Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

           When the girl first told him to meet her on the top of the Byerly building Leo was curious, to say the least. So he, like any reasonable teenager, went to ask the only girl he knew for advice at 11:26 at night. Leo knocked lightly on the yellowing window of April’s apartment, quietly calling her name. He stood, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, a small smile on his face. April walked slowly into view of the window, her eyes still partly closed from when she was asleep. Leonardo felt a bit bad for waking her up, she does tend to spend late nights with them in the sewers, she really needs the sleep. Oops.

          “Leo?” His smile widened and he gave her a small wave as she opened the window. “This better be good.” She said it quietly so he wouldn't hear it, but years of training to be a ninja has given Leo some very good ears…holes? He doesn’t know.

           Leo tried not to be hurt by that comment, he did wake her up in the middle of the night. “Hey. I need to talk.” Even he could hear the smile evident in his voice.

           “Can it wait til morning?” April sat down and rubbed her eye, sleep still in her voice.

           Leo pokes his pointer fingers together in front of him, his smile widening. “I met this girl!” All sleep is wiped away as April gasps and grabs his shoulders, demanding he tells her everything.

           She pulls her arms close to herself in anticipation and stares at him. “Well, she’s really cool.” He pauses while April nods excitedly. “She’s also a martial artist,” April nods again. “And, uh… she’s in the Foot Clan.” He rushes the last part out while looking away from April. He puts a hand up to his mouth, his smile somehow getting even bigger.

           April stands straight up, looking at Leo with a dead eyed stare. Leo’s giving her his best ‘I know it sounds bad, but please hear me out’ look. It does not work. She hits him in the face with a rolled up newspaper (where did she even get the paper?). She continues to wave it in the air. “Are you crazy!” She’s whispering, but it’s bordering on plain talking.

           “April, she's different!” He tries to argue. He's not getting anywhere. “She’s-“

           “In the Foot Clan!” April finishes his sentence, annoyed.

           “Yeah, but she’s-“ Leo tries again, not quite sure where he’s going to go with this sentence.

           “In the Foot Clan!” She finishes again, sounding exasperated.

           “Look, I know I shouldn’t be hanging out with her,” he moves his hand around as he talks.

           April cuts him off again. “ Yeah, you got that right. You know why? Cause she’s in the Foot Clan!” She finally yells, throwing her arms up in the air. He flinches back as she says this, not really expecting her to yell out her window in the middle of the night.

           “April, she's fun! And I’m tired of being the responsible one! When do I get to have fun?” It’s like he’s back talking to Master Splinter about not wanting to be in charge anymore, like talking to a brick wall. He’s sixteen, he shouldn’t always have so much pressure on him. He just wants a break.

           April pauses, she looks at him and sighs. “So what does she want from you?”

           Leo shakes his head. “I don’t know, I’m meeting her later at the Byerly building. She’s got something planned.” He looks to the mentioned building, curiosity brimming inside him.

           “Yeah, like pushing you off the Byerly building!” Aprils shoots back, anger once again filling her voice. “It’s a trap, Leo!” She draws out the end of Leo’s name, trying to get her point across. She doesn’t.

           “I don’t think so.” His face doesn’t necessarily show it, but his voice contains a small bit of aggression. What’s so wrong with him wanting to meet her, she makes things interesting. She gets him. None of his brothers seem to. “There’s good in her, I know there is! I can feel it.” He doesn’t really believe it, but anything to get April to let him go without telling anyone.

           “Hope you’re right.” She says as she reaches for the window, pulling it closed in his face.
      He stares at her window for a few seconds more before turning towards the Byerly building. He hopes Karai doesn’t push him off, pancake-onardo wouldn’t be the prettiest picture. He begins his journey to the high rise, his curiosity getting the best of him, midnight racing towards him like a bullet train.

           April watches him, pulling out her phone. The others should really know about this. She doesn’t trust this mystery girl. Leo never even said her name.

           When Leo gets to the building, Karai pacing on the ledge. He’s a few minutes late, but it’s fine. She waited.“I was beginning to think you were a no-show, but you don’t disappoint.” She didn’t even have to look to know Leo was there. Cool and definitely not something he wanted her to teach him to do. Nope, not at all.

           “So, what’s this about?” He walked towards her, his hands moving as talked.In lieu of a response, she threw him a pair of binoculars and pointed to a building.

           “That.”

           He put the binoculars up to his eyes and looked where she pointed, hoping she doesn’t push him while he’s distracted. An old sword comes into view, a katana to be more specific. He recognizes it and boy, if he isn’t thrilled to see such a masterpiece.

           “That’s the sword of Miyamoto Musashi.” He somehow manages to contain his excitement. Leo would love to have a katana like that one. Splinter used to talk about weaponry history when they were little. Leo loved it. Splinter doesn’t tell them stories very much anymore.

           “The greatest swordsman in the history of Japan.” Karai draws him out of his thoughts as she sits down next to where Leonardo was kneeling.

           “It’s ancient, it’s priceless, and it’s yours… if you help me.” She looks over at him, waiting for an answer.

           “Do… what?” He knew.

           “You know what. We’re going to steal it.” She smiled, an enthusiastic look overtaking her face. He knew he shouldn’t, Splinter trained them so they could do good against the Foot and all other threats, but it seemed like it would be… fun. A break from the constant stress of being a leader for his brothers. Plus, he was already being friendly with her, aka the Foot. What more could it hurt, he was just starting a little rebellious streak, a break from the goody two-shoes act.

          No, he couldn’t, Master Splinter would be disappointed in him. But the sword was just so tempting.

          “No we’re not.” He knew it was wrong. It doesn’t matter how much Leo wants it or if he thinks Karai will be fun to hang around with, it’s against his sensei’s code.

           “Come on, that sword is just sitting there, collecting dust! You know you deserve that katana, certainly more than some lazy rich guy.” Karai spoke with such confidence. Confidence that tempts Leo too much. It was such a nice katana. Some old collector guy won’t even use it, but he will.

           He can’t, sensei will be furious with him, but did Leo even care? Splinter has always been strict. It’s about time Leo had a rebellion. His brothers are no help either, always questioning him, trying to undermine him.

           “Stop being responsible, Leo. Stop waiting for people to give you the life you want. Go out and take it.” That was the final straw. She’s right. Raph doesn’t get how much work it takes to be a leader, but he sure seemed to want to be one. Screw what Splinter said, Raph could be in charge of the team now. Their little trio thinks that they can do fine without him? Then that’s what they’ll have to do. Leo is done.

           “Fine, let’s steal ourselves a katana.” Karai’s wide eyed grin took over her face once again.

Chapter Text

           Of course Leo had to be brooding on some tall building that was like, seven miles away from the lair. Master Splinter said he sent Leo after them, so why was he on top of a skyscraper?

           Raph looked up at the looming building, dreading the climb he would have to make. Getting Leo better be easy because he just wants to apologize and make sure Mikey’s okay. The kid still hadn’t woken up when he left. He may be a bit mean, but he does care.

           Before he gets to the top he hears two voices from the roof. Was Leo meeting someone? Did Donnie mention something about that?
The talking stops and Raph hears footsteps moving towards the edge of the building. He waits. Waits for the sound of a scuffle and a splat. Waits to see turtle guts on the uninviting concrete below.

           There’s no shove, no screaming while falling, no dead older brother on the ground below. There’s only a quick scuffing sound and then silence. Raphael peeks his head above the side of the roof. It’s empty, the only evidence of people being up there is Raph’s memory. He guesses that’s better than holding a funeral.

           Climbing up onto the roof, he looks toward the edge that his brother was on. Raph looks for any indication of where he might have gone. There’s a tall high rise a building over, one with giant windows and a very Japanese styled room, a katana being displayed on a stand in view. Raph thinks that it looks like something Leo would gush over.

           Movement caught his eye. Leo’s aggressive training for once coming in handy. Two figures are slowly moving towards the blade from the inside. Raph squints, trying to get a better look. Considering that the lights on the room were off and the two people just grabbed the sword, that might be a robbery. He begins to run along the roof and jump to the next, then the next. Raph stops and the rooftop next to the room. The two figures, along with the sword, are gone. Crap.

           Leo laughed as he and Karai ran from building to building. They gotten the sword in under four minutes. No alarms were even tripped! He knows that they do that every night, but it felt different when he was the one committing crimes (crimes!) instead of stopping them. The wind stung his eyes as he ran. He and Karai slowly came to a stop on one building. Leo was still laughing while Karai just smiled, malice shining in her eyes. Once Leo straightened out she started talking.

           “Y’know, for such a goody two shoes, you’re awfully good at stealing. You’d be better off in the Foot than with your brothers.” She was looking at him, a smile still on her face, but her eyes were serious. Leo, in the foot? It was a funny joke (He knows it’s not a joke), but this was a one time thing.

           “Yeah, no. Master Splinter is going to kill me if he ever finds out I even did this.” With those few words the gravity of the situation he just put himself into hits him like a freight train. He just stole something, like actually stole it. That's a real crime. Splinter is going to make him train non-stop for hours! Raph might actually kill him!

           A hand lands on his shoulder. “He won’t find out. No one is going to tell him. No one even saw us.” Karai is looking at him, her eyes meeting his. Leo looks down at his hands, a new katana that will surely get him in trouble with Splinter. It’s very nice though, so maybe it’s worth it. There's something evil shining in her eyes.
      Leonardo slowly looks back up to Karai’s face, but his eyes catch on… something. It was just the slightest movement on the next building, but it immediately has him on guard. He turns his body to the movement, causing Karai to look as well. A shadow moves, creeping towards them.
Then it rushes at them.

           After looking at the rest of the roofs for what felt like an eternity, Raphael finally catches sight of the two thieves. They’re building hopping with the sword in the hand of one with what looks like a backpack on. A very big backpack. He begins to tail after them, keeping to the shadows the best he could. He wasn’t as good as Leo, though. Leo was better at most things that involved being a ninja. Man, does he need to apologize to that dork.

           The two figures come to a stop, one laughing in a familiar way… what was he thinking? Leo never even took food from the kitchen without permission. He wouldn’t steal some old ninjitsu artifact. At least he thought so. Once the two started having a conversation he couldn’t deny it. The oversized backpack, the laugh, him straight up saying “Master Splinter”. That’s Leo.

          Raph almost fell from where he was crouched behind an air conditioning unit. What the heck was he doing? He was going to absolutely murder Leo! He left his thoughts to halt in his mind while he looked back at his older brother and the girl he was with (a girl!). They were both looking at his hiding spot. Crap. Raphael slowly crept from his spot, then broke into a full blown sprint. He was going to knock some sense into Leo. He lept the distance between the roof tops, spinning his sai as he did.

           Leonardo and Karai both lept in opposite directions to evade the younger turtle’s attack. What was he doing? “Raph, what’s gotten into you?” Leo voiced his thought out loud while dodging his brother’s attacks, they were disappointingly predictable. Raph may be fast, but Leo was faster. And not obviously pissed off.

           “What’s gotten into me? What is wrong with you? Did the Krang get you and mess with your brain?” Raph paused at that, only slightly, but still slightly enough for Karai to hit him with the flat of her blade.

           Raph stumbles, a small red line forming on his cheek. Karai pulls out whatever she threw at Leo when they first met, effectively blinding his brother. Leo takes this as his opportunity to attack. He slams the sheathed blade into the side of Raphael’s head, knocking him unconscious. That was a much easier fight than Leo anticipated. He'll need to work with Raph on that.

           Karai walks next to Leo, a sneer on her face. She looks down at the unconscious turtle on the ground and snickers. She snatches Leo’s mask off of his face. He snaps his head to face her, only to find her tearing holes into it. “What are you doing?” He failed to hide his mild anger, hostility obvious in his voice. She laughs and drops the torn blue fabric, letting it flutter to the ground.

           “Leaving,” she turns and walks to the edge of the building. “You coming, or not?”

           Leo stares at her, then Raph. Does she really think he would leave his unconscious brother out in the cold? Then she thought right. Raph wanted to be leader? This is what happens when you're the leader. You get hurt.

           Leo walks up behind her, dropping his T-phone on the way.

           “Where to?”

Chapter Text

           It was cold. That was what woke Raphael up. It was really cold and his head hurt. What happened? Where was he again?

           Raph shoots up, trying to get his eyes on Leo. Why was he looking for Leo? His vision starts to spin and his head begins to throb. What happened? He squints his eyes closed, the big light in the room blinding him. Who came into his room thinking that pointing a flashlight straight at him was a good idea? If it was Mikey, Raph was going to make him regret it.

           As the nausea faded, Raph slowly opened his eyes. A look of confusion took over his entire face. Why was his ceiling… blue? Then it hit him.

           That’s not his ceiling. He’s not in his bed. That light is the sun and he is outside in the middle of the day. He looks down, moving to reach for his T-phone when a smudge of blue next to him catches his eye. Leo’s mask. It was torn and dirty, but more importantly it wasn’t attached to his older brother. Leo never took that thing off, none of them really did, but especially not Leo. What happened? Why can’t he remember? Trying to think makes his head feel like it’s going to explode. He needs to call Donnie.

           When Donnie’s T-phone finally rings and Raph’s name pops up he’s relieved. It’s been over ten hours since Raph left to go find Leo. Donnie was worried that something terrible had happened to one of them and he would have to take over as the oldest brother. That is not something he ever wants to do. “Hey, Don-“ Raph’s tinny voice comes through the phone. He doesn’t sound like he’s actively dying, so Donnie takes it as an invitation to begin talking.

           “Where on earth have you been? It’s been ten hours and twenty-three minutes since you left, what in the almighty pizza above have you been doing?” Mikey slowly looks over, having been woken up by Donnie’s outrage. He seems to mumble something about Leo, then turns back over.

           “I- I don’t know, man. I- Something happened and I don’t remember what. Leo’s mask is in shreds and his T-phone’s here but he isn’t. I thin- I think the Foot got him.” Donnie heard Raph’s voice shake. Raph didn’t usually get nervous like that.

           “What? He’s just gone? Do you know where you are?” Donnie’s voice was getting louder and honestly, he couldn't care less. Something had happened, he was wrong. Master Splinter was walking into the room from the Dojo, probably to listen in.

           “I… I’m on top of a building,” wind blows into the mic, quickly followed by the clacking of the phone hitting the ground. A loud thump and groan from Raph indicates that he fell. “I don’t know what street it’s on.” He sounds defeated.

           “Donatello, what is happening?” Master Splinter is standing right behind him now, his hands resting on Donnie’s shoulders.

           “I’m not really sure, Sensei. Raph said something about Leo’s mask and T-phone.” Donnie leaves out the part about Leo being kidnapped by the Foot. It doesn’t seem like something he should bring up until he can 100 percent confirm it as true.

           “You said you don’t know what street you're on?” Donnie asks, looking back towards the phone. Thankfully he puts trackers in all of his creations, though they are a little hidden in code if they’re important.

           “Nah.” Raph sounds sick, if Donnie were to read into it, but pointing that out could be his demise, so he will refrain. Donnie sighs. Tracking his T-phone will be easy. It’s not like he hasn’t done it before.

           “Okay, we- I’m on my way.” He didn’t really feel like having Mikey tag along. He would only slow Donnie down.
      With that he hung up the phone and grabbed his Bo staff, preparing to set off on a search for Raph.

           Raph dropped his head back to the ground. Donnie was on his way and the ringing in Raph’s ears was getting louder. He closed his eyes. Why is he so tired? The sun was getting brighter and brighter, bright enough that he could see it even with his eyes closed. Raph moves his hand, immediately snatching it back when he comes into contact with something warm. Moving his hand back down he feels around until hit hand hits something. Grabbing it he holds it in front of his face.

           He regrets opening his eyes as soon as they open. He’s holding Leo’s mask. Rips and dirt are spread over it. What happened to Leo? Raph only remembers Leo and that girl from the Foot clan, but now Leo’s gone and all of his things are here. What if the Shredder got a hold of him and is trying to torture the location of the lair out of Leo! What if Leo’s already… dead.

           No. He wouldn’t let that happen. He would beat up the Shredder until he brought his brother back! Raph doesn’t want to admit it, but they- no, he needs Leo and he’ll do anything it takes to get him back.

           “Raph! What are you doing? I’ve called you like three times! Are you okay?” Donnie appeared over him, a slightly concerned look on his face. Donnie looked at Raph's hand and his face fell. “Where’s his T-phone?” Raph points. Donnie scrambles over to it, snatching it up from the ground. “If I can access the camera and microphone logs from last night maybe I can figure out what happened. Then I can look at any nearby security cameras. That is, if the Foot hasn't wiped them yet.” Raph closes his eyes again. He tunes Donnie’s rambling out, years of practice coming in handy.

           They’re going to be there for a while.

           Donnie looks up from Leo’s abandoned T-phone and directs his eyes to Raph. He looks like he’s sleeping, but his left hand twitches occasionally. “Oh! I almost forgot! Raphael, sit up. I need to check for any injuries before we head back to the lair.” Raph barely stirs indicating that something is wrong. At least that’s how Donatello sees it. Donnie walks to where Raph is laying. He squats down, pulling his brother into a sitting position. Raph’s eyes open slowly and Donnie immediately knows what’s wrong with him. He has a minor concussion.

           Donnie can see that his eyes are dilated wrong. They look like Mikey's did when Master Splinter finally got him to wake up. Great. Now Donnie has one missing brother and two concussed ones. Today is a terrible day. A horrible, terrible day. April is going to hear all about this later. Donnie hopes it all gets sorted out quickly because he can already tell that it's going to be one massive headache.

           He carefully pulls Raph to his feet, supporting as much of his weight as he can. “Come on, let’s go home, hopefully a little rest will help you out a bit.” Donnie honestly has no idea what to do with a concussion. Normally Master Splinter or Leo does any medical related things. He just has to get Raph back as safely as possible.
      Donnie looks at the side of Raph’s drooping head and sees a long, thin, yellow-purple bruise on his head. It looks a little too similar to the ones Leo used to give them when he still used wooden training Katanas. That's weird. Donnie pulls out his T-phone and calls the phone that Master Splinter keeps in the dojo. Once he hears the click indicating that the phone has been answered he starts talking, not letting the other person get a word in.

           “I've found Raph. I think he has a minor concussion. No sign of Leo, though. Only his mask and T-phone. I think I can access some of the files from last night once we get back, but get the couch ready for Raph, please.” He’s slightly out of breath by the time he finishes and he only adds please as an afterthought, but it still counts.

           “Thank you for retrieving your brother, Donatello. I will be waiting for you to return.” Master Splinter’s voice is calm. Donnie can imagine what his face looks like, which calms him down a little bit. Although he tries not to show it, Donnie is internally panicking and Leo being gone isn’t helping at all. Donnie hopes his older brother is okay. He’s not sure how he’d feel if he wasn’t.

Chapter Text

           Leo’s face is cold. His lack of a mask makes him weirdly uncomfortable. The wind blows on his face as he roams. He keeps his distance from Karai as she walks through the streets of New York. Leo hides in the alleyways that don’t have manhole covers. He knows that his brothers are probably on high alert looking for him. Leo loves his brothers and everything, but he can’t take much more of the overwhelming pressure they put on him.

           Karai takes a turn toward an old looking church building. Three massive windows shine dim light to the ground, with one larger triangular window settled above them. Leo moves to a closer building to get a better look. It’s so suspicious looking that he isn’t sure how they haven’t found it yet. Of course he and his brothers have seen the building before, but they never suspected it of being the Foots base of operations. Maybe she's just taking him there to kill him. Karai makes her way to a side door, also looking older than she was. She stands in front of it before turning around and tapping her foot. He takes that as cue to hop down next to her. She rolls her eyes and starts to unlock the door.

           Karai looks back at him. “We’re going to go inside and you are going to convince Shredder to not kill you.” She opens the door and goes through, leaving Leo to scramble after her.

           It’s silent inside, peaceful almost, if not for Leo’s deafening heartbeat hammering in his chest. Karai walks through the twisting hallways and up staircases like she’s better than everyone else that could be there. Does she walk everywhere like that? Like she’s the best thing ever?

           There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, which is both off putting and calming to Leo. He doesn’t think that he could take an army of Foot soldiers on his own and he knows that Karai would just sit back and watch the show. She guides him down an isolated hall, the door ahead looked like it belonged in Celestial’s lair, if only a little bit less spacey. And also not a cartoon, Leo would rather it be a cartoon. Space Heroes seems like a much better alternative to meeting Shredder. Karai knocks before she pushes the door open, but instead of leading him through like she had before, she lowers into a bow, a sneer on her face. “After you.” Crap.

           Leo walks past her. The room is massive. Two twin pools on the right and left surround a concrete walkway. A steep looking staircase leads to a throne. It was kind of boring, if Leo was being totally honest. Don’t get him wrong the room terrifies him to his core, but there was nothing interesting going on. No cool posters, or lights, there weren’t even any lights on at all! Karai brushes past him and bows, before she kneels to the floor, gesturing for him to do the same. Leo does, his self preservation skills outweighing his pettiness.

           “Father-“ Karai tries to start to explain. She is, of course, immediately cut off by a decorated throwing knife planting itself next to Leo’s left leg. He does his best not to move, not to flinch at the blade that was almost embedded into his thigh.

           “What is this turtle doing here? You have failed at your one task! You were meant to dispose of the turtles and you have instead brought one to me! What is the meaning of this?” He’s practically yelling, but he’s not quite screaming. The anger, however, is bleeding out of his words, leaving puddles of rage all throughout the room. They drip from the walls and fall all around him. That would be kind of gross if it weren't just happening in Leo's imagination.

           “Father, please let me explain,” she pauses, not making eye contact. Leo sees Karai brace for something to happen. Whatever she thought would happen, he’s glad it didn't because Karai starts talking again after a few seconds. “I think he would be useful to the Foot clan. He can hold his own against me, something only you have done. I believe it would hurt Splinter more to have Leonardo on our side, rather than no side at all.” Karai keeps her eyes down and Leo thinks.

           He wonders when it was decided that he would be trying to join the foot. Was it when he agreed to meet Karai on the rooftop only hours before, or was it when he helped steal the Katana. Maybe even when he knocked his own brother out rather than helping him, leaving any previous trust behind when he walked away. The katana. Leo had forgotten that he had it. He looks down at it. Its scabbard is covered in intricate designs. Why did Karai have him steal it? Was it really just for fun? Not that it wasn’t fun or anything, it was, but why do it if it has no use.

           Karai was still talking, he realized. Not to him, but to Shredder. Thankfully she hadn’t given up on convincing the mad man before them, otherwise he would’ve died much sooner. For that, Leo’s thankful.

           “Fine.” Shredder's voice bounces across the walls. It’s very deep, Leo notes. The anger in it has only slightly lessened. Leo quietly sighs in relief. At least he’s not going to die yet. “But he is under your charge. One mistake and he becomes turtle soup.” Karai stands and bows, pulling Leo up with her. “Thank you, father. I will not let you down” Shredder doesn’t say anything, his back facing towards them.

           “Thank you,” Leo echoes after her. She elbows him in the arm. “Master Shredder.” The man still doesn’t make a sound. Karai straightens and starts to pull Leo out of the room. The celestial door is much more welcoming than it was when the two of them first arrived. Karai leads him down a set of stairs and through a hallway. She pulls open the door at the very end. On the inside is a dojo, not unlike the one in the sewers. Leo stands in the middle it, taking it all in. It was darker than the one at home, it has a monotone colour palette of black and grey. Its walls are covered in depictions of death. It’s actually pretty cool.

           Karai walks over to Leo, something black in her hands. She stops in front of him and tosses it at him. It’s a mask, similar to his old one. Eye holes are poorly cut into it and the tails are long and jagged. He puts it on. “Good. I couldn’t deal with having to see all of your ugly face anymore. This is way better.” She has a small smile on her face as she says this. He glares at her, a retort on the tip of his tongue. He decides that he’d rather keep his head than respond so he just scoffs and looks away.

           “So what are we going to do now?” Leo does need that answer. His mind is reeling. In just one night he betrayed his family and joined what he was trained to destroy. He didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Leo just wanted a break. A break from his father, his brother, and the crushing pressure they all put him under. But, since it’s happening he might as well embrace it. It’ll be fun. No rules, no standards for him to be held up to. No need for him to be a role model. He’s going to take advantage of this. He can let loose.

           “Well, like I said before, you’re more useful in the foot than out of it. I don’t want to keep playing cat and mouse with your brothers. You know where their lair is. I say we use that to our advantage.” She continues to scheme while Leo thinks.

           Is he truly okay with selling out his family, with giving up their location like he hasn’t spent the last sixteen years with them? They’re his brothers and his dad. They’re all he had for so long. Is willing to leave April, the girl he has so quickly come to think of as a sister,in the dust?

           Yes. The answer is yes. With them he was the oldest, so he was the role-model. He was meant to be a good example. Well, that’s boring. This? This isn’t boring and even if it gets boring, he can always just double cross the Foot as well. Leo snaps out of his thoughts when Karai gasps then smiles evilly. “I have an idea,” she looks Leo in the eyes, his new mask is in the corner of his vision.

           “How good would you say your acting is?”

Chapter Text

           “Do you see ‘im anywhere, Don?” This is getting annoying. Every five minutes Raph asks him the same question.

           “No, I haven’t seen him since the last time you asked, Raph.” Donnie knows that Raph is just worried and he gets it, he does, but it’s just so annoying. If Donnie saw Leo he would probably, he doesn’t know, say something! It’s obvious that Raph feels guilty and thinks that Leo getting captured by the foot is his fault, but constantly asking an obvious question is really annoying. Donnie doesn’t want to be the one to say it, but the odds of Leo just showing up are so low that they’re almost zero. Getting kidnapped is one thing, Leo could easily escape from that. Getting kidnapped by the foot though… Donnie doesn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but they might have to make a plan to save him.

           It’s going to take a long time to A.) Find out where Leo is, and B.) find a way to break in. It could take weeks just to get a lead of where Leo might be- Never mind what Donnie was just saying because there he was. Leo, just standing in the middle of an alley. He was swaying on his feet and his face was eerily bare. It’d been a while since Donnie had seen him without his mask. The guy practically never took it off in front of people.

           “I found him,” Donnie spoke quietly into his T-phone. He’s not sure why, but he didn’t want to spook Leo off, he didn’t particularly look like he knew what was going on. Raph’s tinny yelling was ignored easily.

           “Leo?” Donnie slowly moved towards his brother. Leo whips his head toward him and his face immediately turns into one of strained relief. Leo begins walking, then running towards Donnie. For a second Donnie worries about Leo still being mad about the previous night, but Leo isn’t Raph. He rarely gets physical and Donnie didn’t even get involved in the argument.

           Leo stops abruptly in front of Donnie, so they don’t collide with each other. Leo grabs Donnie’s shoulders then pulls him into a quick hug, letting go just as fast. It only takes a second for Donnie to start interrogating him.

           “Where have you been? What happened? Did they put a tracker on you?” Donnie just kept rattling on with questions of a similar calibre. It was kind of annoying, if Leo was being honest. Leo kept thinking back to the katana they stole. It was weighted perfectly for a katana, and its handle was beautifully made. And the rush of adrenaline Leo felt was amazing. He’d kill to do it again.

           When Donnie stopped talking Leo focused back on his surroundings. His brother’s eyes were focused on him, but Donnie had his T-phone out. He pressed a button and a red light started blinking at the top. They stood like that for a minute, Donnie staring into Leo’s soul and the latter keeping his eyes unfocused. Leo hoped Donnie would think that he’s just zoned out. It would make his job so much easier.

           At a thankfully convenient moment, Raph and Mikey both come running around the corner. Raph seems to stumble a bit, and Leo guesses that it’s because of him slamming the katana into his head the previous night. The yellow and blue mass on the side of Raph’s head is proof enough of that.

           “Leo! Dude, where were you? They told me that the Foot got you! That’s not cool, man!” Mikey was directly in front of Leo, having shoulder checked Donnie to the side. Raph was standing off to the side, squinting at Leo.

           “I- I don’t know. It was like one second I was on a roof and the next I’m here. What happened?” Raph’s squint lessened. Good. Leo doesn’t need his brother’s suspicion.

           “We got him, let's go back to the lair.” Raph was closer now, his arm crossed in front of him. Donnie shrugged and started to walk, saying something about the nearest man-hole cover. Mikey began to walk after him, grabbing Leo’s arm and pulling him along. Raph was close behind them, looking in every shadow like something was going to pop out at them. It was cute, seeing Raph suddenly care about Leo’s wellbeing. He didn't before, but Leo supposes that it's too little too late.

           It only took a few minutes to get back to the lair, Leo had positioned himself close to it on purpose. It let Karai know where the lair was. They did it as a contingency plan in case Leo decided to betray the Foot. He probably won't, unless it gets boring. Leo is going to chase the thrill of adrenaline he gets and currently it's with the Foot clan. Fighting crime with his brothers doesn’t feel as good anymore, but lying to them does.

           “We’re back!” Mikey was yelling and honestly, could he just shut up?

           Leo was taken aback by his own thoughts. He rarely ever thinks so rudely, Splinter taught him better than that. Splinter taught him better than a lot of things, like being ungrateful, or to question his position. Leo’s kind of tired of listening. Why shouldn't Mikey can it? Maybe Raph was onto something with his never ending aggression. Huh. Raph was right about something for once.

           “Did you find him?” April came running in from the kitchen. She looked frantic, as if she had been stressing over Leo being gone. He was only gone for a day, how was she so messed up about it? It was stupid.

           “Leo!” April sprinted over to him and hugged him, forcing any and all air out of him from the force of it. She probably feels like she should have stopped him from going to meet Karai. He’s glad she didn’t. Leo is content with his current situation. “Oh gosh, when Don told me you disappeared I got so scared, I told you that you shouldn't go. I said that it was a trap! And what did you do? You still went!” She stopped and put her hands on his shoulders, moving him around to look for any injuries. She let go with a sigh. “I’m just glad that you’re okay, Leo.”

           Leo just smiled, Mikey not giving him a chance to respond to April. Mikey grabbed Leo’s arm again, pulling him along to Mikey’s room. The room was just as messy as always, maybe even more so. Empty pizza boxes coated the floor, along with comics and a few action figures. Mikey let go of Leo and ran over to the single clean part of his room, a small table in the corner. Mikey grabbed something off of it, a patchwork of different shades of blue. He ran back up to Leo and held it out to him.

           “Donnie found it when he went to go get Raph. It was all torn up and April said she would just make a new one, but I know how much you liked it so I fixed it up for when you came back! I could find anything that was the same colour but now it looks totally sick with all the different blues.” Mikey was rambling, but Leo didn’t care. In his younger brother’s hand was Leo’s old blue mask. The chunks that Karai had cut out of it had been filled with a light blue fabric, with dark blue thread holding it together. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but Leo still took it from Mikey, which effectively shut him up.

           Leo slid it over his head, matching the eye holes up with his eyes. It was uncomfortable, but wearing it would probably lessen any chances of his brothers thinking something was up. Considering Leo has gone at least three years without letting anyone see him maskless and then suddenly not wearing a mask is a bit odd. Leo has a job to do here, and he hates failing.

           Almost as much as he’s starting to hate being here.

Chapter Text

           After Leo slipped the mask on, a headache began to ring throughout his head. He ignored it, he has better things to do. Mikey follows him back to the main room. Raph, Donnie, and April are all huddled together, talking about something. Leo chooses not to eve’s drop, he’ll figure out what they’re talking about soon enough. It’s probably him, anyway. His concern is tricking Splinter. The rat always seems to know when something’s up. But, if Leo is mostly honest, Splinter might not realise something is wrong. If Splinter can’t tell anything is wrong, his brothers are never going to find out.

           It’s not his best plan, but it might work and he’s betting his life on it. If Splinter figures Leo out, then Master Shredder (it sounds so weird to Leo, calling him that) will kill him. The man said it himself. Whether it’s good luck, or bad, Splinter walks out of the dojo and over to Leo. He looks relieved to see Leo here, as if his return wasn’t expected. Leo is the most capable of all of his brothers, getting back wouldn’t be hard. Even without Leo playing the traitor role. None of his brothers can compare to him.

           Splinter places a hand on Leo’s shoulder, a small smile on his face. The eye contact they make is strained, at least on Leo’s side it is. The mask on his face is so uncomfortable. “I’m glad to see that you’ve returned, my son.” Splinter’s voice is the same as it always was. Deep, but not as deep as Leo’s new master. It hits him then, having a new master, that is. Leo didn’t really put too much thought into earlier, being far too focused on not dying and then planning with Karai. It makes him giddy. It fills him with another surge of adrenaline. Something new was happening, something fun and fun wasn’t something he gets to see when dealing with mutants running rampant every other night. Leo gets to let loose a little more now, something not even he let himself do until recently. He doesn’t regret it, either.

           “I’m,” he pauses, only briefly, to smile as genuinely as he could (Fake smiles were always easy to him) “glad to be back.” Leo looks back at Splinter. He hopes that the rat can’t see how he really feels. Sixteen years of building barriers hopefully doing him justice and not giving his true intentions away. As far as Leo can tell, he succeeds. Thankfully Mikey shoves his way into the conversation, talking about how he re-made Leo’s mask. Donnie walks over to them, not interrupting Mikey (much to Leo’s growing displeasure), and leads Leo into his lab. He’s probably going to try and interrogate Leo about what he “remembers”. Leo, of course, is going to lie his way through the entire questioning. He’s seen Captain Ryan do it tons of times on TV, how hard can it be?

           Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard. All he had to do was describe going to the roof with as little detail as possible, then deny knowing anything after. He does say who he was meeting because April probably already told them, otherwise how did Raph find him so easily? If Leo thought about it, Raph finding him was probably better. It made it easier with his brother's faulty, concussed memory Raph was going to get details wrong. As long as Leo plays along, he’s got his mission in the bag! Once Karai calls him back and they convey all of their spying to Master Shredder, he’ll get his revenge on them and Leo’s free to do whatever he wants.

           Maybe he’ll stay with the foot, or he could continue to fight against the Krang. Heck, maybe he’ll move to California and live in those sewers! The possibilities are endless. Leo just hopes she calls him, or vice-versa, soon because his head is killing him. The blue mask that he knew better than his brothers felt like a stranger now. It felt like home and like betrayal all in one and it was splitting Leo’s skull in two. His thoughts were conflicting and it pissed him off. What does it matter if he’s practically ensuring his brothers and father’s untimely end. But it does matter and that’s the problem. They’re his family, the only one he’s ever known. Even April. He’s going to be the reason they die. He is going to cause his only comfort to cease to exist. He is terrible.

           It is then that Leo begins to laugh. It is quiet and low, sinister. It raises in volume, but it stays at the same pitch. It grows more and more manic, the volume raising louder and louder. His eyes fill with tears. No one notices. He keeps it up for as long as tears could still flow. Years of pent up emotion flooding out of him all at once and no one cared. It’s almost impossible to not have heard him, sound travels too well is the sewer system of New York. And that is what tips Leonardo over the edge. The only time he needs comfort, the only thing that could possibly redeem him and save all of their lives was disregarded as if it were trash.

           Their “fearless” leader is… resigning. But not without leaving a lasting impression. Leo would say they’re never going to forget his face, but he doubts they’ll live long enough to have the chance to forget. Leo looks at the new T-phone Donnie had given to him. He has the rising suspicion that there could be trackers on it now, which is troubling, but not hard to get around. He could simply leave it in his room under the guise of him forgetting. It should be believable, considering they think he’s forgotten almost twenty-four hours. This whole lying thing is going to be fun. Seeing how long he can fool his family is sure going to be eventful. It’s a challenge that he’s definitely up for.

           But at the moment Leo thinks he should wipe his eyes, school his face, and join his family in the kitchen. He can hear them all, they aren’t very quiet. Even though they were trained to be ninjas, none of them (Barring Splinter, of course) ever really understood how to speak at a reasonable level. It never used to annoy him this much, but times change, Leo presumes. He slips into the main room of the lair, it’s empty of all people. Spike chews on lettuce from one of his many snack bowls Raph leaves around. Leo watches him for a minute or two. He looks so content standing there, eating slowly.

           Leo looks away, toward the kitchen. His family's conversation still continuing. Going in is what he should be doing, but he just can’t seem to move. It’s like his feet are stuck to the floor. Moving towards the kitchen seems like it would kill him spontaneously. No stopping to look at his family dramatically, just death, so he doesn’t. Leo makes a 180 degree turn towards the pinball machine. He sets his T-phone down on the side, right over the spring that launches the ball. Donnie would probably know what it’s called. Leo looks at the high score.

           RAF - 96720

           Raph, who played on the machine the most, he practically hoards it, obviously has the highest score. It’s followed by Leo’s own score of 42894 (He only tried for a few minutes and he beat Raph’s original high score, which pissed Raph off more than it should have). None of them are very good at the game, and it’s relatively new, they had to get rid of their old pac-man machine after Donnie broke the screen. The fact that Raph’s score was higher than his never really upset him before. Pinball was Raph’s thing, not Leo’s, but now? Now Leo needed to be better, even at a thing as small as pinball.

           Start with the small things and work your way to the bigger ones. He wants to break his family's spirits as slowly as possible. He wants them to feel worse and worse, and the best way to hurt Raph? Be better. Thankfully, that isn’t too hard for Leo.