This chapter takes place a couple days after Ara "drops in" on the turtles. Enjoy, and pleeeese let me know what you think! ;)

Chapter 3: Leo

Leo crossed his arms behind his back as he gazed at the stars through the thick glass of a spaceship. It was a beautiful night, and the stars shone like so many glistening gems. The scene was so majestic, it almost made him forget the looming problem he was caught in. Almost.

"Lieutenant Leonardo?" Leo turned to see a man standing at attention.

"Yes?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Captain Ryan wishes to speak with you," the man said crisply, saluting.

"Please tell him I will be there in a moment," Leo answered, starting to turn back to his view.

"Err, Captain Ryan also wished me to inform you that the matter is quite pressing," The man added uncomfortably, shifting in his place ever so slightly.

Leo sighed, turning back around. "Very well then, lead the way." Though his words were casual, Leo's heart thumped in his chest, and he cleared his throat nervously.

He was lead down several hallways and ushered into a large room, the doors clicking shut behind him. Captain Ryan was sitting behind a desk, waiting for him. He gestured for Leo to take the seat opposite of him. Leo did so, trying to hide his shaking hands.

Captain Ryan crossed his hands seriously on the desk in front of him and said quietly, "Leo, you have been slacking off the job lately. And I don't like slackers." Leo opened his mouth to speak, but Captain Ryan held up a hand to shush him. "All day, you do nothing but pick your nose. It's really disgusting. And your horrible habit of throwing wet toilet paper on the ceiling is getting really annoying. One glob hit me in the head yesterday." Captain Ryan rubbed his head, looking hurt. "And really?" he continued, shaking his head. "Filling the employee's vanilla pudding cups with mayonnaise? That's just plain immature. I thought you were better than that."

Leo hung his head. "I am afraid this calls for serious punishment," Captain Ryan said gravely. "You are hereby sentenced to do a week doing whatever Raphael pleases."

"WHAT?" Leo screeched as he awoke with a start. He sat up in bed to find Raphael smirking by his bedside and Mikey howling with laughter behind him.

"And that," Raphael said, turning to Mikey with satisfaction, "is how you give Leo a nightmare."

Mikey's laughing increased. "You shoulda seen you face!" he gasped, struggling for air. "Raph went up an' started whispering all these things in your ear in his Captain Ryan voice. Stuff about wet toilet paper and mayonnaise. You started shaking you head, and your face was… SO HILARIOUS!" Mikey finished. "Dude, If only you could've seen it!"

"Ah, don't worry about that, Mikey!" Raph said, standing up and patting Mikey's shoulder. "I recorded the whole thing. It's all RIGHT HERE," he grinned, holding up a camera.

Leo froze. "Why you..." he leapt up at Raph to tackle him. Raph dove to the side just in time, holding the camera safely above his head. In a moment, Leo was up again, chasing after Raph.

He had nearly reached him when Raphael turned and chucked the camera at Michelangelo. "Go long, Mikey!" Mikey caught the camera, but backed up a little too far and crashed into Splinter, who was just walking into the room. Splinter and Mikey toppled to the ground.

Leo and Raph were over in a flash, helping them up. Leo quickly grabbed the fallen camera and slipped it behind a plant. He would delete the video later.

When Splinter was back on his feet, all three turtles meekly knelt in a line and bowed their heads. Leo silently glared over at Raph, who returned the favor. "I am going to choose to not ask what you were doing," Splinter said with a small smile, "but I need you all to head over to April's house. If you don't, she's sure to come here by herself, and I have reason to believe that she may have become a target of our enemies. I would prefer she had escorts. You may go."

The three brothers shot up, Mikey calling out: "Donnie! Where are you? We're going to go get your GIRLFRIEND, if you want to come!"

Donatello emerged from his workshop, a crimson blush spreading across his face. "She's not my girlfriend," he muttered, picking up his staff from where rested outside of the doorway and sheathing it. "Let's go." They walked out of the room, following the much-used stretch of sewers leading to April's house.

Raphael turned to Mikey as they walked. "So, where'd you put the camera?"

Mikey rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Uh, I was going to ask you the same question."

Leo grinned, but then stopped in his tracks. He held up a hand to shush Raphael, who was busy shouting in Japanese at Mikey.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Leo asked. The next thing he knew, the back of his head was on fire. He crumpled to the ground as the world around him slipped into nothingness.

"Leo? Leo! Can you hear me? Come on, bro, wake up!" Leo was vaguely aware that he was in an upright position, and something was cutting into his arms as if to hold him upright. Someone was franticly kicking at his ankle, presumably to make him wake up. But as hard as he tried, Leo just couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.

Something hard crashed roughly into his plastron, knocking the air out of him. "Hey! Get your dirty robot hands off my brother!" This was Raph's voice, and it was coming from right beside him.

"Oof!" This was Raph again. Wait?! Were they hurting him? Shaking his head free off the darkness, Leo slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head. He was tied to some kind of pole along with his brothers, thick ropes binding them in place. A group of about twenty Kraang robot aliens were circled around them, holding guns.

"Leo! You're awake!" Raph and Donnie cried out gleefully in union, sounding relieved.

"Wait, Leo's awake?" Mikey was on the opposite side of the pole, and he couldn't see anything that was happening on Leo's end.

"The Kraang came up behind us and knocked us out," Donnie explained. "Then they tied us up. But you were out for a long time. Raph thought you were dead."

"Did not!"

"Enough talk." One of the Kraang stepped forward. "Now that all those who call themselves the turtles have awakened, we will destroy them, as soon as I say fire. When I say fire, we will destroy those who call themselves turtles because they are a threat to the Kraang and what the Kraang do. Fire is the signal for those…"

"...who call themselves the turtles to be destroyed! Blah, blah, blah! We get it!" Raph blurted out impatiently. "Can't you just let us go and fight like people with a shred of morals? Where's the honor in shooting us when we can't even move?"

The Kraang robot ignored him. "Ready," the robot bleeped out. Leo found himself staring at the ends of their laser guns, the sidelights on and the little power symbols lit.

He swallowed hard, but then felt a three-fingered hand brush his. It was Raph. He had wormed his arm through the ropes and was now gripping his hand. Leo turned to Raph, and they locked eyes. The look his brother gave him made a lump of emotion rise in his throat. If they were going to die, at least they'd die together.

Leo turned and pushed his hand towards Donnie. The unbelievably tight ropes burned at his arm, but he made it and gripped Donnie's hand in his.

Leo could tell by the increased pressure of the rope on his chest that Donnie had linked hands with Mikey, and finally Mikey with Raph. Leo had to fight back tears of pride, love, and sorrow. Poor Splinter would never know what had happened to his sons.

"Aim," the robot bleeped. Leo shut his eyes, waiting. Nothing happened.

"Take that, you rusty tin can!" What? Leo opened his eyes to find Ara kicking a Kraang robot to the ground.

"Fire!" One of the robots screeched. Leo winced, only to find that the Kraang had meant Ara, not them. Ara weaved through the laser bullets and picked up the first weapon she could find: one of Leo's fallen katanas. She evenly sliced off a Kraang's head, kicking away another at the same time. She then leaped to the pole, slicing off the rope that bound the turtles with one slash.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked, ducking to avoid a bullet.

"Yeah, for the most part," Donnie responded.

Leo just stared. Ara knew martial arts? Strike that, she knew ANCIENT JAPANESE NINJUTSU?! There was no way that he could mistake her form.

Mikey emerged from the other side of the pole, brushing off his arms. "What did I mi… whoa," he gaped, watching Ara roll under an attacking Kraang and leap up on the other side, slicing his middle.

"A little help here?" she called, dodging a bullet.

"Oh, right," Raph replied, snatching up his sais and going to work. The others followed his lead, Leo grabbing his remaining katana from where it lay and slicing some robots.

Every now and then he snuck a glance at Ara fighting, almost unable to believe his eyes. Ara grinned. "This is the best…" she doged two bullets. "day of my…" she slashed at a Kraang, knocking the gun from his hand. "ENTIRE LIFE!" she finished with a whoop. Minutes later, they had finished off the last of the robots. Ara looked down at the cut-up scraps of metal with satisfaction. "It's been so long since I've been able to do that," she murmured contentedly.

Raphael turned to her, breathing hard. "First of all," he pointed at her as he leaned forward and propped a hand against his knee pad, "you can call me Raph!"

Ara grinned. "Thanks." She turned to Leo and held out the handle of his katana. "I think this is yours."

Leo blushed, suddenly feeling inexplicably shy. "Yep. That would be mine," he said, taking it from her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she replied, smiling.

"So…" Donnie butted in. "How'd you get here?"

"Oh, yeah. Splinter sent me after you guys when April showed up… alone."

Mikey winced. "Oops."

"Oh, come on!" Ara said, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "Splinter won't mind. I mean, you guys couldn't help that those robot thingies attacked you! It's not your fault."

"I wish I was as sure as you," Raph muttered under his breath as he turned towards the lair.

The closer they got to home, the uneasier Leo became. He tried to convince himself that Ara was right. Leo reached his hand back to the bruised bump on the back of his head. They hadn't had a chance! The bump reminded him of the moment when Raph's hand had gripped his. Was Raph changing? Was this a turning point of maturity for him? Would he…

"Hey Leo, I'm curious. What were you dreaming about when you were knocked out?" Raph called over his shoulder. "Oh, how stupid of me to ask! Of course you were dreaming about Space Heros. It's all your mind is capable of." Nope. Same old Raph.

They stopped in front of the door leading to their home, Leo holding his breath as he pushed it open. Inside, Master Splinter was pacing up and down with worry. April was standing behind him, tapping her hands against her sides with a distressed look clouding her face. Splinter's head snapped up as the door opened, relief flooding his features as soon as he saw them. "Where have you been?" Splinter asked with concern as he took in their battered state. "And more importantly, are you all right?"

Leo assured him they were. "In that case…" Splinter's expression hardened. "Come with me, you five." Ara froze. "Yes, you too, Ara," Splinter added when he saw her confused look.

The five turtles followed Splinter into the training room, forming a line by kneeling on the floor. Ara hesitated only a moment, then quickly knelt at the end of the line by Mikey. "Leo, what happened?" Splinter asked as he crossed his arms behind his back. Leo hastily explained, beginning with waking up to finding himself a captive and ending with walking through the door.

"Let me get this straight," Splinter said after a long silence. "The KRAANG snuck up on you?" All nodded. "How is this possible? From what I have heard, those robots are NOISY."

"We couldn't hear because RAPH was yelling," Leo explained.

Raph crossed his arms over his chest. "I was yelling because MIKEY lost my camera."

"Well, I think LEO was the one who hid it."

"You don't…"

"Enough!" Splinter barked, shaking his head. "From now on, all of you must be alert at all times. You may relax HERE. When you're anywhere else, never let your guard down. At the very least refrain from shouting. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, twenty back flips, now! And next time remember to keep your wits about you!"

Groans filled the room, and the four brothers sulkily rose, went to the wall, and began their backflipping. Splinter turned to the remaining turtle. "Ara, come with me. I need to speak with you…alone."