Chapter Text
Six months, it had been six months since the world fell into chaos, since they had lost the key. Since Leo had lost the key. The slider was topside with a group of survivors, searching the wreckage of a restaurant and nearby apartment building for anything to scavenge. Of course any fresh foods had most likely decayed and crumbled to dust a while ago, but there could be shelf stable foods still around, and metal utensils were always useful. Leo pushed aside a heavy metal storage shelf and found a couple bags of rice untouched by other scavengers. He grinned victoriously and put them in his own bag, slinging them over his shoulder. Those would be very useful. Mikey would definitely be happy to add to the survivors’ rice supply. As he started to turn around, something in the corner caught his eye next to the displaced shelf. Leo moved a couple steps closer, pushing a few more shelves out of the way to reveal…vines? Definitely not Kraang vines, but creepy nonetheless. They were crawling along the wall and reaching into the air, like a dimented plant spider. Leo shuddered, following the vines to their source, and his eyes widened with surprise. Potatoes. Sure, they were wrinkly and disgusting looking, but they were definitely potatoes. Which meant the vines weren’t vines at all, but roots and stems. The potatoes were trying to grow. Leo gently picked them up, careful not to squish them, and put them in his bag. Donnie would absolutely love this, more plants to add to his work-in-progress bunker greenhouse. Today was shaping up to be a pretty good day.
Leo didn’t find any other foods of interest, but he did manage to snag some more cookware and utensils. When he was satisfied with his search of the kitchen, Leo headed out into the main eating area of the restaurant. Broken glass cracked under his thickly wrapped feet as he searched the booths and tables, managing to find some broken phones. They weren’t fixable, but the metals and other techy things inside would be good for his twin to use. He walked to the broken doorway, speaking to the guy standing guard as he moved past, “I’m gonna go see how the apartment group is doing. There’s not much else here.”
When the person nodded, Leo walked across the street at a brisk pace. This part of the city was quiet, the only sound being the wind rushing past the broken, but mostly standing buildings. A lot of the Kraangified animals, tech, and people were gone for now, either trying to advance further inland or keeping near the Technodrome. It was good, it meant the survivors had a chance to scavenge and breathe, but it didn’t make Leo’s unease go away. They could return at any time, which meant they always had to be alert and aware, ready to run back underground. Leo hated it. He hated being afraid of living in the city he called home. Of course before the apocalypse started he and his brothers had to hide from humans, but that was different. They could still explore, run and jump off rooftops shouting and yelling, kick bad guy butt, go shopping, order pizza…they couldn’t do any of that now. Now, they had to hide like alley rats from an exterminator, one misstep and they’d be dead. It was awful, it was hell, Leo wanted it to stop. He hoped they would be able to figure out a plan soon…well, one that worked, but without their mystic powers there wasn’t much they could do. Leo sighed with frustration and kicked a piece of concrete down the sidewalk before sitting heavily on the steps of the apartment complex, throwing his bag on the ground. He put his head in his hands as he stared at the ground. He had ruined everything, and now he couldn’t fix it. All he had was the hope that things wouldn’t get any worse until he figured out something. Eventually, Leo looked up from the street, staring at the buildings and twisting Kraang vines with a tired frown. That was when he noticed it.
The sky was always hazy these days from smoke, but this…this was different. A purplish-gray smog began creeping across the sky from the north, high in the sky. Leo narrowed his eyes, watching it slowly advance. Then, a cloud of dark specks started flying towards him, so dense he could barely see the smog. They flew frantically above the skyscrapers, all cawing, chirping, and squawking. Birds, they were birds. Hundreds and hundreds, maybe even thousands, of birds all moving in the same direction: away from here. Leo slowly stood up, his eyes going from narrowed to widened when a bird body suddenly landed a few feet in front of him. He walked over slowly, his limbs shaking as he inspected it. It was a sparrow. The tiny bird twitched once, twice, and was still, blood pooling around its head as it fell from its open beak. Leo’s breathing began to increase as another body fell, then another, and another. Soon, the flock of birds of all kinds began to slowly fall silent as their corpses rained from the sky onto the city street.
Leo forced his frozen limbs into action, whipping around and running to the apartment building. He yelled at the humans and yokai inside, causing them to jump, his voice ragged and panicked, “We have to leave, now! Get back underground, go go go!”
The building erupted into chaos. Some people hastily grabbed what they could as they sprinted out of the building, others just ran. Leo followed them, scooping up his bag as he ran through the raining bodies of birds, a few of them hitting his head and shoulders despite his attempts to avoid them. On the ground, rats had begun to scurry away from the north, heading anywhere but here. He burst into the restaurant, yelling the same thing, before running toward the nearest manhole. His lungs began to burn, and he didn’t know if it was the smog or his rapidly increasing panic. He prayed it was the panic.
“Leo come in, do you read me??” Donnie’s voice spoke through the communicator on Leo’s arm. He sounded on the verge of panic himself.
Leo brought his arm up to his face as he ran, speaking as calmly as he could manage, “I’m here bro, what the hell is going on?!”
“It’s some kind of toxin, the…the Technodrome is releasing it.” The sound of typing came from Donnie’s end of the line, “You all need to get underground. Right now.”
“We’re already moving, don't worry, see you soon.” Leo put his arm down as the call disconnected, skidding into a nearby alley. He jumped down a manhole after a few straggling survivors, climbing down the ladder quickly and landing on the ground before looking around at the others. They all were staring at him with varying expressions of confusion and fear, some mumbling amongst themselves. Leo searched the crowd until he saw who he was looking for, an older woman with long brown hair doing a headcount. He walked over to her, taking a deep breath to compose himself, “Do we have everybody?”
The woman looked over to him, giving him a nod that instantly filled him with some relief, “Yes, everyone got down here alright.”
Leo gave her a small smile before turning and starting to walk away, “Good, now we gotta hurry back to base.”
“Leonardo…what’s happening?”
The worried, fearful tone in the woman’s voice made Leo stop. His smile evaporated as his panic returned. What did he say? He didn’t want to tell them that the entire city was being poisoned as they spoke, he didn’t want to frighten them…but he didn’t want to lie either. He looked over his shoulder, trying to make himself look as calm as he could, “Me and my brothers will talk about it once we get back, okay?” It didn’t answer her question, but she didn’t press the issue either, simply nodding as she started walking along the path. Leo sighed quietly, thankful that she didn’t, and went with the group further into the sewers.
“We need to lock down the sewers, make it as airtight as possible as fast as possible.”
Leo was sitting in Donnie’s lab with his brothers, April, and a couple other humans and yokai that Donnie trusted with sciencey things. Right now, Donnie was debriefing the group on what they knew about the toxin, and what they didn’t…and unfortunately the “what they don’t know” list was a lot bigger than what they did.
“How’re we supposed to make the entire sewer system airtight? Isn’t that…impossible?” One of the yokai said, his voice trembling slightly as he spoke up.
“Oh it’s absolutely impossible, especially considering the Kraang control approximately 15% of it and we need air in order to live.” Donnie replied, typing something on a holographic keypad, “However! We can lock down the areas closest to the base, and lock down the base itself to keep any toxin levels low. Plus we have the added benefit of the atmosphere keeping the toxin aloft, for now. I’ll need to create an air purification system for the base and some masks for people going to the surface…”
“For now, let’s focus on sealin’ stuff up, before the smog reaches the ground and starts leaking in.” Raph spoke up, crossing his arms, “Just show us where to go Don.”
“These places are a good start.” Donnie pulled up a map of the tunnels, several points glowing orange at different locations nearby, “We also need to make sure everyone is in the base before we officially lock it down. Leia can you handle doing a headcount of everyone with a bit of help?”
The woman from Leo’s exploration group nodded with a serious frown, “I’ll make sure everyone is accounted for.”
“Good good, as for the rest of you, I want you to start working on air purification. We need to get it up and running as fast as possible.” Donnie looked up from his screen, glancing at the group in front of him, “Maybe I should stay as well to make the work go by even faster…”
“That’s probably a good idea Dee. Me, Leo, and Mikey can handle lockin’ things down.” Raph replied, giving the softshell a confident smile.
“I’ll stay behind as well, help with the headcount.” April said, slinging her bat over her shoulder as she moved to stand by Leia.
“Alright then, well if we all have our tasks let’s get moving and try to avert the disaster at our doorstep.” Donnie turned and began walking back toward the lab, his group of scientists following, “Raphael I’ll send you the map I showed you, check your communicator.”
Raph nodded before turning towards the entrance, gesturing with a hand, “Let’s go team!”
Water gently flowed past the trio of turtles as they walked down the sewer tunnel, the only other sound besides their feet on the damp concrete. They had sealed off everything Donnie told them to except for the grate at the end of this tunnel. Of course they wouldn’t be able to seal it entirely due to the water, but some was better than nothing. Leo and Mikey were carrying a large piece of scrap metal, and Raph a couple of large concrete chunks to hold it in place. Again, not the best, but better than nothing. Leo sighed, he hoped it’d be enough. Or hey, maybe the toxin would just stay super high in the sky forever and they’d never have to worry about it, then Leo could laugh and say “HA! Take that Kraang! Point for team Earth!” But he knew that wouldn’t happen. Donnie told him the stuff was thick and heavy, eventually it would fall to the surface regardless of the wind and poison every living thing on earth. The piece of metal felt heavier in Leo’s hands. Eventually they reached their destination, the grate that led to New York Bay. The trio stopped at the end of the tunnel, and Leo peered outside as best he could. The sun was no longer bright and shiny, it was still present, but definitely not lighting up the world like it should. The smog hung over the city like a seamless cloud bank, now stretching on beyond the horizon. The blueish sky from this afternoon was a distant memory.
“Alright team-.” Raph announced, putting down the concrete chunks and stretching his arms, “-Let’s get this barrier into place. Mikey, Leo, try to get it as flush with the wall as you can.”
Leo smirked, forcing all of the negative thoughts to go elsewhere as he set down his side of the metal as he ran for the water, “I call the side that requires me to take a relaxing dip!” He heard Raph groan as he jumped in, making a canonball splash into the sewer river with a laugh. He popped his head out of the water almost immediately, smiling good naturedly at his brothers while he floated upright, “We should totally take a dip when we’re done mis hermanos, the water is…”
Burning. The water is burning.
Leo’s smile faded as his body felt like it was rapidly lit on fire. He swam back to his brothers’ side frantically, barely able to pull himself out of the river by the time he got there. His limbs locked up, pure agony felt on every square inch of his body as it itched and burned like hydrogen peroxide on fucking steroids. Something warm started dripping down his limbs, he could hear his brother’s panicking on the edge of his awareness, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He could only let out a bloodcurdling scream. Something bad was in the water, something bad was on him. He tried to wipe at his skin to get it off, only managing to do twitchy thrashes. It was like he was having a seizure, was he? His vision blurred, a loud roaring sound in his ears, and it felt like his brain was getting filled with fuzz. The pain was still there though, as crisp and clear as ever, burning and all encompassing. Someone picked him up, he didn’t know who, but it was probably Raph. Hazy shapes sped past in a blur as they moved. Leo couldn’t do anything but scream, scream until his throat was raw and his voice gave out. His breath came in uncontrollable gasps.
Make it stop make it stop make it stop!
One moment, Leo was being carried down an endless tunnel, the next he blinked and was in the med bay. He couldn’t see any details, but he knew the general shapes. He was laid down on something hard, but had some give. A bed probably, but he didn’t have enough brain available to care. He was still on fire, but it hurt more than it did at the river. It went from fire to lava, his muscles tensed and twitching as he sobbed and screamed. People were rushing all around him, his brothers and others he didn’t recognize through the fog. They were yelling back and forth before several of them including Raph started scrubbing him. It felt like someone was rubbing his skin off with a sander. He tried to thrash and shake them away, but all he could manage was a few jerky movements. It felt like it was never going to end, but eventually it did, and Leo felt a little better. He was still in absolute agony, and couldn’t move, but he wasn’t on fire anymore at least. The next thing he knew he was stabbed in the neck with a needle and was plunged into darkness.
The med bay was silent, save for the beeping of medical equipment and the occasional shifting of movement from Donnie’s corner. Mikey was sitting in the middle of the room, hands clasped under his chin as he stared at Leo with wide, fearful eyes. Raph was sitting next to their brother’s bedside, he was half asleep, but refused to move from where he was, no matter how much Mikey tried to convince him to rest properly. It had been a day since…the incident. Practically Leo’s entire body was bandaged and he had long since been cleaned off, but Mikey couldn’t get the image from the sewer river out of his head. His brother lying there, stiff and twitching and screaming, while his skin melted off of him like butter over heat. They’d brought him in as fast as he could, wiping off the contaminated water to stop the burning and bandaging him to stop the bleeding. Donnie gave him tranquilizer, pain killers, and muscle relaxant before immediately going out to get samples of water for research. Mikey hastily sat up more when Leo started moving, Raph standing up from his chair. Not this again.
They watched tensely as their brother started gasping, his limbs seizing up again and his eyes opening wide with shrunken pupils. The moment he began screaming incoherently Donnie stood up from his chair, rushing over to the bedside.
“Leo! Calm down, it’s just us!” Raph gently placed a hand on Leo’s shell, trying his best to be comforting. The only thing he got back in return was a terrified stare, not a hint of recognition in Leo’s eyes. Mikey whimpered as he watched Donnie give Leo another concoction of medication, the slider passing out a few minutes later. Raph sat heavily back on the chair with a tired sigh, rubbing his face with a hand. Mikey watched Donnie stalk back to his table, his hands balled into fists. He stood there, stiff as a board, before shouting and flinging a (apparently unimportant) pile of papers off of the desk.
“FUCK!”
For once, Raph didn’t scold him for language.
Mikey got up from his chair, approaching the softshell and standing by his side, looking over to see his face, “Do you…need a hug?”
Donnie was glaring at the table, hands still in tight fists, his eyes glistening with the threat of tears, “No, I need results!” He snapped, whipping around to glare at Mikey, causing the box turtle to flinch, “A toxin that burns the lungs irreparably, attacks the nervous system, and turns water to acid has infected our brother and is about to turn the world into a desolate wasteland and I have no idea how to fix it!”
Mikey just stared at Donnie with wide eyes while his older brother glared at him, his head instinctively sinking a bit into his shell. Donnie’s glare quickly faded at the sight of this, and he sighed as he smoothed his expression over to a more emotionless mask, loosening his hands, “I’m sorry Angelo…I shouldn’t have yelled at you. This isn’t your fault. It’s none of ours. I’m just…stressed.”
Mikey lifted his head, giving Donnie a slightly strained smile, “I know you can figure this out Dee, but you gotta remember you’re not alone. You have a team of scientists here, and there’s a whole world out there dealing with the same thing you are. One of you will find the answer, or at least a step to it. Everything will be alright.”
“You’re right, you’re right. I think…I need to clear my head for a moment.” Donnie tapped his fingers together, his gaze falling to the floor briefly before he looked up at Mikey again, “…Can I have a hug actually?”
Mikey beamed, eagerly scooping Donnie into a tight but comfortable embrace. He looked over when he heard Raph approach, the snapping turtle’s exhausted gaze looking between them, “Can…Raph have a hug too?”
Mikey opened the hug to his older brother, “C’mere.”
The three embraced, and Mikey snuggled up against their shells. They’d get through this, he had to hold onto the hope that they would. For Leo.