Leo liked to think he was normal like his brother's and all other humans out there. Well, as normal as a mutant turtle can get anyways. He considered himself to be a smart, funny, and charismatic guy, even though he pulled pranks and jokes all the time; He was a teenager, after all. However, sometimes, a negative thought would protrude his mind, wiping away all the positive things he did think about himself.
Most of the time, it would only last for the briefest of seconds, and he would shake his head and continue with his day. However, the days where the thoughts lasted longer always seemed to happen when he put himself or his brothers in danger. He would question his self-worth, and guilt would overcome his senses.
It was such events today that triggered that feeling.
He and his brothers had gone out on a trip to pick up a pizza, and everything was going well until Big Mama had decided to ambush them. They engaged in a fight with him and some new mutants she had gathered. Things were going well like usual, and the boy's odds of winning were on their side; That is until Leo became arrogant.
"Hey! Hey, guys, look!" He yelled out to his brothers while they were still fighting.
The brothers thinking something was up, turned their gazes to Leo as they still battled.
"Shish kabobs!" He laughed as he continued to catch all the items thrown at him with his sword.
"Seriously, Leo!" Raph yelled out while pushing one of the mutants back.
"What? You gotta admit that was funny," he said with a smirk while looking back behind him. Raph rolled his eyes at him until a sudden gasp resided near him.
"Leo, look out!" The orange-clad screamed in horror.
"Huh?" Leo turned to see the mutant he was fighting, throwing a glowing ball of light at him. His eyes widened in surprise, and having no time to react, he closed his eyes in anticipation. Nothing came.
"Donnie!" Raph yelled from a distance away.
Hearing his 'twin's name, Leo quickly opened his eyes to see the purple-clad sprawled out on the ground unconscious.
"No..." Leo whispered out in fear. "Donnie!" He said as he bent down to check on his brother. The blue-clad went into medic mode, and he felt for his brother's pulse quickly. It was weak, but a slight thump could be felt under Leo's finger. He sighed in relief, "Oh, thank god..."
A menacing chuckle could be heard in front of him. Leo looked up and glared with all his might.
"How dare you do that to my brother!" He said with a low, threatening tone. He picked up his sword and shook off the items that were still impaled by it. He took on a fighting stance and continued to glower at his enemy.
"Oh, now you take me seriously?" The wolf-looking mutant chuckled. "Guess I should've hurt one of them from the start."
Leo's glare hardened even more. "You're going to pay for that," he stated in a gruff tone his brother's hardly ever heard from him.
Leo wanted to oh so badly glance at his brother and continue to assess the damage Don had took, but he was too afraid to take his eyes off the mutant; The distant sound of his other brother's fighting in the background was a reminder that he was the only one who could protect Donnie at the moment. Leo clenched his jaw and continued to stare at the mutant, neither one unmoving. They were stuck in what would've been considered an eye contest, both waiting for the other to make a move. Leo continued to scrutinize the guy until a slight twitch in the mutant's muscles sent Leo into defense mode.
The wolf mutant lunged at the turtle covered in blue; Claw's out as he swiped at his head. Leo ducked, having anticipated the attack, and in a swift movement, he sent an upper punch into the guy's stomach. The mutant cried out in pain as he was sent flying backward, and before he could get up, Leo was already above him, swinging his sword down. The mutant rolled to the side, narrowly missing an attack that would've put him into unconsciousness. However, before the mutant could fully get back up, a blade to his throat stopped him in place. The mutant looked up and saw the blue slider smirking down at him in victory, his eyes brimming with anger.
"Not so tough now, are we?" Leo jokingly mocked as he bent down to be eye level with the mutant.
The mutant glared, and a low growl came from his throat in anger. Leo continued to smirk down at his enemy in victory until a yelp from one of his brothers broke his concentration. Leo looked back quickly, forgetting about his enemy in front of him. The mutant smirked, noticing the distraction, and took the opportunity to swipe his glowing green claws at Leo, but the blue-slider was quicker to react. Still bent down and having sensed the attack, Leo bent his back backward and dodged his claws in the nick of time. Still in the position, Leo glanced down at the mutant, and putting his hands on the ground, he pushed into his arms and used both of his legs to land a powerful kick to the mutant in front of him.
"And stay down!" Leo yelled once his kick made contact.
The mutant yowled once it hit the ground, the attack having sent him rolling across the ground. Once the mutant stopped rolling and lay in one spot, he tiredly attempted to push up onto his forearms but fell back to the ground in pain, too weak to keep fighting.
Leo stood back up, his sword in hand, and looked at the mutant. "Good boy," the slider joked half-heartedly, a victory grin on his face once he noticed the mutant wolf wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.
Leo had started to think that maybe he had kicked the mutant 'too' hard, but all thoughts of his enemies have pushed aside when he could hear a small whimper from his purple-clad twin behind him.
"Donnie!" Leo yelled in sudden panic. The blue slider ran to his twin quickly, his eyes scanning for the source of his brother's discomfort once he got there. Though there were no visible signs of injury, Donnie laid on the ground in a fetal position, his face twisted in pain. Leo started to worry about a concussion or, even worse, internal bleeding.
Leo shook his head at the thought, and going back into medic mode, decided that it be better to move his brother away from the battlefield as fast as possible. Gently cupping one hand around his brother's back and the other around his right shoulder, the slider slowly started to lift Don upright. A pained sound escaped from his genius brother, followed by a tight pained expression, quickly making him stop in the process of moving him. Quickly, he scanned the genius's body and found that his right shoulder looked out of place, bruising forming around the area.
The slider clicked his tongue, knowing very well that his genius brother's arm had been dislocated or that shoulder was completely broken. Either way, he didn't want to sit around wondering what was wrong with him while there were still enemies around.
Acting quickly, Leo picked his genius brother up bridal style despite the pained protests coming from him. Trying to ignore his brother's pain, the blue slider quickly made a note of the enemies around him, calculating where the best escape route would be. He quickly caught sight of his other two brothers, Raph, now by Mikey's side as they finished off another mutant. The two continued to fight off the onslaught wave of mutants coming at them, but the weariness on their faces showed that they were growing tired.
"Guys!" Leo yelled as he ran towards his brothers, dodging enemy attacks on his way.
Mikey and Raph glanced at the blue slider, their eyes widening as they fell upon the purple genius in his arms.
"Oh no, Donnie!" Mikey squeaked in panic as he came over and looked over at his brother.
Leo's heart clenched painfully, shame stabbing him in his chest.
"We need to get Don back to the lair, he needs some medical attention," Leo said once he arrived, trying to ignore the protruding thoughts and feelings he was having.
Raph punched another mutant using his tonfas, his eyes never leaving the enemies in front of him. "Yeah, I say we retreat and deal with these bozos later," he said calmly, anger tinging his tone.
Leo felt guilt squeeze his chest even harder at his older brother's words. Even though Raph said nothing to him in particular, he felt the anger in his voice was. An uncomfortable but familiar feeling settled into his stomach, making his already bad case of nausea even worse.
"Leo?"
Leo clutched onto his twin brother in his arms a little tighter, trying to ignore the ever-worsening feeling that was swallowing his entire being. Why was he always putting his family in danger? Why did he always have to crack a joke in battle? Why?-
"Leo!"
"Huh?" Leo looked up towards his name being called, the voice drawing him out of his thoughts. His eyes were met with a concerned pair of eyes that belonged to his youngest brother. He swallowed hard and looked over to the owner of the voice.
"You think you can portal us out of here?" The red snapper asked urgently, continuing to fight off the mutants in front of him.
"Oh...yeah," with his twin brother in one arm, Leo used his other one with his sword, and in a quick swipe opened a portal to the lair.
The youngest stood off to the side, watching as the blue slider effortlessly opened the portal with little to no emotion on his face. He frowned and continued to watch him from afar as his brother slid his sword into his holster on his back and picked up Donnie again. He wanted to comfort him, but his concern for his genius brother outweighed anything else on his mind at the moment. 'I will talk to Leo later,' he promised himself.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Mikey asked as he walked up to the slider, his concerned gaze on the unconscious turtle in his arms.
Leo looked over to his baby brother with an unreadable expression, his face slowly studying the youngest face and still absorbing the question he had just asked. After a few moments of silence, he finally found his voice. "Uh-Yeah, I-I think so," he said unsurely, his mind still in a daze. Mikey's concerned expression started to morph into that of a sad one. Leo, noticing this, quickly shook his head out of the fog, "Uh, what I meant to say is he should be fine. I think he has a dislocated shoulder, and with how hard he got hit I wouldn't be surprised if he has a small concussion too. I can't check for any internal injuries until we get back to the lair," he finished off with a surprising amount of confidence, in his opinion.
The youngest expression relaxed slightly, but his concern did not dissipate in the slightest. For his other brothers' sake, though, he would try and be strong just like they were doing. With a newfound determination, Mikey looked over to where Raph was at and then looked back over to Leo. "I think we should grab Raph and get going before more of Big Mama's goons pop up."
Leo nodded in understanding and turned to his oldest brother. "Raph, let's go! The portal is open now!" He said quickly.
Raph turned his head and nodded. He then looked back to the enemy he was currently in a strength war with. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the enemy back with his arms, breaking the long standstill. He punched a few more opponents, and when he saw an opening, he quickly turned tail and ran for the portal, grabbing Mikey along with him.
"LET'S GO!" He yelled as he sprinted towards the portal. The blue slider nodded and jumped through the portal without another word. Raph shortly behind, jumped through in the nick of time, an enemy's claws nearly hitting him before the portal was closed.
And just like that, they were gone.
A certain wolf-like mutant fell to the ground with a snarl and looked up at where they used to be not even a second ago. He panted, his body tired and weak, and squinted his eyes at the spot, the turtles nowhere to be seen. A certain smell hit his nose, and he instantly looked down and spotted blood in one of his nails. He snarled, a triumphant smirk on his face. He had been able to nick the red snapper.
He laughed manically into the open sky, the other mutants around him giving confused looks. He looked towards where Big Mama was standing away to watch the battle unfold and gave her a maniacal smile. She smiled back, a knowing smirk growing on her face.
"Can't wait to see you soon, my turtley boos~"