{/Author's Note: okee, I'd like to sincerely apologize for the lack of Don, Mikey, April, and Casey in the first chapter. Mostly, I was just setting the stage. Donny is my favorite Turtle, and look at me, totally neglecting him. I feel like a failure of a Donatello fan. :o
Look for much more of at least Don and Casey in this chapter (time will tell when or if Mikey will come back to the forefront... dundunduuuuuuuuun).
Many thanks to all of you who reviewed, and I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. This'll be a shorter chapter... but, I have my reasons. :3/}
{={Eyes Wide Shut}=}
{{Part 2: The Crying Game}}
Violent images flashed in his mind. His brothers, dead. His master, slain. And on his hands, the blood of all of them, irresponsibility the culprit and inattentiveness the guide.
He saw their murderer plainly. He sat calmly, staring into nothing in a meditative state. The Shredder, their hated nemesis.
He wasn't paying any attention. So deep was he in meditation that Leonardo could have screamed and he wouldn't have noticed. He opted, however, for a more silent approach.
He drew his katana from their sheaths against his shell and moved in for the final blow. Shredder gave no honor or quarter... now, Leonardo would grant none in return.
=====
Donatello frowned as he worked at an almost feverish pace on an invention. He would tell no one what it was, but he assured them that he had every faith that it would quell Leonardo's violent nightmares and return him to the calm, rational turtle they all knew and loved.
It was not like his brother to have such horrible nightmares. His brow furrowed. Leonardo was the cool-headed one, the calm one, the one with the skills of tactics and strategy. Moreover, he was the only one that could weather Raphael's stormy mood-swings, calm Michelangelo's hyperactivity, and draw Donatello from his tinkering long enough to eat or sleep.
They needed him.
His concentration was broken suddenly and abruptly by a shout from April and a crash from the other room. There was a scuffle, Splinter shouting something, another crash, and then silence. More shouting followed after a moment, and a cry from Raphael that sounded something along the lines of, "Sweet Jesus, Leo! What the flying fuck's gotten inta you?!"
Unable to concentrate and wondering what in the world had just gotten trashed in the other room, Donatello stopped what he was doing and rushed into the other room. He felt his heart sink into his stomach at the sight before him. Leonardo holding the remains of a wooden chair... Raphael shouting at him, trying to draw him out of some sort of dazed state... but there on the floor, bleeding and broken, was Splinter.
Their mentor, their teacher, their father. He wasn't moving.
"Leo?!" Donatello exclaimed. He searched his brother's face for any hint of emotion, but found none. "He's sleepwalking! Raph, distract him! Stall him! Anything! He doesn't actually see US! I can stop him, but I need time to finish working!"
Raphael stared at his younger brother before a wicked grin crossed his features, eyes narrowing to slits behind his bandana as he spun on a dime to face Leonardo fully, cracking his knuckles with malicious intent. "Oh-hoho... I've waited fer this for a LONG time..."
=====
Leonardo's mind was a turmoiled mix of jumbled thoughts. He thought he heard his brothers' voices, yelling for him to 'come back', but he could not see them.
Tricks of the mind, he assumed. They were dead, and the dead could not speak. He stared at the body of the Shredder before him, triumphant at last as blood stained the blades of his katana. His eyes narrowed in sudden surprise, however, as beside the man appeared one of his dreaded Elite.
Growling slightly, the leader lunged at the figure. The Elite Ninja were dangerous armed, but this one appeared to have no weapons present. All the easier for Leonardo, who had made certain to train particularly hard just for this one battle to return...
=====
The sudden lunge gave Raphael barely an instant to think as Leonardo weighed him to the floor. He was still weilding the broken chair, and while not as deadly under normal circumstances as the eldest's katana, it was just as lethal when the other couldn't see that he was fighting his own brother and not an unseen foe.
Donatello and April had quickly moved Michelangelo and Splinter out of the room and while April cared for the injured rat, Donatello set to work on his machine once more.
Raphael, of course, was more than happy to just keep fighting. He had been pinned at first, but while his hotheadedness often hid a great deal of skill, he tapped all that he could in that moment, coiling the muscles in his legs to strike Leonardo hard at the stomach area of his plastron, sending the other flying across the room. He wasn't as talented as Leonardo at times, but he prided himself on strength... and when dealing with a sleepwalker, strength was truly what one needed.
He only found himself pinned again, his brother's fists whaling against his chest, shoulders, and face than he ever dreamed could come from Leonardo. The calm one was actually HURTING him.
Raphael coughed hard, then rolled to reverse their positions. He needed the upper-hand in this fight. He would not let Leonardo overpower him.
In the meanwhile, Donatello was chewing on a straw as a replacement for anything else as he nervously worked. His eyes continually darted to the unconscious form of his sensei, but he knew in order to prevent a further mistake, he had to keep his wits about him.
He heard the shouting in the other room as easily as April. Raphael was losing, and losing badly. Finally, he called out, "How's it going in there, Raph?!"
There was a shout as Raphael found himself flung across the room, and a crash as his shell was planted rather firmly in the drywall. A groan followed before Raphael responded, "I got 'im on the ropes, kid!"
Donatello hardly believed that. As quick as he could, he twisted some screws and reached for a knob. "Hang on, Raphy! Let's just hope this works!"
=====
The Elite Ninja was far weaker than Leonardo had expected. He was uncertain as to why... until suddenly, the image he saw began to blur and fade. The Elite Ninja he had thrown into a rock slowly became Raphael, slumped tiredly against the wall, barely conscious and panting to catch his breath. A trickle of blood streamed from the corner of his mouth, and his skin was mottled with bruises from the beating he had already taken.
Slowly, his dark brown eyes lifted to Leonardo, and despite his condition, he managed a typically cocky smile. "Damn," he hissed. "I can't even beat ya when you're sleepwalkin'."
Raphael was badly injured, that much Leonardo could see, and from his words... Leonardo blinked sleep from his eyes as he put together the pieces in his mind. "Raph... was it... did I do this to you...?"
"Don't worry about it, bro," the other muttered out, staggering to his feet. "I'll be okay." Then, he slumped, knees giving out. "Or not..."
Leonardo didn't know what to say or do. His brother lay wounded, and he was at fault. As he walked over to kneel beside Raphael, gently helping the other to stand, Donatello and April strode into the room. It had been quite some time since Leonardo had last seen Donatello so stressed, the worry and pain evident in his eyes. "Leo," he mumbled softly, fumbling over his own words much like he had as he learned to speak when they were young, "you... need to see something..."
The pair made their way into the other room, then. On the table sat the invention that had brought Leonardo back from his nightmare, but on a makeshift futon on the floor lay the one person Leonardo did not want to see harmed... ever. Splinter was not moving, injuries obvious about his head and muzzle. While he did not truly want to know the answer to his question, he asked it anyway. "Donny... what happened to him...?" There was no response. April swore that Leonardo paled, even though she knew it not possible. "No... I did it?!"
"Leo, it wasn't your fault," April insisted. "You were under some sort of control, according to what Donny's told me."
It did not seem that Leonardo was listening. His hands and arms were shaking, even as he helped Raphael to sit down in a more comfortable seat. He had done this. He had tried to kill Raphael with his own hands, and done severe - if not permanent - damage to their master and father.
His vision blurred. He felt sick, tired, weak, alone. He wanted to lose himself, but meditation could not help him now.
He didn't wait for words from his brothers or from April. In shock and terrified at what had happened, he sprinted out of the room. Raphael instantly climbed to his feet as quickly as he could. "Leo!" His legs gave way beneath him, causing him to fall face-first to the floor. "Leo, hold up! Getcher ass back here!"
"It's too late, Raph," Donatello stated quietly as he leaned out a window. "He's gone. Down into the sewers. He knows the way better than any of us. He could lose himself there in places we'd never find him."
Raphael stared for a moment, then cursed, slamming his fist into the floor hard enough to nearly break his own knuckles. "I am gonna find the sorry bastard who did this ta Leo, and I'm gonna fuck 'em up so bad, their own grannies won't know 'em!"
Sighing, April knelt to help Raphael sit. "Getting angry isn't going to help."
"Sure as hell makes ME feel better."
The room fell silent once more until Donatello frowned, moving to climb out the window to follow his brother. "That machine I developed won't stop whoever was controlling him if he gets too far away from it. He's likely to pass out from overexhertion, and if he does that, the person who did this to him can take control again." He glanced down at the floor. "Leonardo is skilled when he's not even trying, but imagine what he could do if it was wild agression, like it was before! He took you out, sure... but he does that a lot. He took out Master Splinter, and that's no small feat!"
Both April and Raphael nodded, understanding exactly how dire the situation had become. After a moment, Raphael locked eyes with his little brother. "Yo, Donny... be careful, a'ight?"
The inventor paused, then flashed his brother a grin that may have passed as assured if he was more certain of what he was doing. "When am I not, Raphy?"
Raphael just grinned. "That's what I'm afraid of. G'wan, get outta here, Don. Find Leo before 'e gets 'imself hurt."
The younger turtle grinned again before he disappeared down the fire escape and into the sewers after their eldest brother.
=====
How?
How could he let himself go like that?
How could he possibly go back after he had been so weak of mind that he had been controlled, hurting his brothers and worse, their father?
His mind raced with a thousand questions, even as he ran. He heard footsteps behind him, and the pattern of the run was for him easily recognizable as Donatello's. Narrowing his eyes, he upped his loping stride to a sprint. All he had to do was outrun his brother. Donatello was as tough as he, but more easily winded than Leonardo. He just had to get away.
After so much loss of sleep, his body revolted violently against the sudden exhertion he was placing upon it. His muscles rapidly began to ache, and he actually found himself laboring to breathe... a feeling he thought he had trained out of himself.
Exhaustion wore thin on his already tired mind and he stumbled, catching himself on the sewer wall as he rested his forehead against his arm. He was panting for breath, and he could still hear Donatello approaching from behind.
He turned as if to say something to his brother, to get him to leave, but his legs decided against this movement of their own volition. His knees buckled under his weight and he collapsed, landing on his side in the muck, lingering on the edge of unconsciousness as he fought to stay awake.
He could hear Donatello talking to him, calling his name. His voice sounded like it was coming through so much water.
"Leo? Leo, whatever you do, don't fall asleep! Do you understand me, Leonardo? Don't fall asleep!"
As much as Leonardo wanted to heed his little brother's wishes, his mind told him otherwise, and even as his brother instructed him to stay awake, he let his eyes fall closed and fell into a fitful slumber. Donatello stiffened. "...This is bad. Very, very bad."
=====
Since Donatello had headed after Leonardo, Raphael had kept a twin vigil (after April had bandaged his wounds, putting his bound arm in a comfortable sling), both over his baby brother and over their father. Currently, he was sitting by Splinter, his eyes showing obvious worry for the first time since Casey, whose assistance had shortly after been called in as a just-in-caser, had known him.
Of course, Casey Jones was a loner... but he worried about his friends. This was serious, even though he hadn't quite understood the explaination Donatello had given earlier on his theory as to why Leonardo was acting so strangely. It was a foreign language to him. All he knew was that the machine somewhere was giving Leonardo nightmares and making him do strange things.
That was enough for him.
He leaned against the doorframe as he watched Raphael, not really noticing April at the moment, who stood just behind him. She frowned, placing a hand on his arm as she noticed his distraught expression. "Casey...?"
"Huh?!" The young man blinked, turning dark blue eyes to April, who looked almost as concerned for him as the boys. He tilted his head to one side. "What?"
"You look upset about something. Is everything okay?"
Casey blinked, then allowed an easy smile to slip onto his face as he looked back at his friend. "Just think' 'bout my old man. I don't wanna see the guys lose their dad anythin' like how I lost mine." He sighed as his smile faltered. "An' Mikey. He's like a little brother t'me, y'know what I'm sayin'? It ain't right that this's happenin' ta them."
His words surprised April and she blinked, watching as he pushed away from the doorframe, heading towards where he had leaned his golf bag. "...Casey?"
"That's why I'm gonna help Don find Leo. Then, I'm gonna find out who did this an' take 'em out... for my friends." He grinned as he fitted his hockey mask over his face. "See ya, toots."
Before April could even shoot back a retort, or before Raphael could yell at his human friend for being 'a damned idiot', the man was out the door. April threw her arms in the air, exhasperated. "This day just keeps getting better and better!"
"Betta not ask what else could go wrong," Raphael mumbled lowly as he shifted in his seat, one hand resting over Splinter's. "We've got enough problems as it is."
=====
Donatello couldn't help but grumble to himself as he headed back towards April's through the winding sewer paths. His brother was heavier than he looked, and he still didn't know how far the reach of his device was. Leonardo could come into a sense of controlled awareness at any time, and he could do nothing to stop him. If their fearless leader had managed to take out Splinter, imagine what he could do to him!
"Donny?" Donatello lifted his head at the sound of a familiar voice in a tunnel ahead. "Yo, Don, you found 'im yet?"
Shifting his brother to carry him more comfortably, Donatello took a breath and shouted back, "Casey! Down here!"
Within a few minutes, Donatello had been located by the hockey-masked vigilante, who looked at Leonardo with some amount of concern. "He okay, Don?"
"I can't say for sure yet," responded Donatello quietly. "We need to get him back to April's. The farther we get from the machine I designed, the more of a risk we're at that he'll go nuts and try to kill us!"
Casey nodded. He understood the basics of that, and that was what was important.
Neither of them noticed Leonardo's hand twitch, or his eyes slipping open, staring at the floor but not really seeing it in his 'sleeping' state.
Donatello didn't have even the slightest fraction of a second to respond as Leonardo suddenly wrenched free of his grasp, twisting and ducking to throw his younger brother into Casey. Human and turtle tumbled to the sewer floor, staring at Leonardo in shock once they regained their composure.
"Don... what the hell's goin' on...?!"
After swallowing hard, Donatello shook his head. "To put it in terms you can understand, Casey..." he murmured as Leonardo advanced, picking up a broken pipe and weilding it like his katana, "we're about to have our heads beat in by one very unwitting turtle!"
==To Be Continued==
Look for much more of at least Don and Casey in this chapter (time will tell when or if Mikey will come back to the forefront... dundunduuuuuuuuun).
Many thanks to all of you who reviewed, and I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. This'll be a shorter chapter... but, I have my reasons. :3/}
{={Eyes Wide Shut}=}
{{Part 2: The Crying Game}}
Violent images flashed in his mind. His brothers, dead. His master, slain. And on his hands, the blood of all of them, irresponsibility the culprit and inattentiveness the guide.
He saw their murderer plainly. He sat calmly, staring into nothing in a meditative state. The Shredder, their hated nemesis.
He wasn't paying any attention. So deep was he in meditation that Leonardo could have screamed and he wouldn't have noticed. He opted, however, for a more silent approach.
He drew his katana from their sheaths against his shell and moved in for the final blow. Shredder gave no honor or quarter... now, Leonardo would grant none in return.
=====
Donatello frowned as he worked at an almost feverish pace on an invention. He would tell no one what it was, but he assured them that he had every faith that it would quell Leonardo's violent nightmares and return him to the calm, rational turtle they all knew and loved.
It was not like his brother to have such horrible nightmares. His brow furrowed. Leonardo was the cool-headed one, the calm one, the one with the skills of tactics and strategy. Moreover, he was the only one that could weather Raphael's stormy mood-swings, calm Michelangelo's hyperactivity, and draw Donatello from his tinkering long enough to eat or sleep.
They needed him.
His concentration was broken suddenly and abruptly by a shout from April and a crash from the other room. There was a scuffle, Splinter shouting something, another crash, and then silence. More shouting followed after a moment, and a cry from Raphael that sounded something along the lines of, "Sweet Jesus, Leo! What the flying fuck's gotten inta you?!"
Unable to concentrate and wondering what in the world had just gotten trashed in the other room, Donatello stopped what he was doing and rushed into the other room. He felt his heart sink into his stomach at the sight before him. Leonardo holding the remains of a wooden chair... Raphael shouting at him, trying to draw him out of some sort of dazed state... but there on the floor, bleeding and broken, was Splinter.
Their mentor, their teacher, their father. He wasn't moving.
"Leo?!" Donatello exclaimed. He searched his brother's face for any hint of emotion, but found none. "He's sleepwalking! Raph, distract him! Stall him! Anything! He doesn't actually see US! I can stop him, but I need time to finish working!"
Raphael stared at his younger brother before a wicked grin crossed his features, eyes narrowing to slits behind his bandana as he spun on a dime to face Leonardo fully, cracking his knuckles with malicious intent. "Oh-hoho... I've waited fer this for a LONG time..."
=====
Leonardo's mind was a turmoiled mix of jumbled thoughts. He thought he heard his brothers' voices, yelling for him to 'come back', but he could not see them.
Tricks of the mind, he assumed. They were dead, and the dead could not speak. He stared at the body of the Shredder before him, triumphant at last as blood stained the blades of his katana. His eyes narrowed in sudden surprise, however, as beside the man appeared one of his dreaded Elite.
Growling slightly, the leader lunged at the figure. The Elite Ninja were dangerous armed, but this one appeared to have no weapons present. All the easier for Leonardo, who had made certain to train particularly hard just for this one battle to return...
=====
The sudden lunge gave Raphael barely an instant to think as Leonardo weighed him to the floor. He was still weilding the broken chair, and while not as deadly under normal circumstances as the eldest's katana, it was just as lethal when the other couldn't see that he was fighting his own brother and not an unseen foe.
Donatello and April had quickly moved Michelangelo and Splinter out of the room and while April cared for the injured rat, Donatello set to work on his machine once more.
Raphael, of course, was more than happy to just keep fighting. He had been pinned at first, but while his hotheadedness often hid a great deal of skill, he tapped all that he could in that moment, coiling the muscles in his legs to strike Leonardo hard at the stomach area of his plastron, sending the other flying across the room. He wasn't as talented as Leonardo at times, but he prided himself on strength... and when dealing with a sleepwalker, strength was truly what one needed.
He only found himself pinned again, his brother's fists whaling against his chest, shoulders, and face than he ever dreamed could come from Leonardo. The calm one was actually HURTING him.
Raphael coughed hard, then rolled to reverse their positions. He needed the upper-hand in this fight. He would not let Leonardo overpower him.
In the meanwhile, Donatello was chewing on a straw as a replacement for anything else as he nervously worked. His eyes continually darted to the unconscious form of his sensei, but he knew in order to prevent a further mistake, he had to keep his wits about him.
He heard the shouting in the other room as easily as April. Raphael was losing, and losing badly. Finally, he called out, "How's it going in there, Raph?!"
There was a shout as Raphael found himself flung across the room, and a crash as his shell was planted rather firmly in the drywall. A groan followed before Raphael responded, "I got 'im on the ropes, kid!"
Donatello hardly believed that. As quick as he could, he twisted some screws and reached for a knob. "Hang on, Raphy! Let's just hope this works!"
=====
The Elite Ninja was far weaker than Leonardo had expected. He was uncertain as to why... until suddenly, the image he saw began to blur and fade. The Elite Ninja he had thrown into a rock slowly became Raphael, slumped tiredly against the wall, barely conscious and panting to catch his breath. A trickle of blood streamed from the corner of his mouth, and his skin was mottled with bruises from the beating he had already taken.
Slowly, his dark brown eyes lifted to Leonardo, and despite his condition, he managed a typically cocky smile. "Damn," he hissed. "I can't even beat ya when you're sleepwalkin'."
Raphael was badly injured, that much Leonardo could see, and from his words... Leonardo blinked sleep from his eyes as he put together the pieces in his mind. "Raph... was it... did I do this to you...?"
"Don't worry about it, bro," the other muttered out, staggering to his feet. "I'll be okay." Then, he slumped, knees giving out. "Or not..."
Leonardo didn't know what to say or do. His brother lay wounded, and he was at fault. As he walked over to kneel beside Raphael, gently helping the other to stand, Donatello and April strode into the room. It had been quite some time since Leonardo had last seen Donatello so stressed, the worry and pain evident in his eyes. "Leo," he mumbled softly, fumbling over his own words much like he had as he learned to speak when they were young, "you... need to see something..."
The pair made their way into the other room, then. On the table sat the invention that had brought Leonardo back from his nightmare, but on a makeshift futon on the floor lay the one person Leonardo did not want to see harmed... ever. Splinter was not moving, injuries obvious about his head and muzzle. While he did not truly want to know the answer to his question, he asked it anyway. "Donny... what happened to him...?" There was no response. April swore that Leonardo paled, even though she knew it not possible. "No... I did it?!"
"Leo, it wasn't your fault," April insisted. "You were under some sort of control, according to what Donny's told me."
It did not seem that Leonardo was listening. His hands and arms were shaking, even as he helped Raphael to sit down in a more comfortable seat. He had done this. He had tried to kill Raphael with his own hands, and done severe - if not permanent - damage to their master and father.
His vision blurred. He felt sick, tired, weak, alone. He wanted to lose himself, but meditation could not help him now.
He didn't wait for words from his brothers or from April. In shock and terrified at what had happened, he sprinted out of the room. Raphael instantly climbed to his feet as quickly as he could. "Leo!" His legs gave way beneath him, causing him to fall face-first to the floor. "Leo, hold up! Getcher ass back here!"
"It's too late, Raph," Donatello stated quietly as he leaned out a window. "He's gone. Down into the sewers. He knows the way better than any of us. He could lose himself there in places we'd never find him."
Raphael stared for a moment, then cursed, slamming his fist into the floor hard enough to nearly break his own knuckles. "I am gonna find the sorry bastard who did this ta Leo, and I'm gonna fuck 'em up so bad, their own grannies won't know 'em!"
Sighing, April knelt to help Raphael sit. "Getting angry isn't going to help."
"Sure as hell makes ME feel better."
The room fell silent once more until Donatello frowned, moving to climb out the window to follow his brother. "That machine I developed won't stop whoever was controlling him if he gets too far away from it. He's likely to pass out from overexhertion, and if he does that, the person who did this to him can take control again." He glanced down at the floor. "Leonardo is skilled when he's not even trying, but imagine what he could do if it was wild agression, like it was before! He took you out, sure... but he does that a lot. He took out Master Splinter, and that's no small feat!"
Both April and Raphael nodded, understanding exactly how dire the situation had become. After a moment, Raphael locked eyes with his little brother. "Yo, Donny... be careful, a'ight?"
The inventor paused, then flashed his brother a grin that may have passed as assured if he was more certain of what he was doing. "When am I not, Raphy?"
Raphael just grinned. "That's what I'm afraid of. G'wan, get outta here, Don. Find Leo before 'e gets 'imself hurt."
The younger turtle grinned again before he disappeared down the fire escape and into the sewers after their eldest brother.
=====
How?
How could he let himself go like that?
How could he possibly go back after he had been so weak of mind that he had been controlled, hurting his brothers and worse, their father?
His mind raced with a thousand questions, even as he ran. He heard footsteps behind him, and the pattern of the run was for him easily recognizable as Donatello's. Narrowing his eyes, he upped his loping stride to a sprint. All he had to do was outrun his brother. Donatello was as tough as he, but more easily winded than Leonardo. He just had to get away.
After so much loss of sleep, his body revolted violently against the sudden exhertion he was placing upon it. His muscles rapidly began to ache, and he actually found himself laboring to breathe... a feeling he thought he had trained out of himself.
Exhaustion wore thin on his already tired mind and he stumbled, catching himself on the sewer wall as he rested his forehead against his arm. He was panting for breath, and he could still hear Donatello approaching from behind.
He turned as if to say something to his brother, to get him to leave, but his legs decided against this movement of their own volition. His knees buckled under his weight and he collapsed, landing on his side in the muck, lingering on the edge of unconsciousness as he fought to stay awake.
He could hear Donatello talking to him, calling his name. His voice sounded like it was coming through so much water.
"Leo? Leo, whatever you do, don't fall asleep! Do you understand me, Leonardo? Don't fall asleep!"
As much as Leonardo wanted to heed his little brother's wishes, his mind told him otherwise, and even as his brother instructed him to stay awake, he let his eyes fall closed and fell into a fitful slumber. Donatello stiffened. "...This is bad. Very, very bad."
=====
Since Donatello had headed after Leonardo, Raphael had kept a twin vigil (after April had bandaged his wounds, putting his bound arm in a comfortable sling), both over his baby brother and over their father. Currently, he was sitting by Splinter, his eyes showing obvious worry for the first time since Casey, whose assistance had shortly after been called in as a just-in-caser, had known him.
Of course, Casey Jones was a loner... but he worried about his friends. This was serious, even though he hadn't quite understood the explaination Donatello had given earlier on his theory as to why Leonardo was acting so strangely. It was a foreign language to him. All he knew was that the machine somewhere was giving Leonardo nightmares and making him do strange things.
That was enough for him.
He leaned against the doorframe as he watched Raphael, not really noticing April at the moment, who stood just behind him. She frowned, placing a hand on his arm as she noticed his distraught expression. "Casey...?"
"Huh?!" The young man blinked, turning dark blue eyes to April, who looked almost as concerned for him as the boys. He tilted his head to one side. "What?"
"You look upset about something. Is everything okay?"
Casey blinked, then allowed an easy smile to slip onto his face as he looked back at his friend. "Just think' 'bout my old man. I don't wanna see the guys lose their dad anythin' like how I lost mine." He sighed as his smile faltered. "An' Mikey. He's like a little brother t'me, y'know what I'm sayin'? It ain't right that this's happenin' ta them."
His words surprised April and she blinked, watching as he pushed away from the doorframe, heading towards where he had leaned his golf bag. "...Casey?"
"That's why I'm gonna help Don find Leo. Then, I'm gonna find out who did this an' take 'em out... for my friends." He grinned as he fitted his hockey mask over his face. "See ya, toots."
Before April could even shoot back a retort, or before Raphael could yell at his human friend for being 'a damned idiot', the man was out the door. April threw her arms in the air, exhasperated. "This day just keeps getting better and better!"
"Betta not ask what else could go wrong," Raphael mumbled lowly as he shifted in his seat, one hand resting over Splinter's. "We've got enough problems as it is."
=====
Donatello couldn't help but grumble to himself as he headed back towards April's through the winding sewer paths. His brother was heavier than he looked, and he still didn't know how far the reach of his device was. Leonardo could come into a sense of controlled awareness at any time, and he could do nothing to stop him. If their fearless leader had managed to take out Splinter, imagine what he could do to him!
"Donny?" Donatello lifted his head at the sound of a familiar voice in a tunnel ahead. "Yo, Don, you found 'im yet?"
Shifting his brother to carry him more comfortably, Donatello took a breath and shouted back, "Casey! Down here!"
Within a few minutes, Donatello had been located by the hockey-masked vigilante, who looked at Leonardo with some amount of concern. "He okay, Don?"
"I can't say for sure yet," responded Donatello quietly. "We need to get him back to April's. The farther we get from the machine I designed, the more of a risk we're at that he'll go nuts and try to kill us!"
Casey nodded. He understood the basics of that, and that was what was important.
Neither of them noticed Leonardo's hand twitch, or his eyes slipping open, staring at the floor but not really seeing it in his 'sleeping' state.
Donatello didn't have even the slightest fraction of a second to respond as Leonardo suddenly wrenched free of his grasp, twisting and ducking to throw his younger brother into Casey. Human and turtle tumbled to the sewer floor, staring at Leonardo in shock once they regained their composure.
"Don... what the hell's goin' on...?!"
After swallowing hard, Donatello shook his head. "To put it in terms you can understand, Casey..." he murmured as Leonardo advanced, picking up a broken pipe and weilding it like his katana, "we're about to have our heads beat in by one very unwitting turtle!"
==To Be Continued==