Splinter stayed up the rest of the night with Leonardo. Though he didn't show any signs of waking up, his vitals remained stable. That alone helped to put Splinter's mind at ease.

In the morning, Splinter declared that training was canceled for the day. He knew that Leo was too much of a concern at the moment and no one would be able to concentrate. Casey took April out for a walk in Central Park.

Don checked him first thing after he got up. For the first time in days, he felt well rested.

"There were no changes, Donatello." Splinter said, keeping his eyes on Leonardo.

"I really wish I knew who did this to him." Don said.

"And when Leonardo wakes up, he'll tell us."

"You should go get some rest now, Sensei. I've had some sleep." Don said, placing his hand on Splinter's shoulder. He made sure that the tone in his voice left no room for argument.

"I am." Splinter said as he stood. "Make sure you eat something too, my son."

"I will," Donatello agreed.

Mikey reluctantly made some breakfast while Don was watching Leo. Just some toast, eggs, and bacon. He took some to the lab for Don. Raph didn't really feel like eating for how guilty he felt.

Don ate the food that Mikey had given to him. He knew he needed his energy.

In the afternoon, Don and Raph switched shifts.

Raph was sitting in a chair next to Leo's cot. His brother was hooked up to so many machines to help him live.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Leo. If I could do things differently, I would. But I promise whoever did this to ya will pay." Raph said.

Within a few hours, Leo began to stir from his unconsciousness. He moaned, turning his head to the side, away from the light.

Raph looked up, unsure if he was simply hearing things or not. But then he heard Leo moan again. Raph got up and went to check on him.

Leo felt something on his face. Floating in a state of half consciousness he felt nice and warm, and then tried to move his arms. He was in a slight panic attack with the breathing mask over his face, fearing he was in the enemy's lair.

"Leo, Leo, it's alright. You're safe." Raph had reached him.

Leo calmed down when he saw his brother. "Raph?" He said.

"I'm here for ya, Leo. You were hurt pretty badly. You need to lie still." Raph said.

Though his arm felt heavy, Leo managed to pull the mask from off his mouth and nose. "Oh, what happened?"

"Ya don't remember?"

"I don't know. Maybe when I'm awake more." Leo said, looking off to the side in thought.

"Yeah, you have been pretty out of it for the past several hours since we found ya." Then Raph went to the edge of the infirmary. "Guys! He's awake!"

It brought Don, Mikey, and Splinter back into the room followed by Casey and April.

"How are you feeling, Leo?" Don asked, rushing to his brother's side.

"Tired."

"Any pain?" Don said as he flashed a light in Leo's eyes to check their reaction.

"I don't feel much of anything right now. I don't even know what's hurt?"

"You had a long cut on your left side, a cut arm, an arrow in the same wound, and your right leg is broken." Don explained. "But only you can tell us what happened and who did this to you. I had to go surgically into your abdominal cavity and sew your stomach back up because the arrow had pierced it."

As Donatello was explaining what he had had to treat on him, Leo remembered it all.

Don noticed Leo's breathing was picking up. "Leo? What's wrong?"

"As you were explaining, yeah, I remember it all now. I don't even want to remember the pain those monsters put me through!"

"Who did this to you?" Mikey asked.

"Was it the Foot?" Raph asked.

"No." Leo said.

"The Purple Dragons?" Raph asked.

"No."

"If it had been Bishop, he would have taken you with him." Don said.

"No. It wasn't any of those guys. It was someone new." Leo started.

"Great. That's all we need, a new enemy!" Raph remarked angrily.

"They were large, muscle bound men. They could fight like ninjas, and it was both their skills and strength that overwhelmed me. They held me down and cut me up. They said that they called themselves the Giant Assassin Gang." Leo explained what he remembered.

"I've never heard of them before, so they must be new." Don said. "I'll have to look them up later."

"I'll help," April offered. "You do your research here over the internet while I ask around."

"We will get them back for what they did to you later, my son, but for now, you must rest." Splinter said. "I am just glad they didn't succeed in taking you away from us." He held his hand gently to the un-bruised side of Leo's face.

Leo gave a weak smile. "Me too."

"Leo." Raph said.

The weak leader looked over at his red banded brother. "Yes, Raph."

"I'm sorry, for everythin', bro." Raph said.

"I'm sorry too, for being so bossy, but I just have to do what is right for the family and you, Raph."

"I know. Get well for now, big brother."

Leo was glad he had had a chance to explain things to his family and that they were around him, but right now, he couldn't stay awake anymore and he went back to sleep.

"Let him sleep for now." Splinter said and he ushered the others out of the room. "I think the danger has passed." Don was allowed to stay since the infirmary was his area.

…..

A few hours later, Leo woke up again, and pain from his injuries returned.

"Are you ok, Leo?" Don asked him. He had been working on his computer and turned from it when Leo had awoken.

"My injuries, they hurt." Leo cringed.

"I have some pain medicine that should help. Here." Don said and came forward with two pills and a glass of water.

Leo raised himself up just a little bit. He could feel the bandage pulling at the skin on his side. He took the water and pills. He saw the bandage on his left arm.

"Despite the pain, do you feel like you could try to eat something?" Don asked. "You haven't eaten for a while."

"Ok. I'll try something gentle." Leo said.

Don went to tell Mikey that Leo was ready to eat some food. Leo knew that Mikey would probably just make some soup for him. Mikey's soup was incredible.

Leo laid back and tried to ignore the pain he was in. He knew he was going to be miserable waiting for his injuries to heal. He hated being bedridden. He hated all of this.

He was the leader, he was the big brother. He was supposed to take care of his family, and now they had to take care of him again. Was being leader of this team a curse? He seemed to be targeted the most.

A little bit later, Mikey came into the infirmary with a food tray. It had a dish of chicken soup and some toast on it.

"Leo, time to eat," he said in a sing song voice, trying to lighten the mood.

Leo had closed his eyes and tried meditating lying down to take his mind off his pain. He opened his eyes when he heard Mikey's voice.

He was helped to sit up so he wouldn't tear the stitches in his side.

The tray was then sat over his legs. Leo could now feel his right leg and he felt the splint on it.

"Let me know when you're done eating." Mikey said.

"Thanks, Mikey."

Leo didn't feel all that hungry at the moment, but he knew he needed to get his strength back. He picked up the spoon and began to eat the soup slowly. After taking the pain medicine, he had begun to feel a little nauseated.

Halfway through eating his meal, something happened. All of a sudden, pain so sharp flared up in his stomach that Leo couldn't eat anymore and he had to lay back down. He couldn't help the cry of pain that escaped him.

"AAGH!" The whole family heard from the infirmary and ran to the room. Then there was a crash.

When they got there, the bowl of soup was on the floor with the toast scattered elsewhere.

"Leo! What's wrong?!" Don asked worriedly, carefully approaching his brother as he maneuvered around the mess.

They all saw Leo lying on his back with his hands clutched to his stomach.

"It hurts!" Leo screamed. "Please… make it stop!"

"What happened?!" Raph demanded.

Splinter came forward to try to comfort his son. "Just try to take deep breaths, Leonardo."

Leo cringed, but he tried to do what his father told him.

The pain diminished a little bit after Leo had taken several deep breaths. "It feels a little better now."

"What happened, Leo?" Don asked.

"I was just eating the soup and halfway through eating it, my stomach just all of a sudden started hurting so bad. It felt like someone was stabbing me!" Leo explained.

"Could it have been the wound in his stomach, Don?" Mikey asked.

"It's possible, but I doubt that was the cause." Don said.

"When was the last time you ate, my son?" Splinter asked.

"How long was I out?"

"You went out last night and you were unconscious most of the day today." Mikey said.

"Then I remember eating dinner yesterday and that's it after that."

Then another round of cramps came on again. Leo seized his stomach again. "It's coming back!"

"This is bad. Could it be a gas attack?" Raph asked.

"Leo usually eats pretty healthy and usually doesn't have these attacks, but the attack on him sure must have caused something to go wrong." Don said.

"Deep breaths, my son." Splinter encouraged Leo.

Leo had now moved onto his right side, holding his belly. He tried desperately to breathe. He whimpered in pain.

Don began wondering if there was any possible poison on the arrow, or if the men had forced anything down Leo's throat while they were torturing him.

"Leo, did those men force you to swallow anything?" Don asked.

"No!" Leo said through the pain.

"Then there might have been poison on that arrow. I need to get to work to see if you have poison in your system."

When the pain settled enough again, Leo rolled over. "I do recall, Don, that just before the guy on top of me jammed that arrow into my side, I heard one of them say to lance the arrow with something, and I heard something sloshing about behind me." He recalled.

"I'm going to take some blood from you to see if there is anything that shouldn't be there." Don said and he went and got a needle and syringe. He took the blood from Leo's right arm just before another round of pain hit Leo's stomach again.

Splinter stayed by Leo's side while Don went to go analyze the blood.

"I wish there was something we could do to stop your pain, Leo." Mikey said.

"Me, too." Leo moaned.

Leo wasn't normally a complainer about his pain, but this pain was just too much. He felt like he was constantly being stabbed whenever an attack came on.

When Don examined Leo's blood, indeed there was an imperfection in it. He knew this was going to be difficult, but he had to do this.

He came back to the others. "There is something in your blood. I think it's a kind of poison. I need to find the source of its toxicity. Leo, were these guys anything like ninjas, you might have said?"

"They used ninja weapons. Do you know where my swords are?" Leo asked.

"Helping you was our priority first, but Mikey found them afterwards. They are currently in the dojo."

Don tried to think of kinds of poisons that ninjas used. He went back and looked up the research on them and on what blood cells looked like and symptoms going along with it.

Beta read by MissMoMo1990 and Applepye.

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