Chapter Text
Leonardo had never been afraid of death, that was a thing about him.
In missions? He was usually the first to send a blow. At home? He was brave enough to step in front of Raph or Splinter whenever he disagreed with them. Even when Draxum had once threw him off a 100 floor building, he wasn’t all that panicked about the situation.
Anyone else would call that a complaint, but Leo called it a gift.
His father had once said that he was the bravest out of all of his sons. And while his brothers doubted that, Leo held onto that belief all his life.
He was sure that one day, he was going to prove that to them.
And that day had already come. More than once.
The first time Leo accepted to take a beating for his brothers, was a time that he had deserved the punishment, truth to be told. He had been the one who got them in the pizza maze in the first place, for selfish reasons. That’s why, when Minotaur decided to punish them all, the first sentence that came to his mind was,
“I’m the one who cheated. I’m the one who created the portal to save my brothers. Punish me! Their champion.”
But he hadn’t expected that his brothers would be so okay with that,
“Yes, yes! Punish him!”
He hadn’t gotten the chance to prove that he was brave enough to take the punishment that day, because he’d found another way out.
But then, another time came around, which was more serious and more threatening. And that was when Piebald had been too close to flushing his family. His hero act emerged once again,
“Flush me and let my family go!”
His brothers had been silent after he’d said that sentence, as if he hadn’t just literally given his life to save them. They never brought it up, ever. And Leo wasn’t sure if he should be disappointed or grateful.
The last time when something like that happened, which was in the snowy day, wasn’t a time where he had offered to forfeit, but instead his older twin brother,
“Leo, sacrifice yourself to buy us time!”
And what pained the most, was that Donnie didn’t even hesitate to say the sentence.
…
Maybe his family didn’t care at all. Maybe that was what he was destined to do. Maybe one day, he was going to sacrifice himself for good, and do what his brothers desired.
He didn’t have a major role in this team, anyway. So it wouldn’t affect them that much, right?
“Well, what do you wanna do next, guys?” Raph asked, just as the turtles made their way out of the ‘Run of the Mill Pizza’ and started strolling along the alleyway.
“After a meal like this, all I wanna do is go home and snooooze~” Leo was the on to reply with a brush of his hand.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m with Leo…” Donnie said flatly.
“Yeah. My belly can’t take moving around too much…” Mikey said with a smile and a pat on his stomach, “Man was the pizza goo-” The box turtle suddenly stopped, and extended his arm to stop the others with wide panicked eyes.
The other three, alerted, came to a halt, and the leader asked, “What is it, Mikey?”
“I’m smellin’ something…” Mikey replied quietly, and the elders took out their weapons instantaneously, standing in a circle and getting on guard.
“Something friendly orrr~” Leo asked with his sword up in front of him.
“Based on Mike’s expression, I can confirm: Not that much.” Donnie replied.
“Can you tell us what we’re lookin’ for exactly, here?” Raph asked, looking over the youngest who still wore a stern face.
“I’m not sure…” Mikey replied in a hush, his eyes travelling everywhere, “Something new. Someone new. And I can’t pinpoint where he is…”
The elders tried to look for an odd scent, but didn’t come up with any. It was true that Mikey had the best sense of smell, and when he panics about a situation, they all follow.
Still with the weapons in hand, the turtles searched with their eyes everywhere, but nothing showed up.
Getting tired of this, Leo lowered his sword slightly with a groan, “Is this guy gettin’ out or wh-”
“AGH!” All was stopped when the elders suddenly saw Mikey getting thrown across the alleyway by some invisible force, and the bricks cracking behind his shell, causing him to drop on the ground, unmoving.
“MIKEY! WHA-” Leo could only scream before a net trapped him, Donnie and Raph together.
“DONNIE, DO SOMETHING!” Raph yelled at the genius, trying to break free.
“Well, do you think I’m enjoying my time being here? I’M TRYING!” Donnie screamed, putting on his goggles, “I can’t find what’s attacking us!”
“My sword can’t cut through this!” Leo exclaimed in panic, “Are they after Mikey?!”
“I don’t know! But we gotta get outa’ here! He’s not moving!” Raph yelled.
“Can you open a portal beneath us, Leo?” Donnie asked.
“How am I supposed to know when we’re all trapped together?! I might hurt you, guys!” Leo said.
“I definitely don’t care!” Donnie yelled without thinking twice, “A crazy someone’s out there wants to take our baby brother!”
“Do what you gotta do, Leo!” Raph ordered.
Leo, without a second thought, struggled to stand up in order to do as told. Donnie and Raph made their best to stop moving for Leo to perform his action. However, once Leonardo was ready to open the loop, a palette was suddenly thrown out of nowhere, and began ticking…
The older turtles only gasped, before-
BOOM!
-smoke filled the alley, causing all of them to cough harshly. Leo fell on one knee, his plan of getting them out of there flying away. He could hear Donnie scream,
“HOLD YOUR *cough* BREATHS! IT’S A POISONOUS GAS THAT *cough* FORCES YOU TO SLEEP!”
Upon hearing this, Leo made his best to keep in from breathing, but he couldn’t help himself when he spotted a human, wearing a gas mask, picking up his baby brother.
“NO! MIKE- *cough*” He entered another coughing fit and soon fell down.
Donnie and Raph exchanged looks with wide eyes, panicking inwardly. They both made their best not to scream or do anything rash, but unfortunately, Raph had inhaled enough of the gas for him to get knocked out, and Donnie couldn’t hold in anymore, and followed suit.
…
“Agent, the other critters are down. Should we leave them?”
“*Quietly* Never thought that there were four of them… *Loudly* No, let them pay us a visit. I’m dying to find out their thoughts about all this…”
“Very well, sir.”
Closing the phone, a smirk crossed the agent’s face…
He was going to have fun with these turtles…
ROTTMNT
“Ugh…” The slider moaned in discomfort, wincing as he lifted his aching head. His eyes peeled open in difficulty, to be greeted by the darkness. Which Leo was grateful about. His body was stiff as he tried looking around, and by the time he’d finished the round, he realized a few things.
The first, was that his hands were cuffed, and no, not like in the movies where the character is tied to a table, but on the wall. He tried moving his legs, to find them immobile as well. And while Leo’s arms weren’t up above his head, there was still a stinging pain in one of them. One that made him wince slightly with each move.
The second, that the place he was held in was designed in a way that was eerily similar to Draxum’s lab. Huge, with some small, flickering Neon lights and strange weed that was growing out of random places. There was no way that he was even near New York. The Hidden City was the first guess that came to the turtle’s mind when he thought about their location.
The third, that even though it was dark, his brothers’ scents were all over that place. The only thing that made Leo feel better, to be honest. However, as he smelled his brothers, he also smelled blood. He didn’t know if one of them were bleeding or if the guy who captured them just liked killing so much that this became the lab’s typical smell. Either theories weren’t near relieving.
Squinting his eyes slightly, Leo could finally pinpoint where his brothers were. The familiar figure of the genius was before him, with the exact same posture as him. A larger figure beside Donnie could be seen, which by no doubt was the oldest, also chained on the wall. Tilting his head, Leo found the last one, just beside him.
As much as he was relieved, the silence they were emerging was troubling, causing bad thoughts to cross the slider’s head. And with that, he began to call frantically,
“Guys? Guys… GUYS! WAKE UP!”
“Nngh… who…?” Leo could hear the tired voice of Donnie, and needed no smart-brains to tell him that his brother was dazed.
“Donnie!” Leo called happily, but still in a slight panic, “Are you okay? I can’t see you well…”
He listened as his twin groaned, and Leo guessed that Donnie was trying to locate him. His theories were true when the older asked, “W-Where… are you?”
“Right in front of you, bud.” Leo said quietly, “Raph’s beside you, and Mike’s beside me. They’re not up, yet.”
“I see…” A hum of perception from Donnie sounded, then a grunt, “My tech isn’t with me… I swear if something happened to-”
“I think we should be worrying about other things right now, bro.” Leo said, sounding scolding.
“Oh, right.” Donnie nodded in agreement, and without asking, he began calling, “Raph? Raph! Come on buddy, rise and shine!”
Leo followed, in a much gentler way, “Mikey? Mike. Come on, Miguel, let your big brother know that you’re okay…”
It took a few minutes until the youngest uttered,
“…Y-Yeah…?” He asked weakly, answering Leo’s call of his name.
“MIKEY! Thank God. You’re alive.” Leo took a breath of relief; while his twin was still struggling with the oldest,
“RAPHAEL I SWEAR IF YOU DON’T WAKE UP RIGHT NOW-”
“Huh…?” Donnie paused upon hearing Raph’s feeble voice.
“Finally!” Leo could hear Donnie roll his eyes, “Figured I should lose my voice in order for you to arise…”
“What happened? Everybody okay?” Raph immediately got into mother-hen mode, ignoring Donnie, “And why is it so damn dark here?”
“I’m okay…” Leo was the first to answer, “My arm’s just a bit itchy… but other than that, okay…”
“Fine, too…” Donnie said flatly, “Except for my shell that’s rubbing against the totally unsanitary wall. How do you guys live like this?” He asked in an annoyed tone.
“Quit whining, D.” Raph said tiredly, “What about you, Mikey? How you’re doing?”
Silence…
“Mikey?” Leo questioned, growing a bit worried.
“Y-Yeah, yeah…” The youngest’s voice was quiet and hoarse, “I’m okay… Just…” He trailed.
“Just what, Michael?” Donnie asked sternly, also a bit concerned.
“M-My chest… kinda hurts… Hurts to breathe…” He said between huffs of air.
The elders’ frets shot up, and Donnie immediately started instructing, “Take non-deep breaths, Mikey. And try not to talk too much. It is a big chance that your ribs have been fractured after the hit you received.”
Leo saw a shift of Mikey’s head, as if nodding, “O… Okay…” and began doing as told.
Silence lingered afterwards, and Leo now knew where the scent of blood came from. He completely forgot the strike Mikey got and felt awful about it. How they let their guard down and were taken by surprise; and how they got captured in the easiest way possible. He knew that no one blamed him, but Leo still felt that he could’ve at least done better.
His thoughts were interrupted as Donnie asked, “What about you, Raph? How are you doing?” His voice was quiet as he spoke.
“Totally fine, bro…” Raph said, also quietly, “Just tryna’ find a way out of these holders…” He lowered his voice a bit more, “Kinda feel bad for Mike, though… Is he gonna be alright?”
Donnie took a moment before saying, “He sure needs medical attention, but he’s gonna be fine as long as he follows my orders…”
Leo sighed, drawing his brothers’ attentions to him, “Should’ve just left him asleep…” He muttered, hinting about the youngest’s situation.
“I’m fine, Leo…” Mikey was the one who assured weakly, “It’s not your fau-” He stopped, hissing slightly.
“Mikey, no speaking!” Donnie sharply warned, then softened his voice, “But, he’s right. As much as I hate to admit this…”
“Don’t beat yo’self up, Leo…” Raph said, “No one is blamed in this. We got in this together, and we’ll get out of this together.”
A faint smile crossed Leo’s face, which was sadly consumed by the darkness. He didn’t need them to see it, though, because he knew that they were already sensing it. The tension was slightly fading, and each one of them was not as panicked as they first woke up. That was a good sign.
Some seconds later, Leo broke the silence, “Alright… so… anyone has any idea about whoever caught us?”
“Some Yokai, maybe?” Raph guessed, “I mean, we’re in the Hidden City, right?”
“But…” Leo countered, “I’ve seen a human take Mike right before blacking out…”
“A human?” Donnie voiced in surprise, “Well, that is… unexpected…”
“And it sure can’t be good…” Raph said, still trying to break the binders.
“I admire your pessimism, turtle…”
Every turtle froze upon the new voice that joined them, and groaned when light suddenly illuminated the place. After a solid minute of their eyes adjusting, the four siblings finally spotted their captor. A tall, slim human with a black coat stood on the ground between them. He had a smirk on his face, as well as an eye-patch on his right eye.
The laboratory could be seen better, now. Several machines and metallic tables were scattered all around. And as Leo previously thought, the place did look so much like Draxum’s lab. The slider wondered about how this guy got a place in the Hidden City, and how he found it, since this wasn’t exactly the right place for humans.
All the elder turtles then turned to the youngest to examine him, and their eyes widened faintly. Not only was Mikey’s right side cracked and held a bruise, he also had several cuts that applied blood trickling from them. Leo found himself automatically growling at the human after seeing this, and wasn’t surprised when he noticed that Donnie and Raph were doing the same.
“Woah. Easy there…” The man mockingly said, holding both of his hands in the air. Er… one hand, because the other was just a robot arm. His smirk was never leaving his face, which angered the elders even more. “I did tell my assistant to go easy on him. Didn’t expect that beating him would so… enjoyable for him.” His grin widened when the turtles’ growls loudened.
“Who are you and what do you want from us?!” Donnie was the one to question in a hateful spit.
“Oh, I apologize for not introducing myself.” The man, with his stupid taunting voice, said, “Welcome to my examination lab, terrapins. The place where you-”
“Dude, you’re introducing the place, not yourself…” Leo cut with a roll of an eye, “Who are you?”
The man scowled at the slider, yet collected himself and made his way towards him, his smirk returning as he stared at the nasty gaze this ‘Leonardo’ was sending him.
“You annoy me, turtle. And you know what I do to creatures who annoy me?” He uttered, trying to fear the host under him.
“Uhhh, first of all, my name is not ‘turtle’. Second of all, how am I supposed to when you didn’t even introduce yourself?” Leo asked, sounding logical.
“Well, you wanna know what I do? Let me show you,” The man’s grin didn’t fall, but swiftly got out a blade and jabbed the slider’s shoulder, earning a satisfying scream from him.
“LEO!” Every other turtle in the room screamed, and Leo cracked one eye while panting heavily, locking a death stare with the man.
“I suggest you to stop speaking, turtle, or another one is coming up…” He said, backing away and deciding to leave the knife inside him, “Call me Agent. Agent Bishop.”