Chapter 21: Highs and Lows

"Come on, guys." Leo teased, arms up with hands behind his head, feeling full of good spirits as they walked down the sewer tunnels. The stones underfoot were still slightly damp from all the recent rains, water dripping from algae that hung in sheets on the ceiling and walls. "We're not going to spend the whole night down here walking sewer lines, as enlightening as this grand tour is. We have to pick an exit eventually."

"Leo, it's very important that you learn the layout of the underground tunnels around our home." Donnie said curtly, walking tensely in front of Leo. "We have settled in an area that is quite a distance from our old lair, so it's unfamiliar territory and thus it's critical that you know the paths to take to get to safety if needed."

It was quite obvious from his terse and precise footsteps that he was not at all happy with Leo right now. Raph's silent but fuming aura gave off the same vibe, though his footsteps were more like agitated, un-ninja-like stomps in the wet leaves and debris underfoot.

Even completely blind and navigating in a world of grey fog and sensations, it was still very clear to Leo that his brothers were just ever so slightly upset over this outing.

The fact that Mikey was now velcro wrapped around Leo's shell, clinging tightly to him and making the walk just that little bit more awkward might have also clued him into that fact.

Leo felt a little uncomfortable twinge of his conscience deep down for tricking his brothers like that. He had been a little underhanded before. He knew that they never would've accepted the deal so readily if they had realized he'd be able to beat his old score right away, and it was quite clear that they weren't comfortable with this.

But, at the same time, he also quite easily shoved that guilty sensation to the back of his mind by rationalizing that, really, his brothers had nobody to blame except themselves. He had tried telling them over and over again that he was capable, and they just weren't listening to him! So if they underestimated him and his abilities, it was their own darned fault. He had been going stir crazy with all the coddling, and it had to end at some point.

And honestly, if they were that surprised and shocked by a mere pinball game, then just wait until he showed them what he could really do!

An eager smile tugged on the corner of his mouth and he got an extra spring in his Mikey-laden steps as he imagined their reactions. That was one of the things he was looking forward to most of all tonight. When he could hear their shock and read their surprised auras when he really started to show off for them! Oh, he really wished he could see their faces in that moment! After the surprise wore off, his brothers were going to be so relieved and happy! He was going to put all their fears to rest, and, as a bonus, also get to show off just a little.

And even better, knowing his brothers and their personalities, once they were reassured and more comfortable with his abilities, they'd probably be curious about just what else he could do. Most likey, the rest of the night would be mostly competitive games and races and hide and seek and sitting together on rooftops eating pizza! It wouldn't matter that he was blind anymore. It would be like nothing had changed! Everything would be… be normal again.

Yup. Tonight was going to be a good night!

"Alright Leo." Donnie spoke up, slowing down slightly as they passed by a tunnel leading off to the north. "We're getting near the dock areas now. There's several storm drainage areas off there to the left, which are currently fairly flooded due to the recent rains. We'll avoid them for now, and follow this to loop around, which will eventually lead us back up to the market district."

Leo frowned. That is, it was going to be a good night if they ever got out of the sewers.

"This exit seems particularly clear." Leo absently mentioned, stopping by one of the ladders and tilting his head slightly as he listened. "I don't hear any traffic above, and it seems pretty quiet. We could go above ground and look around a bit here."

"Leo, no." Donnie said flatly as he started walking again, not even turning around as he spoke and sounding like he was patiently chastising an excitable pet. "We have not shown you the tunnels around the docks here, as well as full extensions of the drainage stations and subway maintenance shafts west of our lair. Those are all important."

Ah. So this was going to take a little prodding as well.

"Guys, you're completely missing the point of 'going topside'. We're here to hang out together, not explore the sewers!" Leo scoffed as he twisted about and tried to peel a rather stubborn Mikey off.

"Well, yeah, bro." Mikey grunted as he stubbornly fought to maintain his grip. "But! As you're always fond of reminding us, patience is the hallmark of a true ninja, or something like that, and we shouldn't rush into things without getting all the information first. You've lectured us about that like a billion times! Hey!" He protested as Leo wiggled him down off his shell and shimmied out of his four-limbed grasp like he had been peeling off a tight fitting outfit.

"Glad to hear you've been listening." Leo teased, hopping back as he freed his leg from Mikey's grasp. Feeling unusually playful and upbeat, he quickly turned to grab at the metal ladder set against the wall, nimbly dodging Mikey's attempt to grab him again. "But, like I've also always said, there's a time and place for everything, and sometimes the situation calls for bold action! Come on, enough fooling around. Let's go!"

"Leo! Wait!" Raph's aura spiked with panic behind him, but it was too late. Leo was already up the ladder. Hearing no traffic and unable to sense any auras above them, he reasoned that it was clear. He lifted the manhole cover, sliding it to the side and crawled up onto the asphalt above.

He found himself standing up in a very abandoned alleyway between what felt like old warehouses. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and enjoying the sensations around him. He noted the salt-tinged breeze on the night air, and deduced from the smells and sounds of seabirds that they really were fairly close to the docks. He felt the hum of the city underfoot, pulsing through the streets and trees and buildings all around them, through the asphalt of poorly maintained side street, framed by mostly old brick workshops and warehouses. It was quiet and felt dark, the only hum of streetlamps being some distance away, with no traffic and no signs of life except the seagulls, pigeons, and stray cats.

He grinned widely, reveling in it. Oh, the spacious sky above and sounds of the city off in the distance was glorious! There was a whole world out there, just waiting for him and his brothers to explore!

Speaking of his brothers, they had wasted no time quickly scrambling out of the manhole, and were now all standing in the alleyway clustered around him. They were tense, moving around to surround him protectively as if they were expecting to get attacked at any moment.

"Okay Leo, we're topside." Donnie sounded uncharacteristically hushed, his voice tight as he gripped his bo staff tightly. "Now can we please just- Leo! Leo, where do you think you're going?!" His whispers grew several octaves in panic as Leo bounded over to a nearby fire escape.

"I've got this, guys!" With one hand on the slightly rusty metal ladder, Leo glanced back in the direction of their auras and flashed what he hoped was a reassuring grin. "Everything's going to be fine! Just trust me!"

"Leo!" Raph hissed, lunging for him, missing him by mere inches, and then sheathing his sais and chasing him up the ladder. "Leo, no! Get back down here this instant!"

It only took Leo a minute or so to scale up to the top of the four story tall brick building. At the top, he flipped up over the rail and turned about to lean against it, grinning impishly down through the darkness at the very perturbed auras he could sense scrambling up after him. "You three seemed stressed." He observed innocently.

"Fuck you, Leo!" Raph snarled from the fire escape. "We're NOT going on any rooftops while you're blind! Anybody could see us!"

"Nobody's going to see us, Raph." Leo tried soothing his brother, offering a hand towards the panicking red aura to help him up. "And I know what I'm doing. Like I said, just trust me! I've got this whole 'ninja-while-blind' thing completely figured out."

Raph ignored the hand, scrambling up onto the rooftop on his own, with Donnie and Mikey close behind.

"I have to say, I kind of agree with Raphie here, bro." Mikey shuffled closer to Leo, looking around and seeming nervous. "What if somebody sees us up here?"

"Like who?" Leo scoffed. "It's the middle of the night, we aren't in Purple Dragon territory, and nobody's going to be looking up at the rooftops. We're fine, guys! Relax!" He glanced around, trying to get a feel for the buildings surrounding them. There were several promising routes open to them, it was just a matter of how dramatic he wanted to be in showing his brothers just how much they were underestimating him. Should he really freak them out and take a complicated route, or keep things slow, simple, and safe at first?

"Leo, I'm serious." Raph's hand grabbed Leo's wrist, his voice unusually tense and nervous. "We need to get back underground."

Leo paused, his playful mood and sense of adventure at being topside with his brothers dampening a little when he took a moment to really take stock of his brothers' auras.

They were subdued, tense, and jumpy. Leo had never, in their entire lives together, seen them like this. This wasn't just them being worried about him and being overprotective. His brothers were... they were actually scared right now.

Leo instantly deflated, all sense of excitement gone. Uncertain and now feeling a little off balance, he blinked and tried to figure out how to handle this situation. Was this still because he was blind and they were worried about losing him again? Or was there something else, something big that they weren't telling him? But why would they hide anything like that from him?

No, Leo knew that his brothers trusted him. If this… this fear that was so overwhelming them was because of his blindness, because they were still afraid of losing him, then he could prove their fears unfounded, and ease their minds by showing them that he was still a competent ninja. He was still their big brother and still their leader. He could prove it to them if they'd just let him.

"Listen." His voice grew more gentle as he reached up and touched Raph's face. "No theatrics, nothing risky, we'll just take it slow and easy, and keep tonight completely safe and low key, okay? Let's just go get some pizza like we agreed on, and if you guys still want to go home after that, then we'll go home. No fuss."

There was a pause, and then Mikey spoke up hesitantly, "Well, there is a decent pizza joint just a few blocks northwest from here, on the corner of Shinns and Williams. It's kind of dumpy looking, but the pizza is great."

"Well, there we go!" Leo gave a lopsided, reassuring grin in their directions. "We don't even have to go that far."

"Okay, so here's what's going to happen." Raph's voice was firm, and held a tone of no-nonsense. "Mikey and I will get the stupid pizza, while Donnie helps Leo off this roof and back to the lair. We'll meet at home, and eat this fucking pizza that's so goddamned important for some reason there."

Leo snorted derisively at that plan, rolling his eyes. "Raph, that's not going to happen. We're sticking together."

"Leo, we ain't arguing over this." Raph growled.

Leo sighed. Yup, looked like he was going to have to take some extreme measures here. He tilted his head, studied Raph's aura for a second, and then reached up to lightly poke Raph's snout playfully. "Tag, you're it!"

Raph recoiled from the boop, startled and sputtering, "W-what?!"

But Leo had already turned and bolted away, running across the rooftop and laughing. "Just wait and see, slowpoke. See if you can keep up!"

"Leo! Wait! Stop!" He sensed all three of his brothers lunge after him in full panicked pursuit.

He purposefully chose a simple, easy path for his escape, keeping in mind how nervous his brothers were. There was a simple short jump across the alleyway on one side with no fancy flips, wall climbing, or long jumps required. Just a short jump and grab a railing. They've been able to do those since they were five. His brothers couldn't complain about that, right? Baby steps until they were more comfortable. He ran up to the edge of the roof and sprung into action, reaching for the railing he had sensed on the other side.

"LEO!"

A red tank slammed into him mid-leap, taking Leo completely by surprise as Raph wrapped both arms around his shell and desperately hugged him close, his red aura flaring around in panic.

And Leo suddenly found that he had lost all control.

They were falling. He could tell that they were falling. But without any connection to solid ground, unable to feel any tremors underfoot, he couldn't SEE anything anymore! He was blinded all over again. Completely disorientated, the world was all darkness and rushing wind and spinning. He had no idea of what was around him or what was happening. Normally, he could rely on his sixth sense in cases like this, grabbing for railings or beams instinctively, but with Raph pinning his arms to his side with his strong bear hug, he couldn't move. He couldn't react. He couldn't protect Raph. He could only feel the helpless panic coursing through his chest as he and his little brother tumbled through the darkness.

There was a hiss of familiar chains whipping through the air somewhere in the chaos of the spinning darkness, and suddenly their fall was cut short with a sharp, sudden jolt. Not by splatting on the hard cement ground four stories down, thankfully, but Leo and Raph were left dangling upside down midair, swaying back and forth slightly like a pendulum on a rope.

"Are you two okay?" Leo heard Donnie's strained and slightly panicked voice just slightly above Raph. From his positioning, and the exertion in his voice, Leo assumed he had caught Raph by one or both of his legs. "Is Leo okay?"

"Leo's okay." Raph grunted, both of his arms still wrapped tightly around Leo's middle and crushing him close to his own plastron, stubbornly refusing to let up his grip as they dangled upside down. "I got him."

"Oh thank goodness." Mikey breathed in relief somewhere in the turtle chain above Donnie.

Leo could only pant, his unseeing eyes wide with disbelief, still disorientated and wondering what the heck was going on right now, and just when he had lost control of the situation. He had never thought that his brother would tackle him mid-jump! What was their problem?!

And then the four dangling turtles froze as there was a jolt when the chain they were all apparently dangling from slipped down an inch with the sound of metal scraping against metal.

"Uh, Mikey?" Donnie's voice above them questioned hesitantly. "Are you certain that you embedded your Kusarigama blade in a structurally sound load bearing anchor point capable of supporting the weight of all four of us?"

There was a pause.

"… Yes?" Mikey's hesitant reply finally came above them, his tone more of a question than a confident answer.

And then there was a crunch and a snap as something above them that Leo couldn't see was ripped away from another something that it had formerly been a part of, and, for the second time that day, Leo found himself crushed tightly against his protectively panicking brother as they plummeted in a freefall through the air.

Thankfully, the drop this time wasn't as far, and, well, would you look at that, there was even a very convenient dumpster for them to crash into to break their fall.

WHUMP!

Garbage went flying everywhere, both bagged and otherwise. Leo had no idea what those old plastic bags cushioning their fall were filled with, and was fairly certain that he didn't want to know. He was also fairly certain that they had just traumatized a racoon family looking for their nightly meal.

Now connected to the world again, albeit through garbage, and grounded once more, Leo felt much more orientated. And sore. He groaned and elbowed his way out of Raph's bear hug to reach up and rub his neck. Yeah, he was going to feel that one tomorrow. Now, though, he had to deal with the situation at hand. He reached out for a head count. "Is everybody okay? Is anybody hurt?"

"Oof. Urgh, this is gross." Donnie sounded dazed but unharmed, the solid weight draped across Leo's legs shifting as he spoke and hinting that it was his purple brother down there. "Oh, what is that?! Oh gross, it's all over my shell!"

"I think everybody's fine." Raph breathed, sitting up under Leo.

There was a crinkle of plastic bags as something moved on the other side of Donnie. "Dudes." Mikey spat out something, Leo didn't really want to know what. "Let's not do that again."

"Agreed." Leo narrowed his eyes, and bristled up as he turned on Raph, who was apparently trying to gingerly scoot through the garbage without disturbing the agitated nearby raccoons too much. "Speaking of which… What the HELL was that?!"

Raph immediately clenched up and got defensive, turning away from the raccoons to Leo, his tone accusing and tense. "That was me fuckin' catching you before you fell and killed yourself, Leo! A thank you would be nice!"

"Catching..." Leo echoed in disbelief, and then thwacked his palm against his forehead in frustration. "I wasn't falling! At least, not until you knocked me out of the air! Of all the stupid, idiotic, foolhardy…! You don't just TACKLE somebody mid-jump over an alleyway! You could've killed us!"

His red brother's aura exploded with anger as Raph's hand shoved him in the shoulder, snarling right back at him with equally furious passion. "You were fuckin' heading right for the edge of the fuckin' roof while blind, like a moron! What was I supposed to do, just let you fall?! What the hell yourself, Leo! We kept telling you that it wasn't safe, that we shouldn't be up there, but you wouldn't listen to us!"

"I wouldn't listen to you?!" Leo asked in disbelief. "You aren't listening to me! I've been trying to tell you over and over again what I'm capable of! Come on, Raph! I'm not stupid enough to just run off the top of a building, and you know it! I was going to jump and land on the fire escape landing across the alleyway!" he snarled, pointing upwards to gesture towards the metal structure he had sensed up there. "You know, like we've done a bajillion times in our life before!"

His brothers paused at that, and Leo guessed they were taking a moment to glance upwards to see what he was talking about.

"Huh. There is a fire escape landing up there." Mikey observed with a touch of amazement. "Whaddya know."

"Leo, you're blind! You can't see! How on earth did you know that was there?!" Donnie sounded dumbstruck.

"I've been trying to tell you guys! But you're not listening!" Feeling more than a little hurt and annoyed, Leo shifted about and started to climb out of the metal dumpster. Well, their outing tonight was officially ruined. Leo didn't think even pizza could salvage this mess. "I figured out how to navigate even while blind! Did you honestly think I spent all that time traveling here by holding my hands out in front of me and shuffling forward?! You guys seem to think I'm helpless, but if you would just trust me, you'd see that..."

He trailed off, suddenly tensing up and going alert, his hand flying back to the elaborately decorated sword handle strapped to his shell.

His brothers paused in the middle of their own climb out, confused. "Leo?"

But then they stiffened as well, their own highly trained sixth senses kicking in.

Warning them of approaching danger.

Leo narrowed his eyes, lifted a hand, and gave a signal, trusting that his brothers would see the familiar visual command, even though it had been years since he last used one. And then, as if a strong breeze had rushed by and swept away wisps of ghosts, they all melted away into the darkness.

The alleyway they had once been in was now quiet and still. A plastic bag floated across the pavement, before settling down among a pile of old leaves.

Moments ticked by slowly. Halfway up the building, Leo sat crouched with his brothers, nestled deep in the shadows of an alcove. It really would've been just like old days, when they had all their adventures together, working as a well oiled unit. Four brothers working as one.

Except it wasn't the old days. He was blind now, of course. And, that instead of sitting side by side as a team, his brothers, even Mikey, were positively crushing him to the back against the wall, where he couldn't do much except glare ineffectually at what he assumed was the back of their heads. It would be rather annoying if Leo wasn't currently taken aback by just how wholly and uncharacteristically terrified each of his brothers currently were.

And then, hidden in the darkness above and shielded by his brothers' protective shells, he could suddenly sense them. The shadows. Slipping in down below in the alleyway, one after another.

Those auras down there moved with well trained and almost supernatural silence. These were not dock workers, or drug dealers, or even Purple Dragons. Those were ninjas slipping noiselessly into the alleyway down there. Ninjas who were exceptionally well-trained, to the point that they obviously dedicated every aspect of their life, their very identity and being, to their craft.

Ninjas who moved in a way that was all too familiar to Leo.

Those were NeoFoot.

The NeoFoot had arrived in New York City.

And Leo couldn't help but notice that his brothers didn't seem the least bit surprised to see them.

A/N

As I mentioned waaay back when I first started this story, one reason I was hesitant to start this tale was my fear that I wouldn't be able to keep the turtle brothers, all four of them, in character. And, I have to admit, it's been a struggle. Reading back, I think I found a decent balance of Leo tolerating the coddling because of a mixture of missing his brothers and wanting to sympathize with their trauma, and Raph, Donnie, and Mikey being so overprotective and hiding things from Leo just because, well, they were traumatized, and absolutely terrified of losing him again. It was a balancing act I'm still not entirely sure I pulled off completely.

But, after this chapter, it's all going to pay off, and I can let all the emotions loose, and it's going to be glorious! Mwahahaha!