Hello! This is my first Leonardo story but I hope its not the last! This is based after the episode "Hitched" but the Luminari are still going on. Leo is still building the super weapon but Piero wants him to build it faster. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of this, except the plot

Chapter One - A Little Bit Bruised

"Tomaso!"

"Si Maestro," Tom replied, looking up from the painting she was working on.

"We need Linseed Oil, run down to the market and get some," A silver coin spun towards her and she reached up and grabbed it out of the air and pocketed it. "Si Maestro," she said, standing up and pushing her paints to the side while grabbing her bag of the easel she was using.

"Sit down Leonardo!" Verrochio said harshly, Tom turned to face Leo who was halfway between standing up and sitting down. He looked down at his painting and then to Tom, her sighed and continued to work. Bits of metal were scattered around him as he was working of the design of the super-weapon Piero had asked him to build for the army against Milan.

"I'll be fine Leo," Tom said as she pushed open the door and walked out onto the busy streets of Florence.

The room was dark with only a few candles lighting up the room. Piero de Medici was sat at a table, flicking through a copy of Leonardo's notebook. His eyes bore into each of the pages as he took in each design. "We need the boy." He said to the collection of figures dressed in dark cloaks that surrounded him. "We need to find..." he began, "a way to make him work faster, the weapon will not be ready by the time our plans are complete! We need a way to, persuade him" He finished, beginning to flick through the pages of the copied sketchbook again.

"His friends?" one of the figures suggested, "The boy, Tomaso and Machiavelli?"

Piero smiled, "Fantastico, find the gir-ah, boy Tomaso and...dispose of he-him."

Tom closed the door behind her and smiled at the sun shining above the streets of Florence. She walked around and climbed and jumped over the low walls. She eventually came to the bustling Piazza, she looked around the market for the stall which sold the oils. Tom walked over to it and picked up a jar of Linseed Oil and reached into her pocket and flicked a coin at the stall holder, she nodded at him and said, "Grazie." With the jar in hand she exited the Piazza.

But she failed to realised that behind her a man with a menacing grin on his face spotted her leaving the Piazza and began after her retreating form.

Bang! Tom turned as a sudden noise broke through the otherwise silence of the back streets of Florence. She looked around cautiously and cast her eyes upwards to the sun and sky above her. She had a feeling bubbling in her stomach, something was about to happen, something bad...

A yell behind her made her turn back to the direction which she was heading in. Her eyes widened as she saw a man charging towards her with a wooden stick in hand. Tom let out a small shriek and began to turn backwards and ran off in the opposite direction, she turned a corner and smacked into a something that was warm but solid wall thing. She looked up to see a man above her saying, "This is a warning from his excellency for yer little friend. Bye Bye Boy."

Tom struggled to get out of the man's grasp as the other man with the wooden stick came around the corner, weapon up, ready to strike. "Let me go!" she said, just as the weapon hit her on the back of her head. She fell limp to the ground and the two men smiled, showing mouths with toothless grins. "Job Done," One laughed kicking the unconcious Tom in the ribs. They both cackled as they walked off thinking of the reward that they were going to get. One, just before they rounded the corner pulled out a piece of paper he had been given and walked back to wrap it in the limp hand of the unconcious body. "Hurry, Hurry da Vinci, your time is running out..."

"Where is that dratted boy?" Verrochio's voice boomed around the workshop, "he was meant to be back 1 hour ago!" Leo looked up from his painting of his tank and stared at him. 1 hour? She should have been back by now. "I'll go and find him Maestro." Leonardo said, standing up and reaching for his bag, and covering his painting with a piece of linen and putting his paints onto a side bench. He grabbed his jacket before swinging his bag on his shoulder.

"Al right," Verrochio said, and turned around to face where he thought Leonardo was, but he had already ran out of the door. Verrochio ran to the door and shouted out to Leonardo, who was just about to exit through the wooden door. "And be back quickly!" As Leonardo slammed the door shut, Verrochio put a hand on his forehead, "Sante Maria," he muttered, turning back to the workshop and walking in shutting the workshop door behind him.

Leo was almost at mac's place, maybe one of his, people? Friends? Would know where Lisa was, Leo was sure of it. "Mac, Mac!" Leo said, as he knocked, shouting louder and louder each time. He looked to the door knob and turned it, it was unlocked, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Mac?" he asked, as he looked around the seemingly empty room.

"What?!" An angry voice came from behind him, Leo turned around to see Mac standing there behind him.

"You look terrible." Leo blurted out, and that was true, Mac looked a mess, like he hadn't slept in days.

"Thanks," Mac said, grumbling at Leo, "Hello to you to."

Leo looked around, behind the curtains in the room, and under the tables, "Stop moping about Angelica. Has Lisa been here?" He asked, continuing to look around, "she went out to get some Linseed Oil..."

"Yeah, Yeah..." Mac waved his hand, dismissing Leo's sentence as random words but then realising, "Did you just call her Lisa?"

"Yes, but that's not the point" Leo said, running a hand through his hair, "That was an hour ago, she's meant to be back by now!"

Seeing how Leo, his normally level-headed friend, was worrying his little heart of about Lisa, Mac smirked. Leo was so oblivious to his feelings for the young painter. It made Mac think of the time, not so long ago when he was the one who wanted Lisa so desperately. Mac ran his mind back through all the times he had seen Leo and Lisa together, her either as herself or Tom. Or the time that when Lisa was against Silvio Perelli (Don't know if that's spelt right.) and Mac asked Leo to come, he said said no, but when he heard it was for 'Tom' he ran straight out. He didn't even know his feelings for her.

"Come on!" Leo said, getting impatient all the while Mac was just standing there, looking into the distance, "Let's Go!"

"One minute," Mac said, holding up a hand and whistling four times. A scruffy boy came running up, "Get any information on Tomaso Gherardini, where he was seen last you know, the usual thing, the usual contacts." He flicked a coin at him, "Go on, run along." The boy scampered out of the room and closed the door, "Come on Leo," Mac said cheerfully, "Lets go and find Tom."

He opened the door and gestured for Leo to leave first, he walked through the door and Mac followed, shutting it behind him. "You go that way," he said pointing to the left, "I'll go that way, if we don't find her, we meet back in the Piazza in an hour."