Bitter Venom
Thunder rolled ominously in the distance promising a deluge soon to come, most people had heeded the thunders warning. Ducking into their homes, cars, or offices to escape the approaching storm, all except for a certain shell backed teen. He raced across the roof tops with powerful, angry strides that dared the oncoming storm to bring on its worst. After making a particularly high jump and managing to clear the roof top, the runner trotted over to the opposite side of the roof before coming to a stop and catching his breath. Blue bandana tails twisted in the building winds as Leo got control over his heavy breathing, his blue gray eyes narrowed as he glared at the city lights. Thunder rolled over head reminding him of the approaching storm, he looked up at the clouds as they churned and twisted as if to mimic his emotions. A cool wind blew over him but he fought down the urge to shiver, he was out here to cool down any ways.
Just over an hour ago he and Raph had another one of their famous go 'rounds, the reason for today's episode? Raph was not going on the mission. To be fair neither one of the oldest turtles were supposed to go out on the mission, April and Casey had specifically requested that only Donnie and Mikey go with them to retrieve four canisters of mutagen that had been found in April and Casey's high school. Apparently Mikey and Donnie would be easy to disguise and slip into the school as they seemed to fit two typical social standards in high school, the social butterfly that everyone wants to hang around, and the off the charts smart guy who everyone asked to do their homework. The two humans had even been able to find them disguises to match, how they had managed that was beyond Leo.
Of course Raph had been less than thrilled about being left behind and made that very well known. Leo had tried to reason with his hot tempered brother but that soon turned into a shouting match of who was right and who was wrong. In the end master Splinter had to intervene as his sons were about to come to blows. His words still rang in Leo's head.
"I am very disappointed in you Leonardo, as the leader of your brothers you should know better than to resort to violence as a way to resolve quarrels." The reprimanding tone and disappoint in his eyes had torn up the young leader worse than any fight with the kraang or Shredders goons. He ground his teeth together and clenched his fists; it was not his fault that the argument had spiraled out of control.
"Why am I the one who gets in trouble for the fights Raph starts? I mean it's not like I go look for a fight with him, I just always wind up getting dragged into them! It's just not fair!" Leo's voice rose with every word as he vented his frustration to the sky. Thunder rolled in response to his angry words as if to emphasize them and agree with him. A brief glow illuminated the horizon, Leo could see the distant bolts of lightning as they twisted and turned like angry dragons. Sighing in frustration Leo turned and started back the way he had come, Master Splinter would be wondering what was keeping him out and he had an extra meditation practice.
He had just made across the first building when he got a tingling feeling on the back of his neck, the kind of tingle that screams the word, "Duck!" and Leo did just that. He quickly tucked and rolled before popping up into a fighting stance, his katana blades drawn and at the ready. Thirty Foot bots surrounded him in a layered circle, they chirped and shrieked as their weapons sprung out.
"Well, well, well, the fearless Leader off on his own? It must be my lucky day!" Fishface hissed gleefully as he appeared out of the crowd of robots. Leo growled softly to himself as his situation went from difficult to borderline life threatening. Lightning flashed and Leo felt his stomach tighten with worry, in the brief flash of light he had noticed something different about the mutant fish. His fangs gleamed with an odd amber sheen and there were a pair of gauntlets on his arms that looked like they were pumping something into the fish. Whatever it was gave him a major ego and confidence boost which did little to ease Leo's worries.
"What do you want Fish Breath?" Leo snarled. Fishface just laughed as he circled the blue clad turtle who followed his movements while trying not to give the foot bots an opening for an attack.
"Since you asked I will admit that I would have preferred your hot tempered brother but you will do just fine. I received a gift from Shredder and he made it very clear I was to Share it with you and your brothers." The words Shredder and gift in the same sentence went together as oil and water, Leo felt his muscles grow tight with anxiety. Whatever this gift was he did not plan on sticking around to find out what it was.
"Sorry but I will have to decline his less than generous gesture towards my untimely demise." Leo said with feigned regret. He darted right then leaped at the ninja on his left, thanks to the circling he had discovered there were human ninja mixed in with the robot ones. Leo twisted to the side and reached for his swords to cut down the ninja, but Fishface was faster and kicked Leo squarely in the chest, his ribs groaned but thankfully did not break from the impact. Leo landed hard on his side, rolling to his feet he spat out a bit of blood and glared at the mutant fish, or at least he would have if the fish had been where he was. Another kick from behind sent Leo sprawling on his front, he struggled to get up and had barely gotten to his hands and knees when the pronged robotic feet bit into his left side. Leo cried out in pain this time as his shell slammed into the brick with a loud crack, two large puncture wounds on his side oozed dark red blood. Leo struggled to get up to try and defend himself but a webbed hand grabbed him by the throat and lifted him easily off the ground.
"This is from me!" Fishface hissed with glee as he took his switch blade and sliced it across Leo's chest, "And this is from Shredder!" Fishface sank his fangs deep into Leo's shoulder. The blue masked turtle screamed in pain, it felt like acid being poured into an open wound. Satisfied the mutant fish dropped him and gave him another kick in the gut before walking off with the crowd of ninjas, the gift had been delivered. Leo lay gasping for breath, his vision was blurry and growing darker by the second. He needed help but Donnie and Mikey were out of phone range, the only one he could contact was still in the lair fuming. The rain increased its relentless pounding and a strong gust of cold wind blew over the injured turtle as he lay on the roof, Leo shivered and exercised all of his will power to get his hand to cooperate and grab his T-phone. Know he would never be able to say anything helpful to his brother Leo pressed the emergency button and succumbed to bitter unconsciousness.
Raph was flipping through the few channels they got on the T.V. in the lair, it was more than safe to say that he was bored out of his shell. Ever since his fight with Leo a few hours ago he had been content to beat the literal stuffing out of the punching bag until Master Splinter said otherwise, then he had tried to busy himself with other activities. He had almost beat Leo's high score on the video games but it was not as much fun without his older brother, now he was lounging on his shell wishing Leo was here so that he would have someone to spar with.
"I probably would have someone to spar with if I hadn't blown up tonight." Raph muttered to himself. Sighing Raph turned off the T.V. and went to his room to see if closing his eyes for a while would help. He entered his typically dark room to find his T-phone on and beeping shrilly. Raph felt his heart start to pound in his plastron, the phone was beeping in response to one of his brothers making a last ditch call for help. Raph raced over to his bed and picked up the phone making sure that it was homing in on his brothers location was being transmitted. The GPS was working perfectly which helped to ease Raph's mind just a bit, he bolted out of the room and raced into Donnie's lab. Once there he started gathering items that he might need to help his sibling in distress and throwing them into a back pack. Raph mentally ticked off the items on his list until he was sure he had everything he needed plus a few extra weapons. Once everything had been collected Raph ran to the Shell Raiser and pulled out the stealth bike, it would get him to his brother faster and it was big enough to carry him and whichever sibling was hurt. He knew it was only one of his brothers because there was only one signal transmitting and Donnie's transmitters never failed, not that he would ever say that out loud.
"Raphael, where are you going?" Master Splinter asked appearing next to the Shell Raiser.
"One of my brothers is in trouble, I'm gonna go find them before they get waxed." Raph said with a determined growl. Master Splinter nodded his consent and Raph raced off to get the back pack and his helmet, he was about to take off when his sensei's paw appeared on his shoulder.
"Where is Leonardo?" he asked softly. There was a hint of worry in the ninja masters voice.
"I'm not sure Sensei, as soon as I take care of my hurt brother I will find him." Raph promised. Revving the engines Raph took off down the subway tunnel, it only took him a few minutes to reach the end of the abandoned tunnel and hit the dark streets of Manhattan. Checking the GPS on his phone Raph roared up the streets as the rain pelted him in an icey torrent. As he rounded another corner Raph checked the GPS one more time, he was almost at his destination when he noticed that something was off. This was not the route Mikey and Donnie had taken, they were on the other side of the city; this was closer the Shredders HQ. Gunning the engines Raph hurtled around the next corner and screeched to a stop beside a fire escape, grabbing his back pack Raph raced up the rusted metal like a turtle possessed. The wind and rain whipped around him in a frenzy as he threw himself over the edge of the building.
"Guys where are you?!" Raph yelled over the wind. The curtain of rain was making it very difficult to see anything and the howling of the wind plus the thunder drowned out any noise. Lightning flashed illuminating his surrounding, including the limp green figure lying on its side in the rain. Raph's breath caught in his throat as a second bolt showed him the dark blue bandana that rested around the closed eyes of his oldest brother.
"Leo!" Raph called out as he ran to his brother. Falling to his knees he noticed Leo's T-phone in his hand with the panic symbol flashing brightly. Raph looked over his fallen brother and immediately noticed the two puncture wounds on his side, the slash on his chest, and what looked like a bite on his right shoulder. "What happened to you bro?" Raph whispered. Thunder rolled over head reminding him of their current situation, he couldn't treat his brothers wounds in the rain. "Come on, let's get you home." Raph placed his brother in a fire-man's carry on his shoulders and placed his fallen katana in his belt with the back pack. It took an agonizing five minutes for Raph to make it down the fire escape but he made down safely without jostling Leo too much. He settled into the stealth bike once more with Leo in his lap, his brothers head rested against his shoulder and Raph noticed that Leo's breathing was a little raspy. Growling and swearing revenge on the sick jerk that beat up his brother Raph gunned the bike and headed for home. Taking back roads and short cuts Raph cut his time in reaching the abandoned tunnel in half but it still felt twice as long to him. Leo's wounds were still oozing blood and he was shivering from the cold, Raph opened the throttle wide and thundered down the subway tunnel.
The tires of the stealth bike screeched outside of the lair as Raph ground the brakes to halt, Donnie would kill him later for that. He had barely cut the engine before leaping out with his brother in his arms carrying him bridal style into the lair, he knew that Splinter had heard them come home from the bikes engines. Running into the lab Raph gently set Leo down on a cot before running off only to return with thick blankets and a pillow. He gently he lifted Leo's head then laid it back down on the soft pillow then he covered his legs with one of the blankets. He had just started cleaning the wounds when Splinter entered the room.
"Raphael, did you find your brothers?" Splinter asked.
"Mikey and Donnie are fine Sensei, it was Leo the sent the emergency signal." Raph told him. Fear and guilt were laced thickly in his voice, Splinter felt his ears droop a bit at the sound of his strongest sons voice. He knew Raph was blaming himself for what had happened to his brother.
"Let me see him." He said gently coming to stand by Raph. The red banded turtle moved up by Leo's head and rested a hand on his left shoulder while he watched his father work with worried green eyes. Splinter skillfully cleaned the wounds and start stitching up the punctures on Leo's sides and plastron, Leo would hiss softly as his wounds were cleaned and stitched. Raph tried to soothe Leo by drying him off with a soft towel on his sore limbs, he felt relieved when he felt warmth returning to his skin but something was bugging him. If Leo was warming up why was he still pale, shivering, and having some trouble breathing? Laying a hand on Leo's forehead he noticed that it was not natural warmth but fevered heat that rose off of Leo's skin. A low moan escaped the blue masked turtle as he opened his eyes.
"Raph." He whispered hoarsely.
"Easy big brother, you're beat up pretty badly and it looks like you've got a fever from being out in the rain for so long. I'm sorry for not getting to you sooner." Raph said laying his hand back onto Leo's shoulder, he was surprised when Leo reached up and gripped his hand. The young leaders normally strong grip was much weaker and his hand shook alarming his younger brother.
"S'ok." He said before erupting into a heavy coughing fit after which his body stiffened before relaxing.
"Don't talk, just try to rest ok? The last thing we need is you getting sick." Raph said patting his shoulder.
"Not sick….Fishface…bit me….new venom…..from…Shredder." Leo gasped as his eyes fluttered closed and his body stiffened and shook.
"What does he mean Raphael?" Splinter demanded.
"Fishface is one of Shredders goons, he's a giant venomous fish mutant. He bit me once but the symptoms were nothing like this. I was off in loonyville thinking Mikey was some kind of genius, Leo is not acting like that." Raph said as Leo started gasping for breath and breaking out in a heavy sweat, his body seized again for a longer period of time making his breathing even worse. Raph saw his sensei study Leo with a trained eye, Splinters eyes widened and his ears flattened in worry.
"Raphael, do you know if Donatello keeps any active charcoal in his medical supplies?" Splinter asked. Raph nodded, "Go fetch them quickly! And bring any equipment that will help your brother breathe, Go!" Raph jumped at the urgency in his sensei's voice and tore into Donnie's medical supplies. He grabbed a bottle of active charcoal and the breathing mask before racing back over to his sensei and brother who had started convulsing on the cot. "Draw out the charcoal and then inject it near the bite wound quickly!" Splinter ordered. Raph did as he was told with shaky hands, he would have preferred Splinter to do this but he was holding down Leo and speaking to him trying to sooth him. Raph flinched as Leo hissed in pain when he injected the charcoal near his bite wound, once that was done he placed the breathing mask over Leo's face. He felt some relief when Leo stopped convulsing thanks to the extra oxygen he could not get on his own.
"Sensei, what's wrong with him?" Raph asked sitting beside Leo not taking his eyes off of his older brother.
"The one you call Fishface injected him with Puffer fish venom. It is one of the deadliest toxins in the world being able to kill in a time span of seventeen minutes to six hours. Luckily being out in the cold slowed down your brothers heart rate which slowed his flow of blood and kept the toxins from rushing through his system too quickly." Splinter said worry still lacing his voice, "He is far from out of the woods however, the active charcoals should start negating the poison but I am afraid there is no cure for the venom. Leonardo will have to survive it on his own strength which has been severely depleted from being out in the cold."
"Are you saying that Leo is gonna die?" Raph asked. There was growl in his tone but it was one of fear not anger.
"I did not say that, however it is still a possibility." Splinter said looking sadly at his oldet son who was still struggling for breath even with the mask on. "I will be in the dojo meditating, come and get me if Leonardo shows any sign of change, good or bad." The wise rat told Raph, he laid a comforting hand on his shoulder before stepping out of the room. Raph watched his sensei leave before turning back to Leo, the only time he had felt this useless was when they had left Leo in the technodrome and watched it crash. He turned his gaze back to Leo when the blue masked turtle took a rattling, gasping breath.
"This is all my fault, if I hadn't argued with you earlier you wouldn't have gone out on that run only to wind up in here like this." Raph said laying his arms on the cot and resting his head on them. He thought about how things might have turned out if he had not argued with Leo. They could have had a video game tournament without Mikey to hog them games, watched movies without Donnie's commentary on every detail, and if they got bored there the dojo just begging for them to go spar and have a good time. No competitions, no rivalry, just two brothers wrestling and having a good time. A smile started to inch across his face but it quickly disappeared Leo gasped for air again and gave a pained whimper. Raph reached out and rubbed his uninjured shoulder trying to comfort his leader, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Leo did relax a bit. Leo's face twisted in discomfort and he tried to shift a little, Raph moved to hold him down fearing more convulsions when he spotted the source of the discomfort. Leo's twin swords were still strapped tight to his shell. Face palming Raph carefully sat his brother up leaning him against his slightly broader shoulder while he removed the swords.
"Boy tonight is just my night isn't it? First I argue with you, then I take forever to come and find you, then I lay you on a bed with your swords digging into your back. I will not blame you if you want to beat the green off of me when you wake up." Raph muttered to Leo who had forced his cloudy eyes open as he was brought to a sitting position. He heard every word Raph said and was more than tempted to 'beat the green' off of his younger brother, the self-guilt trip was his thing. Forcing his tired body to work Leo left arm so that it reached up and gripped Raph's arm that was holding him up.
"Leo?" Raph whispered as his pale brother squeezed his arm. The pressure grew slightly and Leo leaned on him a bit more his breathing getting rougher, "Hey, enough of that! The last thing I need is you killing yourself trying to make me feel better!" he said with a soft growl as he laid his brother back down. He could not stop the small jump of surprise at seeing his brothers eyes open ever so slightly.
"Don't you dare." Raph said shushing his brother before he could try and say something, "I know what you are going are going to say Leo and yes I have just as much right to blame myself right now as you do every time you think we fail at something." Leo may have been poisoned and beyond exhausted but he still managed to give Raph 'The Look', this made Raph chuckle. Leo started to smile but another coughing fit interrupted him, Raph rubbed his shoulder again and placed a cold cloth on his head as the fit subsided.
It was at least two and a half hours before Leo started to breathe easier and his fever broke. Raph had practically dragged Splinter into the lab and the ninja master had declared that Leo would make a full recovery. The blue masked turtle smiled in a happy tired fashion as his father left the room with a relaxed smile on his face, Leo shifted his gaze to Raph who looked relieved and had a smile on his face to. He turned to leave and let Leo rest when a voice stopped him.
"Hey Raph, would you mind helping me into the living room?" Leo asked. His voice was raspy and soft from all of the coughing trouble breathing.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping Leo?" Raph asked.
"Why would I be sleeping?" Leo asked raising an eye ridge.
"Oh I don't know, fighting for your life while a poison with no cure runs through your body and then finally getting the all clear sounds like a good reason to me." Raph said folding his arms over his chest.
"But if I fell asleep then I wouldn't be able to show you how to beat Mikey's high score on the video games. Every. Single. Time." Leo said emphasizing the last part irresistibly.
"If you thing I am going to let you train or anything like that you have another-! Wait, what did you say?" Raph asked now curious.
"You heard me." Leo laughed. Raph glared at him while he mulled over his thoughts.
"Fine, but as soon as you show me that trick you are going to bed!" he said firmly.
"Ok, ok, I promise I will get some rest after this." Leo said as Raph gently helped him to his feet.
"So what brought this on any way?" Raph asked as they settled down and turned on the game. Leo was silent for a minute looking a little uncomfortable, finally after a shaky breath he spoke.
"This is my way of saying I'm sorry for that fight earlier. Instead of yelling at you I could have suggested that you and I go for a patrol run or just hang out here in the Lair. You know, something fun, relaxing, what we normally don't have time for." Leo said. His voice was hoarse but still it conveyed a lot of emotion, "Oh by the way if you shoot the boss at the next level like this, it automatically gives you two extra lives." Leo demonstrated for his stunned brother.
"Wow, is it really that easy to just get extra lives? Man if I had known that I would have creamed Mikey ages ago! And as for the fight, I am sorry too, that was pretty dumb of me to blow up like that." Raph said giving him an apologetic smile. Leo smiled in return and watched as Raph played, grinning every time he got rid of the enemy and gained an extra life. They stayed like that for another two hours just laughing, joking (mostly about Mikey when he played the game), and enjoying being brothers. It was nearly midnight when Leo's exhaustion started to take its toll on him, he felt his legs shake and his vision started to swim as he and Raph headed towards the kitchen to set up a trap for Mikey. He tried to call out to Raph for help but his voice had up and disappeared, bracing himself for a painful landing Leo allowed his eye lids to win their fight to close out the world. The impact on the floor never came, forcing his tired eyes open Leo saw his brother looking down at him with a small smile.
"I was wondering when this would happen, come on Fearless let's put you to bed." Raph said lifting Leo onto his shell. Leo let his head sag onto Raph's shoulder as his eyes drifted shut again. By the time they got to his room Leo was fast asleep, Raph carefully shifted him off of his shell and into his bed tucking him in with the soft comforters. Leo sighed contentedly and sank deeper into the bed, just watching him made Raph sleepy. Rubbing his eyes Raph realized how tired he was but hey watching your brother as he fought to live while your stress levels reached unhealthy levels would floor anybody. He started towards his own room but stopped right outside the door, he stared at the floor for a minute before turning around and shuffling back the way he had come. Slipping back into Leo's room he ducked under the covers and curled up next to Leo, he knew that Leo was going to be ok but one could never be too careful when dealing with a venomous mutant bite. Leo smiled in his sleep as Raph draped an arm over him before giving in to sleep to the sounds of his younger brothers making it home in one piece and quite a tale to tell.