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Donnie came to the conclusion, at around the age of six, that he could build nearly a whole, running car. Not a real car. He believed he could make nearly a whole remote-controlled car by himself.

He'd salvaged a toy car from the sewers. While only the shell was any good, the motor, rotors, and batteries were a rusty, hard, compact mess inside it, he thought he could replace basically everything inside the plastic car shape and make it run. And he was right.

It took months of scavenging and dreaming and designing, and hours of hard work, but he got it running and responding to a remote control from a whole other project. And he was very proud. Mikey and Raph were over the moon when he showed them, but he insisted they not touch it or the remote. Mikey whined, Raph grumbled, but he stood firm. Sensei backed him up by saying the toy was a product of his work and thus his to share or not share as he pleased. Donnie appreciated everything his father said save that it was a "toy," which felt like a put-down to his unique design toy-makers could only dream of.

Donnie was both disappointed and relieved by Leo and Splinter's reactions to his new creation overall. Granted, they were, indeed, impressed. They had wide eyes and quiet, smooth words of congratulations for him when he showed them how it worked, but they soon returned to their own activities. Raph and Mikey sat with crossed legs or lay on their stomachs to watch him playing with it for hours while drooling.

Donnie decided to take Leo out into the tunnels with him when he decided to try driving it there. He was least likely to try to take the controls from him and drive it himself. At the same time, Leo hovered. So even if he wasn't really "interested" in the car, he would at least be nearby while he explained everything to him, he wanted to explain to someone. He wouldn't understand, but he'd hear it all.

Raph and Mikey would just pout about the fact "they" couldn't drive it the whole time. Raph would understand some of what he was saying, and use it as fuel to grumble about how "he'd" take advantage of the power in the miniature engine and turning radius to "really" take it out for a drive. Me might actually muscle it away from him. Who was he kidding, it was Raph. With father so far away, or course he'd do that.

Mikey would beg him to do several tricks with it, so loud he'd barely be able to hear himself think. Then, after he'd said "no" 200 times, he'd try to grab it away. Leo just stood there listening and watching behind him like he'd known he would.

And then, Donnie did something that made himself sick. After trying to protect it from Raph and Mikey, after spending months looking for parts and dreaming about how to make it work with them, and hours actually laboring over its careful construction, he drove it right into the water himself.

Leo now turned to him. He squinted eyes at him and put on a voice more annoyingly grown-up tone than Splinter's scratchy, but loving and lofty-sounding ones. "Remind me to never let you behind the wheel of a real car."

Donnie made a face. How … how did he "do" that?! He'd just been showing off the turning radius, and it had slid just too close to the edge and fallen right off it. Now it was floating away …

No. He was going to get it back. It would most certainly be wet now, but he could dry out some components, replace others, and it'd be running again. And maybe, maybe, he'd be gentler to his brothers about driving or not driving it from now on.

He passed the controls to Leo with a scowl of his own. "Hang on. I'll get it."

He grabbed a stick as he ran alongside the artificial river. The make-due tool be the perfect length to reach the car. It might not have a lot of strength, however. He'd make it work though. He just had to find the right angle …

He didn't do all that work the past few months for a few hours of fun. He couldn't return to the lair and tell his brothers he lost it after making such a big deal out of it yesterday. He'd hear them yell and complain about butter-fingers Donnie, or worse, hear them laugh at him and tell each other how "they" would never have let that happen if they'd been driving it like they'd asked him to. He was just not going to let that happen.

He got ahead of the car by running faster than the current. Then he stretched out his arm and the stick to block its path as it swept by. He managed to catch the car by the front of the wheels. As he'd feared, the stick wasn't really doing well strength-wise. It barely held it back against the current. He feared it would just slip and fall out when he tried to lift it out against said current.

He was trying to figure out how to get the right angle and amount of "thrust" to make this work, when something else came along behind the car and crashed into it. That force moved the stick and him at its other end as he gripped it.

He was turned around. As he spun, he lost his balance. Splinter would be so disappointed.

He fell into the water. Man, the current was fast and strong. How was he going to get out?

A voice, it sounded terrified, rang down the tunnels screaming his name. "DONNIE!"

Leo …

He paddled. He managed to keep his head above the surface. However, he was carried through an opening, big enough for him to fit through, unfortunately. He landed in a pool.

Thankfully, he didn't get pinned under the falling water. He managed to arch out and away during his fall enough to avoid that, somehow. Maybe the buoyancy of his shell had something to do with it. Something else happened, though.

"Leo!" Donnie stopped for a moment after that first scream realizing how immature it sounded how unscientific. He tried to clear his mind. He would try again. At least, with another failure, he might diagnose the problem more completely.

He pulled at his foot. Something heavy was pinning all his toes and most of the upper foot down well below the water lever. It felt way too heavy to get it off by himself. He was in trouble.

Panic flew up his shell and filled his brain. It spilled out his mouth. "I'm stuck! I can't get my leg free!" The water continued to rise. He realized how close it came to his mouth, his nose now. He screamed again "Leo!"

As the water began to close in over his head, he raised his arms and just screamed. "Ahhhhhhhhh! Leo!"

Donnie finally himself to think once again. Okay, if he couldn't keep his head above water for long anyway … He took a deep breath and then closed his mouth while shutting his eyes. He ducked under the water. Bent over and closer to the problem, he tried again to free his foot. It was under a plank of wood. It was a long plank, longer, though not thicker than him, but overall heavier much heavier. He could barely pull up his own weight during training at home. He. Was. Doomed.

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ScribeofHeroes