Responsible
By Kellyanne Lynch
12-18 May 2008
Beta-Readers: Quoth The Raven, Alyssa Barnes, Heather King
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I don't profit from them either. In fact, Raph owes me twenty bucks.
Summary: Leonardo questions his leadership abilities in Splinter's absence when his brother gets injured during a mission.
Rating: PG-13
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Chapter One
"Okay," Leonardo breathed. He glanced over his shoulder before huddling closer to Michelangelo and Raphael in the bushes along the perimeter of the dark government building. "We're going to lay low while Donnie taps into the security system and..."
"Screw that!" Raphael hissed.
Leonardo shook his head as he tucked it in his hand. Not again. "We need to wait!" He enunciated each syllable through a snarl.
"Like shell we do!" Raphael crossed his arms. "We can't just sit here!"
Leonardo frowned. "Raph..."
"Would you quit it with the superiority shtick? Nobody put you in charge!" Motioning to Michelangelo, he said, "Mike, we're going in!"
Raphael and Leonardo looked to their youngest brother, bobbing on his toes and holding his nunchucks at the ready. Under Leonardo's glare, Michelangelo flashed a sheepish smile and slowly tucked his nunchaku back in his belt. "Um, sorry, Raph!"
"Forget Leo! He ain't in charge! Let's go!" Raphael turned on his heels and sprinted low to the ground through the bushes.
Michelangelo turned to his oldest brother. He grimaced and shuffled his feet. "Um, I should go, you know, like, cover his shell... yeah!" He ducked his head and followed after Raphael.
Leonardo hissed through his teeth, wagging his head and glaring after the two. The fools! He could only argue with them and assert his leadership for so long. Raph never listens, and the others frequently follow him when he runs off and does whatever he feels like doing. What could he do? They were almost adults. They should be responsible for themselves. Why the shell was Leonardo constantly putting that weight on his shoulders? He shrugged.
"Donnie!" He spoke into his shell cell to his intelligent brother. "How's it going with the security system?"
"My algorithm is working," Donatello's voice returned, laced with static. "While that's been chugging away in the background, I've managed to bring up the schematics to the facility. I think I've located the lab. There are three entrances. The main door should be guarded. There are also two vent shafts leading into the room. I think you and Mike..."
"Mikey's gone," Leonardo grumbled. He scowled in the direction of the bushes. "He just charged toward the building with Raph, who went all Lone Ranger again."
"And you didn't stop them?"
"Well, apparently, it isn't my responsibility," Leo snapped, scowling at the shell cell. "Look, I am not my brother's keeper! If he wants to do it his way, who am I to stop him?"
"Did you at least try to stop Mike? He listens to you."
"Yeah, well not today," Leonardo mumbled with a shrug.
Beeping and clicking resounded over the shell cell. "Okay, and... we're... IN! Okay, Leo, you're cl... oh, shell!"
"What?" Leonardo's back stiffened.
"The security system just came back online! Somebody knows that we're here! They've just activated the building's defense protocol!"
"The what?"
"Weapons are firing up!"
Leonardo's eyes bulged in their sockets. "Shell!" he exclaimed. He hit 'end call' and then called Raphael.
"Are you joining us or what, Fearless?" Raphael answered his shell cell.
"Raph, you guys need to get out of there!" Leonardo shouted.
"No way!" returned the sharp retort. "We're in! We..."
"They're firing up weapons! You and Mikey need to fall back!"
TAT-A-TAT-TAT!
Leonardo jumped. "RAPH!" He swallowed hard, clutching the shell cell tight in his fist, grasping his sole lifeline to his brothers. "MIKEY!"
He broke into a run, charging through the bushes and for the building at full force. All the while, he shouted his brothers' names over and over into the shell cell, louder and louder. Maybe the close range fire had screwed with Raphael's hearing. Maybe he had dropped his phone. Maybe he was mid-battle and would answer him once he took care of a few goons. Maybe he was tending to Mikey. No, Mikey!
Leonardo rammed his elbow through the nearest window. Glass shattered everywhere. Shards jabbed through his skin. He ignored the spikes in his elbow as he jumped through the window and ran through the hallway. He ran and he ran, white streaking his periphery. A clammy palm clutched his shell cell to his mouth. "RAPH! MIKEY!"
He rounded a corner, and his mantra continued. He clenched the phone tighter and tighter, his knuckles turning white. His pulse was racing, thumping in his ears so hard that he barely heard, at long last, a strained reply.
"Leo..."
A sharp intake of air followed, then silence.