Leo watched with growing hatred as the van sped out of the building, it's tires screeching their dissent as the van rounded a corner practically on two wheels.
But Leo didn't have time to think about that as he quickly dodged under a furious rat's tail.
"Raph! Mikey!" Leo cried desperately as he caught sight of one of the rats making their way toward his unoncious brothers. "Guys, get up!"
But his plea fell on deaf ears and his brothers didn't twitch, not even when the monstrous beast sniffed Mikey's head.
So distracted he was by his concern for his brothers that the leader in blue didn't see the rat had made a comeback, swinging his frighteningly sharp tail at his shell and launching him into the rafters. Leo felt blood start to trickle from several cuts on his plastron that the rat's tail had made, but forced himself to stand on the beam, eyes already locked on his brother's unconcious figures.
Leo quickly pulled out his katanas and ran along the beam, ready to pounce on the oversized rat, when one of his swords accidentally banged against the side of a beam, making a loud clash that bounced against the walls of the building.
For the first time since this monstrous night began, Leo was actually glad that neither of his brothers were awake to witness his rare moment of carelessness. Had his brothers been awake to see, there was no doubt in Leo's mind that they would never let him live it down.
Two loud, furious shrieks sufficed to bring the leader out of his thoughts to find both rats snarling up at him, their focus now solely on him, despite the fact that one rat was standing only a few inches from Mikey's face.
A sudden, squeaky scream erupted from down below and Leo looked down in time to see Mikey's eyes widen to the size of saucers as he let out another girlish scream, effectively shattering Leo's eardrums.
"Don't eat me!" He yelled, using his elbows to back himself into the closest wall. "I'm to handsome to be eaten! Take Raph!"
Leo rolled his eyes at his baby brother because even though not even a minute had passed since making the bargain, Mikey was already kneeling in front of Raph protectively with his nunchucks swinging.
A new idea hit him and Leo looked back at his katanas, then at the metal beam.
Cautiously, Leo swung one katana hard against the beam.
This time, not only did the rats roar their distaste, but lunged at him.
"Their ears!" Leo yelled down to Mikey, dodging the first rat's sharp claws aimed at his plastron.
In fear of compromising the structural integrity of the beam, Leo jumped down to the floor and joined his youngest sibling in front of Raph, raising his katanas defensively as one of the rats stalked closer.
The rats didn't like loud noises, Leo realized. It shouldn't have surprised him, really, since he knew how precise his Sensei's own hearing was.
"They're sensitive to loud noises. Can you distract them until I can get Raph out?" Leo asked, knowing that if there was one thing Michelangelo could do, it was make noise.
"Wait, you're telling me to be loud?" Mikey demanded with the wide, gleeful eyes of a child.
"Yes, just distract them until I come back." Leo ordered, carefully placing one of Raph's arms around his head, trying to ignore the frightening puddle of blood that had soaked through the makeshift bandages and the limpness of his brother.
"Yes!" Mikey yelled, pumping a fist in the air. "My time to shine, boys!"
Confident that Mikey would be more than capable of causing enough of a ruckus to cover them, Leo pulled his unconcious brother up and began to drag him outside, relying on the shadows to cover them as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he found a semi- safe looking one and hid Raph under a tarp that had been lying on a nearby roof.
Leo had strong reservations about leaving his brother alone, unable to defend himself. But at the same time, his youngest brother was distracting giant mutant rats all by himself and Leo knew that if Raph found out Leo stayed with him instead of helping their brother, there would be hell to pay.
As soon as Leo had Raph in his arms, Mikey grinned and jumped up to the rafters and swung both his nunchucks at the closest beam, eliciting an outraged cry from the two rats.
Their ears were pinned to the tops of their heads as they lunged, teeth bared as they snapped at him furiously.
Mikey didn't miss a beat in running along the beam, swinging his nunchucks at the closest metals he could find and singing,
"Catch me if you caaaannn." Mikey yelled in a sing-song voice and stuck his tongue out at the two mutant rats, which wasted no time in climbing the beam after him.
"Mikey!" Leo yelled from below and a second later, his oldest brother was standing in front of him, effectively blocking him from the rats. "We have to get out of here."
"Well, why don't you tell our little furry friends here that we have a birthday party to get to." Mikey advised, raising his nunchucks nervously. "I'm sure they'll understand."
"We can't lead them back to Raph." Leo murmered, obviously thinking out loud. "Okay. Mikey, you lead one that way, I'll take this one. Divide and conquer, got it?"
His youngest brother nodded his affirmation and jumped from the beam and onto the ground, swinging his nunchucks loudly to get attention at the same time that Leo clashed his katanas together.
"C'mere ratty." Mikey taunted. "I got some cheese for ya!"
Two roars answered him as one rat charged at Leo, one at Mikey.
Both were ready for the attack and acted simultaneously.
Leo pretended to jump over the edge of the beam before latching onto the edge of the metal, watching as the animal jumped over the side, crashing into the floor with a resounding thud! and Leo wasted no time in jumping down and driving his katana through the beast's chest. The animal shuddered once and fell limp and Leo felt a pang of remorse for the poor animal.
Mikey wasn't quite as successful.
He taunted and coaxed the rat forward, swinging his nunchucks loudly to garner a reaction, only to have the rat swerve and use it's tail to throw the youngest turtle into the nearest wall.
Unlike the other rat, this one's tail wasn't sharp like the previous.
Lucky for him, his shell took the brunt of the hit and he was able to stay conscious fairly easily.
"Mikey, you okay?" Leo asked, appearing beside him so quickly and silently that Mikey was once again reminded of Master Splinter.
Maybe he's a ghost, Mikey debated as Leo grabbed his elbow and helped him to stand.
"Yeah, but I don't think that Mr. Fuzzy over there likes me very much." Mikey answered. "Do you think that he's Splinter's long lost family?"
"No, Mikey, I don't." Leo replied shortly, apparently not finding the question amusing. "Okay, let's try this again."
Leo and Mikey raised their weapons and attacked, dodging and faking the rat, forcing him into corners and on the rare occasion, to run into the nearest wall.
Unfortunately for them, this rat seemed smarter and therefore harder to trick than it's friend, and Leo was worried about just how much blood his immediate younger brother would loose before they were done with it.
"Mikey, we don't have time for this." Leo growled. "Both of us make as much noise as possible, maybe we'll scare him off."
If not, we'll just have to close in. Leo thought, not really wanting to get close to those claws.
Mikey waited for Leo's signal, his nunchucks in hand by the beam.
Leo gave a short nod and they both swung their weapons at the beam as hard and as fast as they were able, and watched with apprehension as the rat squealed and it's ears flattened and it ran from the building faster than Mikey did when he pulled a prank on Raph.
"Is that all of them?" Mikey asked cautiously.
"I don't know." Leo murmered. "Where's the third?"
"Third?" Mikey squeaked. "What do you mean third? Two wasn't enough for you?"
"No, Mikey, there was a third one. He must've ran before you woke up and I didn't notice." Leo realized.
Then as if to contradict him, the two turtles tensed as they heard a roar from somewhere in the building.
"What were you saying, Leo?" Mikey questioned with a gulp.
Leo didn't answer, only set his mouth in a firm line and moved forward with his katanas out.
Another loud roar was hit the two as they stalked forward, seeming closer this time.
"Man, why do we always have to go towards the mutant animal shrieking?" Mikey muttered.
Mikey saw Leo straiten out of his crouch as he rounded a corner and looked back at his youngest sibling.
"I don't think these are gonna hurt you." Leo informed him, motioning to something past the corner that Mikey couldn't see.
Mikey cautiously maneuvered around his eldest brother, still keeping behind him while peeking from above his shell.
Three mutant rats were locked in side-by-side cages, obviously displeased with their living arrangements as they clawed and gnawed at the bars.
"Let's go, we have to get Raph home." Leo said.
Mikey was quick to agree, eager to leave the mad- scientist lab, and followed his brother to the roof where Raph was covered by a tarp.
His green skin was paler than it should've been, even Mikey could see that, and there was more blood seeping through the bandages.
Mikey elected to carry him because out of the two of them, he was the least injured and the gashes on Leo's plastron were beginning to frighten the youngest turtle. Especially when he saw Leo stop and pant for breath when they reached the sewers, clutching his plastron like it burned.
"Come on Leo," Mikey coaxed, grabbing his eldest brother's arm and towing him forward. "Just a bit more."
"Some'fins wrong, Mikey." Leo mumbled against Mikey's shoulder."
"What is it bro?" Mikey asked.
"Dunno." Leo answered with slurred words. "My- my chest hurts."
It was difficult, to say the least, to get both of his brothers back to the Lair with one on his back and practically dragging the other, but he did, adrenaline pushing him on.
"Sensei!" Mikey yelled as he kicked the meak hidden door to the Lair aside and rushed through. "I need help!"
As if literally melting from the shadows, his father appeared beside him to help pull Leonardo into the lab.
"What happened, my son?" He asked once they had Raph and Leo on cots in their makeshift infirmary.
Mikey recited the story quickly to Master Splinter as he worked on patching up the ragged cut on Raph's plastron. There was so much blood from the wound that it nearly made the youngest turtle empty his stomach, but he persevered, standing his ground and describing everything he saw.
"-and Leo was acting fine until we got closer to home and I don't know what's wrong with him, Sensei!" Mikey wailed.
"Please remain calm, my son." His father advised. "What you saw were symptoms of blood loss and exertion. Both he and Raphael will need a transfusion once they are patched up, but other than that, they will be fine Michelangelo."
Mikey visibly relaxed at his father's assurances and allowed him to care for his brothers, stitching them with steady hands. Once he was done stitching Raph's wounds, he sat Mikey beside his second oldest brother and started the transfusion, but would only allow for him to give so much before he was pushed out of the infirmary to rest. When he argued that he still needed to give blood to Leo, his father said,
"I will do the transfusion for Leonardo. You have had an eventful evening, Michelangelo, and you have given blood, you need your rest."
There was a firmness to his father's words that kept him from arguing further and he trudged up to bed, his mind wandering back to the events of the night as he fell into bed.
True to form, he felt the exhaustion from the night hit him and he fell asleep to thoughts of electricity and rats.
Splinter carefully pulled the transfusion needle from his own arm and put everything away, knowing that his sons were out of the woods and would wake up in a few hours.
He moved to his room and kneeled on the floor by his bed and pulled out his favorite photograph. It was of the turtles as younglings, taken from an old Polaroid camera that Donatello himself had fixed when he had found it in the sewers.
Raphael was to the far right, his arms crossed over his already wide plastron and a slight scowl on his face that was aimed at the youngest in the family.
Leonardo was in the middle, little hands clasped in front of him, his mouth opened in a small 'O' of surprise.
Donatello was to the far left, grinning widely with one arm around Leonardo and one reaching out to stop Michelangelo, who had one hand atop of leonardo's head, one atop of Raphael's. His eyes were bright and his face was cheerful, happy to have surprised two of his brothers.
That was the first and last photograph that Splinter had of all of his sons together as it was taken only a day before he lost his third oldest.
Of course, there was more photos scattered throughout the Lair of the boys growing up, but this was the single complete representation of his family when they were whole.
Splinter clenched the photo in his hands for a moment before carefully placing it back down.
He couldn't stop seeing his two sons in the infirmary, so close to death from their injuries that it had terrified the old rat.
When he had looked into Michelangelo's face, for just a moment, he was reminded of when he had found Leonardo in the sewers eleven years ago.
He didn't know what happened to his son, he didn't know how Oroku Saki had continued to find them and then suddenly stopped after his son died. He didn't know exactly how to keep his remaining sons safe.
One thing he was certain of was that Oroku Saki would not take another son of his for as long as he lived. I tried to put myself into Splinter's shoes for a moment. I tied to imagine what it would feel like to mysteriously loose one son and then to have to bear the weight of taking care of their injuries... I don't think it would be very pleasant to be reminded. I'm not totally happy with how I did it, I may edit it. The next chapter is Donnie's. It's going to... Definitely be something. Thank you for reading!