Leonardo smiled as he let Donnie check over the harness again

Leonardo smiled as he let Donnie check over the harness again. Mike and Raphwere sitting happily on the sleigh, and Donnie was ready to join them as soon as Leo was checked out completely. When he was seated, Leo drove his wings down and shot into the air. The harness was easy to fly with, and Leonardo got his wings under him before swooping in low at Raphael who held the cables that would let him lift the sleigh.

He caught them unerringly as Raphthrew them at him. Deftly clipping each one into its bracket, Leo drove his wing harder, preparing for the weight of his brothers and gear on the sled to be added to the weight he had to fly with.

He lurched backwards as the sled came off the ground with a scream from Mikey. However, his wings were up to the task and they pulled all four turtles into the air effortlessly, or nearly. Leo got to a high altitude on a thermal and glided towards the plane, knowing that flapping all the way there was not practical.

"How is it down there?" he called down, keeping his eyes on his target. "We're five minutes out."

"We're great," Mike insisted. "Raph's a little airsick, though."

Sure enough, the red-banded turtle was leaning over the edge of the sled, wiping the remains of his regurgitated lunch from his mouth.

"How're you doing?" Donnie asked worriedly, clutching onto the ropes supporting the sled. Mikey was right at home, though, walking up and down the sled carefully. His shifting weight was bothersome to Leonardo, but Mike stopped before Leo could ask him to do so.

"Good," he answered Donnie, looking worriedly at Raph. "What about Raph?"

"I think he'll get used to it," Mikey laughed, sitting in the middle of the sled to keep it balanced.

"If we do much more of this," Raph's gravelly voice said, "we are so getting a chopper! Leo can fly himself, and Mikey can go with him, but I will not do this again."

"Spoil sport!" Mike stuck out his tongue at Raphael, who merely turned greener and shut his eyes tightly.

Donnie looked thoughtful. "We do have a helicopter, from Bishop, remember? I could get it working and tamper with it so it doesn't send out signals to that monster."

"Please do," Raphgroaned, spewing more junk from his mouth. Mike just chuckled and looked up at his older brother, then westward. The plane was big in their vision, and Leo was driving his wings down, ready to drop his brothers above the wing so they'd hit it gently while he went inside and made sure no one was hurt. It was risky, but everyone knew that he was the best to deal with such a thing. Mikey would probably make too many jokes and get distracted, Donnie would be too caught up trying to find out what had happened from the pilots, and Raph… Mike shuddered to think of what their hotheaded brother might do if called a freak. He hated that word, even more than the rest of them. Mikey was curious why, but didn't think he wanted to find out.

"Get ready to drop!" Leo called out, hand hovering above the Master Release that would drop the sleigh onto the wing now below them.

"Ready!" Donnie called back as Mikey dragged Raph back to the middle, with Don close to the center as well.

"Deploy!" Leo shouted, telling them to brace themselves. He slapped the Master Release and the cables let go of his harness. The loss of weight caused his wings to over compensate and sent him higher. His brothers landed safely on the wing, though Raph was still greener than normal. His rich, deep green skin was paler, too.

Leo looked at the plane below him and found the best entrance. Something had torn a hole through the side, and it was partially blocked; someone was still alive, and had ha the wits to block the hole.

Bending his wings and body for that space, Leo pushed his arms ahead of his to take the impact on the trunks barricading his way into the plane's interior passenger compartment. He crashed through and flared his wings to the screams of many humans. The plane wasn't that wide, though, and Leo crashed clumsily into the wall on the other side of the machine, his hands stinging from the impact. However, he was soon on his feet and looking at a crowd of humans who stared back at him.

I hope they don't have cameras, Leo wished suddenly. He folded his wings regally and bowed slightly, hoping this action would calm them down a little. Stress levels here were running high, too high for him to do much but hold out his hands to show that he meant no harm.

"I come in peace," he said carefully. If Mikey was here, he'd be cracking up, Leo thought wistfully.

The humans stared at him, hardly breathing. He held still, knowing that they could overpower him easily since he wouldn't fight back. Consciously, Leonardo kept his posture comforting and relaxed, as if they weren't on a plane with a burning wing.

"My name is Leonardo. Hamato Leonardo," he said, pointing to himself slowly. "I am here to help you."

"Want do you want, freak?" a brash young man asked, stepping forward.

Leo sighed but took a small step forward. He was surprised that the man didn't step back, but advanced meaningfully. Leonardo gave ground and held up his hands again.

"I am a mutant, not a freak," he explained quietly. "And you humans are in trouble."

"Trouble you probably put us in!" another called out, his voice wavering with fright.

"No," Leo said. "I did not do this. My brothers and I saw your plane from our post. We do not know what has happened, but we are here to help. They are trying to contain the fires right now. I have come here to learn if there are any injured."

"Yes," a quavering woman's voice spoke softly. She stepped forward, and Leo saw that she was young and holding a child in her arms. The child was crying, but soundlessly. "My daughter was hit by a piece of metal."

"Would you permit me to help her?" Leo asked carefully, putting one hand on his plastron over his harness. "I will not harm her."

The woman bit her lip but nodded and came forward. Leonardo matched her step by step, keeping his massive wing closed to make him look like less of a threat. He knew some first aid, but if this was anything serious, he'd get Don to help.

However, it wasn't all that bad, just messy. The girl was bleeding, and as the woman set her gently down, Leo extended a wing to cradle her in. The woman gasped as he pulled her towards him, but he kept his eyes locked on hers, letting her know that he was not hurting her child. Only when she relaxed a little did he look down and examine the child's chest.

A small piece of metal had hit her in the right breast, and it was bleeding sluggishly. Carefully, Leo reached into his back secured between his wings and pulled out wrapping gauze and some soft wiping cloths.

As he cleaned and dressed the wound, using his sharp horns to tear the fabric because he had not brought scissors and didn't want to take out his katana still strapped under his pack. Soon, the child stopped crying and looked up at Leonardo warmly. He smiled down at her and put a finger in her hand to squeeze as he looked up at her mother.

"She will be fine," he said strongly, letting his words lose the comforting touch they had earlier. "It was mostly just messy." He extended his wing and she took her child back carefully, smiling thankfully at Leo. "Are there any other injured?"

"Yes," the young man said, reassured that Leo meant no harm. "But one is in terrible danger of losing a limb. Can you help him?"

Leo bit his lip. He could try, or he could get Donnie. Mentally, he brushed Don's mind and sent an impulse for non-urgent help. Until Don found a way to him, Leo would have to try to help the human.

"I can only try. One of brothers is on his way to help, too. He's the real doctor," Leo answered. "Can you being the injured here?"

Without a word, ten of the middle-aged men went to the back of their group and picked up some prone humans. Leo saw immediately the one he had to help.

The elderly man was bleeding heavily from a gaping wound in his shoulder. Swiftly, Leo moved forwards, his wings extending slightly to heat up the surrounding air so the elder wasn't so cold.

"Hold on, sir, and I'll see what I can do," he said reassuringly. Leo winced as he looked over the wound; this man was badly hurt. Metal ha cut clean through half of the arm, and it looked like he would have to cut it off. However, he did stem the bleeding and was ready to call for Donnie again when a form thumped into the cabin quietly. Leo extended a wing to help his brother over to him in the lighted cabin and looked at the humans.

"This is Donatello," he said simply. "He's the doctor in our family." Then Leonardo turned to Don. "Don, this man's arm is in need of help. I've staunched the bleeding. How's it going out there?"

"Not good, Leo," Don said loudly, kneeling next to the man and looking at the wound carefully. "Put your pack down and move on to the others. I'll take care of this one."

"Okay." Leo shifted to kneel next to a young man of about seventeen. He was gazing at Leo fearfully, and the mutant smiled reassuringly. "What's you name?"

"Steve."

"Okay, Steve, where were you hit?"

"Leg," he mumbled. Leo looked down and saw a stick of metal sticking out of the teenager's thigh.

"I'm gonna have to pull it out. Do you have some friend here?" Leo looked up, but no one came forward. "Very well. Here. If it hurts, just squeeze my wing and try not to cry out. My hearing is too good for its own good." Leo smiled ruefully as the teenager chuckled carefully and grabbed a firm grip on Leo's wing tip.

Leo smiled back and pulled the spike from the human's leg as quickly as he could. His wing was tugged on as the man gasped and clenched his fist, but the male didn't scream.

"Great job. Now I'll just clean this one and we'll see to it the rest are taken care of." Leo did so neatly and then tied a bandage around the young man's leg and helped him stand up and gave him to a person who was willing to sit him back down and give him some water to drink.

Leo went along to the other five injured and helped them, pulling out two more metal spikes and splinting one kid's broken ankle as best he could without a proper splint or cast.

Then, he looked over at Donnie who was still cleaning out the old man's arm wound so there was nothing left inside when he sewed it up cleanly.

Leo went over to help and knelt next to Don silently.