"You know, Leo," Raph complained. "You could slow down." They were walking through a long, rank tunnel in the sewers.
"Why? Are you guys getting slower?" Leo teased, his legs pumping at a rate no turtle should be able to withstand. The scales scraped against each other. Raph growled softly; he didn't like being less than Leo was.
"You do have Darkwing's legs right now," Don commented. "And I am absolutely fascinated by this whole thing. The magic in it… it's not scientifically possible, but-" Leo rolled his eyes as Donnie continued muttering equations to himself, trying to figure out how in the world a dragon came to be and how that same dragon Inhabited his brother.
"And it's creeping me out, bro!" Mikey wailed, watching as his brother halted suddenly and sat back on his hind legs. Since that last transformation, he'd had Darkwing's scaly legs and ran on all fours, unbalanced on his usual two. Mikey was pretending happiness for his brother's sake, when he was really very worried. He didn't like the transformations; they made him sick.
"It's not far. Darkwing can sense him," Leo commented, his legs twitching slightly. The black scales clattered together like rainfall, and Don looked up from his calculator, but Raph beat him to the punch.
"So, which one is this?" Raph asked, leaning against a wall of the sewer and breathing carefully. His brother started at the question, which made Raph's eyes narrow. Why was Leo on the edge?
"I… don't know. Darkwing won't tell me." Leo seemed like he was telling the truth, but Raph had his doubts.
"What?!" all three turtles demanded. Leo slowly shifted to Darkwing's form. "Why not?" Mikey asked, averting his eyes and looked down to avoid seeing the transformation and to keep from tripping.
"I will not tell him – or any of you – because it must remain a surprise, Darkwing explained. "Now, may we continue?"
"I think he doesn't know," Raph growled humorously. "I think he's just puttin' on airs." It was a sentence he'd heard a while ago, but hadn't thought of until now. It seemed appropriate, with Darkwing being able to fly and all.
"Am not!" Darkwing argued, walking ahead. "Now, let's keep moving. It is not far. Just another mile." His tail scraped along the floor, emitting a sound a lot like a snake across a bunch of tissue paper. Don filed that away later. He wanted a sample of Darkwing's scale, but he didn't know if Darkwing would allow that.
"Awww! Why can't you teleport like that other one?" Mikey asked. "I haven't eaten in hours! And I'm starving!" Mikey was always starving, even as he was always growing.
"First, Shikeera is the only one of us who can teleport. My power is different. Second, it is a virtue to keep silent, Michelangelo. You may be hungry, but you are not starving." His lecture over, Darkwing shifted slowly back to Leo's form, who was still a little weak from the two consecutive sudden transformations before. Leo smiled tightly, his hands still claws. But at least he didn't have four legs anymore.
"Man, I can't wait for you all to have Inhabitors. Then you'll see what I've gone through." Leo was kind of pissed; they didn't know what he'd been through, what Darkwing was to him.
"Rrrriiiiiggggghhhhhttttttt," Mikey laughed. "Face it, dude. You'll probably be the only one with side effects because you fought it!" Mikey was certain that he'd love his Inhabitor, because who couldn't love being able to do magic.
"You will, too," Leo stubbornly insisted. He started walking quickly down the slimy tunnel they were in, thankfully warm. Darkwing had said that all four Inhabitors were in New York, so they didn't need to look far for any of them.
"Just ahead," Leo said, his voice oddly quiet. Raph looked at him, but he merely smiled and said, a little louder, "It's just so neat. You guys will have to deal with your own mess like I have." Leo grinned maliciously.
I resent that, Darkwing informed them. I am not a mess. I have helped you in many ways, Leonardo. Leo grimaced slightly, which made Raph all the more suspicious.
"I know, Darkwing. Don't get your scales in a ruffle." Leo chuckled, probably imagining something that had happened. Leo's claw hands flexed suddenly, then calmed down as Leo reached for a rock, crushing it in one paw.
Raph wasn't so sure about this excursion now. What did Darkwing mean by, "I have helped you in many ways"? He was getting a bad feeling in his stomach. Also, the way Leo was acting… It wasn't like him. Could Darkwing not be what he said he was?
"Hmmmm..." Raph grumbled. Thinking wasn't his strong point, not this kind of thinking. Leo seemed to hear him, though, which unnerved Raphael. After all, he'd just said it under his breath. How could Leo hear that?
"What?" he asked, calmly but flexing his hands again.
"Huh? Oh, just something Master Splinter said to me a while ago. I just remembered it." Leo looked interested, but there was a hint of fear or wariness in his step. He looked like he was just about ready to run into the darkness and leave them. He had insisted on no lights because that might alert any Guardians to their presence, and Darkwing told them that these creatures would suck their soul from them.
"What'd he say?" Leo asked, almost defensively. That was weird; Leo loved their Sensei, even more than he loved himself. To him, father and brothers came before him, who came after everything else, including bushido and honor. Only reputation, glory, and popularity came under Leo himself.
"Something about how the soul knows more than the mind and eyes," Raph answered carefully, weighing Leo's reaction against what he knew of his brother from living and growing up with him. Leo was definitely getting strange by now. His steps were irregular and he was panting slightly.
"Bro, you okay?" Raph inquired, his knees bent in case Leo tried to attack them.
"Huh? Yeah, why?" This, too, was strange. Leo almost never said, "Huh?" like that. He always knew who was talking, why they were doing so, and who they were addressing. He'd only said, "Huh?" once that Raph knew of, and he'd been drugged at the time.
"You seem a little distracted. Are you too tired to do this?" Raph asked casually but with enough worry to make it seem legitimate. Leo knew them as well – or better – than they knew him, and he would see right through a fake tone. He'd be able to tell if Raph was prying into his business.
"Nah, I'm fine. Just a bit sleepy and I can fix that after we pick this one up and get it settled. Then we can move on after I sleep for a while. Whoever gets an Inhabitor will be tired, too, and the other two will need the rest anyway."
Leo never said, "Nah," either. Raph was very suspicious by now, but he knew he didn't stand a chance against Leo/Darkwing if he attacked and it turned out that Leo wasn't himself and would try to destroy Raph. Being the best of them, Leo would probably be able to do it, too.
"Okay. If you're sure. By the way, do we all get books?"
Leo hesitated, and then nodded. "As far as I know."
Raph didn't like his tone, though. He seemed a lot more wary and weary. Why? What's going on? Was he really so tired that he had stopped functioning like their Leo?
"It's just ahead," Leo stated calmly, stopping. "Don, you may give us a light now. A small one, mind." Mind? Since when does Leo talk like a human southerner from fifty years ago?
"Okay, Leo. Where are we?" Don asked, breaking and shaking a chemical light, bathing them in a sickly green glow. He gave one to Mikey and Raph, who broke and shook their own. Mikey fashioned his into a crown that he wore on his head like a prince would, murmuring complements to himself.
"Under a bank, I think. Let's move." He looked upwards and then at them. "The book's in the vault. We'll need to break in." Leo said this with no mercy, no tone, really. It was flat, but Raph thought he detected a little challenge in it, as if daring them to argue.
"Whoa!" Mikey shouted. "We're not breaking into any bank, dude. We're the good guys!" He flung his halo off his head and held it out, waving it for emphasis.
"And we need the book or else we're dead. Darkwing needs allies in the upcoming war," Leo persisted. Leonardo shifted slightly and looked at them squarely. Raph tensed; he didn't like that look on Leo's face.
"Are you crazy?" Don asked. "We cannot bust into a bank. We'd be seen and hunted down." Don seemed to want to continue, but didn't when Leo turned on him, advancing a step and looking very intimidating.
"Are you ninja or a chicken?" Leo demanded. Don started to get uneasy; Leo didn't usually say that. Mikey, too, looked worried, and Raph looked pissed.
"You can't speak to Donnie that way, Leo," he said sternly. "Is there another way we can get this book? Mikey, stop waving that thing in my face!" Raph slapped his youngest brother over the head and then faced Leo, his posture saying, Do something, I dare you.
"No. Unless you happen to know J.C. Paterson, and can get his I.D., fingerprints, and appearance," Leo scoffed. "We'll be in and out before anyone knows it."
"My bro, I think we all know Don can do that. Right, Donnie?" Mikey asked. "Let's see what he can do and we can talk about this. I mean, I felt sort of rushed, didn't you? I want to know all about this, so there aren't any surprises."
"Sure. What do you want to talk about?" Leo asked, though everybody knew and could tell he was angry with them. But why? He was the one who was always training and talking about bushido and honor. This was the exact opposite.
"How about all this?" Raph asked. "When you first turned into Darkwing."
"Alright. Let's walk back to the lair and we'll talk. Then I can sleep while Donnie gets everything set up." Leo's claws clacking against each other were a sure sign of his agitation or anger. Raph still wasn't sure which. Having barely turned Leo aside, Raph sighed. What's wrong, bro? he asked Leo mentally.
Nothing. But the "voice" was pleading and sad.