Hours past with no movement from Leo. I split my time passing between the lab where Leo was bound and Splinter's room where he lay recovering. Splinter was still unconscious and had shown no signs of waking up soon. I still couldn't quite believe that Leo had done what he did. I kept reminding myself that Leo wasn't in his right mind, but I still never thought that even in his state that Leo could attack Master Splinter so viciously. As I sat now by Leo's side I couldn't help but wonder if we would ever get our true brother back or if he was really lost.
I turned my head and eyed Don who was bent over his microscope in deep concentration. Don had been working feverishly as he tried to figure out what Bishop had done to Leo to make him this way. He only took breaks to go to Splinter's side and make sure our father was not getting any worse. He had taken samples of Leo's blood and had been analyzing it for hours searching for any hint of what had been done. He had also examined Leo's body for any sign of a device that could explain his actions. So far he had only found a strange residue in Leo's blood, but was unable to find any source that could explain it. I could tell he was getting frustrated at the lack of information, but he refused to give up.
I sighed softly and turned my head back to Leo and gasped audibly when I saw his groggy brown eyes looking back at me. I swallowed hard and looked closer trying to find out if the turtle staring back at me was really Leo.
"Raph?" He said softly, his voice barely audible.
A large grin covered my face and I squeezed Leo's hand in acknowledgement. "Yeah, bro." I answered, my breaths coming easier. "Yeah, it's me."
"What happened?" He questioned. His voice sounded small and lost. Nothing like our normally sure and confident leader.
I took a deep breath, dreading this conversation. Don and I had decided that we needed to tell Leo the full truth when he finally came around. Keeping the full story of his disappearance from him had done no good. Despite that decision I still didn't look forward to telling Leo what had happened. Even though it wasn't his fault, I knew it would kill him. I bit my lip and looked away from Leo's gaze. "What do you remember?" I asked.
Leo's face wrinkled in thought. "Don and I were talking." He said. "I remember being upset..." He trailed off, obviously unsure about anything further.
I nodded. It didn't surprise me. Leo didn't seem to remember anything that happened during his personality changes. I looked up and saw Leo staring at me expectantly. I could see in his eyes that he knew something was wrong, and I'm sure my face gave away even more of the gravity of the problem.
"Leo, there is more to what's been happening to you than we've told ya." I explained. Leo frowned at me but his eyes didn't reflect any surprise. Instead he lowered his gaze, letting his eyes wander across the leather straps confining his movements.
"Why am I bound again?" He asked me. His voice was becoming shaky. I could tell he knew something bad had happened.
"You'd been missin for six months." I began to explain, ignoring Leo's question. I lowered my gaze, unable to meet his fearful eyes as I told him the full truth. "We were all beginning to lose hope, most of us believed you were dead. But then one night I saw you." I ran my finger absentmindedly along the cool sheets of Leo's bed. "It was like seeing you rise from the dead. I yelled to you, needing to be sure you were really real, but ya ran away. I couldn't figure out why. It took a few more sightings to figure out what was goin on."
Leo stared at me intently. I lifted my head and my eyes met his for a short second. I could tell he was nervous, but I had to keep going. He had to know. "They did somethin to ya Leo, while you were captured. Something that makes ya change. I knew when I saw you that night that something about you was different. I didn't realize how bad it was until we cornered ya."
Leo swallowed hard. "What happened?" He asked.
"You…" I stopped, finding it hard to say these words to him. I knew that what I had to tell him next would kill him, and no matter how many times we assured him it wasn't his fault he would carry what I was going to tell him on his shoulders forever. And I wasn't even close to the worst part. I clenched my hand tightly on the sheets. "You attacked us."
"I…I what?" Leo asked, his voice a hushed, horrified whisper.
"It wasn't you." I quickly explained, hoping to take the sting off my words. "You were under some sort of control. Bishop must have been working with the Foot and they found some way to control ya."
"I…" Leo started. His voice trailed off. I saw the pain and disbelief written clearly in his eyes. "I don't even remember." He said softly. Leo swallowed thickly. "Did I hurt you?" He finally whispered.
"No." I answered quickly. "You could've. But you didn't. You couldn't hurt me when Bishop asked ya to. You holdin back gave us enough time to get ya out of there and get ya home."
Leo nodded slowly, letting the words I was telling him sink in. "And…that was the only time?" He asked me softly, though deep down I knew he already knew the answer.
I looked away and continued. "Things were going pretty well since we got ya home. But last night you got really upset." I stopped, letting my words register slowly. I looked up and watched my older brother's face, seeing a hint of realization pass over his features.
"The fog." Leo said softly.
"What?" I asked, looking for clarification. He didn't answer. His eyes were distant. I was about to push the point further, but decided against it. I wanted to explain everything to Leo while I still had the courage. I took a deep breath and continued.
"You rushed to the bathroom." I started again. "You locked yourself in." Leo nodded. I could tell he was remembering. "You wouldn't open the door. We finally knocked the door down to get to ya, and when we did…"
Leo looked away from me, his face filled with shame. I felt horrible for telling him all of this and upsetting him so much. "Leo, it wasn't you." I tried to reassure him. I turned around and saw Don still at his desk, listening to our conversation, his face shadowed, whatever he had been looking at under his microscope was forgotten as he watched our brother's painful reaction. I motioned for Don to come over. Don stood quickly and made his way over to us, realizing Leo would need more support.
"Did I…" He started. He stopped and swallowed hard. I saw his muscles tense and his head suddenly turned toward me. "You're bruised." He said with horror. He looked at Don's neck as he was lowering himself next to Leo's bed. He saw my arms. We could do nothing to hide them. I could hear Leo's breaths get faster. "I hurt you." He whispered.
"Leo…" Don started. Suddenly Leo pulled against his bonds. His eyes began frantically looking around the room as if he just realized that the whole family wasn't here. I turned and looked back to Leo. His eyes were locked to mine and filled with fear.
"Where is Mikey?" He asked frantically. "Where is Master Splinter?"
I felt a lump form in my throat and I looked away from his frightened eyes.
"Raph?" He asked. I closed my eyes.
"Mikey is fine." I said softly. "No more bruised than we are."
Leo rolled his head forward and let his eyes stare blankly at the ceiling. His breaths were fast and panicked. Tears were beginning to form in his eyes.
"And Master Splinter?" He asked, his voice barely audible.
I swallowed hard and lowered my gaze to my lap. "He's unconscious." I whispered.
Leo suddenly moaned loudly as if he was in physical pain. "No." He whispered. "No, I couldn't have…"
"Leo, it wasn't you." Don tried to reassure him, but Leo was beyond listening.
"I…" He choked, his breaths ragged. Tears began to flow freely from his eyes. "Oh, God…" He jerked against his bonds, his body writhing with agony that was anything but physical.
"He's going to be OK." Don tried to explain. Leo let out another choked sob and I felt my heart breaking in my chest. I reached out and grabbed his bandaged hand trying to give him any sort of comfort.
"We're gonna figure this out, Leo." I said. "We're gonna get you back to normal. I promise." Leo didn't answer. He was totally consumed by his guilt and grief. I wanted so badly to take away the pain he was feeling, and even more to go out there and make Bishop pay, but I could do nothing now but stare back at him. I had never felt so helpless.
"Please, leave me alone." He choked out between sobs. Don and I both looked at each other, not wanting to leave him.
"Leo, we're not…" I started.
"Go!" He screamed, "Get away from me! Go!" He melted back into sobs, once again becoming lost in his own grief. Don and I stared sadly at him, both of us speechless. We didn't know what to say to fix what Leo was feeling. Finally I stood, wanting to respect Leo's wishes. Don reluctantly followed and we both walked silently out of the lab and into the hall. I stopped and leaned heavily against the wall, feeling weak. Don leaned next to me and put his hand lightly on my arm. I took a deep breath and lifted my hand to wipe a few stray tears from my eyes. I could still hear Leo's sobbing.
"Let's go check on Master Splinter." I suggested, needing to do something.
Don looked at me and nodded and we made our way to Splinter's room. I walked slowly to our sensei's side and put my hand on his still forehead. He didn't look horribly injured, but I knew concussions never looked as bad as they were. Mikey sat where I had left him earlier, in a chair he had moved to Splinter's bedside. He was sleeping lightly, his head resting on his shoulder. Don came over next to me and began checking Splinter over. I didn't know what Don was looking for, but I had given up long ago on understanding anything that Don did, and yet trusted him fully that he always knew what was best.
Once Don was finished he took a few steps away from Splinter's side and sank to his knees on the floor. I sat down on the floor next to him.
"It's going to be OK." I said, with more confidence than I was feeling. Don didn't answer.
"Guys?" I heard. I looked up and saw Mikey looking down at us from his chair. I tried to force a smile in his direction, but I felt too miserable to even pretend to be OK. Mikey looked at our faces and slid down from his seat on the chair to join us on the floor. He lowered his gaze to his lap. "How's Leo?" He finally asked. Don took a deep breath, but didn't speak.
I frowned. "He's awake." I answered. "We told him everything."
Mikey's eyes widened and he looked up. "Is he OK?"
I took a slow, long breath and let it out slowly. "Would you be?" I asked with more bite than I intended. I saw Mikey flinch at my words but I didn't take them back. I felt too upset and angry to care. Upset that our family had to go through all of this. Angry that Bishop and the Foot had brought all of this pain on our family. I felt so lost. My family was falling apart and I had no idea what to do.
The three of us sat in silence. All of us had no words to say. There was nothing that could be said that would take away any of pain that our family was going through. Suddenly Mikey stood and began to pace back and forth along Splinter's bedside, his hands held tightly behind his back, his restless feet shuffling along the rugged floor.
"I don't get it." He finally spoke, jolting Don and I out of the stupor we had fallen into. We both looked in his direction and watched as he continued to pace. "There is something controlling him, but he hasn't been with the Foot for days. Wouldn't whatever they were using, like, have worn off by now?"
Don sighed. "I would have thought so too, Mike." He answered.
"Then what could be making him still act like this?" Mikey asked, stopping and staring at Don, almost begging for some explanation.
Don shrugged. "I don't know." He said, his voice laced with frustration. "For him to still be feeling the affects of whatever they used there would have to be something continuously infusing whatever method they used into his system."
"Then there must be something attached to him." Mikey continued. "I mean, that's the only way."
"That's what I thought to." Don said, clearly unimpressed by Mikey's thoughts. "The only thing I have found is a possible drug residue in his blood. But in order to still have any form of that drug circulating in his system after all of this time he would have to have something attached to his blood supply." Don sighed in clear frustration. "But I searched him all over, Mike. Every accessible place to a vein or artery on his body and I found nothing. It's something else."
Mikey didn't seem convinced. "What if they have it somewhere that isn't obvious?" he continued, beginning to pace again. "I mean, what have we learned about Bishop over the years? He's a crazy loony tune and what he does is never obvious. You said you found some sort of drug thing in his blood. Something you can't figure out?" Don nodded. "Then there must be something where we can't find it!"
"I've looked everywhere!" Don said again, clearly becoming upset. "I don't know where they would have put a diffuser where I havn't looked. The only way that you can get a drug into the blood without serious complications is through a vein, or…" Suddenly his voice trailed off. I lifted my head at the sudden silence. Mikey had stopped pacing and now both of us stared at Don. His eyes had grown wide, his mouth open in an expression of disbelief.
"The occipital sinus." He said softly to himself. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it before!"
Mike and I stared at him blankly. "Say what?" I asked, although the tone of his voice had planted a seed of hope.
"The occipital sinus." Don repeated again, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Um, Don." Mikey said, staring down at our purple clad brother. "You gotta remember, bro, we no speaky geeky. What's the occipital sinus?"
Don had now stood in one fluid motion and now began to pace back and forth across the room. I could tell that thoughts were flying through his head. His eyes were suddenly bright and excited.
"The occipital sinus," he began, "is a highly venous area right under the top of the carapace in turtles. In other words, it's a blood filled area right under the top of our shells." He pointed to an area at the bottom part of our neck under our back shell. I saw Mikey lift his hand and probe the area, trying to gain an idea about what Don was talking about. Don didn't seem phased and continued on. "In medicine it's an area that is commonly used to draw blood from our less intellectual counterparts, or to inject intravenous medications. It's well hidden, and with Leo always lying on his back I would have never seen it. I never even thought to look there!"
I stared at Don from my spot on the floor, realization finally beginning to dawn on me as I watched him pace back and forth in excitement. "So what are ya tryin to tell us?" I asked, anticipation barely hidden in my voice.
"I think I know where the source of that drug is hidden! I never even thought to look there. I'm so stupid!" Don said, his eyes now reflecting frustration.
"So, we can get Leo back?" Mikey asked, his voice soft and hopeful.
"If the drug is in fact what is controlling Leo and the device is there, then yes!" Don said, bubbling with excitement.
"Then what are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's go!" I jumped to my feet and the three of us began heading toward the door, eager to find out if Don's idea was really true.
"My sons." A soft, groggy voice spoke. The three of us froze in the doorway and turned simultaneously. Our sensei was staring at us with glassy eyes. He was awake.
"Sensei!" Mikey exclaimed. Mike and Don rushed over to Splinter's side. I hesitated for a short moment, but finally decided that we could give Leo another few minutes before going to him. I went to our father's bedside and knelt down next to him.
"Sensei, how do you feel?" Don asked urgently, his eyes sparkling with happiness at seeing our father finally awake. "Are you dizzy? Are you seeing double? How many fingers…"
"Donatello, my son, please…" Splinter spoke, his eyes closing lightly. Don became silent immediately, his cheeks blushing. We sat quietly for a few seconds, allowing our father to take a few deep breaths. He finally opened his eyes and looked at all three of us, his eyes suddenly filled with concern.
"Where is Leonardo?" He asked. We all looked at each other in confusion. Didn't he remember?
"Sensei," Don started, unsure of how to explain. "Do you remember what happened?"
Splinter looked at us in only a way that a father could causing us all to shrink back slightly at the intensity of his gaze. "Of course I remember." He spoke. "But where is he?"
"He's in the lab." I started.
"Something is very wrong." Our sensei spoke. The three of us looked at each other.
"Master, you have a concussion." Don tried to explain, obviously thinking that our father's paranoid thoughts were a side affect of his head injury.
"Something is wrong with Leonardo." He said, ignoring Don's attempt at an explanation.
We looked at each other again, concern mirrored in all of our gazes. All of us were shocked at how clear Master Splinter seemed to be after a major head injury, and his certainty about Leo gave us all a chill.
"Please, my sons, go check on your brother." He said urgently.
I nodded quickly and jumped to my feet, heading quickly for the door without a word. My heart was beating wildly in my chest, the previous feelings of excitement now replaced with an overwhelming dread. I walked briskly down the hall, my feet padding loudly on the cement floor as I rushed toward the lab. I reached the door and placed my hand on the knob, realizing that the door that I was almost certain I had previously shut was now ajar.
I swallowed hard and pushed the door open. "Leo?" I spoke, unable to hide the growing worry in my voice. "Are you…" I stopped, my mouth left open in mid thought, my body growing numb and my mind reeling with panic.
I was looking at the bed. The bed that was now empty. Leo was gone.