Fractured

Doubts

"I should not have allowed this," Leatherhead sighed out extendedly, his towering frame pacing across the floor of his home: a train car renovated to take the form of an elongated studio dwelling. His arms were crossed behind his back, his face a mask of self-disappointment, "If he had been under for a second longer… I don't even want to think about what could have happened. I… I should've known that his emotions- as raw as they are- would take on a mind of their own. I should have gone with my instincts and waited until he was more settled before I had him dive back into his memories like that."

Leonardo watched his friend and fellow reptile patiently, his emotionless mask successfully displayed… which was something he had not been able to pull for nearly a month now. The leader supposed it something to do with the knowledge of his mate's current location and that the turtle genius was steadily showing signs of healing. Even so, the only things that seemed to give away his inner struggles, his simmering wrath, and worrisome thoughts were the intense, brewing storm that churned beneath the depths of his grey eyes.

The turtle leader sighed, leaning back against the train car wall while crossing his arms over his chest, "It couldn't be helped Leatherhead. Don wants to find out who did this to him as much as the rest of us do. If it had not been today, he would have convinced you tomorrow. It… it's just how he is."

LH nodded with agreement, chuckling silently to himself as he finally glanced over at the turtle leader, "At least he hasn't changed too much."

"Yeah…," Leo agreed absentmindedly, his eyes sliding away from the others. They, in turn, focused in on the large computer screen at the far end of the car. It looked very similar to the one in Don's lab except this one had to be downsized in order to fit into the smaller accommodations of the train. Mugshot after mugshot flashed rapidly over the screen, the computer scanning through the DNA connected to each and every disgruntled, exhausted, disheveled, sickly, cocky, or clueless expression that showed up. Leo subdued a feral scowl; somewhere within that sea of documented criminal scum were the culprits behind his lover's torment.

"Leonardo… this was not your fault."

Leo snorted humorlessly, tearing his eyes away from the screen to look back at Leatherhead once again. The other had leaned against a wall opposite of him, this obsidian eyes were calm, his pupils round and undisturbed, "Don't lie to me in order to make me feel better. …I'm the reason he's the way he is now."

"That isn't true. Don was just participating in his usual routine. What had happened before he left that day has nothing to do with how things turned out."

"No," Leo shook his head curtly, physically denying the other's words, "I could have trailed after him. I could have resolved that stupid feud we had before he left. I could have went with him to ensure his safety even if I had duties to attend to in the lair; I knew father would've understood. I could have done something, anything,… but I did nothing. My anger got the better of me and I failed him when he needed me most."

Leatherhead tiled his head to the side, his mouth turned down slightly in a contemplative frown, "What made this time different than all the other times? Donatello has gone out to retrieve spare part dozens of times. What had changed?"

Leo's tightened expression became slightly lax, his eyes fell to the floor, "I… I'm not sure. It was just a feeling I had. I usually get it whenever something bad is going to happen, like when the Shredder is getting ready to attack or something else along those lines… but…"

"… But?"

"… Instead of worrying for my family as a whole, like I usually do, I felt my worry and protectiveness towards Donnie increase with each and every passing day," Leo said lowly. A breath or two passed before he released a single chuckle, "I knew I was annoying him, I knew I was smothering him, but my uneasiness wouldn't allow me to stop. It had become too much for him that day and he didn't hesitate to call me out on it…"

"Leo, you're being ridiculous," Don said, sighing out roughly as he slung his signature dumpster diving bag over one of his shoulders: a dark brown messenger bag- tattered but still quite sturdy- that was just as spacious as a duffle bag. His usually wide mocha eyes narrowed with irritation at his superior and lover, "I'm just going out to get some things for the lair. The back up generator is a bit faulty, so that is my top priority right now, and we could always use some extra parts just in case."

Leonardo watched with an uneasy stare as his mate secure his boa to his shell, "Can't you just wait until Raphael comes back from Casey and April's apartment? It shouldn't take too lo-"

"I don't need a babysitter!" Donatello groaned, throw his hands up before walking pass Leo, out of his lab, and into the main living area, "I've done this countless times… and you know Raph is going to be there longer than he said he was. They're having more 'male bonding times' since he and April got more heated with their arguments. He isn't coming back for another hour, two hours tops."

Leo sighed, following after the other swiftly "Donnie…"

Don stopped in his strides just a few meters shy from the exit. He spun on his heels, giving Leo a pointed look, "It's only going to take thirty minutes. I know what I need. I'll be there and back before you even know-"

"No, Don," Leo's gaze sharpened, one of his hands latching onto one of Don's biceps, mildly startling the genius, "I can't be there with you tonight since Mikey needs more assistance with his latest katas; father's orders. Just… just wait until Raph get's back."

"And, I repeat, I don't need a babysitter…" Don said through clenched teeth before he- as politely as his angered state would allow, anyway- wrenched his arm out of the other's grip, "What's gotten into you lately?"

"Nothing," Leo said curtly, almost too quickly.

"Oh sure," Don rolled his eyes, before he began to list off with his fingers, "You've been tagging along with me whenever I plan on going anywhere on my own, you watch my back double time on patrols, and now you're setting me up with chaperones? Seriously Leo, what's been going through your head?"

"It's nothing Don," Leo reinforced, "Nothing that you don't already know. This is a hot month; there's activity from all sides. The Purple Dragon's have started initiations so there are targets on our shells. The Shredder is unpredictable and furious since we've flipped Karai, so the Foot are itching for a fight. Add all the other unusual suspects to the mix and-"

"I understand that but, honestly Leo, this isn't something new for us. The Purple Dragon aren't the brightest crayons in the box and the Foot won't catch onto me if I stay out of sight," Don sighed roughly, "I'm not a teenager anymore, Leo. I don't make foolish mistakes, especially when I'm topside."

"I never said that Don," Leo recovered quickly, his gaze hardening ever so slightly, "I have never doubted your capabilities and I'm not starting now."

"Okay, then what's going on? And don't give me those excuses again because if they were even remotely relevant to this situation, Raph would be on lock down too," Don crossed his arms tightly over his chest, his irritated expression momentarily taken over by curiosity and worry, "Seriously, what is it?"

"I… it's complicated," Leo exhaled out, his eyes closing as he took a minute to regain his composure. He shook his head sharply before his eyes reopened, his gaze solid in his resolve, "It doens't matter. I'm not asking you to wait, I'm telling you."

Don stared at his mate, clearly startled by the other's words. It wasn't like Leo to push a point so forcefully or urgently on anyone… except on Raph, perhaps. To have Leonardo take the same tone he usually reserved for his hotheaded sibling and use it on him was… unnerving, as well as vexing. It only took the genius a few seconds for his anger to fully boil, his eyes burning with a chocolate passion, "Don't you dare pull that fearless leader crap with me."

"I'm not pulling anything. I just gave you an order, Donatello, and I expect you to follow it."

Don scowled at the use of his full name; Leo only ever used it when he was being serious or stern with him, "Well the only person who can forbid me from leaving the lair is Master Splinter. The only thing you can do is either lecture me to death or back up what father says."

Leo growled lowly, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, "Please, stop making this harder than it needs to be…"

"No, you're making this hard! Just because your the leader doesn't give you the right to restrict what I normally do without a plausible reason. You can't just tell me to go along with whatever you say; to smile and nod and retreat into my lab like a good little turtle. Damnnit, Leo, I'm your brother- your partner- not some brain dead subordinate you can boss around whenever you feel like it!"

"Stop putting words in my mouth! You know that's not what I'm getting at."

Don stepped to Leo, his face only a couple of inches away from the others. The genius' voice suddenly became deeper, more chilling and subtly icy than one would care to believe, "Then educate me. All I have are assumption right now and, for the past week, you have not been treating me like an equal. I am not a child. I am not some sort of ditz with the attention span of a gnat. I'm not a damsel in distress. I am a damn good ninja, just like you, Raph and Mikey are. You-"

Donatello took a deep breath, his hands clenching so tightly at his sides that his nails dug into the skin of his palms. After another beat, he readjusted his bag strap, his breathing labored and unsteady with a wrath that threatened to hit the surface at any moment, "… I'm leaving now."

"Don, you can't-," Leo made a quick reach for his mate's wrist but Don swiftly avoided the other's grasp with a fluid step back and towards the lair door.

"I can and I will!" Don said sharply, scowling faintly and giving his brother an vexed once over before turning on his heels and heading for the door, "God, I can't even talk to you right now."

"Donatello! Donni-" Leo flinched; somehow, only a pissed off turtle genius could make a heavy, vault like door sound like it had slammed shut, "Oh for the love of-!"

Leo growled out full force, his hands moved over the top of his head before his fingers intertwined behind it and began to pace angrily.

Leo slumped his shoulders forward tiredly after finishing the details of his last moments before his brother's disappearance, "If I could do it all over again, I would've told him everything, not just hide behind my title as leader. I let my stubbornness get in the way and Don paid dearly for it."

LH curtly shook his head, denying his friend's words, "That is not true. You couldn't have known that this would happen. This situation… it is not what anyone was expecting. You cannot continue to blame yourself, my friend. It-"

"Please Leatherhead," Leo interrupted, shaking his head, pushing himself off of the wall as he sauntered over to the larger mutant's computer where the many faces of the guilty continued to flash, "Just… what is that you wanted to tell me?"

"…," The large lizard released a long exhale, following after the turtle leader while rubbing the back of his neck idly, "Well… it's the details that Donatello has disclosed to us so far."

Leo turned his head in the direction of the larger mutant, the side of his face was visible to LH but the grey orbs never left the flashing computer screen, "What about them?"

"There are a couple of…," Leatherhead paused, clearing his throat deeply as he racked his brain for an appropriate word, "Inconsistencies."

This got Leo's attention. The leader's eye ridges furrowed with a combination of confusion and defense as he turned his body halfway towards the other. His lips pressed into a flat, indifferent line, "Like?"

Leatherhead sighed, "It's what Donatello had said: 'A pair of three. Six hands on me.' Remember?"

"Yes… your point being?"

LH could sense the defensiveness that was slowly breaking through the surface of the leaders facade so he quickly brought issue to light. His gestured to the screen with a swift motion of his hand, "Based on what I was able to collect from Donatello's person the day I found him, I was able to find obvious traces of human DNA; seminal, to be precise. It wasn't until yesterday that I was able to separate them into their own individual categories…"

Leatherhead paused, his eyes glancing to the floor momentarily before his dark, bottomless eyes found Leo's again, "I was only able to identify two sets of DNA. Not three."

"Two?" Leo blinked at his friend with bewilderment, "But Donatello swears that there were three."

"My point exactly," The large lizard confirmed, nodding his large head, "If a third person were to have violate Donatello- in any way- there should be some form of DNA on him that would reinforce that."

"So… what does that mean, exactly? Doesn't that just mean that the third person was extremely careful? From what Don had said, that person was the brains behind the whole operation. They knew how to imprison him and they knew how to keep him there."

"Yes, either that or the third person doesn't truly exist."

A full, deafening moment passed between the two before a slow rising growl began to build within the depths of Leo's chest, "Are you accusing Don of lying?"

"Never," Leather swiftly denied, lifting his hands defensively in hope to quickly pacify the eldest turtles anger, "We both know that Don would never lie in a situation like this… at least not knowingly, he wouldn't."

The growl in the leader's voice vanished but his eye narrowed instead, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

LH sighed roughly, the other's defensiveness for his mate was starting to discomfort him, "Donatello made it sound like the third person was… either mental deranged, overly obsessed with him, and, also, someone he knows. According to what Don is saying, the reason he had been kidnapped and tortured that way was to forcefully persuade him into leave his family and bend to the ways of this third party- the mastermind, if you will. Is that about right?"

"… Yes," Leo said, a hint of uncertainty invaded his tone.

"Without this foundation of events, without that third person… what would you have?"

Leo paused, his gaze dropping to the floor as he thought over Leatherhead's words, rolling them around in his strategically wired head, "… Two possible sex offenders who were looking to get away with a crime…"

Leatherhead hummed in agreement, "Exactly. After all, it's not like Donatello can call the police and tell them what happened, being a mutant and all."

"A get-out-of-jail-free card…," Leo offered in a voice that was just above a whisper.

LH nodded, "… And if that is the case, then Donatello might have unknowingly devised a third person as a coping mechanism. His analytic mind could not understand the reasoning behind his torment so… perhaps, his mind created one."

Leo gulped, his eyes shifting as this new information entered into the mix of possibilities, "I… I see the dilemma…"

"Hmmm, but that doesn't mean this theory is necessarily true. After all, we know little to nothing about what happened," Leatherhead hung his head slightly, walking around the turtle leader and towards his computer. He, too, stared at the screen for a short while, hoping that one or both of the persons they were looking for would be identified soon, "All we know for sure is that there were two humans witless enough to leave traces of themselves… one, of which, is possibly dead. If we could identify the living one and find him, there is a good chance that we could get information out of him. We could be more certain if that were the case… but it may take some time to find him."

Leo shook his head, a sense of dark intent entered into his features, "It doesn't matter. As long as you can eventually find him, that's all that matters…"

LH looked at him, taking in the other's expression and briefly wondered what was going through the leaders head… then he thought better of it. The other's thoughts were probably very… unseemly right about now…

The lizard sighed, if wasn't like he wasn't thinking the same thing when he saw Donatello that day…, "If I am able to find him… do you think you can make him talk?"

Leo stared at the larger other with an immovable,unblinking stare, much like a fearless predator getting ready for the hunt. A ghost of a smirk touch his apple green lips, the darkness in his eyes intensifying, "… I can make him scream…"

A/N: Oh boy, shit just got real :o!