Forgot to do this last time, but I do not own any rights to TMNT.
The turtles hadn't exchanged a word by the time they entered the lair. They went through the turnstiles and into the main room, each taking a spot relatively far from the others-Raph by the punching bag, Mikey on the couch, Leo in front of the TV, and Donnie started in the direction of his lab.
Raphael threw a few punches at the bag before letting out an aggravated groan. "Well, that sucked! Brilliant plan, Lame-o-nardo."
Leo shot a nasty look back at him. "How is this my fault? I'd have gotten you all through if you had just stuck with the plan."
"Well we did try to stick with your stupid plan, and it still failed. Maybe there were just some things you didn't take into account. Just admit that it was a stupid plan and I'll move past it."
"It was not a stupid plan!"
Raph shifted his stare to Donnie, who had stopped to listen before he had reached his lab. "And yet, one mistake made it all fall apart."
"It was not ONE mistake," Leo corrected. "Fighting the Kraang in that room was a decent backup plan until SOMEONE decided that it would be a good idea to have even more lasers firing at us!"
"I panicked, okay! I thought it might help!" Mikey exclaimed.
Raph scoffed. "Well, thinking obviously isn't your thing."
"Don't try something crazy in the middle of the fight," Leo added, "Or better yet, leave all the brilliant ideas to Donnie. At least he doesn't seem to mess them up as bad."
"Well, Donnie's the reason I panicked in the first place! It didn't help that Donnie's weapon kinda exploded on us and that he was defenseless against the biotroid!"
"Hey! I am not defenseless without my bo staff!"
Raph chuckled coldly. "And yet I had to swoop in and save your sorry-"
"Shut it. It doesn't help us that you're always charging in headfirst to dangers you don't know. You could have had the Kraang sound the alarm before we even got as far as we did!"
"I was fine with-"
"Don't you see that-"
"If you guys had just listened-"
"Well, that's not MY fault!"
"If someone hadn't had the 'brilliant idea'-"
"You don't even know what you're talking about!"
"SILENCE!"
The four turtles fell quiet at the thump of a cane, each turning to look at the entrance to the dojo, where their very disappointed father stood.
Splinter walked over to where they were and glared down at each of them. "It seems that you all made your mistakes on this mission. Blaming others to cover your own faults not only limits you from learning from them; it makes the other question their abilities as well. Do not do more damage than has already been done." He looked over all of their expressions, then left them and went back into the dojo.
The turtles scowled at each other. Raph stormed off in the direction of his room. Donnie left to go to his lab. Mikey stood and went to the kitchen. Leo, now alone in the room, sighed to himself.
"They don't get it. They never do, and of course, they blame everything on me because of it!" Raph paced around his room, arms folded. "You understand, don't you Spike?" he asked the dusty plate in the corner, which was adorned by a single lettuce leaf that had long since shriveled and dried. "Spike, do nothing if you understand me."
…
"That's what I thought." He made a few more lines back and forth before sitting on his bed. He continued to talk to the corner in the room although he never directly looked at it. "Everyone thinks that I'm taking unnecessary risks. That I'm putting them all in danger by charging in." He reclined on the bed, arms still crossed over his chest. "I mean, I can see what they're saying, but I don't-it's not- ugh. It's just… easier to know that I'm heading into whatever we're facing, that I'm the one who is going to take the worst of it head-on and that they aren't going to… but if that doesn't work then… you know what? Fine! Fine! If they want me to stop so bad, I'll stop! If Lame-o-nardo thinks he can get us out of trouble by planning out each step of the way, I'll go along with it! Better than to let the impulsive hothead try to help, right? Better than to let him do something stupid and hurt us all, right?"
He turned so that he couldn't see the plate in the corner anymore and huffed. A few seconds passed, then he lifted his head. "I'm sorry, Spike. I just… perfect Leonardo seems to have his act together and it really gets on my nerves. He hardly seems to mess up or… and I just want to make sure they're safe but it seems I'm doing the opposite by… and it's not like I'm not trying." He laughed bitterly to himself. "Every time I seem to have a good pace, I just rush too soon and someone gets hurt because of it. Leo… is always patient. He always knows what he's doing. I've tried. I've tried so hard. Maybe… I was just always going to mess everything up."
Hello guys! Reviews are always welcome. Have a great day, y'all!
Next chapter on Friday.
