes to move around.
“Shit—“
They’d been portal-jacked, and there was no way to avoid falling into the portal he himself had made.
They didn’t fall for long.
Freezing air hit him in the face, and he twisted his body as well as he could to fall on his feet.
He felt Mikey do the same, and in a few seconds, both hit the roof of some random building.
‘Portal’, his mind demanded, and he provided, making another portal by his side. The same slimy energy clawed at his ninpo, making him cringe away from the portal, glaring at the offending rupture as it disappeared in a flash.
“What happened? Why aren’t we home?”
“We got portal jacked,” Leo grumbled, reaching for the panic button. This was more serious than he had assumed before.
‘Stupid, now you dragged Mikey into this’.
Because of course he had once again ignored something important and now his family was in danger because of him.
He hadn’t even done anything bad this time!
He hadn’t done anything !
“Leo! Careful!”
Mikey pushed him to the side, making him gape at the dart that flew over their heads.
“Can you guys stop shooting us?! Do you know how rude that is?!”
His younger brother slid off of him, his nunchucks out in a fly, though there was a slight waver in the fighting stance he took.
The slider was up in an instant, a stance that wasn’t quite the correct one, hissing at the way his muscles screamed of overuse.
More than one enemy appeared on the roof, surrounding them. All unknown faces that had a cold dead stare as a common denominator.
God, how would Donnie laugh if he saw this.
Grabbing both swords with a hand, Leonardo reached for the button again, taking it out with a swift movement and cursing out loud when something slammed against his wrist, the wave of pain that followed forcing him to drop the keychain into the ground. Blue groaned when he heard the button getting smashed to pieces.
“Did you just throw a brick at me?”
It was fast. The prediction as to where his hand would be had been admirable if anything, but more than impressed he was pissed. Twisting his wrist fucking hurt, and it wasn’t broken but it almost felt like it.
“Dude, not cool,” Mikey gave an awkward laugh, not out of amusement but out of stress. “We don’t go around throwing bricks at people, you know?”
His mind ran through all possibilities.
It was obvious that fighting wasn’t an option. Skilled as they were, the cold, the snow, the jackets, and the exhaustion that ate at every single muscle they had, not even counting the fact that they were outnumbered, all of that was a perfect deterrent.
But his portals had been pretty much blocked.
He could feel the slimy energy poking at his ninpo, and wherever that led, he didn’t want to know.
Calling Don and Raph wasn’t an option anymore, and he wasn’t sure where exactly they had been sent to because it was a low roof, which meant that they were surrounded by many other buildings blocking their view and their escape routes.
If he pushed through one side, they would probably get a chance to go lower; without other roofs to track them from, they would have to follow them down, and they would probably be able to lose them either in the streets or by hiding in the first manhole they found, to at least send a message with their phones to the others for a rescue.
And they needed to be fast, because he doubted that the many attackers that surrounded them lacked the means to knock him out one hit with one of those annoying dart guns.
But for all of that, he needed a weak link. Someone in the opposing group that looked smaller, or more doubtful, someone…
Like the third by the right, whose stance was off because they favored their right side and put way more weight on that leg.
“You see the flash, and throw yourself off the roof in that direction,” he ordered.
Mikey didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. Leo knew that he had understood him, even with the wind dragging his voice away.
“Ready?”
“When am I not?” The box turtle shot back.
And so Leo threw one of his katanas, dodged by ninth up front and ignored by the rest as soon as it was out of view—bouncing by the hilt in a window, sent back almost like a boomerang through the other side.
“You missed,” a young voice mocked, the same enemy that had dodged the attack just before. With airs of superiority, they raised one of those weird dart guns in Leo’s direction.
In all Leo fashion, he flashed a grin and finger gunned at Ninth. “You’re not the first to make that mistake, buddy,”
Electric energy crackles through the bonds of the slimy one, and he crackles with boisterous laughter when he disintegrated and re-appeared just behind Third, skidding over the ground behind before sending a strong kick to the centered leg, sending the poor dude straight to the ground.
Voices filled with confusion fill the roof as does the sound of clicking and loading from the many guns that the criminals hold, but by that time, he is already humming to Bamboléo with a sharp grin straight at Ninth, with Mikey by his side, saluting as both drop from the roof under Ninth’s furious and dumbfounded sight.
Mikey grabs him by the torso, and extends the chain of his weapon to serve them as a grappling hook, both soaring through the—almost—empty streets of New York.
“Nice work, Mikey!!”
His brother laughed in response, a big and a cited “yahoo!!” While his eyes drifted away from the front, gleefully looking at Leo.
Just in time for something to slam against them and send them sprawling to the ground.
The concrete beneath them breaks, and Leo has half a mind to think that his phone is probably gone there, though he does get to cushion most of Mikey’s fall.
“What… the heck was… that?” Orange’s strained voice came from his left side.
“I… have no idea,” Leo wheezed, scrambling up to assess the situation.
Mikey seemed okay from his perspective. It would bruise—most if not all of his body—, of course, but they hadn’t been that high up, in the middle of the pendulum’s low curve. The jackets were thick enough, and he had fallen on top of Leo, so he’d be fine. No major injuries that pressed for attention were visible, and besides a small spell of dizziness that flashed in his unsteady eyes, it didn’t seem like he had a concussion or an internal… something .
Though his baby bro had received most of the impact from their assailant, it wasn’t surprising that he was so winded.
Leo had received the worst of the fall, and it still had been better than he had worried when they first began falling. His shell hurt—not cracked, but they were more sensitive than most people thought, so of course it hurt. Nothing broken, besides his pride. His wrist twisted, but not sprained.
His head hurt. There hadn’t been an impact—that he knew of—and yet his world was spinning around like he was inside a blender.
“You good, Mikester?”
“I…I don’t think I can- I can stand,” his brother answered in between heaves. “Don’t have it in me anymore, haha.”
Leo bit the inside of his lip, looking at their surroundings. “Hang in there, big man,”
To their right side, both their weapons laid in the ground, just out of reach.
And from behind, a strong presence followed them to the ground, their landing much more graceful than theirs.
‘Get out of here’, his head screamed. ‘Get Mikey out of here’.
His injured hand was the closest to their weapons, and he reached for them, just for a dart to stick to that same arm.
“Oh, come on,” he grumbled, looking at the assailant, only to find a blurry figure walking slowly towards them..
“Leo—“ Mikey groaned, trying to sit up, but too tired to fight against the laws of physics that kept him stuck to the ground. “Leo?”
“I’m…. Shit, I’m here, Mikey,” he grazed the hilt of one of his swords with the tip of his fingers, trying to pull it towards him as he fought the weakness that filled his body like a wave of drowsiness.
“I don’t want to tell Donnie and Raph that they were right…”
That startled a laughter out of Leo.
They were fucked.
He was fucked.
The steps got louder.
“…I told you it was a hit.”
He didn’t have the words to answer, so he mused as he finally got a grip on the weapon, dragging him towards him as fast as he could, trying to ignore the desaturation of the world, and how it got darker by the second.
Their assailant walked faster, but had no chance to get to them before Leo stood up, staggering as he posed on defense.
While his healthy hand covered them from the front, his injured hand went back, slashing another portal beneath them, this time one of his own, to his relief.
“Leo!!”
Mikey went through with a soft ‘vwoop’, and he himself embraced the electric feeling as he accepted the way his mind dropped into nothingness.
But as he was halfway through, their assailant closed distance between them with a sprint, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and pulling him away from safety, promptly throwing him away in another direction.
‘Shit’ was the last thing on his head as he watched the portal close in the distance, cold and snow still surrounding him as his eyes rolled up and the lights went out for him.
Chapter 2: She's unhinged
Summary:
Bad news reach the family.
Leo wakes up.
Notes:
Remember to check the tags!
I noticed that there's a weird formatting with a kind of double-jump that I Honestly Hadn't Noticed, (despite the fact that my first fic is almost 42 chapters long, I Know) so I fixed it in this chapter. I'll edit the first one, hopefully this weekend. Sorry!
Enjoy the chapter <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The news that Leo had been kidnapped arrived approximately nineteen minutes and fifty two seconds after he and Mikey had left.
In colloquial terms, that day had sucked.
Casey and Junior had agreed to leave New York City together to explore the world several months prior.
After the invasion, it had taken two and a half months for them to heal from the worst of their injuries—Leo, specifically.
Cassandra wanted to expand her horizon, willing to take a break from her girls; Casey wanted to meet the world without the Kraang.
And despite how awkward their first meeting had been, both quickly bonded over the cool stories both had from their respective lives, and as soon as the family was stable—medically speaking of course—they decided to travel together for a while.
Up they went, fake identities, passports, and retractable weapons that hid their appearance looking like everyday items, and the Hamatos never ever saw them again.
Except for the weekly videochat they hosted, just to check on Junior while he adjusted to their pacific world.
And the photos in the group chat that arrived every other day.
And of course, that day, when they picked them up from a building just outside the metro line that connected with the airport.
However, seeing them again in person was different. It was deemed an special occasion, and it was treated by the Hamato siblings as such.
They had planned plenty of activities; Leo wanted to sneak into the movies, and Raph wanted to show Jr one of his favorite plush toy stores. Mikey decided for an art exhibition, and Donnie wanted to go to the museum to see an exposition on the most recent photographs of the farthest ends of the universe that the humans could get.
None of the activities which they got to do, because the attacks began, higher in intensity that it had been the rest of the week Instead of enjoying their day as intended, they spent from the morning—before even getting the chance to pick up the Jones—to the late noon escaping around the city from a bunch of low life yokais with no clear purpose other than to fuck with them.
They arrived at the lair covered in sweat, grime and bruises, all frustrated with the situation and hoping that the next days would be different.
“Don’t worry too much about it,” April had told them, her hand on the strip of her backpack and an apologetic smile on her face. “We’ll make up for the time lost today later!”
But their sister’s words only deflated their spirits further.
Maybe that was the reason why Mikey was so against cooking that day.
“I just hate doing something halfway, y’know?” His littlest brother had told him once. “It feels like—if I’m not feeling it one hundred percent, it’s probably better if I just don’t. Don’t wanna lose quality just because I’m not in the mood.”
Leo had always been self sacrificing, although before the invasion, it was a lot easier to joke about it and even purposefully ask him to do dangerous stuff as a ‘distraction’.
After the invasion however, Donnie realized just how bad his twin’s martyr streak was, and never again did he want to make a joke of the kind.
Sure, one could think, ‘the Kraang was a ‘worst case scenario'’, or, ‘even if he sacrificed himself again it probably wouldn’t end as badly as it did during the invasion’. And more often than not, those thoughts would—stadistically—be correct.
But it set a precedent, a dangerous one.
If he could throw himself into the equivalent of the various fantastic descriptions of hell, what else would he throw himself to?
And most importantly, how would they know if the next sacrifice wasn’t the last one, too?
Okay, maybe the next threat wouldn’t be the Kraang; but even a determined duck was dangerous enough to kill. A stray bullet, a bad hit, a bad fall, a shock a bit too intense, an unknown substance into the bloodstream that works as venom for them—too many possibilities that didn’t need to be the worst case scenario to actually maim or even kill.
And Leo would be willing to take it in their stead, every single time, even if he sometimes joked about doing otherwise.
Of course, Donnie didn’t voice his thoughts the same way Mikey and Raph didn’t; but they all had a very clear understanding that despite Leo’s usual goofy and egocentric behavior, their brother was capable of being selfless to the point of self destruction.
And whether he wanted or not, that thought set a spark of a…mildly overprotective drive towards his twin. His brothers, in general, but considering Leo had almost died, well–not that he’d ever admit it, anyways.
That’s why, when he caught a yokai trying to stab Leo with a syringe, he saw red.
And here’s the thing: Donnie loves collecting data.
He has tons and tons of servers filled with lists of things that aren’t important in the long run but help him slow down the stream of thoughts constantly running in his brain.
It goes from the stupidest little thing, like the amount of times Raph says hero in a day—Leon’s idea, in fact—to the amount of criminals that have attacked them during a week.
Not to be confused with the amount of criminals they have attacked during a week.
It’s how he noticed the signs of a planned attack. It’s how he discovered that someone was trying to get them.
And after he caught that yokai trying to drug Leo, it’s how he realized that they were targeting his twin from the beginning.
To take down or kidnap, he wasn’t sure, though the data recollection pointed towards a focus on capture. There were easier ways to kill than injecting poison, and easier ways to incapacitate than drugs, especially in the midst of a battle. It was, of course, a guess more than a conclusion.
Donnie lacked the data to be sure that they hadn’t been trying to off his brother through unconventional means.
But if he had to ‘place a bet’ on something, it would be that it’s all a plan to separate Leo from them.
The only thing that he didn’t understand, is…why.
Why Leonardo, out of all of them.
If it was to murder him, he could probably understand.
Leo was a strategist, with a wit and charm that he could use to change all tides in their favor.
He was also their—self appointed—medic, but he shined the most when it was time to make a plan to lead them to victory, even in the direst of situations.
If they were trying to incapacitate Leo, temporarily or permanently, it had to be an attempt to take them out by taking the strategist— their leader , his mind provided—out first.
However, if they wanted to kidnap him, it didn’t really make sense.
In the most respectful way possible, of course. He loved his twin deeply, even if he refused to say so out loud for fear of the filial intimacy that would arise the second he got soft.
But it made no sense.
Leo was smart, but Donnie was smarter in most ways.
Leo was strong, but Raph was stronger in most aspects.
Mystics weren’t it, because in comparison to any of them, Leo actually had the hardest time learning to control his mystical abilities—powerful ones, sure, teleporting was no joke, traveling and cutting through space was incredible on its own, but Leo had definitely had a hard time adapting to his abilities. Even Donnie, who had his ninpō powers the least amount of time, had a faster growth. And if mystics were the topic, Mikey definitely dominated in that field.
And none of that was meant as an insult, no. Each of them had their abilities, the thing that shined over the rest.
None of them would be able to formulate a plan that worked out so perfectly as Leo’s usually did.
The thing about Leo’s specific set of abilities was that, unlike the rest of them, his wit couldn’t be forced out of him.
They wouldn’t be able to manipulate Leo into giving them what they want because Leo always was one step ahead. They couldn’t use his passion like they could for Donnie, or his naivety and sense of justice like they could with Raph or Mikey.
That’s why the kidnapping theory sounded so far-fetched.
The point was…that Donnie was worried. About a lot of things. And most of them had Leonardo in the middle, one way or another.
Still, when Mikey and Leo insisted, Donnie reached the conclusion that there was no risk in letting the idiots go for some pizzas.
Hueso had a soft spot for them, mostly for Leo, so the chances that they got attacked inside his restaurant were minimal.
Besides, it was true that his portalling abilities provided the safest escape route; at least they did now that he fully controlled them and didn’t occasionally send anyone to Tahiti or some other weird pocket hell dimension.
So irritated as he was, he agreed with Mikey and Leo, and instead of bothering to get them to stay, he retreated back into the armrest he had claimed before, choosing to focus on mindless tasks like finding some interesting fanfiction, or engaging in TikTok scrolling until the pending irritation in his chest subsided.
Donnie didn’t say a thing while Raph made a hole in their tv room, pacing over and over in the same place he was when the other two left, his face squished into an ugly frown of worry.
He understood the feeling, but their brothers were okay.
They had portals to escape, and a button, and their phones, and they went to a safe zone, so they were okay .
And then a portal opened, and Mikey fell inside the lair with a loud gasp, facedown against the ground.
Both Raph and Donnie knew right then that something had gone horribly wrong.
“Mikey!” Their oldest brother exclaimed, already on his knees by Mikey’s side, a soothing hand over the youngest’s shell
Donnie didn’t waste a second either. The moment Mikey touched the ground, he had already dropped his phone to the couch, jumping down from his spot in the armrest to crouch on the other side of his littlest brother.
“Mikey, are you okay?”, “Where is Leo?!”, they questioned at the same time.
Okay. Fuck, Mikey was hurt. They had been attacked while they were outside.
Maybe inquiring over the lack of his twin wasn’t the correct reaction he should’ve had considering all the bruises already blossoming in the small turtle.
‘But Leo is the target’.
‘Leo was the target and he isn’t back home yet’.
Mikey and Leo were attacked while outside, Leo’s portal just spit Mikey into the lair, and he still hadn’t gone through.
The conclusion was easy to make.
“Mikey!” He shaked the youngest’s shoulder slightly.
That seemed to snap Mikey out of his trance.
He hiccuped, pushed both of their hands away, and turned towards the rupture, standing up into position to try to jump inside, back to wherever Leo was supposed to be.
Late. As he bounced towards the hole, it fizzled out of existence. Mikey landed in an empty spot in the middle of the room.
The blue light disappeared, leaving the room in darkness despite the fact that most lights were still on.
The three remaining brothers stood in silence, shock and confusion so thick that it felt like something bad would happen if any of them breathed too loudly.
No other portal appeared. Still on the ground, Donnie’s position felt a bit too familiar.
If he blinked for a second too long, the soft shell could almost see the big explosion in the sky, the expansive wave pushing any clouds out of the way for a better view of their brother’s demise, sending the top of the buildings in the surrounding area to the clock tower plunging down.
The static from their comms filled their ears, and he felt the impulse to turn his head away, not wanting to see—
The box turtle broke first. “No…no, no, no— no!!” Mikey screamed.
He raised his hands, as if trying to grab the nonexistent portal, uselessly patting the air with frustration for a few seconds. His legs gave in soon after, and he slumped against the floor with an expression that did anything but comfort the other two.
Few times did they see Mikey so angry.
“Mikey, what happened?!” Raph scooted over, grabbing the youngest’s hands in an attempt to ground him. “Where’s Leo?!”
Instead of answering, Michelangelo sobbed.
“Mikey!” Donnie snapped, ignoring the warning glare that Raph sent his way. “Where is Leo?!”
With a hiccup, Mikey answered, “they got him!”
“Who got him?! what are you talking about?!”
The box turtle took his hands back from Raph’s hold, dragging them over his face, and with them, the snot and tears that tried to win over the vicious expression and failed miserably. “I don’t know! They!”
“They, who ?!” Donnie pressed. “Is he alive?!”
“ Donnie !” Raphael scolded him.
“What?! He is not making any sense! We need to—“
“Se-señor Hueso said there was—he said there was a bounty.“ Mikey hiccuped again, to which the other two went silent, both wearing matching expressions of horror and surprise, “he said—he said that someone with power wanted…that someone with—with power was paying for Leo,”
Raph and Donnie shared a look.
“Why didn’t you come home immediately!?” The snapper turned at their baby brother, a slight tremble in his hands.
“We were—we hid in the office! We were supposed to be safe.” Mikey whined in distress, his expression turning into annoyance at himself. ‘Why didn’t we?!’, he seemed to ask himself. “It was—Señor Hueso went to make our pizzas, and we stayed in his office—and someone shot me!” He gestured wildly at himself. “And Leo noticed first. He—Leo made a portal to bring us back, but we then appeared on this building with a low roof, and he said—he told me we were portal-jacked!”
As his frustration picked up, the speed at which Mikey narrated his story did too, and the amount of sobbing joined soon after.
Donnie wasn’t sure where to place his anger—at Leo, for leaving when he knew he was the target? At Señor Hueso for not sending them back right away, and not keeping them safe? At himself for letting them go knowing the risks? At the attackers for following someone’s orders for money?—by the way Raph claws left a trail in the ground when he closed them into fists, the Snapper didn’t know where to direct all the feelings in his chest either.
“He was gonna press the panic button, to—we tried—we tried to call you but some—some dude threw a brick at him! And then…then Leo told me to jump off the—the roof to his signal and he kicked one of them—“
“A brick?!”
“Raph he just told us he got shot, are you seriously worried about a brick?!” He hissed at Raph, who opened his mouth to fire something back.
“Are you gonna let me continue?!!” Michelangelo slammed his fists on his lap, glaring at both of them.
The other two snapped their beaks closed with a ‘click’ and Mikey took that chance to continue.” We were—they surrounded us, so Leo tricked them and he kicked one of them and we jumped and then—someone else!! Something! I don’t know!” He slammed his knee with a fist until Raph stopped him, one of his big hands on top of Mikey’s little ones as delicately as he could given the situation. “It just body slammed us! In—in the middle of the air! And—Leo cushioned my fall but I received most of the hit so I couldn’t stand up—So Leo opened a portal and he was right behind me! He was—“ Mikey broke once more into sobs.
But he wasn’t right behind Mikey. Otherwise, he’d be here right now.
Donnie wondered if they had drugged him. They made an attempt before, maybe more times that he didn’t know of.
One way or another, someone had stopped Leo from crossing the portal with Mikey, someone had Leo.
They lost Leo.
At the thought, Donnie felt like choking.
It was the end of the invasion all over again, except this time they couldn’t hope to use Mikey’s untrained magic to find their brother.
Leo was gone .
But he wasn’t dead.
He wasn’t—couldn’t be.
It didn’t feel like he was gone gone, it didn’t feel like he was dead .
During the invasion…when Leo had crossed that portal with no way back, Donnie had felt their Ninpō connection cut in half. There was no way to reach a dimension meant to contain, their Ninpō couldn’t reach his twin in any way shape or form, and by any standard he had, Leo had been dead.
It felt like Leo was dead.
But right now? He could feel him.
Donnie could feel his twin, Donnie could feel Leo.
If they could reach Leo in a hell dimension, they could reach him in this one, too.
And they had the tracker!
Yes, he didn’t forget. His panic might have gotten the best of him but the tracker in Leo was still there.
And okay, there wasn’t supposed to be any more trackers in his sibling’s stuff, even less in his siblings.
But that wasn’t important right now! Because clearly he had been right, and now they had a direct path to Leonardo!
If a Yokai captured him—Mikey didn’t mention any humans, and the bounty was from the Hidden City considering the amount of yokai that had attacked them recently, so it had to be a yokai—then he’d have to change the frequency with the use of his Ninpō to track him into the magic counterpart of the city, but as soon as he did that they should get a direct path to their leader—their brother.
He wasn’t gonna get anything down in such an uncomfortable position, so he dropped his weight on his butt and crossed his legs, gauntlet to his face, tapping in quick succession the quick path to the program with his brothers trackers and—
Deactivated.
He blinked.
Close, reset. It had to be a glitch.
Sure, he had tested it over and over to make sure it would withstand everything and anything and that it wouldn’t fail.
Sure, the only way for it to show the deactivated message was if it had been turned off manually or destroyed.
But there was no way for them to know about the tracker.
And even if they knew, he would have gotten a warning!
Quick turned into frantic, and he booted on the program again—
Deactivated .
Bright lines painted in red led dots welcomed him back.
Raph’s and Mikey’s vitals showed distress, the youngest showed several alerts of injuries, but Leo’s vitals had a gray overlay to it, and where his heart rate should be, it read—
Deactivated .
Donnie hadn’t even noticed how both of his hands trembled uncontrollably, not until he let them rest in his lap.
Slowly, he raised his head, eyes trailing the ground until he reached his brothers, barely made aware that they were looking at him expectantly.
He swallowed the knot in his throat, and opened his mouth. No sound came out, but a hiccup of desperation, and with his face squished into a sour expression, he shook his head a no.
Raph and Mikey’s faces fell, and the box turtle shrank into his shell with a sonorous sob.
Raphael took a second.
And it surprised Donnie, for as emotional as Raph usually was, any reaction he had been ready to see had been washed out from the eldest’ face.
No sign of anger, or sadness, or anxiety—nothing but numb exhaustion, as the snapper turtle took out his phone and dialed a number, waiting two rings before the person on the other side answered.
“April?…Raph has to tell you something…No…Yeah…April, something bad happened”.
———————————————
As consciousness slammed into him the same way that asshole of a person did, Leonardo realized several things.
First of all, whatever had been used to drug him? Yeah, it was strong as fuck. Even stuck as he was he could feel his body wobbling in place, as if the world was spinning even though it most likely wasn’t—or he hoped it wasn’t because holy shit that would be crazy . It didn’t numb the pain in his whole body, including the back of his shoulder, where it felt like he had stitches that he didn’t remember having before passing out.
It did numb most of his limbs, and kept him in a state that he could only compare to the equivalent of ending up underwater after three days without sleep, with cotton shoved inside his ears and sand sliding down his throat, after second-hand smoking weed just by walking around a street lit on fire as the aftermath of an explosion, after a mission gone wrong.
And if anyone asked why his description was so specific, he’d asked you if you were a cop, ‘cause he had no obligation to answer otherwise.
Not that he’d answer either way.
All in all it was a disgusting experience, and he hoped whatever it was that it wouldn’t have a lasting effect and that his body would purge it quickly, because if it continued, he would puke his last meal.
Second, the reason he was stuck in place was because he was tied up to a chair. The position wasn’t the most comfortable. Neither were the ropes. And the lack of his warm clothes didn’t lessen his worries, especially when he realized that it included his ninja stuff, like the belt and straps, and the pouches filled with first aid, and his swords.
And his bandana.
Which, honestly, made him feel even more uncomfortable. Almost nude.
Actually, nothing about his current situation was comfortable, and he really, really felt like puking—he would mention it every single chance he had, because god he really wanted to. Tho, at this point in time he couldn’t remember his last meal.
And he didn’t know how much time had passed since he passed out.
Which meant that there probably was nothing in his stomach, and with nothing in his stomach it would probably just end up being some gagging. A win, really, as he really didn’t want to puke.
He didn’t make a move to untie himself. With the way the world made rounds like it was dancing to Shakira, he didn’t feel comfortable breaking the only thing that supported him into place, horrible as it was.
Because it was. Horrible. He could already see the bruises that the ropes would leave behind, the friction marks. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
Speaking of horrible, the last thing he realized was the disgusting and metallic smell of blood.
It had been in the back of his mind from the moment he started to wake up, but as soon as he was done assessing his own condition, this last fact came into the front, waving, kicking and screaming for his attention.
Ok, sure, he wasn't a stranger to blood. God, definitely not after the…Kraang.
However, the amount of blood that was required to make a stench like the one currently attacking his senses wasn’t the same he was used to.
Self appointed medic as he was, he’s had to fix really ugly injuries, so he knew. He knew the difference between healing, and death.
He knew that the unfortunate creature whose blood had been used like an aromatic candle as a warning was no longer in the land of the living.
His stomach churned at the thought.
God, he really didn’t want to open his eyes, already dreading to see what the smell came from.
He had to; if he wanted to escape at least. He couldn’t make an escape attempt without a plan, and he couldn’t make a plan if he didn’t even know where he was.
So against his better judgment, he blinked his eyes open, wincing at the light that hit him as soon as he did.
Of course, he regretted it instantly.
Sitting on the edge of her desk, mimicking unknowingly the same pose he had back at Hueso’s restaurant, sat Big Mama in her cloaked form, a sharp smile in her face, comfortably waiting for him to wake up from a small distance, her clothes drenched in a dark liquid that he knew was blood, though he tried hard to act as if it was anything else.
Maybe wine.
Yes, totally. It one hundred percent had to be wine. And whoever’s feet those were, from behind the desk, were probably just resting.
It really didn’t help his aching stomach, the smell that burned inside his nostrils.
There was something different about her too, and Leo couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. Her appearance was pristine as usual, sans the red-thing-he-refused-to-call-blood, and still, her eyes, her smile…something in her face felt unhinged in a way she wasn’t the last time he saw her.
Leo opened his mouth to speak, jest a little as his usual routine went, trying to get out of the criminal mastermind in front of him all the questions that had been dancing in his head since he realized that the attacks were orchestrated, but no word—not even a sound—dared to leave his throat. He gaped dumbly before giving up and dropping his head like dead weight.
“I see you’re awake, turtley-boo!”.
Ugh, her voice was even more irritating now that he was heavily drugged.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say to Mama, you know?”.
Talking out loud without realizing it wasn’t an amazing thing to do, and it cemented the fact that he still was high as a kite.
He hummed, squeezing his eyes as if that would take the blurriness away. “Kidnapping isn’t a very nice thing to do to a tentative ally either but here we are” He smiled humorlessly at her, eyes as sharp as knives.
She laughed, and the sound made his head thump with a small wave of pain.
“You’re right, My Prize,” she stood up, circling around him, touching him in a soft way that made his skin crawl. “It wasn’t a very nice thing to do. However, I’ll make up for it! You’ll see,”
He snorted, as if she just made the funniest comment in her life. No further comment, he was admittedly not in the mood to joke much, considering he was being held hostage, and there was a dead body peeking from behind her desk, a few feet away from them.
It was a planted situation.
No way in hell that that woman would be caught dead with her best clothes looking like a crime scene—not even when she was part of an actual crime scene.
Don’t get him wrong, whoever had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time was one hundred percent dead, muerto, unalived, already a part of the great beyond and shit.
But the fact that it had happened specifically around the time he began to wake up was deliberate. The fresh look of the blood betrayed her by giving him that bit of knowledge.
The same way most of the room had been set up. All pointy objects hidden from view, with the big windows behind Big Mama, and a bunch of setups that reeked of traps around the office, there mostly as a deterrent from trying to escape.
If he paid enough attention, he could hear the heavy breathing of Gus somewhere outside the room, and the hushed whispers of a conversation between workers of the hotel.
It all culminated in huge warning, a ‘fuck around and find out’ sign that needed no words to make its point. That Big Mama needed something and she had no qualms on doing anything to get it.
That she was dangerous, even more than usual.
And he already had a bad feeling about what she really wanted with him.
“So, no offense, but really full offense,” he tested the words, frowning at the dry feeling in his mouth. “Why the hell am I here?”
The woman laughed.
It was an exaggerated laughter, legitly amused but also really overdone for no other reason than to show him he wasn’t gonna be taken particularly seriously.
“I reckon you know why already, sweet potaboo.” She said, making a stop in front of him and resting against the desk.
He huffed, tugging on the ropes experimentally.
“You wanna make a deal.”
It was the only reason why Big Mama would want him in her Hotel after all their past interactions. And it had to be something important to her if she was willing to go straight into kidnapping rather than just sending him a message like a normal person.
Or maybe she was just fucking crazy like that.
There was not an inkling of doubt in his mind that maybe this was normal Big Mama behavior, all their past history considered.
Plus, she didn’t really have a way of contacting him, did she? His dad would probably cut off any attempts she made.
Maybe she had tried, and with no positive response to her attempts at contacting him, she turned into more questionable options. It made a little more sense then, that even if it was for more generic reasons, her frustration had grown into something big enough to send a bounty on him.
Though something told him that this was indeed important for her; regardless of if it was or not common for her to just kidnap people she wanted to talk to.
“I’ll bite. What was so important that you couldn’t just ask for a phone number?” He forced a tiny fake ass innocent smile.
She hummed, trailing her fingers over the edge of the desk.
“Well, it’s funny, really,” she sat back up at her desk. “See, a few months ago, before the little rumpledumpus incident, I was diagnosed with an illness.”
Leo whistled, a laughter exaggerated not unlike Big Mama’s in an unspoken challenge. ‘I’m gonna take you as seriously as you take me, which is not at all’, it said.
“And you came to me? I’m a field medic, lady, not a specialist.”
Big Mama rolled her eyes at him.
Of course he figured she had already seeked out a solution to her health problem with subjects far more well versed in the topic.
Still, her reaction was worth the quip.
“I doubt you’d be worth half of what you’re worth if you were simply a medic rather than a strategist.”
Ouch, rude.
Sure, he didn’t go to medic school, but a high roll in persuasion and seven years of actually reading those huge university books sure made people think he did.
It was an insult to his abilities and honor to mock those mad skills he had with—well, all the medical equipment they had back at the medbay.
Speaking of the medbay…
His thoughts drifted towards his brothers. Mikey specifically. Though his condition hadn’t been terrible, he had wanted the youngest of their family to rest, and last night's fight had been all but that. The fall especially worried him. Leo wasn’t sure that Mikey had been all there before he tried to portal them home.
God, he hoped Mikey wasn’t in the medbay. If on top of dragging him to danger just for a pizza, he also got his little brother hurt? He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
“I’m hurt that you doubt my abilities as a doctor,” he groaned, testing the wrist that had been injured last night.
It would bruise horribly. He couldn’t feel it dislocated, and it definitely wasn’t broken, but turning it felt like dragging it through lava and fire ants and he very much hated whoever had thrown that brick at his hand.
At least it hadn’t worsened from last night—or last time he was awake, he wasn’t really sure it had been exactly last night.
Could’ve been a whole week ago and he’d have no idea.
It…probably hadn’t been a whole week, considering the state of his wrist.
But one ever knows.
His medical knowledge says that it’s been between one or two days since he first obtained the injury.
He’d guessed just one, considering the rope marks seemed from a few hours ago—Big Mama wasn’t patient either. He didn’t think she’d have the patience to keep him drugged for too long.
He didn’t even know what time it was. The windows covered pretty well anything with its tinted panes, but he could see something bright from above the silhouettes of the buildings that surrounded the place, and their position considered, already sunset.
“Come on, my phizz-whizzing deary Blue. We both know that your best asset isn’t that.”
Leo doubted she wanted his skills for a friendly match against some other criminal organization over a team building exercise.
But she also wasn’t telling him the whole thing and he would stall as long as necessary until he knew every single juicy detail there was to this turtle-napping.
“Yes, I know my face is great. I’m not the face man for any reason!” He chuckled, grunting when the movement sent a dizzy wave over him. “I don’t understand how my handsome face has anything to do with your illness.”
The woman hummed, reaching for a handkerchief near her that was promptly used to wipe the drying blood from her face and hands.
“I’m dying.”
The admission leaves a sonorous silence behind, and Leonardo winces at the casual way she says the two words, like talking about weather rather than her life.
“That… sucks,” he says, very smartly, all sass forgotten at the newfound vulnerability that the woman lets out for him.
Big Mama laughs at his reaction, and he suddenly feels very awkward, and very small.
“Yes, it really isn’t an ideal situation.”
Still, that didn’t answer—
Oh.
Oh god it did answer his question.
Leo was suddenly very aware of why he had been kidnapped. Of why the woman in front of him had sent so many yokai to find and capture him, and he was also very aware that Big Mama knows that he knows.
He didn’t even let the mask fall, and still the woman had noticed the slightest change in his demeanor at the realization.
One of her legs twitches with excitement. The littlest movement, something he almost thought he imagined, if not because she had let her smile sharpen at the sight of his surprise.
“Huh, what would you know? When I said some rich person wanted me as their heir, I wasn’t expecting it to be the truth,”
This time, her break into laughter is genuine. She threw her head back and half assed an attempt at covering her mouth, and she laughed loudly until her joy broke into a coughing fit.
He winced at the sound. A wet sound that filled even the smallest place in the room. She shrinks on herself, a painful looking movement that tensed her whole body as liquid left her insides to join the caked blood in the handkerchief.
After a minute, she finally breathes comfortably—as comfortable as someone can after almost puking a lung, you know. There was a whistle, every time she took a breath, and Leo wondered how much she had over exerted with this little stunt.
Definitely a terribly patient. He was glad she wasn’t his.
She patted a small drop of blood that slid down her chin with her finger, and did a terrible job at cleaning it up, as it left behind a small trail of red on top of her almost pink skin.
Big mama waved a hand around, dismissively.
“As you can see it’s very serious. I have little time left. I spent most of my time searching for a cure that didn’t exist, and now, a few months before my jiggered untimely demise, I just had to choose someone to keep my legacy alive.”
The word ‘no’ already was on the tip of his tongue, and the only reason he didn’t spit it out yet was because… well, she was mostly covered in blood that wasn’t hers.
Nothing would make him forget about the two feet peeking from behind the desk.
“What if I said no?” Leo asked cautiously, with a sharp smile that hid his hesitation. “I mean, kidnapping someone isn’t exactly a good way to convince someone to help you,” the ropes dropped around him, and he raised his arms to the front, carefully examining the damage. Leo frowned at the dark bruise in his left hand, and at the silver bracelet welded right over the injury with little care. “‘Sides, dunno if you noticed but, like, I already have my whole ninja business thing, sí?, it’s not like I’m currently job-searching, m’am, it is a full time job, I’m afraid.”
Under her scrutinizing look, he shifted his position into a more comfortable cross-legged sitting, resting his elbows against his legs and his head against his one good hand, looking for a reaction.
Big Mama answering with the same kind of ‘danger’ smile did not lessen the alarms blaring on his head.
“Well, bluey lovely sonny boo, it’s not like I’m giving you options here,” she made a move of showing off the room, exhibiting the death and destruction that her fury and desperation left behind.
‘I’m going to do absolutely anything I need to do to keep you here’, her expression whispered, and he believed it.
“What’s stopping me from just running away?”
She pointed at the silver link in his wrist.
“That, of course!”
He looked at her expectantly, waiting for the follow up, because that answered absolutely nothing. She tilted her head with amusement.
“It has a tracker. Similar to the one that was gunzleswiped and removed from you before bringing you back to the hotel.”
Leo almost wanted to sigh.
Donnie…
“It matches with this,” she reached for something in one of her pockets for a bracelet that looked exactly the same as his did, and with a click that echoed in the office, she put it on. “You see, they’re different. Mine has a border. Not sure of the limit, if I’m being honest; I didn't pay much attention to all the fiddle-daddle,” she giggled.
“Ah, somehow I’m not surprised,” he mirrored her expression.
“I’ll have to rectify that,” Big Mama crossed her legs. “I do live to amaze people, I can’t let my sonny out like that!”.
He pulled a face at the name. ‘My sonny’. If she noticed, she didn’t care, and that bothered Leo, because he wanted her to care about his dislike for her.
“As you were saying,” he straightened, waving in her direction in an attempt to hurry back to the topic he wanted.
“Ah, yes. Well, my bracelet is the border. And your tracker is meant to keep you inside!”.
He tapped the silver bracing with a finger. “This little thing? Come on, as much of a fashionista as I am, a bracelet it’s not interesting enough to keep me contained for long.”
Big Mama hummed, fidgeting with her own band. “It’s not meant to contain you physically. But if you do ever leave the border, you’ll be dosed with the same dr- ah, medicine!-“ he raised a brow at her correction—as if he wasn’t aware that he had been drugged. “And you’ll be instantly knocked out, trailed, and brought back!”
Leo huffed. It was a terrible deterrent. He had a thousand ways to fix his situation, and she had to know that.
“What’s stopping me from just taking it off, Rowena MacLeod?”
Taken aback by the comparison to a character she didn’t know, she blinked slowly, fixing her glasses, clearing her throat, and then continuing her evil monologue or something.
“You can’t. It’s sealed with magic; unless you’re planning to cut your arm off.”
“Wow, do you want me to give you a hand that badly?” He laughed.
She stared at him for a second or two before blowing air from her nose into a sort-of-laugh, rolling her eyes back with amusement that took Leonardo by surprise.
“You could say so.”
He didn’t want to finish the conversation like that, so he licked his lips, annoyed with the dryness in his whole mouth—though at least the nausea had subsided at last—and then shot back.
“Donnie or Mikey could probably take it off,” he grinned. If it had to do with technology, their tech savvy could probably make a solution for the bracelet. If magic was the issue, their baby bro had been training with Draxum—and he might lack the knowledge, but the potential he showed comforted Leo. Together, Leo was sure that they’d be able to get rid of the bracelet in a-no-time.
It wouldn’t be a problem.
Big Mama stilled.
The mention of his siblings hadn’t been taken well or lightly, and Big Mama’s face darkened at his comment, making him falter.
“Ah, yes. Your brothers…” she raised a hand to her chin, fingers tapping in an unknown pattern that seemed to be solely to help her think—or just to help her look menacing, he didn’t know. “My Prize, I’m afraid that your brothers don’t quite fit in my vision. Not by our side, at least.”
The next line, he hesitated to formulate.
It was clear that she hated the thought of his brothers getting involved in any way. And she was dangerous, far more than she’d be on any other occasion—his eyes kept darting towards the dead body, slightly watering at the stench that Big Mama completely ignored.
Leo wasn’t sure he wanted to poke at a bear that seemed happy for a reason to go on a murder spree.
Still, he soldiered on and forced a chuckle that anyone else would’ve thought genuine. “Harsh. But we’re kind of a package deal, ¿recuerdas?, my siblings—they’re bound to get involved! All of them,” he thought of April, too, and maybe even the Caseys. “Especially considering you kidnapped-…me…” his voice died down, a shiver running down his shell.
Outright bloodlust flashed in Big Mama’s eyes, and Leo regretted speaking at all. Canines a bit too sharp, eyes of a flat red almost overlapping with the human ones.
‘Run’, his head hissed, ‘Run, Leo, Run, Run, Run run run run runrunrun–’ the intensity of the mantra got higher and higher until it felt like his head was screaming at him.
His fingers twitched, he wanted his swords, and it made him uncomfortable that he could not see his katanas anywhere in the room.
A huge threat sat just in front of him, and there was no way to defend himself if she tried anything against him.
“No, no, deary. I mean, that I don’t want them anywhere near you…” her hands reached for her cloaking brooch, and his breath hitched as her form disfigured from a petite woman into a gigantic spider under violet smoke, her silhouette growing slowly until there was nothing more of the almost pink-skinned lady, now replaced by the terrifying yokai..
Never had her true form felt as blood freezing as it did at the moment.
“I’m aware that your brothers can’t stay out of anyone’s business,” she paused, her legs tapping on the desk with the same rhythm her fingers had just moments ago. “Which is why I must warn you that if they take you away, the tracker will lead me straight to them.”
Leo gulped down his anxiety and his saliva, and mustering the most confident expression he could, he pointed out: “They’ll fight you.”
“They’ll die.”
There’s the same casual tone with which she spoke about her own life disintegrating from her hands. Not a hint of doubt, not the slightest regret, no hint that she was bluffing—and deep in his chest, his instinct screamed not to play around with her.
“We‘ve fought stronger and uglier,” he snickered, forcing himself to relax.
She did not seem annoyed. “It takes just a dart, and I have enough numbers to ensure at least one hits.”
So he turned and played a different card.
If she was not afraid to use the peons as sacrifice against his other pieces, he’d have to move the bishop to deter her from eating any of the others.
“Dad won’t let you. And he won’t forgive you. Not about this.” Leo raised his chin with pride. Surely she’d take that a bit more seriously?
He didn’t expect her to laugh.
“As much as I love my dear Huggypoo, he’ll serve me for naught once I’m dead!,” She clapped her main hands with a faux cheerfulness that made Leo frown. “If anything, I’d be a lot happier if I took him with me.”
Leo froze, to the point he wondered if he was even breathing.
His entire funny-guy facade broke in a million little pieces, his healthy hand tightening the grip he didn’t even know he had on the silver bracelet.
For a second, he really wanted Splinter to appear, and hug him, and lull him to sleep like he sometimes did when they were tots. He wanted Raph to pat him softly on the back and tell him that they’d find a solution, or Donnie to tell him that everything would be okay, that he would blow Big Mama and her entire Nexus for daring to try something at all, even if not with those exact words, and he wanted Mikey to cheer him up and take his mind away from the situation at hand, like he always did, with that big, bright smile of his that shined even more that any kind of magic they had. He wanted April to cover his eyes like she did when he woke up to see his broken body after the invasion, to hum some Taylor Swift song like it was a nursery rhyme, like she did when they were younger.
He wanted his family. He was scared .
And it wasn’t the first time Big Mama’s crazy behavior made him afraid—kidnapping an entire city is no easy feat, and everything that came after was even worse—but it had never gotten to the level where Leo was willing to admit that he was scared.
This was a woman that had nothing left to lose, and was ready to weaponize that against him, who had so much to lose.
He really, really wanted his family.
But no one appeared out of thin air, and the only thing he felt was the mind breaking realization that she was being serious. That she was willing to kill his dad, his siblings, and everything in her way to him.
Leo felt nauseous once again.
“If you hurt them…then I’d have nothing left to lose…and nothing left to stop me .”
The thin-veiled threat made her chuckle, a softness forming in her expression that he hadn’t ever seen before in Big Mama—and the thought of that twisted his gut even more.
“I’ll die, regardless. I’m willing to take you and your clan with me if that’s what you want,” she stepped down from the desk, short steps in his direction until she towered over him.
One of her hands trailed over his cheek the same way Splinter’s sometimes did, an expression full of love that didn’t feel like it belonged there “I don’t want to hurt them, Bluey-poo. I’d hate to take that asset away from you…”
‘Asset’, she said, as if speaking of something material rather than his family.
“But you, better than anyone, must understand that some sacrifices must be made in order to get what we want!”
His mind slipped.
A pink sky, metal heating under his feet.
What looked like his thoughts of the void waved at him from behind the giant rupture that broke the sky like a rock to a window, all leading to an empty realm, with him, the Technodrome, and Kraang One in the middle of it all.
The mechanical joints of the monster clinked with each step it gave in his direction, and Leo didn’t need to think much to get to the conclusion of What-Must-Be-Done in order to save the world—to save his family.
His heart pumped loudly, asking him to think again, to turn around, and call for help. To find another way, or to give up. Anxiety and fear claw from his chest, begging to give up on the plan, to retreat.
His mind had already made up. It smothered the feelings with relief and expectation. It made him raise his head, and it comforted him when the ‘this is how I die’ realization hovered over him.
In front of him, metal hit metal, and Kraang One prepared to launch a new attack, and the grip on the hilts of his swords tightened as the chance to run died in front of his eyes. He looked at the hole in the sky, searching for the best achievable position to teleport them to, and he locked his sight in a single spot before inhaling as the Kraang appeared in front of him, ready to smash him into the ground, and he looked at the red light swallowing him from above—
And Big Mama’s smile widens at his silence.
“You’re right,” he mutters.
Sacrifices must be made.
But never his family. In a million years.
If that meant jumping into the prison dimension and trapping himself together with a monster, or accepting the desperate deal of a dying criminal, he’d do it any time without hesitation.
As the leader—as Leo , plain and simple—it was his duty to keep them safe, whatever it took.
So he raised his healthy hand, fingers pointing at her with a palm wide, and an expression filled with determination.
“I’ll be your heir, then.”
And she wasted not a single second before trapping him with a strong grip, her own hand aggressively shaking his, bobbing him up and down with her massive size and a face too chipper for someone who had just threatened to kill his entire family.
“I'm glad we reached an agreement, sonny!”
Once she died, there would be absolutely nothing to chain him to the Nexus, and he’d burn the place to the ground with glee.
He didn’t even feel guilty at the thought, she knew what she was getting into when she chose to kidnap him, and she knew that he would never keep the Nexus alive after she was gone.
Whatever game she was playing, the prize was stolen before it even began; Big Mama made a grave mistake if she really considered Leo her best option for the job.
Big Mama waited no more. Right after she pulled away, she was already calling for someone. Several employees entered the office, and the spider yokai pointed in several directions at once with her hands–legs…that.
“I want that body cleaned by yesterday, make sure to dispose of it properly and to clean all the blood. The office must be spotless by the time I’m back!” She looked at some otter yokai who nodded repeatedly as they put on some gloves.
The otter chittered loudly at someone in the back, and three different yokais entered with a variety of cleaning tools in their hands, all of them seemingly prepared and accustomed to dealing with that sort of thing.
Half dropped their tools near the body, and positioned themselves each by the head and feet respectively, taking a deep breath before pulling the dead up.
Leo recognized the bear yokai that they had captured exactly a week before–though now he was very much dead, covered in blood, grime and spiderwebs, the yokai’s horror forever engraved in their beat face. He remembered the sensation that crawled in his back right after the arrest, in the street that was currently right below them, coming straight from the same windows that reflected dyed light inside the room forming a beautiful assortment of rainbow rays and colored figures in what was a crime scene in all sense of the name.
His stomach churned.
“You,” she pointed at a chameleon in between the employees. “You’ll take dear bluey-boo to his room,” she turned the chair Leo was in, facing towards the door, into the spotlight. “You know which one. Make sure to close the door properly,” she clicked her tongue and patted Leo’s back, almost sending the slider into the floor. “He still needs to get used to our home, you see.”
The chameleon gave a stern nod, short and clumsy steps until he was in front of Leo, anxiously waiting for the turtle to stand up and follow him.
Biting the inside of his cheek, Leo weighed the pros and cons of stealing one of the tools to make a katana and leave the goddamn Nexus Hotel once and for all.
From the broom in a badger’s hands, to Big Mama’s face, Leo let the thought drift into the sea that was his head. She was fully expecting him to try.
The way she raised the arm with the bracelet towards her face in a big show of cooing at him was enough warning to keep him from doing something stupid.
“Ah, make sure to tell my dear Assistant about the lesson plan for tomorrow once he’s inside his room,” she waved at the chameleon, as if shooing him away. “Tell her that she better get some healing gel too—those idiots clearly didn’t understand what ‘pristine condition’ means.” She huffed, and then turned around, walking back to her desk.
He pursed his lips, and then asked. “What about my mask?”
Big Mama stopped dead in her tracks, turned her body—just enough to be able to look at him—, and gave a little smile that promised nothing good.
Leo didn’t wait further. He stood up in a jump, and proceeded to let the chameleon lead him towards his room for the best future.
He counted the turns, and memorized the route from Big Mama’s office, though the path wasn’t long.
They didn’t change floors, and the chameleon didn’t lengthen their travel unnecessarily.
It barely took more than two minutes to reach their destination, and he just looked as the yokai took a bunch of keys from a bag in their uniform, scanning through them until they found the correct one, inserting it in the keyhole.
The door opened with a click, not making a sound as it revealed the bedroom behind it.
It was majestic, certainly nothing like his own, back in the lair, though it was distinctively empty. A Queen sized bed—for a queen shaped turtle—that had a thin blue veil supported by wooden beams of a type of wood he couldn’t recognize—he was a ninja, not a carpenter.
There was a vanity painted baby blue, with a mirror that was of that fake material that wasn’t glass—maybe he should’ve paid attention to Donnie’s explanation that time, but his twin talked about so many things! Couldn’t blame him for zoning out every once in a while. Really pretty, useless if he wanted a weapon, though.
It held a bunch of candles, in teal, baby blue and violet tones.
Right underneath, there was a chair, painted in the same color as the vanity.
At the opposite side of the entrance was what likely was a closet or a bathroom.
A nightstand with a blue lamp, stars cut into the fabric.
A beautiful violet circular carpet accented the room, right in the middle, but it was by far the thing he liked the least, considering it was clearly in Big Mama’s color.
And that was all.
‘Click’.
Leo didn’t even notice the moment he actually entered the room to explore it, but by that time it was too late; he had been locked inside, and no matter how much he pulled and twisted, the handle would not give in to his demands.
He didn’t know if it bothered him more the fact that the lock was outside or the fact that the lock was
outside
.
‘You have no privacy in here’, it seemed to tell him in a sickly sweet voice.
He scoffed, and sat in the bed.
It was gonna be a long…
Fuck.
Of course he forgot to get that info out of her. He didn’t even know when she would die. A few months could be almost an entire year.
Oh, boy…
Well, he’d have to check about that possible bathroom. He couldn’t hold in the raising vile any longer.
Notes:
Next week will probably be the last scheduled update bc I have work and college and stuff and I'll have to slow down with the writing :(
Sorry if I don't answer comments, I'm just really shy, but I do read (and love) absolutely all of them!!
Hope y'all liked this chapter and see ya next week :)
Chapter 3: They'll get along... sometime
Summary:
Leo's first night at the Nexus Hotel.
The Hamato's second morning without Leo.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Turns out, the extra room was indeed a bathroom.
A closet that led to a bathroom, actually, but the important part was that it had a bathroom.
He had been debating whether to enter or not—the last thing he needed was for it to be a single closet with another dead body.
There was not a single hint of doubt in his head that Big Mama was completely capable of doing something of the sort.
In the end though, his need to throw up had been bigger than his fear, and he ended up being greatly surprised once he actually checked.
And, unlike the main door to ‘his’ room, the bathroom door did have a lock, though it was one of those privacy locks that were easily picked or broken; he couldn’t complain. It was ten times better than having absolutely nowhere to lock himself in away from Big Mama and her goons.
After cleaning himself up a bit, he checked the room.
There was a toothbrush, soap and shower gel, and other basic hygiene basics that couldn’t be used as a weapon—maybe the toothbrush, if he concentrated enough, could be turned into a katana. But he was reaching. He had never tried to make a weapon out of a tool without an edge, because it came easier to him to use something already sharpened.
For new things, there was always time. And what better time to test it than trying to get out of this extremely weird situation?
In the closet, a couple of different outfits hung in place. Two sets of pajamas, wildly different to the one he had back home. A suit that seemed too big for him, and a couple of every-day clothes.
Back at the room, he found nothing of much interest.
Some makeup sets tucked inside the vanity—liquid and marker-like eyeliner that didn’t need a sharpener, of course.
Except for the lamp—it was bolted down!!—the nightstand had absolutely nothing.
And the window, that wasn’t bolted down, but was too far up in the building to be safely used as an exit path with no equipment. If he properly secured the sheets of the bed, maybe even added the veil depending on its strength, he could probably use it to swing himself towards the top of the building.
That way he could make an emergency exit, parkouring onto the closest building and leaving through the fire escape. He knew the way home from there.
Who knows, chances are, he even finds something he can turn into his katanas and skadeedle from Big Mama’s territory, far enough to find a phone and contact his family before the drugs—no, forget that. The drug acted too fast, he’d have to find a way to remove the bracelet first.
Well, he didn’t even know if the bracelet would even drug him—It probably would, but Leo decided to take anything Big Mama said with a grain of salt.
Leo fiddled with the bracelet.
Both of his wrists were injured—his left one even more.
It really hurt to move it, so he was down a hand for combat.
If the chances came, along with a teeny tiny bit of adrenaline, maybe…but until it was a must rather than a should or could, he would try to avoid using it as much as he could.
It would’ve been preferable to wrap it, but he wasn’t keen on asking for anything. Debt was something he could not afford to get himself into if he wanted to leave as soon as possible. So just brace through the pain and move it as little as possible for the time being.
The bracelet felt cool against his skin.
It bothered him that it was directly over the blossoming bruise, tints of purple already forming beneath silver, but at least the cold temperature that the piece of jewelry seemed to exude would help with the swelling.
On further inspection, there didn’t seem to be any way to physically open it.
At least in that the woman had been honest; it probably did need some kind of magic ritual or enchantment or key of mystic nature. That was a no go.
Mikey was the magic expert. Leo sucked with anything that had to do with Mystical, even more than Donnie did.
There wasn’t much space to look on the inside of the silver piece, but he did see a small hole the size of a needle where he assumed the drug would be injected from if the trigger activated.
With nothing else to do in the room, he decided to try the bed.
A soft mattress absorbed him. Certainly comfortable by normal standards. For him, though, it was all but. It felt alien to be on top of something that was better described as a cloud. It startled him how it almost seemed to try to eat him. The pillows were no different.
And his mind declared that it wasn’t a safe space for him to sleep.
Which sucked, because he really was very incredibly tired, but if the turtle brain didn’t want to cooperate, and the functioning brain already had problems with authority—meaning the insomnia that kept him awake most nights—, he wouldn’t get any sleep. Most importantly, he didn’t really want to sleep there.
Said and done.
Leo twisted and turned the entire night, switching between laying on the bed, sitting on the vanity’s chair, looking around the room in hopes of finding something new—he didn’t—, and sitting on the edge of the window.
Steam evaporated into the night as he inhaled another breath, cupping his hands over his beak as a means to keep himself warm.
Neon lights illuminated the city, and Leo felt more and more restless, an urge to leap onto one of the other roofs and run away constantly making its presence known.
He would. Not at the moment, but he would eventually leave.
It was important to test the limit of the bracelet, and even more important to make sure that the bracelet actually did track his position and did , well, drug him.
Big Mama didn’t lie often, preferring to make use of ‘accidentally’ skipping over important facts during her deals. But ‘not often’ wasn’t insurance that she wasn’t lying now , so he had to check.
If it didn’t, he could just book it.
Not that night though.
New York was not a forgiving place during winter, and though he wasn’t quite sure the cold was enough to put him into brumation, he didn’t want to test his luck.
Going out during the day would be safer, and the light would keep him far more awake in case anyone tried to stop him.
Because he knew that someone would try to stop him.
Especially if he tried so soon after getting kidnapped.
He needed to make himself a reputation—Big Mama wouldn’t be fooled, but he didn’t need to fool her if the rest of the staff trusted him enough to let him out of sight.
And maybe to let him know where his stuff was.
Chances were that most of his stuff was either in Big Mama’s office, or stored somewhere else, outside the hotel.
During the ambush, the button had been a casualty, and he vaguely remembered falling over the pocket where his phone had been before.
He couldn’t teleport to his katanas.
There’d been an attempt, just to make sure, but he hadn’t been able to reach them, so he bet that they’re under some kind of blockage—likely inside the same safe where there’s every other important thing Big Mama has. It seemed like the kind of thing she wouldn’t get rid of, and would probably keep closest to herself in case he tried anything. If not the safe, at least somewhere like her room or office.
Even if she guessed that he had a general idea of where his katanas were kept, it was the safest option for her, to keep them nearby, so she definitely wouldn’t put them somewhere else.
Not that it mattered. He’d probably be able to re-make them from scratch if it ever became an issue. He hoped he didn’t need to, because that was just wasting energy, but if he had to…
On a different topic, he had little hope that they'd kept his belt, jacket and bandana.
Big Mama seemed eager to erase anything that might have to do with his past, and her plan probably included replacing his stuff with hers.
‘One thing at a time’, his eyes inspected the violet patch in the room, breaking the harmony of baby blue and white that filled the rest of the room.
At this point, his family must already know that he’s missing.
It has roughly been a day since Mikey and he left the lair for pizzas, and if his memory was to be trusted, he had managed to send Mikey back home.
Had they checked the tracker?
Did Donnie put his coordinates into the recently fixed turtle tank? Did they go in a search for hours before they found the missing tracker, covered in blood somewhere in the city?
Did April and the Jones know?
Not of his current position, that’s for sure. He would’ve heard his family already, or explosions or something that had the Hamato name written all over it in the name of the rescue mission.
Would they know where to search?
Surely Mikey told them about the bounty. Surely they already suspected Big Mama.
Surely—
But did he want them to find him?
There was something about Big Mama.
Some desperation to her actions, some bloodlust to her eyes. A madwoman that had already come to terms with her death, and did not care to avoid it anymore.
A person that clings to death it’s unpredictable. They do not care for the consequences when they already know that nothing awaits them on the other side.
A powerful person that clings to death is deadly for those around them.
‘I’m willing to take you all down with me’, Big Mama had told him.
And keep inside him, Leo believed her. It was not an act, not a joke, or a ruse. Of all the things she had told him during their conversation, that had been the truest—though it hadn’t been the only truth.
Maybe keeping his family out of the loop was safer for them.
She didn’t seem to want him dead. Big Mama genuinely thought that his skills matched hers, that he would be a perfect replacement for her once she met her unavoidable ending.
(A praise or a curse, that the woman thought so highly of his manipulation and wit? He didn’t know).
He was as safe as anyone could be in the spider’s den.
And he totally had been right with his past assessment.
Holy shit, it’s not everyday that some crazy villain kidnaps you and quite literally asks to adopt you.
What were the chances?
Leo would one hundred percent hold this entire situation over his brothers—though they would probably use the whole ‘getting kidnapped’ part against him.
But shit! Leo still couldn’t believe it.
Shit.
Leo still couldn’t believe it.
What would the title entail?
Once she died, the Nexus empire would be his alone, and he’d destroy it as he saw fit.
But until then, he doubted that he’d be kept in the room.
Big Mama had to have a plan to try to mold him into what she needs. She’s sure to try something so he’ll actually keep the Nexus alive after her death, and keeping him in a room, bored for god-knows-how-long isn’t going to accomplish that.
Oh god at least he hoped so.
Big Mama hadn’t let him many options, she would’ve kept him in the hotel whether he agreed or not.
He just hoped that by agreeing, he didn’t fuck his chances of getting out mostly unscathed—
He jumped at the knocking in the room’s door.
Leo still sat by the edge of the window, though there no longer was darkness covering the city.
Given, since the invasion, there was a fracture line of fuchsia, always present in New York’s sky, as a reminder of what happened, so the city was never truly engulfed in darkness.
But it was a different light, a prettier one; the sun shone bright from the horizon, dying the previously almost black sky into hues of bright orange and purple.
He rolled back, frowning as he closed the window and raised his voice to call; “you have the keys, not me!”
Leo didn’t move from his place, expectantly waiting for the other person to enter–or leave, he was being annoying, very early in the morning.
There was a small pause before the sound of jumbling keys interrupted the silence, followed by a ‘click’, and then the door opened. Behind the wooden door wasn’t the chameleon that had guided Leo to the room the night before.
Instead, there was a proud figure that he vaguely recognized as Big Mama’s Assistant.
Someone he hadn’t seen in years.
Someone he had barely seen at all, being honest. Leo could maybe remember seeing them once, by Big Mama’s side, a few months after their last fight with Shredder.
They carried a tray in a single hand, the other hiding the keys in their uniform.
They seemed familiar. Felt familiar. Leo couldn’t put his finger on it, and he squinted until his sight grew blurry, but—
Blurry.
Like the blurry figure that body slammed him and Mikey in the middle of the air and—
“You’re the one that drugged me!” He pointed an accusing finger in their direction, face contorted into indignation.
‘And kidnapped me too, I guess’, came the afterthought, making him wince at his priorities.
Assistant didn’t seem surprised by the recognition. In fact, by the jolt of their shoulders, they seemed to find his reaction amusing. They were laughing at him.
He let out an offended gasp.
“Sure! Laugh. See if I care.” Leo crossed his arms, pouting.
They huffed a silent laughter, closing the door behind them with a heel, then walking to the side of the bed, leaving the tray in the nightstand.
From his spot, Leo could recognize a salad, different fruits and vegetables poking from between the lettuce, a cup filled with yogurt and another with some yellowish orange thick liquid, plus a cup of—presumably—apple juice.
The goon looked at the bed, looking for something in the baby blue sheets, and Leo used that opportunity to sneak towards them.
“Not a talker, I see,” He said, poking his head over their shoulder—they were slightly taller, enough that he had to tiptoe to comfortably do so.
They didn’t hear him getting close, straightening at the sound of his voice by their side.
Assistant took a step back, putting space in between them and sliding into a fierce stance that promised him pain if he crossed the invisible boundary.
Leo painted a smile on his face, showing teeth–a sign of trust if you were stupid, a small warning if you were not–and raising his hands in mock surrender.
“Okay, okay, jeez. Calm down! I’m not gonna attack you,” he backed away, sitting on the bed, making a face when he sank into the mattress. “I’m civilized, unlike some people.”
If they noticed the jab, they didn’t care.
Their posture relaxed—if it could even be called that, considering they went from the combat memo into a firm stance with their hands on their back, like a soldier. They looked nowhere specific, and Leo felt like they had just added a statue to his prison. ‘An ugly one at that,’ his mind provided, snout wrinkling at the sight of the mask.
The slider groaned. He hated when people didn’t talk. It made his job harder.
People that talked little were difficult to read. Not impossible, if you know where to look–Assistant said a lot with their hands, if he remembered correctly, which is probably why they kept them out of sight, behind their back–but definitely harder than people that did talk.
The Chameleon would’ve, for sure, been an easier target. Their hunched posture, hands stuck to their chest, eyes drifting in all directions, new to their job or their position, the uniform seemed new and well kept, with a stain on the edge of the shirt. Someone that anxious would’ve talked a lot if pushed.
Assistant, on the other side…
He raised his legs, his best impression of Spider-Man as he looked at the Assistant with hawk eyes.
“So, you gonna eat in front of me? Gonna show off? Is this Big Mama’s—“ A twitch on their fingers, bingo ,”—way of torturing me into following her wishes or some’?”
In response, Assistant turned their head his way, an unyielding stare that seemed to ask him if his father had dropped him several times as a tot.
(Splinter had, as a fact, dropped him a lot as a baby, but only Donnie and he knew the whole story, and it cost Leo all of his savings to keep his twin quiet).
“It’s a valid question! I’ve been stuck in here all night!”
They totally rolled their eyes.
Leo was sure of it! The way their head seemed to follow the movement, just barely enough to be noticeable. Either with amusement or in annoyance, the mask didn’t share that.
“Well, if that’s not it, then…?”
Assistant masked most of their movements, but it wasn’t perfect. There was a small slump in their shoulders, like they asked ‘is this idiot really Big Mama’s successor?’ to the beings above them.
One of their hands freed its hold behind them, and pointed his way.
“Oh, so it’s mine?”
With a bop of their head, Assistant confirmed, and returned to their past position, melting into the background.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” He flashed a big grin their way, far too late, as Assistant was once again ignoring him, looking outwards into the nothingness of the baby blue wall—a small air of frustration surrounding their monotone facade provided by the mask.
Leo chuckled, grabbing the tray with both hands, faking a big wince before using only the right hand—watching for any reaction from the statue in the room from the corner of his eyes.
It’s small, but they turn their head enough to see him through the hole in their mask, paying attention to his reactions.
Out of care or precaution, they clearly were tasked with babysitting him.
He looked at the food.
Obviously he would have to eat.
As much as he’d love to avoid accepting anything and everything that comes from Big Mama, he will be staying in the hotel for an undefined amount of time, so he has to eat something.
That being said, he would also love to delay it.
Though the food didn’t look bad.
No, quite the opposite.
Maybe it’s the fact that he had been knocked out for probably a whole day, or the fact that he had already been tired and hungry by the time he got kidnapped, but the bowl of salad seemed delicious.
There’s a couple of utensils that were disorganized by his own careless movement, and he took and fiddled with a spoon, playing with the cup filled with orange.
“What 's this? Drugs? Are y’all tryna keep me out until Big Mama dies?”
Assistant visibly tenses at his comment—clearly they think highly of the woman, and does not enjoy the remainder—but they do not answer.
“…is it- like- is it sauce?”
They nod, a firm movement that carries the same elegance and pride as they do, and Leo can’t help but huff.
The confirmation did not subside his suspicions, so he carefully handled the tray while crossing his legs, then setting the silver piece on top of his lap, all before reaching for the cup with his good hand.
A few sniffs of the liquid provide little to no information. If it's drugged, he would never be able to tell. Not over the smell of mango, that makes his mouth water a little.
GwwwuuuOOOOOORRRBL!
He froze, side eyeing the Assistant as stealthily as he can, letting out a groan when he caught the other looking slightly at him, confirming that they, in fact, heard his stomach growl too.
Fuck, he felt really hungry.
With a ‘clink’, the cup went back on the tray, and he grabbed the fork, carelessly stabbing a piece of fruit on top of the bowl.
There’s nothing extraordinary about it, and he’s starting to feel a little stupid, but you can never be too cautious! No white powder, nor shiny liquids that could be a warning of tampering with his food. Just a plain meal that was begging to be eaten, and the more he waited, the less he disagreed with the dish.
Leo hesitates a bit, further inspecting the berry for a few seconds, until he’s confident enough to nibble it.
And so little by little, he continued to eat.
“So, what am I supposed to do here?” he asks, not expecting an answer; he is proven right instantly.It’s slow, the process. Dipping a fruit inside the yogurt, then inside the mango sauce, taking a sip out of the apple juice–it tasted heavenly by the way–, taking small bites off his meal.
“I mean, surely I’m not going to stay here all day, right? Because Big Mama must know I suck at staying put.” He could feel his face warm up in frustration because it wasn’t supposed to taste that good! “I’m guessing she must have something planned if she’s really as smart as she says.”
Again, a twitch of their fingers is the only confirmation that Assistant is paying attention to his words, and he lets out a frustrated breath.
“Though I must admit, the food here? delicioso . It goes a little too hard for a salad. But also, a salad? For breakfast? Who does that?”
It definitely didn’t compare to anything his little bro could make. Most importantly, even if the food was good, the silence was suffocating. Any of his attempts to fill it were shot down by the statue in the room.
He kept going, and going, until all dishes were empty, and he maneuvered with a single hand the tray, leaving it in the nightstand.
“Soooooooo…..”
There’s not a warning. One second he’s happily being a little shit, the next one, the Assistant takes something from somewhere in their armor, and throws it at him. He barely has the time to catch it with his good hand, stopping it in time, right in front of his face.
“Sheesh, first kidnapping, now attempted murder? And here I thought we were getting along nicely!” He pouts, looking down at the object that almost struck him.
A container–similar to one for hair gel, or cream, a green lid and a black body, golden bits woven on it. There’s no label, and he raises an invisible eyebrow towards the statue.
Big Mama did mention some kind of healing gel, but it wasn’t like he was just gonna make it easy for them, right?
“Seriously, I’m not a seer, if you want me to know what this is, you’re gonna have to tell me, pal.”
Their shoulders slumped, followed by the sound of a puff and blow, before they turned towards him, their left arm snapped up, pointing at that wrist with their other hand, a bit of urgency–or just plain frustration–directing their body.
He looked at his own left wrist, scrunching his face at the ugly sight of purples and reds still forming under the silver band.
“For my wrist?” He asks, looking back at them, not the least surprised when they nod back. “No offense, but I don’t trust anything you guys give me.”
Assistant paused a second, then pointed at the empty tray, and Leo could almost hear them saying, ‘you ate all that, surely you can trust that we’re not trying to kill you and just use the damn thing’.
“Yeah, no buddy. I don’t really trust your food. I’m one hundred percent still waiting for some kind of–I don’t know, maybe poison–to kick in,” he shrugged, placing the container by his side in the bed, slouching into a more comfortable position where he could rest his head in his hand and his arm in his knee. “I was just really hungry. Because, you know, I was knocked out for almost a day,” he waved his injured hand slightly, calling attention to the bruises forming. “Because you drugged me.”
If Leo paid enough attention, he could even hear the patience flushing down the drain.
They leap towards him, and he barely dodges, rolling back further into the bed, cursing at the uneven terrain that slowed him down enough for the attacker to graze one of his legs with their finger.
In one of their hands, the container. In the other, a fistful of bedsheets.
“Hey! Do you know how long it took to make the bed?”
He rolled on the mattress, clumsily landing on the ground, his left arm against his chest and his right one up as a shield. Assistant does not answer, backing off a bit before pouncing towards him.
“I don’t, either, but I’m sure it must have taken a while–” He drops, dodging the attacker that leaps over him, and then he’s back up, dashing towards the door. “--so can we do the person that prep’d the room and avoid destroying IT–!”
A hand closed around his ankle, pulling him back. He faceplants against the floor, hand cushioning his chin just last second, and Assistant nonchalantly sits over his shell, using a foot to keep one of his legs pinned against the ground in an uncomfortable position that doesn’t allow him to retreat into his shell. ‘Pop’, the sound of the container uncapping. Leo looks from the corner of his eye how Assistant scoops a bit of the substance with their fingers before snatching his bad arm.
He winced. The position they were in barely left any space for his arm to go back, and Assistant isn’t kind about it, so Leo can’t help but wonder if they’ll dislocate his arm in the struggle.
They don’t seem like the kind of person to do that. Everything they do is calculated, they seem to know exactly how much pressure to apply to keep him on the ground without actually injuring him. But a turtle never knows.
“Is all of this really- hey!” Assistant interrupts him, pressing on his shoulder with their weight as a warning. “Okay, okay. If you’re boring just say that!” He huffs, rolling his eyes.
Assistant applied the substance, sliding their fingers under the silver band, covering his entire forearm in one go. It’s cold, and feels gross. Greasy is the first thing that came to mind, until it slowly started to melt over his skin and transform into a gooey mess that made him shiver.
After a second or two, the other lets go, standing up and going back to their post, by the nightstand.
Leo is instantly up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the sound of the container getting closed and placed on top of wood, examining the bruise.
Whatever was inside the container, it dried fast. Now a thin layer of a transparent–leaning to green–film was the only remaining proof of what happened. That wasn’t what got his attention; no, no. The fact that the bruise had gone from purple to green in the span of seconds was .
If he hadn’t had a reputation to hold as the cool guy of the team, he’d totally be geeking over the balm. Did it accelerate the healing? Was it some sort of regeneration? What was it made of? Given, he didn’t know whether prolonged use had side effects, but if he could replicate it, get Donnie to replicate it, or get some–through legal means or otherwise–, taking care of his brothers would turn ten times easier.
‘Focus’, he shook the excitement off. ‘Still kidnapped, don’t forget, idiot’.
“And you couldn’t just tell me that?”
Under the mask, Assistant sent him a pointed look. And he couldn’t see it, of course, but their head leaned forward, and their shoulders set in the same i’m-annoyed-with-your-shit pose that all his siblings would get when he pushed the blame of his stupidity on them, and that’s enough to fill in the blanks.
“I mean, can you really blame me for not trusting you after you drugged me?” Leo huffed, acting more offended that he felt–still hung over the magic balm.
Assistant did not answer him, and Leo wondered for a second if they were mute and he was just being an asshole to them. Though, to be fair, after their last interaction outside the hotel, he wasn’t too worried about their feelings. There were more important things on his mind.
Like escaping, and keeping his family from getting killed by a crazy spider lady.
And, over-all, the whole ‘surprise adoption’, which was the base of the reason why said spider lady wanted to off his family?
Typical Thursday stuff, you know the deal.
In the same fashion as before, Assistant silently continued to make their own actions, not caring if the sudden movements made Leo react badly.
This time, they brought out a piece of paper, and threw it his way, embedding itself into the wall, right over the spot where Leo was.
“Okay, you’re just ruining the room for fun now.”
Shamelessly, they shrugged and returned to position, ignoring how he glared at them while retrieving the card from the wall.
Not that he’d admit it, but that was a pretty cool trick, and were the Assistant not an enemy, he’d one hundred percent ask them to teach him. But Assistant was an enemy, and he wouldn’t be caught dead asking for anything from someone directly under Big Mama’s orders.
Thick poster paper parted swiftly from its space in the wall, letting behind a hole almost invisible, not too deep.
Written on it with fancy cursive letters was a message from the big lady, and Leo could already feel his face contorting into something ugly.
‘At 8:30 am, Dear Assistant will accompany you to my office. Meanwhile, stay out of trouble, deary.”
Rolling his eyes, Leo leaned back against the wall.
“You guys are aware that there’s no clock in here, right? How am I supposed to know what time it is?”.
Considering that it was the middle of winter season, and that the sun had been out for a while already, the designated hour had to be rapidly approaching.
Obviously he didn’t know the exact time the sun had graced them all with its presence, but he had listened—bits and pieces of—Donnie’s four hour long rant about the earth being slightly tilted and something, something, hemispheres, something something, the days and nights in the poles and some other places close to the poles lasted around six months, something, something, solstice, something, days are longer in summer, shorter in winter, and the time difference would usually be around two hours between longest and shortest days—top being two hours and a half—with some of the earliest sunrises at five in the morning during summer, which meant-
That the sun had to be up by seven, maybe seven and a half. He had taken his sweet time with the food, and though it sure didn’t feel like it, their small struggle had probably lasted a while too.
An hour since the sunrise, give or take.
So, he roughly knew the hour.
They didn’t know that though, and he would take all his frustrations out on little Assistant over there.
Drug and kidnap him again, that’s what you get.
Assistant seemed to consider the inconvenience, ‘do I want him to know what time it actually is?’ They seemed to ask themself. After a few seconds, the answer turned out to be ‘no, not really’, so they shrugged.
He let out a huff, his focus returned to the injured wrist, which he flexed in an attempt to pinpoint what the balm had exactly done—would putting more would make him skip the rest of the recovery or was that it? Was it capable of healing open wounds? Internal ones? Was the healing proportional to the injury, or was it just for bruises?
“Fine, keep your secrets, wouldn’t want you to clock me with the clock anyways.”
If he side eyed the Assistant, to see if there was a reaction to his amazing humor, or to make sure they didn’t clock him with something else, only he would know.
There was no reaction, and he took it as a win, if only because he preferred not having anymore stuff getting thrown his way.
Man, he missed Donnie.
All of his family, really, but railing up Assistant had made him miss Donnie specifically. He wanted to go back home and annoy the ever loving shit out of his brother.
It wasn’t an option, as long as Big Mama was so unstable. But how he wanted to.
By this time, they must have attended to Mikey's injuries.
If he assessed them correctly, it was nothing too serious, his little brother would be up and running in a couple of hours.
Rather, the second Mikey was up, they’d be searching for him, and that was a little more worrisome.
Mikey would no doubt tell them what happened in Run of the Mill, and that would prompt the question of if Big Mama was behind the kidnapping—a bounty from the Hidden City with a high pay rate on one of them? There were little to no other options
He hoped that Big Mama would at least try to throw them off their scent, because if she purposefully let them find him as an excuse to hurt them—.
Better not think of that!
Yeah, nope, ugly thoughts that could go far, far, far away, and stay there.
He still needed to test how far he could go before the sensors went off, he could maybe use the opportunity to contact Señor Hueso, explain the situation—he’d need to snatch a phone first. Run of the Mill wasn’t anywhere near Big Mama’s territory and he doubted the bracelet would let him go that far, but he would be able to secure some time to send the message before anyone could drag him back and–
Up he was the second Assistant turned to him.
The sun illuminated the whole city, just barely, and Leo guessed it was time to go to Big Mama’s office.
There was a glint of determination that shone from the eyes in Assistant’s mask, and he was suddenly aware of their plan.
“I can walk,” he raised his hands in defense, breath hitching when they took a step forward, to which he gave a step back. “I can walk!”
—---------------------------------------
“So, Leo and Mikey went for pizza, got attacked, and then Leo was kidnapped.”
It was a really, really short retelling of the events, but Mikey didn’t have it in him to start from the beginning—again—so he gave a solemn nod at April, who made a face that he guessed was meant to be comforting. He couldn’t reciprocate because right then Casey Jr pulled on the compress that covered half of his plastron, where he had received the brunt of the slam the other night, making him wince.
It had been little more than a day since the incident, but the humans of the group hadn’t been able to join the search until that exact morning for a variety of reasons that Mikey didn’t bother listening to. He didn't blame them, of course! but he didn’t understand why they seemed so exhausted when it had been Raph, Donnie and him the ones searching for their missing brother.
Because they had!
As soon as Mikey could stand up properly, they ditched the lair, returning to the last known location of Leo marked by the dead tracker, a couple of streets away from where Mikey and Leo had been separated.
Of course they found nothing but a small splatter of blood, diluted by the snow, fortunately too small to be truly worrisome, and from then on, they spent the rest of the day searching for something—anything—that could’ve directed them to their lost brother.
And found nothing.
Junior had found them dead exhausted around noon, and with April’s help, they ended up returning to get some rest and food.
Splinter hadn’t let them go out again, despite all their complaints.
Something about the fact that it was cold enough outside to send them into brumation, and that getting sick would not help them in their search for Leonardo.
And okay, maybe Mikey should pay a little more attention to what their family was saying, because it’s true. But he couldn’t deny the anxiety that filled him every single second that Leo was gone.
It felt like…
Casey Jr stayed the night to help them settle, and April told them that morning that Casey Sr continued the search on her own, with her… team.
“Because you idiots don’t know how to search”, said the message she sent to the group chat, as if they didn’t know that she was worried for them and Leo.
Mandatory rest equated a four hour nap—for him, at least, because he knew for a fact that Donnie was awake before him, and Raph slept a bit longer than him—, and a small meal that their dad made for them.
As soon as they finished, they turned back onto the matter at hand, and started formulating theories with all the—non existent—clues they had.
That brought them to their current situation.
In the middle of the kitchen, each sitting in front of a table with a single piece of paper that brightly announced the lack of one of their members.
Splinter didn’t fare the news much better, and sitting beside a tablet, he massaged his temples in an attempt to relax.
Mikey couldn’t help but wonder if his father had looked the same the first time they lost Leo, after the invasion. Eyes shining with grief lost in something that they could not see, with eyebags bigger than ever and shoulders slumped so low he looked ages older, tapping slowly the table as if counting each second that passed with a son out of reach.
And with that thought in mind, he avoided looking at his father.
Leo was alive!
He was super strong, determined, and cunning. It wouldn’t surprise Mikey if the slider came from a random door, any second now, laughing and excited to tell them how amazing he was.
It wasn’t the invasion.
His brother would be back.
April let out a big sigh, dragging a hand over her face, stopping to rub the bridge of her nose under her glasses.
In her hand was a fork with a piece of drenched pancake falling apart, the rest of the breakfast forgotten in front of her.
“And the main lead is…”
Mikey looked at his older brothers, ping ponging between their shared look, as they silently discussed whatever they would tell them all. It took a few seconds before Donnie cleared his throat, a fist covering his mouth as an emphasis.
“We think this is Big Mama’s doing.” Their purple brother answered, crossing his arms as he frowned in Splinter’s direction, who returned the gesture, delving into a more dangerous territory where anything said could transform the discussion into a fight.
The tension was eating Mikey alive, and he wished that Leo was there to make a small joke that would diffuse the situation.
Though he guessed that if Leo was there, there wouldn’t be a situation in the first place.
Instead, he placed a hand on Donnie's shoulder as an attempt to placate him, and smiled slightly when the soft shell relaxed under his touch.
“What drove you to that conclusion?” Junior asked, tapping the compress one more time to make sure it was firm, before retreating into the ground, into a comfortable position, crossing his legs.
Not a defense, but rather trying to maintain the peace they had managed to build after pulling the brothers back in the lair.
Donnie smiled widely at him, pulling a whiteboard from god-knows-where in Donnie’s fashion. Though calling it white board was a stretch, because almost the entirety of it was filled with writing, covering it from top to bottom—a whole thesis on his thoughts on the topic.
“Maybe the fact that the bounty is apparently really high and from the Hidden City?” He began. “Or—“
“There are few other of our enemies with enough money to send someone to capture one of us,” Raph interrupted, crossing his arms, adding to the intimidating figure, though it fell short as his expression didn’t hold anything else than exhaustion.
“Yeah, but none of them with the amount of resources to get hunters on the side on top of a bounty. They didn’t even bother bringing the dogs, went straight up into filling the city with a–frankly—absurd manpower only capable for someone resourceful and spiteful” Donnie shot back curtly, pushing back the whiteboard.
In surrender, Raph raised his hands. “Not saying it wasn’t her, Raph just thinks—well. It doesn’t make sense.”
Donnie scoffed, not bothering to narrate it as he usually did and instead sending a withering glare in the direction of the tablet. “Yeah. It doesn’t make sense, that after the whole kidnapping-an-entire-city and the backlash that came with that situation and the Shredder’s someone decided to suddenly go back into their worse habits to the point of kidnapping a teen of a family which with you have a barely functioning allyship, but here we are!”
“Purple!” Splinter snapped.
At that, Donnie paused, looking at their father, opening his mouth to say something when a small chuckle stopped him in place, making him click his mouth shut and retreat into position behind Raph, who had a sour expression almost rivaling Donnie’s.
He didn’t blame them.
Although everyone in the room was aware of her presence, actually listening to her react had startled them all, to various degrees.
“Don’t worry too much, deary, I understand why he would make such an assumption.”
“So you admit to kidnapping our brother?! What was the reason behind this sudden betrayal?! Speak, spider!”
“Donnie…” this time it was Raph, with a tired tone as he set a hand on top of the soft-shell’s face, restraining him from jumping towards the tablet. Then, he looked at Big Mama, and growled. “So?! Do you have Leo with you?!”
“Unhand me! Raph!” Donnie's muffled voice came from behind the hand flailed against the elder’s hand, grunting at the betrayal. “Raph!”
Mikey let his eyes wander towards the screen, looking straight at the human version of Big Mama, who smiled at him with a sweetness that he easily recognized as fake.
“Purpley boo here is very smart to make a connection like that! Don’t get me wrong. Sadly, I must disappoint you,” she pouted, a hand dramatically over her mouth as she directed her sight somewhere else in her office “I’m afraid Baby Blue isn’t here with me.”
Finally finding freedom from Raph’s hand-jail, Donnie huffed with indignation. “And of course we’re to believe you, just like that.” He deadpanned, slapping away Raph’s hand when he reached for him again.
“Of course not,” she waved a hand dismissively, her attention snatched by a bunch of papers in her desk as she reached for a pen nearby. “Given the situation, I completely understand your doubts! I must admit I might have been an eeny teeny tiny… ah, hard to deal with in the past,” she flashed a smile their way. “But what reason could I have to kidnap baby blue?”
“Yeah,” April raised an eyebrow at Donnie, her tired eyes set on him as she slid into a chair. “It doesn’t really make any sense.”
Donnie took quick offense, shoulders tensing at her agreement, and April interrupted him before he could say anything.
“I’m not agreeing with her, but she’s right, Donnie. There’s no reason for her to lie about this if she wants to keep any semblance of a relationship with Splints!” His sister waved in the direction of the rat, who cleared his throat, looking away from them.
Donnie pressed his lips into a thin line, desperately thinking of something to say.
Mikey did in his stead. “I mean, he did play her that one time, didn’t he?”
Everyone in the room looked at him for a second, almost like they had forgotten he was there.
He straightened, fixing his eyes on the tablet with a tension that he hadn’t realized had set on his shoulders.
The way Big Mama looked at him, with a dangerous glint in her eyes that passed off as amusement made a shiver run down his spine.
Leo had always been the best of them at reading people.
He could almost see it, his big brother taking a comfortable position at the table, a grin and fake bravado as he analyzed every single thing that the rest of them could never see.
The slider would ask a question, and poke around, be a little frustrating, and get information even when he seemed to dance around the topic.
And when the conversation was over, Leo would already have everything they needed.
‘She’s guilty as charged for kidnapping me’, or maybe ‘Nah, she’s too caught up in her web to bother catching some flies”. Leo would then turn back to them, snickering at Donnie when the purple turtle rolled his eyes, saying something about how it was impossible for Leo to know that with just that little information.
And of course Leo would say, ‘What can I say? I’m just that good!’.
And later, after he was proven correct, and the mission went perfectly, the slider would listen to Mikey’s questions, and answer in detail about how a person could be read like an open book if you just looked for the right thing.
Mikey wondered what was the right thing.
If he could copy Leo, maybe he could get something out of her.
“No? Dad told us the story, remember?” He looked at his siblings, all who looked at him with various degrees of confusion, but nodded in agreement to his question regardless.
“He did,” she admitted, her smile spreading thinner. Her glasses tilted slightly when she looked down, writing something in the paper on top of her stack. “A long time ago! If I wanted revenge, there are better ways than snatching someone in the middle of the night, don’t you think, Orangy little wiggly poo?”
Her face remained neutral throughout her little speech, and Mikey knew that if he wanted more information, he’d have to push until she let something through the facade.
Mikey took a deep breath, clapped his hands, and slid into a smile, as similar to Leo’s as he could.
“You’re right. Considering how it went for you last time Leo was at the Nexus alone, I guess it’d be inconvenient for you to have him back, no?”
He hoped it didn’t look too fake.
She stilled. Then flashed a fanged smile towards the box turtle. “You turtles have been a terrible curse upon my business,” Big Mama sighed, letting the pen back on the desk, resting her face on her hand. “I must agree with that. Any of you near my Hotel is bad news.”
He perked up at her commentary. Good! She was talking more. Maybe she’d spill then!
Mikey tried to continue, but got cut off by the woman.
“I saw you kids in my territory just last week,” her face turned into one of fake innocence. “I thought we had agreed not to get into each other's biz!”
Raph quickly grabbed hold of the situation. “We were stopping a criminal, we did not involve ourselves with your Hotel.” The eldest let out, way more aggressively than intended.
Big Mama hummed, tapping the back of her pen against one of her cheeks. “And yet the ruckus you kids caused made the guest uncomfortable! I’m sure you could deal with those ruffians somewhere else, yes?”
Donnie cracked a sarcastic laugh. “Sure! Try to keep us away now that you have our brother. Are you trying to involve him in your Battle Nexus? Huh?! Is that it?”
“Donnie!” Several voices said at a time.
The yokai paid no mind, laughing along.
“Please. If I wanted someone to fight in the Battle Nexus, I wouldn’t choose baby Blue, and we both know that.”
They all did.
Because Leo was the fastest, and he had the best plans, and he knew how to adapt and come up on top, but the Battle Nexus was known for its ferocity. Strategy went to the backburn when all Big Mama needed was a big show of strength.
In a way, it comforted Mikey. At the very least that meant that Leo wouldn’t be stuck fighting for his life.
Not on the Battle Nexus at least.
“You-!”
Knocking interrupted Donnie in the middle of the sentence.
Not inside the lair, but a loud, practiced banging that came from the tablet, and that took Big Mama’s attention from them.
“Oh, it seems that my Prize is here!” She smiled in a way that none of them recognized.
All of them looked as weirded out as Mikey felt. The soft, almost fond expression did not look like it belonged in Big Mama’s face.
Splinter’s face looked haunted as he looked at the woman.
“Your prize…?” Mikey said out loud, closer to a whisper than an actual question.
And yet, Big Mama heard him. Instantly looking back at them with a big grin of excitement, the same one she always had when things went her way.
“Ah, yes. You see, there’s a big event in a couple of months, here in the Hotel. I’m afraid I’ve been terribly busy with this nick nack! Your father knows all about it, orangy boo.”
All their heads turned to look at the rat-man, who nodded slightly in confirmation.
“You can ask him. In the meantime, I’m on schedule!”
“Wait—!” Raph gives a step forward, reaching for the tablet.
It was far too late, because as soon as his foot touched the ground, the video call was terminated.
A small pop up replaced the rosy face of their past enemy, and Mikey deflated, frustrated that he could not get anymore information from the woman.
‘It doesn’t seem like Leo’s with her though,’ he kicked the air, dejected, and walked over to April, dragging a chair along and sitting by her side before promptly dropping against her.
She sighed, letting go of the fork with a mushy piece of pancake in favor of patting him.
“He’ll be fine, Mikey,”
“I know,” he quickly answered. “I just… kinda wished he wasn’t gone in the first place…”
“I know,” his big sister replied, her wobbly smile comforting him more than it should.
“So… what now?” Casey asked, crossing his arms and resting against the table, in the same fashion Leon usually would.
Raphael let out an exhausted sigh, clenching and unclenching his fists before forcefully intending his shoulders, then sitting right across Splinter.
“We search. We gotta ask all our friends, maybe even some of the other mutants and—“
“Not to burst your figurative bubble, Raphala, my dear brother, but we already know where Leo is. We just gotta infiltrate Big Mama’s place and—“
Raph glared at the offending brother, shutting him up with a single don’t-interrupt-me-you-little-shit look sent the soft-shell’s way.
“We don’t actually know if he’s there, Donnie.”
“Scoff, please, Raph. Don’t tell me you believe her .”
April nodded. “Yeah. Sorry Raph, but I agree with Donnie. There’s no way that woman doesn’t have Leo.” And when they raised their eyebrows at her, she frowned. “What? I said that it doesn’t make sense why she would kidnap Leo, not that she wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know, guys…” Mikey muttered from his place, voice half muffled from his cheek being flat against April’s arm. “She didn’t seem like she was lying…”
“Eye roll, exasperated sigh. She didn’t seem like she was lying the first time we met, and played we were by her deceitful self. You can’t trust anything that spider says.”
“I’m… sorry, but I don’t understand?”
Everyone looked at Casey Junior, the poor teen looking as confused as the time when they told him that Draxum had been, in fact, one of their first enemies.
“What is it that confuses you, Junior?” Splinter asked, reaching for a mug close to him that Mikey knew was empty.
“Was—Is Big Mama one of the bad guys?”
“Was she not in your timeline?” Donnie asked, an eyebrow raised with genuine surprise.
There was not a hint of hesitation as Casey shook his head on a negative.
“No, not at all. She was actually very close to us, helping with resources and their distribution. She constantly tried to make me call her Big Granny, but Sensei hated it and told me to ignore her.” Future boy recalled with a funny expression, a hand rubbing his chin in a way that mimicked Leo as he recalled the event.
It was an unexpected bit of information.
Big Mama, part of the resistance, accepting a secondary role in the war, and most importantly, as an acting member of their family.
Mikey wondered if he could parent trap that woman and turn her to the light side of the force like he did to Draxum.
He felt almost giddy at the thought. Maybe with her by their side, missions inside the Hidden City would become easier. Mikey didn’t expect her to share her resources and bath them in love and gifts, but maybe if they built a relationship, she’d be willing to help them in the future in cases like this.
What kind of relationship would they have? What kind of relationship did they have in Casey’s future?
“Angelo, look at me.” Donnie snapped his fingers at him, making him turn fully at the purple clad turtle, who sent an accusing glare his way and pointed at him. “Don’t. She is, and I cannot emphasize this anymore for you skeptical heathens, the one that’s keeping our brother in what’s probably a minuscule cell with a water bucket and a mangled mat that might not be even be able to be called a mat deep inside the a Battle Nexus, you cannot try to inverse-adopt her.”
All in a single breath.
Had it been any other person, it would’ve been incredible to see, but Mikey had heard Donnie go on for longer, so the unnecessary chatter just made him pout.
“She is not,” Splinter spoke up, robbing all the attention with that small phrase. As he realized that the phrasing made little sense, he cleared his throat and tried again; “She wasn’t the one that kidnapped Leonardo.”
April and Donnie shared a look, a small one that encapsulated a whole conversation, and soon their sister turned to look at their father.
“Look, Splints, we all know how you feel about her—“
“Against all common sense,” Donnie interjected, scrunching his face with disgust.
“—but Donnie’s right!”
“As I usually am— hey!” The soft-shell complained when a sticky piece of pancake, one that previously sat forgotten in front of April, hit him straight in the face.
“It is very likely that Big Mama got Leo.” April finished, grabbing Mikey’s hand and squeezing it softly, ignoring poor Donnie who dramatically wiped the remains of syrup in his face, using an absurd amount of napkins for the almost invisible stain left behind.
Splinter seemed to think about it, just for a second before shaking his head. “No, no. I don’t think so.”
“Why?” Mikey asked, slowly.
“Because Big Mama is retiring in a couple of months.”
The silence became absolute, only broken by the rhythmical dripping in the sink.
A revelation that didn’t seem plausible, leaving behind confusion and surprise.
Everyone seemed to think the same, ‘Big Mama, retiring?’, because the sentence made sense and yet didn’t .
Junior looked around, waiting for an explanation to the shock that held a tight grip in each and every single member of the family.
“She could be lying,” Donnie muttered.
Splinter hummed in agreement. “She certainly could, but I’ve seen the papers, and she guided me through most of the process.” Their dad played with the mug, staring at the empty inside of it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. “She decided, a couple of days ago, that her son would inherit the Nexus Hotel.”
“I’m sorry— her son?!” April sputtered, straightening and forcing Mikey to spring up too at the sudden movement.
“Yes. The assistant.”
“The one that guarded Big Mama last time we were at her office,” Raph muttered, tapping his chin with an intense look.
Splinter nodded, setting down the mug, and looking at Donnie. “My son, I do not wish to dismiss your theories. Certainly not now that Blue is in the line. And I do not blindly trust that woman. Gumo was, is, and will continue to be a dangerous threat. But as much as I’ve been talking to her for the sake of our past relationship, I have also been doing it for the sake of keeping tabs on her, and I don’t think she has the time to pull an unnecessary act of villainy towards our family just because.”
Donnie opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but quickly shut it with a click.
A dozen of complicated feelings dashed through his face, before setting into defeat, and Mikey frowned when he realized that the purple clad turtle was chewing on the inside of his under lip.
“Then… what are we supposed to do?” Mikey asked, his voice a little smaller than before.
“We keep searching,” Raph declared, more confident this time. “We find our brother, bring him back, and ground him until he stops getting in these kinda situations.”
“Maniacal laughter,” Donnie narrated before actually laughing like a mad scientist. “That dum-dum will regret all his life choices, how dare he get kidnapped? The audacity!”
“Yeah!” Mikey raised a fist, feeling pumped up by the renewed energy of his older brothers.
“Let’s do it,” April smirked, a fire in her eyes that promised nothing good for the idiots who dared kidnap her little brother—and for said idiot little brother for letting himself be snatched.
They beat the Kraang. They saved the world, twice now! And New York a couple of times more than that.
And it was Leo who was missing! If any of them could find their way back to the lair regardless of the conditions, it was him.
He had done so before! Even if last time he needed a little help from his brothers—and that was perfectly fine too! Everyone needed help once in a while. Especially if they were in another dimension, one meant to imprison monsters for eternity, little details, you see.
If Leo needed help again, they’d give it to him, that’s what family is for!
It would be okay!
Notes:
I think maybe I can also update next week, dunno when the fifth chapter will come.
Excited for the Q&A! I really hope we can bring rise back!
Also excited for MM announcements, it's nice to see that they're treating well the next iteration :)Hope y'all liked the chapter!
Remember I read all comments, love you guys <3
See ya next week hopefully!
Chapter 4: Most of them aren't that important... probably
Summary:
Sell your soul to the devil or...
Notes:
TW//Internalized ableism
Silly thing but while I was trying to update, I accidentally put the 5th chapter instead of the 4th. I was so fixated editing that I didn't notice for a GOOD WHILE. That would've been funny tho
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The fight was lost the second it started.
To be fair, Leo was at a complete disadvantage. Not only was he unrested, he was also with no weapon, in an enclosed space, still sore from the fight two days ago, a bit injured and with the smallest remaining effects from being drugged, and Assistant was very strong, very fast, and clearly on top condition.
That’s not to say that he made it easy for them, no sir.
It took Assistant at least five minutes to actually catch him, and two more to get him to stop struggling against their hold.
It was humiliating, and Leo knew that Assistant knew that perfectly. He could almost see the big smug grin they sported beneath the mask, accentuated superficially by the way they held themselves with so much pride—for such a mysterious figure, they had ridiculously obvious tells.
Sadly, there was absolutely nothing he could do against them. He’d have to go to the office one way or another, and Assistant showed no will to back off, so either he’d went against Big Mama’s rules by showing up late and risked fucking around and finding out, or he accepted his destiny as an accessory and let Assistant get their way.
So up he went, all the way to Big Mama’s office, hanging on the left shoulder of the Assistant like a particularly pretty bag… or a pretty sack of potatoes.
Of course he tried to take it the best way possible. He posed, and waved, and finger gunned at every single person they passed, enjoying the stunned faces of all the employees and high ranking visitors in their way.
Finally, it all came to an end when they reached the door.
Muffled voices came from the other side. Big Mama’s first, acknowledging their arrival, and after, smaller voices that he could not make up before it came to a sudden stop, just for a couple of seconds before a sonorous “come in” gave them the green light to enter.
His kidnapper took a whole ten steps inside the office before unceremoniously dropping him in the middle of the room.
The carpet looked new. It was an exact replica of the one that had been there yesterday, but all signs of past use had disappeared, along with any traces of the crime that had transpired less than a day before within that same room.
It probably had been hopeless. There was a lot of blood.
Oh, nausea, sweet bastard, you weren’t missed.
At least the rest of the room looked the same. Leo didn’t think he’d be able to handle any more sudden changes that blatantly reminded him of what he saw last night.
“I see you and ittle little Assistant are getting along just fine!”
Assistant and he turned to look at each other in tune, sharing a single, disgusted look before looking back at the woman with what could only be described as horror, snatching a boisterous laughter from the business woman.
It took her a lifetime–read: like ten seconds–to slow down, cleaning a non-existent tear before taking a deep breath.
Big Mama clapped her hands together, signaling with both human hands for Leo to join her at the desk.
She looked better than the past night, but on the edge of the table was a red handkerchief that had white spots, covering a couple of equally reddened tissues
Slowly, he stood up, turning his frown into the closest thing he could to a relaxed smile, gracefully dropping into a comfortable position in the same chair he had been bound hours ago. Big Mama hummed with pleasure, eyes drifting from his form to the set of stapled papers she picked from the desk, reading so fast that her eyes seemed to switch from side to side instantly rather than going through the content.
Donnie did the same when he was excited about the topic.
And when it was convenient for him too, the bastard. The softshell had once read a hundred and twenty page long comic in seven minutes flat, just to threaten Leo to spoil him the rest of the issue should the slider continue to annoy him—and at the time, he had been too scared of the risks of hearing how Jupiter Jim’s fight against his crew while brainwashed by an insect parasite ended that he had just snatched his comic from his twin’s hands before promptly locking himself in his room for almost a day and a half during a hyperfixation binge, losing a perfect opportunity to call Donnie an idiot for reading it all instead of straight up just reading the end.
Later that same week Mikey went through the same thing, except the youngest hadn’t expected Donnie to actually go through with it, and that ended in a fight that had both of them grounded for the weekend.
Raph had been so upset because their little spat ended with a broken couch, a toaster turned into an evil spoiler machine with ray guns and a bunch of Donnie’s works-in-process painted in the ugliest and most difficult to clean colors that took them an entire month to get off so the joints could start working again because, as they would learn that same day through a five hour long lecture, different paints had different consistencies and spray paint could make small objects actually stick something, something, Leo actually stopped putting attention the first twelve minutes, but the point was that it had sucked .
“Who were you chatting with?” He asked, slamming his elbows on the wooden desk, then resting his head on his hands. “Was that dad?”
“It was,” she agreed. Whether it was the truth, or just to get him off her case, Leo could not tell. Not when she was so uninterested in his chosen topic.
“Did he say hi?”
“Not to you,” she chuckled, already on the fourth page of whatever the hell she was reading.
“Boomer,” he slid his elbows and chair until his chin touched the desk.
They fell into silence.
From his place he couldn’t see much. The office was still emptier than he remembered it being. Definitely different from the previous night; objects were missing, in comparison, though he wouldn’t be able to specify what had changed exactly, he still felt wildly aware that the way the room was organized felt more natural, spacious.
Not a show of faith, not at all. He could see the bolts in the legs of a tea table nearby, one that only had a pretty cloth on top, teal and baby blue flowers embroidered into pink, a flower vase by the edge, waiting to be broken–though it looked like plastic, so probably not a viable weapon.
The wall held less than half of the paintings it used to, some of them tilted in impossible angles, clearly stuck like that on purpose.
In the entire office, there was not a single space where his katanas could be. Aside from beneath the desk, of course, but he wasn’t about to jump over it to check while Big Mama was standing right there. Assistant would probably suplex him into his next life if he tried anything that seemed like an attempt against Big Mama.
There was a chess board with pieces on top, in what looked like the middle of an abandoned game, with the queen of the white side in a position that seemed a piece away from checking the other side’s king. Both sides were heavy on losses, with only eight pieces from the white side and ten from the black.
White’s player had a clearly aggressive game style, with its remaining pieces all midway through the board, except for a couple of peons and the king, taking over the right side of the board, with the queen threatening to tear a hole through the king’s protection.
Whoever was on the black side though, was playing smart. A peon just a spot away from turning queen, in the perfect spot to checkmate the white King using a bishop and a tower to block the other side, all thanks to a poorly placed white peon that protected him from the queen.
‘Don’t get distracted. Look for a way out’.
A useless thought. there weren't any exits.
Big Mama covered the windows, and Assistant covered the door. Either of them would reach him before he even got close to the vents. Just being in the office felt like being in jail, only this time Mikey and dad wouldn’t be there to get him out.
Leo just had to be so awesome he ended up getting kidnapped, huh.
“Sooo….”
As soon as he finished the word, Big Mama fixed the stash of paper in her hands before offering it to Leo.
He eyed her with suspicion, straightening and hesitantly reaching for the offending item, before going over them.
And then he laughed. Or choked, he wasn’t sure.
Just a little bit, out of surprise more than anything, because in big bold letters, at the top of the first page, it read ‘Adoption Order’.
If he looked at Big Mama, he could see an expression that stood on a line between fond and amused, as she rested her linked hands on top of other documents, patiently waiting for him to look at the rest of the papers in his hands.
So he didn’t look at her, because such an expression felt illegal to see, let alone be in the receiving end of it.
Leo gulped down as much anxiety as he could, and actually started reading the contents.
It started with a name, in the ‘adopting parent’ section.
‘Ariadne Gumo Higanbana’, written with the kind of cursive one would hope to see in old letters that still smelled like expensive perfume, the ink long dried in a black that in the light looked slightly purple.
Big Mama’s name.
He had to double check because he just couldn’t believe that she had allowed him to know her legal name–age. A finger trailed over the letters, and he held his breath while doing so, expecting it to suddenly disappear.
It didn’t, and he stored that knowledge for later.
A few lines below, was his own, ‘Leonardo Blue Hamato’, in the same swirly handwriting.
His eyes skimmed through the document, finding every single line and square and question in the template filled, except for one, right at the end, over a small legend that read ‘Child’s firm of consent to the adoption’.
“You’re…serious,” he exhaled, suddenly aware of how cramped the whole room felt despite how empty it was.
“You did say you’d be my heir, lovely poo.”
His hands itched for one of his katanas, for a way out of there.
“I thought…”
There’s no way to finish that comment, because he doesn’t really know what he thought.
Not this. All but this, maybe.
It sounded so crazy, the whole fucking situation.
If anyone had told him this a few months ago he’d—
But it wasn’t a few months ago. It was now. He was currently sitting in front of her, looking at the documents that he had pretty much agreed to sign just the night before.
“You know that I don’t exist, right? In any legal system.” He emphasized the ‘any’.
Leo wanted to make it sound like he had the upper hand there. Like-’haha! got you! this won’t work, Big Mama!’.
Instead, it came like a whisper. A winded little sound that might as well be a surprised sob or something equally pathetic.
‘Focus, Leo, you can’t be weak right now!’.
Not while he was still under the Nexus Hotel roof, not while anything he did could be carefully used against him or his family, and definitely not anywhere near Big Mama.
Big Mama hummed, making him look up in time to see her signal that he should look at the other pages.
His eyes snapped back at the documents, and pushing through the doubts, he turned the pages.
A copy of a birth certificate under the Northamerican state of Iro, legalized under the Head Council, with his name, chosen date of birth–the one he shared with Donnie, in a couple of months–and many more things stated as facts that he wouldn’t confirm, either from ignorance or straight up denial.
Somewhere amidst the bunch of trash data that filled the page, Leo found Draxum’s name as the mother, without a signature that could be used, and a little note that claimed the means of conception were illegal, and he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry right there. He definitely didn’t have a phone anymore, but if he did, he would snap so many pics.
Splinter would totally add this to the family album if he could, just to spite Draxum after Mikey had insisted on adding him.
Fuck. His phone was gone, huh.
He’d have to write so many apologies on his Jupiter Jim (2012) Found family Time travel Fix-it with his long lost half-sister fic once he was out of the hotel.
‘Sorry for the long wait guys, my dad’s ex kidnapped me and forcefully adopted me so I could take over her business because she was terminally ill. Anyways, here ya go!’.
Ah, and when he was so close to posting the end too!
Next page.
A contract.
The font was frustratingly small, and it didn’t have any damn paragraph breaks. A giant watermark of an ugly head decorated the background of each page, transparent enough to allow the content to be read comfortably while still burning eyes with its abhorrent style.
‘In this agreement,’ he started reading, ‘Hamato Leonardo Blue agrees to be legally adopted by Higanbana Ariadne Gumo, who will be responsible for his education and living arrangements for the next months until her passing. Upon this event, Leonardo will take over the Nexus Hotel and the majority of Ariadne’s state and affairs’.
Different clauses followed, all depicting specific terms for many events and for his new obligations under Big Mama’s ‘care’, like classes and training, and a giant schedule with breaks and resting hours down to the minute, mandatory quality time with Big Mama, other responsibilities to the hotel like participating in a couple of grand events now that he adopted the title of ‘Big Mama’s Son’.
It wasn’t all in Big Mama’s favor.
There were a couple of paragraphs dedicated to his rights; Big Mama would have to take him outside every so often, because legally she couldn’t just keep him inside the Nexus Hotel until she died.
Proper food, water, and time to properly sleep.
He’d get a dedicated doctor in case anything too bad happened, entertainment would be provided like video games and comics he wished, he’d get an allowance—even if there wouldn’t be any chance to use it until Big Mama died, when it would be useless because, as stated in the contract, eighty nine percent of all of Big Mama’s state would become his upon her passing.
If not for the fact that he was pretty much still kidnapped, and that Big Mama was holding his family’s live over his obedience, Leo would actually admit that the contract was very normal looking.
Or he would have if not for the last page.
He wouldn’t have internet access—not unlimited at the very least. He’d also be heavily supervised, and most of the staff was prohibited from talking to him, or touching him.
For all intended purposes, he was a pretty accessory for Big Mama and the hotel. A pretty accessory with a shit-ton of responsibilities to follow and little free time that would also be monitored.
Lastly, ‘Hamato Leonardo Blue will forfeit all rights to contact his biological family on his own during the duration of this contract’, and ‘Higanbana Ariadne Gumo will receive all parental rights over Hamato Leonardo Blue, including the right to punish him as she sees fit as long as it doesn’t leave any permanent physical damage on the kid’.
Other than those lines, only the fact that there was no mention of what he was to do with the inheritance once she died worried him.
It mentioned several times that he’d get almost everything, but while there were several paragraphs detailing every single one of his responsibilities until Big Mama’s death, there was not a single one that mentioned the after .
Speaking of which, there was no mention of how long the contract would last for. All clauses had Big Mama’s death as the limit.
And he couldn’t help but wonder if she was even actually dying or just wanting to use him for some other reason.
Maybe for revenge on Splinter, or to mock Draxum. It would suck if his entire situation was just some petty way to get back at his dad, or his creator.
There was no mention of the Battle Nexus, but he could never be too paranoid when a crazy criminal mastermind was involved. He definitely wouldn’t put it past her to change the contract last minute to force him to fight for her.
“How do I know there won’t be any last second changes, like…you know,” ‘the whole Shredder thing’ went unsaid, but he waved his good hand in a random direction, hoping his point went across.
She showed him a fanged smile. “That’s why it’s printed on paper, turtley boo. All pages are carefully marked and numbered so neither side can add or erase anything,”
He hummed and nodded, exaggerating the movement so that she knew he didn’t believe a single word.
“See, if it were anyone else, I’d believe you. But the thing is…it’s you.” He placed the papers on the desk, his good hand once again serving his head as support.
Pizza Supreme in the sky, he felt tired. Skipping sleep hadn’t been his best plan. Didn’t make it to the top hundred and fifty. It totally didn’t have to do with the uncomfortable bed, or his overwhelming anxiety, no, no. It was all planned, he never said otherwise, shut it.
Because there was no way in hell he’d actually get a shut eye when Big Mama’s office was like five minutes away from his room.
“You’re cien por ciento capaz of using some magic mojo to modify it afterwards.” He paused, considering it for a second or two before voicing another of his concerns. “This isn’t, like, a magic contract or anything, right? Is it gonna magically electrocute me each time I’m late or—it’s not gonna shock me, right?” Leo eyed her with suspicion, tapping his fingers on the table.
Big Mama rolled her eyes with amusement. “No, Baby Blue, the contract won’t electrocute you. It’s just a normal piece of paper.”
“That is shocking!” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Then what’s stopping you from going off the rails?”
She stared at him, with a big grin. Tapping under the desk that sounded similar to Raph’s anxious tic—the bouncy leg thing.
“Not much, I guess.” Her form shifted into a more comfortable position. “Really, this is more for your peace of mind than mine.”
Leo scoffed, mimicking Mama’s pose with a grimace. “Sure, so if I break the contract, my family dies, but if you do it, all’s good and dandy! not unfair at all!” He crossed his arms, looking away with faked disinterest.
“If I break the contract, you’re free to go.”
Record scratch.
It was genuinely instinctive, the way he perked up with excitement and looked once again at Big Mama. She acknowledged his reaction by widening her smile into something almost predatory.
“Adoptions have to go through a…somewhat bothersome legal process, under the council.” she pursed her lips, her face pressed in annoyance. “While I could technically ignore their—ah, pigwash rules and opinions, If I want the inheritance process to go as smoothly as possible, I’ll have to play with their rules for a itsy-bitsy while”.
He never particularly cared for any of the legal systems of the Yokai society, and he couldn’t trust her word, so while he really wanted to be excited about this surprise, he couldn’t.
Big Mama was a criminal mastermind. Leonardo had seen firsthand what her power could do, all she had gotten away with.
In the whole wide world, if someone could get away with faking a whole adoption, including legal papers and all that jazz, it would definitely be her.
Of course she knew exactly what he was thinking, and giggled a bit before continuing.
“I don’t have the time to forge all the papers needed to finagle the council to keep out of your biz after my death, sweet potaboo.” Leo frowned at the nickname, and Big Mama ignored it in favor of placing a hand over the documents left forgotten, pushing them towards him. “More importantly, I do want you to actually keep the Nexus, and I reckon it’s in my best interest to not end up on bad terms with you, yes?”
He snorted. “Like by threatening my family?”
“Please,” She waved a hand in dismissal. “Don’t be so sensitive, sweetheart. Nothing happened to them yet!”
“That doesn’t make me want to help you anymore than I already did,” Leo grumbled, resentful, looking with irritation at the papers.
A loud clap startled him, “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that!” Her delight was clear as she smiled, reaching for a pen by her side. “I have a plan,”
“Is it wise to tell me you plan on manipulating me?” He questioned, looking at said pen when she rolled it over the papers.
“Oho ho. You focus on your classes, let me handle the rest.”
Except ‘the rest’ was a gigantic red flag that he wouldn’t let her handle, no sir. He was dumb, not stupid. No way in hell he’d give his family any more reasons to laugh at him.
Maybe if he stared at the papers, they’d set on fire, and he’d waste precious time that Big Mama didn’t have! Could he create a fire? Hell, if he could, then maybe he could create major damage to the building. He’d definitely have to test that one. Although if the little Assistant was on guard duty the whole time Leo was there, he wouldn’t get the chance to indulge in a little arson.
God, he really wanted a conveniently timed event to suddenly interrupt the meeting.
Hold the fuck up, the classes!
“What if I fail my classes?” The question was out before he even thought about it, and he blinked slowly before looking at Big Mama. “I’ve never been particularly smart, and–”
“You won’t.” she snapped, surprising Leo. It wasn’t rude, exactly, but her tone had an edge, and she looked at him with cold, dead eyes, finally done with his stalling. Big Mama took a deep breath, composing herself and then smiling once more, this time thinner. “I don’t expect full grades at first, I’m aware that your bindlestiff father couldn’t offer you proper education in his…position, but I also know that you, my little jackanapes, are very perceptive. You’ll do fine.”
That was rude. Of everything he had said, asked, that was probably the most genuine question of them all!
Sure! If he got bad grades maybe she’d kick him to the curve or something. But his worries came from another place. A ‘punishment’ as Big Mama saw fit sounded exactly like the kind of thing he preferred not knowing. Not when he first met her and realized she was a crazy spider woman willing to throw children to a death match, definitely not now that a few screws came loose…er.
And the thing was, that Leo was never book smart for a reason. He really did try! Donnie had set a small course with basic knowledge when they were younger, but it never stuck. Both Mikey and he, neither could pay attention to save their lives.
Not on purpose! Mikey had cried once after Donnie exploded on them for not taking it seriously enough, but the youngest just couldn’t understand because all the hard words jumbled in his mind.
Leo, on the other side, shrugged it off, because if Mikey couldn’t, then it wasn’t that bad! Sure, he was a year older, but Donnie was super smart, and Raph was a year older than them and he also didn’t get everything that their genius brother tried to teach!
Okay, sometimes, to lessen how much it bothered him the fact that he could not learn , he played into the ‘I’m silly, I’m stupid’ act, purposefully pissing Donnie off with the whole ‘I refuse to pay attention’ thing that was really more of a ‘I mentally, emotionally and spiritually can’t focus on what you’re trying to say’ thing.
Because that was it. An act.
Mikey found out that he could actually understand better if he doodled while studying, so their Can’t-Understand-A-Thing Duo quickly became a singlet.
No matter how much he tried, or what he did, if the topic didn’t interest Leo, his brain would not accept the information.
Raph turned out to be a visual learner so Mikey colored pretty infographics, and they both absorbed the info, and then Leo stayed behind, as the stupid brother that could barely read comics.
Don’t misunderstand, he didn’t mind, because at least with that, the hard classes ended.
Yes Donnie, he spent a whole day memorizing the quadratic formula. No Donnie, he could not recite it to you because he had forgotten all about it the next day, when he fixated on that astronomy book.
What was he supposed to do if his brain didn’t vibe with the topic of the classes Big Mama had imposed for him? If he failed badly enough to madden her?
Because if she kicked him out, great!
But on the other side, if she took out her frustration on him? Or worse, his family ?!
After all, the contract was clear. All punishments would leave him physically unharmed. Just him. It did not include people he cared about, and the last thing he wanted was to put his family in danger for being unable to pay attention for a couple of hours a day!
There wasn’t any more time to think it over. Big Mama pushed the pen over the documents, looking down on him expectantly with her lips pressed, the corners of her mouth quirked up.
“Go on. Sign.”
Something dangerous flashed through her eyes, dissatisfaction over his attitude seeping through her words, and he found himself looking away, towards the forgotten game of chess. He isn’t sure when he grabbed it, but his hands fiddled with the pen, a fountain one, all black, with fancy engravings all over the body that he could feel when his fingers trailed over the metal casing.
“Were you black or white?” He let himself ask, finally daring to search for the signature line in the papers.
“White,” Big Mama answered honestly, seemingly relaxing at the change of topic now that Leo complied to her request.
The nib bled a violet ink that shimmered rainbowy, like oil would, under the light.
In all his life, he never felt so in tune with the phrase ‘selling your soul to the devil’. The resignation washing through him as his chicken scribble stared back at him from the adoption order was overwhelming.
He didn’t falter this time.
As much as he wanted to allow himself a minute to panic over the entire situation, Leo knew that it was better to stay focused. After all, it was going to happen whether he wanted it or not, it clearly wasn’t in his best interest to make himself a nuisance—Just because Big Mama wanted him now, didn’t mean she’d want him later on, and there was no need to put himself and his family at risk.
He'd probably get away with a little weaponized incompetence, acting as if he was clueless–he did live in the sewers most of his life, how much could Splinter have told Big Mama about their upbringing? Surely the excuse would stick regardless, someone ought to say that a dumb turtle boy from the sewers couldn’t possibly inherit the company, that it was a nice charity case but someone else with actual capacitation should take over, and in the end Big Mama would have to back off!
Yes, perfect! Now he had a main plan.
He’d still have to check the bracelet’s perimeter, and he should really learn about the company’s internal affairs and organization so, should he actually end up taking Big Mama’s position, he’d be able to disassemble the whole thing without fucking over the poor people that was just working there to sustain their families.
But he’d be out of the Nexus Hotel before Donnie’s and his birthday.
He’d apologize to Mikey for scaring him, nod at the ‘you’re gonna be grounded until you’re a hundred and ten’ lecture that the rest of the family would make him sit through again—just to unground him two weeks later—and everything would go back to normal!
Maybe even better, considering that Big Mama would be gone sooner or later.
Okay, sheesh, that last thought was cold , but he was still very salty about the Shredder thing. And all those times she attacked them, or kidnapped them, or lied to them… And over his dad, who she led on just to capture him and kept him fighting for his life for years in the Battle Nexus… and for kidnapping Leo again…
Could anyone really blame him if he was a little relieved that she would not be able to mess with his family anymore?
His name stared back at him in bright violet, and he put the pen down, glowering at his handwriting for the entirety of three seconds before Big Mama snatched the papers from underneath his hands, her leg hitting the bottom of the wooden desk as she read, with a giant smile.
“Who was next?”
Big Mama hummed, going over the document. “It was Black’s turn.”
Two moves from check, past the point of no return. Someone had beat Big Mama in a game of chess.
“Huh.”
The sound of paper shuffling took over the room, as Big Mama continued to look at each of the pages to ensure he had filled them accordingly, and when she was satisfied with it, she placed the documents down, with a grin that sent a shiver down Leo’s spine.
“Perfect! I’m glad we reached an agreement,” She clapped her hands shut, excitedly standing up, circling around the desk towards him. “Sadly I have too many things to do to celebrate right away, but I’ll introduce you later in the week!”
Panic jumped inside his chest, he stood up second, towering over Big Mama’s human form. “But—My brothers—”
“To my people, Leonardo,” Big Mama rolled her eyes and shook her head, the same way one would towards a child saying something really stupid and imaginative, “A couple of our people already know about you, but the entire staff needs to meet their future boss,” she paused with a contemplative expression, then continued, “You’ll also need to meet a couple of my business partners. It’s better if you start studying them soon,”
“Oh,” he sighed with relief, feeling a little dumb. One of his hands went up, scratching his cheek as he avoided looking directly at the woman in front. “Yeah, alright.”
Big Mama patted his back twice before turning him towards the exit and Assistant.
“Venus, lovely, please show our dear Leonardo the place. You learned the schedule, didn’t you?”
Venus.
A curious name. Assistant did not react to it; they did not react to anything. The only sign they heard Big Mama was a slight tilt to the head in her direction, almost like a question.
Big Mama narrowed her eyes in their direction, staring for a second before breaking into fake laughter.
“Of course, how silly of me. You’re allowed to take your mask and speak around baby Blue, deary!”
There was no time for anticipation to build because as soon as Big Mama gave her permission, Assistant relaxed, her previously soldier-like stance transforming into a more natural one, and right then and there, digging their gloved hands into the hood, they took off their mask with a click, revealing a—
“You’re a turtle?!” Leo squeaked, gaping like a dumbass, looking at Assistant, then Big Mama, then Assistant again, and over and over, not knowing what to do at the revelation.
It probably was more important that Big Mama had to give permission for them to speak and show their face at all, but Leo could think about that later, when he wasn’t too busy looking at Assistant’s…well…entire self?!
A face covered in black scales, white marks that surrounded their eyes like an inverse panda, and small freckles the same tone of ivory covering their entire face, splashing down their neck and hiding underneath the armor.
Donnie would be able to tell what species they were just by looking, but Leo hadn’t the slightest idea.
They didn’t look impressed by his realization. In fact, with an eyebrow raised, and a bored expression, Assistant— Venus , looked done with him.
Hundreds of possibilities ran through his head. Were they a yokai? There were actual turtle yokai? The closest thing he’s seen in the Hidden City were Kappas, but they were nothing like him and his brothers. Or were they… a mutant? Their features were close to that of a young adult, someone in their early twenties, maybe younger, considering that the scars and their hardened expression made them seem more mature.
But in the infinite possibilities of mutations, what were the chances that they turned into a turtle? A turtle.
Of course, he didn’t know if there was a secondary effect from the mutation, like many of the rampaging mutants in the city had. Were they a turtle turned mutant like he and his brothers?
Why was he overthinking about this?
Dude . Assistant— Venus was the only other turtle they’ve seen since ever!
Could they be…?
“Well?” Big Mama interrupted his train of thought, clasping her hands behind her back, “Did you learn the schedule like I asked, my little Assistant?”
Venus’ teal eyes lingered on Leo’s place for a second more before looking at Big Mama, all emotions washed from their face.
“Yes, Mama. I memorized the schedule for Hamato Leonardo,” They bowed their head, the pitch of their voice higher than Leo had expected. “Should I take him now?”
“Please do!” She pushed Leo towards the door, and towards Assistart, a wide smile in her face as she ignored his offended sputtering. “Straight to mister Avalon.”
“And then to Madam Diana,” Assistant nodded, then looked at Leo. “Come.”
He was, understandably so, reluctant to follow them anywhere, and yet, it took but a little sneak at Big Mama’s stern look in his direction to make Leo accept his destiny.
“Yeah, alright. Just don’t- Don’t carry me again.”
It was funny, to see how little Assistant could keep their emotions to themself, because their face devoid of all emotion suddenly transformed into childish joy, mischief shining in their eyes and a little grin decorating their face.
Leo thought that maybe his first assessment of their age had been wrong, because the excitement that dominated them, he had only ever seen in Mikey. Did he have another younger sibling?
God, he was already thinking of them as a sibling and he wasn’t even sure they had the same origins. It didn’t made sense if they did, the stories their dad and Draxum told didn’t match and—
Big Mama cleared her throat, breaking the moment, and Assistant followed, straightening and clearing any expression they had before putting the mask back on, replacing once again the person with a soldier.
“Let’s go,” they called, with the same monotone tone they’d answered Big Mama with. “Mister Avalon is waiting.”
Neither of them look back as they cross the door.
From the office, cheerful humming could be heard, but the slider didn’t care—at the very least he didn’t want to care, so he pushed the thought, the sound, the fact that he had sold his life to the most dangerous criminal on their radar.
Oh, he’d be so grounded.
No, don’t think of your family who you can’t see for pizza-supreme-in-the-sky-knows-how long! You’ll get sad, idiot!
Quick, distract yourself by being annoying.
“So you can talk!” He poked his head from one of Assistant's shoulders, unsurprised when their instant reaction was to turn and push him away with enough strength to make him stumble. “Sheesh, alright, personal space ‘n’ all that, sorry!”
They stared at him from underneath the mask, hostility framing their body, and Leo raised his hands in mock surrender, the most innocent little smirk he could make in his face until Assistant gave up and crouched, grabbing him by the forearm and pulling him up in a swift move.
“Woah, hey—”
He should’ve thought twice before annoying the other, because they decided to spite him by dragging him all the way to a small conference room, a floor under the one he’d been staying in. It was okay! Leo was a ninja, he could easily keep their pace. Now, the stairs…
Assistant slammed the door open, throwing the slider against one of the black rolling chairs that surrounded a gray rounded table, adding yet another bruise to his growing collection.
Face against the ground, limbs tangled in a rolling chair; he probably looked pathetic, and he could only hope that the so-called ‘Mister Avalon’ wasn’t in the room yet.
“Ah, Venus. Still as violent as I remember you,”
No such luck.
Leo stood up slowly, glaring at Assistant as they closed the door behind them, blocking it with their body. Assistant just nodded at Avalon, and nothing else.
‘Mister’ Avalon’s sight fell on Leo, fingers rhythmically tapping on his face, and the slider recognized that the man was inspecting Leo the same way Leo was him. To that, he pulled the corner of his lips into an arrogant grin, nonchalantly making himself comfortable in the ground, finding genuine joy in the way the man scrunched his face with aversion.
“This… child, is my new student?” The man looked at Assistant with his nose wrinkled, huffing as if offended when Assistant nodded once again.
A nice suit dressed him, Leo could give him that, with gold cufflinks with a bright red stone decorating it. And to be fair to the man, he had good looks too. Nowhere near Don Suave , but he wasn’t ugly. A nekomata, with black fur with white paws and snout and a little patch that peeked from the collar of the suit. His two tails danced agitatedly behind him, and a pair of round glasses framed his face and highlighted his frown.
“Well, young man. Do me a favor and sit down properly.”
Pros of doing as he asked: Leo definitely wanted to get along with this guy. Not only because he needed as many people on his side inside the hotel as he could in case he needed to, like, overthrow Big Mama or something, but in general, having allies inside the Hidden City was always a good idea. Plus, these classes were not gonna last a day or two. They’d go on for months.
Chances were he’d have to interact daily with the asshole until Big Mama kicked the bucket, and he didn’t want someone fighting him every step of his way to freedom.
Also, making a poor first impression when it was already very probable that he’d be unable to pull his weight in the class was a terrible idea, considering he didn’t know what Big Mama would do if he failed.
Cons: Boring. Incredibly boring. It also went against his whole entire brand. Nice and compliant? Did he want Big Mama to think he actually agreed to anything in her bullshit contract? April would never let him get over it if any of them saw him being a teacher’s pet. If he dared be anything less than rebellious when they found him, really.
Which they shouldn’t do, because it was dangerous.
Fuck.
Fuck it, fuck this guy specifically.
Leo raised his knees, resting against them with a face full of fake smugness so clear that the man visibly recoiled.
“I’m actually really comfy here,”
‘Mister’ Avalon took a deep breath, taking off the glasses, massaging his entire face with so much strength that Leo felt a little bad.
“Sure, whatever. Why did I agree to this again?” he weakly wondered, dragging the hand up, combing his ears back, then putting the glasses back.
‘Mister’ Avalon looked tired. ‘I’ve been awake for three days’ tired. The same kind of tiredness that usually had Raph rolling Leo into a blanket burrito before placing him right by his side on the couch while seeing the same romcom he’d seen over and over before.
It didn’t make him stand, didn’t make him change his opinion, but maybe the guy wasn’t as much of an asshole, maybe he was just grumpy and overworked and, like him, sold his soul to the devil for some unknown reason. They were all just victims of Big Mama, one way or another.
Even Venus, who could only talk and show their face to ‘authorized’ people, couldn't have gotten to Big Mama’s claws on their own volition.
Besides, Leo did need to get on his good graces, at some point.
“I’m Leonardo,” he waved, softening his expression into something less smug and more fun.
“Big Mama’s son,” Avalon mumbled, waving a hand with disinterest. “Look, kid. I heard it all. You were stayin’ at your dad’s after the whole secret divorce, your mom finally got custody, blah, blah, blah,” If he saw Leo raising an eyebrow at him, he did not care.
And in turn, Leo ignored the way Assistant snapped their head in his direction, as if daring him to argue against the fabricated story told to the teacher.
Fortunately that meant he could still play the ‘living in the sewers’ act. Unfortunately that meant he apparently had a whole life he didn’t know about, and going against it would get him in trouble.
See, usually you tell your actors before sending them to the stage, so they know what act they oughta play. Luckily he was an amazing actor, and he knew how to improvise… most of the time.
“Point is,” Avalon pulled the chair closest to him and plopped down, an I-don’t-get-paid-at-all face that made him look miserable. “I’m not good with spoiled kids. K’? If your dad’s some kind of big shot, if you’re used to getting your every whim and what-not. I simply don’t care.”
Ho-ho-ho! Donnie would be so jealous of Avalon’s emotionally unavailable bad boy persona. Even got the ‘dead inside’ look and the ‘i’d sell you to Big Mama for half a water flavored chip’ tone that Donnie could never match because he was far too dramatic for that.
“You’re probably still–...adjusting to your new life, to your sister,” he pointed at Assistant, who jerked in surprise, “and your mom,” he waved a hand at the room, “and everything else, and I’m gonna be as understanding as possible, but I’m not gonna let you just step over me and—are… are you listening?”
‘Oops! Come on Leo, you know better than stare at the windows in class! Other people don’t know that you’re listening if you don’t act like it!’
“Yes, yeah, uhum. Sorry, you were saying?”
The nekomata eyed him with suspicion. “What did I say?”
Leo mused. “You’re not good with kids, told me my whole life story, then said you’d play nice if I played nice.”
“I said that I wasn’t good with spoiled kids,” the man scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and comfortably leaning against the back of the chair.
“Yeah, but you looked like your girlfriend just told you she’s pregnant not knowing you’re sterile when you were saying the word ‘kids’, so I bet you just dislike kids in general… you’re not even a teacher, are you?” The slider rested his whole weight against the right side, his left arm too busy drawing circles in the carpeted ground.
Avalon, astonished, gaped like a fish a little before fixing his tie. “You really are like Big Mama,” he sighed.
And man, if that wasn’t a punch to the face.
Technically, yeah, he was supposed to act the part and, now with a bit of context on the fake story Big Mama had weaved for him, act like that was a good thing.
But holy shit, never had he felt so offended to be compared to someone powerful. He kinda missed Casey Jr calling him sensei, despite his mixed opinions on the man he would never become.
Still, he found the strength to bite his tongue and force a big smile.
“Yeah, I’m not a teacher,” the man balanced his weight against the opposite side of the chair, reaching for a bag in the ground, pulling out a couple of books, notebooks and pens. “I used to be Big Mama’s CFO.”
Nothing rang at the acronym, and Leo let it show in hopes that the man would explain. Avalon let out a small sob of defeat, hugging the materials, hoping to shield them from Leo’s idiocy.
“I used to be the chief financial officer. I found investors and oversaw all the expenses and assets of the company,”
“Oh!” Leo still had no idea what that meant—seriously, he grew up in a literal sewer, what would he know about the workings of a company?—instead of admitting that to the man, he nodded with all the confidence of the world, “Used to?”
Avalon shrugged. “I resigned three years ago. Turns out I prefer art over finances.”
“But you came back?”
‘Mister’ Avalon paused, rubbing his chin in contemplation of Leo’s question, closing his eyes.
“Not really. Big Mama helped me settle comfortably away from the big city, so I owed her a couple of favors.”
“And you accepted a job you’re not technically qualified for?” Gosh, Donnie would be proud of his big vocabulary. Already pulling the big words, like technically, or qualified.
No need to look at him like that, Assistant. He knew his words!
Sputtering, the nekomata defended himself. “I’m qualified to be a teacher!”
Leo snorted. “And I’m qualified to be a doctor!”
He was, proper documentation aside. Leo believed ‘Mister’ Avalon when the older said that he could properly teach whatever it was that Big Mama wanted him to learn. However, Leo knew that his tone sometimes sounded like sarcasm, and he wanted to know how Avalon would respond to the stated fact when it sounded like mockery.
Anger was the response; the man slammed his hands against the table. “I am! I can teach a fourteen year old yokai and human law and finances!”
Leonardo crackled, throwing his head back with laughter. “Dude, I believe you!” he then straightened, stretching his arms over his head. “Also I’m seventeen.”
Reluctantly, Avalon returned to his previous position.
“You don’t look seventeen,” the nekomata grumbled.
“Yeah, I’ve been told that,” Finally the slider stood up, taking the chair up with him, and sitting in another, a little farther away from Avalon and Assistant. “I do sound like an adult though,” He winked.
That seemed to clear the air a little. Avalon’s face softened the slightest, slitted pupils looking for something in Leo’s face before nodding and starting to place the books on the table.
“So, we’re gonna study general politics and finances,” ‘Mister’ Avalon began, his gaze falling on the well positioned books in front of him before pushing them towards Leo. “I’ll lend you these books, so you’ll be able to read them after class if you feel like you didn’t understand something—although I’d prefer if you checked with me first. Now, Yokai and Humans have, from the beginning of time—”
Avalon explained that it was important to know where something started.
It was similar to learning about Gram gram and the birth of the Hamato clan; you need to learn why something exists to understand why it’s important.
History was definitely not Leo’s fort, but Avalon had magic books with moving pictures, like in Harry Potter, which made it a thousand times easier to pay attention.
At the end of the class, Leo felt a lot more comfortable around Avalon.
He was very transparent; hated when his abilities were questioned, but overall was pleasant to be around.
Grumpy or not, the nekomata was definitely a better company than Madam Diana, the next teacher he met. When they tell you to ‘not judge a book by its cover’, they meant Madam Diana. She was a giant mantis, slim and tall, towering over him by at least two feet, but her expression was cheery and sweet, and unlike Avalon, she had been kind and polite when Leo and Assistant first showed up.
“I’ll teach you etiquette and yokai history!” She had clapped her hands…feet? claws? With excitement, the room was already prepared for the class with a giant whiteboard and a couple of glowing stones.
It had been fun when she gave him the explanation, using actual magic to make projections of the events she retold, like she had been there while it happened.
It hadn’t been as fun when his mind started wandering—something about the cake war in Mexico and the yokai contribution reminded him of one time Mikey and April started a food war that ended with their dad and Raph hanging from the ceiling by a string of gummy worms and Leo and Donnie barricaded in the lab, and one thing turned into another and soon he was daydreaming about a strawberry bazooka that already had blueprints ready somewhere in the forgotten archive—because Diana didn’t like that, and she was very comfortable smacking him with a ruler in the calves.
He refused to complain, no matter how annoying it was to walk with his legs swollen, and Assistant and he ate in silence in Diana’s conference room after the woman left.
Admittedly, the food was good, and all the interactions he had in the day left him starving, so the alfredo pasta disappeared in seconds. Really! He would’ve cleaned the plate with his fingers if Miss Diana hadn’t instilled the fear of perfectly-placed-down-to-the-millimeter spoons and forks in his very soul.
Mikey would’ve loved it. The youngest would already be asking for the recipe, or to meet the chef so they could discuss spices and stuff.
God, he really missed his family.
No time to be depressed, fortunately, because as soon as he was done eating, Assistant— Venus , was already up, quickly balancing every dish over the tray all had been delivered in order to return it to the charmeleon yokai .
This time, they took the elevator, four floors down. Leo was surprised to see a dojo welcome them once the automatic metal doors opened.
‘A’ dojo. Not a floor with a dojo. A dojo.
The entire place was one singular dojo, with wooden planks so waxed it shined. The walls were covered with training tools, weapons and other miscellaneous stuff. Brawling rings by the right, mats on the left, a giant window with a hint of violet tint at the other side, and most importantly, a cage of energy on the middle, taking most of the space—although, to be fair, the room was gigantic.
“This will be where our training sessions will be held,” Assistant—Venus said, taking their mask off and hanging it on her belt. “During our training time no one else aside from Mama and a select number of employees will have access to this dojo. Any questions?”
Leo blinked. “What pronouns do you use?”
Assistant blinked back. “She, her. Any important questions?”
“Hey! That’s important. I wanna be nice!”
“No questions then. Come on.”
“Wha—hey!!”
She grabbed him by the arm, through the energy cage, throwing his forearm like he had burned her once they were inside. Assistant walked to the other side, turned to him, and fell into a combat pose he did not recognize.
“No magic abilities, if you’re out of the field, you lose, anything goes… except lethal.”
“Woah wow, we’re gonna–?”
“Fight!”
“Hold up!”
Assistant did not hold up. Instead, they dashed towards him, a fist at the ready to strike him—except it wasn’t, because their feet didn’t match the energy of the hit, and Leo recognized that pattern from Mikey.
He lowered his torso, knees bent, perfect to block the first, weak, punch directed at his face. Assistant used the momentum to leap over him, kneeing him in the pit behind his own knees. It broke the little balance he had, but by that time he already had a tight grip on her arm, and he gladly rolled upfront, pulling her along and throwing her before pushing himself up in a swift move.
Venus was quick to regain her footing, rolling over the ground and skidding for a couple of meters before throwing herself back into combat, this time sweeping towards him, forcing Leo to jump to dodge, though she quickly snatched his ankle.
With a hand, he broke his fall, kicking her hand with the other feet, making her let go, and he rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a kick to the plastron. Leo sweeped her feet, making her fall to the side and retreating.
In what could only be described as ‘showing off’, Venus danced their way up, like a breakdown move, rolling on their back—shell?—then jumping and landing on her feet, back into combat position.
‘Anything goes’, she said. But there was nothing to use inside the field aside from themselves…
And everything Assistant had on herself.
This time, Leo went first. He moved clumsily towards her, looking at her legs in the most obvious bait. He launched a kick to her knees, and she blocked it, surrounding his leg with her arms and pulling him, making him fall on his back, slamming him with her whole weight, giving him the perfect opportunity to take her belt.
Warned by the sound of the mask colliding against the floor, Assistant tried to back away.
Not wasting any time, he raised his knees, messing with her equilibrium and sending her legs to the left, while grasping one of her arms, tying it with the belt.
Anticipating his plan, she kneed his side, not counting with Leo’s high pain tolerance—seriously, you don’t go hand to hand against Kraang and return with your nerves intact!
Leonardo linked an arm with the leg Venus used to hit him, and he yanked the tied arm towards it, dragging the belt under the offending knee. Alarmed, Assistant pushed his head away with her free hand, claws digging into his skin, piercing through it, but that did little to stop Leo, who used that chance to snatch her other arm and tie her in an uncomfortable position.
Up he went, winded—tired, because even well-fed, he still didn’t sleep last night—looking at his prisoner.
The black leather stretched, fighting her struggle. It wouldn’t last, but he didn’t need it to.
He played it up, his exhaustion, breathing heavily, his eyes squinted, his body lowered into a more defensive stance, focusing on the side she hit, retreating to the exact spot he had originally been when the fight started. He really, really —two reallys—hoped she fell for it, because if she didn’t, it would all be for naught and they’d be stuck in this fight for even longer.
Snap !
Ready.
Like a tiger, Venus raised up, growling animalistically at him, her hands still bound to the belt, though it was now in pieces, and in each wrist hung a mangled piece of leather. Hostility exuding from them as they sprinted in his direction.
There.
A single frame of a second in which their feet skidded as they prepared to jump, perfectly aligning with his plan.
Down.
She leaped, he dropped. If she realized what he had planned, he couldn’t see it under the mask, but he did see the defeat when they lumped their shoulders as she flew over him.
He grabbed the pieces of the belt, securing that the next hit would land, and kicked hard . Doubled on himself and he saw them wince as he threw them outside the field.
A ‘fwoosh’ marked the end of the fight, and Leo let his body drop to the ground in a loud ‘thud’.
Pride warmed his chest, he exhaled with a wide smile, letting himself take a deep breath before rolling up.
He made his way towards Assistant, who laid on the ground the same way he did just a few seconds before, and offered her a hand.
Venus slapped his offer, standing by herself, back into the soldier persona.
“Good. We will repeat this training daily, five times a day, and then I will take you to your next teacher, Miss Tecna.”
Leo groaned.
“Back to the field, now,” she brushed past him.
“Best out of five, then?”
“...Has anyone told you how annoying you are?”
“Oh, you’re starting to warm up to me!”
“I will break your arm.”
“Practically besties already!”
Notes:
If there was an update earlier, sorry, I edited the chapter three, still not sure how to use ao3.
I have this hc that Mikey is an auditory learner, Raph is a visual learner, Donnie is a logical learner, and Leo is a physical/kinesthetic learner. He can memorize stuff, but is very short term, unless he keeps repeating and repeating.
Anyways, I know it wasn't a week, but since I'm trying to stay a chapter ahead of the one i'm publishing, it takes a bit of time :(
I might take longer with chapter 5 because I'm Just Not Vibing With It. In fact, I'm not even done with it, but I felt like I was taking too long so, here it is.I was thinking-
Okay, I'm not gonna say I'm the greatest artist in the world. For my age they're pretty childish :P
But I have a couple of designs for the characters that Leo will be interacting with and I kinda wanna draw some scenarios that won't make it to the fic, so I was thinking on maybe just putting my tumblr in here? It would also open a better communication channel for any questions about the fic/AU, considering I tend to overcomplicate things sometimes hehe.It's just an idea, but it you guys would like me to do it, please tell me!
Anyways! I really hope you guys liked this chapter :)
Remember I read ALL comments, even if I don't answer a lot bc, shy, ye. I appreciate y'all!!!
Have a nice week!!!
Chapter 5: Maybe be more observant, boy...
Summary:
Fake or not, Leo get's more information.
A plan is in motion.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Venus did not break his arm.
It came close, several times during the four remaining duels they had, but it never got to that!
At some point, the upper part of their armor was left forgotten by the side of the cage, mask included, and unfortunately for Leo, that made a huge difference during the sparring, because that meant he had less to work with while trying to outwit Venus.
Obviously, that also meant he had a better view of her; the white freckles that sprayed her shoulders and an equally marked, ridged carapace somewhat similar to Donnie’s that made it ridiculously hard to attack her back without getting himself injured—the damn armor seemed to be more for the public’s protection than her own.
Hand to hand, both were relentless with their attacks; Leo focusing on using the empty environment and themselves against Venus, while she used her fierce determination and brute force to try to take him out.
The only good thing to come out of the entire situation, was that, whenever Assistant left the mask, they became a lot more talkative, which was a much-appreciated change that came with the bonus of extra information. Little things at first, like teal being her favorite color, and how they loved seafood, and that Diana had also been her teacher, years ago, before she took up the mantle of Assistant.
“So!” He dodged a fist to the face, blocked the next, and twirled over her extended arm so he could get behind her, trying to kick her knee pit, jumping back when she dodged and turned with a kick. “How long have you been a turtle?”
Her unimpressed stare as she fell back into defense made him chuckle.
“You’ telling me you’re a yokai and not a mutant?”
Question her origins, don’t outright ask if they’re a mutant because that gives them a chance to deny it. This or that questions had better chances at getting actual answers than generic questions did. People were more inclined to answer something when given options rather than having to create a response from zero.
She shrugged, sprinting towards him with a hook that he barely blocked, recoiling back and jumping to hit him in the face with an elbow that he avoided by stepping forward and grabbing her by the middle section in a sort of hug that he used to send her flying a few meters—she narrowly avoided touching the cage’s wall.
“I am a mutant,” Venus admitted, inhaling heavily before throwing herself back to the fight, this time aiming for his legs with heavy swings that fit Raph better than her. “I’ve just been a turtle all my life.”
It implied that she was originally a turtle, and not human, like most of the mutants in New York City were. Which also automatically implied that she’d been around for far longer than the rest of the mutants he knew, because her abilities were not something one obtained in a couple of years. She’d been training for a long time before they met.
Leo perked up at that, smiling brightly while dodging. “Was it…?” Give her no name, make her speculate who he’s talking about. Opposed to the other question, when asking for names, it was better to not give any options, because it became easier to just pick one and hide the truth.
She scoffed. “Baron Draxum.”
Ah, how’d he enjoy going to the exiled goat to goad about his discovery. Maybe bringing Mikey as Doctor Delicate Touch to eat some popcorn for a bit while the interrogation occurred.
Mikey, by the way, who Leo was sure would love to adopt Assistant— Venus into their family. Which was a much better idea than adopting Big Mama.
A shiver ran through his shell. He was sure that if Big Mama was actually talking to his dad, right after he got kidnapped, it was probably to talk about him and his situation, and it was almost assured that his siblings were also listening in to the conversation.
Donnie was probably accusing Big Mama with April as his second.
Raph unsure of which side to take, leaning towards listening to their father’s opinion.
Mikey trying to read Big Mama but at the end making the wrong assumption because he always did try to find the best in people, Splinter untrusting but on her side because Big Mama had to have been cooking her plans at least days in advance, if not months, and the Jones… he still wasn’t sure; Casey was a loose cannon, so it was a fifty-fifty between screaming her lungs out while throwing accusations of her own or straight up not there. Maybe searching on her own.
CJ probably was lost in translation. Poor future boy always confused because things have changed a lot between their present and his future.
Hopefully they’d listen to Mikey.
Blocking with both arms, then raising his leg to block a knee to the plastron, he grappled himself over her arm and swung her over him, but she returned the favor, shackling her hand to his bruised wrist and taking him along for a ride.
“So, was Avalon right? You’re my little sister?” He flashed a smirk. One that soon fell, when they stopped in the middle of the cage because Venus started spinning with him like a tetherball, generating enough momentum to send him flying.
Quickly he reached for the ground, managing to touch it with his toes, then the rest of his feet, the friction fortunately enough to keep him inside the delimited area.
Venus made a face of utter disgust. “Just because Mama adopted you does not mean we’re siblings… our origins definitely don't.” then her face went back to being as devoid of emotion as they could possibly manage. “And I’m older.”
He ran towards her, the same tactic she used during the first duel they had, stopping at the last second to sweep her, though she did manage to keep her footing and kick him straight in the chest.
“Now you’re just pulling my hair,” Leo coughed, rubbing his chest in an attempt to mitigate the pain, standing up and jumping in time to avoid a slide tackle, landing on her shoulders and jumping forward while throwing her back.
“You’re bald as a frog.” She deadpanned.
With fake offense, he gasped loudly. “Do you take joy in insulting me each time you get?”
“Yes.”
Punched her leathery plastron, dodged her attempt to link legs to trip him, and tried to retreat a bit too late, for Assistant linked arms with him and pushed him towards the edge, and once they were close to the limit of the cage, he grunted and fixed his feet, locking place a couple of centimeters away from the energy wall.
“You’re making me really–,” he put more resistance the more strength she put, ”shit! Really…unhoppy—whoop!”
Faint electricity ran through him as he fell to his back, his shell making a loud ‘thump’ noise once it collided with the floor, on the outside of the cage, officially marking the third win for Venus, and with that, his loss.
He hadn’t expected her to drop to the ground, all of a sudden, taking him with her and kicking him in the stomach, straight out of the field.
Relief was the first thing to fill him, followed by disappointment. Leo was glad that the sparring was over—fun or not, he was dead exhausted, and his legs weren’t in the best condition after Miss Diana’s class, something that felt purposeful now that he thought about it. Still, he had been enjoying it. It felt… like roughhousing with his family. Taken a little to the extreme, but! For a little bit it took his head off of things.
Kinda.
It also disappointed him deeply that he had lost. They’d been pretty evenly matched, during the whole thing, He lost the second match because he had been too distracted searching for something in Assistant’s uniform to use against them that he didn’t notice they were too close to the edge. Won the third match because he kept ruining the peace and quiet with so much blabbering that Assistant focused on trying to hit him in the face. Lost the fourth because he slipped—it was his calves burning, he swears—and finally, lost the fifth.
The entire training made him realize that he was heavily reliant on his weapons and environment, and that it was necessary for him to up his level at hand-to-hand combat.
He wasn’t bad at it! by any means. Leonardo was greatly skilled at fighting in general, and the fact that he won almost half of the five duels was a show of his abilities. Especially considering he wasn’t at his hundred percent, unlike Venus over there, looking fresh like a lettuce.
At least one of them slept properly…
Ideally, once he was free, he wouldn’t be caught dead in an enclosed space without his weapons, or his brothers, who always had his back, but also, ideally, he wouldn’t be in the Nexus Hotel with a flimsy contract being his only failsafe after accepting , in a moment of desperation to—well, repeating was redundant, he already knew he was an idiot.
Back to the point: He didn’t dislike the training.
It wasn’t his idea of fun, but considering he’d be stuck there for a good while, it wasn’t a terrible thing either. It kinda surprised him that Big Mama had been willing to organize mandatory training for him, and from the beginning too.
Like. Okay, he was supposed to take over the Nexus eventually, so it made sense that she’d want him to be strong enough and all that jazz. But he had just gotten there, it didn’t make sense that she’d trust him with the dojo so early on. Wasn’t she afraid he’d try something? Even if it was meant to tire him out, it didn’t mean he couldn’t use the opportunity to attempt to escape, surely she knew that?
He threatened her to cut his hand off to get rid of the bracelet and she just went, ‘oh, sure, sweetpea—insert here some weird word that came straight up from a doctor Seuss book—go and have fun getting beat up in a room full of weapons!’
Either she trusted too much her abilities to inflict fear in everyone’s heart, or she trusted Venus that much. Maybe both, all things considered.
It just… made him worried. She clearly had a plan, and this training had to be part of it, but he didn’t know how , and it just added questions to the already giant list he already had.
“Here,” Assistant called, throwing something on his plastron—and oh, yeah, he’d been laying there since she won. She was already back in uniform, except for the mask, and she stood expectantly a couple of steps away.
He looked at the small bag of pomegranate seeds that matched the one in Assistant’s hands, and sat up, enjoying the small ‘plop’ sound that the ziplocs made when opened.
Was it even season? Did pomegranates have a season? Most fruits did, so surely pomegranates did too, right? Usually Donnie would correct him, but Donnie wasn’t there, so he just kind of stared at the fruit, hoping that they’d answer him.
Did Assistant just carry the pomegranate seeds everywhere? He didn’t see a pouch or nothing. Was it hidden in their armor?
Obviously, he wouldn’t just stay quiet, the question ping ponged around his head like those screensavers that refused to properly hit the angles of the tv, and Leo opened his mouth to properly ask. Assistant quickly shut him up by pointing at a mini fridge hidden between two benches, close to the weapons.
“That wasn’t there before.”
“What, do you think it randomly showed up for plot convenience?” Assistant scoffed, digging her hand inside her own ziploc bag and fishing for a couple of seeds.
“I mean, I kinda do, now. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t there before. Like, so, so sure.”
“This isn’t a cartoon,” she rolled her eyes at him, then plopped the fruit in her beak.
And you know what? That was a solid argument. Donnie was the one that liked to break the fourth wall, he wouldn’t take that away from his twin, whether the mini fridge was there already or not, Leo did not care.
Especially now that he had something to eat—training so much? It drained you, man. Raph had understood pretty early on that dragging them to train right after lunch usually ended with that lunch back outside, usually in the ground and a lot greener than when it entered. Big Mama didn’t seem to get that.
Although usually his brothers and he would eat until they were full. The alfredo pasta had been filling, but it didn’t make him full, so maybe it had to do with that?
No matter, Leo wasn’t about to look at a gifted horse’s mouth.
At least foods were safe now, with the contract. Big Mama had to provide food as his tutor, he didn’t owe her anything for giving the bare minimum. In her words, ‘she never breaks a contract’, and with the pages numbered and filled to the rim, nothing could be added at the last second.
Eugh, he was honestly really anxious about that. Leo did not trust Big Mama one bit, but he wasn’t in the place to negotiate.
Sweet juice from a seed exploding between his teeth filled his mouth, and he looked at Assistant, who took a seat by his side, her bag already half-empty.
He didn’t trust her either.
They were, after all, a guard and her charge. Not in the sense to protect him, but in the sense to keep him in place. Even if Assistant had played nice the first day, it didn’t mean they would on the second. She hated whenever he dissed Big Mama, and her disgust at his silly comments about being siblings and being the same was real. Very, very real.
Like the mere idea of them being similar somehow was a personal offense.
And the Draxum thing…
Chances were that she was lying. He didn’t remember if Big Mama knew about their origins. But she knew about mutants, and she knew that they had some sort of link to Draxum. Most importantly, she knew that they mutated right after Splinter got kidnapped by Draxum so—
Okay, he was dumb. Yes, she knew. Sheesh.
On the other hand, if Venus wasn’t lying…
Did it mean that there were more? Was it just them five or did they have another long-lost sibling somewhere in New York? or somewhere else? Assistant– Venus clearly accepted her origins as an experiment from the same batch—a similar batch? She said she was older, so maybe she was the first attempt and something went wrong, but that didn’t make sense because when dad told them the story he said they were mutated that same day with his DNA, but also that didn’t make sense because he never mentioned any more turtles than just the four of them—but she disagreed that their filial links ran any deeper than that.
So many things made so little sense, and he couldn’t just go and ask his dad, or Barry, or… no one!
Honestly all this made him… doubt Splinter and Draxum.
Not that he ever really trusted Draxum, the ass had yet to apologize for almost killing him and Raph after throwing him off a roof. But recently he had been… less of an ass.
And yet, neither he nor his dad had ever thought to mention the fact that apparently, they had a missing sister? Maybe more?
‘But Leo, she’s Big Mama’s Assistant! She follows all Big Mama wants to the letter and despite her inability to control her stronger emotions, it doesn't mean she couldn’t be a perfect liar!’
That’s absolutely correct.
He couldn’t trust Assistant’s story. Nor Big Mama’s. But he also couldn’t not give them the benefit of the doubt because there was a truth to every lie; that’s the trick to make something believable. Some part of the tragic backstory had to be real.
It certainly matched what he knew, it was within the possibilities.
Which meant he had, once again, nothing to work with.
The two biggest sources of information he had were unreliable at best. Maybe if he won over one of the teachers—not Diana—, they’d talk to him, but that would take so much time because he didn’t know them enough to get the important info quick and easy, and he saw them a few hours per day, most of which was dedicated to a specific topic and, for the cherry on top, was constantly supervised by Big Mama’s direct underling.
What was he supposed to do?! The only thing he could do was play the long con, but the longer he took to resolve everything, the higher the risk of his brothers suddenly popping inside the Nexus Hotel and putting themselves in the direct line of fire.
Stupid Big Mama, stupid contract. How was he supposed to network if one of the rules actively limited who he could talk to?!
He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want those stupid ‘leading skills’ Big Mama was interested in. He didn’t —
Leo realized there were no more pomegranate seeds in his ziploc bag, and with a long sigh, pinched the bag closed.
Assistant took him to the next class.
Unlike Avalon and Miss Diana, Tecna didn’t have a conference room. Instead, they went down, down, to the yokai-only zone of the Nexus Hotel, and into a room that looked like the area Donnie had reserved for his ‘servers’, the one none of them were allowed to touch.
Carefully weaved wiring ran over the floor, blocking most paths, and the whole area was enclosed, not a single window or exit on sight, besides the one they entered through.
The illumination sucked.
The smell wasn’t amazing either. A combination of a dirty swiper using a scenter to try to cover up the fact that the swiper just went through the toilets of a public bathroom, and aromatic candles if aromatic candles smelled like a room that hadn’t been opened in years .
Almost the entirety of the room was drowned in shadows, with a trillion of tiny beeping lights from the giant CPU’s—Donnie called them ‘servers’, but Leo didn’t understand what videogames had to do with it, and they looked like gigantic CPU’s so that’s what Leo called them. A single light bulb illuminated the far end of the room, and in the spotlight, was a desk, a small rolling chair, a computer, and a squirrel looking yokai that was fusing with her own chair.
Deep eye bags that looked like bruises matched perfectly with her purple fur. Her ears were long and hairy, like a red squirrel–if he remembered Todd’s lesson correctly–and her tail was flat, with neon blue specks and lines decorating it.
Once they reached her, and Leo sat in front of her, he realized that she was asleep. With her eyes open.
He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to gag at the sight. It was so weird that Leo couldn’t help but scrunch his face in repulsion. But he swallowed the disgust and knocked on the desk as loudly as he could with his palms wide open, hoping it’d wake her up, and steeling his will to take a deep breath out of the disgusting air, trying to slow down his pulse.
“Uh, lady? You… alive?”
‘Pizza Supreme in the sky, please be alive’, he begged internally. He did not want to be the one to discover a woman in the middle of decomposing after dying from overwork. He would rather have a second round of Madam Diana’s abuse than looking at another dead body in less than two days.
One had been more than enough for the rest of his life.
“Lady?”
Behind him, Assistant sighed, passing by his side, and grabbing the yokai by the back of the neck before slamming her against the desk.
“Fuck!”
Leo stood stunned in silence, watching as Tecna quickly raised her head, hands covering her nose, softly massaging the injured area, while a storm of insults came out from her mouth in at least three different languages that Leo could recognize and another two he could not.
“Venus, goddammit, couldn’t you just use water?”
Assistant did not answer, shrugging exaggeratedly then returning to her post a couple of feet behind Leo, just in the line where the light disappeared, and the darkness ruled the room.
“Fuck.”
There didn’t seem to be actual damage. No runny noses with blood gushing like a fountain, no blatant fractures… the desk was of a metallic material, because the hit sounded a lot harder than it was… probably.
Still, Tecna kept complaining, a woman after Leo’s own love for drama, throwing her head back while keeping a hand pressed against her nose.
“You could’ve broken my nose, you little shit!”
Leo leaned towards the desk, carefully inspecting the squirrel yokai; her legs kept bouncing up and down, and she used all black clothes that ate her small figure. She wasn’t slim, but both the huge clothes and her shortness made her look chubbier than she was. She didn’t look young.
He was fairly aware that yokai aged differently from humans and mutants. Some had a similar life expectancy to humans, while others lived for centuries, or even millennia before reaching maturity.
There was no telling in which category Tecna fell into, but Leo was sure that she wasn’t young by either standard. Either that or she was really overworked.
“So…”
At the sound of his voice, Tecna became aware of his presence. She looked at him, eyes wide as plates, still rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“Hi? I’m Leo.” He put the most charming smile he could muster after that whole show.
“Lou Jitsu’s kid,” she mumbled, finally placing her hands back at the desk, recognition flashing in her face, turning into soft nostalgia, then sobering back into a lazy smile.
That wasn’t what Leo was expecting. At all. And taken aback, the slider just thinned his smile into something that exclaimed ‘you have no idea how weird this interaction is, but you know, at least I don’t have to lie to you about that’.
“Uh… yeah, I guess?”
She nodded, absentminded. The rolling chair almost fell when she stood in a hurry, circling the desk until she reached him.
Her hands felt clammy when she pinched his cheeks, and her claws tickled when she poked around his head, arms and torso, like trying to corroborate that he was a living creature and not some cardboard cut-out. He hated it, but endured it, only wincing once when her tail conveniently brushed against the irritated skin on his legs.
“I haven’t seen that idiot since almost a year before Draxum kidnapped him,” she hummed, stepping back, and admiring him from a distance—finally.
“Huh,” Leo dusted himself, a little grossed out by the unwanted contact, his face contorted into a frown, so she was aware that he hated her touch. “That’s weird considering a few years ago we participated in the Battle Nexus.”
“Ah, I was busy at the time,” she pointed at the monitor with her thumb. “I didn’t see the fight, but I heard all about your duel with the kraken. Everyone was amazed by his return, and by the kid that accompanied him.” She pointed at him with an open palm, before making a grand gesture of an explosion. “Rat Jitsu, the return of Lou Jitsu, and the Blue Storm.”
How come he never heard of this?! He became a celebrity, with a title mentioned side to side with Lou Jitsu and not even a whisper of it reached his ears?! Nobody ever thought to tell him that he was recognized as a Nexus champion?! That was so much bullshit.
A bunch of idiots recognize him when he has fake hair in a dumb, honestly kinda bigoted but at least not in the worst of ways spa, but no one ever recognized him ? As he was? Leo was memorable!! Raph the strength, Donnie smarts, Mikey the wildcard, and Leo the… Leader.
Something that was recent in comparison.
But he was also the face-man! and–and the medic! And… and he got a cool name in the Battle Nexus. So he was memorable. Tecna said that everyone was amazed by Lou Jitsu’s return and the kid that accompanied him.
Who cared if ‘the kid’ came second? It made sense that Lou Jitsu’s return would bring more attention than a newbie, but that didn’t mean he was less, right? He almost single-handedly defeated that kraken! He outwitted Big Mama!
And!...
The only thing he got from that was getting betrayed a few months later and kidnapped two years after that.
Was he… really that forgettable?
Leo whistled, trying awfully hard not to look as dejected as he felt, thinking about the bunch of traitors he considered friends that never bothered to tell him he was a champion. “The Blue Storm?” He tested the name.
‘Focus on the good things!’ Mikey would say, and the slider inhaled with renovated vigor, trying to be more enthusiastic about the cool name.
A little cringy, too generic, but not bad. He was hoping not to get thrown into the Battle Nexus again if he could, but if he did, he’d have to get a better moniker. Neon Leon would sound a thousand times better than Blue Storm.
God, he had to tell all of this to Mikey, his hype man. It’d be amazing.
And he wasn’t bothered. He didn’t care. Leo wasn’t in the Battle Nexus for greatness or recognition. He was there because the Shredder was dangerous, and they had to stop him. His heart didn’t hurt over something so stupid. It had been years since it happened! It didn’t matter anymore!
‘I don’t care,’ he insisted to himself.
‘Focus on the good things!’
He wondered if Mikey would lend him the nice markers if he pulled the ‘I was kidnapped’ card. He wasn’t as good as the baby of the family when it came to art, but Mikey loved to share his old pencils and markers whenever Leo fixated on a new series or some other media and wanted to create a self-insert or an OC, or just wanted to draw the funny little characters doing funny little character things.
Mikey would one hundred percent join him once he told him about drawing themselves being badass. They would brainstorm better names and maybe make a Nexus-sona and—
Raph and Donnie would absolutely NOT hear any of it. Ever. They’d never let him live it down. The Nexus-sona thing, not the fact that he was a famous champion of the Battle Nexus with a cool name, that they needed to know. The other thing, however, would be a secret.
Hidden in a box on a closed spot behind some pipes over his room, with the other sona’s and characters Mikey and he had created over the years.
His security guard-sona badly drawn from his FNAF phase would never see the light of day again. Ever . Thank you and goodbye.
“The Blue Storm,” she confirmed, leaning against the desk, hiding a little smirk behind her hands, and pointing her head at him. “Everyone says that you conjured a dozen portals in the span of seconds without alchemy aids and defeated the Kraken in even less time.”
It sounded a thousand times cooler than it was in reality.
Like, it had been hard to snatch one of those portal seeds from one of the guards without them noticing. Then, he had been so worried that Big Mama wouldn’t actually drop him into the stage that he almost broke character. And while he was confident in his abilities, he was terrified of the idea of the seed failing before he got his ōdashi back.
It was all perfectly planned, yes, but even the best plans needed luck, and he’d be forever grateful that everything went his way that day, because even the smallest change to his plans would’ve been messy.
Mostly because plan B included a lot of chocolate pudding, a bone, and hoping he was faster than Big Mama and her web.
And nobody was allowed to talk about plan C.
Never.
“What can I say, I aim to impress,” he flashed a smirk, “Mystic teleporting is my speciality.”
And his only mystical ability at all. But she didn’t need to know that.
Tecna smiled, giddily flapping her hands, and giggling to his confusion.
“How can you do them? Mystic portals are so hard to do! Alchemy has made them easier in the last century but creating portals without any aids it’s almost unheard of!”
She’d be so disappointed once she learned that he, indeed, needed his weapons to channel the energy needed to create the portals and teleport.
Leo liked her excitement. No one had ever been so excited about his ninp ō abilities.
When they originally got their weapons, they had all been too excited about having any kind of magic at all to really get hyped about the specifics. After the hype died, Leo had been the one with the least control over his ability, so the mere mention of opening a portal used to terrify everyone in earshot. Training his abilities turned into a solo thing after the portal jacked incident, and he incorporated it all so slowly into their fights that it didn’t really make an impact when he finally mastered his abilities.
By the time he finally used them without hindering his siblings, Mikey and Raph were ages ahead of him, and Donnie and April got his own abilities, and he turned out to be, once again, the one that stayed behind, grumbling about stupid defective swords and dumb powers.
Seeing someone so genuinely happy to hear more about his powers, the one that took him so long to master and came as naturally as breathing for him now… well, he was thrilled.
“I stole a magic sword.” He smiled, leaning on the desk with a single arm.
It was a shame that he couldn’t—and didn’t—trust the woman with any information regarding his powers.
He’d love to info dump about his powers, and everything he learned about portals and teleportation, but Leo wasn’t stupid. If she knew that he was Lou Jitsu’s son, and Assistant hadn’t said-...done? a thing, then clearly this Tecna woman had some sort of link with Big Mama. and anything he said could and would be reported to Charlotte the Crazy.
“A magic sword?” She asked, baffled, before returning to her seat with a hand rubbing her chin. “That would explain a lot… but where did you get it? how did you feed it?”
“Feed it?” He purposely skipped the first question, unwilling to admit that he stole it from Draxum, and most importantly, with his face scrunched with bewilderment. Feeding a sword?...Was that the reason why his ō dashi refused to work? “What do you mean ‘feed it’?”
Tecna looked him straight in the eyes, so intensely, like she could see his soul and secrets with her neon blue eyes, and Leo had to look literally anywhere else because eye contact sucked sometimes.
“Yes. Feed it. Portals need some sort of energy feeding them to exist,” she paused, sitting back in place, and fiddling with the mouse in order to stop the monitor from going into rest mode. “That’s how the portal stones work. They’re filled with a mystic component that powers them up.”
Leonardo shrugged, following suit, and sitting in the chair across from her.
Making up an elaborate lie as to why the sword worked on its own wasn’t in his plans for the day, but he masked the hesitation with a smile and spared a second of eye contact before fixating on a blinking red dot on one of the giant CPU’s.
“Dunno. Told ya I stole it. It probably has some magic core or something.”
The answer didn’t satisfy the squirrel yokai, and she frowned, leaning over the desk, her linked hands covering half her face.
“How did you master it?”
He clicked his tongue, feigning irritation at the interrogation. “Why are you so obsessed with it? It was a mystic sword. Big Mama has it.” The ōdachi he referred to was long gone, but Big Mama did have his katanas, so it was a partial lie. “If you want to learn how it works just go ask to see them or something.”
Despite the harshness of the words, it didn’t come out aggressive. He mellowed his tone into something more chill and hoped that she’d bite the bait.
It was a stretch, but if she actually asked Big Mama for them, maybe he’d get a chance to snatch it back. Tecna wouldn’t be able to use them, even if she did get the permission, and it came with the bonus of inconveniencing everyone involved.
“Oh, yeah, like Ariadne is gonna give me your confiscated weapons.” Tecna straightened with a scoff, suddenly turning to her monitor, typing something in.
‘Ariadne’, he realized. First name basis. That was interesting.
“Hmm… I’m supposed to teach you yokai tradition, so you don’t accidentally offend anyone.”
God just the name sounded boring. All his classes sounded boring, but ‘Yokai tradition’ especially. Mikey and Raph would probably enjoy it, all things considered. Leo though? He already wanted to fall asleep.
Why couldn’t Big Mama— No . That was a stupid thought. Leo didn’t want Big Mama choosing someone else in his family to play family?! What the shell, brain?!
Ugh, why couldn’t she just go with Venus? A perfect soldier that never questioned her mother and… actually he understood why. Someone that never questioned anything would do a shit job as a boss…No offense to Assistant.
He just really didn’t want to have another long, boring class. His calves burned with blossoming bruises, and the whole area around his eyes was irritated—he needed back his skincare routine!
A whole wide world, mystic powers that transported him anywhere he wanted, and he was stuck sitting in front of a subordinate of a crazy criminal mastermind, studying tradition of all things.
Señor Hueso had already lectured him on common customs from yokai-kind, did he really need more than that? What kind of yokai was he meeting? Like, Big Mama led a hotel, right? What kind of people could be interested in hotels? or the Battle Nexus? Okay, the Battle Nexus was really popular, but so popular he’d have to interact with rich people all the—? yeah, that was fucking stupid. Shut up. He knew.
After Tecna’s class followed dinner, then an hour of dead time in his assigned room and then sleep. Dinner sounded good, the free time? amazing to start planning for the medium-long term with what he’d learned that day. Sleep sounded majestic, even if he didn’t think he’d be able to actually sleep. Three hours of listening to the squirrel yokai talk about tradition? Hell no.
Leonardo groaned. “Really? Yokai tradition? Three daily hours for months ?”
Tecna’s eyes shone when she looked at him. “It’s just a couple of months. Plus, we’ll also learn about mystics.”
So, no dice. Leo was hoping she’d spill how long Big Mama had left, but either she noticed, or she didn’t know.
It was pretty strange that she didn’t react badly… or at all. Assistant did. Every time someone—him—mentioned the time limit, she looked away, just for a bit, unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for the reaction.
Tecna did none of the sort. Not to say she looked happy at the reminder, but… if she had any thoughts on the topic, Leo did not know.
He hummed. “Was that why you were so invested in the sword? You think I have some sort of mystic power?”
Deflect, let the weight fall into a different conversation so it isn’t noticeable that you were poking for a specific detail. She had no idea. She had no idea. She…
She exhaled a little laugh.
Leo was made aware with that small gesture that she already knew he was bullshitting her.
“So, Yokai tradition,” Tecna typed something more on her pc, not even sparing a glance his way.
Leo groaned, defeated by the IT girl, throwing all his weight against the small part of the desk left for him, in a dramatic attempt to gather empathy that didn’t exist. At his act, the squirrel yokai chuckled, before carefully turning the monitor into a better position for him to look.
Horror filled his body when he saw thousands upon thousands of paragraphs in font arial number eight, color coded and with varying effects for easier comprehension.
Etiquette and law didn’t seem so bad compared to the detailed description of intricate ceremonies and celebrations that existed long before the Hamato clan did. At least Madam Diana and Avalon had bothered to prepare interesting classes that could keep his attention for more than a few seconds.
Tecna, though? She looked amused at his expression, basking in the aversion that the idea of learning generated in Leonardo. She carried a shit eating grin that meant, ‘keep fucking around with me, kid’.
“Now. We were gonna start alphabetically, but since a couple of witches will come to the celebration in three days, it’s probably for the better that we start with them. Apparently, some couple of idiots destroyed their statue and damaged their town a couple of years ago, so the last thing we need is that you offend them too… you see—”
———————
Somewhere else, in the middle of exploring the Hidden City’s market for clues on their missing sibling, a soft shell and his undercover human sister sneezed, at the same time. They shared a confused look and proceeded to attribute it to an unknown dust floating in the sea of weird stalls.
April looked with curiosity at the sellers, the only remaining ‘wanted’ paper they found in the Hidden City with Leo’s photo carelessly crumpled in her hand. She never had the chance to look at the millions of things that the Hidden City had to offer, and that day wouldn’t be the one to give her the opportunity, because they were busy searching for a certain someone.
Her eyes did wander towards any remotely interesting thing they passed.
Reduced heads, mystical jewelry that screamed ‘cursed’, potions in bottles with shapes each more absurd than the last, teleporting stones, magic diaries, stationary taken straight out of a Harry Potter movie.
Donnie wasn’t impressed. He rarely was, but usually he’d look at the wondrous exhibits of items, excited to analyze them so he could later replicate them with his technology. This time, the soft shell did not look anything but irritated.
“We’re wasting our time," Don scoffed, his shoulders almost reaching the metal goggles, his face scrunched with disgust when a slime yokai walked past him, almost touching him.
There were so many yokai, and between the stress of looking for his missing twin, and the general ickiness that the mutant probably got from being surrounded by unknown, sweaty and noisy people, April couldn’t fault him for being so grumpy.
Still, she sighed. “Donnie... You heard Raph. If we find nothing in two weeks, we’ll check the Nexus”.
“Two weeks is too long!” He threw his hands in the air, slamming his feet in the ground twice, as he usually did when overwhelmed. “I’m telling you. We’ll go there in two weeks, find Nardo in the middle of a fight in the Battle Nexus and—“
“Dude, it’s fine. The chances of him actually being in the Battle Nexus are low, you said it yourself! And—hey!!” She held the crumpled paper with Leo’s photo to her chest, and with the other hand, caught her glasses before they had the chance to leave her face, all while turning to the asshole that pushed past her.
Donnie stepped defensively in front of her, his bo staff already in his hands while he snarled at the idiot. “You—!”
He barely dodged the two yokai that followed, familiar ones that they faintly remembered from the time they met Mayhem and Draxum. Those weirdos with dogs that were their first serious and miserably failed—sorry guys! If ya didn’t want it said, you should’ve won! —battle against the forces of evil.
Both of them stared as the mercenaries and his dogs loudly followed the same yokai that had just pushed through them, soon losing them inside the growing crowd.
It was such an unimportant detail in their overall day that they just rolled their eyes at the rudeness, no chance to make a comment when April’s phone went off with messages that could only belong to the eldest of the turtles.
“Come on, Donnie. Let’s go back, before Raph gets even more anxious.”
Donnie nodded, looking around a last time before following April back to the closest portal back upside.
——————-
When they finally returned to the room assigned to him, right after dinner, the first thing Leo noticed were the strangers, the boxes, and the non-strangers.
Actually, the first thing he noticed was the overwhelming exhaustion in his body and mind. A migraine started to form, fed by the lack of sleep, the excess of thinking, and the general aching of all parts of his body—special thank yous to Venus and Madam Diana for being a couple of jerks and beating him to a pulp for sport and fun.
Then he noticed the strangers, boxes, and non-strangers.
In the first category, was a yokai dressed in all blues, soft silk over a linen suit perfectly molded to their body, a peacock—and he had a couple of stories with those, though they were regular peacocks, not yokai, and he mostly remembered that one time he tried to pet one in the zoo and the peacock went for the fucking eyes for no real reason other than they were assholes, he still had the scar! Right by his left eye! Fuck peacocks… or at least the no-yokai kind. Was it racist to pile yokai and non-yokai? Was he getting off topic again? —with grand feathers that shimmered with gold and green in an extravagant fan.
The second category, the boxes, filled half of the room. Not all of them were actually boxes. There were a lot of bags, too, all wrapped like gifts in various tones of violet that made Leo wrinkle his nose with disgust; they contrasted heavily against the white and soft blues of the room, like the stupid carpet they were on top of.
Lastly, Big Mama in her yokai form, and that chameleon that led him to the room the first night, right by the vanity, one of the candles lightened.
“My Prize! It’s good to see you again!” Big Mama clapped her hands-arms-bug things together, a pleasant but practiced smile on her face that made Leo want to tell her about how shaggy and unrefined her hair looked in that form.
‘Not like I can be anywhere else’ Leo bit down the words and smiled back, “I’m sure it is!”
She sent him a glare, then went straight to him, dragging him along to the center of the room with a hand on his shell, away from Assistant, who stood guard in front of the exit.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t join you for dinner, baby Blue. I was a little busy.”
Leo hummed noncommittally, looking around the room. The amount of people, albeit small, made him uncomfortable. He wasn’t hoping for a night of sleep, but he had hoped to at least rest and renew his social energy for the next day, and a bunch of strangers and Big Mama inside what was supposed to be his safe area didn’t exactly scream ‘you’ll be getting those well-deserved hours of rest’.
Wasn’t it supposed to be a dead hour, some time to relax without anyone to bother him around? Couldn’t they just leave him alone for five seconds?
Irritability bubbled in his chest, and he swallowed down the knot in his throat, his best ‘fuck you’ smile in place for Big Mama, who continued until they reached the mountain of boxes.
“You see, since you’ll be staying here for the foreseeable future, I thought It’d be good to help you decorate your room a little!” Big Mama patted him in the shell. “Most importantly,” she stepped back, nodding at the peacock yokai, “I wanted to present you to Nette.”
Nette did not waste a second. She all but teleported to his side, wrapping him in fabric the same ugly shade of violet that Big Mama always wore, manhandling him with the help of a measuring tape. Due to the shell, it wasn’t like Leo could use a corset, but he imagined that it felt exactly the way Nette constricted his whole torso with the cloth.
“She’s a very important friend of mine. A talented designer!”
Said talented designer poked him in the shell with a pin, and he yelped at the prickle, cursing at the chuckle that the yokai gave to his reaction. He took a deep breath, inflating his chest, causing the pinned fabric to expand and lose its form. In response, Nette pulled the ends of her measuring tape, the one that was currently around his torso, forcing him to cough the air he had inhaled.
Prejudice wasn’t something he supported, but the whole interaction reiterated his opinion that all peacocks were jerks.
Big Mama did not let the interruption discourage her from continuing her monologue, pacing around the room, looking at the boxes, generally being herself. How dare she?
“In two days, we’ll have a celebratory dinner for your arrival, and you’ll need a perfect suit for the occasion! Or if you prefer a dress, it’s a whoopsy-splunkers time to tell. ”
Leo huffed, smacking away the hand of Nette, who was poking him around the plastron with her bony claws—Did nobody understand the concept of personal space? Ignoring the dirty look the peacock gave him, he looked down at the fabrics, and then up at Big Mama. “I don’t really care about what I should wear, but In Violet ?”
She answered with laughter. “You’ll choose the color palette once you take over! Until then, we’ll stick to violet, deary boo.”
Another prickle, this time on his thigh. He glared at Nette, but she turned around with a pleased expression, grabbing a notepad from somewhere in her clothes, suddenly absorbed in writing all she got from the small measuring session.
“Would that be all, Big Mama?” Nette asked, her voice refined but mechanical, not a single emotion could be heard, and her expression remained as monotone as her tone. She didn’t even bother to look at Big Mama while asking.
“Yes, deary, that’s all the buzzybu for today!”
“Alright.”
It seemed that the confirmation was all Nette needed. She finished her notes, returned the pad to its place inside her garments, and gave Big Mama a reverence.
Him too, just a half-assed one, to which he crossed his arms and refused to look at her.
Leo was glad the interaction was short. Last thing he needed was another hour with a self-important prick. Not that Madam Diana would hear him anything of the sort! Ever!
When the door closed behind Nette, and Assistant returned to her place as a barricade, Leo turned to Big Mama “I wasn’t expecting a huge fan, but…”
Big Mama inhaled deeply at the pun, shaking her head with dismay.
“What? It wasn’t that aw-fowl!”
“Why don’t we open the boxes, little Blue?” she fixed her necklace, the cloaking brooch lighting up softly as she turned back to her human form, stretching a bit, then dropping on his bed in a comfortable position. “I’m excited to watch you open your gifts!”
Leo snorted. “Oh, didn’t know I’d have so much free time once I inherited the hotel!”
She flashed him a fanged, pressed smile that had him avoiding direct eye contact. “Doctor orders, I must rest properly. Didn’t think you’d made fun of a dying woman, baby Blue?”
Shit.
Using the chronically ill card sucked, lady.
He did not back down, instead widening his grin and walking towards the pile of gifts. “Did I overstep? Since we’re technically family now…”
Big Mama preened at the comment. Preferably, she would’ve frowned at his weaponizing of the adoption, but the slider wasn’t surprised that pride was the response.
“Fine, since you’re so delumptiously joyous about your new title, I’ll let it slide this time! Just be sure to not act so cantankerous in front of other people, alright?”
“Sure, Big Em.”
Humming, Big Mama waved towards the pile.
“Now go on, stop making me wait, I’m on a time limit here!” She winked.
Great, at least her dark humor was funny. For them, anyways; Assistant and her twitching hands didn’t get the joke.
Banter fell easily between the slider and the spider, snarking at each other over the smallest things. To anyone else, it would’ve sounded lighthearted, but everyone in the room knew that the intent behind their words was mean-spirited.
“With so many of these ornamented necklaces I’m beginning to think you want me as a christmas tree. Isn't it a bit too late for that?”
“I couldn’t help it, baby Blue. Your style gives away your origins! I had to cover it up somehow!”
“Ha! I bet. You sure all of this isn’t for you? I see a lot of violet over here…”
“We all have to sacrifice things for style, sweetheart.” She smiled when he yawned.
While opening box, after box, after bag, after box, Leo fought to stay awake. Maybe it had been the combination of not having slept in a day after sleeping a whole day, or the mental fatigue after all the classes. Maybe it’s just the adrenaline wearing off after more than a day under the enemy’s roof. Maybe it was the sweet smell of the candles, and the warmth that filled the room, and the ordinariness of opening dumb gifts, like a new nintendo switch with a bunch of popular games, or several boxes of acrylic markers that better fit Mikey, or jewelry.
Whatever it was, Leo kept dozing off, shaking his head in a useless attempt to fight Morpheus and focus on the mindless task. He couldn’t stay awake. Which was weird, because he had insomnia. Sometimes he could go almost a whole week without sleeping and the second day was not usually as horrible.
New clothes, fancy journals—stop, don’t fall asleep! —a cute plush of a black cat, a bracelet, new sheets for his bed—Leo, come on, stay awake, you idiot—accessories for the switch in baby blue, more candles, a makeup set—Leo!!
“Are you okay, my sweet kiddle?”
A hand cupped his face, and he found himself face to face with the devil.
God, he was so tired.
“Yeah,” his words sounded like gibberish, and he tried to free himself from Big Mama’s hold, but she was stronger—why was she stronger? “‘M jus’ tire’ ‘s all.”
Chuckling, Big Mama pulled him towards her, cradling him in her human arms, petting his shell soothingly.
“I can see you’re tired!”
Her words sounded like gibberish, too, even if the sentence was… what was the word?
Come on, mental Donnie… Grammatically correct?
Don’t fall asleep.
“It’s been a long day,” Leo mumbled, fighting the hold so weakly that it felt stupid to even try. “What… what did you do to me?” He groaned; eyelids too heavy to stay open.
“What do you mean?”
It felt gross, the way she rubbed his back.
It felt gross because it felt nice. It reminded him of his dad, of Splinter humming an old song from one of his movies like it was a lullaby, his gravelly voice comforting, even if off-tone. Callous hands following the markings on his shell, interrupted only to shush one of his siblings, or to clear his throat.
It reminded him of April, after the invasion, keeping him company, singing over the sound of the beeping machines that monitored his vitals, kneading his hands when they flared up after the casts came off.
So comforting for something he didn’t want.
“Come on, my Prize. You can sleep. We’ll finish the gifts tomorrow.”
“‘M not…”
But he couldn’t finish the sentence. ‘I’m not…’ what? Not tired? Not ready to sleep? Not comfortable? Any of those would be a lie. Hell, even if he tried, he couldn’t even formulate the words to continue complaining.
‘It’s Big Mama, you idiot. You don’t want her to help you sleep! That’s creepy!’
Sweet humming lulled him, and lights and shadows deformed under his sight. He was so, so tired, and it was so, so warm. Inside the hug, he felt warm, safe. Dad would protect him; dad would help him if anything happened. Raph would be there in no time, Donnie, April, Mikey.
Assistant stood by the door. Assistant never moved from her place, never checked on him, never reacted to the boring play of banter between Big Mama and Leo. Not even when he looked at her, not for a second. Assistant never broke character.
(Or maybe she did, when she turned her head towards the wall after Big Mama asked Leo if he was okay. When her arms tensed, and her breathing slowed, maybe she did break character).
The chameleon yokai never looked at him. They held a black bag filled with all the discarded paper and forgotten boxes, and kept to themself by the bathroom door, his eyes stuck to the clean ground, just occasionally walking towards Leo to pick up the trash. They never looked at him.
(Or maybe they did. They crossed eyes for a second, when Big Mama pulled Leo to her lap, patting him like a child. Maybe shame painted their expression, when they looked at him).
Leo fell asleep, laying on Big Mama’s lap, to a sweet lullaby that he did not recognize, and petted by hands that weren’t from his bale.
Notes:
Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter :D
And lots of thankyous for the kudos and comments <3333
Chapter 6: Ella me está esperando en casa, y yo muriendo por volver.
Summary:
Raph is more than his anxiety and tendencies to mother hen his brothers, but sometimes those two specific quirks of him overshadow the rest.
Leo is usually good at managing himself and retreating when he's overwhelmed. That does not apply when he's being micromanaged.
Notes:
I was gonna update at midnight, last night, but I accidentally fixated on writing the NEXT next chapter and when I checked the time it was two in the morning. Since I have to work, I went to sleep.
Small TW: There's mentions of adults being a little creepy (as in flirting with or grabbing him) to Leo during the second half of the chapter but they don't actually try or do anything, is safe dw, I'm not planning on writing anything of the sort. Ew.
The title in Spanish directly translates to: "she's waiting for me back home, and I'm dying to go back" and its lyrics from a song called bugambilia.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Almost a week since Leo got kidnapped, and they still had absolutely nothing.
Raph was anxious.
He just was an anxious person, it was part of him, whether he liked it or not. His instinctual response to anything slightly bad that happened in his vicinity was panicking, always, especially if it concerned his brothers—since April could take care of herself.
Most of the time…
He could just deal with it any other day, take a deep breath, channel his anxiety through training or fighting, or different little hobbies that included but were not limited to diamond painting, knitting, playing with Franken-Buddy, playing video games.
‘Fake it ‘till you make it, Big guy. Just act confident and you'll feel confident!’ was the advice Leo gave him, when they were younger, after a particularly bad panic attack.
And it worked! It was incredible advice. He acted like a boss, felt like a boss, and he could push down the tornado of gut-wrenching panic that trashed his intestines.
Mikey had helped him too, creating a support manual with different grounding methods, most of which included one or more of his siblings, to avoid the ‘Raph alone’ incident after last time.
They all worked on it, adding plan after plan, even for the most unrealistic, absurd things his brain could come up with in the middle of the night. Their manual was ready for his plushy friends coming to life and turning evil, for a meteorite following his all and every move to crush him specifically, for Donnie getting possessed by an angry toast spirit that wanted to toast them in revenge, another Piebald incident. Anything.
Almost, anything.
Nothing in the support manual had anything about what to do if one of your little brothers was kidnapped.
It wasn’t because it was impossible. Their lives were dangerous, Raph knew that. Nothing secured the safety of his little brothers and big sister, and after the Kraang, he knew that any day could be their last. For any of them.
But you have to understand that just because it’s a possibility, it doesn’t mean that you’re ever ready for it.
They didn’t plan for it because the thought was…
Raph was anxious, he had bad thoughts, horrible thoughts, horrible fears. Nightmares plagued his nights, his daydreams turned sore. During fights, he had to blink twice to make sure that his family was fine, that the sudden, horrific vision had been nothing but his mind being mean to him. Mikey didn’t slip and fall from the rooftop. Donnie’s machines didn’t explode with him in the middle. Leo returned from the blue portal.
Leo returned from the pink, then orange portal.
Leo returned from the blue…
He had tried to mind meld, to reach Leo through their ninpō connection, but nothing came out of it. Raph’s only comfort was that the link was still there.
Not like…
They were all dealing with it differently.
Donnie looked at the cameras over and over, searching the route that Mikey and Leo followed the night of the incident, but most of the footage was either corrupted or straight up gone. If not barricaded in his lab looking for anything that might be of use to find Leo, he partnered with Mikey or April to scout around the Hidden City or topside for any clues. Sometimes, when Raph entered the Lab, he found the genius in the botanical corner, watching the growing dahlias that the softshell and the slider planted in advance, hoping they would bloom in time for their birthday.
Splinter and Mikey tried to keep the family together; Dad usually called for mandatory breaks where they all ate and slept together, at least for a couple of hours, before letting them go on their own again. Mikey helped dad by preparing the meals and made rounds with everyone to check on them and how they were feeling.
When he had nothing else to do, Mikey played with Leo’s character in Animal Crossing New Horizons, watering the veggies that Leonardo planned to sell, because the slider had told them that ‘pumpkins sell really well, you just have to fill the island, water them once a day which takes like, ten minutes, and boom! you’re rich!’. He still wasn’t rich, but his island was full of pumpkins.
April and Sunita couldn’t spare a lot of time, their parents dragged them around, preparing for classes, but they searched and asked around their respective sides for anything or anyone that might help.
Casey went on her own.
“I work better alone,” Casey had told them with a frown. “My girls probably won’t know anything, but I’ll keep searching from the rooftops and have them take a look around.”
She occasionally checked on them and reported back on anything she thought could be of use, but ultimately, she also found nothing.
CJ and he doubled as communication and search.
During the noon they went out, and looked for Leo or his mystery kidnapper in the city, and whenever the others went outside on their own, they held base at the lair, in case someone sent an emergency call… Or in case they took too long.
“You’re being overbearing again,” Mikey had told him the past night, while they drank hot chocolate that wasn’t hot at all, because they weren’t really drinking it.
“I just don’t wanna lose any of ya’,” He muttered into his cup, looking at the brown liquid with a heavy heart.
Raph, however, had nothing on Donnie.
He wouldn’t tell on the soft shell, but he wasn’t as slick as he thought, trying to upgrade the trackers while they were—supposedly—asleep.
Overall, they were having a terrible time.
He felt terrible. And he knew that both of his remaining—goodness, Leo was alive —brothers felt terrible, too. Neither would tell, even if asked directly, but he could see it. Mikey’s guilt for being unable to help Leo when he was right there during the incident. Donnie’s guilt for not stopping them from leaving the lair.
“I knew that they were targeting him,” Donnie had admitted the first day. “He did too, but we didn’t—” His expression soured, and he clamped up with a whine.
Any other time, Raph would’ve been angry. Donnie knew, and he still let them go? Why didn’t he say anything? What was he thinking?! Wasn’t he supposed to be the smartest of them?! Why?! The!? Shell!? Did he stay quiet when Leo and Mikey left?!
It wasn’t any other time, and more than angry, Raph was… sad. Disappointed, tired, but mostly worried. Raph didn’t blame Donnie for what happened. It wasn’t his fault, or Mikey’s or Leo’s. It wasn’t even Raph’s—and he wanted to blame himself, but Dr. Delicate Touch classes came in clutch, so he didn’t, wouldn’t blame himself for something that was out of his hands.
He couldn’t have known. Donnie either, or even Leo. Even if they noticed first, they were all working with the same information. Bounties, wanted posters, mercenaries—It came all out of nowhere, almost two weeks from then, four days since they learnt about it. The kidnapping was unpredictable, bizarre, absurd. It was…
“You okay, Big guy?”
April’s voice startled him out of his thoughts. He hadn’t heard her arrive, didn’t notice when her hand patted his arm right below the spikes on his shoulder.
“Hey, April. Sorry, Raph didn’t hear ya’ enter.”
A small wince escaped him once he heard his own voice, so tired and small. April noticed, and gave him an emphatic smile, her fingers massaging the scales under their pads in a comforting gesture.
“It’s okay.”
The wooden chair screeched against the concrete floor when she dragged it to sit by his side. Purple bags were visible under her eyes, making her look way more tired than she probably was by this hour of the day.
If he didn’t know she was a teenager, he would’ve thought that she was an adult, maybe in her twenties. Tons of life changing experiences weighed her down, hardened her, into someone more mature than she ever should be for a child .
Raph wondered how she would’ve looked the day of the invasion if Leo had—
‘Stop it.’
“Talk to me, Raph. What’s going on big guy?”
No words left his mouth when he opened it to answer. A tight knot kept any sound he could’ve done in a death grip deep inside his chest, and only a broken chirp broke free from its prison.
“Oh, Raph…”
Humiliation hit him like a splash of cold water when his eyes started feeling warm, and he couldn’t help the sob and the tears that followed. Raph crumbled right then and there, not hiding in his shell like his brothers did, but hiding between his arms and against the dining table.
April’s hand didn’t leave. She got closer, surrounding him as much as she could with her short arms, patting his shell like he was fragile, a petit little thing made of glass that would break at the first gust of air that hit him at an angle.
One sob, then another, and soon he couldn’t stop.
Leo was alive. He could feel their ninpō connection, he could feel his little brother.
Why, then, did he feel this way? Why did his chest constrict like that? Why did his head and heart hurt so badly? Why couldn’t he touch his idiot little brother?
Where was Leo? His brother? The dumb bozo that couldn’t stay quiet more than five seconds? With terrible puns, and a love for dramatics, and so, so dumb but also so, so smart, and so, so selfish, and so, so selfless —
“Hush, it’s okay, it’s okay…”
They didn’t have the time to process loss during the aftermath of the invasion, because as soon as the concept of Leo dying came, it was gone, thanks to Mikey, brilliant, powerful, incredible Mikey that never gave up.
But this? This is what Raph imagined the grief would be like, had the rescue failed.
This anguish, pain, defeat.
“It’s okay, big red, let it out,” April soothed, acting as if her voice hadn’t broken, as if her eyes weren’t swollen and her cheeks weren’t wet.
Leo was alive, but Leo wasn’t here . And Raph didn’t have any instructions, no sliver of a plan about what to do if one of your little brothers suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth.
“Where is he?” He asked to no one in particular. “Where’s Leo?” Came the croaked words in between hiccups. “We were supposed to be safe, to be okay, so where is he?!”
“I know,” April sobbed, “I know, Big guy.”
It was a slap in the face to uncover his face and see April crying along with him. He didn’t think he had ever seen April cry.
He’d seen her upset, sad, annoyed, disappointed. But never crying.
Did she cry too when Leo’s comms went out? When the slider gave what he thought were his last words before jailing himself in another dimension with a monster?
Another hiccup broke through the knot in his throat, and finally, he threw himself at April, not caring about how the chair he was sitting in tilted back with a croak and fell with a sonorous ‘thud’, focusing more on hugging her back with as much strength as he knew she could manage without hurting her. She hugged back, and her hands barely even reached his shell, but it comforted him all the same.
“He wanted to see the new movie, with you and Casey and Cj. He…he planned the whole month for it and…and now…now he missed the last function,”
Not that he cared much about the movie right now. But Leo did. Leo was so excited to see it with the Jones that he skipped the premiere and waited patiently until they could all see it together.
It didn’t matter that he had been waiting months for the third movie of the Protectors of the Milky Way to come out; Cj had agreed to watch it with them when they visited, so Leo put a pin on it.
‘I can’t watch it twice,’ he pouted when Mikey tried to convince him to watch it together a couple of weeks ago. ‘I won’t be able to stop myself from spoiling it and it’s Casey’s— Cj’s first movie in theaters!’
‘At least he’s self-aware,’ Donnie had snarked immediately after.
In a couple of hours, the last function would begin.
They wouldn’t attend.
Digitized tickets would be left forgotten in his camera roll, along with the silly outfits in their closets, and in a couple of years, he would look back and find them and cry, because that was one of the last things he got from Leo—
“We’ll get him back, Raph. He’s okay. It’s Leo!”
Mikey said the same thing, even if his smiles never reached his eyes when he said it.
There was a consensus that Leo was strong, brave, stupid, and a survivor. ‘He tricked Big Mama, he can trick anyone’, ‘He survived the Prison Dimension, of course he can survive anything’.
Raph, in the way only someone older could, differed. Not in the belief that Leo couldn’t survive, but in the belief that he shouldn’t have to. Leo shouldn’t have to trick crazy ladies and monstrous creatures. Leo shouldn’t have to survive hell dimensions and kidnappings.
Was this Raph’s fault? Did he push his brothers into a short life just because of his delusions of heroism? They all wanted to be heroes, that was out of question. When he first suggested it, only Leo hesitated. It was Raph who encouraged going into dangerous missions, even with their lacking training and right after their original weapons were turned into dust. If he hadn’t, would they still have gone through all they did?
Shredder was a Hamato thing, so maybe. Maybe he was just trying to push the blame into himself in a sick self-sabotage tactic. Maybe the Foot clan still would’ve revived the dark armor and brought back the Kraang. Big Mama probably would’ve kidnapped the entirety of New York regardless.
And still, he couldn’t help but feel like he sent his brothers into the slaughterhouse—but no. This wasn’t his fault. And Leo was alive .
Though the digital tickets couldn’t weight at all, and they still felt heavy in the same pocket his phone was in.
“We’ll get him back, okay?”
His voice refused to come out, but at least he nodded over her head, chin scratching her soft hair.
“Raph?”
Mikey’s voice startled them out of the hug. Like deer in headlights, they turned to look at the youngest, who frowned with worry at the sight of the two eldest siblings having their pity party in the kitchen.
“Is…everything okay?” The light reflected perfectly on his face, shining over the small tears that flooded the corner of his eyes.
Rubbing his face in an attempt to get rid of the snot and tears, Raph bobbed his head up and down, humming in a positive note, waving at him to get closer while clumsily reaching for the chair that had fallen before, picking it up and placing it.
“Yeah—yes, Mikey. All’s good.”
Skepticism flashed in the box turtle’s eyes, but he didn’t push further and just closed the distance, joining the duo, pulling his own chair to sit by their side.
“How–Did you find anything?” April asked, her voice muffled by the sleeve she was currently using to wipe her face while she plopped down on her chair, followed by Raph.
Mikey’s face soured at the question, and he shook his head ‘no’, biting his lip before clarifying.
“No. Hypno and his boyfriend know nothing. Piebald said she hasn’t seen anything, but that she’d keep an eye open. We couldn’t find Bellhop, and Barry hasn’t been getting my texts, so… nothing new,” He sighed, his shoulders slumping more and more with each mention of failed recollection.
With her clean arm, April patted his shell, a comforting smile contrasting again her hopeless expression. “It’s okay Mikey, we’ll keep asking until we find him,”
“I know…”
But Mikey did not look like he knew.
None of them did.
Donnie’s crazy theory that the one behind the kidnapping was Big Mama sounded less and less crazy the more they found… or the less they did.
He wanted to believe dad; he really did. On the other hand, Donnie was right. They didn’t know anyone that wasn’t Big Mama who had enough money and resources to magic someone away like that. It made sense and yet didn’t.
Surely, she still cared about dad. Enough to not kidnap any of them? What reason did she have to do it anyways? Big Mama had to know that they would check the Battle Nexus at some point, if that was her plan. But if she was retiring, what was the point of forcing Leo to fight in the Nexus?
If the spider lady was truly as busy as she said she was with the whole retirement plan, then it was stupid to kidnap Leo just for the sake of it!
Who else could have him? Who would be smart enough to get rid of the evidence, to delete videos and destroy the ‘wanted’ posters.
“You’re thinking too hard again, big red,” April poked his nose, her voice softer, amused.
By her side was Mikey, laid against her shoulder and with a small smile directed at him.
Raph’s swollen eyes fell to the youngest, and he took a deep breath before smiling as wide as he could.
“Don’t worry, Mikey. We’ll find that idiot, and he’ll be on toilet duty for two years after this.” He raised his fists in proud jest, feeling more relaxed when his orange little brother giggled with joy at the idea. “I bet he’s already thinking of a way to escape as we speak!”
“Yeah,” Mikey looked away, his expression nostalgic and fond. “He’s probably complaining about missing the movie,”
That crackled a laugh out of Raph and April.
“He would,” April nodded, with a mischievous smile. “I bet he could be right now in an underground facility with no light, and he still would complain to anyone who would hear about how he’s missing the dumb movie.”
“And then he’d go into a three-hour rant about the other two movies and why this one was so important,” Mikey rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, and then–”
“Guys.”
They all turned at Cj, who stood by the entrance with a somber vibe and a solemn expression. Alarms blared in their brains, the tension on the young lad’s body too clear.
‘Something bad happened’, his demeanor told them. ‘Something regarding Leo.’
The three of them shared a glance, and Raph was the first to stand. A hand kept it in place, and he stared in place as April took a step forward, her face flashing from despair to anguish to a heavy serenity that felt fabricated.
“What happened, Casey?”
Shame colored Future Boy’s expression, and he evaded their eyes while speaking. “Master– Donatello found something in the cameras.”
Cj’s expression did not match the tone of the news, and though Mikey and April relaxed, Raph found that the confession only formed a pit in his stomach. ‘Donnie found something’ should’ve made him happy, but the way the young boy said it sounded more like ‘he found a body’ rather than ‘he found out brother’.
‘Deep breathes, Raphie’, he could almost hear Leo tell him.
One… two… three…
One… two… three…
Deep breathes.
“Is it… bad news?”
Casey’s expression fell, and with it, Mikey’s and April’s did too.
“It’s…”
The boy bit his inner cheek, head bowed and playing with his hands.
“I found Leo’s stuff,” Donnie finished, appearing from the same place Casey had.
In comparison to his more serious attitude earlier on the week, the purple themed turtle looked pretty relaxed. The bags under his eyes were more akin to bruises, but he wore a lazy smile, and his mask and reinforced shell were forgotten.
“That’s… good, no?” April stammered between words, eyes hopeful.
Donnie pressed his lips into a thin line, walking until he reached Cj’s side without looking up from his gauntlet, typing in a quick succession something unknown to them. Then, he sighed.
“It’s not a bad thing,” he pursed his lips before continuing. “His bandana and tools were folded, forgotten atop of a building near an exit towards Brooklyn. His clothing—I’m talking about the winter vest exclusively by the way—was, for the lack of a better word, destroyed,” Raph winced at the words, a thousand possibilities as to why his brother’s clothes could’ve been found in pieces. “There’s, however, no trace of his swords…” he paused, finally looking up at the horrified looks of his family. “Or him.”
Absolute silence reigned in the kitchen. All their breathings combined barely made a sound, and only April reacted, covering her mouth with a hand, looking at Donnie like he just told them that Leo had brutally died in an accident.
What if he—
Leo was alive .
But the clothes—
Leo is alive .
And if the ninpō connection was fake? and he was just desperate enough to imagine it and—
Leo. Is. Alive.
Deep breathes.
Donnie complained, offended when Casey Junior shoved him softly.
“Dude, we agreed I’d tell them!” Came the whisper-yell, the human placing a hand on the mutant’s shoulder while scolding him.
“Yeah, well, you were taking too long, and scaring them too, even I’m conscious enough about emotions to see that.” The soft-shell pouted, pulling his arm from Future Boy, walking towards the rest of his family. “Everyone in this room looks like you were about to tell them he’s dead, dum-dum,” his voice lowered into a whisper, but in the sepulcral silence of the dining room everyone heard with avid clarity what he said.
“Taking too—Donnie!” Casey huffed.
Said turtle rolled his eyes before fixing his expression, tension falling from his shoulders into a hunch, making him look smaller than he was.
“While it was deliberately put there, it helped me triangulate a possible area where we could search for more clues,” he showed them a map through his gauntlet, “Based on the position, it’s possible that Leo’s kidnapper used a Hidden City’s portal around this place,” he pointed at the delimited zone of the map.
April was the first to ask, corners of her lips tilting up, fighting her attempt to keep them down just in case it was all a fluke.
“Are you sure?”
A logical question. How could the placement of a portal possibly help them find specific people?
Donnie smirked and nodded. “I’m always sure, April, dearest.” The projection disappeared from the screen, and Donnie stepped back, clapping his hands in usual Don fashion. “If we find from which portal they came from, we can find them easier.”
It made Raph frown when he realized that the purple themed turtle was skipping some details, striding straight towards the big picture. “We don’t even know who kidnapped him, Donnie.”
Without a second to waste, the soft-shell turned, his hand waved in a grand gesture of disinterest that only Leo and Donnie ever used, his big grin almost comforting them like it always did, the confidence that he could fix everything contagious.
“Au contraríe, dear Raphala! Mikey saw some of the yokai that attacked them! We just have to investigate the area surrounding the portals, and we’ll eventually find one of the attackers, and then— “
“—then we just have to make them tell us who’s behind the kidnapping!!” Mikey finished Donnie’s plan, climbing on Raph with excitement, making the eldest smile softly; Mike hadn’t done that since Leo went missing.
It felt, in some way, like they were closer to finding their brother.
“Exactly! We find them, Mikey recognizes them, we interrogate them with the use of my magistral arsenal of totally-not-lethal-projections—!”
“No killing, maiming or creating any permanent conditions, Donnie,” April deadpanned from her place, making the other frown and groan.
“Fine. We interrogate them without the use of my magistral arsenal of totally-not-lethal-projections because you’re all boring , and then we get a name!!”
“And then we get Leo,” Raph nodded decisively, rejuvenated by the hype that filled the room.
Now they had a plan. They had been running around like headless chickens for the past few days, but with Donnie’s idea, they were on path.
In a couple of days, Leo would be back home!
They’d make up for the movie, the Caseys’ agreed to stay until they found Leonardo and a little more to do whatever plans the sudden incident ruined, and Donnie would never deny them getting the movie to watch in the projection room, no matter how much he said he did mind.
“Since we’ve all agreed to this, we should start right now! Chop chop, everyone go prepare to leave in twenty, I have to settle a score with that dumdum! I need to go through a certain list to check what his least favorite pizza flavor is this year, since we’ll be ordering that as soon as he’s back!”
Donatello brushed past Casey Junior, newfound excitement fueling him and Mikey who followed Purple close behind.
April hesitated a bit. She looked at Raph with eyes filled with an emotion that the eldest turtle did not recognize, before shrugging with a disfigured smile and then following the other two.
Casey did not look as excited. He did not move from his place, did not turn when the other three walked past him. A conflict inside his head manifested in a grim expression that Raph did not like.
“You good, little buddy?”
Junior looked at him with surprise.
“Yeah, I just…”
“You upset with Donnie?”
Future boy looked away, a small blush tinting his cheeks when discovered, and the young boy scratched his cheek sheepishly.
“That’s… part of it I guess.”
Raph chuckled. “Raph gets it. He can be like that sometimes.”
The boy mimicked his reaction, his smile lasting little before turning into a frown. “I just… don’t know…”
Raphael looked over Casey, in the direction where everyone went, searching for anyone who might be waiting, and when he found nothing, he signed at the human to follow him and sat back down where April, Mikey and he were just minutes before; the three chairs forgotten in that same exact order.
“Explain to Raph?”
Casey did follow. He hesitated to join Raph in the chairs, looking at the snapping turtle, then at the exit, then back at the mutant, then took a deep breath before sitting where April had been before.
“I just… well…” A conflict of emotions washed over the young boy, and the tension in his body was visible from a mile and a half away. “I guess it’s the same as everyone. I miss Sen-uh… Leo,” He smiled apologetically.
In response, Raph raised an invisible eyebrow, not convinced.
“Try again?”
Casey groaned, dejected. The tension didn’t disappear, but he did slump his shoulders in defeat.
“It’s so weird being back. I thought I was, you know, used to the past—the present? ugh…” Junior rested his weight against the table, hiding in a single arm and looking at the specks of dust like they had offended him somehow. “I thought I was…ready. I was so ready to come back and spend time with all of you and now he’s go …missing.”
‘Nice save’, the eldest thought with a grimace.
“I feel like I’m back in my timeline, and we have a retrieval mission for a missing person, and those—they never ended well,” he kicked the ground under his feet.
Goodness, their family was screwed. Just a few minutes ago April had been consoling him; now here he was, consoling Junior.
Hopefully, Cj wouldn’t be the next in line to console someone; Donnie and he had a bit of an issue with empathy and brutal honesty, though at least Casey was thoughtful with his words.
It was time to follow Mikey’s advice and get a therapist for all of them, preferably one who wouldn’t scream on sight at their appearance, with the whole mutant thing.
Cj hiccupped when Raph let out a deep sigh.
“Listen, Case. Imma be honest. I can’t tell ya I know what yer going through. I can see it’s not easy,” the kid made a funny face that said, ‘that’s an understatement’, and Raph took another breath. “But we’re all here. This time we’re all going through the same time, and if you need anything…”
Future boy nodded, his eyes never meeting Raph’s. “Yeah, I know…”
The eldest opened his mouth to continue, but Cj did not wait for the rest of the snapper thoughts and slid out of his chair, grabbing the strings of the hoodie he wore and pulling them, closing the hood’s opening around his neck, speed-walking after the rest of the family.
“We should go,” Casey muttered, and left Raph sitting at the table alone.
Said turtle couldn’t help but huff a small laugh at the sight of one of the many evasive tactics that Leo used on them whenever feelings got too complicated.
Maybe it was time for an intervention for Casey Junior?
After they got Leo, though. One issue at a time. They’d talk about all their complex feelings over the future and the boy that saved them. For now, they really needed to get ready to search some more for their missing link.
___________________
In his entire life, Leo had never slept so comfortably!
That was not a good thing.
At first, he assumed it was the food, since it was the easiest way to slip something into his system. He had trusted it too much the first day, especially after the contract, thinking that it was safe since it was necessary.
But the contract never mentioned anything about keeping the child under a heavy amount of drugs, so that was stupid of him. Seriously? Trusting the woman that had a bunch of idiots with syringes try to catch him? What was Leo thinking?
Nothing, nothing at all. Head devoid of all thoughts, as it was the family tradition, and by the time he woke up with the phantom feeling of that crazy lady cradling him to sleep, he decided to skip on family tradition for just a little while, until he was safe.
He tested his theory that day, refusing to eat even the smallest bite, and only ever accepted full and sealed water bottle; not that he thought he could trust that, but if it was sealed it reduced the risk, and combined with the ridiculously small amount he drank the entire day, nothing that wasn’t in absurd doses should’ve been able to take him out that night.
It wasn’t the food, and he felt like a clown the next day.
Training during the second day had been not enjoyable at all , and classes were torture. You try going a whole day of rigorous studying and training without sustenance!
Avalon had been merciful; he’d assumed Leo was throwing a tantrum or something, but he also avoided mentioning his appearance and his lack of concentration after making his thoughts known.
Madam Karen hadn’t been as nice. The lashes in his legs felt even worse than the first day, and he had proportionasomething done worse than the first day, so he wasn’t surprised when Assistant offered the can of the gooey medicine after Madam Diana left for the day.
Which had been nice but hadn’t been a sudden bout of niceness; more like an obligation from ‘sister dearest’, who wiped the dojo’s floor with his face during training that day—something that would become the norm, as shown during his THIRD day under Big Mama, but that was a story for after he stopped complaining about the second day, so wait .
Finally, Tecna had laughed in his face, apparently guessing his line of thought.
“Your use of the scientific method is certainly bold. Your hypothesis will get you killed,” she told him, blowing a bubblegum until it exploded, then chewing it with her mouth wide open; to Leo’s and Assistant’s disgust.
Dinner that went ignored and the opening the rest of his ‘gifts’—nothing of use, not a single pointy or sharp thing fell in his hands, and he was honestly impressed. if highly annoyed, by the dedication of checking each of the over a hundred boxes and bags to make sure he got nothing to defend himself—under Big Mama’s watchful eyes—plural as in ‘with 6 eyes’—went as ‘normal’ until he all but passed out in her arms again… which, gross.
To be fair, it could’ve just been the routine. Two days in had him dreading the rest of his stay.
At seven am sharp Assistant woke him up to get ready, if the clock he’d been given was accurate. Breakfast with Big Mama, poking fun at each other's expenses, and then a long day with nine hours total of classes—nine! How was he meant to pay attention that long? Daily?! For Months?!—and at least one hour of training. Lunch a few hours past noon, dinner at about eight in the office, then Big Mama accompanied him to his room, where chameleon guy already had everything ready for the ‘dead hour’ that turned out to be ‘suck up to Big Mama time’—already had a failing grade in that one, ha.
Back on track, the point was that even starving himself did not keep him awake. He slept from ten to seven, and he would’ve overslept the third day if not for sweet Assistant who emptied the tray before unceremoniously dropping it on him while he slept.
Friday had been fortunately different.
The routine set was broken in favor of the great party that Big Mama would throw that night in his honor.
Up until breakfast, his barely two-day long routine stayed the same, and then Assistant directed him to Madam Diana’s conference room instead of Avalon’s.
Apparently, she wanted to double check that he had learnt her harshly instilled lessons before the important event, doubling as a yokai tradition teacher for the day just to make sure he wouldn’t mess anything up, hardly caring that he had an event that night if his legs were anything to go by.
Training was just as hard as the day before; not because he was hungry, since Big Mama hadn’t allowed him to skip his meal that day—she was persuasive! And by persuasive Leo meant that she kept mentioning his brothers and the unknown punishment until he gave in and ate everything—but because his legs were covered in bruises by the time Madam Diana’s class ended.
On the bright side, he now knew how to differentiate between a soup spoon, a tablespoon and a salad spoon, and he knew that animal yokai did not take kindly to any mention of mating season outside their species group, and that mythical yokai hated any age-related small talk.
Hooray!
After training, Assistant and he had lunch on their own, and then he got dragged back to his assigned room, where Big Mama–using the vanity as a desk to continue her work—and Nette waited for him, his supposed safe zone upturned into a fitting room with a plastic mirror and a portable platform near the closet room, surrounded by a sewing kit scattered around the surrounding area, and pieces of fabric with a whole Leo-sized mannequin holding the upper half of a violet suit, considerably different from the one the peacock yokai had been preparing before.
And Leo would love to go on and on about how that segment of his day was an absolute nightmare, because it was. But he was also aching to go into detail about the party.
It was a conflict, having so much to complain about and so little time.
Big Mama explained as he paid all his attention–which was none at all—that Nette had visited the day prior, during one of the hours where he was busy—he guessed around training time based on the vague details given by the crazy spider, but there was no way to be sure—so Nette couldn’t meet him. During the visit, Big Mama had decided to go for another design, something more sophisticated and uncomfortable—which she hadn’t mentioned, but he noticed the difference the second Nette dressed him up, and Big Mama had chuckled when he glared in her direction, so it had been purposeful.
Fortunately for Nette, she already had a base with similar measures than his, and with everything she got from their last meeting, she had successfully adapted the vest.
As much as he disliked her sassy attitude, Leo could admit that she was talented. He couldn’t know if she had some sort of help, mystic or otherwise, but regardless, fixing an outfit a day before the event was incredible.
Unfortunately for Leo, it still needed adjustments, so four hours before the party, he was stuck inside the worst nightmare of a fidgety person; standing as still as possible in front of a mirror, constantly stabbed with needles ‘by accident’—he had his eye on Nette for real, because she was a jerk —and listening to Big Mama’s unstoppable babbling about his lessons and etiquette and a tirade of information on some of the most important people in the gala.
When the torture finished, and he was stuffed inside a suit like in fnaf but at least fnaf gave the sweet release of death and his dumb suit didn’t, Nette bowed pronouncedly to Big Mama, half-bowed her head his way—which he totally didn’t roll his eyes to, and he totally didn’t get scolded by ‘ lady’ Ariadne for doing so—, and left, followed by Big Mama.
“I also need some time to prepare, turtlely boo!” Was all she said before looking at Assistant, who nodded in response to whatever non-verbal bullshit conversation they were having.
Freedom didn’t last long. It lasted maybe a minute or two, and then a whole group of…they looked like bellhops, or plain staff, all of varied species, each carrying different make up sets of brands that weren’t human. Or at least, not entirely. He didn’t recognize any, but he didn’t know much about make up aside from a couple of times he helped April choose some stuff.
He was better at naming self-care brands. Anyone could ask and Leo would have ready a list of what creams, facial soap, oils, masks, exfoliating, hydrating, and all the best materials to apply each product with, all based on skin type, including some stuff for furry and scaly friends.
Makeup? It just wasn’t up his alley.
So, of course, considering that, aside from the occasional eyeliner, Leo really wasn’t used to the whole ‘applying makeup’ routine.
That and the fact that the staff lasted a whole two hours preparing him for the party, made the experience feel like it was at least an eternity and a half.
No shit Mikey went slightly feral after finishing a painting, he could see the fairy that led the work getting more and more wrinkled in frustration by the second. Standing in that position for so long couldn’t be good for their postures, and he already imagined the pain in their wrists after holding thirteen different brushes in that angle.
Leo couldn’t even begin to understand what took so long, because when he met the mirror, the changes were minimum.
Okay, not minimum, he did look at least twenty percent more gorgeous, but it looked so natural that the idea that that had taken two hours was absurd.
April took no more than an hour to make her whole makeup, and that was when she was taking it seriously! For an interview over a job that she would lose a week later, or a party! On a good day she would otherwise just even her skin and then touch up her eyes and use some lip gloss.
But at least that was over!
He regretted his relief instantly.
Assistant led him to the party, in the yokai only zone, and though he put a brave act and a charming smile, he felt his entire social battery drain the second the doors to the event area opened, making way to a place filled to the rim with people.
It was a pain! Horrible, vomit-inducing nightmare made to torture people. Leo had never been in a big party–for obvious reasons. Any kind of event he had attended could never reach the chilling experience of a ‘luxury celebration’.
He’d heard what weddings and graduation parties were like from April, and he had attended one (wedding) himself but that had been a more casual thing. Dad and he had also seen a couple while browsing trash tv, or in some videos, but no one in his family—aside from April, or that he knew—had ever actually gone to any.
Shenanigans in the Hidden City had helped him understand a little more of the social world. Attending a couple of reunions with people that his brothers knew nothing about, helping with celebrations at Run of the Mill, ending up as one of the groomsmen of a dragon, just generally terrorizing random parties by accident.
Actual fun stuff.
This party wasn’t fun.
Leo was touchy by nature. All Hamatos were! Even Donnie, when he left the ‘emotionally unavailable bad boy’ stuff rest. However, Leo was especially touchy… on his own terms. He enjoyed using Mikey as an armrest, hanging an arm over Donnie’s shoulder, climbing Raph like a tree, hugging his dad, or playing with April’s hair, and he loved when his family returned the affection through their own means—patting his shell, linking arms, laying on his lap or against his shoulder, general hugging.
Physical contact was one of his ‘love languages’ and it showed, and his family showed it back.
Strangers were a different story.
Overall, the lack of respect for his boundaries was too abundant for his liking. Big Mama gave him his space every other time he wasn’t falling asleep, and Assistant manhandled him all the time, but he could handle that because he was half asleep when Big Mama touched him, and Assistant only ever touched him when he was being a menace and she responded in kind. Avalon was respectful, and despite generally being a bitch, Madam Diana also avoided touching him directly.
Tecna and Nette had no respect for him. While at least Nette did it for work, Tecna just touched him as he pleased.
Never creepily, thankfully, but all of his two classes with her had included a small session of poking around and examining him while he tried to keep her at an arm’s length. Leo hoped that it was Tecna being clueless rather than purposefully messing with him, but with these people one never knew.
Why was he mentioning all that?
Well because these people also had no sense of personal space.
Or well, they did! If it affected them personally. Getting ‘dirty’ was a huge deal, so they avoided touching staff and people ‘below them’ like the plague, but they had no problem grabbing his arm to keep him around just to force Big Mama to stay.
That was another problem.
Using him.
Under the pretense that she wasn’t dressed for such an exquisite party, and once Big Mama arrived, Assistant excused herself and left for the time being. That of course left Big Mama as his ‘caretaker’ for the evening, leaving Leo without his shadow.
To his own surprise, it hit him harder than it should’ve, being away from Assistant. He was starting to get used to her, despite the fact that they’ve been together for just three days.
When a minor was left with an adult to play babysitter, that usually meant that he’d have to follow her around–and pizza supreme, he would’ve loved that, because that way he could’ve let her engage with people while just plastering a fake smile and nodding along to anything she said. But no.
She wanted him to lead the night.
“Choose where we’ll go, my Prize. I want to see how good your eye for people is!”
Which roughly translated to ‘Since I know you didn’t pay attention to me earlier this is a test to see if you’re capable of finding who I think is important. You can fail’.
Instead of falling behind and using dissociating as a coping mechanism to recharge his mental energy, he side-eyed itsy Crazy bitsy and puffed his chest, looking around the crowd, praying for Big Mama to give something away and scratching his brain for any information left of the info dumping from earlier, and dying internally while searching for people that he didn’t know.
Of course, that went as well as one would think.
Anyone he guessed incorrectly, he had to deal with alone. Big Mama didn’t stop any of the frantic attempts to get his attention, that could be anything between flirting with him–that woman was three times his age, it was so awkward—to make a scene with red wine and screaming—the guy couldn’t take a no for an answer and he had to be removed from the premises, all while claiming that the poor chameleon had dropped the glass of wine on him on purpose and was ‘looking down on him’. Pretentious jerk.
And of course, the weirdos that kept grabbing his arms, all while Big Mama looked at the scene with amusement.
So gross, so gross .
He’d guessed about six people correctly. Level-headed individuals that were willing to treat him like a person rather than a means to reach Big Mama, who engaged in her own conversations while he dealt with people.
One of them was nice old rat yokai, who looked vastly different from Leo’s dad—taller, slimmer…dignified—, and who owned a smithy. He carried himself in a way that radiated inner peace despite the clear blindness, and treated Leo so fatherly that the turtle almost cried there and then.
“I don’t create anything anymore, but my granddaughter does. She’s exceptionally talented for mystic weapons, and I’m sure you would enjoy meeting her,” the old man said, twirling absentmindedly a wine glass that looked as full as the ones on a staff’s trail, despite having been on the man’s hand for the entire party. “You’re definitely younger than her, though. My little Bea is well in her twenties,” he hummed, leaving the glass in a table nearby.
Leo took a sip from his lemonade and smiled as widely as his inexistent energy allowed him to.
“She is older than me, but I’d love to meet her regardless. I’ve never met anyone that makes weapons!”
‘And hasn’t thrown me off a roof,’ he kept to himself, fighting the way the corner of his lips tugged up at the thought of Draxum’s certified ‘The Blue one is being annoying again’ face.
Wasn’t that fucked up? He was four days deep into this enforced ‘adventure’ and he was already missing Barry . Big Mama should make haste , Leonardo wasn’t sure how long he’d last otherwise.
The man laughed, the husky voice soothing to the ear. “Then please, feel free to visit whenever, young…?”
At the invitation, Leo perked up. “Leonardo, but please, just call me Leo. Full name is reserved for whenever I’m being scolded,” He winked, his smile widening when wrinkles of mirth formed at the sides of the elder’s eyes.
“Very well, young Leo.” The man chuckled. “I’ll open the invitation to you, and…” The man’s expression returned to a practiced serenity when he turned his head up towards the shadow that followed the slider. “...to your mother,” he nodded politely.
Big Mama let out a sonorous laugh, making Leo wince. “It would be out pleasure, Murakami. We’ll visit soon enough.”
The man did not answer verbally, preferring to present a tight-lipped smile before turning once more in Leo’s direction, silently waiting for something before humming, and saying his goodbyes.
“I’m sure you’re… busy. I wouldn’t want to impose on our guest of honor and our host,” the man patted the table in search of the wine glass and snatched it once it was within reach. Bowing his head softly at Leo, he added; “be safe, young Leo. I’ll wait patiently for your visit.”
Clearly, he and Big Mama did not get along well, because Murakami did not bother to spare the same courtesy to the woman.
At the pointed look Leo sent her way, Ariadne just shrugged.
“Their clan have been phizz-whizzing smiths for decades, and a colossantic amount of their craft ends up right here, at the Battle Nexus, for all the warriors to use.”
“And he dislikes the way you use his family’s hard work.”
Big Mama pursed her spider lips and patted Leo’s back. “I wouldn’t use the word dislike, my munchskinferrin” she stared down at him in a silent warning, ‘words have consequences, and he’s not the only smith at my disposal’, making him huff. “But you’re not wrong. We don’t fully agree on the matter. However!”
She didn’t continue the sentence; didn’t need to. Leo was well aware that Murakami is well off because he deals with Big Mama. He’s an important asset, but he is not irreplaceable, and the love the old man showed when speaking of his granddaughter made it clear that he was willing to sacrifice his own morals and ideals if he could continue to offer the world to his family.
Leo respected that. There were few things he wouldn’t do to keep his family safe.
So, he didn’t push on the matter and continued to search for more ‘people of value’.
Other people of importance included a businessman that, while incredibly arrogant, was also incredibly smart, and a lady that Big Mama called ‘canary’, who seemed to be a showgirl, flaunting expensive fabrics and talking in a singsong voice. His worst interaction tho, was by far the mayor of Witch town. She barely even looked at him once before frowning pronouncedly and showed disinterest for his small talk even before he opened his mouth.
The witches’ aversion towards him wasn’t a surprise. April had told them the story of how exactly she and Donnie ended up in jail while Leo himself was in a… hairy situation—Raph’s story had him committing a little arson in a very undetermined location a couple of weeks later, which Raph would not hear about ever as long as either of them lived. Surprisingly that was also what got Leo to begin networking inside the Hidden City, but that was an entirely different story.
Witches. Yes. They weren’t outright hostile, but woe the idea of the future interactions he’d be forced to have with them, because Big Mama would a hundred percent make him make up with them on behalf of his siblings to keep any kind of deal the Nexus had with them in place.
“You’re doing a splendorous job, baby Blue!” She patted him after he snatched his arm away from that one lady that kept grabbing his arms.
Invoking his best imitation of Raph’s ‘stop bullshitting me’ face, he turned to look at Big Mama red faced.
“Try catching another fly tonight and save the flattery,” Leo groaned, massaging his cramping cheeks.
“Grumpy much?”
“I’m not as much of a social butterfly as everyone thinks, sucks for you,” he shrugged with a weak smirk.
Which wasn’t a lie. He was very social—not necessarily pleasant, just social—, maybe the most among his siblings, followed by Mikey and then April. But he also held his ‘me time’ close to his heart.
They all respected their quirks; Raph needed to check the whole lair for evil bunnies while frenzied on anxiety, Mikey needed pipelines to hang from upside down and bright eye-catching notes on important stuff whenever he was on the zone, Donnie needed his phone and three other screens to multitask whenever he got fixated on something, April needed her ‘normal’ time—which usually consisted of movie night or ‘ la noche de chismes ’, held biweekly, or just ‘hanging out’ with some of her ‘human friends’, which did exist but totally went to another school, you wouldn’t know them—and Leo needed time to recharge.
They all respected the system, and that kept them healthy, productive, and helped reduce the in-fighting.
Big Mama didn’t know—nor cared—about the system. She just curled her lips up and enjoyed herself while watching him crumble.
“Oh?”
Moodiness was the first step, but he could feel the rest of symptoms of a sensory overload weighing down his shell.
Leo pressed his lips into a thin line and scrunched his nose. “Please, with six eyes? fat chance you missed it.”
Big Mama responded with a chuckle, and it did nothing but fan the embers of anger sparkling inside Leo’s chest.
Colors overly bright, noises too loud, every single touch felt like Nette’s needles intruding in his skin all over again. The fabric felt constricting, and he couldn’t help but rub his feet together whenever he had the chance to stand in place for more than a couple of seconds.
Clacking glasses had him biting his inner cheek and the strong smell of a dish just served to their left made him gag, something he managed to hide behind a fake cough.
Raph or Donnie were the ones to go through overloads; Leo was better at controlling his environment and retreating whenever he started feeling overwhelmed, Mikey didn’t have as much trouble with it as the rest of them did, and April only ever got moody, never had a full meltdown over things as absurd as someone’s breathing or a tag itching.
They always had time to cool down; lights dimmed down, either soft music or lent sound-reducing headphones, time alone with whatever helped them relax…
Leo didn’t have that anymore.
And he was aware that Big Mama was aware of that.
Maybe not aware of what exactly he needed, but aware that he lacked something important, and using that in her favor in a cheap tactic.
She was breaking his defenses by striking on an unexpected side; of course he’d be more exhausted if his emotional needs were not met!
God he was too tired to rationalize her thought process. He was so tired and so grossed out. The world was gross, he was gross. Was the makeup melting in his face? Why did everything itch? Why was breathing such a chore?
A low whine escaped him, accompanied by a wince when some idiot scratched a plate with their fork—or knife, Leo didn’t see.
“All right, let’s take a bunk for the night, my Prize.”
Her voice was strangely comforting, and he attributed that to the words said.
Would Raph carry him to bed if he asked? Mikey had the youngest brother rights, but if Leo pouted enough and whined about how tired he felt…
“Come on, dove.”
Shouldn’t he say goodbye or something? He was the guest of honor, it was rude to just leave. Plus, Big Mama was the host. If she left the party with him, wouldn’t that be bad etiquette?
“I see Madam Diana is doing a splendorous job with her classes! Her methods do tend to… leave a mark!” She chuckled to herself, directing Leo…somewhere. “Don’t worry a fizzy about that ballyhoo. They’ll understand that you’re not used to this; you’ll learn with time.”
Was he talking out loud?
Fuck, fuckity—
As the doors closed behind them, Leonardo felt like he could finally breathe. Sound-proof walls were a blessing. Definitely necessary when you have the biggest hotel in town, so the rest of the guests could rest whenever someone held a huge celebration.
“You want to take off the jacket?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Her legs-hands-arms-spider things guided the jacket out of his arms and out of his torso, and he unconsciously closed the distance to her, in search of the warmth.
“Guess I’ll have to add a couple of things to your room!”
Was her voice always so loud? Couldn’t she keep it down for a couple of minutes? Pulling away was useless; Big Mama was happy to have him by her side and she kept him in place with an arm—he decided, because changing the term each time she changed forms was a pain.
“Don’t you have better things to spend your money on? Doctors and stuff?”
Big Mama chuckled. “I’ve been steadily recovering some losses; I assure you these expenses are nothing.”
Leonardo let out an airy sound akin to laughter but not quite it, and at the very least, kept his head away from the woman, so she could not see the way his face contorted with exasperation.
“You don’t need to keep webbing me into the whole ‘heir’ thing to me, I already signed.”
“On the contrary! I think is important that you’re aware of what you’re getting from this deal!”
He exhaled heavily, head slumped, almost reaching the shoulder farthest from Big Mama’s torso. “I’m barely aware as is,” his voice cracked. “What are you doing to me?”
Giggles echoed in the elevator as the doors closed, followed by light that always covered the woman while she transformed, this time into her human form. She was smaller than Leo, but it wasn’t hard for her to keep him stuck by her side with a single arm.
“You know exactly what I’m doing, baby.”
“The question is more like… how?”
Big Mama did not answer, and they fell silent, watching the symbols turn numbers that grew and grew until they reached the level of the office, where his assigned room also was.
Leonardo did not think anyone was on the floor besides them, if the silence was any kind of clue.
He also thought that whatever Big Mama was doing to him, maybe had to do with the floor, because he felt his body turn heavier the second the metal doors of the elevator parted to open the way for them to continue their journey.
Or he just was that stressed that the sight of something a bit more familiar made him involuntarily unwind.
The latter was more likely.
Spider-crazy lead him all the way to the assigned room, both of them at a slow pace, and the lack of stimulus bombing his every sense allowed Leo to relax enough that he was barely conscious when she started singing once more, placing his head over her lap, playing his marks and waiting until his consciousness left for the night.
Notes:
I'm currently writing chapter 8 so hopefully next update will be within the month.
I'm having a bit of trouble with writing. I knew from the beginning that this fic wouldn't be short, but I kind of hoped that it wouldn't extend too much either. However, I regretfully admit that I cannot keep myself from the small interactions. I want to flesh out the world, leave nothing to the air, and that ends with me doubling the chapter count.
Like, this might count as a spoiler, but the story is meant to take place over a couple of months and next chapter is the end of the FIRST WEEK.Holy molly.
Don't worry. As of now, most chapters end with Leo passing out because most chapters elapse over a single day. Once I'm done with an important part, chapters will start to cover several days rather than a single one.
I'm mostly fighting the narrative because I don't want the story to be boring, but also don't want to rush it.
AND. You'll see soon, but I was trying so hard to keep Venus as a side character and she came to my house, slapped me and called me an idiot, so now she's turning into a very important character against my will.
I generally can't enjoy stories filled with oc's, so it's a bit upsetting that I had to set up so many original characters for this, but again, I just needed to flesh out the world, because months it's a long time to only have interactions between Big Mama and Leo.
Sorry not sorry about that.Anyways, have a great day :)
Hoped you liked the chapter, see ya next blue moon!
Chapter 7: The feeling that hides behind others
Summary:
Mom-Son time! Hurray!
Mikey discovers a couple of things about himself and Leo discovers a couple of things about something else.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“Did you ever participate in the Battle Nexus?”
His new weekends were designed to give him a much-needed break.
Designed as in, like the rest of his week, it was planned beforehand and he had no say on what he’d do with his time unless it was free time.
‘Break’, because weekends were apparently reserved for ‘mom and son time’, which of course meant they assisted to the Battle Nexus in the afternoon of both Saturday and Sunday to watch the spectacle from the luxurious cabin designed for the owner of the Nexus, sitting uncomfortably close together in the couch, Big Mama using most of the space in her spider form and he cross-legged as far as mutantly possible from here, which wasn’t much, because somewhere in between the year and something since he last stood there, they changed the furniture for something smaller, although a lot more comfortable.
Assistant had returned to her post as his shadow in the morning of the Saturday, so his freedom was very limited. After laying in his assigned room for a couple of hours after breakfast in a weak attempt to recharge, with only Venus to judge him—and listen to his info-dump about the movie he had missed thanks to this whole stupid situation—he decided to take the opportunity to learn a bit of the yokai-only zone, and visit the underground levels of the hotel, where the yokai élite resided. The rest was closed for him, due to humans, so there wasn’t much opportunity to map out the entirety of the hotel as much as he would’ve liked it before getting dragged to Big Mama’s office.
Plus…
That Sunday morning, he woke up in cold sweat, straight from a panic attack, after a weird dream that…
Well…
It was just weird, okay?
He remembered falling asleep on Big Mama’s lap, like he had done the past week against his will, and after that, things took a turn for the worst.
Maybe it was the exhaustion.
After Shredder, they all had pretty weird dreams that included the armored beast in awkward situations. Mikey had admitted once to dreaming of Shredder with a giant tutu as the black swan in a very bizarre interpretation of ‘the swan lake’, with Raph as the white swan, with a majestic dance off at the end of the dream that ended with Gram-gram’s death—because of course some of the trauma had to spice up the dream.
And Leo still had nightmares about the Prison Dimension.
Or about the Kraang.
Living his normal life while Kraang One followed him was his most despised and common one. Common, though, meant little since he usually had issues falling asleep anyways, so it wasn’t every day that he saw the ugly chewed-gum face of the crazy space octopus.
Besides, this dream was… weirder.
Not worse, no, nothing could be worse than…
But it was definitely weirder.
“I have,” Big Mama confessed, boredly watching a cat yokai getting beaten to an inch of their life by eight other yokai, clearly disappointed by the performance, unlike the rest of the stadium that cheered at the bloody sight. “When I was younger, and before I started to amass my actual fortune.”
Weirder, because since he began falling asleep under Big Mama’s influence, he hadn’t had a single dream until then, and in general, because… well… it was just weird!
The dream began in the dojo. Not the one in his home, his favorite one—and the only other he knew—but the one in the Nexus Hotel. He woke, disoriented, to a psychedelic world. Leo had never done drugs before—willingly and that didn’t make him immediately pass out—, but based on a few cartoons and movies, that was the best description available for the world that surrounded him inside his mind that night.
Big Mama was there. Only person he could mention because she was in fact the only one there.
Little could be said about the rest of the environment inside the dream. It didn’t have crazy scenarios from his daily life. His brothers never appeared in unicorn onesies while screaming about a giant however-that-one-worm-foe-of-them-was-called dragging along a Hypno-pothamus plushie. It was a so uncharacteristically normal scenario for a dream of his that Leo could’ve just assumed it was real if it hadn’t been so… well, random.
Specially the part when she attacked him, over and over, with mastery that Leonardo could not believe from a woman he had seen hospitalized before after a fight. Though, to be fair to her, her strife had been against the Shredder, so no one could really fault her for losing. Unstoppable force, and all that.
Still, while Big Mama hadn’t shied in other occasions from putting up a fight against the mad dogz, he had never seen her be so…
Fierce? Ferocious? Brutal?
“So, you weren’t always the owner of the Nexus?” Leo’s inexistent brows furrowed as he slid further into the sofa.
“I always was, but it wasn’t always this big. I’m bashtressered to admit it, but the Battle Nexus once was nothing more than an eeny-teeny tiny battle club.”
Leonardo hummed. “And the hotel?”
“I bought it afterwards. It was a more reliable means of income, and a phizz-worthy cover up for the other biz.” She motioned her arm towards the arena.
In his dream, Leo had to battle her. Like inside a videogame, she turned from a minor inconvenience to a final boss, and the abilities to back that up accompanied her.
It was like entering that one house in the fifth generation of pokemon, where you’re expecting to rob a sweet old lady from an hyperpotion or something, and you end up fighting the former champion of the fourth gen—pardon his pokemon references, he was currently playing Arceus in the new switch to put a nonchalant act and now he couldn’t keep them to himself, the pikachu shaped thoughts.
She was relentless, pinning him over and over with webs, and keeping him in the ground to strike him until he couldn’t stand anymore.
Then, she told him to stand up, just to beat him down again each time he managed to put any weight over his legs. A whole bit dedicated to humiliating him like the cat yokai, once, then twice, then again and again, repeating to him the words ‘stand up’ with a frigid voice that sent shivers down his shell; it mattered not that Leonardo was trembling under the pressure, that he could barely keep awake inside the dream, because she didn’t relent, continuing to challenge him to stand, repeating the whole thing once he did.
An impossible situation. Staying in the ground brought unknown consequences, and unknown was always dangerous. On the other hand, standing up brought pain. Pain he didn’t even know one could feel while asleep, blunt with all strikes. She kept at it until his dream self-passed out and then he woke up, his whole body aching like he had actually fought Big Mama.
But it was just a dream.
No marks, no bruises, and no way in hell the woman would be able to actually fight like that in her condition, with half of her legs already inside the coffin—thank the pizza supreme.
“So, you really made all of this from zero?”
“I did!” she nodded, clapping excitedly, pleased with herself.
Her happiness did not last long, as the commentator announced the end of the third fight, and the staff ran into the colosseum with a stretcher, throwing the cat with so little care that Leo winced at the sight, his inner medic cringing at the treatment.
It was clear that the cat’s leg was unsalvageable. Their enemies had been merciless; since the cat had been too fast to hit them more than once, the other yokai incapacitated the cat, using a spear to pin them by the leg in the middle of a struggle, then using the opportunity to win the fight, all too happy to kick the fallen.
Bloody, but not exciting.
For Leo’s standards the fight was disgusting. He wasn’t one to play particularly fair, even less in life-or-death situations, but he had a sense of honor instilled in him by his father and by Raph, and the way the warriors fell too easily into foul plays left a bad taste in the slider’s mouth.
What was the point in hurting someone who was already down?
Of torturing someone that had already been beaten?
‘Where are you, pest?’
By the time the sixth combat began, Leo realized that Big Mama didn’t pay much attention to them either.
She did look at the fights whenever it seemed to kindle the crowd, because at the end of the day, it was her job to learn what the yokai liked, so she could then proceed to promote that in hopes of increasing profits. Overall, though, she seemed pretty detached from the whole place, instead focusing on a tablet that he couldn’t see from his place, as she held it quite close to her face, and in her spider form she was way taller than him.
He didn’t mind, because aside from the occasional glance, he too was absorbed in the middle of his playthrough of pokemon Arceus, naming his pokemon like his siblings—because it wasn’t like Big Mama would go through his game just to make sure that he’s kept clear from naming character after his family, so he’d use the chance to not go cray-cray.
It had nothing to do with how he was avoiding touching the copy of animal crossing, as it felt like betrayal to his villagers and pumpkin farm that waited for him back home, and if it was, it didn’t matter, because there were a ton of other games waiting for him inside his assigned room, like he had the time to actually play them.
“How does the whole Nexus work?”
“What, exactly?”
Maybe if he could get access to an online game, he’d have a chance to contact his family?
It was a dangerous bet, because while he didn’t think they’d check a videogame console to keep his communication channels closed, in the off chance that they did…
And now that he thought some more about it, would his family even be playing video games while he was gone?
Like maybe one or two to pass time while they searched, but Leo couldn’t imagine any of his brothers, even less April just sitting in front of a console or monitor to have a six-hour marathon while he was gone.
On the off chance that he managed to actually send a message through without getting found out, would his family even receive it on time?
“Like, it’s open every day, right? There are at least three combats per day, and a lot of the combatants are forced to fight— “
“They chose this life— “
“—over contract-“ he paused at her interruption, side eyeing her and mouthing the word ‘forced’, slamming the accelerator and continuing before Big Mama could interrupt again. “My point is, how do you keep it open every day? And still get a good amount of dough?” He rubbed his fingers together in the universal sign of money.
Big Mama did not answer right away. She stared down at him, analyzing him in search of something. In response, Leo raised his chin slightly, not willing to back down, even if at this point, he didn’t feel as confident as he tried to act.
“At least three fights are programmed every day, by warriors already under contract. In special occasions we add a couple of fights depending on the situation, and we got especial events biweekly.” The spider answered, suddenly interested in the fight.
This time, it was a mythological yokai he did not recognize at all against the same eight idiots that had just sent someone back home in a stretcher. It looked humanoid in shape, but their whole self was covered in a fancy layer of black, shiny feathers, arms replaced by wings with hands at the end, like a feathery bat. They held themself with pride, dancing around the arena with a facility that only an experience combatant would be able to pull off, blatantly mocking their opponents.
Unlike the cat yokai that had lost before, this fighter did not rely heavily on a single part of their body, so even when this yokai made mistakes, they were quick to cover them up.
It was impressive, but it did little to satisfy the blood-hungry spectators, who cheered lower than they had for the rooks that almost killed the cat yokai.
To Leo, it was a shame; he found brute force boring in actual combat. Sure, a well-aimed punch with much strength behind it could instantly K.O. anyone in an instant, but where was the fun in that? He loved to put up a show, to banter with friends and foes alike. Be quick, responsible, but have a little fun while doing it.
Anyone in his family would tell you that he was just dramatic, a theater kid. Leo liked to say that it was the swordsman in him, his love for a more elegant rather than gorey fight. Regardless, he loved the way the yokai so seamlessly blended with their environment, single-handedly beating one by one each of the opponents with ease.
“Especial events like…” He trailed off, waiting for her to continue.
She backed further into the couch, putting down the tablet by the opposite side to which Leo sat, and crossed her arms, pensive. This time she didn’t bother to look at him, seemingly content with whatever she found in him before.
“Like the fazzdidledazz duel you and your father had against my little-ittle Kraken Tom, of course. Sometimes we do tournaments, or rallies. Anything goes. From the most gruesome battle royale for survival, to a flimwash race between parents and children. It all depends on the season.”
“Or the opportunities?” The slider asked, pulling his legs closer to his plastron, his half-forgotten switch sliding down his leg as he turned to look at Big Mama, more invested in the conversation that he realized.
Big Mama nodded, still not gracing him with a glance, but allowing herself to smile a little at his inquiry. “Yes, or the opportunities. It’s important to use anything offered to you, even if not in the way they intended.”
Leonardo's gaze wavered the second she locked eyes with him, not entirely sure what to do with the lesson she had freely offered for him.
Had it been anyone else, he would’ve taken it as a piece of advice, like one of those motivational speeches that Raph sometimes listened to while training, something said to boost one’s spirit for a little while.
‘Yes! You are meant for great things! You must persevere and never give up. Take all opportunities given to you, make new ones!’. He could already hear the toxic—yet useful and needed from time to time—positivism that helped the eldest get ready for the day.
From Big Mama, the comment was different.
She wasn’t trying to make him hopeful, her words weren’t supposed to be kind and inspiring. The intentions behind her offering were ill-intended. ‘Make use of everything you get, regardless of how you do it’.
‘Regardless of what you have to do’.
‘Or who you have to hurt.’
A piece of advice that he had already been using before, hadn’t he?
If he had to lie, or practice some sleight of hand, from smiling widely and winking to jumping into hell himself, didn’t Leo already live by that sentence?
‘You really are just like Big Mama’ hit harder when there was evidence, and that realization fell onto him in the form of dizziness.
As if sensing his hesitation and the end of the conversation, Big Mama blinked slowly at him, then turned to retrieve the tablet, to continue whatever she had been doing before.
Up until that day, despite the harshness of the challenge, Leonardo had been willing to play the long game as Big Mama had planned, blind to the fact that they were not, in any way, playing on the same level.
Leo might have been smart enough to play her once or twice before, especially when it involved having someone else’s help, and when the con lasted no more than a few hours, while he was at his best game, but he never truly won even then, did he?
He wasn’t gonna win this, was he?
Ringing from the announcement that the match was over and the sound of one of his Pokémon crying for attention overlapped, both quickly washed away by the frantic cheering, calling his attention back to the arena, making him instantly wince at the gruesome sight.
Birdie had won by a landslide, there was no debacle on that. He was pretty sure that one of the henchmen was dead, because their neck was stuck horribly in a degree that shouldn’t be possible, and one of their teammates hovered over them, desperately shaking them as if that would wake them up.
Although victorious, the yokai hadn’t come out unscathed.
A broken wing, holding most of their weight over their left leg, and still standing as if they were on top of the world, valiant in the face of destruction carelessly constructed by themself.
Petals of crimson were thrown by the spectators, who, excited by the gruesome end of the combat, were now happy to proclaim the fighter a champion.
“What happened to the Kraken?” Leo found himself asking, though his own words sounded distant, like said behind a glass wall.
“Kraken Tom? You beat him, of course.”
Like that answered his question, even if both knew why he had asked.
In a big show of pride, the yokai vowed at the public, raising his good arm and screaming at full volume.
“Did he continue fighting, after that?”
“Well.” Big Mama hummed. She wasn’t leaving the question to the air like considering what could be said after, nor leaving it to his imagination.
Her little ‘well’ was a statement. One that made Leo’s blood freeze.
Eyes that don’t see, heart that don’t feel, right? So, he picked the switch back up, smashing the A button to turn it on and immersing into sweet ignorance, focusing on leveling up Mikey.
___________________
“I’m not surprised that you found nothing. The purple’s one idea wasn’t bad, but triangulating a third party with clues from another piece was never going to work the way you kids intended” Draxum took a loud sip from his cup, reclining against the back of his chair, unbothered by the creaking noise that accompanied the motion.
“You two have mad-scientist facetimes every Thursday, I know you know his name, Drax,” the youngest turtle side eyed the yokai, unimpressed, although a bit amused when the elder choked on the drink, looking away sheepishly.
Mikey didn’t bother to drink the hot milk offered to him. It seemed like lately that was all they did besides searching for Leo; sitting, talking and drinking some hot beverage, and it was starting to taint his feelings for hot cocoa.
“We did find them,” April scoffed, glaring at the cups with so much anger that the box turtle could swear it was reheating the liquid inside. “That’s kind of the problem,”
Obviously, that didn’t clarify nothing, and Barry raised an eyebrow into a pointed look, waiting for the human girl to elaborate.
Which she did. “We found the group yesterday, after two days of searching. Mikey recognized one of them as the one Leo tricked to make an escape from a rooftop and we followed him. We talked to him, but he didn’t know anything!” She threw her arms in the air, hitting the table in the act and cursing at the impact, retrieving the affected hand to inspect it.
Well, he did know a couple of things, but not nearly enough to piece the information into something coherent that would help them find Leo.
April and he conducted the interrogation over a nice cup of tea while Donnie and Raph talked outside, gaining the dude’s trust fairly quick—read: the guy was crying and screaming during the entire conversation like they were murdering him, because they were pretty close to actually committing murder—and he admitted to all he knew in a matter of seconds.
All his knowledge consisted of ‘the boss told us to’ and ‘I just followed orders’, so it amounted to a whole lot of nothing.
Similarly, when question on the ‘boss’, the yokai refused to cooperate at first and ended up being useless at last.
“Their boss disappeared a couple of days ago,” Mikey muttered, trailing the markings in the wooden table with a finger.
“That!” April pointed at Mikey and then looked at Barry like that had been some big revelation to the world. “We talked to him, and he knew nothing, and his boss apparently knew everything about what happened and why they were searching for Leo and who made the bounty but then we asked about his boss, and she’s been missing for a few days. Completely off the radar!”
“Something unusual for them?” Draxum questioned.
“I mean, I don’t know! I guess? He seemed really worried.”
Understatement. He didn’t seem ‘really worried’, he seemed mortified. In his wide knowledge about feelings, he still couldn’t guess if it was from the threat to bomb his place or his missing boss, but Mikey didn’t care much.
‘It’s not uncommon for us the low folk to get picked off if we upset someone,’ He had told them once he managed to calm down. ‘We were the last to try anything before the bounty was off, so… I don’t know. Maybe she is trying to find whoever won? Since she almost broke the lad’s wrist maybe she wants a cut of the prize or some.’
That had been the explanation that he and the rest of the gang had apparently agreed on after their boss disappeared without a trace, but the guy just didn’t seem convinced. After that, anything the guy said felt irrelevant.
How did they find the Hamato family? Easy, everyone knew about them, and if you listen in the streets of the Hidden City, a red eared loudmouth frequented Run of the Mill, Leonardo was well known for causing trouble and chatting up anyone who would listen near the pirates’ bazaar and the bay.
Where could they find the bastard that got their brother? No idea. Retrieval was called near the entrance to the forbidden forest, that giant hole in the mushroom forest, pretty common standard for outlaw bounties, so no one could trace back the source.
Was there any other person who could help them find their brother? The dogs, any mercenary really, but considering how high the pay was for Leo, it was likely he was already dead or sold, depending on what they wanted him for.
Sold.
That hadn’t been something they ever thought about.
An enemy trying to get to them, or someone with a grudge, or something of the sort, but Leo being sold? Crime, topside or downside wasn’t uncommon. The Hidden City had a pretty weak control over its citizens. the police were incompetent at best, and if the criminals were brave enough to go topside from time to time, clearly, they felt comfortable with what they were doing. They knew how to do their job and do it well.
But trafficking… It was an entirely different thing. They’ve never been face to face with something so…
And why even kidnap someone in particular for that?
Mikey had seen a couple of things about it in movies and news, but the idea that it could be real, for them, for Leo…
Draxum sighed deeply, “What’s next, then?”
Mikey shrugged. “Don says we’ll keep checking to see if we find any of the other yokai so we can have another, uh… data…?” He turned to look at April for help, and she mouthed the word, which the young turtle translated as “yoink,” running to correct himself when she frowned and mouthed once more, the motions exaggerated the second time, “point! The data points! Says he wants different opinions before making a decision!”
“And what does the rat—” Draxum paused at the glare that Mikey sent him, rolling his eyes and conceding. “What does your father say?”
“Splint thinks it’s our best bet,” April leaned against the table, resting her chin over her folded arms. “Since we haven’t found nothing new, tracking the yokai that attacked the boys might be the only way to find Leo. Donnie’s already checking some recordings from two weeks ago.”
“Very well, that sounds reasonable. And after that?”
April and Mikey paused, sharing a single look. It wasn’t that they didn’t understand the question. ‘What’s the plan in case that doesn’t work out?’
It’s just that they don’t want to think about it.
What will they do if this turns out to be another dead end?
Hesitantly, April answered. “Well, we’re planning to sneak into the Battle Nexus the next Saturday if we haven’t found Leo by then.”
“Ah, I do remember Donatello mentioned his suspicions during our call.”
“I think he’s wrong,” Mikey huffed, his shell clacking against the back of his chair.
“Oh?”
“It’s just—She hasn’t done anything against us since the whole Shredder thing, you know? I want to think she learnt her lesson after she landed herself in the hospital.”
Draxum mused, tapping his fingers rhythmically against the table. “You think highly of people that do not deserve it.”
That made April snort, loudly. “You’re forgetting he saved your ass?”
“No. That’s exactly why I say it.”
Helping the Baron hadn’t been an easy job, but Mikey never thought of it as an impossible task. Everyone had good in them if you knew where to search. Despite all the terrible acts he committed, even Shredder had a wisp of light inside all that corruption.
Honestly, the hardest thing was keeping his escapades secret from Raph, but since Leo liked to sneak out to the Hidden City and to Run of the Mill, and Mikey also sneaked out regularly to tag different places around the city, they made a deal to cover for the other. No questions asked. Each went their way to their secret adventures and Raph was none the wiser.
Eventually he dragged the rest of the family into the tiny apartment and forced everyone to get along! Mostly!
Leo still liked to mention the incident—which Draxum had yet to apologize for, a work in progress—and Splinter enjoyed bickering with the yokai—they had a better relationship after the Shredder thing, but both got a kick off annoying the other as much as possible, and with Donnie and Leo as his brothers Mikey was used to that, so he could manage.
Today, Barry was a better person.
Mikey was not stupid enough to say that he was a good person; it hadn’t been more than two months since they had to find a way to cover the guest room so the landlord wouldn’t notice the make-do alchemy laboratory and all the illegal experiments held in it. But he was a better person, and progress was progress.
Progress was good, that’s why Mikey didn’t understand why Draxum was so adamant to talk about himself like he was trash at the bottom of the barrel. Maybe some internalized hatred, rooted on the deep sense of loss after getting tricked by the foot, losing his powers, assets, home, and life, ending up as a lunch lady, unpredictably ending up as part of the same family that not only he tried to kill, but also were the ones to defeat him?
Or!
Wait.
No psychoanalyzing people during an important meeting, Mikey!
“Aww, come on. I think you’re pretty great!”
Unmoved by the positivism, Draxum deadpanned, “That’s the opposite of refuting what I’ve just said,” and proceeded to down the rest of his drink.
And Mikey giggled, in response, hands fiddling with his bel, and not looking regretful in the slightest. “You gotta learn to see a bit of light in everyone! Everyone has a reason for what they do!”
“Like trying to kill you,” the yokai’s face pinched. “Would you let someone kill you if they have a reason noble enough?”
“Well, no,” Mikey rolled his eyes, smiling when he and April caught each other looking, silently side eyeing Draxum. “Like, if they wanna kill me because they think that’s gonna save their people, but they don’t fact-check their local prophesy…”
“Funny,” Draxum huffed, raising from his place and picking each of the forgotten beverages without much resistance. “What if Big Mama did kidnap your brother?”
“She didn’t,” he defended, surprising himself, April and Draxum with how quick he answered. Quickly, he followed with, “I don’t think she did anyways.”
Because if she did, then she not only betrayed their trust, but most importantly, their father’s.
She had willingly and callously lied to the face of someone she claimed to love time after she apologized for harming him so inhumanly in their shared past. It meant that all the remorse she said she felt did not exist.
Worse. It meant that Mikey had defended her to the rest of the family while Leo was battling for his life in the Battle Nexus, alone and hurt, after saving Mikey.
She couldn’t have kidnapped Leo because if she did, then Mikey had defended Leo’s kidnapper.
His stomach clenched at the thought, and Mikey had to swallow down the knot that formed in his throat.
“I’m curious. You are very firm in this belief. Why? It’s not like that spider has given you any reason to trust her before,” the elder placed the cups in the sink, ceramic clashing against each other as it fell into place with the rest of the dirty dishes.
April took charge of the conversation. “Apparently she’s retiring.”
Draxum choked in his spit, coughing into his fist as Mikey and April hurried to help him, patting his back, and directing him to his seat, steadily supporting him until the man could breathe once more.
“She’s— retiring?! How come there’s no news of this?!” He exclaimed while they lead him back to the table.
“Doesn’t seem like she has shared the news,” the human popped her lips at the end of the sentence, jumping to sit on the edge of the table, right by Draxum’s side. “We know because she told Splints like, two weeks ago, but apparently is all pretty lowkey for now.”
“That’s preposterous!” Barry patted his own chest, clearing his throat in the process. “So the Nexus is closing, and she is trying to sweep the entire thing under the rug?!”
“Well,” Mikey paused, mirroring April, sitting on the other side of the caprid yokai. “She’s not closing the Nexus, she’s just retiring.”
“Retiring,” Draxum repeated, his voice as if he had just heard and said the stupidest thing in his life, and well, to be fair, didn’t everyone have the same reaction when they first learned about it? “Who’s receiving the Nexus, then? Surely, she isn’t just–raffling the Battle Nexus, or the hotel?”
“No, no. She has a… uh… son? Who is inheriting the whole thing.” April raised a leg, the heel of her shoe scrapping the wood as she used her knee to rest her head. “Can you believe that?”
From disbelief to a flash a confusion, then a realization, and then a mix of negative emotions that were hard to read. Sadness? Unease? Worry, defeat, anger, disappointment, resignation… a whole set of emotions that painted bad news in his face.
“I didn’t know she—well… now he, I guess, had transitioned.”
“Wait, she?” the human straightened, her fingers tensing around the raised leg. “Barry.” She warned.
The yokai raised both hands with a deep sigh. One straight to cover his eyes, massaging his temples. The other just used as a sign for ‘pause’, leaving them all in silence what the goat man thought his next words under the death stare of both oldest and youngest from the Hamato kids.
“Can we talk about this another time? I believe it’s more important to find the blue one, no?”
Gasping, April jumped off the table, stomping towards her bat, her face contorted in fury, her glasses tilted to the side, giving her a more deranged look, completed by her ungroomed hair—which really, it wasn’t her fault, none of them had had the chance to take proper care while Leo was still missing.
“That’s a low blow, Barry. Do not use Leo to get out of a conversation!”
“I’m not. I’m merely… listen. This is a complicated topic, and this concerns all of you. I think it’d be better if the rest were here at least to listen.”
“Why?”
Mikey grimaced. He hadn’t meant to sound so bitter, although there was little he could do when he was enraged.
Whiplash from the sudden change in his emotions made him wince.
Sure, Draxum’s comment had been a tad insensitive, but it didn’t warrant the wave of barely contained ocean of reigning fury that Mikey felt, right?
He had to remind himself that there was no reason to be ashamed of his feelings. It was a natural reaction, a defense mechanism, a way to cope with situations. It wasn’t like he never got mad either. He did plenty, in fact! With Raph’s constant overprotection, Donnie’s issues with empathy, and Leo’s inflated cover-up ego, and most importantly, all the villains that lacked common sense and dipped joyfully into the pit of bad decisions, Mikey knew what being angry was like.
Being angry wasn’t nice. He didn’t like being angry. Mikey always burned through those feelings quickly, firmly expressing himself or acting on those so nothing was bottled up and he could sooner move onto better emotions.
This anger was different. A cold fire that rather than burn down a house in a big show, it would slowly corrode the foundations until it fell. Under the surprised gazes of his sister and second-father, Michelangelo couldn’t help to feel like he was going to implode with how hot his chest felt while he tried hard to contain the passionate ire inside of him.
Why was he so angry, anyways?
Was it like April’s fury, invoked by the weak excuse of their missing brother to avoid the topic?
Or maybe it was because he hated it when people hid things from him?
Was he just annoyed at the whole situation and taking it out on Draxum?
Was he angry at Leo?
“Who is sh…he, who is he?”
“Michaelangelo—“
‘Cut the bullshit,’ he almost said.
Instead, he managed to hold it and interrupted with a “Barry.” Said in the same tone the yokai had called him, only with a lot more venom in it, Dr. Delicate Touch definitely peeking from his enclosure along with the warning.
He was angry at Leo.
Draxum held his breath, for a second or two, considering his next words, then releasing it against the palm of his hand, unable to hold eye contact with either of the visitors.
He was so angry at Leo.
Leo knew that they were looking for him and didn’t say a thing. Leo knew that he was in danger and acted like it was all okay, even choosing to leave the lair with no more reinforcements than Mikey when clearly, they couldn’t keep fighting. Leo who defended him and insisted on going for pizza because Mikey refused to make dinner. Leo, who opened a portal where Mikey would go through first even if he himself could barely move at the time.
Leo who Mikey didn’t even know if he looked back for them after deciding to throw himself into a damn Prison Dimension where he would die alone and—
Ah.
A sting in his lip, in his heart, the worried look that April gave him, the regretful one in Draxum’s face. The ball of shame smashing through his fury like bowling pins.
‘I thought I was over this’.
Yeah, he was angry.
But underneath the flimsy layer of anger was grief, deep as the sea and dark as the glimpse he caught of that hell dimension.
‘We lost Leo again’.
‘This time maybe forever’.
“Mikey?”
“I’m fine.” he grumbled, pursing his lips and retreating his head slightly into his shell, rubbing the tears off his face, sliding down from the table and sitting back in the chair he had been before. After thinking it over, he corrected that with an “I’m angry.”
April didn’t look like she knew what to say, and Mikey did not blame her.
God, what if they never saw Leo again?
Whoever kidnapped him had been so thorough, so careful not to let anything slip. They didn’t even know who had actually gotten the prize! One more day to complete an entire week since their brother got snatched and they weren’t any closer to getting him back.
Their Ninpō said otherwise, but with the amount of clues they had, Leo might as well be dead, right?
Did Mikey spend Leo’s last moments with him joking about getting in trouble with Raph and Donnie?
Any moment now would their comms activate to let them hear a last goodbye. The sky would go dark, once more, leaving behind a fracture line as a permanent reminder of who they lost, and–
‘I’m not giving up on him,’ he thought, with so much strength behind the words that it felt like his chest jumped.
‘We’re gonna find him. We’re gonna save him. We will…’
“The thing is, you four weren’t the only subjects I had for the experiment of mutation.”
Someone call the cops and check the cameras for the plate’s number, because Draxum’s sudden confession hit him like a truck and ran from the crime scene like Sonic or The Flash.
“Drax, what the fuck does that mean.” April slammed a hand on the back of her forgotten seat, grip tight enough that her knuckles paled, shaken up, with eyes as wide as plates and the demeanor of someone who was close to passing out.
“Just that. Originally, there were six of them, turtles,”
Breathless, Mikey managed to ask, “six?” With a voice so small he almost wondered if he really said it out loud.
He didn’t. Draxum nodded and continued. “I managed to grab one before your father could, and I found the other hours later, alive under the debris from the explosion.”
Six of them.
Six small turtles mutated with human DNA to become warriors. Weapons. Monsters.
Two stayed behind. Four escaped and turned heroes.
Two stayed behind and…
One of them was now with Big Mama, the other missing—like Leo, missing like Leo never to be—focus! Leo would be fine; the idiot was probably annoying the hell out of his kidnapper!
“Wait,” April signaled him to stop with a hand, her train of thought matched Mikey’s but she had been quicker to react, considering she wasn’t overthinking. “Wait, wait. If you found them, how did one of them end up with Big Mama, and where’s the other?”
Pause. Conflict flashed over Draxum’s factions before he buckled up and resolved to answer. “One of them was… lost, during an experiment, further in time. I could not… rescue her, I’m afraid.”
Mikey inhaled sharply, the mellowed fury returning once more in all its glory, the idea that someone that could’ve been their sister was no longer alive sparked the embers back, uncaring of the forest—uncaring of his other feelings.
He had a sister. Another, not counting April. One that was a turtle, just like the rest of his siblings and him, and he would never be able to meet her now.
Would she have joined them, had she still been with Draxum when they found the Hidden City?
Would she have been a villain instead, helping Draxum reunite the pieces of the Dark Armor?
What was her favorite color?
Would she have used a mask like theirs? Would she have chosen a warm, or a cold color? Was she older or younger than him?
He’d never know now, would he?
Mikey didn’t like feeling so bitter, especially when it was directed at someone he cared about, but the revelation sat heavy in his chest, and he couldn’t help the wisps of resentment against Draxum from taking her from them like that.
Feeling was healthy. Feeling was natural. Feeling was normal.
It was okay, take a deep breath, burn that bridge when you get to it and not while you're crossing another.
“And…” his (only) sister hesitated, no longer sure if she wanted to learn more. “The other one?”
Draxum managed to catch Mikey’s eyes, staring deep into his soul with a storm of emotions that the young turtle could no longer identify as he was neck deep into the well of his own feelings.
“I… sold number One to Big Mama, to finance my investigation, soon after the explosion.”
Today, Barry was a better person.
Mikey was not stupid enough to say that he was a good person.
Mikey was not stupid enough to forget that before, he was a terrible person.
It made sense that they knew each other. That Big Mama was so willing to negotiate with Draxum even after the alchemist warrior managed to unscrew some of his screws. It made sense that the man had been capable of replicating everything even when the council of heads was against his decision. It made—
“Mikey!!”
The chair thumped against the ground, with the sound intensified by the huge body that accompanied the wooden furniture.
Nothing could be heard over his own heavy breathing and ringing in his ears, and Mikey felt like he was floating, numb to all contact except for his right hand, the one he had used to strike Draxum square in the face.
April rushed to place an arm over the turtle’s plastron, to keep him from attacking the man again, though her hold was weak. Though they both knew that if he really wanted, he could escape from her at any point.
“You—!”
“I regret it.” The yokai said as he scrambled to his knees, a hand covering his nose and the other supporting half of his weight, his voice clear enough that it overshadowed all other noise. Not daring to look up at the betrayed face of his youngest. “Every day, I wish I hadn’t. Wish I had kept them safe. Both of them… Even with all the things I regret, I wish over them all that they were here today with us.”
Mikey didn’t want to hear it anymore. He didn’t want to hear it.
They were gone. They were gone, and so was Leo, and covering his ears like a little kid didn’t keep away the thoughts, the anger, the grief.
It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s—
Instead of hiding in his shell, like he usually would at this point, Mikey turned on his heels and ran, ignoring April’s calls, slamming the door open and leaving it like that as he turned to the nearest path towards the emergency stairs, never looking back.
—————————————
Training became harder after the first few days. Especially during Sunday, his lazy day!
Excuses were hard to find, because while the environment did influence his mad skills, most of the fault fell on him.
For starters, he was still skipping dinner.
It wasn’t the food that kept making him fall asleep. Big Mama knew it, Assistant knew it, Tecna knew it, Leo knew it.
But just because he knew it, didn’t mean that he cared. He was gonna be as petty and bratty as mutantly possible without risking breaking the deal, and skipping dinner was one of the safest choices, so he did.
On top of that, it was him who lacked general combat training—turns out that jumping straight into ‘cool action movie moves’ was a terrible idea, especially if you wanted to go hand to hand against someone who’s been training most of their life. Who would've guessed?
Absurd, he knew, but damn.
Plus, while he had been doing better mentally wise after having a social break, he was still drained. In general.
That weird dream from the past night did not help.
Finally, while he hated to admit it, Venus was just good.
She adapted quickly to his style. Quick on his feet? Keep combat close, intertwine the legs to keep him from jumping away or from running or maneuvering his way out or close combat.
Relies heavily on the environment? Well now she fought without her armor, cutting him from anything that might be of use in the empty space.
Talked too much to distract her? Now she aimed to his stomach and face—not that it stopped him, but now he had to pause from time to time to make sure she wouldn’t deck him in the nose.
The only thing that Leo had over her is that he was ages ahead in predicting her attacks. Telegraphing all her movements made it an easier job for him dodging with enough ease that he just went into defense and held his own for as long as he could, turning each match into games of endurance rather than combat.
Or maybe she didn’t telegraph shit and he just noticed.
It came with the whole teleporting, he guessed, because at the end of the day he had to know where his weapon, enemies and team would be before trying anything, or else, he could wind up killing someone—whoever thought it was a great idea to give him—the one that couldn’t concentrate on anything for five minutes straight—swords was a genius, /sarcasm, dad.
Venus ended up besting him again.
Since Thursday, Leonardo had won a total of two matches out of however-much-five-times-four-was. A total blow to his ego, because he could no longer laugh at Venus’ face every time she lost, since, you know. She wasn’t losing at all.
Like, the audacity, woman! How dare she not lose?
Rude!
That was exactly how he ended as a chair.
She had been quick to retrieve the ziploc bags from the mini fridge before body slamming him—despite the fact that he hadn’t moved from his place in the ground—sitting over his shell, virtually immobilizing him, dropping the bag of carefully chopped apples on top of his head, claiming that they didn’t have to worry about it falling because his ‘bald head had the perfect porosity to keep the plastic from slipping’.
Which of course he answered by reminding her that she was equally as bald, starting a very important discussion about if the spikes in her shell counted as hair—they did not—and if marks counted as hair—they did not but he’d keep saying that they did until she regretted even talking to him in the first place—while eating the fruit.
Had it been anyone else, he might’ve pushed them off his shell, but…
She weighed around the same Mikey did.
And he really missed his brothers.
Plus, he had to play nice with her if she wanted to avoid suspicion later on, right? She lowered her defenses and he’d be able to have a bit more freedom.
There was also no way Venus wasn’t touch-starved, or attention-starved.
Big Mama had her limited to who she could talk to.
It was an amazing opportunity to bond with her and maybe help her out, once Big Mama was gone. Draxy was bound to know something about her, and how to help her brainwashing. He’d use Mikey to push the goat man around a little and force his hand into helping Venus whether he liked it or not.
If she wanted, who knew? Maybe they’d have another sister. April would probably love that.
God. Leo could already see them. April talking her ears off about fashion, and good food, Sunita teaching them both a bit more about normal yokai their age, Venus totally bored because she was more used to combat stuff, then falling in love with April’s passion the same way they all had…
A normal life…
“Oh, now you’re giggling over nothing. I knew you were crazy,” Venus scoffed, biting into her apple slice, crossing her legs, perfectly balanced over him.
“I was just thinking about some great jokes—“
“Yeah, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Okay but—“
“No.”
“Did you know that—“ “No!” “—the way you’re sitting is called—“ “Do not!” “—criss-cross applesauce?”
“I hate you,” but she made not a single move to get off of him, and in fact, made herself more comfortable.
He laughed at his own comment—not as much of a joke, but he enjoyed her frustration. There was not much public for him to do his stand-up comedy show, which was okay, since he was laying down at the time.
Venus was a lot more talkative by the end of their sparring sessions.
Well, she was generally more talkative whenever the armor was off, and that was usually after sparring, but the point was that she was a lot more willing to answer his questions or to indulge him with some bickering whenever they were in the dojo.
Maybe it was the lack of people, but Leo thought that it could be the training itself. Because if he and his brothers bonded through sparring, surely Venus was similar? She definitely seemed to enjoy the challenge. Adrenaline and pride intertwined in a teal glow that shone brightly in her eyes every time she managed to overpower Leonardo last second.
Of course, it came to his detriment, her joy—and that thought made him huff at the apple slice in his hand, ignoring the side eye that the other turtle sent him.
No, he's not crazy, and he’s not cursing internally at an apple, dammit.
“Don’t worry, no need to plant seeds of discordia in this place—“
“Oh my- just shut up.” She whined, her talon poking his side and making him jump at the feeling.
Not that he was ticklish, but Raph had the terrible habit of poking their sides, and especially Leo and Donnie hated it. They had fight and flight responses every time any hand got near their sides, and Leo always got weird stares whenever he jumped away from anyone who got slightly close to his plastron, but what could a traumatized—he’s being dramatic, don’t worry—person do in the face of danger but act up?
It didn’t seem like Venus cared, at least. She probably chalked it up to a normal response to getting kicked in the torso while eating, which was a big mercy because had she realized that weakness, who knows what she could’ve done?
Leo took another piece.
It was oxidized by that point, but the quality remained. Juicy, sweet, a small aftertaste of perfect sourness that he loved in his fruit. Part of him wondered if Big Mama knew his tastes and had prepared accordingly for his arrival, but that was so… creepy. How long could she have been preparing to kidnap him to know all of this?
Alas, knowing his dad, maybe she didn’t have a hard time recompiling the information. Lady crazy had probably messed with Splinter, claiming she wanted to know more from them and making him tell her.
How absurd it sounded, to think that Splinter would be one of those proud dads to boast about their kids and their accomplishments. But it made sense.
Leo could see it.
Had they been human, their dad would totally be a sport dad, cheering from the sidelines, taking photos, screaming that yes, those four idiots in first place in any kind of competition were his children and he loved them very, very much.
Walls would be covered in paintings and framed diplomas for activities each more and more obscure, but all of them still mastered by one of the four weird kids.
And the honorary one that wormed into their family.
Splinter’s loving nature—even if a bit neglectful at times—had sadly played against one of his boys this time.
Or maybe she had just guessed.
Maybe Big Mama had nothing to do with the food.
At this point, overthinking was a valid option. He was paranoid, but Leo liked to think that it was justifiable given the circumstances.
He still wasn’t over the fact that he had skipped food an entire day and he still had passed out.
It couldn’t be airborne, could it? Surely someone else would’ve passed out if that was the case. Did they just have immunity? Antidotes? It was a waste of resources so it had to be something isolated or… magic.
If it was from mystic origin, what the fuck was he supposed to do??
Magic??
How?!
“What the fuck!” He yelped.
As startled as he was, was Venus, who bounced from his shell, giving him space to sit up and inspect his arm, the one where the silver band sat, currently stabbing his arm.
“What—“
“Holy shit.” His voice came out panicked, and he shook it energetically in hopes of dislodging it.
“Don’t, you’ll injure yourself,” Venus stopped him, catching him just below the band, keeping it in place until she was sure he would not be waving it like a madman.
It touched his bone, the needle that came out of it. He could feel it releasing something cold into his system, and it was painful, though the way it held on its own, almost like floating in place while he stared at it in horror had an almost comedic sort of effect.
Bet he would’ve laughed had it happened to anyone else.
Sadly, it was happening to him, and it wasn’t as funny as it was nauseating.
A thousand thoughts per second raced through his head, heart beating so fast that he worried it’d made the drug act faster. There was a single explanation to his predicament, and he thought that at the very least the confirmation was comforting.
“It seems that Mama has left the vicinity,” Assistant mused, retreating towards the bench where her armor laid, ready to go back into his guard persona.
“You think?!”
In response she just chuckled, massaging her right shoulder before stretching it until there was a loud ‘pop’, then placing the torso piece in place.
What was he supposed to do?!
Was he panicking?! Oh god he was panicking.
What the hell, of course he was panicking!!
It was hanging by his wrist like a damn crooked painting fixed on a wall by a nail! It was so thin, too. What if it broke inside his arm?!
No more than a couple of seconds, that felt like hours, is what it took for the bracelet to slide down his arm, the needle disappearing into the silver surface and hitting him like a truck with a dizzy spell.
It didn’t hurt, once it let go, but the phantom sensation of a needle piercing his skin still settled over his arm. It was surprising to see no blood coming from the small hole. Did whatever-the-fuck was injected in him included an anticoagulant? Because that was incredibly well planned and—holy shit his arm fell asleep.
He could still move it and all, but it was asleep! Static like sensation running up his arm so quickly that he didn’t even notice the second it started expanding from his shoulder toward his torso and his face.
Leo grunted when he smacked his face against the wood of the Dojo’s ground, his vision rapidly blurry, everything turning gray, similar to the night of his kidnapping.
“You gonna fall asleep already?” Assistant asked, fixing her mask into place.
Not that Leo could see, because now his world was spinning and spinning and—
Mikey, did he get Mikey out of there? The bounty was in his name but what if they took his little brother too? He couldn’t let his baby bro get hurt, it was—
What was he thinking? It had been almost a week since his kidnapping, Mikey was okay.
Worried, probably.
Everyone would be worried, actually.
Right?
No, no, don’t feed those nasty thoughts. There was no way he was getting another session with dr. Delicate Touch.
No nasty thoughts in this head, sir! No need to worry!
On the topic of his family…
Would his little brother be at Draxum’s house, looking for options to find him?
Donnie had been getting along with the crazy goatman lately, birds of a feather and all that, couldn’t keep the mad scientist away from the maddest scientist. Would Donnie accompany Mikey? Or Raph? It wouldn’t be the first time Raph ended up getting dragged to Barry’s house.
April was a lot more likely to accompany Mikey though. Since she lived right below the yokai…
Someone sighed in his vicinity; a disappointed exhale that made Leonardo scrunch his nose, already ready for the scolding.
He hadn’t even done anything this time!
“I’ll take you to your room. Come here.”
How was he supposed to get anywhere if he couldn’t move?
Whatever the answer was for that, he’d leave it for another day, because at the moment, he was too busy passing out in the middle of the dojo.
Not the most comfortable place in the world but it didn’t matter, he couldn’t feel it anymore anyways.
Leo didn’t know if he should be more worried about the fact that he was starting to get used to it; just randomly falling asleep whenever other people wanted him to.
“Oh. Guess…..faster than.……….…tell T…….………….Not that……listening…………..”
‘Ding’
Notes:
OK FIRST OF ALL THANKS FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND LOVE.
I love checking my email and reading all the comments, I'm glad that y'all are enjoying this fic :9Second, something something I think im gonna settle into the one update a month. I already have the next chapter (evil giggles) done and the chapter after that halfway through! But since I do work and I'm in my last year of college and I have no LUCK (i'VE BEEN FIGHTING TEACHERS THREE CONSECUTIVE YEARS, PLEASE LET ME OUT SOBBING EMOJI) I really don't have the time to write faster. Eughhhhh.
Next; As you can see there are TWO missing sisters, this based on the concepts that were left forgotten with the cancellation of the third season :(
Venus,,, is the only of these sisters to appear in the fic at all. The other might be mentioned in the future, but its not important to the plot.Fourth: I've added (maybe before, maybe after this update) the Major Character Death tag; this is exclusively for Big Mama. I just realized I forgot it, sorry :( Other deaths that might or not happen are for secondary characters. HOWEVER, sans death, everything else is free game <3
And not to be all Big Mama manipulative on you but you should totally comment and leave kudos ;););););) Who knows maybe I'll write faster ;););) (/j)
Hope you liked this chapter, and have a nice week! After that, you're alone >:) (/j)
Chapter 8: Bury you
Summary:
Leo isn't happy about being knocked out for free.
Voicing that brings consequences, of course.Meanwhile, Mikey feels bad.
Notes:
TW
Minor character death and gruesome descriptions.Longest chapter yet, hooray!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Big Mama drank her coffee black.
Leo was used to the smell—Donnie drank the exact same brand, almost exactly like she did, though hers was definitely more concentrated, and unlike the kitchen back in the lair, Big Mama’s office was a small, enclosed space, which made the smell overwhelming for their enhanced senses.
Even Venus looked slightly sick under the strong scent of the beverage.
Venus, who sat by his side on the small coffee table.
It was the first time she joined them for breakfast, and she was so tense it was uncomfortable to see. Like she didn’t know how to act in such a mundane event like a shared breakfast. Still, she looked… happy. As happy as she was able to, considering that the frown in her face never went away. She was enjoying herself at the very least.
Leo figured she usually ate earlier, before fetching him, and dined later, after Big Mama took over his assigned room and she was no longer required to play guardian.
That Monday, Big Mama ordered her to leave her armor behind and sit, sandwiched between the slider and the spider, offering her a white teacup painted with flowery designs filled with a liquid that gave off a fruity smell. Tea, hopefully. Wouldn’t put it past Big Mama to drug Assistant too, even if it seemed counterproductive.
“Did you have fun last night?” He asked, pulling away from his hot milk the second it burned his beak, fanning with a hand his scalding tongue.
“Ah,” Big Mama sighed, waving her fork with bits of egg and bacon in the air. “Not really, no. I went to a conference across the city. Those sloshfunking doofus do little more than talk fandangle about their companies. Idiots, the lot of them. Think that they’ll small pretty and I’ll finance anything they might want no matter how wishy-washy they might be.” She huffed, eating the egg aggressively.
Leo raised an invisible brow at her, waiting for an actual response.
Big Mama tapped over her human lips with a handkerchief, cleaning the grease from the food, chuckling at his reaction.
“Relax, Baby Blue. It wasn’t ill-intended. I was called for an emergency meeting with a human patron and had no time to eerny warny-warn you before leaving! Besides, no true harm was done!”
Right. Because getting knocked out via drugs through a really fucked up bracelet with a flimsy needle that looked like it would break if anyone looked at it weirdly was ‘no harm done’.
Clearly the thought was visible in his face, because after taking another bite from her plate, Big Mama exhaled harshly.
“Please, baby, don’t tell me you’re gonna make a big deal out of this? Would you have preferred our usual routine?”
“Eugh,” he couldn’t stop himself from saying out loud, visibly ignoring the way Venus glared at him.
Jealousy. It was obvious that while not outright neglectful, Big Mama wasn’t particularly loving towards Venus. The other turtle couldn’t hide the flashes of ugly enviousness at every small show of affection that Big Mama dared show him, and he didn’t resent her because he understood that it was a natural reaction to a random idiot getting everything you wished you had.
Everyone called Venus Big Mama’s daughter, or at least, everyone treated her as such, commonly referring to her as Leo’s sister—despite the aversion that both showed at the implication. It was a title that hung over Assistant, and yet, she didn’t enjoy the benefits that should’ve come with the name.
Suddenly Leo came, dragged like a sack of potatoes to the hotel and then treated like a king…in some aspects.
An unwanted favoritism that fell easily into the abuse category.
Leo was a prisoner with a golden cage. Akin to a little bird, fed and given the best of the best, even if he would prefer to stay in the dungeons of the Battle Nexus, where at least he wouldn’t have to handle his kidnapper acting all motherly despite the threats sent his way in every corner.
Venus was a tool. She did not receive the benefits nor the affection of the claimed mother, and she didn’t get the freedom, either. Whatever her past had been though, it kept her anchored around her abuser. She hovered around her mother, and loved her deeply despite the unjust treatment, aching for her respect, for her attention, even when it was held hostage in exchange for her blind trust and obedience.
Wow, Mikey would be proud of him for listening to that one seminar, he was killing it.
“Exactly,” Big Mama nodded, taking a sip from her glass of water. “You can’t have everything! I obviously couldn’t take you with me to a meeting with a human, and it’s far too early in your stay for me to allow you outside without me, so I’m confused as to why you’re overreacting so!”
His plastic fork clattered against the dish, and he took his own glass of milk, holding it close to his chest. His glass was plastic, intended to keep him from causing any harm in case he went ballistic, tried to escape. The glint from the edge of Venus’ cup and Big Mama’s glass gave away that theirs were real glass and porcelain. Still, he felt a little bit safer. At least a full cup of hot milk would slow down anything that Venus might try in case he needed to bolt.
The caution around him wasn’t unexpected, but it was annoying..
“I mean, drugging me…”
The woman scoffed. “That’s hardly an excuse for this behavior.” She pointed at him, accusingly, “A whole bunch of cack. I already explained to you what happened and why.”
“Well,” he rolled his eyes, annoyed by her dismissal. “An apology would be enough then, you know? Since it was just an accident it shouldn’t be that hard.” Leo shrugged, not bothering to look at either of the women while tilting the glass towards his beak, basking in the warmth of the liquid but not drinking from it.
Not that he was expecting her to actually apologize, but irritating her a little couldn’t end badly, could it?
Ah. He probably jinxed it.
Like a switch, the temperature dropped to a gelid degree. The tension in the room became so thick Leo felt like he couldn’t even begin to cut it with the world’s sharpest knife, but he didn’t want to back down.
Call it a pride thing, although it was more like him wanting to establish a line in the sand before this behavior dipped for the worse.
He already had to put up with the weird night thing, and Assistant acting as his shadow, the threats, the abuse, the crazy and confinement. Could she at the very least not drug him? Was it too much to ask that she let him tag along so the damn bracelet wouldn’t pump whatever-the-fuck-that-was into him every time she had an ‘emergency’ outside the hotel?
Leo was a turtle, yes, but he wasn’t a damn pet. He was a person. Past issues aside, that whole inferiority and martyr complex that he wasn’t touching with a ten foot stick until the next visit of the Halley’s comet, he deserved better than this. That thing shouldn’t be used as a ‘on and off’ switch to keep him out whenever Big Mama was away.
This was him establishing boundaries. Mikey had taught him well—and it also helped that Leo was very clear with what he liked and disliked. Raph definitely had the hardest time saying no.
Like that time with the ‘gifts’ that Donnie gave them to ‘improve’— Shit, off topic.
Big Mama broke the silence, her sharp eyes not leaving him for a second while she put her barely eaten food to the side. She had decided that she was no longer hungry, like him asking for respect as a person had been a personal offense, seemingly disgusted by the conversation enough to lose her appetite and the interest in the conversation.
“I see.” Was all he said for a second.
Part of him hoped that this was the tipping point, and that she would finally throw him out, but he wasn’t naive enough to believe this small argument would tropple whatever plans she had for him.
“Well, I’m sorry you feel like making a big deal out of nothing.” Big Mama stood up, dusting her violet dress coat and fixing the lace-thingy along with the cloaking brooch, using the opportunity to turn into her yokai form. “Since you’ve decided that I’m so terrible, you may finish your finicky-nickiny breakfast on your own. Do not be late to class, boy.”
The spider made haste to leave the office, slamming the door closed once she crossed the frame, making the lights closest to the exit flicker.
He could feel the eyes of Assistant burning into his head, and if looks could kill, Big Mama would already be on the lookout for a different heir, because the venom in Assistant’s glare was acidic.
Leo understood then that he had fallen straight into a trap.
How much planning went into it? Was there actually an emergency the past night, or was this just a way to flaunt her power over him?
This whole thing smelled of a set up. Show off the bracelet before he could try running to check if the warning had been true, piss him up so he reacted during their shared breakfast and…
What?
He was missing something.
Pissing off Assistant along the way? Creating a drift in their non-existent relationship?
Acting hurt?
Leo didn’t feel particularly bad over the argument. He was far too stubborn to fall for that, barely a week in—he didn’t think about how he had a meltdown just a couple of days before, no. If he thought about that, then he’d have to think about the fact that he didn’t know how long this would take.
He had signed, god, he had signed and he didn’t know how long this would take. A couple of weeks more? Big Mama was slow with her tactics so that was unlikely. A year?
Would he survive a year in the Big Hotel? No contact with his siblings, under a strict regiment that would only turn harsher and harsher the longer he followed it.
This game of cat and mouse had been going on for just a week.
Leo was doomed. He was doomed, he was trapped, he was—
“Hurry up,” Assistant snapped, already done picking up Big Mama’s and her own dishes, placing them in a small room service cart, forgotten by the desk.
Now, about upsetting Assistant? He did feel a little bad. It wasn’t her fault that she was manipulated into caring so much for an evil woman. But the wave of relief that washed over him did take him by surprise.
He can work with a little anger, and jealousy.
And he no longer felt hungry. His compromise was eating half of the light blue colored plate with scrambled eggs and bacon, and downing the milk, leaving everything on the table, perfectly disorganized in a contrast to Assistant’s work.
Pettiness was one of his greatest abilities, and he flashed a small smirk the second he saw Assistant’s face flatten in irritation, before she took his dishes and placed them along the others, marching towards her mask.
While she fixed it in place, Leo used the opportunity to look around. Not touching anything, since he could feel her eyes burning holes in his head, but searching for a clue on where his katanas could be. Maybe scratched walls, suspiciously placed objects, anything that might indicate a hidden opening.
The desk was too far to investigate without getting suplexed by Assistant, but it seemed like the safest bet, taking in account the fact that the rest of the office looked unremarkable.
Or, maybe it was in wherever Big Mama’s room was.
He hadn’t considered that option, but he didn’t like it. Was it even in the building? She pretty much lived there so chances were, she had her own quarters in the hotel, but she had to have a place on her own. What if his katanas were there? That would complicate things at least a twenty percent—no, what do you mean? He ran the numbers, they weren’t invented!...completely…
“Let’s go.” Assistant called, curtly.
Since he had no other choice, Leo sighed his disappointment away and followed her close behind, only ever standing by her side when she closed the door of the office.
He peeked at the corredor over her shoulders, and mimicked her stance, locking his arms behind his back—and man, that was uncomfortable for a turtle, how did she do it? —and marching all the way to the elevator.
Assistant did not bother looking at him while she pressed the button to the floor where Avalon’s little classroom was, and she continued to ignore him all the way down.
“You mad?” He tiptoed right behind her, looking at her masked face over her shoulder.
The hallway was empty, not a single trace of a living being, so comfortable with the lack of witnesses, Assistant huffed audibly. While expected, her reaction caused a spike of irritation that he showed in the form of a frown.
“Because I argued with Big Mama?”
Her hands twitched at the mention of her boss, and her walking came to a sudden stop, causing Leo to collide with her back and to wince at the way her head snapped towards him like an owl, a withering glare that burned even from behind the mask.
“You’re so… ungrateful.”
Ungrateful, for not accepting his kidnapper’s favour? For wanting to go home? for not caring what destiny beheld to someone that had brought so much pain over his family?
Leo scoffed, irritation blossoming in his chest, something that he managed to twist into boredom outwards.
“Look, I know that you’re having a hard time with this whole situation? But this is definitely not my fault. You’re just looking at this with spider-filtered glasses.”
She did not receive well the attitude, turning her whole body and shoving him.
“Of course, you don’t understand how lucky you are. You just take, and take, and act all high and mighty and ignore the opportunity you’ve been offered,” tension under her shoulders made her seem more aggressive than she was being, putting the slider in high alert.
“Opportunity? please. She sent you to kidnap me. Do you really think this is an opportunity?” he pinched his brows and lowered his body, ready to fight if needed, although hoping it wouldn’t get to that.
“Yes! You— Ugh!” She raised her arms in the air, as frustrated as he was, and then pointed in his direction. “You only ever think about yourself! Mama is giving you everything a person could ever want and you just… wallow in your own misery! ‘oh, poor me, I’ve been given the world! boo-hoo!’”
Face hot with anger and an incredulous smile in his face, Leo gave a step forward. “‘Everything a person could ever want?’, she kidnapped me! took all my stuff, threatened my family! I’m not here because I want to be. If anything, I’d love to throw all this ‘perfect dream’ and go home, but I guess neither of us gets what we want, huh?”
“Oh yes,” She let out a venomous chuckle, “your family! The one that hasn’t even checked if you’re here? That family? Yeah, I’m sure they’re as worried about you as you are for them!”
Now that made him angry. He inflated his chest, his next words pushing through his jaw tense enough that his face hurt, “Listen here, you–”
“Mama is offering you love,” Assistant interrupted, uncaring if he was angry at her outburst. “care, all of which she owns, and you’re throwing it away for a bunch of idiots that don’t really care about you!”
Words meant to hurt, aiming for the things he held dear. Leonardo had definitely underestimated how strongly Assistant would feel about his ‘transgressions’ against Big Mama, but just because she was hurting didn’t mean she could insult his family and poke at his wounds.
His family was searching for him, his family loved him, and he loved them back enough to embrace the lifestyle of a fool that courted death if it meant keeping them safe.
He knew it, he knew.
It did not sting, it did not hurt. His eyes did not burn at the same time his chest did, because he knew he was loved, despite his insecurities and mistakes.
But if she dared poke at his wounds, he’d do the same. He knew, but clearly she didn’t.
“Well, I guess then both of our families don’t care about us, huh?”
And he could see the way his words stroke her heart. How she stopped breathing for a second, and her shoulders slumped, and her hands balled as if she’s preparing to throw the first blow his way. He hadn’t meant to be so callous, he had just matched her energy, an attack to the same place she had tried to bomb and failed, because unlike her, his family did care about him.
Even if he didn’t always understand why, or if he sometimes forgot it, he knew deep inside that they did. April, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, dad, crazy Casey and Cj.
Leonardo pursed his lips, breathing heavily, watching the way Assistant wondered if she was fast enough to hit him square in the face.
Exhaling loudly through his nose, Leo rolled his eyes and continued. “Oh, come on. It’s not–”
‘That big of a deal’ stayed sealed behind his lips.
Mirroring what Big Mama had just made a fuzz about just minutes before.
Avalon’s words echoed in his mind, ‘you really are like big Mama’. His beak quivered, teeth grinding and hands curling into fists, the realization heavy in his heart and revolting in his stomach. He didn’t bother continuing what he was about to say.
‘Ping!’ made the elevator as the doors opened to their side.
Enough was enough, for both of them.
If Assistant realized that he had rained fire over them both, she didn’t say a thing, but she did wash her body of all sense of humanity, falling back into the plain stance of a soldier, any expression or thoughts locked under several locks and thrown keys.
Straightening, Leonardo circled around Assistant and hurried to the conference room, sitting silently in place under the confused gaze of Avalon.
“Al…right? Well…”
Assistant closed the door behind her, a cold aura surrounding her, arms crossed in a guarded pose.
‘For someone that tries to be so mysterious, she sure is an open book,’ Leo snarked in his mind, exhaling a snicker before looking at the nekomata, who looked deeply uncomfortable to be in the middle of what he probably assumed was just a sibling squarrel.
The slider had been wrong. He hadn’t been able to deal with jealousy, or anger.
He wouldn’t admit it, but it hurt a little that the blooming friendship between them had burned so quickly. It was to be expected. Assistant was, and would always be, Big Mama’s person first. A week wouldn’t shake the strong roots grown ages before he even knew Assistant existed.
For once, Leo agreed with Venus on something important. Blood didn’t make them anything.
Strangers they were, strangers they’d stay.
____________
Mikey had spent the night in the lab.
Well, the night and the rest of the past day, after he got back from Draxum’s apartment.
Donnie had received April’s frantic call, vaguely explaining how Draxum told them something about their family and how Mikey had responded badly before turning on his heels and running away.
The only thing that had kept Donatello from taking off right there and then was the fact that Mikey’s tracker showed the youngest entering the lair by the time he had geared up for the search.
He hadn’t even managed to tell Raph. Not that was a bad thing. Their older brother would’ve been crazy worried if he learnt that Mikey had been alone in the streets for more than a few minutes, had he known.
It had come as a surprise when Michaelangelo went straight to his lab, stealing a hug from the resident genius and then snatching the switch he—as in Mikey—shared with Leo, proceeding to nest over the bean bag at the corner of the room, rolled like a burrito inside a blue blanket, silently playing Animal Crossing. He slept there and ate there the bowl of cereal that their dad brought them came the morning, not making a sound even when Raph checked on them.
April had filled him in what happened, and though Donnie didn’t feel particularly pressed about the whole ‘missing two siblings’ situation—first, because they didn’t know them, and he wasn’t especially worried about two strangers, second, because they had another missing sibling, one they knew and cared about and should be their priority, and third, because he sort of knew, since he had helped Draxum relocate some of his things from his original laboratory to his new… smaller… quote unquote laboratory—he did understand that Mikey was upset by the revelation.
Not why.
In his humble opinion, getting all moody over not meeting two people was a bit dumb—not that he’d say that to Mikey—but their youngest had always been pretty sensitive and empathetic about the smallest things, so he understood enough to avoid the conversation altogether, lest he said something that hurt the box turtle’s feelings.
While letting Mikey defuse, Donatello focused on different matters.
All cameras surrounding the vicinity of Run of the Mill, the area where Mikey and Leo had been ambushed, the last recorded place where Leo’s tracker had been active, and the place where he and Casey Jr found Leo’s stuff were all de facto missing enough time in the specific frame for the events to transpire without leaving a single clue of who was behind the act.
Shoddy work had been used to hack all machinery, but a genius wasn’t needed to erase data, and few of the cameras had backups, all equally disposed in fashion.
Despite their recent… disagreements—He is not gonna talk about it, he’s still fuming and needs more time to calm down—, Junior had taken the mantle of setting up sensors and bugs for him in the aforementioned places, in case the perpetrator bothered to go back to the crime scene to kindly reveal themselves to them.
Raph had similarly gone to the Hidden City to marked spots in hope of finding anything about the ‘boss’ of the already interviewed criminal—no, he was not upset that they hadn’t let him test his new and shiny puzz-loh’-drill two o cero, patent pending, on the guy. He’d have plenty willing subjects to try it on once he found whoever thought it fun to snatch their brother.
That left Donnie to activate all alarms, aided by Shelldon’s virtual interface, rapidly tapping the keys to the code manually, just to be sure they were set correctly.
Saturday afternoon, an hour later after the last publicly advertised fight in the Nexus, they’d infiltrate the dungeons.
Donatello would prefer if the day came sooner, but the rest of his family—except April, the only level-headed individual in his close circle—kept putting it off, insisting that Big Mama had no reason to keep Leo hostage.
Absurd. Donnie could be incredibly impulsive at times, and he was always weak to his craving of approval from a parent-coded figure, but he was also the smartest among his kin, and he could see through the spider’s disguise.
Leonardo would say something stupid, about how it was his ‘twin sense tingling’, but it was common sense. Had to be. Everyone else wished to ignore it? Fine. Donnie wouldn’t.
He wasn’t worried. For all he loved to act foolish, Leo was bright. And fucking annoying. The softshell was genuinely surprised that his kidnapper hadn’t given up on whatever plan they had and returned him with a bright red bow. He’d figure his twin would’ve talked Big Mama’s ears off by now.
“Donnie,” Mikey called from his place in the corner, the sound of the console in his hand lower than before now that the elder turtle paid attention to it. “…do you… really think Big Mama has Leo?”
Ah. His hands cramped from the uncomfortable position; not even the pads designed to reduce the tension in his wrist while working could negate the result of long hours sitting in the commonly called quote shrimp position close quote.
Plus, most of the sensors were ready. Junior and he had planned the order of placement based on probabilities of signaling something important, and the highest ranking were online. He expected the last, least important ones to be ready for him to activate in approximately twelve minutes.
He wasn’t expecting any information from Raph in the next twenty three minutes. He could take a small rest to talk to Mikey.
Maybe he was worried about another turtle, enough to throw excuses to stop working and start talking—it was extremely weird of him to do so, since feelings were a subject he knew little about, but he much preferred diving into the unknown world of emotions far away from their chemical composition than leaving one of his siblings to suffer alone.
It was uncharacteristic of Michael to go so long without excitedly talking about anything really.
Plus, their missing brother and theories about his disappearance? That was a topic he could comfortably talk about without stepping on eggshells.
Not that he’d say it—he didn’t say a lot of things—but he was actually very relieved that Mikey had chosen that topic instead of the other.
“I do believe so. Why?” He asked, pushing against the desk to roll the chair towards Mikey, analyzing the pinched face of his youngest brother.
Mikey did not answer right away. His hands curled over the stained mint colored protector, nails scratching the edges of a couple of randomly placed stickers that were ragged and discolored.
“Well… remember what that yokai said? About… being sold, and all that? What if… what if she doesn’t have him?”
Donnie couldn’t help the frustration that washed over his face, though he quickly dispelled it.
“While I’m about a ninety-seven point seventy eight percent sure Big Mama has Leo,” he reached for his phone, not noticing the flash of hurt in Mikey’s face, opening it to the specialized app where he kept most of the charts he’d made the last month, including those made in the midst of the search for Leo. “Don’t worry too much. In the very, very off chance that I’m wrong, I assure you our dumb brother will find his way back to us, or we will him. All data points show that we just can’t stay separate for too long,” He waved his hand loosely.
All data points he had were in fact four; one incident, when they were younger, where Mikey had gotten lost in the sewers for the entirety of an hour before April found him following a rat, of all things, two times Raph also got lost in the sewers, like when he tried to eat those crab twins, and finally, the aftermath of the invasion.
Usually he wouldn’t bother pointing out something with so few examples. His scientific mind berated the useless sample size. It wasn’t nearly enough to make an accurate analysis of the pointed topic.
Bias was a corruption of any information he could get his hands on, but he wasn’t acting the part of a scientist, or an investigator. He was acting the part of an older brother, and he’d tweak the words in his favour if that helped Mikey.
He could keep his own anxieties tucked away for the time being.
Since he could still feel Leo’s ninpo…
Statistics of kidnapped children and teenagers, the amount of deaths and found bodies yearly, how long usually kidnappers kept their victims alive and the states of many survivors, not even speaking of the known horrors of the Battle Nexus and all the evidence of inhuman treatment saved in the cloud, just in case they needed help to bust Big Mama…
Yeah, his brothers were better without all that recollection of information. He had plenty of other, less crude facts he could share with them.
Leo was alive. That already cleared half of his worries.
“I guess,” the box turtle mumbled, shuffling and sinking further into the cover. Donnie could hear the way Mikey’s fingers tapped arrhythmically against the surface of the switch. “Do you think he’s like… okay?”
Donnie hesitated.
No, he didn’t think Leo was okay. If he was in the Battle Nexus, as he most likely was, the chances that he was injured were high. They were powerful, but not invulnerable, and if Leo was constantly forced to fight, eventually he’d be too tired to keep winning.
Realistically, a week in wouldn’t cause too much harm. Raph might be the strongest, Mikey had the highest potential, and Donnie could probably build a bomb anywhere with enough glue, perfume and some sticks, but Leo was by far the fastest and most adaptable of them all.
Obviously, his katanas weren’t with him, and he hadn’t had the chance to invoke them or retrieve them—else he’d already be back. But if anyone could make it without their weapons it was probably Leo. Raph too. All of them really but— okay he was trying to be nice to Leo right now, while he wasn’t there to poke him for being corny.
What Donnie meant, was that Leonardo would make it. One way or another, without legs if he had to, broken arms and a hole in the stomach, but he’d make it.
He’d be back.
That he had enough data points to confidently affirm it.
“He will be okay.”
“Not right now though,” came the disappointment from the other.
He scowled and nodded slowly.
Mikey sighed. He raised once more the switch, frowning when it didn’t turn on, and sniffed, eyes suddenly shining with tears that made Donnie panic.
Pizza supreme, he could deal with many things but why did it have to be tears?
Don jumped to his feet, waving his hands around as he tried to console Mikey. “It’s Leo, come on, that dum-dum will probably have everyone eating from his hand by now,” and “That dumbass will probably have a throne of his own by the time we find him, and we’re all gonna be so mad because that’s what he always does,’ to a more sensible “‘Nardo likely already negotiated his freedom and we’ll just seal the deal once we get there,” that didn’t do much, but kept Angelo from openly weeping.
“Sorry, I know you don’t…” the orange clothed turtle trailed off, placing the powered down console to the side and, for the first time since he entered the lab, wiggling out of the blue chrysalis, scrubbing the tears away with his palms. “I just… what if Big Mama does have Leo and… I defended her?”
Pressing his lips into a thin line, Donnie sat back down, this time raising his legs along and using them to rest his head. The telltales of a small monologue tipped Donnie into fiddling with his phone, turning it on and playing with the screen, opening and closing apps before turning it off and repeating the process, as he usually did whenever someone spoke for too long.
“Like. I don’t think she kidnapped Leo because she still cares for dad, right? Me thinks? But then again that never stopped her before, and— I just… Ba… Draxum told us something really important and I’m starting to realize that maybe I’m not looking for good things in bad people, that maybe I’m just willingly being blind to stuff bad people do.”
Mikey paused, looking down at his fingers, fiddling with his nails in a similar fashion to Leo’s anxious still. “I think,” the box turtle licked his lips and balled his hands into fists, decorated by faint cracks that just served as a reminder of the invasion. “That, this whole time, I was trying to be heroic, like Raph. And I just… ended up being naive.”
Angelo reclined back down into the bean bag, looking up towards the ceiling, raising a hand and inspecting it, before his other hand followed suit just to trace the memories burned in his skin.
The lab’s light had two entirely different settings. If Donnie was building something, there were bright lights and lamps of up to two thousand and five hundred lumens surrounding the work bench and the delimited construction area, something that variated slightly into a brighter environment when he turned to chem or—eugh—alchemy. On the other side, if he was just working on his computer, he kept dim lights and tons of rgb light strips and decorative lights hidden in the walls.
This occasion, he had the latter setting. Combined with his, ah, lack of emotional and social awareness, plus a total sleep time of eight hours in an entire week—which was both not nearly as bad as it could’ve been and enforced by father dearest—he couldn’t recognize any of the emotions that flashed in Mikey’s face.
Donnie did not say a thing, absentmindedly swiping left and right, barely looking what his finger hovered over, torn between looking at his youngest brother, who once more shrank inside the blanket, and the screen, devoid of anything of substance.
“I don’t think Barry is bad anymore,” Mikey’s fingers peeked over the edge of the blanket, firmly grasping it like a lifeline, eyes avoiding ever going near Donnie’s form. “But now that I know that he’s…”
“I mean, totally-real-coughing” Donnie followed with an actual fake cough and then paused, wetting his lips with his tongue in an anxious display. “We always knew he wasn’t exactly a role model. He did throw Leo off a roof. And tried to kill us… at least in seven different occasions… and reunited the pieces of an ancient, dangerous armor in a desperate attempt to commit genocide, not even bothering to check how it functioned beforehand, which is incredibly foolish and not at all professional, in my opinion as a fellow scientist… Not that I think alchemy counts as science,” He rolled his eyes.
“And the whole experimenting with people bit,” Mikey grumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes and pinching his face into a grimace.
“Ah, yes, that completely inmoral detail that slipped my mind, not at all because I don’t find that reprehensible, ha-ha,”
It wasn’t meant to be a joke—Raph and Leo would’ve told him off, despite the fact that he said he didn’t not find it reprehensible!—, but the corner of Mikey’s lips twitched in the birth of a smile that was quickly smothered down.
“I hope you’re wrong,” Mikey said.
Donnie didn’t even have the time to feel offended because his youngest brother talked over the beginning of his complaint immediately.
“I hope you’re wrong because if she really has Leo, then we willingly gave her an extra week to do who-knows-what to him.”
To that, the softshell had nothing to reply. They’d all heard part of the story of what their dad had to go through as Big Mama’s champion. It was easy to let their imagination have free reign over all the scary thoughts about what she could be doing to their brother while they waited for the weekend to arrive.
High notes from his phone announced that he had died in the game, and he hissed with embarrassment, dropping the phone in his lap as if it had burned him while making a face at Mikey’s bewildered expression.
“...Were you playing Crossy Road while I spoke?” the box turtle squinted at him, a dangerous shine that Donatello recognized in a nanosecond flashing through his eyes.
“Whaaaaaat? Nooooooo… No… No! Of course not! I would never! What even is Crossy Road? I have no idea–” He winced when the loud sound of a hawk snatching the default character, since apparently the game restarted, probably when the skin of his leg touched the screen. “I was… putting… ambient noises! Yes! They’re very important for… relaxation when in a state of…”
Donatello sweat bullets, diverting his eyes from the burning glare of their youngest, who wore a smile like a weapon, though the softshell ended up jumping a couple of inches above his chair for an entirely different reason; his phone rang loudly, almost falling to the ground, making him stagger for it until he secured its position in his hand and pointed at it while looking at Dr. Delicate Touch as if saying, ‘Oops! What can one do! Gotta pick this one up!”.
He reached for the ground with his toes, turning his back on the murderous turtle and answering the call, instantly putting it on speaker, hopeful to quell Mikey’s anger.
“Alo, you’ve reached the house of unappreciated talent, who is this?”
“Hey, Donnie!” Answered Raphael, the y of his ‘hey’ elongated, using that tone he only used when he was coddling them or when he got in trouble. “How’re you doin’ buddy?”
Although Raph couldn’t see him, he still raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him, looking up to his left, where Mikey was perched over the back of his chair, fortunately calmer, his expression more of curiosity rather than the fratricidal one he’d been wearing just moments before.
The box turtle tilted his head to the side, questioning him, and in response, he just shrugged, as confused as the youngest.
Placing the phone over one of his naked knees and turning to check his gauntlet, he found that Raph was still in the hidden city, though the dot was nowhere where it should’ve been, and Donnie narrated a ‘deep sight’ when he realized exactly where his older brother was.
“I’m great,” he deadpanned. “You, on the other side, seem to be in a metaphorical pickle. Mind telling me why you’re in the back of the commissary?”
“Yeah…about that…”
Mikey couldn’t hold his laughter any longer. With a sonorous snort he threw his head back, laughing at the misfortune of their older brother.
“Is that Mikey? Do ya have Raph on speaker phone?”
“No,” he lied through his teeth for comedic purpose, the sarcasm heavy enough that his older brother caught on it right away. Regardless, he reconfirmed afterwards with a simple, “That was sarcasm, by the way.”
“You—tell Mikey to stop laughing! or yer both gettin’ it!”
Not an empty threat. Shivers ran through his back at the memory of his face against the toilet the last time he called Raph’s bluff.
On the other side, Mikey looked so much better…
“Yes, yes. We’re going for you, stay where you are and if someone tries to bother you, be sure to punch the strongest looking guy in the face. Even if they’re a cop. Especially if it’s a cop.”
“What?! No! I’m not gonna—!”
“Yes, we love you too! See you there, brother!” he hung, pocketing his phone and looking at Mikey with a side smile. “You’re ready?”
“For trouble? Make it double, baby!” Angelo jumped from his place in the back of the chair. “Lemme get my weapon, it’s B team time!!!”
He didn’t wait for nothing before running out of the laboratory in search for his stuff, revitalized and screaming, letting the echo reach every corner in the lair.
Donnie’s smile disappeared once Mikey was out of sight, his own eyes drifting toward the screen, all the activated alerts silent, not even the slightest movement. And he knew that it was too soon to give up on them, but his stomach twisted and turned with anxiety.
They really had absolutely nothing about Leo’s whereabouts.
But he wasn’t worried.
He wasn’t worried because that meant admitting that Leo was in danger. Because that meant that there was a chance of not getting his brother back. His twin, as much as he enjoyed denying the term.
‘No’, he thought, tongue going over each of his teeth before swallowing down the saliva produced by the secreting glandule, driven by the anxiety that he refused to acknowledge.
He wasn’t worried.
He wasn’t.
He wasn’t.
He…
_________________
Something was wrong.
Mikey had a great intuition–that apparently wasn’t really an intuition at all, but just an untapped mystic potential that warned him left and right about anything and everything, like a cool spidey sense. Raph had what was commonly known as ‘mother hen intuition’, which usually warned him whenever any of them was in trouble. Donnie didn’t have as much of an intuition as he knew to recognize patterns perfectly—which made movie night a nightmare when instead of being on his phone Donnie decided that the film needed commentary of his and he ended up spoiling the whole thing ‘accidentally’.
Leonardo, on the other side, had a perfect intuition.
Yeah, he ignored it most of the time–sometimes just for the comedy of it, or because the excitement of meeting the true and only Jupiter Jim was too great to care about the bright red flags that waved around him.
But just because he ignored it didn’t mean he didn’t know.
Okay. Listen.
Leo had been trying to stop his habit of stuttering and fiddling with his hands for a long time, and only really made progress after the invasion.
It made him… predictable. A bit obvious. He couldn’t help the way his tongue seemed bigger than his mouth whenever he got too excited, or the way his hands flapped when something good happened, but the worst was the way he tapped his fingers together, as if counting in hopes of sometime finding more than his two sets of three fingers each, every single time he got flustered or anxious.
Most of the time his siblings didn’t care, didn’t mention it, or didn’t notice. The rest of the time, he managed to hide it behind his facade of a cool guy.
This time, whatever he had unconsciously picked on, it was bad enough that the joints of his hands hurt, tired of the way he cracked his knuckles and fingers each time they resetted.
He wanted to think that it was some lingering anxiety from the morning’s quarrel, but lately he couldn’t trust his instinct as much as he did.
Plus, the fact that Assistant hadn’t even looked his way after their small conversation was unnerving to say the least.
She was always so expressive around him—he pinned it on the fact that she was allowed to talk at all when with him—, even with the mask on, gesturing with his arms and head much like he did. Now, she just stood behind him, quiet as a shadow and still as a doll, her years of practice in the limelight to his discomfort. She was angry, and everyone who had been interacting with them the past week knew it as soon as they saw their faces.
Not because of lack of trying on his part. Similar to Assistant’s soldier facade, Leo was quick to put on his goofy persona, filling each room he entered to, with a personality so big that broke the mold of who he was and a charming smile that felt like a sticker over a ugly bruise.
He received a couple of extra bruises during Madam Diana’s class but he enjoyed acting silly. He felt… normal-er for a bit.
On the matter of Assistant being in a mood, that day's training was particularly exhausting. He won the first match, which Assistant took as a personal offense, proceeding to wipe the floor and walls with his plastron.
She missed a spot by the corner but one would excuse him for not saying as much, right?
All in all a beautiful day!
It all came to a boil when, on their way back to his assigned room, that one chameleon yokai intercepted them around the entrance to the office, offering a red envelope to Assistant.
She accepted it and opened it in a single, practiced move, the golden claws of her gloves serving as a letter opener, slicing the paper from the top and taking out to read in silence.
Seconds felt like ages while they waited for her to finish the short letter, and Leo could swear he saw her pause and retrace the words, as if making sense of whatever she’d been asked to do.
Assistant eyed him, quick enough that he had no chance to read her before she returned the paper to the yokai, a fist with its knuckles against her flat palm and a slight bow, then turning on her heels at max speed, sprinting through the halls towards the elevator.
Leo looked at the chameleon, who spared him a small apologetic frown before muttering a small “please follow me.”
He wasted not a second, marching towards the office, not bothering to check if Leonardo was following him—he was.
With the MCP joint—the middle joint of his finger—the chameleon knocked thrice in the door, waiting until a cheery ‘Come on in!’ Before opening the door wide and placing himself in front of the wooden piece to keep it open for Leo.
The main lights were off. Only the lamps and ambient lights around the room kept it illuminated, and it was a shoddy work since the place was very dark.
New York shone through the fractal window, rainbow fragments of light filling the office like stars. As it was usually very bright, he’d never seen them before, but Leo had to admit, they looked beautiful inside the darkened office.
In front of the glass was Big Mama, her giant spider form showing them her back, a glass of wine with a stain of a different liquid around the fraction of the rim where her mouth would connect.
Waves of bad vibes hit him the second he gave a step inside, and the second the door clicked close behind him a sense of finality filled him, like death was approaching.
Like the Kraang—
His breathing came to a halt, keeping his hands stuck to his side, fighting the impulse to massage his own fingers once more.
“My dukkly fluky baby prize! It’s been a long day without you accompanying me here!”
He snorted, “Based on all the other days I’m here? You know, instead of getting webbed in all those classes, yay?”
Big Mama hummed, twirling her hand, the liquid in the glass dancing round and round, never reaching the border. “Well, our time this morning was cut short. Can you blame me for missing you?”
Stuck between wanting to say, ‘and whose fault is that?’ And ‘you’ve been hogging me all week, can’t you leave some for my family?’, he ended up forcing a snarky smile and saying: “Not at all, I’m sure everyone misses my charming face whenever I’m not around.”
In response she let out an airy laugh that was the equivalent of saying ‘funny’ with a deadpan expression at someone who said something truly stupid.
After a few seconds of silence, deep and uncomfortable, Leo continued. “So…” he elongated the word, eyes inspecting the room. “Something else happened?”
There was not a single clue of what he could expect from this meeting. The room gave off a somber vibe, shadows extending past their usual space, and besides the chameleon, only he and Big Mama were there.
Nobody inside, nobody outside. No one on the floor that could hear him scream if anything happened.
He thought of Gus. When he… ah, arrived at the Hotel, he’d heard the dog yokai outside the office while Big Mama and he spoke, but he hadn’t actually seen him that day, or any other for that matter. The guy had threatened to turn them into soup a couple of times but every villain they’ve met had made that joke at least once, so Leo didn’t hold it against him. Wonder where he’d been the entirety of Leo’s stay in the Nexus Hotel.
Not that he’d help Leo in this situation, but having someone else in the office would help ease his anxieties.
“Sit down, my Prize.”
The tea table is gone. There was no mark of it ever being there in the first place, which was weird because Leo was really, really sure that it had been nailed to the ground last time he was in the office, and the more he thought about this room in particular, the less he understood. Chalk it to mystics, don’t get too anxious.
“Now, Leonardo.”
Startled, he winced, blinking slowly for a second or two before making his way to the desk, carefully seating the way Madam Diana taught him, the only noise in the room being his shell clacking against the back of his chair and a small creak once he settled.
“Did something happen?” He asked once more, more urgently, frowning when no response came. “Big Mama?”
She took a sip from her drink, rolling the glass with her fingers to avoid the stain of blood on the rim, smudging the liquid near the edge of her mouth.
“I think… I’ve been too… complacent, lately.”
A great way to start a conversation, really.
Whatever came next surely wouldn’t turn into a traumatic experience, haha.
“Baby Blue, I truly do care about you. You might not see it, because you’re seeing all of this happening around you as a bad experience rather than a learning one. Rather than an opportunity.”
Maybe it was the lack of Big Mama mannerisms in her speech and her body, but dread pooled at the bottom of his stomach, twisting and turning and making it difficult to breathe.
“You’re thinking of this as a punishment, pumpkin.” She sighed, rather dramatically.
“Is it not?” He impulsively asked, cursing internally at his lack of brain.
Big Mama paused at that, her grip on the glass tightened, cracks appearing on the crystal.
She turned, so slow Leo originally thought he had imagined the movement. Her eyes reached him first, and he cowered under the withering look in her red sclera.
“No, not really.”
They fell into silence, no more comfortable than the last one. Constricting, yes, and nausea-inducing, of course.
Only a couple of steps were needed for her to reach the desk, too, and sit across from him, never letting him out of her sight, placing down the leaking drink over a bunch of blank papers
Being in front of a hungry tiger would’ve been easier. Safer too.
He heard it before he realized what it was, outside the office door, faint breathing, heavy and accelerated, almost falling into hyperventilation. His medic mode took over when he noticed the pauses, pained and dull, and highlighted by a whistling noise that indicated danger for the owner of those lungs.
“I want to teach you what a punishment is, my whizzly-dizzly bird, so you’ll understand that this is nothing more and nothing less than a valuable lesson”
In tune, the door opened once more.
Assistant entered, her presence grand, yet overshadowed by the fact that over her shoulder she carried a yokai, who seemed larger than her by a bit, though that small detail did not seem to cause any trouble to the other turtle.
She was not gentle when throwing the yokai at the floor, kicking the door behind her and planting herself in front of it, right next to the horrified chameleon that trembled and looked away from the scene.
Eyes that don’t see, heart that won’t feel.
A sack covered their head, and they were bound, hands behind their back and legs constricted tightly by layers and layers of rope.
One of their legs was twisted at an unnatural angle, and their fur was matted in dirt, bald spots all over their arms.
He was instantly on his feet, sliding down their side, checking the visible injuries and looking for a way to untie them.
When someone said ‘heroic’, his first thought was Jupiter Jim. Then Raph, then Lou Jitsu, or dad. He didn’t consider himself to be a hero, even if he called himself that from time to time, he didn’t thinking to himself as good, or anything of the sort, but he wasn’t about to let a random person be tortured to prove a point.
From the corner of his eye, he could see the way Assistant almost gave a step forward, towards him, and how Big Mama stopped her with a single gesture, giving him free reign to care for the yokai.
This was so fucked up.
Sting in the inner side of the under lip, teeth digging into the skin as he took off the sack from over their head, making the yokai whimper and shrink into a small ball—which must have been painful, because Leo could see the telltales of a broken rib and a perforated lung— inhaling sharply in recognizance at one of the yokai that had attacked Mikey and he the night of his kidnapping. The one that had thrown the brick and the one he had tricked with the bounce of his katana to make an opening for him and his younger brother.
Ninth.
They were of the mythical kind, not of a species Leo knew, and definitely not one Leo knew how to aid the wounds of.
“Baby Blue, sit back down.”
He didn’t move from his place, barely taking the time to glare at the woman before turning back to the patient, catching them in the act of trying to crawl away.
“Don’t move,” he hissed at Ninth, “you’ll worsen your condition.”
“My Prize,” Big Mama spoke up again, an edge to her tone that warned the slider.
Once again, Leo ignored her, despite the way a shiver ran down his spine at her tone, the way he unwillingly hesitated to fully place his hand over the shoulder of the beaten yokai, despite the bells screaming of danger in his head.
His fingers squeezed softly the cheeks of the yokai, directing their face towards Leo. Eyes trembling with fear, not daring to make another sound in his presence–or maybe in big Mama’s. Their nose was bleeding, out of its place, broken. All breathing came from their mouth, all labored and choked. A black eye, that same eye with a broken vessel inside the conjunctiva, dying the sclera a bright red.
None of the injuries were fresh. A day at minimum, with some of the bruises and cuts that covered their furry skin already in the process of healing.
How long have they been there? That Monday—today—marked a week since Leo’s capture. Had the yokai been kidnapped the exact same day? Later? When? Why?
Big Mama sighed, tension covering the whole of Leo self at the sound.
“Assistant, deary.”
Leonardo had been fooling around all day, hoping to better his mood and burn some energy. He’d received extra lashes with Madam Diana, he’d fought extra hard with Assistant, and he’d skipped breakfast.
He managed to block the first attack, a fist to his face, with so much strength behind it the pain traveled up his arm quickly. The slider didn’t retreat. Backing down meant leaving the yokai exposed, so he maneuvered his body over the yokai as a shield and swept the floor under Assistant, forcing her to step away.
Luck wasn’t with him during her second strike.
She was quick to throw a kick to his side, and he saddled up and placed his upper arm to the defense, but his legs buckled under the added weight. He was never going to last long, squatting uncomfortably over someone dead-er than alive-er.
Asisstant dug her fingers between his shell and his nape, pulling him away from the yokai and throwing him against the chair. Leo had no time to react before her hand pushed him back by the plastron, trapping him between her and the desk, chair tilted back, leaving him with his feet in the air and the sensation of gravity trying to drag him even if he was well supported.
Big Mama circled them, dragging her hand over the desk’s surface, carelessly placing her glass over forgotten paperwork and gradually making her way towards the yokai, who sobbed at the sight of the woman.
“My, my. Poor doll, you’re a teeny-tiny bit away from home, aren’t you?”
They didn’t answer, curled up in the ground, their eyes following Big Mama’s every move.
“I’ve been told you’re one of the flat maroon’s that took the job and failed. What was your name, kitten?” the spider asked, stopping in front of the yokai, giving them a minute to answer before taking another step towards her victim, a satisfied smirk growing in her face at the flinch of the poor soul she had claimed. “I believe I asked you something?”
“A… Aubrey– My Name… My name is Au… Aubrey, m’am.”
A strong lisp and a feminine voice that Leo vaguely remembered, both accompanied by a whistling sound that seemed to worsen by the second. The slider propelled forward, pushing against the desk in an attempt to free himself, but Assistant hastily shot him down, elbowing him in the gut, leaving him breathless.
“Aubrey. That’s a cute name,” Big Mama hummed, stepping away from Aubrey, crossing her arms-legs-things behind her back, wandering around the immobilized yokai. “Tell me, Aubrey. What made you take the job? You don’t seem like a punk, certainly not a bowly-brawler.”
They paused, eyes darting towards Leo with a feeling that he couldn’t put a name to. Fear? Desperation? Hope? No time to dissect it either, because just as quick they looked back at Big Mama.
“My… My gang, Ma’m. We… we really wan… wanted to move to… move to- to the eastern–... eastern county, near L.. near L.A.,” they said in-between labored breaths.
“Ah. I see. It’s a shame, then. I’m sure your little gang was excited over it,” the woman side eyes Leo, her smirk bigger by the word. “I’m sure you regret not checking the description before taking the assignment. Snatching a Hamato isn’t an easy job,” her smile widened. “I should know best! And now so should you, that joining this one game of cat and mouse was something slightly-dally above your little mob’s abilities.”
In a whimper, Aubrey continued. “It… it was… We-… we failed the- we failed the miss..ssion,” their eyes shone bright with tears, trying to breath through their nose and snorting blood and snot loudly, crying once more. “We failed— we failed, so this isn’t really-…”
“Yes… you did fail the mission. You also failed to follow the most basic directions.”
Big Mama muttered, her expression clinical as she crouched by Aubrey’s side, cupping half of their face with a single hand, stroking it softly, like she did Leo’s in the night.
“I… I don’t…?”
“I specifically asked for the target to be brought to me in pristine condition.” She clarified, one of her claws was a bit too close for comfort to Aubrey’s eye, making the other yokai wince when Big Mama pressed hard enough to draw blood. ”Someone failed that specific directive. Imagine my surprise when I saw his arm almost broken? Do you understand what you did wrong, girl?”
“Please!” Aubrey sobbed, wiggling around in a pathetic attempt to gain ground away from the spider, only managing to make Big Mama drop her hold and stand up, her expression turning more and more miserable while looking at the woman from below. “I- I didn’t mean to!”
Big Mama chuckled, raising her leg, dragging the motion for seconds and seconds ‘till it was high enough that Leo knew exactly what was happening.
“I know, deary. But all disobedience must be culled. You understand.”
“I—“
Aubrey looks at Leo.
“I'm sorry—”.
A million things were left unsaid, but Leo could read in between the lines; the resignation, regret, grief, nostalgia.
“No!” He tried to push against Assistant, who slid into a better position, her forearm pushed against his windpipe, forcing him to stay in place lest he wanted to choke himself.
It took just that one second for it to be all over with the sickening ‘crack’ that filled the room.
“Mediocrity, idiocy… those can be fixed.”
Leonardo could feel the way his breathing accelerated, how cotton filled his ears, how his eyes filled with tears and his limbs refused to cooperate, heavier than ever, his head filled with a mantra of ‘No, no, no’.
“Disobedience can’t. A person rebels once, and they’ll keep pushing, taking, searching for loopholes.”
So much blood covered the ground, copper scented and dark. Had he not known what it was and had someone told him it was tar, overtaking the world like the prison dimension sometimes did in his mind, he would’ve believed it.
“Disobedience is good for someone on top, like me,” Big Mama turned, droplets and splashes of blood painting half of her body, framing her face to something downright predatory. “Otherwise it is useless. Is dangerous. It leads to people thinking too illy-billy highly of themselves, and making themselves a nuisance for us. To fix that, we punish them.”
Leonardo placed an arm between his throat and Assistant’s arm, taking the chance to vault her over him, not bothering to check if she was fine after she slammed against the ground. He threw himself upfront, making use of the gravity to squash Assistant’s hand with one of the chair’s legs.
Not a sound came from her, and Leonardo took the opportunity to brush past Crazy and skid back to Aubrey’s side, feeling his stomach churn at the sight, at the smell.
At the feeling of warm, thick liquid smudged in his knees, filling his hands, making him dirty, gross, bad, a gurggling sound overwhelmingly loud.
‘I caused this’, he thought, begging, praying to be wrong. ‘I got someone killed. I killed someone’.
It was no use checking their vitals, but he did anyways, using both fingers over their neck, looking for a pulse, letting out a shuddering breath and scrunching his face so hard he saw stars as the body let out a ‘squelch’ when he made pressure.
It was then that he realized where the puncture was made, and he had never been quicker to pull away from something, sensing the fog over his senses at the realization that he had just put his fingers inside the open throat of a dead person.
He ran.
One second he was down on his knees over a pool of blood, the next, he pushed past the chameleon, slamming the door open and sprinting down the hall, towards where he vaguely remembered the fire escape was, almost slipping on the ground.
It mattered little that the hallways were carpeted, the blood that clung in his feet made it slippery enough that he had to catch himself against the wall, leaving a bloody mark over the burgundy walls, a bright red, three fingered handprint that made him jump away and resume his escape, not caring if he left a trail behind him.
Through the haze of the moment, he barely heard a Big Mama giving the order. The ‘stop him, dove’ that sounded light years away from him, like in an echo chamber, followed by the loud, recognizable sound of Assistant’s armored heels clacking against the wooden floor, barely muffled by the carpet, running in the same direction he had.
Fear dug its claws on him, made him hold his breath as he skidded in the next corner, fingers clung to it, pivoting as a means to take the curve in stride, cursing when he slipped and slammed against the opposite wall, losing valuable seconds.
He felt how his shadow grew larger under the buzzing lights of the halls, mistreated legs screaming at the abuse, all ignored in a pitiful attempt to escape.
Then the lights went off.
With a second to adjust to the sudden change, the slider refused to give up at the loss of visual cues and continued to run, until he saw the hues of red that announced the exit.
A faint sound of metal clanking against a door was all the warning Leo had, dropping to his knees, dodging Assistant, who leaped over him, turning around and spreading her limbs as a blockage.
Leonardo did not heed the barrage, plummeting against her head first, hitting her square in the chin and slipping past her.
She, as tenacious as he was, pressed on the injured zone with a hand and used the other to grapple around his ankle, making him stagger. He limped as much as he could, hand stretched in the direction of the emergency exit, eyes shining with the reflection of the red neon light of the ‘exit’ sign, but he did not reach it, for Assistant pulled his leg from under him, sending him tumbling down the ground.
“Let— me go!” He twisted his body upward, all weight on his left elbow, enough to see the way Assistant seemed to climb over his captured leg.
The slider raised his free leg and, with all his strength, kicked, aiming to the mask.
Assistant caught his foot, barely, and used the chance to pull him towards her, digging her knee into a soft spot around his side, sitting over his legs to keep him immobilized and grasping his right arm, twisting it back and forcing him to lay face down, keeping him in a lock, pushing his face further against the ground—and fuck, that would bruise one hundred percent.
On the farthest end of the hallway, some of the lights turned back on with a soft ‘click’.
From his spot in the ground, Leonardo had a first row ticket to the eery hall, yellow tinted lights barely illuminating the hallway, a giant spider-shaped shadow slowly making its way to them, followed closely by Gus.
Colored smoke filled the space, hiding the newcomers from view; or maybe it was hiding them from the newcomers.
It was a suitable entrance for someone like Big Mama, her smaller form coming out from the tinted smokescreen, muffled heels yet loud steps that announced her presence, Gus silhouette framing hers, her face dark and pleased, covered in as much blood as her spider form had been, staring down at the mutants with grin amusement.
‘Raph’ he thought, around the same time a small sob choked out of his throat. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been crying, but the realization made him want to hit himself against a wall for being so stupid as to show any sort of weakness in front of the mob boss.
Crying, weakness in general, was never a good idea, definitely not while he was kidnapped, but this specific scenario was maybe one of the worst to lowball into something so emotional.
And yet, ‘Raph, please’, he begged again, internally, for his oldest brother to appear and save him. ‘Raph, Apes. Donnie— Dad, please’.
(Not Mikey, because he didn’t want Mikey to see this. To see him like this).
Please.
Please.
‘Someone get me out of here’.
He was so done, so tired. Getting surprised adopted was not in his yearly bingo, not in his plans at all. The experience was torturous, not knowing who to trust, what to do, what to say. It’s one thing to put a small mask on daily to look cooler, it’s another to put a mask on and act like someone else in an attempt to survive every day.
A week.
It’d been a week.
Was his family still looking for him? Was anyone?
His resolution crumbled under the weight of reality. He’d been so confident that he’d play Big Mama the same way he had before. What would a month be? Two months?
But he didn’t know how long this would last, and a week had been horrible enough already.
One party had almost tipped him over into a meltdown, he’d seen two dead bodies since the whole situation started—two more than he’d seen in his entire life.
This wasn’t— it wasn’t doable. One couldn’t just live laugh love after something like this.
Leonardo knew it. Felt it.
One day, you’re laughing and healing and on top of the world. The next one, you come to understand that you’re about to go through something that will change the foundation of who you are.
Looking up from his spot, Leonardo could see a void of darkness in Big Mama’s face; only her eyes were visible. Two crescents moons leading up, the pupils red in reflection of the ‘exit’ sign, dark enough that the teen could probably wave and it would wave back.
He let out a small whine, washed away by the spider’s Lullaby. Exhaustion weighed him down like rocks.
Assistant was quick to bounce, standing up properly and retreating into the shadows.
Leo had no time to do the same.
Or maybe he did, but his body did not follow his instructions, so he found himself clumsily trying to pull himself together when Big Mama crouched by his side, pinching his cheeks with her fingers and directing his face to her, the stains of blood turning darker under the neon light.
Her crazed eyes helped pop the deranged, affectionate smile that she wore, giggling when Leo’s breath hitched, pinpricks staring at the way the tip of her fingers smudged further the blood in his face.
‘Get the fuck away from me,’ he wanted to say. Instead, what came out was a frightened chirp, while he uselessly tried to push away her hands, his fingers slipping, oiled with crimson and shivering like he was out in the freezing cold.
Assistant stared at him for a second or two, and then looked away, as if the issue would disappear if she refused to look at it.
“You understand, don’t you, my Prize?” she caressed his cheek, slowly, talking in between hums and so relaxed one wouldn’t’ve guessed she just killed someone in cold blood. “What a good leader sometimes has to do to earn their owed respect.”
‘You’re talking crazy,’ turned into ‘you’re crazy,’ turned into a small cry.
He needed Raph. He needed his oldest brother. Or April. April always knew how to make everything better! He needed— He needed to get away, he needed to leave, he had to get away, he couldn’t— god he couldn’t breathe.
Gasps seemed to choke him more than they filled his lungs with air. No limb answered his call properly.
Leo was limp in Big Mama’s arms, not asleep, not fully awake. Not hypnotized, since the panic still made a wreckage in his mind, in his stomach, but not fully there, either. He floated in a limbo in which his body could crash at any minute, or his mind could peace out and knock him out at any second.
“Ah-ah-ah! you’ll need to wash up before I tuck you in, Baby Blue. I don’t think you’ll enjoy bunking after watching me blip-off that dolly, yes? Come on, let’s go, deary.”
Notes:
You guys I was holding in my laughter so hard while seeing everyone enjoying Venus and Leo's interactions last chapter with this on my drafts.
Eating popcorn while reading your theories.
Like fr if y'all wanna This is my Tumblr
It's EMPTY AF but if you wanna send anything, I always check at least once a day. I'd love to hear theories I swear they get me SOOOO hyped I always end up writing a little bit after reading any, no matter what.Also I'm trying to make a design for Venus and I will be posting it there. If you mayhaps wanna like,, see that :> (
First of all, I wanna apologize for saying I'd update every month and straight up disappearing last month. Turns out things got hard with my teacher and then with my inscription and I had to move, traveled for two days just to end up taking care of eight little cousins (Well, six, because one was a no show and the other is old enough to be responsible lol) and THEN i got back to work and and and.
IM TIREDDDD.
I was supposed to have at least three weeks of vacation and I had none at alllllllll.So no writing during holidays :( I swear I was editing to post this on christmas day but just, really didn't get the opportunity,
However, I ended up making it longer as an apology.
I really, really hope you guys liked it because this is my favorite chapter until now.
Next chapter might also take a bit longer, what can I say, I'm a busy gal (Sky cotl calls my name, sorry).Remember to comment! I read all comments with so much excitement.
OBVIOUSLY IS NOT LIKE, AN OBLIGATION DONT FEEL PRESSURED, but i am so incredibly thankful to see your comments and kudos :)
I hope y'all had a great start of the year, and that y'all have a GOOD year. I'll beat the bad stuff with a stick if needed >:)
Good night!!!
Or day!!!!
Chapter 9: Blink twice if you need help!
Summary:
What do you mean seeing someone get MURDERED fucks you up?
Who could've guessed?Plans? Oh yeah, we got them!
Now, whether or not it'll work...
Notes:
Ok first of all please look at THIS!
God I love it <333Also small warning bc this chapter deals with heavy derealization and dissociation and some depression/suicidal ideation?
The latter is vaguer and it won't be a major focus during the story but it WILL be there, so, be safe!!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
There’s something cathartic about dissociating after a traumatic experience.
Just, watching the world through blurry lenses, one’s perception distorted as if underwater, all sounds and colors melted into a flurry combination that swept you away from all the worries in the world.
Leonardo had… slight problems with dissociation.
They started after the whole Shredder thing. Specifically, after Gram-gram’s death.
As far as he knew, he was the only among his brothers to suffer from it—which is not to say that his brothers didn’t go through their own issues. It’s just that that one was Leo’s specifically.
Sometimes things felt… unreal.
He’d heard of people that feel like they’re watching a movie of themselves, or like they were out of their body, or like they saw their lives through a glass wall.
For him it was different—yet similar—from those descriptions.
Most of the time he could listen, he could react, he was conscious of what was happening around him, and he could choose to act if push came to shove. Most of the time, he just chose not to. If anyone noticed, he made a random comment to get some laughs and pulled a smile, acting like a clown, turning the Leo up to illegal levels for a bit until the attention was away from him and he could divert into staring off at any empty space he could find.
Talk a bit too much, fiddle with whatever you can get your hands on, nonchalant attitude to the world and if you miss the conversation you were part of, just joke it off, the same way you do whenever you’re too stupid to answer a question correctly, or whenever you don’t understand something.
Sinking into happier thoughts, daydreaming about things he enjoyed—he was now remembering again that they missed the last function to the movie he wanted to show Junior. Leo hoped that his siblings went to the cinema, that his savings didn’t go to waste along with the tickets, but knowing them, that bunch, they probably didn’t even entertain the thought of going without him.
Heathens. Missing such a work of art for something so stupid like him being kidnapped, the fools.
Memory lapsed shorter, the perceived importance of things plunged to its death inside the elevator of his mind, numbers decreasing first one by one then skipping digits then but a smudge of light until not a single thought crossed his brain.
Not that he didn’t care, because he did. It was just that his emotions turned off to protect him from shock.
Which he was pretty sure he had almost gone into after the whole fiasco in Big Mama’s office.
It was fine.
He was soooooo normal about it.
Trust him.
If he didn’t remember much after his confrontation with Assistant, it was only fair, right?
Leo was sure there was somewhere in the world a ‘book of rights after you see someone get murdered’, and the first page contained a beautiful ‘ur allowed to forget everything, bbg’ written in bold pink glitter pen with a smiley face winking at the end. The second page mandated that his brothers would have to provide ice cream for however long it took him to deal with the whole thing.
Bits and pieces of what happened next kept him sane. He could remember being led—read: dragged—back to his assigned room. Gus stayed outside, Assistant planted herself in front of the door, Big Mama pacing around the window, and he was expected to wash up while two dangerous criminals waited for him in what was supposed to be his safe zone—not that he referred to the room as such. Not when it never felt like it was.
He sat on the shower with his clothes still on, under a big stream of water, watching it dye pink—which ended up looking purple over the blue mosaic, something that ironically made him feel even worse for no other reason than he was being a little bitch—with the grim that covered him as he scratched each small bit of fresh blood from his body, and then proceeded to pick the remains from under his nails, trying hard not to vomit at the sight.
‘In for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight,’ He could almost hear Mikey narrating him through the breathing exercise—usually reserved for Raph, since Donnie, April and he rarely had an attack. But… you know.
Leo was glad he managed to memorize it. It worked wonders to keep him under the glass, because dissociating was a lot better than a full blown breakdown.
Who knew what Big Mama or Assistant would do with him in that state. Manipulate him, surely; he wouldn’t give them the opportunity, not if he could do something about it. He preferred to lose his grip on reality than give in to whatever Blackarachnid from that one Transformers series had in storage for him.
At least if he went crazy, both of them would lose.
And man, that sounded like something that Big Mama would love, wouldn’t it? The machiavellian thought that losing was valid if he dragged the opposing party with him.
Wasn’t that hilarious? That his first instinct, his first thought was always the same he knew Big Mama would have?
‘It’s not enough that we win, the other side has to lose’. That sounded like something Big Mama would teach him, hoping for him to take it as a life lesson.
Chuckling as the water dragged the blood away, he thought bitterly that maybe he was more her son that he was Splinter’s. His dad was a hero, after all. Leonardo…? Not so much.
What a load of bullshit, the years spent saving people, the world, his family. What a bunch of crap all his motivational speeches talking about being heroes and having responsibilities. All he learnt from the invasion felt like stupid shit at the time. He was nothing more than a feral animal that retreated to base instincts for survival, and there was not a single bone in his body that screamed ‘hero’, because he was nothing more than a murderer.
Leo hummed as he allowed the thoughts to run rampant in his head. It was okay, because with his mind up in the clouds as he currently felt, the truth couldn’t harm him.
Scratch and bruise and scream into his ears but not truly harm. Worse thoughts, worse feelings had tried to drag him away and he stood shamefully alive. This was nothing, the blood was nothing, it all dripped from behind the crystal.
Maybe he fell asleep for a bit. Maybe he scrubbed his skin raw until it was reddish and the water droplets hurt each time they made contact. Maybe he let himself drown in the smell of a lavender liquid soap, in his mind burned the memory of an open neck and the light disappearing out of the eyes of a yokai whose only fault in the issue had been not reading the instructions properly.
Think about that next time you try to build an Ikea bookcase, it might be your last. Hahaha…
Yeah. Not funny.
When he got out of the shower, he walked past the plastic mirror of the washbasin, avoiding looking at it and not getting more than a passing flash of the bruise already forming in his cheek. He didn’t bother checking it, only because he knew he’d look around, his curiosity big, and at that point Leo had no interest in learning what it felt like to meet his eyes.
Eyes of a murderer. Of a monster. A creature no better than the woman whose main source of income was a performance cemented on death.
At the end of the day, the fault relapsed on him.
Similarly to the day the key to the Prison Dimension fell in the hands of the foot clan, this death led back to Leonardo and his inability to stay quiet. To his obsession to fill the room, to prove himself.
He just had to get Big Mama’s attention, didn’t he? Fall in the web that the borderline psychotic woman wove. His eagerness to show that he was more than a charismatic face put him on the spotlight for a criminal mastermind to snatch and stitch to her liking.
Now, someone was dead, because of him.
Another added to the count, right underneath the thousands that perished during the invasion, red numbers that hung over his head.
Someone else for Casey Junior to pin on his list of murders, along the kid’s entire timeline and the unfortunate souls he doomed with his cockiness—Not that Cj would, because he was nice, and a bit awkward, and he loved the family, he loved him, even if he had a hard time empathizing with them after a whole lifetime in an apocalyptic world.
Water could wash up the evidence, but Leonardo could still see it. Still feel it. The crimson that clung to his hands, that painted his face, that stuck in his plastron, warm and exhuming a coppery stench that made his eyes water even when it was no longer there.
He emptied his lunch on the toilet, bile and saliva sticking to the corner of his mouth, not allowing him respite, and he had to wash his mouth twice so the bitter taste would stop.
Then, he allowed himself to rest a little, sitting on the ground with the pants of one of the pajamas from the closet since his shorts were drenched, his shell against the door—he didn’t think they’d open it against his will, that much he would concede, but it made him feel a little bit safer. Or it did until someone knocked the door, making him hiccup in surprise, not expecting the way rumbled in his head, to the point he had to cover his ears just to make it easier on himself.
Dang, he could already feel a migraine forming, a small pain behind his left eye that grew at snail pace.
“It’s been more than an hour, dove! It’s time for you to sleep!”
Tired eyes managed to raise from the ground to the door, even if it was just from the corner of his eyes. He’d swear that from the gap under the door, the shadow of the spider extended ominously, leaving the room in the dark.
If he thought too much about it, the thing towering over him had tentacles and a scute of metal instead of legs, and two eyes that flashed red instead of six red eyes. If he thought about it too much, the room lost its walls and left debris and empty space behind, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
That’s why he didn’t think too much about it. Leo allowed himself to close his eyes for a second or two, and just breathe, letting the memories unclench its claws from him and drift away.
Perform he wanted when he was younger, and perform he would, right here and now, to his death if necessary, but as long as it kept his family safe and away from the crazy monster that waited for him behind the door, he’d do it.
Staggering slowly, he stood up and placed his hand on the handle, the coolness of the metal washing over him with reinvigoration—or at least, he acted now like that was it, rather than him just bottling up his feelings and throwing them behind the glass, where only he would know they existed.
Mikey would be so angry that he was ignoring his basic needs—fucking feeling and all. But he’d be alive to be angry about it, so Leonardo was okay with that.
When he twisted the handle the lock clicked, and the door swiched open slowly, not making a sound, letting Big Mama see him.
He was surprised to see her spotless. Something that didn’t help with his state of mind, since the lack of blood made him doubt for a second if the event had transpired only in his head.
‘No’, he decided, seeing as Assistant’s armor had dried blood caked all over it. It was real. Big Mama just used the time that he used to bathe—and have a breakdown—to clean herself, clearly confident in his state and her little… cultists’ abilities to keep him in the room had he managed to snap out of it.
“Are you feeling better, my Prize?”
Leo hummed in response. His blurry vision re-focused on her, a sterile smile plastered on his face. Had he been a bit more present, he probably would’ve preened over the pride that shone in Big Mama’s eyes at the way he seemed to control himself.
“Peachy,” his eyes slowly drifted to the window. “Dead tired, you know,” He chuckled to himself, the joke falling flat for him but landing for Big Mama, who snorted in response.
Looking at the window, he could see snow descending from above, covering the city in a beautiful white. Despite the fact that winter began more than a month ago, the first snow of the season was little more than a week and a half ago—around four days before he got kidnapped.
True to its name, New York, the city that never sleeps, flashed with lights from the distance, dying with colors the flakes.
Even with the thick sheet of gray clouds, Leonardo could see the faint skyline fracture that remained from the invasion, visibly only inside Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan—if the reddit threads were to be trusted.
They rarely went to Bronx… and there were far better ways to ruin your day than going to Staten Island. As far as he knew, all evidence of the invasion was kept inside a bubble, only shared to the world through photos and videos of what happened.
Now that he thought about it, he’d go even less to Staten Island now that he was with Big Mama, wouldn’t he? Since she kept him coped up in the Hotel and the Nexus…
Light in the dark and all that. He could appreciate that much.
“Come, sweetie,” the woman opened her arms at him, humming sweetly as drowsiness began to overtake him. “It’s time to sleep, my precious Baby Blue.”
No one apologized.
He didn’t expect them to, if he was being honest. Evil and crazy didn’t exactly spell empathetic, which included being sorry for doing bad things, and so, apologizing was out of their vocabulary.
Well, sure, Donnie was both the evil twin and damn crazy, but he had the moral compass of his family to keep him away from doing unforgivable shit.
Like murdering someone.
It was the sort of thing that crossed a line. Like abusing a partner for no reason other than just because you’re an idiot, or—jumping the ledge into something way worse—assaulting someone sexually. Maybe if it had been self defense—talking about murder here by the way—, his thoughts on the act would’ve been different. But killing someone… for what? proving a point? being an ass? keeping in line subordinates and prisoners? Something inexcusable.
There was no reasoning that could ever amount to forgiveness for something like that.
But just because he hated it didn’t mean he was free to express it, or do something against it. In a golden cage or not, he was still a prisoner, and his family was in danger as long as they breathed in the same time period as Big Mama.
Sure, he wasn’t his own favorite person in the world—the self-blame was big after the thwarted invasion—but that didn’t mean he wanted to die. And he, too, was in danger of it while he stayed underneath the roof of Big Mama’s empire.
As always, he fell asleep in Big Mama’s arms, not even aware of the second his consciousness started to slip.
No dreams meant no nightmares. No respite, but no further punishment.
When he woke up, it was in the normal room. The assigned room. Not his, no. Too clean to be his truly; kept tidy by the staff that cleaned when he was in class and by the fact that he rarely had the chance to actually be in the room. It was his room but it wasn’t his room.
Little sunlight came from the window—a deep blue that brightened with each minute and faint lights from the distance, embellished by the snow that hadn’t stopped raining from the past day.
He always kept the blinds open, for many reasons. Because he liked seeing the city, since he lived underground and it was a big change of scenery. Because he liked knowing that, if things got desperate, he could always throw himself off the window—not to die, god, just to get away.
Also, because he hated the dark.
In his room, little star-shaped stickers covered the walls and ceiling. He hadn’t seen them glow in months, because he couldn’t handle the dark. Instead, he had a nightligth that he refused to refer to as such in the shape of a little unicorn with rgb lights, found by Michael fixed by Tello, working overtime.
It, the dark… brought memories.
Of non-stop screaming, and pain, and vague forms that illustrated the story of a civilization of monsters that died as painfully as they lived: in war. The overwhelming void that tried to eat him, to consume him, to keep him and never ever let him go-...
Anyways. Point was, he preferred something that lightened the room.
Not that anyone in this fucking place had to know that, of course not.
What was he even talking about?
Ah, yeah.
No one apologized.
Assistant fetched him as always in the morning, her demeanor calmer than the last time he saw her—he guessed it was probably because she already had her fill of his suffering, since she dragged him through the ground while he was in the middle of a panic attack, but who was he to say what ‘sweet little’ Assistant felt or didn’t
Big Mama? Waited for him in the tea table, that was as firmly stuck to the ground as it had been before the incident, welcoming him brightly and signaling him to sit with her, already enjoying the overwhelming coffee and some toast with eggs. Which he honestly doubted were enough to fill her, but it was rude to mention something like that and he was not getting extra classes with Diana. Fuck that.
This time, however, added to the grim vibe inside the room, there was a giant spot bleached in the patterned rug, in the exact place where someone had died, neck split open, mere hours before.
“Since I was with you last night, there was no time to replace it properly,” She explained while taking a sip from her cup. “It should be gone by tonight! Don’t worry too much, turtley-dove.”
“Huh,” he managed to say, shoving pancakes that weren’t as good as Mikey’s in his mouth. “I’d make a joke about cleaning, but I’m still dusting them off.”
The syrup was too sweet. And it lacked the strawberries and blueberries that he loved. Plus, the general recipe sucked; they got soggy too quick, so most of the time he just got to blink slowly at the way the bits slid off his plastic fork, at the perfect pace where he couldn’t catch it but he could prepare himself for the disappointment of having to poke the already crumbled slice of pancake yet again.
Nothing ever topped Mikey’s food—except maybe Hueso’s pizza but he wouldn’t be saying that to the younger, since Leo liked to live and all—but for a Hotel of the utmost importance, the quality was more than disappointing.
Something that he would never ever say to Big Mama. He didn’t think she had warmed up to him to the point of hurting someone in his name, but he also didn’t think she was above killing or fire someone to prove another point.
Crazy people were unpredictable. ‘Unpredictable’ made planning hard.
She rolled her eyes at him with amusement over the silly cleaning joke, and continued to talk. About some renovation plans for the Nexus, about a meeting she had on Friday, about Saturday’s big event, what else they would do on the weekend—the only good thing in his life at the time, since Big Mama planned on taking him to Murakami’s. Hooray! At least his Sunday would be nice!
In response, Leonardo pitched in a comment or two, focusing on eating as fast as he could—without puking it all out at the sight of the bleach stain in the carpet—in hopes that they’d leave earlier.
“Have a swell day, bird!”
He paused at the exit, staring at her for a good minute as the blurry memories of the incident flashed through his eyes. Leo swallowed slowly and plastered a smile in his face.
“You too, miss Araña,” he smirked at her with all the confidence he didn’t really feel, cringing internally at the way he couldn’t pronounce the ñ—it was easier when saying Señor Hueso, since he practiced almost daily and all.
“You know you can just call me mom, don’t you?” She flashed him a loving smile. “You and little Venus have that right, you two better use it properly.”
Despite just having drinked a cup of tempered milk, his mouth felt dry.
The sight of her standing over the dying body of a yokai that just wanted money to get her friends into a different district, her crimson eyes watching at him with amusement as he squirmed beneath Assistant, desperately trying to reach the exit, the way she caressed him like a child and sung lullabies as if she hadn’t just been covered in blood… as if she wasn’t covered in blood while she did, too.
Leo knew that Big Mama was crazy, stubborn, and had no moral compass.
He just didn’t know how far that would go. The disregard that she felt for the lives of those she considered inferior. The way she saw most people as income, entertainment, manwork.
If he was being honest, he almost wanted to sit Assistant down and explain to her what was happening. What was being done to her, the things she contributed to, the way she’d been tainted from childhood and transformed into the very thing he and his brothers had narrowly avoided: a child soldier. A puppet for a bigger plan; a knight, perfectly positioned, always protected, unbeatable and dangerous.
Not a queen, all powerful, merely because she lacked the freedom a queen could have. She was restricted by the laws inflicted on her by a master manipulator that thought about herself too highly to be healthy.
But it was naive to think that Assistant didn’t have an inkling of what she was doing.
Up until now, Leo had gone under the assumption that she did what she did because she didn’t know better. The image of a girl ignorant of what the world beheld for sinners like her, despite the fact that she only did what she did because it was ordered to her.
Now Leonardo realized that Assistant knew what she was doing.
Yes, manipulated and built how Big Mama needed her—wanted her—to be, but not innocent.
Leo was seventeen. Assistant had said she was older than him. Months or years, the distinction was of little importance when it meant that Assistant was old enough to understand what she was doing, brainwashed into being The Assistant or otherwise.
Had Assistant also killed someone? Did she have any blood in her hands? Less than Leo? More? Was she as detached from the world as Big Mama was? Did she care at all?
He might not be better than either of them. But he did feel regret for his actions.
Deep, deep regret, that sounded like small whispers of his sins, that looked like a red piercing light staring at him from the dark corners of every room he stepped in, that felt like warm blood dripping from his fingertips—
So he let his eyes wrinkle and his falling smile widened. “Maybe some other day.”
“Hmm,” she mused, spider shoulders shaking softly with silent laughter. “Don’t take too long, yes, sweetheart?”
“Wouldn’t dream on it, lady.” Leo said with a wink, turning a bit too quickly and waiting for Assistant right outside the door, a shuddering breath leaving his chest as quietly as he could manage.
Leo knew that one of his brothers was trying to reach him through meditation.
Well, he didn’t know, but he knew, you know?
After they decided to follow their own path as ninjas, the first time they encountered the Dark Armor, the Shredder, complete, they didn’t really use the Mind Meld.
Sometimes they connected during battles, and even outside of it, which helped them be in sync and lifted the weight of having to see his brothers every move from Leo, who teleported everyone around during combat. It meant he had an easier time concentrating on the enemy and on supporting April, Casey(s?) or dad whenever either of them joined them in an adventure.
Using it purposefully to contact another, with so much physical distance had never been done though, as far as they knew.
Which is why it took him by surprise.
At first he thought it was like.
Anxiety.
Can’t blame a guy for assuming the random feeling poking his… what? Spirit? Soul? Mystic power? Was some sort of anxiety symptom when he first felt it while kidnapped!
It was like a tugging in his Ninpō, calling for him, pressing him to answer. He deeply regretted losing his phone for a number of reasons, and one of them was his magnificent ringtone, that one stupid TikTok audio that had one person yelling about a stupid ringtone and the other that made the ringtone—because it annoyed the hell out of Donnie and he loved it.
It used to be All I want for Christmas, but he changed it up every so often and as soon as holiday season was over he decided that annoying Donatello was super important. He took his job as Donnie’s twin very seriously.
Well, the ringtone, that ‘ding dee dee ding nananasomething something I hate the damn ringtone ring’ tone—shut up he said it perfectly—was exactly how the Ninpō call felt.
The thing was that he had exactly two hours of daily freedom that, A, he knew his brothers weren’t awake at the time, or if they were they were getting ready for the day except maybe Donnie, or B, weren’t actually free and he spent with Big Mama as she prepared to ‘tuck him in’ as fucking creepy as that sounded AND was.
The rest of the time he was in class, eating, sparring or simply surviving.
So he didn’t answer any of the calls.
More importantly.
It was fucking. Distracting.
Obviously it wasn’t April, since her connection to the Ninpō wasn’t strong at all—he sometimes felt her connect to his web of synchronization during combat but most of her power was the wisps of Gram-grams, so while he was sure April had some sort link to the family power, he knew that it was faint and that it would need a lot more practice that what the Hamato brothers had before she could even begin to think of mind meld through wifi connection.
It wasn’t Donnie, since the softshell wasn’t really attuned with his mystics abilities far more than just using them in the physical aspect.
He had his doubts with Raph, since his grip on his Ninpō was mostly superficial, like Donnie’s, but the eldest had dedicated his fair share of time to meditating to help with his anger issues and to connect with the Hamato after the Shredder thing, so the possibility was there.
Mikey was the one with the highest chances of being responsible for the tugging.
Maybe both oldest and youngest, at different times?
Regardless—-and he hated to diss his brothers and all but—whoever it was was an insufferable idiot.
And it wasn’t their fault! Not really. He even appreciated it, because it was a small, very needed reminder that he was loved and that they were searching for him. But he needed to pin that blame on someone because it was becoming increasingly impossible to concentrate on whatever the hell Madam Diana was trying to teach him.
He could forgive it during Avalon’s class because the dude could notice when he was feeling restless and changed up the activity, which helped him concentrate. And he could forgive it during Tecna’s class because she changed the topic and entered a small battle of wits with him in which both tried to get some info from the other—both refused to give up anything so for an outsider, they were just two really passive aggressive pals questioning each other about portals and Big Mama.
He could not forgive it during training because that ended up with Assistant giving him an ‘arrastriza’, which was a term once used by Hueso to tell him he looked like shit after the invasion.
“You look like someone te dio una arrastriza, pepino,” Señor Hueso had told him with a deadpan expression despite the small worried line that betrayed his act, the first time he visited since the Kraang.
“I have no idea what that means.”
“You look like someone wiped a busy road with you.”
And to be fair, that had been a very accurate description of what happened. If you change ‘someone’ for ‘crazy alien overlord’ and ‘busy road’ with ‘every single surface of an alien spaceship and all the debris of an entire, dead, civilization in another dimension’, but who cares about details, right?
Now, Assistant certainly didn’t pack a punch the same way the murderous alien did with his sci-fic mech onesie that he dusted off to conquer the planet and ended up using merely to beat Leo up like the sore loser he was…erm… but she still hit hard.
What would you know? getting struck in the nose tends to wake people up with the same efficiency of a sack of bricks.
Not that he… knew from experience, no, haha, how would that even work?
Regardless, as much as he was happy to know that his brothers were still trying to find him, the last thing he needed was to get distracted.
He much preferred having his family waiting for him indefinitely than to risk them getting hurt or worse just because he was too cocky. Or, you know. Still being alive for his family to find, eventually.
Because just because Big Mama wanted him now didn’t mean she’d want him later on.
Everyone was replaceable by her standards. A little loss of quality was worth it if it included loyalty with it, and desperate and afraid people offered their loyalty all too easily, even more if the threat of a neck cut open was up in the table, and there was proof to believe that Big Mama would and had done it before.
As he flew out of the energy cage, falling on his shell with a loud ‘thud’, Leo sighed deeply, too emotionally drained for this.
Classes were boring.
He was stupid, so it was understandable that his best subject was Etiquette, since he was a bit more motivated to avoid getting hit even more, wanting to be on top condition, for anything that might go his way.
That obviously included no more skipping dinner.
Yeah, he was a bit annoyed that his teenage rebellion had lasted a whole week and a day, but he much preferred playing along with Big Mama if that meant not seeing any more dead people.
But still, classes were boring.
Politics weren’t particularly hard—surprisingly!
It wasn’t like he could memorize everything and recite it word by word, but he understood most concepts and stored them, comparing them to some of his family’s rules and stuff he’s seen during his missions.
And, what would you know, most of what he learnt about politics had to do with cheating!
It’s an essential part of politics. Even the best of the best—meaning ‘lawful good’ and not the one percent—had to indulge in a little bit of trickery to win.
Get ready to dip your hands in mud, no one with ambitions for high positions, from president of a company to president of the country, ever had a clean conscience.
Avalon explained to him different loopholes and the basics of things commonly done by the Nexus to avoid a variety of ‘stuff’, each increasingly more illegal, like gambling, paying tickets, tax evasion… the sudden disappearance of people—mostly yokai—all in the same fashion. Murder.
Abiding the topic in such a nonchalant way did get a laugh out of Leo. He wasn’t expecting the temperamental yet graceful nekomata to start explaining in detail the different ways and contacts that Big Mama had as a ‘get out of jail’ card just Upside.
‘Politics’ concentrated on law, supposedly, but it wasn’t just that.
Despite it being divided in both human and yokai politics, Avalon did a good enough job that Leo learnt most of what he taught. He didn’t know all names, but he knew of most governmental entities and their respective jobs on both sides; he could already identify some of Big Mama’s closest patrons and partners within the big corporations and knew what the most important jobs were—but the nekomata did say that they’d see it again next week and expand upon it, because repetition was good for learning.
And he’d info dump all about what he listened to… but the episode isn’t eternal!
Plus, he’d rather complain about fucking economics.
His issue was that both were deeply intertwined. He needed to know about money to deal with the big shots, and money was hard.
Why couldn’t he just learn about the basics of using money and just get it over with?
Fine, stocks were important, but suddenly he needed to memorize all patterns to see if it was worth selling or buying on top of knowing what ‘stocks’ were; it wasn’t just patterns, because most big corporations could change the tides by…
You got it! cheating! Sure, publicly saying something that could raise the stocks was illegal and would quickly get you in trouble, but paying a third party to ruin the image of the rival company so the stocks raised in the one you were supporting was… well, illegal too. However, tie some ends and the chances that it’ll affect your company would be low.
What, accountants? Yeah, those exist. Still, memorize all of this by tomorrow because accountants could sell you out or take some of the money for themselves, and then you’re fucked and the company’s ruined and fuck you, just fucking learn this.
Or get blackmail.
Both, preferably. Just in case blackmailing your accountant doesn’t work, or they stop being loyal to you for money, and you have to keep track of that part while you get another.
And that’s just about buying and selling stocks, because marketing your company’s stocks…
Don’t forget that to manage money you need to learn…
Statistics!! That was math! Everyone fucking knew he sucked at math! That was Donnie’s specialty, not Leo’s. What even was a square root? What do you mean imaginary numbers and stupid algebra? Don’t even get him started with calculus.
When in the world would he need to deri-fucking-vate to put someone in debt and steal all their assets, huh?!
Low and behold, his ‘politics and economics’ class had turned into math.
MATH.
Ugh, except no one did know that math was Donnie’s, because only Assistant knew that he actually had a family which included his nerdy, genius, good-at-math twin. And Leo was fucked trying to understand about average and chances, and throwing dices.
Dices that weren’t twenty-faced and determined the outcome of silly little characters he created and loved. No. Just playing boring old dice that he had to throw sixty times to try and guess which number would appear the most so he could start predicting shit and. Fucking. Learn. To cheat. At dice.
Maybe next time he played dnd he’d be able to get only nat twenties. At least then this torture would be worth something.
Do you understand anything of what he just dealt with?
No? Great, he didn’t either.
It wasn’t enough to put his hand through the open neck of a yokai, he also had to deal with maths?
Still too early.
Shit.
“Tomorrow Friday we’ll oversee all the Yokai districts in America, since those are your main focus. Next week, we will begin with the rest of North America and then we’ll turn to Europe and Asia.”
Leonardo blinked.
The fuck did he mean Friday?!
Was it Thursday already? How did he…?
Shit.
He swallowed.
“Aren’t there more continents and stuff?”
“Yes,” Avalon nodded in agreement. “But our market doesn’t reach that far yet with the exception of a couple of locations that we can mark later. Your priority should be North America since here’s where most combatants for the Battle Nexus and branch offices are.”
To a Leo, a teenage mutant ninja turtle that lived in New York and had gone no farther than the woodlands in Long Island, the rest of the United States already sounded like a whole different world.
Like… wasn't the USA… North America?
Was there something else?
Canada was up there, yeah, but it was like, a separate continent? Antarctica or something like that?
As if sensing his confusion, Avalon turned from the book he was holding to narrow his eyes at Leonardo, suspiciously.
“Mexico, Canada and The USA. You do know this, right?”
Leo smiled mischievously, despite the fact that he’d been caught red-handed.
“Of course I do! Where do you think I came from? The sewers?”
Avalon rolled his eyes, ignorant of the way Assistant’s hands tensed for a second, her mask tilted the slightest in Leo’s direction, the burning glare from beneath the whitened Geyeholes just encouraging a chuckle from the slider.
“Just in case, you better check a map,” the nekomata huffed, a frown twisting his features while he returned his eyes to an unnamed page. “I don’t doubt you know nothing past Staten Island.”
A shiver ran down his shell at the mention of the horrid place.
Well, when he got back, Donnie wouldn’t be able to tell him anything about his geology–geograthy–geographic?
Holy shit. Could the classes be over, please?
Wait. No. Over meant Big Mama, sleep and bad memories.
Yeah, okay. He could handle this. He could handle this!
____________________________
“Achoo-!!”
Raph, who had been tidying up a bit around the lab, raised an invisible eyebrow at Donnie, who furiously wiped his nose with one of his sleeves. The purple fabric didn’t turn darker on contact, so the snapper knew that no snot came out with the sneeze, and the frantic movement was probably an attempt to get rid of the itch.
“You better not be getting sick, Don.” He said, wryly.
The softshell rolled his eyes, exasperated but not annoyed, and side eyed Raph with a pout, who responded by crossing his arms and looking at him unamused.
“I’m deeply touched by your concern, dear brother, but I assure you, I’m in top condition.” Donnie looked back to the giant monitor, typing something so quick that Raphael thought he looked like one of those cool hackers from movies.
“Oh!” Mikey exclaimed from underneath the blue cover that hid him and the bean bag. “I bet Leo is saying something nice about you!” He smiled lightly.
Incorrectly, not bright enough, but Raph didn’t hold it against Mike from being unable to be his usual self with the whole situation dragging over them. He himself felt pretty hopeless and tired, and he knew that the exhaustion dragging him down would not go away until his missing brother returned home.
“Talking shit, you mean,” Donnie retorted with a scoff, his tone light, his eyes not moving for a second from the screen. “Besides, what you just referenced it’s nothing but a childish myth with nothing to back it up, highly—“ he continued to info dump about it, while Mikey made a face and mimicked Donnie with his hand, while silently babbling nonsense behind the softshell’s back.
It took little for Donnie to catch up with the actions of the youngest, and it had been Raph’s fault for laughing out loud, gaining a glare from the middle child for both of them, even when they turned their head away as innocently as they could act.
“Fine. Be ignorant, I don’t care!”
Don was wearing glasses, and he fixed them in place as he returned his sight to the big screen. Not that he needed them anymore, but he used them anyway if he had plans to spend too much time working with a computer or anything with a screen. Something about UV lights being harmful and exposure and not wanting to re-do the laser surgery thingy for at least another forty years.
Usual Don talk that Raph didn’t understand, but he didn’t judge either.
Speaking of Don-stuff that Raph did NOT understand, was the giant wall of code on the screen, white letters containing a crazy amount of symbols, increasing at a speed that kept Raph from being able to read anything, even as it got color sorted like code did for some reason? and the right border of the screen had a column of small squares, cameras that showed different spots around the city, marked by Junior at the start of the week, all of which had no signs of new developments.
Donnie was so entertained with his work that he didn’t turn when the automatic doors opened, April O’Neil carrying a little furry ball in her arms—it had been a while since they’ve seen Mayhem, but the little creature seemed to come and go whenever it wanted, and April never said a thing, so they never asked.
Her eyes went quickly to Mikey.
“Hey guys,” she smiled, trying to sound brighter than she did, her usual self dimmed by the slight tension that formed between her and Mikey the second she entered the room.
“April,” Donatello acknowledged her, never turning his head away from the screen, the mechanical keyboard clacking at a rapid pace.
“Hey, April,” Raph smiled at her, a toothy grin as he looked at their older sister.
“Hey,” was all that Mikey said, hiding his head under the covers to avoid eye contact, the sound of faint tapping replaced by the music of some game Raph didn’t recognize by name slowly turning louder, signaling the end of Mikey’s participation in the conversation, to the eldest’s chagrin.
With a roll of his eyes, Raph waved April signaling her to get closer to them.
“If he’s being a little shit…” he trailed off, hoping she understood that he had her back and he’d tell Mikey off if needed .
April shrugged. “It’s fine. He’s not angry with me. Right, Mike?” She raised her head towards the youngest, who shrugged from his blue burrito.
“Nah,” Mikey agreed with her, the music of the game just slightly lower than his voice. “I’m processing some emotions and she knows what’s all about so I’m avoiding talking about it… for now.”
“See?” Their sister sent Raph a prideful grin, and in return the snapper stayed silent as he recognized the way tension disappeared from her shoulder line as soon as it was agreed that Mikey’s issue wasn’t with her. “So? Any news?”
No, ‘good news?’, because a week and a half after the disappearance of their brother, they were expecting anything, and only hoping for the better.
“Nothing at all,” Donnie hummed, answering in Raph’s stead. “Junior?”
“With Casey,” April responded. “Brownie cult is looking around for anything suspicious. Casey let them in in the search since they cover almost all Manhattan and Brooklyn and a bit from Bronks. Junior joined them, he said he’ll come later to check the plans for the break in.”
An irritated sigh from the softshell made them turn their heads to him, in time to watch him roll his chair around, crossed armed and looking unamused.
“I’m astounded by the lack of confidence in our plans if he’s so adamant to ‘check’ them every ten minutes.”
Oh boy.
Raph could already feel the headache forming, the attitude of his little brother inspiring nothing but frustration.
He didn’t get why Donnie was so harsh to Casey Junior.
They seemed to get along well enough up to the boy’s latest arrival to New York City. There had been no issue between them while fighting off the invasion, and Donnie had been surprisingly quick to adapt to his presence in their family during the months right after, while they healed. Really, it was only now after Leo’s disappearance that they began butting heads left and right.
Never outright arguing–where they could see them, at least–but an underlying tension that felt like they’d snap and jump at each other’s throat at any point.
Thankfully they managed to work together, but Raph had little hope that it would continue for longer.
He wondered if it had directly to do with Leo’s disappearance, or if something else sparked the animosity and it boiled over with all the stress the family had.
Instead of doing mental gymnastics over the situation, Raph decided that there was only one way of figuring it out before this turned into a fight. With their luck, it would probably happen while breaking in the Battle Nexus and the last thing they needed was to get caught while searching for Leo because these two toddlers couldn’t behave.
“Alright. You’re going to explain what’s your issue with future boy,” he pointed his finger at the resident genius, narrowing his eyes and scowling at the offended expression that the softshell put.
“Excuse me? I have no quote unquote ‘issue’ with future boy. If anything, I just pointed out that he’s the one that has issues with us!”
Unimpressed by his point of view, Raph crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
He was slightly amused to see April mirror his pose from the corner of his eye, considering his big sister was so small in comparison to him.
Despite the silent badgering, Donnie did not relent, scrunching his face and pouting at the joint front that the two eldest led in response to his increasingly irritable attitude against Junior.
“You will absolutely not turn this into a mock intervention. I have no affair of importance with one Casey Jones Junior, so I will not be having any kind of conversation about him.” Donatello said with an air of finality that wouldn’t be flying with his family, a little twitch at the corner of his mouth that Raph easily recognized as an attempt to keep his face straight while lying.
Something he only did when he was upset.
April seemed to notice it too, and she leaned her head forward, looking at Donnie over her glasses with an incredulous look. “Uh-huh,”
“I’m being serious! You will not get a single word from me on this matter.”
It was unsurprisingly easy to get a rise out of Donnie. Usually it was Leo’s job to irritate the genius to the point where he spilled the beans, but without the slider, it was up to the rest of them to get Donnie to open up.
“Alright, whatever you say, Dee,” Raph rolled his eyes, glancing back from the corner of his eye, hoping to see the expected reaction.
That was enough for the softshell’s annoyance to boil over, and with a dramatic motion, he threw his arms in the air.
“Well, yes, indeed, it is whatever I say!” Donnie raised his voice, digging his heel on the ground and turning the chair away from them, words spat through grit teeth. “If you guys knew why I’m upset you’d be too.” Instantly, the softshell regretted speaking, visibly biting on his cheek even from the spot where Raph was.
A shared glance between the snapper and the human was all they needed to agree that whatever issue there was between their brother and Casey Junior was a lot bigger than they expected.
“Donnie,” He began, and was instantly cut out by the aforementioned, who raised a fist.
“No.”
“Dude,” Mikey scowled, poking his head out from the covers. “Bottling things up is not cool.”
“I do not wish to speak about this.”
Angelo’s face contorted in anger. A barely contained fury that startled Raph, who raised his arms in an appeasing way, shaking his head at the youngest, who looked over at him for a whole second with a burning glare before hiding back in his burrito, leaving only behind the irritated click of his tongue.
April sighed, clearly unhappy with the results. “Alright, Donnie. But if you change your mind…”
“...I know,” Donnie mumbled, his voice a lot softer than before, his whole body losing tension just in that one moment. “Just… not now.”
Being completely honest, it frustrated Raph to no end that neither of his little brothers were telling him anything.
Leo who refused to tell them he was being targeted. Mikey who fought with Draxum and wouldn’t explain why. Now also Donnie, and his secret disagreement with Junior.
ABCD, everyone in his family hid things from him. Even April, that was in cahoots with Mikey and the mysterious fight. Next thing he’d know is that dad is dating Big Mama again and all…
…God, on second thought, scratch that thought. A shiver ran through his shell just from thinking that. Raph shook the thoughts away, a small grimace over his face as he cleared his throat.
“Alright. Fine. In that case, let’s go over the plan once more.”
Everyone groaned, their ongoing idling paused in favor of complaining.
“Again?”
“It’s been literally fifteen times.”
“We just said that Junior would come later to do just that, can’t we wait?”
With a deadpan expression, watching–almost–all of his siblings being lazy little shits, Raph huffed. “No. We’re doing it right now. Now come on.”
He wasted no time grabbing April like a pretty purse and reaching for Mikey next.
“Come on, Mikey.”
“Noooooo!”
From behind, the screech of a rolling chair’s tires and rapid steps trying to get away, an escapist followed by the watchful eyes of his green and yellow human-shaped bag, who hung in place like a kitten, limbs limp in the air with only her puffy hair sticking up.
“Get on and I won’t say a thing next time ya paint something from Donnie’s lab.”
That was all it took for the little guy to roll out of his hiding place, the switch left behind on the bean bag, still turned on—with a dark screen with dialogue and a tall, pale character dressed in red, skin leaning to gray with black hair like one of those homestuck dudes—in favor of climbing the snapper like a jungle gym.
“Come on! We don’t got all night!
“Can we hurry up?” April pressed, patting Raph’s arm from her spot, a little smile on her face.
“Oh, Donnie!” Raphael called, already stomping towards the exit and down the hall, where Donatello was, making his desperate escape attempt.
“You will never catch me alive!”
With pumped up spirits, Raph followed the twin in purple, a downright evil smile on his face.
“We’ll see, little bro. We’ll see.”
Notes:
I actually had this chapter ready so long ago but I like to be a chapter ahead because then I feel like i won't be able to just, abandon the fic (since I already got ahead!!) and i couldn't finish chapter 10 because I KEPT REWRITING IT.
See I know NOTHING about finances and politics and real state im A GRAPHIC DESIGNER.
ironically none of those topics appear on chapter 10 but I kept overthinking while writing it because i just realized that this fic is gonna be... long. Like I think It's gonna be over 30 chapters if i want to keep the pacing as It Is. Because I wanna go deeper into the workings of the Hotel, and maybe more of the Hidden city. I'm already trying to map the damn city and I'm gonna use the next week to try to map the rest of the story so hopefully these one month-two month hiatus won't keep happening.
Anyways all that to say that I finished it a WEEK ago and then proceeded to not update because I was dragged to my grandparents house--where the internet takes a day to load a single image (AND WHERE THE ELECTRICITY DIED FOR A DAY AND A HALF WHEN WE WERE AT LIKE FUCKING 30°C) so.
Soooo sorry.Chapter 11 is currently at like 400 words so thats also gonna take foreveeeeerrrrrr.
Fortunately, I do graduate in. like a month and a half. IT means that yeah ill be SUPER busy but also as soon as that's done I got two months to write as much as I can before starting job hunting and stuff so, we'll see.
Also I uploaded an 'official' Assistant design on my Tumblr if anyone's interested! I say 'official' because nothing is official, really, it's just my thought on the design, at least for this fic :>No one can keep me from rambling in here.
By the way, thanks for the support!! Every kudo, every comment, and bookmark, I always tell my mom about it lol, I just get so excited.
Thanks <3
I assure you all that I read everything and usually end up writing at least a sentence or two whenever i see a comment :)Have a great week! For all you that, like me, go back to class and or work tomorrow :((((((
And for all of ya that don't, too!!
Chapter 10: At last, the rescue!
Summary:
The Hamato Family takes matters into their own hands.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Preparations for the rescue took them most of the Saturday morning. Not because they were particularly hard, since most of them already knew what they were doing and what they were taking with them. Raph and dad had made the plan clear for every single member of the Hamato family involved in the mission after all, so there were no mistakes to be made.
However, the tension was high all around.
And Mikey meant all sorts of tension.
It probably was the stress, but Angelo found that his arms–the ones that should be feeling better after months of physical therapy and treatments for the mystic overuse burns–hurt more than they should, which was not at all.
Besides, their father’s bones cracked like firecrackers, his knees popping loudly every so often.
Donnie and Junior were all but getting along by that point. Each time the genius spoke with that blunt speech of his, Junior visibly cringed. On the other side, Donnie mocked every single thing Junior dared to say, mimicking the movements with his mouth every so often, or straight up deconstructing any idea that Future Boy gave, like trying to destroy the sand castle of a random kid on the beach for the sake of watching his face squash in frustration.
Whatever their issue was, Mikey hoped that they wouldn't let it get to them, because if those two idiots got them found just because of some unresolved issue that they refused to talk about, Mikey swears to all holy…
Erm.
Another sort of tension was the one between him and April.
It wasn’t like… a bad tension.
It’s just that they both knew about… the thing. And… well…
There was a silent understanding between them that they were both angry at Splinter for not saying anything before. It was a tension in which they both refused to talk about it and refused to let it show in fear of ending like Donnie and Junior. Just… against Splinter, instead.
Because of course they were upset that Splinter had hidden vital information from the rest of them–again!--like, you know.
Having another set of siblings!
Goodness, and Leo was just like this man. No wonder he had a hard time opening up with the rest of the family.
They’d confront him–both of them actually–some other time, right now, their brother and his safety was a lot more important.
Which took him to the last kind of tension. The one that haunted them all. The general tension at the fact that this mission was of utmost importance.
This wasn’t a ‘stop the thieves’, or ‘capture the bad guy’ kind of mission. And yeah, the world technically would continue if they failed.
Failure was not an option, though.
For the rest of the world the sun could rise and fall, and the moon could pull the seas, and the trees would grow.
The Hamatos would not be privy to the wonders of the world if they lost their brother like this.
It was around three pm when they sat on top of the Nexus Hotel.
A thin layer of snow under their feet, all of them wearing black thermal clothing as tight and slim as possible, since they couldn’t be wearing big and puffy winter jackets for an infiltration mission, duh.
The turtle tank had been left parked at least five streets away in hopes of keeping their presence near the hotel concealed, the family deciding that approaching by traveling up-top, using the roofs, would be the best option.
Donnie was the farthest from them, positioned right by the middle of the roof, sitting over a glowing block made from his ninpo to use his lap as a table for the small laptop he was using, his gauntlet connected to it and displaying a hologram of the layout of the Nexus; both hotels, human and yokai, the underground connection to the Battle Nexus and the passageways. The whole thing had a soft lilac tone with a couple of zones marked in red.
There was no sound as he tapped in an holographic keyboard, divided in three sections within which he comfortably switched with mastery as he nerd-ed his way into the hotel’s system, searching for a way to easily enter without giving themselves away.
Raph stood next to him, arms crossed and an unsure expression in his face, as he considered for the nth time if there was anything that should be changed to their plans, gaping like a fish each time he thought of something before changing his mind and saying nothing.
April was closer to a corner, she and Splinter checking the pouches each carried to make sure they had divided evenly the medkit that Leo usually carried, since each would be going with different teams.
Finally, he and Junior sat by the edge of the roof, in opposite directions; on the lookout for anything or anyone that could try to ruin their plans.
“Aaaaand…” Donnie spoke up, a big grin on his face while raising a finger in an exaggerated fashion before tapping a last key. A big ‘success’ green window filled the monitor, the softshell turning to the rest of the family. “Done! We should have approximately an hour and twelve minutes as a window of opportunity to find our idiot brother, chop chop!” He clapped his hands after unplugging the gauntlet, standing with a jump and sliding the laptop into his battle shell, every single hologram disappearing along with the ninpo block.
“Great job, Dee!” April raised both thumbs, receiving an excited fist up from the aforementioned. Then, she turned to the rest. “Ya heard him, boys—and Splints! No time to waste! Sunita said that there’d be an event from three to five so we have to be quick!”
“And!” Raph interjected. “Everyone has to have their panic button on hand. We don’t know if they’re tryna capture anyone else and we’re not risking it. If anyone’s hurt, surrounded or downed, press the button. No heroes today. We get in, get Leo, get out, understood?”
“Yeah”, “Alright!”, “Understood”, “Very well!”. Everyone answered, the mentioned object in each of their hands just to confirm that they had it on their person.
“Perfect. Then let’s go!”
__________________________
The halls of the Yokai side of the hotel were nearly the same as the human side of it. Walls and carpet, the same eyesore, plastered with doors that, the lower they went in the hotel, the closer they were, indicating smaller rooms–not by much, though—in the floors closest to the ground. To the Hidden City.
Donatello scrunched his nose at the thought.
It was an interesting business model, following the human style and offering better rooms the higher they were. He’d investigated beforehand, and Big Mama went wild with the prices. She was, quote making it rain unquote with unsurprising ease for a dwindler like her.
Rooms that went from hundreds of dollars or coins and unicorns–whatever THAT was about–to thousands to close to a million the night.
Plus, the highest floors of the human side of the hotel were reserved for the richest of yokai.
That he knew from investigating the web page that had the penthouse permanently booked–just to coincidentally be free when checking the…ugh…mystic crystal ball.
Mystics. Disgusting.
Mystics didn’t make sense! Alchemy was on thin ice because it was similar enough to chemistry that it could pass as an actual science, but mystics? With the mystic cores, and ‘potencial’ and what-not.
He only put up with it because Mikey and April liked it and enjoyed indulging in such ludicrous, illogical, incongruous, stupid–
“You seem worked up. All good, Dee?” was what April asked him, resting two fingers lightly over his shoulder.
That was his cue to release the sharp breath he hadn’t noticed he intook.
“Yeah, yes. Just… overthinking,” he admitted with a small frown, the two painted eyebrows in his mask now diagonal, pointing at the crease in the middle of his forehead.
The older girl shook her head, rolling her eyes, the corner of her lips going up, one more than the other, into an expression that he registered as amused and fond, patting his battle shell as a sign to continue walking, which he did, bowing his head every so slightly as they entered a new zone—one he hadn’t seen in years. Since the first time he’d been in the hotel, in fact.
Donnie was glad that his support was April.
Yes, it’s because she’s his favorite sister—he currently does not care that he doesn’t have any other sisters. Yes, it’s because he sort of dislikes Casey Junior. Absolutely it’s because he finds it terribly awkward to go on an important mission with his father by his side, watching and judging his every move. Mostly, is because thanks to several undercover and secret adventures against the Purple Dragons, he and April got a perfect dynamic for combat and infiltration missions.
Now, he would’ve preferred if his team were dedicated to any of the other areas; probabilities claim that Leonardo would most likely be either close to Big Mama, in the human side of the hotel, or in the warrior dungeons of the Battle Nexus. It was highly unlikely that he’d be found in the Yokai side, considering that they knew enough yokai for it to be a downright stupid move, keeping Leo where someone might recognize him.
However, as the ‘IT’ guy—as Nardo commonly referred to him in an attempt to annoy him despite they both agreeing that IT guys were the coolest thanks to the long hours of listening to R slash Reddit stories—of the team, he had to be in the middle, in the Yokai zone, ready to ditch his spot and run to help either of his brothers and their respective teammates.
Despite the human following him around—since April had no past experiences in the Nexus, which meant she could only use her not-as-great-as-his memory to try to recall the layout, which meant she mostly stayed by his side—little to no Yokai paid any attention to them as they walked around the restaurant…bar? Entertainment? Casino? Area of the hotel.
The bright lights of the room, both flashing disco-like ones and the big lamps over pool and betting tables, the loud noises, boisterous laughing, cursing and general screams of various emotions he couldn’t pin, all condensed in an almost painful combination.
They received side eyes, impressed looks, sometimes passing comments that he did not bother listening to, but that was it. No security guards to try to escort them out, no giant dog yokai following their scent and trying to kill them, no Big Mama or her pesky assistant interrupting them.
No, no. It was calm. Surprisingly so. Suspiciously so.
For the time, it meant safety for both of them. Not so much for the other teams; statistically the fact that he and April hadn’t found a single staff member in charge of security meant that other spots of the Hotel, whether the Human side, the dungeons or the Battle Nexus, had to be swarmed.
“Donnie, look!” April nudged his arm.
He turned his head slightly, looking at her, then following from her head to her stretched arm into the direction she was pointing.
Of course, he looked at the closest thing; the biggest, created to drag the attention of patrons and clueless passerby alike. The giant screens that, like it was a mere soccer game to be streamed for the masses, showed a carnage in the Battle Nexus, blood and death, and yokais of great variety running around the space in search of weapons, or desperately looking for help. In some cases, looking for victims, too.
That had to be the special event Sunita had talked about when reporting her findings on the weekend program for the usage of the Nexus, a televised event that they assumed Leo wouldn’t be participating in because it would be shown on public tv—if the stupid crystal balls could even be called that.
Logically he knew that the event hadn’t been going for long. Primarily because, as April had stated before they entered the hotel, Sunita had explicitly told them when the event began and when it ended.
Still, even if he hadn’t known beforehand, he’d be able to guess that the event a had been going for little more than ten minutes; there were at least three dozen people stranded there; three dozen people alive, at least, because a few bodies and remains from warriors that fell early in the combat showed that those were not the only idiots to sign away their lives for glory.
Or to be kidnapped and forced in there.
If Big Mama wanted to keep him, showing him off on screen would not do.
And yet, what if she had? What if Leo was there?
His heart jumped in his chest, an uncomfortable twist as his eyes analyzed the entire arena looking for green, looking for his twin, who could’ve very easily been there, stuck, fighting for his life in a battle royale that should’ve belong only in stupid video games they hyper fixated in for a month and a half before jumping to the next.
Like a machine extracting data, line by line, left then right in rapid succession, check and double check, getting more and more agitated each time the damn angle changed along with the camera, to cover the next, bloodier scene of an injured humanoid creature with jet black broken and uncared for wings hindering their battle, standing over a dead body while wiping blood from their chin and twisting their hand ever so slightly to accommodate their grip on the saber they were holding onto.
Donnie didn’t care.
Blood was disgusting and usually, it would make him skittish, just the sight of it. But right now he didn’t care. He didn’t want to see the stupid yokai murdering people left and right for sport, he wanted to see the arena. He needed to see the arena. He needed to make sure–
“Donnie!” April hissed.
The softshell could feel the dumb expression, mouth agape and eyes wide open, with which he turned to look at his human sister, who pointed again.
Only this time, Donatello realized it wasn’t the screen April was pointing at. Hard to see, with at least thirty people in between, pool tables and a bar, in his line of sight just besides the mystic display.
Fortunately, it wasn’t Gus—the monstrous, not in an offensive way slash serious, yokai would’ve been quick to sniff him out and began a chase that Donnie had no time for–but it was Big Mama’s assistant.
Long-lost brother–apparently–dearest. Who had to have been involved in his twin’s disappearance.
Now, the relief that Donnie felt at the fact that April was pointedly not pointing at his idiot brother bleeding out on screen was something he’d take to his grave. On the other hand, he felt an overwhelming urge to test his latest, one hundred percent lethal–after a certain amount of discharge that he wouldn’t be using! Because he wasn’t a savage!.. sometimes... No, he’s not taking opinions, cash or credit only—invention on the unfortunate soul that he knows is complicit to the disappearance of his stupid dumb brother.
Hand tightening around the folded tech-bo, to the point the joints of his fingers hurt, the desire for revenge thumping against his chest like a rush of adrenaline.
April must have felt the same, because when he looked at her for permission to engage, ‘Commander O’neil’ shared his downright evil smirk, locking eyes with him and, in what Donnie could almost easily compare to his own, vague experiences with mind melding… basically telling him, ‘let’s fucking make that bastard regret taking our brother’.
Oh, yes, Donnie was glad that his support was April.
It took them the entirety of a second to fully face each other, a fist against a palm hitting three times before revealing scissors and stone. Donnie slumped his shoulders in defeat, not even bothering to see as April celebrated and went ahead by the left.
That left the right for Donnie.
No, that was absolutely not a joke.
Such a tortuous path, filled with the utterly disgusting sight of people.
But Donatello was a man of his word.
And by his word, he’d made anyone that hurt his family suffer, and he’d take the right path now that he lost rock paper scissors.
One last deep breath, and he went into the crowd, closing in on the dumbass who dared put a hand on his brother.
_______________
“So… how was Big Mama in the future?” Mikey asked, looking at the cups in a tea table carefully settled, one in front of the other, separated by a sugar bowl and a cream pourer, circling the rim of the empty light blue one with his finger, surprised to see that it seemed like it had been no long ago.
“Well,” Casey seemed to think about it for a second. “She was… fragile?” A low grunt came from him when he tried to move one of the hanging paintings, all of which were weirdly set in tilted positions, fixed in place if the lack of reaction from the framed object was any sort of clue.
Angelo turned to look at Junior, eyes open wide as plates and his mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. “Fragile? You telling me Big Mama is weak?!”
“Weak?” the human boy frowned, his face a perfect replica of the ‘raising an eyebrow’ emoji. “No, no. Not weak. She’s pretty strong. She’s just… fragile. Her health isn’t the best… is she not like that in the past—present?” He corrected himself by the end, blinking with genuine confusion.
Mikey let out an airy laugh. “Shell no. Anything but,” he paused, thinking about it. How would he describe Big Mama? “She’s… feminine. I like her suit. Donnie said that, at the very least, she’s got a nice sense of fashion and honestly, I can’t disagree,” he nodded repeatedly, to emphasize his thoughts.
Angelo let out a small gasp of surprise when he bumped his hip against the table, when trying to walk Big Mama’s desk, then pressed his lips into a thin line when he realized that the table did not move the slightest. It didn’t even budge the way you’d expect for a tea table; those were usually a bit on the lighter side, so Mikey would’ve thought it… you know, move!
Instead, it hurt his side a little. Was it fixed in place? With furrowed eyebrows that didn’t technically exist, he knelt by the side of the table to check.
“She’s also a little scary, you know? The first time we met her, she tricked us into capturing the oozequitos for her because she wanted to use it to create warriors for the Battle Nexus,” he pursed his lips, not knowing what to think of the obviously drilled foot of the table, firmly stuck to the carpeted floor. “And then she tricked us to keep a magic armor–have we told you about Shredder? Wait, don’t answer,” he continued, ignoring the boy, who opened his mouth to respond and just smiled softly with amusement at Mikey’s rambling. “Of course we told you about the Shredder. I bet Leo flaunted about becoming a Nexus Champion.”
That got a chuckle from Casey Junior, who remembered fondly the time Master Michelangelo told him the story of the Shredder, using his powers to illustrate the story. Golden colored figures danced around the air in his memory, the four heroes who slowed the Shredder’s return and then the ones that, along with their long heritage and fallen family members, finally defeated the man turned demon, returning his soul to the clan’s pantheon.
His smile quickly fell, though. No one had ever told him that Big Mama was involved in the matter.
“She actually tricked us twice about Shredder… and Raph told us she got some criminals to attack him… Man, now that I think about it–” Angelo cursed under his breath when, after trying to stand up, he slammed his head on the tea table’s border. Rubbing that spot, he jumped to his heels, balancing himself into a standing position. “What I mean is that she doesn’t really scream ‘fragile’ in any way!”
In a very similar way to Leo, Casey raised a hand to his chin, very intently thinking about it. “Well, Big Mama in my time wasn’t much of a fighter. She was very good at managing resources and dealing with other bases and factions whenever Sensei was busy in the field or dealing with something else—which was most of the time, really. Other than that, I was told that she was ill, and that’s why she didn’t join in recognition or security despite her abilities… I never knew what that illness was though,” he hummed, stepping back from the wall, finally giving up with the paintings. “Sensei and Master Donatello were the only ones that knew.”
Mikey hummed. Near the desk—right in front of it, actually—there were scuff marks. Like a chair had been dragged around, tarnishing both the carpet and the wooden desk, leaving behind only a piece of the story of whatever had transpired there.
Following the marks, there was a large spot in the carpet that was of a different shade of red, like it was bleached and dyed and whoever did the shabby work did not manage to match the color.
With the ball of his foot, he tapped the fluff, the corner of his lips twitching down. It didn’t feel different, or weird, but he got bad vibes from it. A terrible feeling that ran down his shell like claws rattling over the scales.
“Hey, Casey, does this seem weird to you?”
Junior looked at him without delay, his hands retreating from the next thing he began to examine—a lamp, near the spot where Mikey remembered the vault was supposed to be at—before skipping to that spot.
Tension sat on his shoulders, straightening into a soldier-like position.
“…it smells… like clean.”
“Suspiciously so, don’t you think?” Mikey popped his lips and kneeled by the edge of the oddly colored spot. “Like someone tried too hard to fix this part.”
“No, it smells like clean,” Casey insisted. “This is a very hard combination of substances. You don’t use this unless you want to get rid of something for good.”
Honestly, that made Angelo look up at the boy with a brow raised.
“Listen, mom—Cassandra knows a lot of weird things.”
“Does this have to do with the murder case you two solved two months ago?”
“I… maybe?”
To that, Mikey had nothing more to say.
It had been a fun little story at the time.
Apparently Casey senior had been trying to set up a space for her brownie girls in Spain when some guy began acting really weird around one of her new girls and she and Junior began to investigate him.
The guy had in fact been a creep, with a long list of victims that did not fit any particular group, which made it hard for him to get caught, if not for the highly trained ex-foot ninja and the future survivor boy that defeated the Kraang. Clearly he wasn’t ready for the Caseys, ready to kick ass and take names.
That video call had been recorded, if just to keep the graphic description by Casey of Junior casually snapping the guy’s knee to keep him from escaping justice.
“Well, what do you think she was trying to hide?” Mikey asked, standing once more, stretching his arms up his back with the best impression of a detective in his face that he could make.
“Well…” Casey trailed off for a second, sucking in his lips, very similar to Leo when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to actually say something, or when he thought that something that shouldn’t be funny was funny. “Murder?”
Mikey’s heart twisted a little.
No, no, Leo was alive. He would’ve felt it, he would’ve known–...
He swallowed, silently, looking away and marching back to Big Mama’s desk, deciding that he didn’t care anymore about whatever Big Mama had dropped there.
“Let’s not joke about that while we’re looking for Leo,” he mumbled, not seeing the realization in Casey’s face turn into regret.
“Sorry. Sensei’s bad habit of joking in terrible situations stuck a little I guess.”
That, on another hand, did make Angelo laugh a little. “Good to know he never changes.”
In response, Junior’s grimace transformed into a smile, warm and melancholic, one corner raised more than the other. “Yeah…”
There was a switch on the desk.
Dropped by the edge, in a violet case, clean—unlike the one he shared with Leo, that had a dirty, blue case covered in scuff marks and hand-made stickers whitened by use, scratched from their nails—with joystick pads colored light blue with cute paws.
Different documents littered across the wood, a fountain pen left behind and boring decorations that served no purpose but keeping appearances only emphasized the existence of the game console.
It did not seem like something Big Mama would use, and Mikey wondered if it was from the assistant.
‘Missing sister… brother? Sibling’, his head supplied, muffling the sounds of Casey searching for clues behind him.
Angelo hummed as he took the console in his hand, blinking once when his fingers slotted perfectly around the machine—it would have, anyways, but for some reason it felt so familiar—before booting it up, pressing the A button in quick succession until the starting screen welcomed him.
Ten percent battery, the last game played, pokemon Arceus. The game card was still in there, and despite having little to no hope of finding something important there, Mikey decided that it would do no harm to open the game.
Disappointment was a surprise for him, flooding his chest as he found out that the game hadn’t even been initiated, the starter screen of the pokemon deity calling a child for help making Mikey huff.
Of course, what was he expecting?
There was not a single reason for him to be so frustrated by an empty game.
Leo would’ve told him to follow his instinct, but his instincts were wrong, even for something as silly as this.
He closed the game, turned off the console and put it back where it had been.
“I don’t think there’s anything,” Junior called up to him from the door, already midway through the frame. “Come on, we should look around the rest of the floor.”
Mikey’s eyes lingered over the desk just a few more seconds, exhaling slowly before allowing himself to actually breathe.
He felt better, now, as he followed Junior.
There was no way Leo had been there.
____________
“In all my years alive, I never thought I’d be back here,” Pops’ admitted, mostly to himself, his voice low and nostalgic as the rat man looked around the dungeon.
The rocky interior left little to the imagination, long halls with metal doors that looked the way Raph imagined prisons or castle dungeons when he was small. A pungent smell of enclosed humidity, with a touch of blood. If he had to be honest, it smelled better than he’d expected. Maybe the aroma of rot, or feces, or death, but none of those ever reached his nose.
Their steps were light and still loud enough for them to echo across the dungeon. Trying to make as little sound as possible, and still failing, since the place’s lighting consisted of a few shiny stones every so often and holes in the dividing areas that shared a little of the city’s light.
A distant sound of running water kept them company, along with low grunts, shallow breathing, whining and the clanking of metal, none of those sounds louder than the tapping from their feet on the stone. The symmetrical–no, it wasn’t symmetrical, it was… angular? rectangular? Donnie would know the term, Raph couldn’t really remember–pattern on the ground felt strangely familiar, even when Raphael was sure that he’d never set foot in there.
There was a shine of something that Raph could only recognize because he’d been the one in Splinter’s mind when searching for a solution to their Shredder problem.
Fear, nostalgia, sadness, grief.
A ‘something’ that he could not put a name to, the complexity of it deepening the worry lines around his face.
Whether it was because of the anxiety of being back to the place that brought him suffering for a majority of his life, or because one of his sons might be there, in the same, powerless position he was once in, Raph didn’t know.
He’d heard little about dad’s time in captivity, most of it regarding his escape and how he ended in Draxum’s lab. Nothing about the years he was forced to fight, aside from a couple memories of Lou Jitsu basking in glory.
From what he heard, dad remembered Big Mama in both fond and bitter ways.
“Maybe it’s just the way she got in my head,” the short man's voice in a low murmur, as if reading Raph’s thoughts, startling the snapper enough to make him jump a little. “But I can’t get myself to hate her.”
All this time, Raph had been following Splinter, without even wondering if the man knows where they are.
Raph knows that dad knows.
Almost nineteen years and a deteriorating mind could not erase the past that clung to his father like claws from the yokai and creatures trapped in there, digging into his skin, leaving behind a bloody path.
Raph was the same.
Months had passed, and yet the feeling of being used as a puppet still haunted him, an overwhelming fear that sometimes woke him up in the middle of the night, fearing the phantom feeling of flesh-like vines stuck in his skin.
“She was, so, so good to me once,” Splinter mused, hand trailing over a random line on the wall as he led them somewhere. “A smart woman, brave, charming. Did I ever tell you that she once subdued a robber?”.
Raph raised his eyebrows with little surprise. He wasn’t very interested in the story, since most of his attention was on their surroundings, and his mind was on their missing brother. Still, he entertained his father, and asked. “Really?”
“Yes! yes,” a gravely laugh rattled from Splinter’s chest. “I was right by her side, a martial arts master, and when that poor kid closed on us with a knife, desperate for some quick cash, Gumo flipped him over her shoulder and put him in a chokehold. It was right then and there that I decided I would marry her,” the chuckling slowly died down, and the corner of his mouth fell with it, into a thin line and then into a grimace.
‘Champion’s row’ read the sign at the entrance of a circular room.
“Red, my son,” Splinter murmured, raising his chin to look at their surroundings with a pained expression. “Do not be like your foolish father, who would forgive that woman if only she asked.”
Raph couldn’t help but wince. “Pops–” he attempted to console him, or reason with him, anything other than just letting the sharp words that his father sent to himself float in the air.
The rat man raised his right hand, however, to silence him, as they entered the deepest place in the dungeons.
Much cleaner than the rest of it, although the coppery smell lingered in the air.
Splinter’s tail flickered, a telltale that something had annoyed or surprised him.
To Raph’s surprise, his father straightened and looked around, trying to identify something, then dashed to one of the doors, with a worn out plaque right in the middle which only readable letters were ‘Lou’ by the start, the face of his father white from fear that Raphael did not understand.
His father wasted no time using his speed to walk on the door until he reached the small barred window, hands latched on the bars as an anchor. His breath hitched, the little gasp making Raph panic.
It was in that panicked state that he heard it, the whimpers of something or someone, pained and short, as if trying to breathe and forgetting how to.
The snapper quickly ran, almost tripping on his feet as he followed the rat’s steps and reached the cell’s door and observed from over his father’s shoulder, praying, begging, please, please don’t be Leo, please anyone but Leo, he could not see his little brother like that, he could not, not again, it couldn’t—
Any other time, Raph might have felt guilty at the way relief flooded his chest, making him release a breath that he didn’t even know he was holding at the sight of some sort of… weird… ugly large creature, with uneven teeth and fangs, and half lidded fully red eyes that made him look sort of sicklish. A bunch of tentacles came from his back, most bandaged at short ends and the very few that were complete looked pale in comparison to the rest of his skin, lying limp on the ground.
More than that, he was covered in old bruises and scratches, like someone had grabbed a stick and slammed it against the creature for hours and then left him there to die.
“...This… This is the yokai that Blue and I defeated,” Pops’ managed to say, his voice shaky, low, adding to the horrendous scene.
Recognition flashed through the turtle’s eyes, because now he remembered.
Leon had described the battle as ‘easy’. He had waved his hand around excitedly while Raph and Mikey set the table for dinner, Donnie too busy on his gauntlet checking loses for his tech and Splinter asleep over his side of the table, snoring loudly.
“He was soooo big,” the slider opened his arms wide to try to exemplify how big the creature had been, and fell short because of his own size. “Sharpest teeth I’ve seen. Your snaggletooth has nothing on it,” he ignored the small protest of ‘leave my snaggletooth out of this you kook’ and continued, making fight-like motions against the air. “He had so many tentacles, but he was no match for me and dad!”
“Dad and I,” Donnie corrected, absentmindedly, his fingertips rapidly clashing against the device in his arm.
And, in true Leo fashion, the blue cladded twin had smirked as smugly as mutantly possible, proud that his brother had run straight into that trap. “Not really, because you weren’t there, Dee.”
Fondness turned into grief as he remembered how Donatello had risen from his seat and persecuted Leo. He didn’t understand why. He should be glad.
Leo wasn’t in the dungeon.
This… yokai, on the other side.
Man, he hadn’t really believed Leo when the slider described him. His little brother had a flair for the dramatics, so Raph didn’t think twice when Donnie waved his hand in dismissal and pretty much declared that Leo had to have been exaggerating to look better in front of them after taking so long on getting the necklace. It would’ve been such a Leo thing to do that at the time, he’d easily accepted Donnie’s assumption as true and forgot all about it.
Now that he saw the creature with his own eyes, the sheer size of it, and the vestiges of what happened years ago, Raphael can’t help but wonder how he could’ve ever doubted Leo.
Yeah, their brother was dramatic, but he wasn’t a liar-not when it really mattered at least-, and he was smart.
Besides, their father never confirmed or disproved the slider’s story. Had this played into their father’s decision to turn Leo into the leader?
Raph had been a bit doubtful at the beginning, but the more Leo grew into his position, the more he learnt and accepted and listened… The more Raph discovered about the young turtle… Well, just to say that Raph wholly understood why the change had happened, and he was more and more comfortable and happy about it.
The responsibility had been crushing.
Still was, now that he was back in the leadership role until they found Leo.
“...Let’s continue,” Raph patted his father’s shoulder, who looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“...How long has he been here?”
‘It’s been years since we defeated him,’ Splinter wanted to say. ‘Has he been in here this whole time?’ was what he really meant.
“Pops. Come on, we gotta find Leo…” the snapper insisted, placing a hand over Splinter’s head with a little more force than usual, making the elder drop his grip and roll into the ground, his eyes still fixated on the metal door.
“No, no,” the man mumbled to himself, shame and denial dripping from his words.
Raph knew that it wasn’t about his insistence, but rather, incredulity about the state of the yokai that Pops had battled alongside Leonardo all those years ago.
Aware that his father was a little out of it, Raphael sighed and placed a hand in his back, silently and carefully guiding him to the exit, making a point to use his height to his advantage and, on their way out, look over the small windows to make sure that his brother wasn’t in any of the other cells.
He wasn’t, and none of the two empty cells had a name he could recognize, so he was content leaving that terrible place behind in favor of looking in another zone for his missing little brother.
_______________
The red wall thumped loudly as the assistant was slammed against it, their—his?— back sliding slowly down until they—he—reached the ground with a silent grunt, buzzing with electricity shot from Donnie’s weapon, the slight smell of an electric burn and faint sight of smoke leaving his armor.
Donnie swung his tech bo a couple of times before pointing it to the ground, slightly backwards, raising his chin with a smug smile.
Behind him, April huffed when she landed into a ‘superhero pose’, supporting her weight with her mystic bat and using it too to stand before walking to his side.
Their shadows covered the masked yokai—technically his brother, if the information that reached him was accurate, not that he cared about technicality in the face of a loved one in danger.
Genetics mattered not to him; for all his love for logic he was weak to filial bonds formed by the many years living in proximity. The rest of the world could burn as long as the people he held dear were okay.
His—as in the assistant’s—face pointed to the ground, and the only bit visible from him that was not armor, was part of his leg, uncovered by a small rip won in their combat.
To be fair to him, his ability in combat was… splendid. Mid diff. Another person would’ve failed and likely perished in combat against the assistant, but Donnie had not gone hand to hand against evil magic—ugh—armors and evil cults and aliens to lose to a well trained secretary.
Plus, his form was all wrong! Not in the sense that it was badly done, but in the sense that it didn’t match their physical advantages. Moving and bashing around like they wore a bigger body when Leo’s or Donnie’s battle style would suit him better. He was only letting himself open for attacks when trying to do more damage for a frame that did not hold the endurance a big hitter or a tank needed!
Now, admittedly, a no-weapon combat would’ve put Donnie at a disadvantage. But the assistant had been foolish, trying to use his sharp golden claws—which didn’t fit his fighting style either, Einstein above!!— to fight against April’s and his mid-range weapons.
It was no surprise that he ended up cornered.
And Donnie would’ve boasted about it had his priorities not been set in the burning stone that was his heart at the time, and instead, swung the bo staff once more, the opposite end of the tech bo set against the assistant’s neck.
“I’m gonna ask once. Where is my brother?” He questioned in the coldest tone he can muster.
He did not answer.
Instead of responding, he tilted his head to the side and looked slightly up.
The mask covered his face, leaving nothing exposed for Donatello to go through his recollection on expressions and intentions, but Donnie still felt mocked for some reason, and he grit his teeth before sliding his hand towards the middle of the staff, using the new position to walk closer to the assistant, kneeling in front of him with bared teeth that made Donnie’s jaw click with the strength he used, pressing the Bo staff harder against the assistant’s neck to the point that they coughed, making April put a hand over Donnie’s shoulder in a silent request to calm down. In a silent request to reduce the pressure, he quickly followed the unspoken instruction.
“I know you know exactly who I’m talking about, and I know he’s not at the event.” He rolled the staff once more, slamming the back end on the ground. “So where. Is. He?”
Instead of replying, the assistant lowered his face again in the best act of rebellion he could do in his situation, hanging his head low and steady, huffing loud enough that it made the corners of Donnie’s lips twitch with irritation.
“Listen here, you coward, moronic, fatuous amalgam of a intracellular organisms found only in feculence, if you don’t begin singing, I swear on all brilliant minds from this planet alone–” with each of his words, the shiny purple construct behind him doubled in size, more and more weapons that he designed by himself in seconds, all blueprints running in his mind like flashing lights, filling the hallway in his trademark purple, snaring at the bastard in front of him. “—that I’m going to kill you.”
“Donnie,” April warned him, with that tone of voice she usually used when done with someone’s bullshit. She, however, made not a single move to stop him. “Heroes don’t kill,” she hummed, all her weight over her bat as she hummed her words, balancing her chin over her choice weapon, seemingly unpreoccupied by the viciousness in his expression.
That, honestly, made Donnie smile.
A feral grin and a small chuckle that would’ve had Leo screaming of demon possession.
You see, Donnie was not a hero.
By the definition of the word, he—his whole family really—was technically a vigilante, but legal terms aside, his family was a family of heroes.
Raph definitely was. Mikey too, despite his tendency to go for the throat whenever something he loved was threatened. Leo was, too, despite boldly threading the line between morality and immorality with the confidence of a man that knew he’d be caught if he slipped and fell from the tightrope.
He, Hamato Donatello, resident genius and father of one AI, fell better in the anti-hero category.
Yeah, fine, he saved the world, and he enjoyed fighting villains all the time. At the beginning it was for the delusion of fame and power. Then, it was the fact that he was an adrenaline junkie and he enjoyed fighting without the consequences of being judged or arrested. The fact that he was one of the idiots that lived in planet earth, a unfortunate place constantly endangered by crazy spirits from the past millennia, and alien overlords that he would’ve preferred stayed in scifi movies, definitely inflicted in his choice to play hero.
Of course it was the ego-boost. Of course it was the recognition they sometimes got in the streets of the human and yokai sides of the city alike.
However, Donnie’s moral compass depended completely on his family.
On Raph’s need to be a hero, on Leo’s—relative—common sense, on Mikey’s goodwill and tender heart.
Otherwise, his approach towards crime-fighting would be substantially more violent.
Otherwise, he really didn’t care.
Fine, he was bluffing a little about murder—he was most definitely not ready for the cleanup of the slimy parts, and April would be upset—but everything else was free game, and the spoken threat of bodily harm was within what he considered a reasonable reaction.
He felt it before he saw it.
Just after he laughed out loud over April’s comment,, he decided to turn towards his sister to make a timely remark. to put on the table what he knew were just facts, what he wasn’t afraid to admit, and the only clue that something was amiss was the surprise in the human’s face, then the shift in the air.
There was barely enough time to place the staff in between the assailant and him, and he used that chance to push back, pressing a knee against a soft spot in their armor that caused the assistant to hiss in pain, forcing a slip in their unmovable posture and putting them in a chokehold against the wall, the hands of the assistant trembling as he struggled to make space in between his neck and Donnie’s staff.
“Hah, you would rather try to fight back and perish like a filthy dog rather than give me my brother back?” came the low growl from deep inside his chest. “Fine.” One of the constructs he’d formed clicked, and after that one, little by little, the rest followed. “Who am I to—”
Over his stomach, the panic button began buzzing and flickering, startling him enough to loosen his grip on the weapon, giving the assistant a small frame of time to push back and send him tumbling to the ground, the dozen of constructs disintegrating as he opened his mouth with surprise as he fell to his butt, blinking once as he saw April take his place, standing over him in a protective stance, the tip of her flaring bat pointed at the face of the assistant, who took a step back in response.
“Do not move,” April said, jaw set in place, turning her head slightly back, enough to look at Donnie from the corner of her eye. “What happened?”
That was something he’d love to know, too.
The panic button activating on his own could only mean that one of his brothers and their designated team member had misfortune befall on them, and it meant that he had to drop the interrogation and play his part as reinforcements.
Alas, there was a small issue.
“…it seems like one of our beloved brothers found themselves trouble,”
April's grip on her weapon faltered, not enough to make her drop it but enough that she had to lower it a little, the menacing streak disappearing, because she knew as well as him what that meant.
“So we…”
“Yes, we must.”
“Fuck,” she cursed under her breath, looking away and raising her head to the ceiling in a show of exasperation.
Because they had already shown themselves, guns blazing and threatening who they assumed was Big Mama’s right hand man, expecting to get the information they needed, it meant that they had a witness. It meant that they needed to find Leo that same day, because they’d thrown caution and stealth out the window and revealed that they had infiltrated the hotel. If Big Mama found out they had entered her territory, she would make it more difficult for them to find their brother.
Security increased, their unspoken treaty broken. They’d lose their opportunity to get Leo, to find where in the world his twin was.
Teeth grit, his grip around the tech bo tightening as he considered their options.
Even if they knocked the assistant out to keep them from interfering, the probabilities that some worker found him and sent an alert were really high. So they wouldn’t be able to search for Leo after going to support their family.
On the other side, dragging the assistant along with them would only slow them down.
Yet, letting assistant go would not do them any good. As soon as they were out of sight, he’d be foolish not to use it to their advantage and call for reinforcement.
Acting on their own had put them at a disadvantage.
He’d committed a great mistake. In his desperation to get his missing brother back he had endangered the mission.
In his mind, all possibilities ran down the waterfall of plans. Every single thing that could happen based on his decisions.
But he wasn’t a strategist. Probability means nothing if he could not account for the emotional response and or delay of employees, guards or, Tesla forbids, Big Mama. Probability did not account for the human–nor yokai–factor.
He rolls up, squatting in the ground while analyzing his next move.
Donnie knew what he had to do.
He needed more time.
They needed to find Leo, they had to.
This was the only chance they’d get to rescue him at a mid-low level difficulty.
There was no ‘messing up’.
His eyes locked with the assistant’s, mismatched irises digging onto the empty void of the mask.
“…Well, no one can say I did not give you a chance,” was all he said, before pulling up and rolling his bo staff once more in his hand, April forming a wide ‘o’ with her mouth before springing away, leaving an open path for him as he swung with all his strength towards his head.
Notes:
HAHAHA so it's been almost A YEAR.
No this isn't abandoned.
I'm still writing chapter 11 so I'm gonna take some time before continuing lol.Writers curse and all, sigh.
Turns out a friend passed away, so I took some time from writing, but then I graduated and ended up working in costumer service (FUCKING SUCKS, PEOPLE ARE SO ENTITLED AND RUDE) and it's a 9-5 job in which we're not allowed to use the phone or use anything but the apps to work so I can't even pass time in there by writing or anything! And then around October I went in for a surgery because my throat was swollen to a dangerous degree, and that went badly because two weeks into healing the surgery scar opened and I was bleeding out at 2 am.
Then I got a dog! His name is Sargento! He got intoxicated with a toad last week so you know this dumbass is a pain to take care of, but I love him so much.
I ended up fixating on Dandy's world, so now I have an art tiktok? Might post rottmnt stuff there later, I got an animatic I gotta clean up lol.So yeah. Life's hectic. But I saw LFLS get updated and decided that hey, this one needed to come out too haha.
Unfortunately (because I do need the job) my contract ends in like a month and a half, so I'll be back to writing soon.If anyone likes DW Moonberrycake, please expect a fic for them soon!
Once more, really sorry for the delay, this isn't abandoned, I just hit a block and it's been hard to get over it, but I absolutely do want to finish this even if it takes me years to do so.
Hope y'all like it, and have a great week!
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