Finally! This chapter took forever, it was actually supposed to be part of the last chapter, but it would have been awfully long and you'd have had to wait forever to read it. But now here it is! Part 2! I went over this so many times, I didn't want it to feel rushed but I just couldn't seem to get it right. I'm not super happy about some of the parts in the chapter. But I'll just admit defeat and declare it done, I'll try do better on future chapters and try figure out how to get it more balanced and dynamic I guess. Now enjoy the very belated chapter! Which might or might not have errors in it. xD
Also, I wanna give a big thank you for all the reviews and faves 3 It means the world!
April walked along the road and sighed as the guys took their sweet time. They'd argued they didn't want to be seen, but did they have to be this slow?
"And you're absolutely sure about this?" Raph questioned.
"Positive! The guy is blind, we'll be fine. We can eat there without a problem."
"Sweet! Ow!"
"I mean… sweet for us." Mikey corrected as Raph gave him a glare. Insulting disabled people was definitely the last thing they should probably be doing, intentional or not.
When they arrived there was however a big ruckus going on.
"Guys! Someone's wreaking the place!" Mikey exclaimed, and rushed forward. The others reacted and followed.
As they stomped through the doors, the guys in the restaurant stopped their vandalism and stared.
"Dude.. there really are giant turtles!" One of them shouted and stared at them. Mikey practically beamed.
"Dudes! We're famous! This is awesome!"
Leo sighed. "Ninjas aren't supposed to be famous… Stop what you're doing villains!" He shouted at them.
"…" The guy just laughed, the other one hit him and yelled. "Get them!"
Then the fight was all out. April ducked and crawled along, trying to find Murakami as the turtles fought the intruders. Upon finding him she made sure he was okay.
"I think Murakami is okay!" She said after a moment and poked her head up, finding Mikey trying to taste some soup with two guys trying to jump him, she quickly threw the nearest object.
Mikey barely noticed, until one of the guys behind him was hit. "Oh! Thanks April!" He gave her a thumbs-up after kneeing the other guy, and she smiled back before taking cover again.
The fight was rather short, it took some time since there was more of them, but compared to the turtles they were rather weak. Leo stopped and glared at the guy he had been hitting.
"Get out of here and never come back." He threatened, the guy's cocky attitude annoyed him, but he didn't exactly feel like beating the thug unconscious when he himself was clearly the better fighter. That guy would just get unnecessarily hurt, if they kept going.
Murakami was very grateful for their rescue, and they ended up eating a very delicious meal as thanks. Mikey couldn't stop smiling.
"Wow Mr. Murakami this is like... the best meal I've ever had! You're like a food ninja!"
"So… how much is it..?" Leo asked.
"Oh no, it is for free." Murakami responded and smiled.
"You sure?" April asked.
Murakami smiled. "Of course, you saved my life, it is the least I can do."
They happily ate their meal before leaving and thanking Murakami for the delicious meal. Not quite the night out April had intended, but it was still a restaurant visit, sort of. Maybe normal just wasn't possible for these guys…
"What the fuck Leo?!" Raph grabbed him after they had splitted up with April and was nearly home. "Why did you let 'em go?"
"They had enough, we were clearly better than them."
"They beat up a blind guy! There is no enough! Guys like that would beat up guys like Donnie without hesitation, they deserve all the beating they can get!"
"But they didn't beat Donnie up." Leo raised an eye ridge.
"No, I'm just saying. They're jerks! They deserve to be treated like jerks!" Raph said angrily as they jumped the turnstiles.
Leo sighed. "Look, if we see them again, we'll make sure to remind them, in case they get other ideas."
"See who?" Donnie asked curiously, looking up from where he was sitting. The others had been rather loud and it was hard to miss their arrival.
"Oh. Donnie!" Leo said in surprise. "You're uhm.. not in your lab?"
"No, no I'm not. I don't live there, you know." He pointed out.
"No, of course not. Just... surprised to find you out here."
"So, who are these guys and what are you going to remind them of?"
"Just.. some guys.." Raph scratched his neck. As Donnie gave him a look. That's when Mikey decided to join the conversation.
"We were going to this restaurant April found! But then there were these guys there beating up the owner, so we kicked their sorry asses and bam! Free meal!"
"Oh. You didn't say anything about going to a restaurant earlier, in fact you didn't even say you were leaving."
"Oh..! Right.. uh.. Sorry we were going to but.. then you seemed busy. Don't worry Dee, we.. uh.. oh shit we didn't bring any, did we?" Mikey halted in his apology, realising his main bargaining tool was in fact, something they forgot to bring back.
"Okay now that's off the table, but we totally meant to bring you some grub back as a sorry for the just going off thing.. but… we got distracted... Next time?" Mikey forced a smile and tried to make the best of the situation.
"Uh-huh." Don sighed a little. "I'm not Splinter you know. But thanks for the thought. So uh.. you going to find these thugs?"
"Not right now but.. Uh.." Leo realised something very important.
"Great. We don't actually know how to find them." He realised. He sighed as Raph gave him a dunk.
"Way to go Leo! Now we have to ask around and find them!"
"You do realise you're not gonna be able to actually go ask around, right?" Don commented. "Though you could look around to see if they show up somewhere I guess.. but New York is a big place."
"Oh! Idea!" Mikey suddenly said. "We could ask April to go ask for us!"
"Not.. a bad idea, I guess? I mean, it could go faster that way." Leo said hesitantly, thinking the possibilities over. It did sound better than not knowing where to really start…
"I'm warning you, you better guard her with your life if she agrees." Don pointed out in a warning tone at them, as he himself couldn't be there to protect their friend.
Turns out April was absolutely down for playing detective and quite enthusiastic about trying to find them. It did take some time, but April did eventually find out they're called the Purple Dragons, and they were apparently quite known for terrorising the area. After finding their hideout Leo started making a plan of attack.
"Okay, we go in, give them the message, make sure they got it, and then we're out. Nothing more. Got it?" Leo asks, hoping they're listening this time.
"Yea yea, we got it, it's not complicated okay?" Raph dismisses. Leo sighs a bit, but nods and jumps down with his two brothers to crash the Dragon's party. Things does not however go as planned, they're not exactly walking in to what they were expecting.
They freeze.
"Uh guys? I think stuff got more complicated!" Mikey says as he stares at the skinny guy and Bradford. "It's Bradford and.. that other guy!"
"What are THEY doing here?!"
"I'm NOT 'the other guy', my name's Xever!" Xever hisses back and draws a knife.
"Yea? And we don't care!" Raph retorts, Sai's up and ready for a fight. In his opinion this doesn't really change the plan, they were going to beat up the dragons, now two more just joined that list.
Leonardo narrowly avoids a knife stabbed to his face.
While his brothers were dealing with the Purple Dragons Donnie took the time to finish his latest invention. He hoped it would help upgrade their communications. While the T-phones were great they could really use a better upgrade for tricky missions. He'd wanted to make a sort of radio, but for greater distance and more convenient shapes for combat and missions.
He hummed a tune as he worked with a tiny screwdriver on a very small piece of electronic.
Raph flipped backwards to avoid Xever's foot flying in the air, the guy was a surprisingly good fighter and he really liked to fight with his feet.
Mikey found himself on a one on one with Bradford, which was a bit trickier than he'd like, as the purple dragons were in the fight as well, while they weren't a problem by themselves, Bradford certainly was. And it was hard to guard so many angles like this.
"Guys?" Mikey called as he dodged another attack, trying to not get out maneuverer or caught in a corner.
Leo watched as Mikey struggled on his own, but he couldn't just ditch Raph either, and Xever was literally knocking them around at this point. He looked around and decided this just wasn't an ideal situation for them.
"Guys! Retreat!" He called.
"What?!"
"Not now Raph! Just do as I say!" He called.
Mikey was all too happy to comply and swiftly jumped backwards, following his brothers up on the beams. Raph on the other hand was not, he glared down at Xever, who at this point was yelling after them to come back and face him. It was hard to take being called a coward.
"How'd it go?" Donnie wheels out of his lab as he heard them come back, mostly because Raph went straight in and punched his bag. ".. Not well?"
"Leo decide we should just flee, like cowards!" Raph angrily said as he punched the bag again.
"Huh? Why..?" Donnie looked on in confusion.
"Well.. it wasn't like we knew the foot would be there!" Leo argued. "Last time we had a hard time beating those guys, I just thought it wasn't a good idea to fight them and the Purple Dragons at the same time!"
"Well, now they think we're cowards!" Raph retorted.
Mikey made a grimace, he hated when Raph and Leo argued, which was happening at an increasing rate now since they'd started making enemies and going out on these missions.
"Guys… Let's just not? It WAS kinda hard, and I had to face braddy and two other dudes. It wasn't exactly easy."
Raph sighed. "Okay, fine. So next time, I'll take one of 'em on my own, and you guys can team up. So we don't have to run away."
"Hey, don't blame Mikey for it."
"I'm not! I'm just saying, I can handle it!"
Don stared as Leo and Raph had a glaring contest, he was about to interrupt when his phone was ringing.
"Oh hi April~!"
Don's smile faded fast as April talked. "Guys! … GUYS! April says this Murakami guy from the restaurant has been kidnapped!" He presumed they knew who he was.
"What?! We have to save him!" Mikey called. The news had at least made Raph and Leo stop in their tracks.
"Let's go meet up with April and see where he is at, it could be the purple dragons again."
"Or a trap." Don suggested.
"Yea, or a trap." Leo commented before starting to walk.
"Wait." Don stopped him. "I made these.. so you don't have to dial me up, just… push the button to talk to any of us, should be easy to use in fights or on missions. Rather than calling." He explained.
"Oh.. thanks?" Leo watched as Donnie attached the thing around his neck after tugging him down to his level, then one on Mikey and Raph.
"Oh neat!" They all heard in an echo as Mikey pushed the button and talked.
"Yea, like that."
After meeting up with April outside the restaurant she pointed out the note that was obviously left with them in mind.
"They got him, they want to meet at the factory." Leo stated as he teared it down and read it.
"Then we do, and we beat 'em down!"
"Sounds good!"
"Wait we need a plan guys. We can't just go in."
"Okaaay.. So.. what is it."
"We're... gonna show them we can cross lines to!" Leo said after some thought, smiling. This time, he felt like it wasn't so difficult to figure out a course of action, it wasn't the Kraang, after all. No weird technology to take into account.
"Yes!" Raph was absolutely thrilled. Finally, they'd make those guys pay.
Mikey giggled a little as they trapped Bradford in a trashcan. The plan was simple, they'd take one of theirs, threaten them and do a trade, Murikami for Bradford.
"I'm loving this." Raph said as he and Mikey started rolling Bradford along. As an after though, he reminded himself to update with Donnie what was going on.
"Hey, just checking in, we've kidnapped one of the bad guys, I'll call you back later." He heard Donnie respond.
"What? Kidnapped?! What are you guys doing exactly?" He answered, sounding a bit worried. He didn't reply, but he could feel Leo's stare at him.
"This is why we don't involve him so much, you're just worrying him." He said pointedly before they had to stop and hoist the trashcan up, they'd arrived. Raph really wanted to say some not so pretty things to Leo, but there was no more time for talking.
The foot and some dragons were waiting on the roof for them to show up.
Leo stepped forward and pointed his blade towards Xever and the other goons that was there.
"Release him!"
"Or what? There's been a change of plans turtles... Heh, drop your weapons or we cut the rope." Xever threatened, taking his knife and making a little cut at the thick rope that held Murakami far above the ground.
Mikey looked on a little nervously.
"Well there's been another change of plans! Raph!"
Raph grinned and removed the trashcan, grabbing the tied and gagged Bradford and holding him still.
"You give us Murikami or we toss him!"
"So? Do it. He's not my friend." Xever scoffed and smiled as he rolled his knife around with his fingers.
".. What?" Leo blinked, a bit stunned. "He's not?" He looked over at Bradford.
"No." Their enemy said casually, Bradford made a series of muffled protests and squirmed in Raph's grip.
"I'm warning you, we'll toss him."
"I said do it." Xever simply replied.
Raph and Leo spent a few seconds staring at each other, not sure how to proceed now that their bargaining chip turned out to be useless…
"Shit.." Raph sighed and dumped Bradford in front of him.
"Heh." Xever smiled, then he and the ninjas attacked.
Raph, Leo and Mikey instantly responded, weapons out and tossed themselves into combat, one of the ninjas snuck up and freed Bradford in the thick of it.
"What is wrong with you?!" Bradford said angrily at Xever once he was free. "I could have been tossed and died!"
"So? We're not friends. Besides they didn't." He replied and went to attack the turtle with Sai's that was currently fighting off four footsoldiers.
Donnie felt like he might start picking up on biting his nails. He'd heard a brief explanation of what was going on from Raph, then he'd talked a bit to Mikey. But after that they weren't responding. Which probably meant there was combat. He really hoped they would be okay.
"Oh please let them make it." He mumbled, wishing his camera project was done, he could really use some video feedback. That would really help keeping tabs on them, and know what was going on. Besides he'd feel more included, sometimes he had this nagging feeling Leo wasn't really counting him as a member of the team, the family yes, but not the team, kinda like Splinter. Also, Leo didn't really seem all that happy to include him in everything team related either and he hated it. It made him feel inadequate, also he was pretty sure there was more he could do for them if he really was kept up to date with everything going on.
Suddenly there was a sound from Mikey, but it was cut off. Possibly because he couldn't keep his finger on the button.
"What is going on?" This was clearly not calming his nerves the way he thought it would.
Mikey really tried to update Don, cause he knew he'd be worried, but he was forced to release the button to block an incoming attack. As they fought he heard a gasp, glancing to the side he realised Murakami was hanging a bit lower.
".. The rope! Raph, Leo..!" he called as he kicked the footninja in the stomach and turned. He started dashing his way to the chef, he just hoped he would make it on time. The others looked towards Mikey's direction and realised what was going on, they had however no possibility to break away and had to leave the rescue to Mikey while they tried holding off the enemy. Things weren't looking good though.
Raph watched as Mikey dove for Murakami, disappearing over the edge.
"MIKEY!"
he tried to get to the edge, to make sure Mikey was okay, but the enemy was blocking his way. The distraction caused Raph to be hit in the side with one of Xever's feet, and Bradford gave him a good right arm in the face.
Raph went down as he gasped for breath, he was really starting to feel the effects of the fight now, and they were pretty beat up, even if they had managed to take down a lot of the enemies. But they were only two against a whole group. Leo's eyes widened as the katana was knocked away from his hands, getting a full hit in the chest he flew through the air and landed right onto Raph who had been knocked down previously.
Xever laughed. "See? I knew this would work, now, let me show you how to fillet a turtle." He skilfully shifted his knife around in his hands. That's when Bradford decided this was a good time to bicker again. He sighed and groaned at his stupid companion, heatedly arguing back.
Leo was pretty sure this was it, unless Mikey could make it back in time, where was Mikey? They'd taken a real beating and were pretty bruised up now. Raph spit out some blood as he tried to get up, Leo wasn't sure what to do, he had no weapon and-
Suddenly one of his katanas came flying through the air and landed in front of him, he stared at it and then back up where it came from, and spotted the Purple Dragon he'd spared. He smiled, and grabbed the sword.
"Let's finish this." He quickly jumped in behind them, where a water tower was placed, he'd spotted it as he had landed on Raph, and sliced through it. The flood of water caused the bad guys to back up as they were swept away over the roof.
Leo laughed a little. "That was a bit too close huh? .. Mikey..!"
They both got up and hurried over to the edge as fast as their injuries would allow. They might only have a bit of time. Only to exhale in relief as they saw Mikey placing Murakami down by the street, upon spotting his brothers Mikey called out.
"You guys alright?"
Raph gave a tired thumbs-up and Mikey smiled back.
Don tapped his fingers as he waited for the others, he was really growing tired of this routine, at least he knew they weren't so injured that any of them needed emergency care. Which was nice. In fact, they'd said they were fine and probably didn't need any care at all.
"hey guys you-" Don paused as he stared at them.
"WHAT?! What did you mean by 'we're fine'?! You're not fine at all!" Don practically shouted at them. They were bruised up, they had cuts and it looked like they'd been in a proper brawl with a real beat down. This was nowhere near the description they'd given him over the com.
"Donnie, we're fine, really. Nothing's broken and we all got home fi-"
"That is NOT fine!" He interrupted Leo. "I'm the doctor! I decide what's fine! This is not it! Everyone. Lab. NOW!" He pointed and watched as his brothers marched away, not too happy about the current turn of events. Don swore he could see one of them trying to hide a limp.
"I'm gonna have to make them a diagram to show what level counts as 'fine'…" He grumbled as he rolled into the sickbay section of the lab to get stuff he would need. He had a lot of cleaning and patching up to do to make sure they didn't get any serious infections. Even a small cut down in the sewers could become a major problem if left alone without proper care.
Splinter dropped by as he felt his assistance might be needed and helped get some things from the kitchen, those bruises were in some desperate need of ointment and ice.
"How could you think this is okay?" He asked rhetorically as he put some ice on Mikey's shoulder after using a lot of peroxide on Raph, not the best option, but as he was a mutant the healing rate wouldn't be affected to a degree where it would be noticeable. At least to human standards. Besides it was hard to get anything better as peroxide was easy to come by.
As Mikey sat there he was stiff as a board.
"Heh.. guess we're just kinda... starting to get used to getting some scratches here and there." Mikey said nervously. "I'm not.. I don't need any injections… Do I?"
"No, you can relax." Don said, and Mikey visible deflated and relaxed.
"Oh thank shell! I love you man!" He exclaimed and pulled Donnie's head into a quick hug.
" Heh.. Augh! Mikey! I get it.. but I'm working right now!" Don complained, but could help but give a slight smile, it wasn't THAT often he used needles.
"Oh right! We actually brought you food this time! It's really delicious!" He said excitedly as he let go.
Don smiled. "Thanks Mikey, aaaand we're done."
"Yes!" Mikey happily jumped off the bed as Leo stood in line to silently take his place.
Don started working is way up from Leo's bruised ankle as the silence went on, Leo didn't really seem to be all there. He wondered what Leo was really thinking about, but decided against asking. Most of the time he would just brush him off anyway, especially lately. He wasn't quite sure why, but maybe it was just the pressure and being busy with the missions and increasing list of enemies. Donnie wasn't even sure he was aware of how exactly they were actually fairing against them. He had a rough idea, from all the talk and Mikey. But Leo wouldn't fill him in on any details or let him join in to talk about his plans or ideas. Or anything that was going through his head really.
"There, all done."
Leo nodded, went up and left with a small thank you. Apparently, he wasn't going to talk about what was on his mind anytime soon.
Don watched him go and sighed, since when did they stop talking about everything?
At least dinner was as usual, with the exception of a rather odd takeaway.
"Pizza gyoza..?" Don stared sceptically at the food lined up on his plate.
Mikey grabbed Don by the shoulders and pressed in close while smiling. "Trust me bro, it is dee-liciousss!"
"Okay fine, fine, I'll try it! Stop squashing me or you'll cause the wheelchair to topple over."
Mikey grinned wide as he watched Donatello's expression change as he tasted the food. "Right~?" He gave Don a wide smile.
Leo smiled a little as he watched his brothers. He'd finished his food early and decided to do some meditation, and… perhaps ask Splinter for some advice, he felt like he could really use some right now.
Leo carefully placed himself down on the mat, deciding to start with some breathing exercises, blocking out the dulled chatter sipping out from the kitchen.
Before he knew it the world around him disappeared and he fell into a meditative state. He tried to go through his emotions... he felt… unsure, insecure about the future... frustrated… it felt like a tangle he wasn't quite sure how to solve. He tried to think about the past missions, the problems. What went well, what went... less well, or bad. Trying to find the source of the issue.
Before he knew it, he'd been in there for three hours, he opened his eyes and sighed. He wasn't sure he could solve this on his own.
"Problems, son?"
Leo stiffened, then relaxed, realising Splinter had joined him at some point without him noticing.
"… Well.. I suppose. I just… There is something I can't seem to figure out."
"You are always welcome to seek my advice, or your brother's" Splinter commented.
Leo paused for a second, not really sure what to make of the last part, but he replied politely none the less. "Thank you, sensei."
Leo pondered where to begin, while Splinter waited patiently.
"When… we faced the Foot and the dragons today, everything sort of worked out. Sure, it wasn't entirely as planned, we faced problems… but we got around them. But with that Kraang mission the other day… it felt like the opposite, it was an uphill battle and it didn't really feel like we succeeded properly."
Splinter nodded. "They're quite different enemies."
"Right. I guess… that's why the same tactics doesn't work. But I'm just not sure how to… get around it. I mean, we can't just leave the Kraang be because it's hard to deal with them."
"No, that would indeed be unwise. Perhaps you should try think about them differently, they are not the foot, therefore, you shouldn't treat them as such."
Leo nodded, of course, he'd figured they needed to think about this differently… he just wasn't sure how he, Mikey and Raph could as a team make that happen.
"How did you know what choice to make?"
"What do you mean?" Splinter looked at Leo curiously.
"I mean, picking me as leader."
"I didn't. I simply picked you because you asked. It is up to you to become a leader. It is not something you are straight away."
"Oh. Master Splinter.. I'm just.. not sure I'm the right fit. I mean, I guess both Mikey and Raph would struggle too but..." In fact he had a hard time seeing either of them as leaders and making it work…
"How so?" Splinter asked out of curiosity. He could feel his eldest's son's uncertainty about the topic.
"I mean.. Raph is… reckless and Mikey is… Mikey. But I'm not sure I'm so great either…" Leo sighed
"And why is that?" Splinter asked, looking curiously upon Leonardo as he struggled to find the right words. It wasn't lost upon him that Leonardo didn't seem to think of Donatello as part of the team, or an option as leader. He stroked his beard as Leo seemed to struggle with his words, he wondered when he'd done that assumption, he hadn't spent a lot of his time with his son's daily activities or missions, so he hadn't actually noticed this particular direction their team dynamic had taken. Practice and reality was quite different after all.
He decided not to intervene yet, it would be best if they figured it out together on their own, though he was prepared to do some parental intervention if things didn't seem to get solved in time. After all, they had deadly enemies and sometimes letting them work it out completely on their own wasn't always a viable luxury.
"It's just... I feel like I can't lead the team properly, there is so much responsibility and... they don't really listen."
"Ah. So you think you're lacking in respect? Have you shown them the same respect back?"
"Huh? Well I... I'm the leader, they should respect me and listen! I mean, that's what's being a leader is about?" Leo felt slightly frustrated as he talked about some of his issues. "I feel like I'm herding cats most of the time, and then there is… I just can't seem to pull it together in certain.. well.. mostly Kraang related missions, there's just too much to deal with and… I feel stuck in a loop."
Splinter sighed, his pupil had indeed identified some of his problems, but he clearly lacked some insight and knowledge about how to approach them, but that was why he was there, to guide him through it. He twitched his nose slightly.
"Leonardo, respect is something that is earned, it is something you must build together with your brothers, as a team. It is not something you can simply demand of them. You need to respect them, if they are to respect you." Then he gave a slight smile.
"As for your loop, I suggest you talk to your brothers, I'm sure they can give you some new perspectives. Communication can be the difference between life and death, do not dismiss it."
"Hai, sensei." Leo was about to get up, thinking their talk was over, when Splinter gave him a smile he couldn't quite interpret.
"I believe you should focus more on what your team is capable of, rather than what they can't do. Now I shall retire for the evening." He announced, he slowly rose up and walked off towards his room.
Leo nodded and walked out of the dojo, as he did, he felt slightly unsure. The respect made sense, but at the same time… respecting Raph and Mikey seemed like a challenge in and of itself… He sighed, this wasn't going to be one of those easy things, was it?
He shook his head, if he was going to do this, if he wanted to become a good leader, he just had to pull it off, somehow. Maybe talking to them was a good start? It was hard to build something with someone when… they weren't around. That made sense, maybe some team building exercises...? Focusing on what they were good at and doing some adjustments… He smiled to himself. "I got this."
"Got what?"
The sound of Raph's voice stopped him. "Oh, hello Raph."
"You seem to be in a good mood."
"Well, actually I am, I got some good advice."
"Oh great." Raph said rather sarcastically. "Some more spiritual mumbo jumbo. I'm sure that'll keep everything peaceful and perfect."
Leo gave Raph a glare, about to retort, when he remembered what Splinter had said about respect. If he didn't listen to Raph, Raph wouldn't listen to him… He took a deep breath.
"Well… It's not mumbo jumbo, just.. teamwork advice. Actually. Doesn't mean the bad guys don't need a good old beat down, am I right?" He tried a confident smile with his little jab, sort of like Raph would do sometimes.
"…." Raph stared at him. That was literally the first time he'd seen Leo act like that, and not try to justify their violence into some spiritual or justice hero-bullshit and just straight out say they could use a pummelling.
"….."
"….." Leo stared back at Raph, not really sure what to do about the shocked reaction. And the silence was getting awkward as it dragged on. He took a few slow steps back.
"Sooo… I… should probably go have a talk with Mike." Leo stated after a few very long seconds. Raph seemed to snap out of his confusion.
"Yea.. Uh yea, good idea. I'll uh, check on Don. Make sure all the stuff is in place… and... stuff."
They were both relieved to get out of the weird situation when they left in opposite directions, Raph was quite confused by Leonardo's behaviour, and Leo made a note to listen to Raph, not talk like Raph, or more like attempt to. That was just cringeworthy.
Meanwhile in a rather gloomy but subtly decorative building, a brief meeting was taking place. The structure itself blended in along the neighbourhood, seemingly rather normal. It reminded of a church, if it weren't for the odd-looking guards dressed in black standing around.
Bradford winced as their master's disapproving eyes fell upon them.
"I am not pleased. Why is that?"
They grimaced, neither really wanted to reply. Bradford felt the Shredder's eyes upon him and swallowed down a shudder.
"Because we failed you, master. I promise it won't happen again."
"No, it won't. I've given you plenty of chances. It seems, if I want something done, I'm going to have to do it myself." The Shredder slowly rose from his throne and walked down. Bradford and Xever bowed down and held still. Not daring to speak up to anger him further, they silently agreed on a truce and to go along with whatever their master had in mind.
"This time, you will not fail me." He unsheathed his blades and glared down at them.
It looked like he was going to have to deal with these reptilian creatures himself.
Leo held his breath as he stood outside Mikey's room, there was one conclusion he had drawn upon his meditation, he really needed to apologise to Mikey.
He knocked on Mikey's door, Leo heard a soft come in and he slowly opened the door. After a brief hesitation he stepped inside.
"Hey Mikey."
"Oh, hello Leo. Finally got out of the dojo?" Mikey said as he lowered the comic he'd been reading.
"Hah well.. yea…" Leo scratched his neck.
"So what's up?"
"Look, I just.. what I wanted to say was... I'm sorry about earlier the other day. I… I shouldn't repeat the same tactics just cause I feel stressed… It's not how a leader should act and… I know being predictable is what we shouldn't be. And.. from now on we'll take turns with the distraction when we need one." Leo attempted a small smile.
"I only sent you to do it because I thought it would be safer, as... a leader, and your older brother, I'm worried about your safety above all else. I guess.. I took it a bit too far.." He hesitated a moment as he watched Mikey stare at him, Leo couldn't quite make out what he was thinking. He swallowed and willed himself to continue.
"I know this apology is way overdue… And.. I guess I realised I was wrong, it's not always the safest job. No job in this can truly be safe, so…" His eyes widened and he paused as Mikey got up and gave him a squeezing hug.
"Aww thanks bro! I knew you liked me!" Mikey happily hugged him as Leo tried to squirm a bit.
"A bit... too tight, Mikey." He managed to get out, and Mikey relaxed the hug a bit.
"Sorry bro!"
"No problem…" He managed a small smile and patted Mikey's head.
As he released him Mikey seemed to look him over, as if thinking about something, Leo waited to see if he would say anything, and he did. It wasn't quite what he expected though, Mikey was seldom the serious one.
"Though... you usually isolate yourself and come up with all the plans, you should totally discuss more often with us, you always look so pressured. I think you should totally consult Donnie about strategy by the way, he may not have hands on experience, but he sure has a lot of ideas. I'm sure you two would be unstoppable!" Mikey commented.
"Donnie?" Leo looked hesitant. "I don't know about that Mikey, he-"
"Look dude, I know you don't like to involve him, but these Kraang dudes are seriously hard to fight, and Donnie knows a lot about tech, I think you should at least let him help with ideas and stuff more."
"I know but… I don't want to involve him in this, if he gets involved, if he gets injured… He can't defend himself like we can. I just… I couldn't do that to him."
"I get what you mean but... Donnie's all.. patching us up and making us stuff. My guts tells me it'd be wrong to try make him stay out of it, ya know? Besides, what if we need like a big doomsday device to get rid of the aliens? Like hey D, can you make this thing, no worries you know, we're just gonna do a bit of gardening! Yea like that would go across well."
"Uh, I'm pretty sure we're NOT gonna need a doomsday device Mikey."
"Maybe, but I'm just saying! It's better if he knows, for all of us, besides... if it were me, I'd feel excluded and left behind." Mikey gave Leo a sad look.
"I'm not saying we'll take him with us... just.. talk with him more about it. He wants to, ya know? Please?" Mikey gave Leo his puppy dog eyes.
Leo grimaced as he felt his will bend slightly at the sight. "I just don't want him to worry so much…"
"Yea… but I think he worries more because he doesn't know things. I think knowing calms him down, rather than being kept in the dark. Sides, he probably knows more than you think." Mikey wasn't going to rat Raph or himself out, just... drop a hint. They may have talked more about the missions than Leo knew. What he did think they did was talk to him about what inventions or things they could need, like something to climb with. They did that too but, it felt seriously wrong to leave out the context just to 'not worry' him. As Raph put it, it was dangerous and stupid.
Leo realised he'd never thought about it that way, he'd just thought about what would be best for Donnie, the less he worried the better. But maybe that just wasn't actually helping… and it certainly wouldn't be good for the team in the long run either…
Plus, unusually enough, Mikey had a good point, Leo thought as he thought it over. The Kraang was becoming a very real problem, and their current way of doing it just wasn't quite cutting it. Their last Kraang mission was quite a big indicator of that, besides, not like he had to involve Donnie in the foot/dragon thing, just the Kraang and the tech stuff. Talking with Donnie wouldn't exactly put him in harm's way either, he'd just get someone to ball ideas with... actually that sounded pretty good.
"Heh, alright. I'll talk to Donnie. Thanks Mikey, I'll keep what you said in mind." Leo smiled.
"Yes!" Mikey gave his brother a big hug before he was left to his own devices, he really felt he'd gotten through to Leo this time.
"~"
And yes, I did feel that Splinters normal elusive support in canon just isn't quite for this Splinter at all times. I mean, of course it would be better for their survival in the long run if they figure stuff out on their own. But they also have some really deadly enemies knocking on their figurative doors, and I think he should and does care enough about them to intervene and help more than just elusive advice when he feels they really do need it in order to not go out and die on missions. I mean, which parent wouldn't say something if they knew it could mean the life or death of their children? So this Splinter gives them more limited time to figure it out before he feels he needs to give them a little stronger nudge in the right direction. I think having to take care of Donatello more as a child has made him more parent-y.
And don't you ever dismiss Mikey's gut feeling.