semilethal | LEO - POST MOVIE

LEO - POST MOVIE

[ nobody asks where april found the van. some mild criminal activity feels irrelevant in light of the day they just had anyway, and they couldn't exactly walk all the way back to the lair.

not with leo like...this. not just leo either; raphael couldn't hardly hold his head up, hunched and clearly wearing his 'i'm the eldest and i won't complain' face as he cradles leo so carefully on their way to the van. mikey's hands and arms won't stop trembling, even when he twists them together and presses them to his plastron. donatello is sore all over and his skin and shell feel raw, like someone rubbed him down with sandpaper.

and leo's quiet. leo's too quiet.

so there they are in the cargo van, raph tucked toward the front with a leg stretched out for mikey to use as a pillow to doze upon. april and casey sit up front, throwing concerned glances over their shoulders as often as is safe while april slowly weaves the vehicle through the half-destroyed streets toward the nearest access point. splinter sits near the doors as their only other capable fighter, though he keeps his tail curled around leo's uninjured ankle.

and donatello, he's stripping off his gloves because he's going to have to touch his brother to get a better idea of his injuries, and his skin doesn't feel like his own and that'll interfere with his judgement. the fewer layers between he and his brother, the more accurate he can be. ]

Alrighty Leon. Look alive, let's...let's diagnose.

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[Please, you don't need that hand, Donnie. While the grip is firm, it's a little shaky for the moment but nothing horrible. Leo does just watch him.

Fuck it's only been two days, come on.

Trust me to take care of you.]

Fine, fine. Just tell me what you need me to do.

You're very compliant lately. It's kind of gross. [this bitch, after he specifically asked for that compliance,

Donnie maneuvers so he can tap at his wrist computer without letting go of Leo's hand and a freestanding panel floats over. Donnie adjusts the positioning with one hand directly in front of Leo's upper torso, then hesitates.] ...I need to go to my computer.

[A beat.

And then realizes-]

Right. [Just lets that go and holds on to the panel instead.] Also you're the one who specifically asked for that compliance.

Yes but I still didn't expect it. [thus, gross.

Donnie heads over to his computer, taps a few keys. A window with what looks like a wormhole diagram opens up briefly before it is replaced with multiple windows of comparative x-rays, various charts with medical data, and an input field for notes.] Let go of the panel and stand as straight as you can on my count. One, two- three. [He taps another key and waits for a moment to check that the x-ray is sufficient before coming back over and automatically holding out his hand again for Leo to take, even though he surely has walking aides around here somewhere.]

[Donnie, surely you have walking aides around here somewhere. But on three he lets go, trying to stand up straight. But everything is sore, he feels the adhesive of some bandages on his skin tugging with the new, definitely normal position he's definitely been in for days.

And once Donnie's close by, he'll take that hand again.]

Oh, if you don't want it, I can be normal about it instead.

I'm glad we can agree that your normal state of being is usually categorized as very annoying. [Shoves floating screen out of the way so he can guide Leo over to two parallel handrails with a stool placed somewhat out of the way of the walking path in the middle.] Lift both arms as far as you can without pain.

Only the best to annoy my twin bro.

[Follows along, trying to just get the hang of walking after laying down not moving for... how long has it even been? A week? Longer? Time's fake.

But the instruction he looks at it. Already feeling tired again, but raises his arms. They get farther than he thought, almost shoulder height, before the pain jolts from his shoulders down his back and he stop there before letting them down again.]

That- That's it.

Hm. [Taps away at his wrist computer. The form fields on his computer screen across the lab fill somewhat.] Okay. Same thing, bend to touch your toes.

[And like this Donatello leads Leo through more exercises. Twist at the waist, stretch side-to-side, even leg exercises to make sure there isn't much muscle atrophy. Roll his head, turn to look over each shoulder as far as possible, chin to chest, eyes up to the ceiling. Rotate arms in circles, wrists, elbows. Everything connects through the spine, everything. He has to be sure.]

All right. [Donnie kicks the stool over in case Leo (probably) wants to sit down, though that's surely not going to be as comfortable as the Shellcot's been.] I'll build a regimen off of this. We can probably take those bandages off for good though. I also want to get any plaster remnants off and check your shell for any stress fractures, but the x-ray looked good.

[Leo didn't know it was possible to feel tired and worn out just from some slow stretches. But he's learned something new today.

By the time it's over, he's breathing hard than he normally would be for this little activity. So the stool is promptly grabbed and sat on.]

Yeah? Great. 'Cause I'd really love a shower right now. Or a bath. Either one. [He Feels So Disgusting Right Now.]

Yeah, so would the rest of us. [you are loved but you also stink so bad

Donnie circles around behind Leo and rubs his chin as he examines the plaster. Shelldon arrives a moment later (still a cot, thankfully) with a basin of warm soapy water and a soft sponge. Those usual mechanical arms sprout from Donnie's shell and pluck away Leo's bandages, seizing the sponge and basin to start wiping excess plaster away from the shell wounds to check on the healing.]

...maybe a resin coat just to reinforce, [Donatello mumbles to himself, tapping more notes into his wrist display even as the mechanical arms work to support Leo and clean up his shell.] No visible cracks though. Could probably do without just fine.

[His fourteen step skin care routine has been RUINED since the Krang got here. He has so much to make up for in pampering.]

Good. [He'd been genuinely.... definitely worried about that. Not being able to do his own medical treatment had been scaring him a bit.] What else?

Nothing else. [Straightens up, mechanical hands dropping the sponge back into the basin as Shelldon floats merrily away to dispose of the water and whatever else he does around the lab.] You're healing better than expected. You should be able to get back to regular training in a matter of weeks.

[...and that's it. Leo's fixed. As fixed as Donnie can make him, pending physical therapy of course.

All done. Job's finished.]

....And. That's good.

[He sounds unsure about it, like.. He expected some other big horrible Thing to be tacked on at the end. Donnie just playing him a little or something, like they do. He keeps watching his brother for now.]

'Course it's good. [Gives Leo a look like he's being the weird one before stalking back over to his computer and dragging his chair over, dropping himself into it.

Shelldon floats back over next to Leo with a fresh set of sheets on, lowering himself a bit in case Leo wants to climb back on and get back to resting after all that. Donnie doesn't turn around.] Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a lot of work to do.

[Leo watches that happen... Smiles a little before starting to climb on.]

Yeah. See you 'round, Dee.

[He'll just quietly lean to Shelldon to whisper we are making one stop to get clean clothes and then the bathroom for the love of all that is good before he starts climbing on.

Away they go, cleaning to hopefully happen with no issue.]

[Donatello emerges from his lab, sleep deprived and feral, with the aura of a man sporting a five-o-clock shadow and coffee breath, in the middle of Leonardo's Shelldon-run rehabilitation. He's probably on the treadmill? Whatever, Donnie programmed all the rehab modules into Shelldon for a reason, and that reason has finally culminated into real, quantifiable results at last, this night.]

I've done it!

[He's walking - still taking it easy - but definitely walking on the treadmill. He nearly trips when Donnie shouts, but catches himself. Leo's unimpressed really, picking up the pace again.]

What'd you do this time.

Only something unbelievably brilliant, as per usual. [slaps controls on leo's treadmill until it stops and grabs his brother's elbow with one of his spider-shell's mechanical arms.] Come with me. You need to be the first to see this.

Edited 2022-12-26 08:16 (UTC)

Whoa-

[Stumbles half a step before the metal arm steadies him. All right, well. It's the best mood Don's been in since before the invasion. He carefully steps off the treadmill and starts following.]

All right, let's see it.

It started with your conversations with Shelldon, about being fixed. Naturally he's limited to more mechanical terminology; being 'fixed' in an organic sense isn't necessarily so cut and dry. [Keeps pulling (supporting?) Leo all the way into his lab, past a curiously humming device shaped a bit like an oversized top suspended inside of a large transparent barrel and over to his computer.

Displayed is the same graphic from before; a wormhole readout, numbers calculating beside it in different sets and matrices, as well as a soundless video from almost exactly Donnie's POV of when Mikey (with Donnie and Raph's help) was tearing open the spacetime portal to retrieve Leo.]

[Donnie taps a few keys and the video minimizes, the wormhole graphic enlarging to engulf the entire screen. A diagram of Leonardo's skeletal structure overlays it, with brain scans popping up as well.] But 'fixed' is still the correct sentiment in that all items of concern should be addressed before one can be deemed functional. Your spine has been repaired, and rehabilitation is proceeding apace. Naturally, there are still other items of concern given that you haven't slept longer than an hour at a time since then, most likely due to the nightmares you've been having. [Donnie presents this information all with a sort of manic excitement, a curious sense of detachment alongside his observations as if recalling a distant study he'd read in a textbook.] 'Fixed' is still relative. Until the core trauma has been sufficiently addressed, we're not there yet.

[He looks over everything, realizing this is what's been keeping his twin busy the last week. But he goes still when Don mentions his nightmares.]

How do you know about that? I mean - not that I do have them. [He knows Donnie records everything, he knows Donnie's probably been keeping tabs, but he still has to deny it instinctively.]

I'm not dignifying that with a response. [Please. They've all had nightmares. It would be weirder if Leo wasn't having them, let alone not having the worst nightmares of them all.

Donnie taps a couple other keys, and the wormhole graphic is suddenly overlaid with another image; a render of New York on one side of the wormhole, and the prison dimension on the other.] Given that I'm not a psychologist and cannot render appropriate medical treatment for whatever emotional scarring you have due to what you went through, I did the next best thing.

I mathematically recreated Mikey's portal-opening technique, and have finally confirmed the formulas necessary for the simulations to return with a success. And then I built a model fission bomb that we can send through that portal to obliterate anything and anyone within a fifty mile radius of its epicenter.

[Leo looks at all of this, not really fully understanding what's being presented here. Not until Donnie mentions a bomb to send through.

Donnie's still wanting to kill Krang Prime.

Not that Leo is entirely against it, he's just also been focusing on recovery and rest before he thinks too much about the anger there still.]

...Why are you showing me this?

[He isn't mad. Leo just wants to have all the facts here. To understand.]

[Donnie, at least, doesn't seem to pick up on any strange vibes. He types away excitedly at his computer, running the portal simulation over and over.] I know, I don't usually reveal my work until it's complete, but to be honest I'd been looking into dimension tears before all of this. So many of our enemies and frenemies and so forth have access to so much knowledge regarding other dimensions that I couldn't stand for us to be so far behind.

As far as this particular application, I just couldn't keep it to myself. [Donatello straightens and claps his hands, nearly bouncing on his toes with restless energy.] Of course there's still practical application, and the methodology of making sure we actually get the bomb -or bombs, if we'd like to be thorough- in the vicinity of Krang Prime, but I may be able to finagle that with my own mystic powers, though I don't know how reliable that would be after we close the portal. Still, the biggest hurdle was the theoretical research and with that out of the way, I'm back in my wheelhouse. I don't doubt this is completely doable.

[It takes to "couldn't stand for us to be so far behind" for Leonardo to realize how far exactly Don's gotten on this.

It's difficult. It's really, really difficult. Because a very large part of him does want the Krang to suffer for what they did - to other worlds, to their city, to him and his family. But is that really... really worth it? Isn't being alone in the Prison Dimension with no escape enough?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But Donnie's excite about even this unfinished... project? No, it's more than that. But what even does he call this.]

If it works, then what?

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A WEEK LATER

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