Reaching the end of the article he'd been studying, Leonardo closed the borrowed laptop with a click and sat back in his chair. His shoulders ached after spending so long hunched over the keyboard. It probably didn't help that he'd spent the early hours of the morning in a similar position trying to get the paint off after yesterday's disastrous mission, he thought ruefully.
Stretching his arms above his head, Leo flexed each shoulder in turn before lowering his hands back down to rest them on the notched surface of his orderly desk. A quick glance at the clock surprised him; the hour was later than he'd realised. Picking up the portable computer, he carried it with him as he hastily left the blissful sanctity of his bedroom and headed back down towards the living area of the lair.
As he entered, Michelangelo glanced briefly up from where he was fixated on a video game. Raphael, nowhere to be seen, must have tagged with him at some point, Leonardo deduced. Heading over to stand near his youngest brother, the leader put the laptop back where he'd found it by the cushions.
"Anything from the lab?" Leo asked, not sure what answer he was hoping for.
Mikey shook his head, performing an exaggerated lean to the side as he controlled his avatar on screen. "Nada, brah."
Did that mean Donnie was still being cantankerous, or that he'd cooled down? As he toyed with whether to try again to speak to his brother, another question popped into Leonardo's mind.
"Where's Raph?"
"Headed out."
Leonardo frowned. "Out? Where did he go?"
There was a pause as Michelangelo repeatedly tapped a button of the controller in the digit damaging fashion that the game demanded. Once done, he paused long enough to glance briefly over to Leonardo before stating, simply, "I dunno."
Leo sighed heavily. Just great, Raphael had wandered off again. Did he not realise what trouble it caused? Actually, that was probably why he did it, the leader thought bitterly.
"He and Donnie had a map," Mikey helpfully added.
He and… Leonardo looked up sharply. "Donnie? Donnie went out too?"
Michelangelo nodded, still gazing at the screen. "Yup, D found something or other and wanted to check it out. He told Raph he was going, and that he could go tell you while Donnie went by himself, or he could come along. So Raph went along."
Donatello had left the lair?! A scowl born of frustration and concern darkened Leo's face. The emotions also made themselves known in his voice as he snapped, "Mikey! Why didn't you stop them? Or come and tell me?!"
Shrinking away from the criticism, Michelangelo grimaced and finally stopped avidly focusing on the game.
"I would have!" he protested, before turning to stare unhappily at his hands. "But, earlier, Donnie… he… he shouted at me."
Something about the tone caused Leo to hesitate. But, vexed by the situation, he bluntly stated the obvious. "Mikey… Everyone shouts at you."
On screen, the avatar fell into a pool of lava and was incinerated. Despite his earlier concentration, Michelangelo didn't seem bothered. He just continued to gaze sadly at the controller. "But this time, it was because I totally messed up, brah."
Leo still couldn't see how that differed from usual, but he waited patiently for the elaboration that would follow. Mikey hated prolonged silences, Leo knew from experience that he just had to stay quiet and his little brother would fill the air with everything he needed to know.
"I told him everything was normal," Michelangelo sniffed, "because it felt like it! D was doing his computer stuff and I was helping…"
It was doubtful that Donatello would have described it as helpful, but Leonardo didn't voice his thoughts, he just continued to patiently listen.
"But when I said it, he got angry! Not his normal Mikey-will-you-stop-juggling-the-volatile-compounds angry. He got really, really, really angry."
Tears started to fill the baby blue eyes. "He said things will never be normal. Ever."
Now it was starting to make sense. All this time, Michelangelo had been clinging steadfastly to the hope that Donatello would make a complete recovery. In the fantasy world of his youngest brother's imagination, Leonardo suspected that the four of them had achieved invulnerability.
But the truth was that harm could befall them at any time. They were individuals, each with a finite life. Having stared mortality in the face a worrying number of times, the leader knew it all too well. They lived in a dangerous world, fighting deadly battles with their foes. All it took was one small action. One decision. One stray shot, and things would change forever.
Slowly, Leonardo sank down onto the cushions next to his brother. "Well, he was right, Mikey," he explained, gently. "They won't ever be normal."
"But why?!" Michelangelo protested, "Why can't things just be normal?"
Leo took a slow breath, drawing on the memory of an explanation. "Because… Nothing remains the same, Mikey. Everything is always changing."
Mikey's bottom lip quivered. "That doesn't make any sense!"
Leonardo shook his head with a sigh, before taking the more direct approach of reaching over to give his little brother a one-armed embrace. "You didn't mess up, Mikey. I think Donnie's just… Finding things a bit difficult right now.
"You're not the only one he's yelled at today," Leo continued, ruefully. "But, right now he's out there with Raph, doing… who-knows-what. We need to find them, and make sure they get back safely."
"Before something worse happens?" Mikey suggested, suddenly brightening and tapping his hands together. "Oh! There were some notes!" Pulling away from Leo, he jumped to his feet. "D was writing notes!"
Leonardo followed as his youngest brother vaulted to the upper layer and headed swiftly over to the laboratory. Sliding the door open, Michelangelo approached the desk and picked up a damp pad of paper.
"Here," he said, offering the sheets with a cheerful beam, as if he'd just solved all the problems in the world.
"They're illegible," Leo stated, as he tried to make sense of the smudgy, scrawled writing that had bled all over the page. Donnie's handwriting used to be so neat, he thought sadly.
"Yeah, I think he knocked over his drink. Aw, and he didn't eat his pizza!" Reaching over, Michelangelo retrieved the plate with a lick of his lips. "Well, it'd be a shame to waste it…"
Leonardo frowned at that, however before he could comment there was a noise from the living area of the lair. Both turtles turned their heads, but it wasn't their missing brothers. Instead, April's voice rang out with an urgency that immediately grabbed their attention.
"Guys! GUYS! Where are you?!"
Something must have happened, Leo realised in horror. Had Raph or Donnie contacted them? Were they in trouble? Racing for the door, he barely beat Mikey in bursting through it and hurrying over to where April and Casey had just vaulted the turnstiles.
"The sewers are crawling with people from the environment agency!" April hastily explained, as soon as the turtles came into view.
A chill of dread ran down Leo's spine. This part of the subway was disused, there weren't meant to be people working down here!
"The chemicals, they're polluting the sewers. They're searching for the cause!" April continued, taking brief gasps as she tried to catch her breath while continuing to quickly talk.
"Shredder's using them to find you," Casey added, "The Foot are watchin'. Soon as you're discovered, they'll be here to crash the party!"
Battling dismay, choices began to flood the leader's mind. Should they prepare to defend their home? Should they evacuate? They'd already lost everything once and had to flee to the farmhouse. Did they go there again?
Last time, they'd come back to the lair and rebuilt it, once the Kraang had been destroyed. But this time, if their home was so publicly discovered, they might never be safe to return.
Fighting to keep his emotions contained and his mind fixed on the logistics of the situation, Leonardo homed in on what was important. For a start, he needed to establish just how close the workers were to discovering them.
"You've got tonight." April stated, cutting into Leonardo's thoughts as if she were reading them. "The workers were about to clock off. But they're gonna be back again first thing tomorrow."
Casey nodded. "They're only a couple'a tunnels away!"
Mikey, listening in open mouthed confusion to the rapid fire conversation, tried to clarify. "Whoa, there are people? Coming here?"
April and Casey both nodded.
"To party?"
Leonardo cringed. "No, Mikey. They'll be being watched, and the message will… Look, just…" He cut to the chase. "Shredder's on his way here, to destroy us."
His brother's eyes widened in alarm, and he hopped nervously from foot to foot. "Shredder? Coming here? Leo, what do we do?!"
A decision was needed, quickly, and as the leader Leonardo knew that it fell upon his shoulders. Did they fight, or did they flee? Caution, he reminded himself. After what had happened last time, he needed to ensure their safety first. This time, he wouldn't hesitate to take the prudent choice.
Forcing himself to take a calming breath, Leo was relieved at how steady his voice sounded. If he could keep projecting an aura of steadiness, hopefully he could prevent the others from becoming rattled.
"We evacuate," Leonardo decided, authoritatively. His eyes settled on where his little brother was still bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet. He needed something to do with that nervous energy. "Mikey, go and fetch Sensei."
Nodding quickly, Michelangelo immediately bounded off towards the dojo, beyond which was Splinter's room.
"Ugh, what a time for Raph and Donnie to wander off," Leo lamented, pressing his fingertips to his forehead. "We need to find them, as soon as possible."
"They're missing?" April asked, worriedly.
"We're right here."
Raph's voice rang out from the laboratory doorway, having evidently entered the lair via the garage, and drew all eyes in that direction.
Leo felt his heart leap into his throat. Donnie was cradled in his brother's arms, eyes closed and head slumped against Raph's shoulder. His long limbs barely missed a collision with one of the sliding doors, as Raphael was forced to twist sideways to step through the gap between them.
"Donnie!" April cried, at the same time as Leonardo bounded towards the laboratory.
"What happened?!" he demanded, fear empowering the anger in his voice, while his eyes searched frantically for injuries on his younger brother.
Seeing Donnie's chest slowly rising and falling with each breath gave a miniscule amount of reassurance. But his skin was pale, making the pink tinged spittle on his lips stand out vividly.
"He's fine, Leo," Raph stated bluntly, shouldering past as he carried Donnie down towards the cushions. "He's just tired out."
Leonardo had to battle to keep the edge of hysteria from dominating his voice as he helplessly followed Raphael across the room. "Our definition of 'fine' is not the same! What happened?! Did he have another seizure? Where were you? Why did you leave without telling me?!"
"Because I wanted to." Raph defiantly narrowed his eyes. "And because Donnie wanted to."
How did Raphael continuously manage to choose the worst possible times to challenge his authority? Leonardo ground his teeth together, biting back various unsavoury retorts he'd have quite liked to fling in the face of his mule-headed brother at that very moment. Instead, he searched for one that wouldn't get him harshly admonished should Master Splinter happen to walk in and overhear.
Raph was carefully placing Donnie onto the cushions as Leo finally unclenched his jaw and spat back with, "You… You can't just do whatever you want, Raphael!"
With insolence rippling in every muscle, Raph slowly straightened. "You think you can stop me? Huh, Leonardo?"
Casey was watching the exchange with the infuriating grin of someone whose enjoyment of the unfolding spectacle could only be improved with popcorn.
Meanwhile, April had hurried over to crouch by Donatello's side. "Leo," she cut in, before he could confront the challenge his brother had presented. "Don't you need to start packing?"
Leonardo grimaced, battling to keep his temper under control. Yes, they needed to start packing. Now was not the time to be arguing. He had to be the bigger turtle here, and not let Raphael get under his shell. There would be time once they'd evacuated to have this… debate. Again. Right now, there was so much that needed to be done, and so little time.
April's statement caused Raph's brow to briefly furrow, before he turned to Leo with a mirthless smirk on his lips. "Packing?" he mocked. "Takin' a vacation, Fearless?"
"We're evacuating," Leo stated firmly, refusing to let himself be goaded. "Shredder's plan all along; it was to pollute the sewers and get the environment agency workers to hunt us out."
"Well, duh."
That caught Leonardo off guard. "You knew?"
"Donnie tracked down one of their hideouts. We broke in, and he logged into their computer system," Raph stated triumphantly, as he retrieved several pages of computer printouts from his belt. "They're also planning another chemical raid and drop on Saturday, and we've got the location of a warehouse where they're keeping a further supply of chemicals in preparation."
He grinned darkly, cracking his knuckles. "All we gotta do is shut it down."
Walking over to take the paperwork, Leonardo stared down at it for a few moments. So, that's what his brothers had been doing. He had to admit, Donatello had been far more successful in finding something from the data than he'd been. But, at what cost?
Leo shook his head and levelly met Raph's gaze as he set the papers aside. "We don't have until Saturday; the lair could be discovered tomorrow. We need to evacuate. Tonight."
"Evacuate?" Raphael repeated, his tone rising with the question and promising that such a decision was not going to be accepted without an argument. "Leo, we just gotta scare 'em off. This is our home!"
"I know!" Leo replied, tension building in his voice as he prepared to enforce his decision. "I know, Raph! And we could, but Shredder is gonna be watching, monitoring what the workers are doing. All it takes is one report that they saw ghosts, or aliens, or heard an explosion, and he'll have his henchmen sniffing around down here quicker than Mikey eats pizza."
"I like the explosion idea," Casey contributed.
Leo whirled on him. "You're not helping!"
He turned back to find Raphael had stepped forward to leave barely a gap between them, and was drawing himself up intimidatingly. Reflexively, Leonardo squared his shoulders and braced himself.
"I'm not leavin', Leo," Raph stated, his eyes glittering dangerously. "I'll fight for our home, even if you won't!"
"It's not safe to stay here!" the leader insisted, watching warily for the first muscle twitch that would betray his brother was about to make the quarrel physical. "I don't want to leave any more than you do, but I would rather find a new home than risk losing any of you."
"You think we're not capable of taking down a few Foot soldiers?" Raphael retorted, his lip curling angrily.
"Not at the same time as all Shredder's henchmen, and maybe even Shredder himself." Leonardo pointed out. "Not with Donnie out of action, and Mikey—"
"We'll have Sensei on our side!"
"We're still outnumbered!"
"I WON'T RUN AWAY!" Raphael thundered, clenching his fists.
"LIKE LAST TIME?!" Leo roared back, snapping his hands up to shove roughly against Raph's chest and push his brother away. "When we didn't run away, and it nearly killed Donnie? Is that what you want? To keep your home, but lose your brother?"
The blood drained briefly from Raphael's face, before flooding back in a rush. "You can't pack him in bubble wrap, Leo!" he bellowed, throwing a sudden punch towards Leonardo's shoulder that the leader barely managed to dodge.
"You think I don't know that?!" Leo retorted, bitterly. Protecting his brothers from every risk was impossible, but throwing Donnie into danger after he'd been so critically injured was madness.
As Raph stepped forward to attack again, Leo quickly threw his arms up to defend while simultaneously ducking into a spinning kick. It connected with the edge of his brother's shell, sending him stumbling to one side and keeping the distance between them.
Raphael quickly righted himself and spun around to lunge back into the fight with fists raised. "He's never gonna improve if you don't let him try, Leo!" he insisted, frustration lacing his words and adding power to the attack.
Expecting the retaliatory blow to come from the arms, Leonardo was moments too slow in reacting to the unexpected low sweep and found his legs brushed out from under him. Crashing down onto his shell, he used the momentum to roll backwards and vault clear just in the nick of time, as Raphael dove forward and punched down onto the concrete where he'd been sprawled a second previously.
"Raph!" Leo snapped in exasperation, hopping back to stay out of his brother's reach. "We don't have time for this!"
Raphael jumped up angrily, with indignant fury lacing his words. "Then run away and hide! That's what you do best."
Bristling, a shadow crossed Leonardo's cool blue eyes as his temper finally got the better of him. With a yell of vexation, he lunged to strike his brother. This time, with the intention to knock some sense into him.
"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?" boomed the sudden voice of Master Splinter, as he emerged from the dojo, trailed by Michelangelo. His eyebrows, initially raised in surprise, arced down dangerously as anger darkened his expression.
Leonardo instantly froze, his right arm still raised to strike a blow that would never connect. A mixture of alarm and guilt crowded out the rush of anger, replacing the hot wave with icy dread. Fighting amongst themselves outside of the dojo was strictly forbidden, something all the turtles knew well.
Of course, that rarely stopped Raphael once he got the bit between his teeth, and this wasn't the first time Leonardo had been exposed in a similar situation. From countless previous experiences, all the teens knew that getting caught brawling elicited some of Sensei's worst punishments.
About to assert to Master Splinter that he'd only been defending himself, Leo was cut off as Raph's fist abruptly impacted with his face. Toppling back ungracefully onto his rear, the leader had to spend a moment waiting for the stars to clear before he put a hand to his cheek and glared at his brother.
"Raph!" he objected, although it was lost against the louder bellow of Splinter.
"RAPHAEL!" their father admonished, in a tone that had the hot-headed turtle wincing in apprehension.
Straightening, Raphael quickly pointed a condemning finger down towards where Leonardo was still sitting on the floor. "He started it, Sensei!"
Gaping at the accusation, Leo had just taken the breath he planned to use in protesting his innocence. But, before he had chance to speak, the air suddenly filled with a loud, grinding clunk that emanated from outside the lair.
They'd argued too loud and too long, Leonardo realised with a growing sensation of dread. Their enemies had found them. His stomach dropping in fear, the leader immediately leapt to his feet and assumed a combat stance, as he prepared to battle for his home and his family.