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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You know how Mikey and Raph are - they'll cry and blame themselves somehow. I don't really know Casey that well [for all his talking about being proud of Casey (and he was, that was genuine), he still doesn't really know a lot about the kid.] and Dad-

You're the one who'll take it seriously who also knows what's going on. So. Yeah. But you're doing something important, so go ahead. I'll just hang out with Dad and Shelldon.

[there's a moment of silence from donnie, though not entirely of sound. cars honking, people shouting, and loud construction noise rings tinny through the call. closer, clearer, donnie panting as he takes a moment to catch his breath.

out in new york, donnie is standing at a building's edge, hands on his hips, not really seeing the rescue efforts he's gazing at down below. april is home with her parents. raph and mikey are at the pizza joint, helping out in exchange for some free food. dad and casey are both taking care of themselves and the home in their own ways.

and leo...is being honest. is reaching out to him, to donnie. it's not as if they're never close, it's not as if they're unsure with each other...they just tend not to be each other's first, or even second choice when it comes to reassurance and comfort. but it doesn't mean they can't. hell, more than the others, donnie and leo seem to sink into this weird near-identical mindset sometimes. it's the one thing donnie hasn't been able to figure out, and the biggest contributing factor to the on-and-off semi-serious joke/observation that leo and donnie are twins.]

(...I'm getting the contrast from April,) [donnie says finally, wiping at his forehead. mystic shell is still on the fritz, not working right. tech still smashed up or gone from their other fights, streets too clogged with debris and people for the turtle tank. running is the only option right now.] (I don't think you're in immediate danger, but I want to know what we're dealing with sooner rather than later. April doesn't know when her parents are gonna let her leave again.)

[There initially isn't any response from Leonardo's side. Just the silence of the medbay and Leonardo's breathing a little heavier than he really probably should be.

It's something. It's more than he knew, and he didn't know that about April... Safer for her, even if he knows they'll all miss their friend (sis? she's effectively their sis at this point). He's grateful to just... Know what's happening. Not being able to walk around and inject himself into whatever he wants is killing him slowly.]

...Thanks, Dee.

(People're already starting to clean up.) [gets moving again, the small hiccups and jolts in his voice for when he leaps and lands.] (Already equipment and crews all over the place. April's building is mostly whole, doesn't look like it saw a lot of action. One sec.)

[the CLANG of donnie landing on her fire escape, either not bothering or too tired to care about making noise. a one-sided conversation -"you have it? yeah. okay, i'll wait here. next week? probably not, i'll ask dad."- before he starts moving again.] (April says get better and stay in bed.)

[It's... Good? It's good, hearing it all. Knowing what's going on topside, what's happening, how April and her family are doing. Feeling like he's still connected to what's going on. Having information is better in the long run, and getting it from Donnie ensures there's no weird onesidedness to it.

Leonardo feels better feeling connected.

Leonardo realizes the problem. He doesn't want to be alone, or feel alone. Disconnected from everyone at the same time. Just floating...]

Y-yeah. [If his voice sounds a little thick, don't mind him.] Will do.

[leo only gets short like this when he's sinking too far into his own head. come on, a topic, look for something to-

...ugh. eugh.] (You haven't heard about how Mikey and I got control of the ship yet, right?)

[He'd been about to let him go, just settle with Shelldon and dad, but-

Donnie had been cagey about whatever happened; Leo knew something happened, and the only logical time it could happened was when Don and Mikey were trying to hack into the ship. But considering the outburst, Leo hadn't wanted to badger him about it. But if he's offering...]

No, no one's said anything.

(Well- oof.) [a rattling clang before donnie is off again, jumping from rooftop to rooftop] (That short Krang guy was in the main console, so Mikey and I had to figure out how to get him out. That mostly just involved us falling around, but Michael- Michael was brilliant. Tricked the bastard into whacking himself into the wall with his own tentacles. You should've seen him, Leo, he was marvelous.)

[Leo glances up at Shelldon with half a smile. He's tired, he's in pain and aching, but that sounds like something he wished he could've seen. He would've loved to see one of the Krang assholes hit himself in the face.]

Sounds like Mikey. He's good at that, always that razmataz.

(He really knocked it out of the park.) [setup]

Home run, huh?

[A testament to how ...disoriented he is, he misses the setup entirely.]

So Mikey got the Krang guy out of the main console?

(Mhm. After that, just a matter of interfacing correctly.) [compartmentalization is a wonderful thing.] (I know we were fighting for our lives and trying to save the world but Leo, the way that ship worked? It's like I was the ship.) [and donnie has to stop for just a second, has to stand and pant and look up at the sky, about maybe where the ship was. where he was.] (Felt like I was so much more than myself. ...felt like I could do anything.)

Interfacing.

[Not something he really understands, not without a visual or a word picture. But then he keeps listening, listens to his brother talk with a sort of awestruck admiration for what he experienced, what could have been... Leonardo may not have much interest or brain capacity for science, but he can appreciate his twin having the sort of love for it that he does.]

Yeah? Like - what, a bioship or something? [Straight out of some other cheesy scifi movie. Whatever it was meant Donnie had taken his battle shell off. Leo had noticed it when they all got their Ninpo abilities back.] So you were in total control.

(I was something amazing.) [maybe now it's donnie who sounds a little far away, even to himself. but leo gave him honesty, he wants to give some back.] (If one of you asked me then if I wanted to stay like that, I would've said yes.)

[stayed like that, the consciousness of a ship, forever separated from everyone but perfectly perfect in his existence. now, far away from it, unable to access that feeling again, it's...a little creepy. but in that moment, it had been logical, preferable, desirable. would he have left his family to travel the stars as the pilot and lone occupant of a bioship? ...maybe.]

[Leonardo can hear it in his brother's voice. Donnie really would have been happy like that, even if it meant being away from them.]

No offense, but I'm kinda glad none of us asked you that.

[A little flat, a little annoyed but it's more the pain than anything else.]

But you did good. Piloting the ship back into the portal, you did it.

(Not all the way.) [his breath and the ambient noise picks up. he's on the move again.

at that moment splinter appears in the doorway with his sewing. a mechanical arm emerges from some kind of compartment and rolls donnie's high-backed desk chair over next to the shell-cot for splinter to climb into. sheldon hovers a bit lower so that splinter and leo can talk face-to-face with minimal neck-craning.]

But it was enough.

[He watches Splinter come in, his face softening a little. It doesn't really matter how he's laying down, some part of him hurts but he can at least bite it back in front of Dad.

A quick one-sided conversation on his end, Donnie went out to get something, he's probably on his way back now. Sounds like he's on his way back, no idea when April can come back.]

Hey, uh. You're on your way back now, right?

(Yeah. Hanging up now.) [-oh, okay. not going to go through the awkward goodbyes, then.

at least splinter is there, launching unprompted into some behind-the-scenes stories of what happened on some movie sets. usually stunts gone wrong or crazy groupie tales; the good old days. or maybe not, maybe they were just good back then and if he tried to have them now, he'd just be even more exhausted.]

[Ah. Not going to go through the awkward goodbyes, then.

But Dad is here, and that's fine. He adores their dad, probably the mot of any of them. But with it being more of a 'sit and listen' type of situation and he literally has nothing else to occupy himself, Leo can feel his attention drifting into the exhaustion that's starting to settle into his broken bones again. Somewhere in the middle of it, he wonders how he can still be this tired after already sleeping for over a day. But recovery doesn't care about his thoughts, only in darkening them to a dull idea in the back of his mind.

So by the time Donatello gets back, Splinter is quietly working while Leonardo's fallen asleep again.]

[sheldon sends him a heads-up along with leonardo's vitals, so when donatello enters he knows to be quiet. splinter glances up before scooting his chair back, though he doesn't leave completely.

donnie spares their father a look, package in his hands before he drops it onto the table. he prepares the contrast injection for leo's IV meticulously, approaching the table and tapping the side to wake leo rather than touch him.] Leo. You need to be awake for this.

[Waking and sleeping, waking up and sleeping, he can't seem to get enough of one or the other the way his head keeps being pingponged between both statuses. The tapping doesn't really do much but hearing his name does. He wakes with a little jerk of muscle before the soreness kicks in again and he's left groaning.]

Wha-... hey. What's up?

[eyes narrow. he was trying to avoid making leo jostle. maybe he needs to black market some good pain medication here...]

I'm going to introduce the contrast and then get you scanned. The contrast is going to feel really weird and the machine is loud, but it shouldn't take long.

[uncaps the splitter in leo's IV and unravels the tube he'd been fiddling with, screwing it in but keeping the IV pinched for now. sheldon can't go through the MRI, so he'll need to transfer leo to the other table.] Sheldon, help me slide Leo over. Carefully.

Weird how?

[That's about all he manages to get out before he feels the table he's on shifting, one side gradually lifting up higher. It's uncomfortable, after having gotten settled for the last hour or so. And a nerve pinches somewhere in the middle of his back, a new feeling that has him clenching his jaw so tight he'd swear he was grinding the bones down somehow. But more and more, that thought of what may have happened to his back is solidifying into a congealed sort of terror in the back of his mind.

Leo reaches out for something, anything that's within reach to ground himself. His fist clenching tight to whatever purchase it finds.]

Any chance we can get that time traveling microwave going again and stop all this from happening?

[and that anything would be donnie's forearm; he doesn't flinch this time at least, or try to yank away. he just goes very still for a split second before continuing to hold up the various tubes and cords and help sheldon transfer leo with as little jostling as can be managed.]

Sure. Right after I give past Donnie the lottery numbers, I'll go ahead and save the world while I'm in the neighborhood. Piece of cake.

Great time to start trying to make jokes.

[Almost as if Donnie's the funny one. Fat chance of that, though. After a moment and the sure steady new table is under him, Leo finally lets go. But his hand and arm are shaking from the effort it took to hold on, to not just cry out from the pain and try to consciously think of a joke he barely would call funny himself.

It shouldn't be this bad. It shouldn't be like this, they should've been able to shake off the worst of it and walk home, heads high and ready to celebrate a big win. So why is it bad like this?]

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