me: Hello readers! So, this chapter is loosely based around the TMNT 2012 episode 'Panic in the Sewers', but this has huge differences. Enjoy!
June 3rd… 2012… 3:58pm… The Lair…
Master Splinter had always feared the day when (not if) his sons would one-day cross paths with The Shredder, but he never thought they would encounter him so soon. So young, and so inexperienced (when compared to Shredder's at least). Master Splinter thought it best to skip this morning's training to give his sons more time to rest and relax, and though they needed it, it didn't stop the depressing atmosphere. Mikey's foot made a quick recovery as it was evident when he walked normally. Donnie also recovered quickly, though he suffered less damage than his brothers. Although Donnie was successful in stitching up Raph's shoulder wound, he was left shaking from the shock of accidentally getting some of Raph's blood on his hands. He realised that in their lives, this was going to happen often and he would have to steel himself for more of those times. Raph on the other hand seemed fine but then Donnie had agreed with Splinter that the stab wound would leave a permanent scar on his shoulder. They weren't kidding, when he went to see Donnie this morning to redress his wound, they saw that his upper left part of the plastron had a lightning shaped scar that showed how and where the Shredder stabbed him. Donnie was stricken, visibly and though Raph didn't show it, he was almost angry that he was going to carry this scar for the rest of his life. Leo however needed a bit more time to recover, even though Donnie had explained that their mutation had also given them a fast-healing ability, falling into a truck still did tremendous damage. One night's rest may have done him some good, but he would need at least another day and night, according to Donnie. Although Leo wasn't hurting as much as he was last night, just trying to move from out of his bed proved difficult, not just because his bed was comfortable but also because his body ached all over.
At this time, all five mutants were relaxing down below, Leo was lying on the sofa (usually Mikey's place) and was sipping on some herbal remedy tea. The tea smelled and tasted absolutely foul, something that all three of his brothers reminded him of and Leo himself nearly grimaced every time he took a few sips of the tea. Raph was busy punching and kicking the punching dummy and every time he punched with his left arm, he got the feeling of pins and needles in his corresponding shoulder. Though that didn't stop him from continuing to hit the poor thing. Mikey's spot on the sofa was taken over and so instead, he sat on the armchair watching (with mild disinterest) Space Heroes. Master Splinter was meditating on a tatami mat in front of his bedroom. And Donnie had just exited his lab and his projects to go to the kitchen for some coffee. Their time of peace and quiet and recovery was interrupted when April entered the Lair via the elevator and carrying some bags of shopping. Initially, when Donnie saw her from near the middle of the Lair, he had hearts in his eyes and the butterflies in his stomach fluttered wildly. That was until he saw her heart-stricken expression,
"April?" Donnie said as he walked to approach her, with concern on his face. April was almost silent and when she and Donnie took the bags of shopping to the kitchen, she asked to speak with everyone.
Everyone was in the makeshift living room and the almost wasn't just depressing, it was also almost tense.
"April? What's wrong?" Donnie finally asked. He did succeed in breaking the ice, though going by April's expression of sadness, something told them this wasn't just about their failure to rescue Kirby last night.
"Guys… it's… about that hotel fire…" the turtles instantly froze. This was going to be bad news. They had told her about how badly the Shredder beat them on top of the hotel, and it seemed the aftermath was going to be harsh.
"I've been keeping an eye the news about the hotel and…" April struggled with how to tell them and Splinter saw this,
"April, we are aware that the Shredder has indeed left his marks. Please tell us how badly." Master Slinter tried to encourage her, she sat on the sofa and tried her best not to curl up into a ball.
"There were… forty-five people inside that hotel…" when April said 'were', the turtles and Splinter knew exactly what this meant. "…ten people managed to escape with a few cuts and burns, a few more had to be taken to the emergency rooms, and at least… twenty-two are confirmed to be dead…" if the atmosphere in the Lair wasn't depressing enough before, this news just made it even more depressing. "…they say that the number is only going to increase as their still going through the rubble. Also, their saying that there was something heavy on the roof and that the fire meant that the roof couldn't support it. I'm guessing that was the Kraang's bomb you told me about." April said, Donnie's face sprang up to ask a quick question,
"The bomb? Do the humans have it?" Donnie asked. The last thing anyone wanted to find out that the humans on the surface have unknown alien tech in their hands.
"That's just the thing. They don't. We're the only ones who know that there was a bomb on top of that roof. Once the fire was under control, it just vanished. It's gone." April said and that made everyone think the same thing,
"Do you think the Kraang got their tentacles on it?" Raph asked and even though no-one said it, they all thought the same thing- the Kraang have it.
12:12am…?
"SENSEI!" a scream resonates throughout wherever Master Splinter now stood. He honestly had no idea where here was as he stood in a pitch-black space where only he stood.
"SENSEI!" the sound resonates again this time, he recognises it at Mikey's voice. And he sounded like he was on the verge of panicking.
"SENSEI!" he shouts again desperately, but in this pitch-black space, he had no idea where Mikey was shouting from.
"MICHELANGELO! I AM HERE! WHERE ARE YOU!" Master Splinter shouted out.
"…papa…" this time, Mikey's voice was so weak yet Splinter managed to pinpoint that Mikey was right behind him, on the floor in a puddle of his own blood and covered almost from head to toe. And no wonder, his left arm had been severed, and his upper and lower torso were separated. Master Splinter stood in shock and disbelief.
"… Michelangelo…" Master Splinter fell to his knees but as soon as his knees hit the ground, Mikey was suddenly gone, like he was never there to begin with. No blood, no body. Nothing.
"How could you let him die that?" this time it was Raph's voice sounding throughout the darkness, and he sounded cold and angry. Master Splinter had never heard him sound like this before and directed at him. For the first time ever, Splinter felt something akin to a chill going down his spine, slowly.
"Why didn't you protect him like you promised you would? Why were you so… lazy?" Raph's words struck a nerve, and although he was mad at what Raph said, he also felt saddened.
"No! I- but as Master Splinter stood up to find Raph, he was suddenly face to face with him, but his appearance horrified Splinter to the core. Raph had cut and gashes all over his body but the most fatal cut going from one said of his neck to the other.
"Why… didn't you… try?" Raph asked and all the sudden his head slid of his shoulders. The head bounced and rolled and Master Splinter fell back trying to get away but Raph's head rolled towards him. Then as Raph's body fell backwards and hit the ground…
"…why…?" was said from Raph's severed head before dying out.
"NO! I NEVER GAVE UP! I NEVER STOPPED TRYING?" Master Splinter shouted out, now forgetting where he was.
"Then why this happen twice?" Splinter was shocked to hear his deceased wife, Tang Shen resonate throughout the darkness but before he could shout out for her another hollow voice sounded in the dark,
"Hamato Yoshi." It was the Shredder's voice and he heard him clearly. Behind! He turned around quickly but was stunned to find himself and his nemesis standing on top of a roof of a New York City skyscraper. He was in the middle but the Shredder was standing near the edge and dangling Donnie other the edge by holding his throat.
"DONATELLO!" he shouted and Donatello looked at him with pleading eyes and panic. The Shredder looked as though he was holding Donnie's throat so hard that it prevented Donnie from speaking or breathing properly.
"I am giving you a choice." As soon as Shredder said with, something out of the corner of Splinter's eye. Kneeling on the floor next to him, tied up and beaten badly was Leo, his head hung low and facing the floor.
"Kill Leonardo now, or Donatello dies." The Shredder's voice was so cold and demonic that Splinter was stricken with a sense of overwhelming fear. So much so, that he hesitated which gave Shredder the wrong impression.
"Very well." The Shredder said before letting go of Donnie's throat and dropping him over the edge. His screams echoed and started to die down as he neared the ground.
"NOOOOO!" Splinter shouted and raced uselessly for his son. But the moment he closed in on the Shredder, everything was in pitch-black darkness again. Splinter was almost on the verge of fear stricken tears.
"…sensei…" Splinter feared when Leo's voice sounded behind him. He was still in a badly beaten state but his binds were gone, and yet still he kneeled like he had been utterly defeated. It was then that Shredder emerged from the darkness behind Leo and held his bladed gauntlet to Leo's throat.
"NOOOO!" Splinter shouted before he began racing towards the two, yet he never seemed to get closer, in fact the two seemed to get further away from him.
"LEONARDO!" was all Splinter could manage before the Shredder blade began cutting-
"NOOOOO!" abruptly, the pitch-black was gone and Master Splinter was sitting up, panting and sweating a cold sweat in his Japanese style bed. A nightmare. He had nightmares before but this one made him lose the line between dream and reality, and that terrified him even more.
"Sensei!" Leo's voice sounded as he entered his Sensei's room, his voice wasn't hollow or desperate or beaten or helpless. It just sounded of concern for his Sensei. Leo stood at the doorway and the two just stayed as they were, staring at each other. Splinter broke the silence,
"Leonardo? What are you doing up at this hour?" Master Splinter almost face-palmed at such a stupid question. He blamed it on the recent nightmare.
"Sensei? It's 5:45am." Leo said. Splinter looked down upon himself as he took in his shaky self. Of course, Leo would be up at this hour, he would usually wake up somewhere between 5am and 5:40am so he could start stretching and meditating on his own.
"Sensei, did you have a nightmare?" Splinter expected that kind of question and when he didn't answer right away, Leo the answer.
"Yes, my son. But… a dream is a dream. If I was meditating… I…" but Splinter stopped himself as he knew whatever he had to say would've been partly a lie. Everyone does it after they have a nightmare; they try to brush it off by either saying 'it doesn't matter' or 'it's nothing'. But Splinter knew better than that.
"The Shredder has been the cause of many of my nightmares. This one was just more terrifying than the others." Splinter always told them that the best way to confront a nightmare is to voice it out to your loved ones, so that they can share it and therefore you won't be alone in it.
June 4th… 7:03pm…
The day had been unusually more tense than depressing. Maybe because the four turtles were getting over their recent loss to the Shredder which worried Splinter for some unknown reason. Well, unknown to everyone except for Splinter himself and Leo. That nightmare triggered a more stern and harder approach to the training, and although it was prudent for the turtles to step up their game, even Leo thought that the training might be a little excessive. At least they could now all go out onto the surface again now that they had fully recovered from their last encounter with the Shredder. Donnie thanked out loud how their mutation also gave them a fast-healing ability.
"Come on!" Raph said as he and his brothers neared the elevator to start their evening patrol, but…
"Where are you going?" Master Splinter suddenly said from behind them. He was close behind and he sounded like the four had just broken some golden rules that shouldn't have been broken.
"Heading out for our evening patrol…?" Leo was understandably confused at his Sensei's sudden stern question. He was sure that none of them had done anything wrong.
"There will be no patrol." Splinter sounded like he was in full father mode. And seeing as he was a Grandmaster of Ninjutsu, the four turtles stood to attention, albeit with no idea what had suddenly caused this kind of action from their Sensei.
"Sensei?"
"Last time you fought the Shredder, you barely escaped with your lives." Master Splinter said as it was his reasoning for forbidding them from going to the surface now.
"But Sensei, this time we'll be ready." Raph said as he twirled his twin sai in both sides as if to prove his readiness, but Splinter was having none of it.
"Yes." Master Splinter said before grabbing Raph's arm and forcing it behind his back, making him drop his twin sai, "Because you will stay down here until you are ready! No patrol, no games, no rest! There is only training!" Master Splinter declared before shoving Raph into his brothers. The four turtles were startled by this. "Starting now!"
June 19th… 5:21am…
One would think that training throughout the night for ten hours with no rest would be way too much to handle. And you would be right. The four ninja turtles stood on weakened legs, arms up as sloppy guards, their fighting stances were wobbly and at the head of the extreme lesson stood Master Splinter like this was nothing even though he too stood upright all night.
"More, Sensei…?" Mikey asked and he dreaded the answer he was going to get as he stood beside Donnie, both about ready drop onto the floor. Leo and Raph stood across from them just as worn and exhausted.
"Yes. More." Master Splinter replied, almost demanding. The four turtles could only breath heavily, before Mikey and Donnie charged (sloppily) at Leo and Raph. Leo and Raph were just as sloppy and when Donnie and Mikey through a very tired punch at them, they countered by lightly grabbing their arms and weakly throwing them behind them. Splinter was not impressed.
"There is no intention in your strikes! Do it again! We will practise all night if we have to!" Master Splinter all but barked out.
"We have been practising all night…" Donnie said weakly in response as he stood up on shaky legs and then right after they all heard the sound of Mikey lightly snoring on the floor. He looked like he was happily dreaming and his brothers were envious of whatever he was dreaming about.
"Wake him up!" Master Splinter demanded and even though he was almost sorry to do so, Raph obeyed. Almost sorry.
"Gladly." Raph then picked up Mikey (bridal style) and then unceremoniously dropped him onto his shell with a loud 'THUD!'.
"AAARRRGH! SHREDDER JUST POPPED OUT AND ATTACKED ME!" Mikey yelled out as he sat upright. Leo kneeled beside him and placed a comforting hand on Mikey's shoulder,
"Relax, you were just having a nightmare." Leo said as he helped Mikey up onto his feet.
"Aren't we all…" Raph said almost in a mumble, Donnie raised his hand for a most obvious question that was on everyone's minds,
"Sensei… can we rest for a sec…?" Donnie asked feebly which earned them all a stern and unfair glare from Master Splinter,
"Rest? Hm… the Shredder will not rest. Until you are all dead!" Master Splinter shouted out. Leo became a bit defensive for himself and his brothers,
"Sensei, w-we've been training non-stop for weeks with hardly any sleep. We need a break!" Leo said defensively, but at the mention of 'weeks', something stirred within Leo that he wasn't familiar with.
"That's an understatement, Fearless." Raph said in deadpan expression,
"What, like you could word it any better?" Leo said as he turned to Raph by his side.
"Well, I could certainly try…" Raph said and the two were almost happy to start a playful banter with each other.
*WHACK**WHACK**WHACK**WHACK*
None of them saw it coming, one moment they had a slight playful word with each other and the next they were tossed into the air like broken twigs. Leo, Raph and Donnie landed on their shells while Mikey landed on his plastron. Splinter was the perpetrator.
"If I were the Shredder, none of you would be breathing right now! Understand?" Splinter stood ominously above them, his entire body seemed to be covered by shadow, making him look… demonic. The four turtles sat upright, and Leo felt the stirring in his gut grow bigger and he was just beginning to understand what it was. He thought he was unfamiliar with it, but he had felt it before with his brothers when they sometimes annoyed him too much. But before it could stir anymore, Mikey suddenly slumped against Leo's shoulder, fast asleep and almost smiling. Again, his brothers were envious of whatever dream he was having to make him almost smile.
"Perhaps a brief rest was in order. We will resume later." A change of heart and the four turtles couldn't have felt more relaxed since this almost unwarranted drill sergeant entered their lives. Leo, Raph and Donnie breathed huge sighs of relief as they weakly stood up on their tired legs, Leo straining even more as he lifted Mikey up onto his sleepy feet. The four turtles retreated to their rooms in a very stereotypically slow fashion.
Once all four of the turtles had slumped into their rooms and into their own beds (which felt like heaven), Leo couldn't help but think over Master Splinter's actions up until now. Before he drifted off into dreamland, he thought over this almost unfamiliar feeling within his gut that began to stir when Master Splinter turned from caring father and strict Sensei to an overkill drill sergeant. Now that he had the time and space to think about it, he came to realise that this feeling would sometimes stir when his brothers got on his nerves too much but it wasn't nearly as powerful as it was now. His brothers, even though they annoyed him to no end, the feeling was always manageable to the point where got used to it. But now that Splinter had resorted to these types of training, it stirred even greater. No wonder Leo didn't recognise it before. Raph could probably explain what the feeling was right away, and although it took Leo a little longer to recognise it before he drifted away into a comfortable sleep, he too could give this feeling a name: Anger.
1:03pm…
It has been weeks of non-stop training with not much rest, and as a result of this mornings 'training', the four turtles now had messed up sleeping patterns. For most people, a messed up sleeping pattern can be easily overcome if they had enough of it to go by, but for the four brothers, this was the first time they had a messed up sleeping pattern.
Leo was in their makeshift living room, practising his katas behind the sofa. On the sofa was Raph, reading a comic to try and help him relax. The four brothers had a good nap, but when they woke up, they were hardly relaxed, in fact, they were more stressed. The TV was on and showcased another Space Heroes episode which at this point featured Captain Ryan yelling at a councilman for his poor decision that nearly got him and his crew killed. Leo loved the show, but for some reason he felt compelled to walk over to the TV and turned it off. Raph half expected Leo to sit in front of the TV and start fanboying over how cool it is.
"Woah, Leo. I didn't know you hated the show as well!" Raph said with heavy sarcasm,
"I don't hate it, Raph. I'm just not in the right mood is all." Leo said truthfully. For him, his favourite show could be enjoyed the best when he's in a good mood, but not in the foul mood he found himself in now.
"That must be saying something. You're always acting like Splinter-junior, so I never really know what bad-mood-Leo looks like!" Raph said half sarcastically and half truthfully.
"I don't act like Splinter…!" Leo said half defensively. Raph was expected to hear something like "We must always be ready to learn from him" or something along those lines, not a defensive response from Leo saying he didn't act like their Sensei/ father figure. Raph put down his comic and approached Leo with concern on his face,
"Leo? Are you relly not alright?" but before Leo could answer Raph's question-
"HEY RAPH!" Raph turned his head to where Mikey shouted for him from only to-
*SPLASH*
A water balloon to the face, the splash soaking Raph from his head and all over his plastron and some dribbles on his legs. Mikey bounced the water balloons in his hands and he also bounced about gleefully,
"Dr Prankenstein strikes again!" Mikey said happily and with a big smile on his face. Raph however didn't feel the same way. His eyes turned white for a moment and he looked ready to throw Mikey into anything hard. "Dude, you should see your face right now! Haha! You look soooo mad!" Mikey said in a teasing manner. Raph's eyes returned to normal as he turned his head to Leo,
"Alright, Leo. This will put you in a good mood!" Raph said as he cracked his knuckles before he pounced at Mikey. Mikey lightly screamed before running off screaming again. "COME HERE, YOU!" Raph shouted before beginning yet another heated-merry cat and mouse chase with Mikey.
1:18pm…
The cat and mouse chase didn't last too long, and it ended with Mikey getting a comically large bump on his head and soaked from head to toe with water. Raph must have pelted him with his own water balloons. Raph was right earlier- Leo's mood did lighten. After the heated-merry chase around the Lair, the three decided to check up on Donnie, since he hadn't come out of his lab since he woke up earlier.
Inside the lab…
The was still a work in progress but it was becoming more and more like a personal workshop with chemicals. When they got inside, they saw Donnie wearing a protective welding helmet and using a blowtorch on what looked like a large go-kart. Donnie had been working on this project of his for weeks now.
"You still working on that go-kart?" Raph asked which somehow annoyed Donnie,
"It's not a go-kart!" Donnie said and then pointed to the blueprints on the table, "It's an all-terrain patrol buggy with detachable side cars!" Donnie said with pride.
"Dude, hasn't Splinter been driving us hard enough? You gotta find a way to relax." Mikey said and it was then that he noticed a bowl of eggs on the table next to the blueprints, but the eggs looked like they had been tampered with, "And this is where all of my eggs have been going? What are you doing to my babies?" Mikey wailed comically before Donnie answered with a deadpan face,
"That's another project, Mikey." Donnie said,
"Dude! My eggs are meant for making my delicious omelettes and other eggy stuff. Not so you could turn them into whatever they are now!" Mikey comically wailed again and also waving his arms in every which way. This earned him a light smack to the head courtesy of Raph for nearly hitting him with his arms.
"Anyway…" Leo said so as to continue to help with this brotherly atmosphere that he felt was crucial for their own family dynamic, "As for your earlier question, we all deal with stress in different ways, Mikey" Leo said and then Donnie replied with pride in his voice,
"Yeah, building stuff is how I deal." Donnie said with a slight smile. Mikey perked up with a grin on his face and the comically large bump on his head mysteriously gone again,
"And this is how I deal- "Mikey then pulled a water balloon from out of nowhere and threw it directly at Leo. He reacts quickly by ducking down but left Donnie in the line of (fire?), resulting in Donnie with a soaked face and the slight smile replaced with an annoyed frown. Mikey was giddy at this moment but Donnie responded by removing his safety helmet and began another annoyed-merry chase with Mikey around the Lair.
"You're next Leo! Dr Prankenstein makes house calls!" Mikey announced as Donnie chased him throughout the Lair. Even stressful times like the one they found themselves in were no match for Mikey's hair-brained but always cheerful antics.
2:56pm… New York City… Abandoned Warehouse… Eastman Land…
Angel was at inside the back of the warehouse, and after weeks of being homeless, she was finally beginning to find a routine in her new life. She wasn't alone as Casey was with her, with nothing left to do today, they simply waited (and exercised) the day away until nightfall came so that they could do their vigilante duo work. The silence between them was broken as Casey's T-Phone started to ring. When Casey looked at the I.D to see who was calling him, he saw that it was one of the Purple Dragons calling him.
(FLASHBACK)
June 1st… 2012… New York City… Alley… 10:02pm…
A decision had been made. Earlier they had been fighting to save their new favourite blind human chef, now they were being offered to have spies under their command. Leo had decided that he and Casey should be the ones to negotiate terms and conditions with the three members of the Purple Dragons. Reason being was because Raph would probably pick a fight with them first and then there would be no negotiations because they would be out cold. Donnie wasn't here because even though he would be capable of helping with negotiating, he didn't bother because he became too engrossed in another of his projects. Mikey wasn't here because… he was Mikey, plain and simple. They didn't really care to learn their names but introductions were made anyway. They learned of their names; the scrawniest of the three was called 'Fong', the biggest of the group was called 'Sid' and the one with the moustache was called 'Tsoi'. For being Purple Dragons, both Leo and Casey thought of them as losers, but even they could be useful for gathering intel. Leo and Casey (in his vigilante gear), stood across from the three Purple Dragons, the reason why Casey was here is because Leo said that they would need someone to relay whatever information the Purple Dragons had to him and his brothers, they couldn't allow Purple Dragons into the Lair.
"You know why we're here." Leo said in his leader mode, "We're here to discuss terms and conditions. You want to help us? That's fine. But there are rules we want you to follow." Leo said, and even though they were just talking, the Purple Dragons felt tense,
"We will allow you to get away with petty crimes. But if you hurt anyone, our deal will be off, and we will come after you." Leo said in a tone that said this wasn't up for debate. The three Purple Dragons looked at each other nervously, but nodded at Leo in understanding.
"Good. Now that that's cleared…" Casey said before pulling out two T-Phones from his pockets, he then approached the Purple Dragon called Fong and handed him one of the T-Phones, "This is a custom-made phone. It uses a line that is off the rails and untraceable. That means you cannot track the line to find us." Fong looked at the phone for a second before Casey continued, "I will have the other phone, meaning you will hand any information about the Purple Dragons and the Foot to me." Casey said,
"What if our cover is blown? What then?" Fong asked,
"If your cover is blown, let us know as soon as you can. We will come for you. You can continue your lives as Purple Dragons but I repeat: do not hurt anyone." Leo said sternly. The Purple Dragons had now officially made the deal.
(End of Flashback)
Present time… The Lair… 3:03pm…
Three of the four turtles stood in the middle of the Lair, Leo stood across from Raph and Mikey. Leo had earlier said that they needed to train some more and ordered this session,
"Where's Donnie?" Mikey asked,
"He said he will join us soon." Leo said and then with that, training was in session,
"Poko noko mai." Leo said and he took a fighting stance as did Mikey but Raph just stood defiantly with his arms crossed. Leo looked annoyed at this act of defiance,
"Raph, Poko noko mai!" Leo repeated to try and get Raph to train but he was having none of it.
"Poko no way! It's bad enough that Splinter's driving us into the ground. Now you too?" Raph said while Leo and Mikey stood from their fighting stances,
"Raph, we have to keep training because right now, we don't stand a chance against Shredder." Leo said,
"Yeah and he's up there… somewhere… waiting for us!" Mikey said as he somehow put on a creepy smile and demented looking eyes as if to add some kind of Halloween vibe to it but just ended up scaring himself, "I just freaked myself out!"
"Right… so the reason why we're still alive is because we're still hiding down here. Which means we have to get better." Leo said as he tried to reason with Raph but he just fought back,
"No. The reason why were still here is because Splinter has become overbearing and unreasonable. Not like we can do anything about that, he'll just make us do more 'training' to try and prove a point." Raph said and was again almost surprised when Leo didn't defend their Sensei's actions. But they didn't have the time left to discuss it any further because they were interrupted by the arrival of Donnie carrying a bowl of his experimented eggs.
"Check it out, guys!" Donnie announced as he approached his brothers, "We are about to take our ninjutsu to a whole new level!" Donnie said excitedly and didn't give his brothers a chance to ask why as he continued on, "I've been experimenting and this project works!" he said as he held up one of his experimental eggs up in the air for all to see, "I've now got the ability to make… Ninja Smoke Bombs!" Donnie's announcement was followed by himself slamming the egg into the ground and then disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. His brothers were amazed at the sight and then were again when Donnie reappeared in another puff of purple smoke on the bridge in the centre on the Lair.
"Woah…" his brothers said at the same time, all four turtles had smiles on their faces at this achievement but Donnie wasn't done yet,
"Now to make 'em, I carefully drilled in hole on either side, slowly blew out the contents, wait for the inside to dry, and then poured in flash powder and sealed the holes with super glue." Donnie explained and for the first time, Raph was just as excited as Mikey was,
"Blah, blah, science blah! Do it again!" Raph asked excitedly but Donnie explained further since he didn't get the reasoning behind his explanation,
"What I'm trying to say is that they take a long time to make. So, use them sparingly." Donnie said but Mikey missed the 'sparingly' part of the explanation as he was suddenly by Donnie's side and then grabbed a handful of the newly made ninja smoke bombs. "Mikey, wait!" but it was too late as Mikey slammed one egg and disappeared in a puff of smoke and then reappeared next to his brothers,
"This- ""-is the coolest thing- ""-ever!" Mikey said in between disappearing and reappearing in a puff of smoke around various parts of the Lair, much to the annoyance of Donnie,
"Mikey! Stop!" but Mikey once again disappeared in a puff of smoke and then reappeared behind Donnie and wrapped an arm around Donnie's shoulders,
"I love you man! *SMOOCH* Seriously!" Mikey gave Donnie a light smooch on the cheek.
"…um…" once again there was an interruption, this time from Casey as he had entered the Lair via the elevator at point when Mikey was showing off his disappearing and reappearing acts around the Lair.
"Casey? How long have you been there?" Raph asked when turned to face Casey by the elevator.
"Since Mikey's smoke tricks! That was awesome, dude!" Casey complimented Mikey,
"Thanks, dude!"
"Anyway, Casey, what's up?" Leo asked and Casey, in response pulled out his T-phone and Leo knew what this meant.
"So, our Purple Dragon spies have some info for us." Casey said. This earned the attention of everyone and before long, the turtles and Master Splinter conveyed around Casey to listen what info he had.
"Okay so, our spies say that the Shredder is planning a meeting with them at their headquarters. Something about an assignment." Casey said,
"So… what? They want us to kick their butts and stop the Shredder's newest plan?" Raph wittingly said with a smirk on his face but got a slight stern look from Leo,
"You would like that wouldn't ya, Raph?" Casey said before continuing on, "Anyway, they also said that the Shredder claims that you guys live in the sewers somewhere and that it's all he needs to know." Casey said and then the turtles and Splinter took a moment to break the silence, starting with Donnie.
"Well, he's only half right. Yes, we're in the sewers but we're technically in the abandoned tunnels section of it. Far from any sewer." Donnie said to which Leo added in,
"Right, but whatever he's planning next, I think it's right to assume that people are going to get hurt again. If the Wolf Hotel has taught us anything." Leo said. Though Raph was sceptical about this info,
"Guys, this is only the first time we've heard from our 'spies'. How can we trust anything they say?" Raph said, and it was a valid point seeing as they were getting information from a trio of criminals.
"Raph's right. We should go topside and wait for them. They talk about their assignment and then whatever it is, we stop it." Leo said, but a certain Ninja Master protested to this idea,
"And what if the Shredder attacks you again?" Splinter said, which Leo responded against Splinter,
"You're not seriously suggesting that we stay here and wait? We need to learn what he's planning sooner rather than later." Leo was growing less surprised with himself talking at his Sensei but it none the less earned a slight frown from Splinter and surprised looks from everyone else. Splinter frowned but reluctantly agreed.
"Very well." Splinter sounded put off by this seemingly new attitude that Leo developed out of nowhere but with that, the turtles and Casey set off to meet with their spies.
3:23pm… New York City… Tattoo Parlour… Alley…
One of the good things about walking in the middle of the day for the turtles, was that the daylight also provided some good shadows to hide in. In this case, the alley behind a tattoo Parlour was in complete darkness, even with the hot sun shining in the sky. The reason why they were behind a Tattoo Parlour was because Casey said that their supposed spies always come to this place every day.
Though perhaps the added stress that Splinter gave them altered their reactions too much, as it was evident when Donnie accidently backed into a bin and the resulting sound made Mikey jump out of his skin.
"Mikey?" Leo said in concern,
"Sorry! All that Splinter talk about how we aren't ready has me thinking: maybe we're in over our heads." Mikey said which earned him a light bump on the head from Raph.
"You're always in over your head." Raph said and then Mikey spoke up in his defence,
"I'm saying now we all are! And that scares me!" Mikey said as he whimpered it a little. Leo placed a comforting hand on Mikey's shoulder, he himself felt angry that this fear that Mikey was having wasn't brought onto him by Shredder, but Splinter.
"It's okay to the be scared, Mikey. Raph is scared too." Leo said to try and lighten the mood but Raph just spoke up a little too quickly at this statement,
"I am not scared." Raph said as he then resumed to wait for their spies. Leo decided to lighten the mood even more by snaking a hand behind Raph's head and gently poked him on the head. This resulted in Raph yelping and jumping out of his skin as well. The other three turtles lightly giggled at this while Raph lightly cleared his throat and then glared at Leo. But the glare only lasted a second before the sound of heavy dog growling closed in on them, followed by the sight of a huge dog like mutant. The mutant had a huge upper body with a large head, its left arm was also big and looked to be all muscle, its right arm comically shorter than the left but both looked to have some sort of hardened fur like armour on the hands, the left one protruding spikes at the end of the knuckles and shoulder. Its legs were bulky and almost humanoid in shape, except for the feet that resembled paws and the mutant was wearing a pair of red ninja trousers. Its body was covered in a light brown fur with a white patch down its chest and muzzle.
"Look what I found. Four soon to be dead turtles." Its voice sounded out in a growl but beyond that, the turtles recognised its voice.
"Bradford?" Leo said what his brothers were thinking.
"Surprised that the fall from the hotel roof didn't kill me? I can't explain it either, but I don't care." Mutant Bradford said. Sure, unlike Leo who had his fall broken by a conveniently placed truck, the same couldn't be said for him and Xever, there was no way those two could've survived a fall like that, but they would debate about it later. The four turtles backed further into the alley as Bradford approached them as they pulled out their weapons. Leo was ready, Raph surprisingly a little less so but Donnie and Mikey were almost stressing out. Bradford continued approaching them, scraping his left fur-like spikes across the ground.
"He's huge!" Mikey commented,
"Then I'll cut him down to size!" Leo said in response to the comment and charged at Bradford from the side of the alley, he jumped up at Bradford's large head and swings his twin katana at him, Bradford reacts by swaying back with a little difficulty, and tried to swat Leo away with his right arm, though gravity saved Leo and when he landed in the ground, Bradford threw a very strong and heavy fist at Leo but Leo jumps back a little and then Bradford once again swings the same arm down at Leo like a hammer. But Leo jumps back even further and joined his brothers, while Bradford's hammer fist slammed into the ground, cracking it and creating a head sized crater. From this, Leo could tell what was happening to Bradford.
"Guys, the mutation has given him a freakish amount of strength in his left arm, but he's still not used to his new body, this has made him a bit clumsy." Leo said and then the four turtles scattered in different directions when Bradford slammed another hammer fist down onto the ground that they were just standing on, slightly losing his balance as he did so. Raph saw this opportunity before them and took the initiative and lunged both his sai at Bradford, but Bradford responded by blocking the sai with his bare right hand. The sound the twin sai made against Bradford's hand resembled metal scraping against stone. The two were trying to overpower the other, when Donnie charged in with his steel staff and jabbed Bradford's chin with it, he couldn't help it when he clumsily stepped back, giving Raph and Donnie time to jump back and out the way for Leo to come in overhead to attack by thrusting his twin katana down on Bradford. But Bradford reacted quickly by catching the blades with his armoured right hand, Leo struggled to get his swords out from Bradford's grip and only managed to do so when Bradford tried to uppercut Leo with his huge left hand but Leo leaped out of the way just in time. Mikey was next, his used one of his nunchucks to zipline on one of the washing lines straight towards Bradford but as he closed in, Bradford merely swatted him away with his right hand. Mikey ended up being slammed into Donnie and a wall before the two landed in a heap on the ground.
"This is hopeless!" Donnie said, but at the pace they were going, Leo silently agreed, given how his brothers were thinking and stressing.
"Keep your head in this fight!" Leo ordered before all four turtles once again had to dodge Bradford's big hand punch. The four turtles were backed further into the alley.
"I just wanna keep my head on by body!" Donnie retorted.
"C'mon, what are we retreating for?" Raph asked before charging at Bradford only to be smashed into an empty dumpster with Bradford's large left hand. "That's a good reason…"
Raph exited the dumpster and re-joined his brothers just as Leo made his next order,
"Mikey, smoke!" Leo ordered and when Mikey pulled out one of their newly made ninja smoke bombs, but he was too stressed and dropped it. The egg smashed and weakly smoked out, barely enough for a small mouse to escape in.
"What was that?" Raph demanded of Mikey.
"I'm stressed! Excuse me if my aim's a little off." Mikey defended. Leo realised that the added stress was going to help Bradford beat them if he let this continue.
"This isn't working." Leo said before pulling out another smoke bomb and forcefully smashed it against the ground, resulting in a large cloud of purple smoke which they easily escaped through. When the smoke cleared, Bradford found that he was alone in the alley and he himself left it seeing as there was nothing to do there.
4:00pm… The Lair…
Frustration. That was probably the only word to describe how the four ninja turtles were feeling. On a scale of one to ten, this was the amount of frustration each turtle was feeling: Mikey-five, Donnie-five, Raph-eight and Leo-nine. Leo more so than his brothers because of his added and growing anger towards Splinter for being responsible for this unwanted stress.
The four turtles sat around at their makeshift living room, Mikey lying on his plastron on the sofa, Raoh leaning on the armchair that Donnie sat on and Leo sat on the armrest of the sofa. Their three human friends approached them a few moments ago and soon after, so did Master Splinter. Leo kept his cool as he approached,
"We couldn't take him…" Leo said as he referred to Bradford.
"Dogpound was just too powerful." Mikey said,
"Dogpound?" Leo asked of Mikey.
"What? 'Cuz he's a dog and he pounded us into the- "Mikey's explanation was interrupted when Leo caught onto the meaning of the name,
"We get it. But it wasn't as if he was too strong for us." Leo said and though Mikey didn't catch on, Raph and Donnie understood what Leo was talking about. "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until if our 'spies' will tell us what happened in the meeting." Leo finished. He was close to not let his frustrations out but it was then that Splinter spoke up.
"In the meantime, we should train and prepare for the mission ahead." Splinter said. Train. Something with Leo snapped at that point, he never thought the word 'training' sounded so unwelcoming.
"What? NO!" Leo shouted out, surprising everyone in the room including Splinter mostly, "We do not need training to take on 'Dogpound', just some preparation. And we certainly don't need you to help Shredder beat us by training us into exhaustion and to the point of stressing out too much! We would've been perfectly capable of beating Dogpound but because of your medieval methods of 'training', even Foot Soldiers will be able to take us down!" Leo was yelling at Splinter, his frustrations finally taking their toll on him, but he just glared at his Sensei while everybody looked on absolutely flabbergasted. That was until Master Splinter spoke up while keeping a gaze on Leo,
"Leonardo- "Splinter tried to speak up but Leo interrupted him, surprising everyone even more,
"NO! Don't 'Leonardo' me! If you're going to keep training us to the point where we can barely stand, we won't be able to fight a single Foot Soldier, never mind the Shredder!" Leo was not taking anything from Splinter at this point and all the other occupants could hardly believe it.
"Leonardo- "Splinter tried to speak up again but was again interrupted by an angry Leo.
"HOW ON EARTH CAN YOU EXPECT US TO DO BETTER IF YOU CAN'T GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR GOD DAMN ASS BY BEING A FUCKING DRILL SERGEANT INSTEAD OF YOUR USUAL WAY OF BEING OUR SENSEI?" Leo yelled out the top of his lungs and stunned everyone in the Lair with his yelling at Splinter and the way he cursed at him and finishing it with a hard glare at Splinter. He tried not to show it, but Splinter failed not to show his amazement and disbelief. He expected this sort of yelling and eventual bad language from Raph at some point later on in life but never from Leo.
…
…
…
*RING**RING*
"Oh hey! Our spies came through for us!" Casey said as his T-Phone rang, indicating that their Purple Dragon spies did their job as they intended for them, no-one wasted any time shuffling to Casey to try and break away from the atmosphere that Leo created and seconds after they did, Leo joined them, though they didn't even try to object when he stood beside them. Splinter stood stunned, but even then, he would still listen to whatever was going to happen next.
"You're on speakerphone." Casey said as he answered the T-Phone.
"Hey, so here's what happened…" It was the Purple Dragon called Fong speaking. "The Shredder says that there's a chemical truck transporting something called 'Chlorosulfonic Acid'. He wants us and that dog mutant he calls Bradford to steal it." Fong's explanation made Donnie go a little pale at this information.
"Okay, when is it coming over?" Casey asked,
"The truck will be the city at around eleven o'clock. Also, Shredder said that the chemical is extremely rare, so we will not have a second chance." Fong answered.
"Okay, thanks for that." Casey said as he turned the call off. All in the Lair looked to Donnie since they noticed his reaction to the information.
"Donnie. What's he talking about? What is 'Chlorosulfonic Acid'." Leo asked to which Donnie immediately answered,
"Leo, Chlorosulfonic Acid has a very violent reaction to water!" Donnie explained and then something clicked in everyone's minds (minus Mikey),
"So, wait… if he dumps that stuff in the sewer…" Raph said to start the explanation to which Donnie finished.
"The acid will cause it all to be incinerated in seconds! Even though we won't be affected by it, the whole sewer system will be heavily damaged and then some parts of the city won't be able to support itself!" Donnie all but said in a worried tone. And why not? The Shredder was once again uncaring about millions who were going to be affected the worst in his plans to kill his enemies.
"This city will never recover from something like that! We gotta stop them!" Leo ordered with worry in his voice but there was also determination to make sure this doesn't happen.
"Donnie, prep the go-karts. We may have to chase that truck down ourselves!" Leo ordered.
"Leo… it's a patrol buggy. But yeah." Donnie answered with slight annoyance that his latest invention wasn't getting the recognition he thought it should have, but he still walked over to his lab to get his patrol buggy up into the warehouse.
6:00pm…
Dinner was quiet and tense, no-one said a word. Raph, Donnie and Mikey were lightly picking at their food but ate albeit with the tension weighing them down. Leo and Splinter also ate in silence, though because the tension mostly revolved around them but didn't do anything to lessen it, the tension soon grew so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
10:00pm…
Leo, Donnie and Raph were pushing the patrol buggy to the elevator, and as soon as they entered the elevator along with Mikey and the buggy, silence overtook the Lair as the humans inside were still trying to piece together what happened earlier.
"So… um… did Leo and Raph switch personalities or something?" Casey asked and all April and Angel could do was shrug their shoulders as all three tried to avoid Splinter's gaze. Splinter all the while was replaying Leo's sudden outburst inside his head. Should he be mad at Leo? Should he be insulted?
…
…
Should he feel somewhat proud of Leo?
10:34pm… New York City… Alley…
Silence. Again. No-one said a word once again even though they were now out of the Lair. The four turtles sat in all four seats that the patrol buggy had and all were wearing different headsets. Leo wore a blue hardened plastic racing helm, Raph wore a red American football helmet, Donnie wore a black racing helm and Mikey wore a brown old style flying helm. Though despite the colourful headgear, nothing seemed to dispel the silent tension in the air. Raph, Donnie and Mikey were all sitting in different parts of the buggy but the silence just kept reminding them of who was sitting at the wheel of the buggy. None of them knew if Leo even had a temper and a fuse to go with it, but if anyone knew how that was like, it was Raph.
"So… Fearless…" Raph said, breaking the ice. A while ago the nickname he gave Leo was of a mocking reminder of how he nearly had a mental breakdown at what he assumed to be a kill by his hands, now the nickname he felt was for standing up to Splinter when nobody else could, "… never thought you knew how to swear. Never mind in Splinter's face." Raph said and his attempt to break the ice was rewarded with a drawn-out sigh from Leo,
"I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have done what I did… it wasn't right." Leo said but Raph protested,
"Hey, we all do and say things we don't mean when we're angry, bro." Leo would've made an argument to protest but didn't get the chance to as he then spotted a black van with a familiar mutant dog riding on the back of it, speeding across the road.
"There they are! Let's go!" Leo ordered before he slammed on the accelerator and the buggy's engine roared to life.
To say that Mikey was having the time of his life riding in the buggy would be an understatement, he was shouting in delight, completely oblivious to Leo's statement that the buggy was a great build. However, Donnie disagreed with Leo on that,
"It's not ready!" but it was drowned out by Mikey's delightful cheers followed by,
"This thing is awesome! Does it have a radio?" Mikey asked excitedly to which Donnie answered with irritation in his voice,
"No, it doesn't have a radio! I'm telling ya, it's not ready!" Donnie said before Leo changed gears and the buggy accelerated even faster.
"Seems ready to me." Leo said before he accidently pulled the steering wheel of, surprising him but didn't wait for the buggy to veer off and crash and hastily put it back in place, "…er… okay, don't fall on that, and we'll be fine!" Leo said with a stunned smile. The four turtles were chasing down a Foot Patrol unit, using a black van, in a buggy that could fall apart on them at any moment or veer off and crash into a (with their luck) tree or a lamppost. The two most likely things for a vehicle to crash into for some strange reason.
Although the turtles were gaining on the van, it was the Foot that reached the moving tanker full of Chlorosulfonic Acid first. They did this by stopping in the middle of the road cutting off the truck driver's route at a crossroad section. The driver of the tanker was more than surprised when a huge dog mutant stood at the crossroad and he slammed on the brakes, stopping directly in front of Bradford/Dogpound. The mutant calmly walked over to the driver's door and using his drastically increased strength, he ripped the door off its hinges like it was paper. The driver let out a surprised and fearful scream.
"Get. Out." Dogpound sound in his roughened voice. He sounded threatening and the driver didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled out of the van and to who knows where. One of the Foot Soldiers exited the black van and then climbed into the driver's seat of the tanker. Dogpound grabbed a hold of the tanker as the soldier began to drive it.
"Call Shredder. Tell him we've acquired the tanker and we're on our way. No problems encountered." Dogpound ordered but before it could be carried out, the turtles rounded a corner in their patrol buggy and was headed straight for the tanker.
"Hold that call! Run them down." Dogpound ordered and the soldier held onto the accelerator and drove forward.
"Raph, get ready." Leo ordered as the truck headed for them. Their little buggy wouldn't stand a chance against that huge tanker, although Raph didn't get what Leo was referring to when he said to get ready.
"For what?" he asked.
"This." Leo said before he pulled on a lever and separated the buggy in two, dividing himself and Donnie from Raph and Mikey. Raph scrambled his hands onto his own steering wheel as his own half nearly swerved off. Lucky for all of them that the truck drove directly in between the divided buggy. The two turtles then did a U-turn and then proceeded to chase after the tanker. Raph felt the need to chase and shout at Leo.
"Leo! You could've been a little more specific!" Raph said but Leo just gave a big smile, he thought that was fun
"Where's the fun in that?" Leo said as he grinned and then the grin faded as he gave his next order, "We have to get that tanker away from them, fire grappling hooks!" Leo said before he fired a grappling hook from the front of his side of the buggy and Raph likewise did the same. The hooks grabbed onto the back of the tanker but when they slowed down to try and slow down the tanker, the tanker sped away and the hooks became disconnected from there buggies.
"I told you it wasn't ready!" Donnie shouted at Leo,
"I know…!"
10:50pm…
It was a little while before the Foot found a manhole cover and the tanker skidded to a stop. Dogpound jumped from the tanker, skidding across the road and toward the sewer entrance as he did so, he then lifted the manhole cover and then threw it like a Frisbee towards the turtles. The flying manhole cover flew to Leo and Donnie and they jumped from out of the buggy just as the flying manhole cover smashed into their buggy, destroying it. The two landed on the road, safely on their two feet, Raph braked to a stop next the two.
"Raph, carry on with Mikey, Donnie and I will keep Dogpound busy. You get that tanker away from them, and make sure that they don't use it again." Leo ordered before Dogpound charged at the turtles,
"How?" Raph asked at which Leo quickly answered,
"Remember what Donnie said about this stuff!" he then charged at Dogpound with Donnie to meet him head on while Raph sped past them in the remaining half of the buggy.
Leo and Donnie jumped into the air and came down upon Dogpound, he responded by hitting Donnie away with an uppercut and then had to guard quickly against Leo's twin katana. The armoured fur on his left arm doing well to protect his skin. It was then that Donnie landed on the road on his shell, as Leo landed on his feet, he had to step back and sway back as Dogpound came in with a few punches before landing one on Leo's chin, knocking him onto his shell, it was then that Donnie came flying in with a flying side kick onto Dogpound's chest, knocking him back slightly, he then bounced off a lamppost for another attack only for Dogpound to swing his big left arm and swatted him away. Leo came in for another onslaught but was instead punched away from right arm swing.
At the crossroad, Raph and Mikey arrived just in time as one of the Foot Soldiers, pulled a hole from the tanker that would release the acid, but when they did, two more Foot Soldiers plus Fong, the Purple Dragon and one of their spies emerged from the van.
"This won't be hard. Let's club these guys!" Raph said,
"Wait, who made you leader?" Mikey said in protest but before he could protest any further, Raph leaped from the vehicle and attacked without Mikey. It was himself versus two Foot Ninjas and a Purple Dragon. Easy. It was then that the other Foot Ninja had just finished leading the hose's end inside the manhole cover. From where he stood, Mikey would be able to catch and stop the ninja in time, and so, he dashed past the fighting that had started and headed straight for the ninja.
"Hyyaaa!" Mikey shouted as he attacked the ninja just as he was about to touch the hose and he attacked with a leaping front kick, it smacked the ninja in the face, knocking him away from the tanker and onto his side. Just as he was about to get up and retaliate, Mikey smacked him in the head with his nunchucks, rendering the ninja unconscious. It was then that Raph approached him from behind,
"So, what took ya so long, Mikey?" Raph said with a smirk, to which Mikey replied with an equal amount of sarcasm,
"Oh, you know, Raph… he didn't stay down after the first hit!" Mikey said with a cheeky grin, and looking past Raph, he saw two unconscious ninjas lying on the road but no sign of Fong. "Where's Fong?"
"Sent him packing." Raph said and was momentarily distracted by the fighting between Leo and Donnie versus Dogpound before he turned back to the tanker, just missing the sight of Leo and Donnie's dodging from Dogpound throwing a light car at them as if it were a school chair. "Leo said to make sure the Foot don't use this again. How do we do that?"
"You're asking me? Dude, I'm not really a science-y guy, in case you didn't know." Mikey said in exasperation. Raph just groaned,
"I know, shell-for-brains! I was- "but then Raph remembered what it was that Donnie said about the acid. In short, it was highly dangerous with water added. "Mikey! Use the water balloon!" Raph barked out but Mikey just looked oblivious, like he was just caught with his hand in the cookie jar,
"…er… what water balloon?" Mikey said, though he was never going to win the award for best liar.
"The one that you're oh so subtly hiding behind your shell." Raph said as he jumped up onto the tanker and undid the lid on the end of the tanker, revealing a hole that the water balloon would easily fit and fall through.
"Dude… you are good." Mikey said as he readied his throwing arm, giving Raph the cue to get off, which he did. Mikey then threw the balloon and it headed straight for the hole in the tanker, and Raph wasted no time in yanking his brother by the wrist and pulling him away from the inevitable explosion.
Leo and Donnie had just bounced off of Dogpound (whose back was now to the tanker), ready to continue when Raph and Mikey ran right past all three of them.
"RUN!" Raph shouted and just when Leo and Donnie were about to turn tail and run-
*BOOM*
The shockwave that emanated was strong enough to make the four turtles stumble and fall onto their knees for a second, but nothing more. Though the same couldn't be said for Dogpound, as the explosion knocked him forward. He quickly got back up and looked behind him at the destruction. His failure. But when he looked to the turtles looking for some payback, the four turtles were nowhere to be seen. His Master Shredder was going to give him some severe punishment for this failure for sure.
Far away on a rooftop…
Even from a distance, the smoke that towered up to the sky would most likely be seen by the entire city. The four turtles looked on realised how lucky they were that the only ones caught up in the explosion were the Foot. Just before leaving, they made a quick check for casualties. Even though they were sure that there were a few unconscious Foot Soldiers near the tanker, there were no casualties. Leo turned to Raph and Mikey,
"Great job you- "
*SPLASH*
Leo was about to complement his brothers when he got an a very unexpected water balloon to the face, thrown by Mikey.
"Dr Prankenstein for the win!" Mikey announced with his 'achievement smile', but Leo looked a little bemused,
"You had two? Where do you keep them?" Leo said, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Raph and Donnie had similar reactions and Mikey decided to answer vaguely,
"Where? Dude, did you forget already? I'm a ninja, dawg! I've got hidden weapons just like you do!" Mikey said with a cheeky grin and then began to walk away, back home.
"Wait up!" Leo said as he and he brothers walked with Mikey, all smiling at their heroics in saving the city, again.
11:19pm… The Lair…
The trip back to the Lair was met only with smiles and cheers. With the occasional grunts as they wheeled the two halves of the patrol buggy back home for Donnie to fix and upgrade. For Raph, Donnie and Mikey, the laughs and cheers continued even as they entered their home. Though for Leo, home meant having to face Splinter at some point and seeing as how Master and Student left things, there was bound to be a conversation about it. Leo was angry with Splinter and he made that clear, thus this made him worry slightly about what Splinter would have for him in terms of punishment. He was sure that would happen.
"My sons." Master Splinter said as he then approached his sons, all stood to attention. "Relax, my sons. I owe you only congratulations. But more than that, I owe you my apologies." Master Splinter said as he looked solemn in that moment.
"Sensei?"
"Fear clouded my judgements and my actions, and it caused you unnecessary stress and exhaustion. But it was not the Shredder that who fuelled this, but me. You all overcame this and performed valiantly. No training tomorrow!" Master Splinter announced, and along with cheers that they were getting a day off of training, they were also met with confusion that someone they look up to has admitted to making mistakes to them. But it just also made them learn that even the ones they idolize can make mistakes. Although, when Splinter turned his back to head for his room, it didn't stop him from hearing certain swishes of water from a certain ninja turtle.
"Unless Michelangelo throws that balloon." Master Slinter said calmly, in an almost deadpan voice. Mikey sheepishly smiled as he lowered the water balloon, but still earned scowls from his brothers.
"You are so gonna get it!" Raph announced as he, Leo and Donnie all pounced on him. What followed next was Leo and Donnie pinning Mikey to the floor as Raph 'dropped' Mikey's own water balloon onto his face. Splinter was delighted that the family dynamic wasn't destroyed by his own actions, and he silently vowed to never again let himself do that again. And to ensure this…
"Leonardo, I would like a word with you, please." Master Splinter said and Leo was done laughing for a bit as he stood up. Mikey also stood and standing with Raph and Donnie as Leo walked away to Splinter's room,
"Dude, Leo's a goner." Mikey said,
"Oh yeah. Too bad we don't have popcorn. But I still wanna listen, wanna come with?" Raph asked,
"Dude, I'm so in on that!" Mikey replied,
"Guys, that sounds childish and immature. Let's do it!" Donnie agreed and with that, they creeped over to listen in on Splinter and Leo's conversation.
Inside Splinter's room…
The inside of Splinter's room was like a mini dojo; no four post beds, no chairs, no desks. The only thing inside were a few unlit candles, a Japanese style bed and his memorial shrine to his deceased wife and baby girl.
When the two entered the bedroom, they wasted no time in kneeling in front of each other on some cushions. With his eyes closed, Leo nearly mistook Splinter for meditating. Though given the atmosphere, it was easy to see why.
"Leonardo."
Leo's attention was seized then and he focused solely on Splinter's closed eyes as if to try and establish eye contact. He got it when Splinter opened his eyes.
"I am assuming you know why you are here now." Splinter asked and Leo nodded before saying,
"Hai, Sensei. This is about me losing a temper I didn't know I had, and taking it out on you." Leo said as he lowered his head in shame. True, he was here for his blow up at Splinter, but not for the reasons he was thinking.
"Yes. You are. But not for the reasons you are thinking." Splinter said which made Leo up and into his eyes.
"Sensei?"
"Please. No need for that now." Splinter said. It was then that this moment wasn't between Master and Student, but Father and Son.
"I am not here to lecture you on your temper, Leonardo. For it was I who fuelled that temper in the first place. Therefore, I have no right to do such a thing." For Leo, he felt like tensions were being lessened here and now, and he felt more at ease around Splinter now.
"When you yelled at me, I was hurt… but it was justified." Now Leo was surprised.
"Se-Father. No, I was wrong, I shouldn't have done that." Leo said to try and put the blame on himself and not Splinter.
"No, I was the one who was wrong, Leonardo. You and your brothers went through the troubles that resulted from my fears. Leonardo, my lesson for you now is to learn that even I can and will make mistakes. It's what makes us human, after all." Splinter said, almost smiling at the 'human' part. "Leonardo, if or when such a thing does happen again, you have my consent to stand up to me again." Leo was more than stunned at what Splinter was proposing to him, he was literally giving him permission to argue with him. Him! His own Sensei and father figure.
"What! But, Father… I…" Leo couldn't find the words,
"Leonardo, I understand your disbelief and confusion, but know this: today, when you stood up to me, you were a much person than me as a person. Do not be afraid to do so again if or when the time should come again." Splinter said, and then stood up from where he was and then motioned for Leo do stand as well. "Today, I saw something rise from within you, and wasn't your temper. Today I saw, as clear as day, the soul of a truly fierce and wonderful young man, who would do the impossible for his family. And a young man with a truly blessed heart." Once Splinter said this with all the pride he could muster, Leo felt his eyes beginning to water slightly. Then nothing mattered to him at that point, he was just glad that he could share this moment with his father, and he thought of nothing as he rushed in and wrapped his arms around Splinter in a tight hug. Given his father's height, he was practically buried in his father's chest and Splinter himself, returned Leo's hug.
Outside…
All three of the turtles who were eavesdropping were quite disappointed that Leo didn't receive any sort of punishment. None more so than Raph,
"Aw man… what a let-down." Mikey said but Donnie disagreed to a point,
"A bit. But you gotta admit, training will be back to normal now. And it was a pretty sweet moment in there." Donnie said with a slight smile. Mikey agreed, also smiling.
"Ah, stick it in yer shell." Raph said with a huff as he walked away from Splinter's bedroom door and to his own.
"Come on, Raph, what's up now?" Donnie asked as he quickly walked up to catch up to Raph,
"What's wrong? I lose my temper and I get lectured, he loses his temper, and Splinter not only praises him for it, but he's got his permission to do it again!" Raph said as he slightly raised his voice.
"Under certain conditions, Raph. And he didn't say that Leo could get angry anytime he wanted. He just said that he could stand up to Splinter if the conditions were right?" Donnie explained but Raph didn't see it that way.
"What difference does it make?" Raph spat out,
"Dude, do you want Splinter to turn back into dictator mode?" Mikey said and Donnie supported this.
"Mikey's right. Things were fine before, but if I'm honest, I don't want Sensei getting like that again." Donnie said as he referred to the dictator part. Raph didn't like it either, but rather than admit it, he turned back to the direction of his room above. Mikey went to try and reach for him, but Donnie stopped him.
"That's just his way of saying 'I'll think about it'." Donnie said. From inside Splinter's room, Leo saw the scene unfold with Raph and he realised, things will start getting more complicated for him and Raph. Splinter saw this as well and he realised that he too was ultimately responsible for this change within Raph.
me: hey there! Hoped you liked this chapter! Never thought you would see the day when Leo would blow up at Splinter, did you? I know this chapter was longer than the previous ones, but if I cut off some parts of it for another chapter, I felt as though it wouldn't flow as well as I thought it did here. Anyway, a heads up for the next chapter, I am going to introduce Leatherhead and Slash together! You will see why soon. Until then!