Leonardo stared at his reflection in the mirror. His normally bright eyes were lined with red from lack of sleep and stress. His body felt weak since he hadn't been able to work out in weeks. The blue mask that covered his face no longer gave him a sense of pride or confidence. He didn't feel like a leader. For the first time in his life, the only thing he felt was hopeless.
He shook his head in frustration. There was no point in dwelling on his own emotions. They wouldn't be changing anytime soon. Even if he was broken inside, he still had to act like he knew what he was doing - his brothers were depending on him.
Leonardo left his room and journeyed down the dark passage way. Donatello had been working hard to rebuild their home and return it to it's former glory. The process had been slow, mostly due to the lack of help that he had been receiving, but at least it gave Donnie something productive to do to help pass the time. Leonardo wished that he could say the same about Raph and Mikey, but as usual, those two had become impossible to deal with lately.
A small slit of light came from an open doorway at the end of the hall, and Leonardo entered the room slowly. April was kneeling beside Splinter, her long dark hair pulled into a knot on the back of her head. She'd been in the lair day and night the few weeks, and Leonardo was thankful for her help. Without her, he doubted that Splinter would have even survived this long.
"He's getting worse." April said softly as Leonardo lowered himself down beside her. "He needs a doctor. Badly."
"I know." Leonardo replied, his eyes locking onto his ailing father's limp body. "Are you sure you don't know anyone who can help?"
"No one that I trust." She answered sadly.
The turtle nodded. "It's okay. I have a plan."
April searched his face for clues as to what this plan might be. "Please, be careful. I know this has all fallen onto you to take care of, Leo. But you have to look at the bigger picture. Splinter wouldn't want you to risk your own safety for him."
"It's not that simple, April." Leonardo replied, not really hearing her words.
She'd been saying the same thing to him over and over... He knew that she didn't expect Splinter to live much longer, and that was fine, she was free to feel that way. She had been a good friend to his family ever since she had discovered them on the roof top that fateful night not too long ago... And even though she had proved herself as someone he could depend on, she didn't fully understand their way of life yet. Sure, she knew that they were ninjas, but the training and the meaning of that concept went much deeper than just being a skilled fighter.
His thoughts traveled back over the events of the recent weeks. First, they had defeated Shredder and his Foot Clan. He and his brothers had saved the city. All had been well when they brought the to mutagen back to Splinter to cure his wounds. At first, it had seemed like Splinter was going to make a full recovery.
Unfortunately, they had been wrong. The mutagen had cured his flesh wounds, but since it had originally been created for human use, it caused a reaction when it mixed with Splinter's already mutated blood. He had a bad infection now, one that Donatello was sure a heavy dose of antibiotics would be able to fix.
The challenge was getting their hands on the medicine.
There was no way that Leonardo was going to allow Splinter to die from a simple infection. His Sensei, his father, deserved more than that. Honestly, if Shredder had killed Splinter, Leonardo would have been able to accept his passing away - at least it would have been an honorable death. But, there was nothing honorable about dying like this, frail and sick, simply because Leonardo couldn't find a way to get the drugs that he needed.
Breaking into a hospital had been Leonardo's first plan, but he had quickly released that it would be impossible to pull off. April had offered to do it, but there was no way he was going to let her take that kind of risk, and again, it was still an impossible plan. Raphael, Donatello, and Mikey hadn't offered up any other suggestions. Each of his brothers had been destroyed by the ailing of their father, leaving Leonardo to shoulder the burden of holding the family together all on his own.
He wasn't sure if it was the stress, the sadness, or the worry that had lead him to come up with his current plan. It was pure insanity, if he was really being honest with himself. What he was about to do would go one of two ways: he would either save his father from death, or he would expose himself, and probably be killed as a result. It was risk that he was willing to take.
No. It was the risk that he had to take.
With that thought guiding him, Leonardo climbed back to his feet. First, he touched Splinter's arm lightly, and then he touched April's shoulder reassuringly.
"I'll be back." He said, giving her a small smile before leaving the room.
Leonardo hurried above ground, knowing that he needed to time everything perfectly in order for his plan to be successful. The city was quiet tonight, with only a few sounds off in the distance as he bounded from roof top to roof top. There were far less sirens than there had been over the last few months when the Foot Clan had been in their prime. Now that they had been dismantled, the crime rate in the city had dropped drastically.
The oldest turtle came to a particular roof top that he had become very familiar with over the last few evenings. Soon, the girl would be heading home from her nightly rounds at the hospital. She would turn the corner, cross the street, and then pass right by the building he was standing on. At that point he would follow her until she almost reached her home.
She was his last hope to save his father's life.
Leonardo waited patiently and leaned over the roof top. He was perfectly still, with his eyes fixed on the sidewalk below. Soon, she came into view. As usual, she had her headphones in, with her hair hanging long and loose. She always pulled it free from the ponytail that she wore while at work as soon as left the hospital.
The girl crossed the street, barely taking the time to look both ways before crossing, her eyes seeming faraway as she walked. Leonardo stalked along the roof's edge, waiting for her gaze to have no chance of spotting him before he took a bounding leap onto the next building. This continued on for a few blocks. Soon, she would be approaching the street where her apartment was located.
Now was the moment he had been waiting for.
Leonardo launched himself off of the rooftop and landed skillfully in the alley that she was about to pass by. In a swift motion, he grabbed her as soon as she came into sight, wrapping one arm around her and clapping his hand over her mouth. At first, she didn't react. Her body froze with fear and shock as he dragged her backwards a few feet. As he reached down quickly with his free hand and pulled up the manhole cover located on the ground, she started to put up a fight. She kicked and tried to brake free from his grasp, but her strength was no match for his. Leonardo scooped her up into his arms and jumped down into the sewer.
"What the fuc-!" She had begun to shriek during the brief moment that he had removed his hand from her mouth, but he silenced her once more when they had landed.
Again, she struggled, only this time it was even more violent than before because she had seen his face - she had seen who, or rather what, had just taken her hostage. Leonardo pressed her up against the damp concrete wall, one large green hand still covering her mouth. He was hating every moment of what he was doing to the poor girl. But, he knew that this was literally his only choice: he was out of both time and options.
Her grey eyes were looking at him wildly, traveling from his blue-masked face, to his chest, to his shell, and then to his large, muscular arms that were now holding her in place. He briefly wondered if she would faint like April had upon seeing him and his brothers for the first time.
"Please, calm down." Leonardo said, trying hard to make his tone sound kind. The last thing he wanted was to frighten her even more than he already had. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Ever so slightly, she stopped fighting him, but her whole body was still trembling. Tears had begun to fall down her cheeks, and the hand that he had over her mouth was starting to get wet. For a moment, he thought about just letting her go, and giving up.
What exactly was he doing? Had he gone truly mad?
"This isn't what you think." Leonardo continued. "I just... I need your help."
The girl's eyes narrowed in confusion. Again, her struggling stopped a little bit more.
"You work at the hospital?" He questioned.
She nodded her head slightly in reply.
"Look, miss, my father... he's sick. He has an infection and he is going to die unless I find a way to get him the medicine that he needs."
The girl stared back at Leonardo for a long while. All though her body was still quivering nervously, she had thankfully stopped crying. He took that as a good sign.
She gulped, her eyes now fixed on his twin katana that where strapped across his shell, and then she reached up to tap the hand that was keeping her quiet. Hesitantly, Leonardo lowered his arm.
She drew in a long, shaky breath. "You're... no-not going to-o kill me-me?"
"No, I'm not." He answered her honestly.
She reached up and wiped at her wet cheeks with the sleeve of her coat. "This isn't a dream, right?" She asked him, laughing darkly. "Or am I just going crazy?"
"Neither." Leonardo said patiently. He'd been down this road before - he knew all the questions she would have for him.
"What... are you?" She asked him, her eyes traveling over his body and shell once more.
Leonardo felt a little bit self-conscious under her gaze. "It's a long story."
"I don't know why you think I can help you..." She said quietly, chewing at her bottom lip. "I'm not really a doctor... I just started my rotation at the hospital... I've barely even learned how to give a shot yet."
"I just need antibiotics." He replied, and a small surge of hope ran through him. Was she really going to help?
She scoffed and shook her head. "Look, it's not that simple. If I get caught, I'll get kicked out of med school. And no offense, but attacking and dragging someone into the sewer isn't exactly the best way to convince them to help you."
Her words had come out harshly, and it was obvious that she immediately regretted them. She shuddered, like she expected him to strike at her for the way she had just spoken to him.
"I had no other choice." Leonardo said gently, making sure that he didn't make any sudden movements that would frighten her. She was like a cornered animal, and the sight made him feel sick. "You're right. This wasn't the best way. But, it's not like I could just walk up to you on the street."
The girl stared up at him, a million different emotions running over her features. He could see fear, awe, amazement, anger, and even a little tinge of curiosity. She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face, seeming to be at war with herself over what to say or do next.
"What do you need exactly? What kind of infection is it?" She finally asked.
"I'm not sure. My brother was the one who determined it was an infection, but he didn't say what type. He just said antibiotics." Leonardo replied.
"Brother?" She said timidly.
"Yes." Leonardo answered her, trying not to smile at the way her eyes widened with shock at that information.
She sighed heavily. "Can you let go of me? I promise I'm not going to try and run off."
Leonardo had almost forgotten that he still had the girl pinned up against the wall. He backed away from her slowly, careful to not move too far in case she was lying and really did try to escape. She rubbed the place on her arm that he had been gripping her, and he felt bad that he'd had to be so aggressive. That was Raphael's style, not his.
"God." She muttered, more to herself than to the turtle. "I can't believe I'm about to say this but... I'll help you."
Leonardo couldn't help but grin at her, his heart pounding in his chest at the thought that he might have just saved his father. "Thank you. You don't understand how grateful I am."
An odd expression crossed her features as he spoke to her, like something about his words were surprising to her. It was almost like at that moment she saw that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't the monster that he had first appeared to be.
"Uhm, I can meet you tomorrow, after I get off... You seem to know my schedule... And where I live... So I guess I'll just meet you here?"
"Okay." Leonardo agreed quickly, not wanting to drag the conversation on any longer in fear that she might change her mind.
She took a cautious step away from the wall, watching him carefully, like she half-expected him to attack her again. Leonardo backed even further away from her, trying to show that she was free to leave. The girl hurried towards the ladder that would take her back to the alley, but she paused just before she started to climb up.
"Do you... Have a name?" She asked, much to his surprise.
"Leonardo." He answered.
"I'm assuming you already known my name."
Leonardo chuckled slightly. "No. I don't. I just knew that you worked at the hospital... And where you lived." He added, hoping that she would see he was trying to lighten the mood, and not threaten her, with the remark.
"Right." She said, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I'm... Arelle."
"It's nice to meet you, Arelle." Leonardo said politely. "I'll see you tomorrow."
She nodded slowly, her eyes still watching him intently. He could have swore that they lingered on his face a little longer than they did anywhere else, but before he could be sure, she had started to climb the ladder.
He followed her quickly, deciding to take the long way home by roof top instead of risking giving away that he actually lived in the sewers. Just because she had agreed to help him somewhat easily didn't mean that he trusted her. For all he knew she was going to go home and call the police. He didn't worry about that though - they'd never believe her. If anything, they'd just convince her that she had imagined things out of fear.
She was already at the end of the alley when he got to the surface. Leonardo saw her look back at him as he climbed up a nearby fire escape gracefully, and then vanish into the darkness.