tushanshu | [TEXT] Leo to Team, COME IN TEAM

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[TEXT] Leo to Team, COME IN TEAM

[The cart ride into Keeliai is long, exhausting and stressful. Leo presses himself into the furthest corner to hide (which still leaves him painfully visible) even as his sharp blue eyes peer through the slats, taking in as much of the alien city as possible.

On one hand, this is the most amazing thing Leo's ever experienced, an exhilarating adventure straight out of Space Heroes. On the other, he's never felt so alone, out of control and exposed in his life. Sure, he always wanted adventure, but not without the guys - and not hauled down a city road in broad daylight, surrounded by people turning their heads in curiosity.

At least the few kedan on the street who take a close enough look into the open-backed cart to spy him out don't scream or run. But there are some stares, and he can feel the undercurrent of hostility like a flame inches from his skin. There's a tension in the air in some parts of the city they go through, a hard look to some of the kedan when they see someone not like them...

Leo slips into his appointed building like - well, like a ninja, or as close as possible while lacking the cover of darkness. When he gets to his temporary quarters he leans his shell against the door and sighs wearily; alien robots and plant monsters are one thing, but this? This is an entirely new level of crazy.

Water had seemed a natural choice when the kedan gave him options. He's glad of his choice now as he splashes some from the room's small fountain over his head, then winces as he does the same to the burn mark forming on his shoulder. It's not serious, but Leo's entire arm aches and tingles from channeling Justin's electrical shock through his katana. He's certainly pulled smarter moves.

Hopefully whatever jerked him "sideways" during that explosion also took his brothers through in slightly different places, and he can link up with them again once they all get their bearings. He knows the team can handle this situation, but first? They have to be together.

He'll start canvassing the city come dusk, one Sector at a time if he has to. But until nightfall, Leonardo has time to kill, and he isn’t about to sit around doing nothing.

Settling in at the console, Leo sets it up for a text message - and pauses, considering his options. This is a public network; he has to get a message out that his brothers will understand if they're listening, but that won't arouse too much civilian curiosity or alert any enemies.

There is one thing... He'd batted around an idea for a code word with Donnie. The problem being, it was never official - Leo just hadn't anticipated a realistic situation where it would be useful. The idea was just idle talk.

He hopes that if Mikey or Raph are alone out there, they'll recognize his reference. Donnie will catch on at least, if he's listening. One way or the other it's the best Leo's got until he can search the rooftops.]

ANy New Yorkers out here? if you know the 2nd Time About shop on Bleeker, contact me ASAP

[Ryan to Dauntless, come in Dauntless...]

Aalso. Look, I got the story from the kidan ans I know i can;t be the first person to ask. But Im looking for any leads on how t get back to my own world... stories, rumuors, anything. Thankyou.

[Please don't let him be alone out here. Leo presses Return.]

[ tl;dr Enter one cagey ninja turtle boy with delusions of being a Great Hero! Leo v.2012 is here and super worried about his bros ;A; ]

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[That's our Mike, telling the truth when it isn't his turn.

Judging by his expression, Mike was just about to swat at Raph with a jibe that was equal parts snark and genuine affection. Of course...that expression shifts when Leo's question catches his attention.

That's when the snark completely melts away and a look of pure amusement takes over.]

That's adorable. You guys share a brain!

[The voice is wrong, and the inflection isn't quite right, but aside from that this Mike could easily be their Mikey poking fun at Raph for talking to his pet turtle.....again.]

They all wear red.

[Note the lack of irritation and demands that Mikey switch his color this time. Yeah, he read the conversation between big Leo and Mikey about why they all wear red bandannas; even Raph has his honor, okay.]

[It never occurred to him that they might NOT have wound up with different colors. Yet it seems to suit Mike, along with his strange two-toed feet and strangely-shaped face sporting an over-broad, toothy grin.

Leonardo's not distracted by the differences of his brother's dimensional twin for long though. The ribbing almost derails him and Mike gets treated to a second or two of flustered embarrassment over being called adorable before Leo recovers his composure and scoffs.]

Okay, very funny Mike. Is there a reason you're out here eavesdropping?

[You know, now that you mention it Mike does not the lack of apparent irritation from Raph with regards to his choice of mask color. So much so that his attention is instantly diverted from Leo back to Raph, who has earned his very own single brow-ridge look of impressed astonishment.

He's still looking at Raph when he begins to answer Leo.]

Curiosity. I mean, I knew right away that you weren't from my world, so I figure that frees me up from the ol' cloak and dagger routine.

[He half shrugs.]

I mean...isn't the better question why the heck are the two of you meeting out here?

[Don't you look at him like that. He's still tempted to toss your ass off the roof. He's still all offended that you decided to leave and go back home after a while. One would think you didn't appreciate the semi-constant abuse!]

That would be because of Captain Paranoid over here. [A rival to you, Mike, without the homicidal tendencies.] Why, your Leo isn't all obsessed with secret plans and meeting places and whatever?

[It's a good thing Raph spoke up first, because Leo's answer involves the word "debriefing." Fortunately the Captain Paranoia line derails him. ~~That's Captain RYAN to you.~~

Still, being paranoid is better than being careless. RAPHAEL. With your VIDEO CAMERA. Leo's hands rest on his hips and he shoots a quick glare, but there's only a fraction of the energy needed to precede a genuine lecture or a fight. It's just obligatory Leader Attitude and he immediately moves on.]

Okay, look. WE are out here because I just got got to Keeliai, and my brothers and I need to touch base.

So I appreciate that you came out here to meet me, Mike, but it might take a little longer than half a day to find that portal.

[Leo isn't sure if there will be a genuine portal or not. But he DOES have faith that he'll get them home, whether it will take science, alien technology or ouija boards, and that confidence warms his voice with a friendly smile. This isn't the right hour or place to horn in on Leo's family time, but he's got a soft spot for Mike. Leos always do.]

Edited (ouija boards!) 2013-04-18 18:44 (UTC)

[Let's be honest here, Leo. Everyone has a soft spot for Mike, which how he's able to get away with the sheer amount of crap that he does.

Mike looks from Raph to Leo and then back, arms folding across his plastron as he does so.

This not only brings his bandaged arm into view, but shows how much more easily he moves with it...on the off chance that Raph wants to give that roof toss a thing a go]

No, not really. Back home we trust each other, so there's no need for obsessive paranoia when it comes to each other.

Trust.

It's why I didn't feel I needed to warn Donnie about the traps, because I trusted his abilities to get through them without getting hurt, just like I assumed he'd trust my skills to not outright kill him in the first place.

[Yeah, he heard that part.]

I'm not here because I'm worried about the Portal, Leo. So long as I'm here I'm going to trust that my brothers can take care of themselves. They're not idiots...well, okay Raph is sometimes but that goes with the territory.

I'm here because I'm curious why you didn't trust your Donnie's computer skills enough to just... say where you lived over a secure line. Why don't you trust each other? You guys are actually brothers, and you're meeting like spies in the night. What gives?

...

Oh and because I thought it'd be funny if I showed up.

Edited 2013-04-18 19:04 (UTC)

[Leo had noted this Mike's comparative eloquence, but now it's striking. Mike speaks calmly, intelligently, with keen perception for everything that's been going on around him.

And then he accuses Leo of not trusting his brothers. Normally it would be so far from the truth Leo would meet it with nothing more potent than annoyance. But right now, with his arm still smarting from his battle with Justin, it's a little more personal.

Ice hits his spine; Leo's eyes widen with shock and he sucks in a sharp breath. Mike just blundered into a hard, uncomfortable kernel of truth - but it has nothing to do with the Network or Donnie's skills or Mike's traps or even Leo's intel games, and a lot more to do with certain choices he made regarding a particular kunoichi.

You really think Mikey and Donnie wouldn't understand? Raph's accusation, snarled inches from Leo's snout moments before the spar devolved into a fist-fight. Raph had been right in the end. Leo hadn't trusted his brothers to bare his feelings about Karai, and in the end his misplacement of trust had gotten them all hurt.

That wound is fresh, completely unhealed, and far too raw to diffuse with a small joke. Leo's back stiffens and his posture changes, eyes narrowing.]

I trust my brothers and their skills. [His voice is tense with insult over even saying that. This is something that shouldn't have to be said.] What I don't trust is - is this place! And until I know what's out there, I'm not giving out the location of a safe hiding spot over an unfamiliar Network!

[Leo thinks it's self-evident why that's risky, for a million reasons. Not the least of which is that it's simply a Bad Idea. And you know what? He doesn't trust Mike's traps much either.]

And you know what Mike, speaking of your little set-up - if our Mikey gets here and I find out you let him just wander around in there? You and I are going to have a problem.

Raph.

[Leo turns away, and relies on his brother to hear his tone and follow him across the rooftops. This place is putting a sour taste in his mouth. It's past time to move.

He doesn't know the area particularly well, but right now Leo doesn't need to know where he's going. Just... away from here, with his brother. Everything else he'll work out on the fly.]

[That is a bigger reaction from Leo than Raphael had been expecting. He'd been on the edge of snapping himself, but from Leo? His brother's anger takes the wind out of his sails, makes him wonder about what he's missing from this Leo's life and also wonders if it has anything to do with that Foot girl he'd met on the roof. There's not much that can agitate Leo to the point of storming out of a conversation, but judging from how he'd hemmed and hawed over talking about Karai, Raph thinks she might be one of them.

Leo snaps to the side and calls for Raphael, but he pauses. Even if Leo gets a little ahead, he can catch up.

He looks at Mike. Yeah, okay, so they were overheard, but Raphael isn't ever going to be one to apologize for saying nasty things about someone. Not that often, anyway. There's a whole lot he's feeling and if he had the time, a whole lot he could put into words, but he's in a hurry.]

Don't talk about my family like that.

[He turns and jumps. He needs to catch up.]

[That was a thing that just happened.
What the thing was, exactly, Mike isn't entirely sure. But he is sure that something just happened.

One of April's first real complaints when she took in Mike and his brothers, was that if they weren't smiling it was really hard for her to know if they were okay. That there was something about their expressions, something she just couldn't wrap her mind around. She hesitated to use the word alien, but for lack of a better word it stuck. Mike assured her it just took practice, that they really weren't as inscrutable as all that once you got to know them. Mike's ability as a turtle to human/human to turtle interpreter was one of the first things that he and April bonded over.

Even with his honed by years of practice skills, Mike still isn't sure what just happened here.

But he does know that whatever it is, it takes Raph by surprise too. Well, for all of the couple of seconds it takes for the rusted gears of Raph's brain to start grinding.

There's a story there, and considering how Leo just pulled a Raph and stropped off...it had to be a good one.

These turtles, they're younger than he is by a year. There's nothing that happened in the past year that Mike can think of that would make his Leo react that way, well...nothing that doesn't involve Raph and a really large wrench.

...

Maybe...maybe that's why they're always talking about their Michaelangelo like he's a moron. Maybe, Leo didn't stay Raph's hand in time. Maybe their Mikey is a halfwit because of it.
Maybe, just maybe it wasn't Raph's hand that needed staying at all. Maybe it was Leo's. And this response here is the guilt that followed in the wake of that one fateful moment.

Cripes, that's dark, he thinks to himself as he watches the brothers disappear into the night.

He toes the ground in dejection for a moment.]
"it was nice to meet you."

[It's a sentiment he mumbles to no one in particular.

It's the last sound he makes before he rejoins the shadows and disappears into the night.]

Edited 2013-04-19 02:03 (UTC)

[Leo runs. He feels, at first, like his anchor's snapped, and he's swimming in anger. Mike's words and their implications burn in his mind, and he doesn't quite understand why some stupid banter made him furious enough to go and - do whatever that was - but he's angry, and on the exceedingly rare occasions when Leo's anger can't be stifled or vented with clipped words he has to turn to physical catharsis. Right now, it's running. No flips, no fancy bouncing off the walls, just roof to roof to walltop to molding to roof.

Then he hears Raphael's footsteps at his heel, just to the side. Leo's tunnel vision clears out, his breathing loses its hard-edged tension. His thoughts start to fall into coherent order. As the fresh air chills his nose and clears his head, Leo realizes he's not stewing over Mike's words so much as he's thinking about Karai. What Raphael said about her, how they fought over it, and how he actually got between his brother and the kunoichi.

Are you defending her? Raphael's words again. What is wrong with you?

Raph had been right all along... and he's still there at Leo's heel. Backing him up. Even though Leo had never doubted his brother, Raphael's presence re-grounds him.

Anchor's back.

Leo's pace slows, and finally he comes to a stop at the edge of the sector. The alien skyline is new and breathtaking, but his attention isn't on the night landscape. Raphael's quiet footsteps come up behind him.

He's silent at first, letting his thoughts fall into order. Something that keeps coming to mind is Donnie's comment about missing hours or days. He owes Raph a few words at least, and the need, the responsibility to make up for his mistake twists under his skin. But he doesn't even know if Raph will remember what he's talking about.

Okay. Well, there's only one way to clear that up. When he finally speaks, Leo's voice is quiet, thoughtful.]

Raph, what's the ... last thing you remember?

[Raph had glanced back before disappearing and caught Mike's posture before he slunk back into the darkness. ...maybe later. Leo takes priority.

Leo's always been faster, but he's not running as hard as he can and Raph can keep up. He just follows him silently, lets Leo get it out of his system and skids to a stop just behind his brother when it seems like he's finally done.

It's a nice night.

Leo makes that sound he usually does just before he says something he doesn't want to say, and Raphael looks over at him, folding his arms.]

Fighting Snakeweed down in the alley. And meeting your new pal, Karai.

[She's probably got something to do with this, unless Leo is even further ahead and he's done another stupid thing. That's also a possibility.]

[Leo winces at the mention of her name - and the tone Raph puts behind it. He can't blame his brother for the attitude; in fact, he deserves a little of that right now. Recovering his composure, Leo takes a measured sigh before he speaks, eyes breaking their hold on the landscape briefly to send an honest and chagrined glance at his brother.]

Yeah. Well - she won't be a problem anymore.

[There's finality to Leo's statement. He doesn't just mean because they're in Keeliai.]

[Well now that doesn't make Raphael suspicious in the least.]

Why, what happened? [SUDDEN ANGER] Did she hurt Mikey or Donnie? I'll kill her if she did.

Edited 2013-04-19 05:51 (UTC)

[OK LOOK BRO. You have your thing with that other Raphael, Leo has what went down with Karai. He is absolutely not going to re-hash what he did, the mistakes that he made. If Raph doesn't remember, Leo doesn't want to have to confront it.]

What- No! No, you guys... you were okay.

[Body-slammed into the wall, zapped with electricity, but nothing they couldn't bounce back from. Justin was Karai's fault, but Karai was Leo's fault. Ultimately she wasn't responsible for that monster - Leo was.]

Karai just - she left us in a bad situation. That's all. And I got us out of it.

[The problem here is that he doesn't actually know if he did. The last thing he remembers is the explosion; he doesn't even truly know how big it was. Despite the sure tone in his voice as he declares the situation had been taken care of, in the wake of those words his expression falters and darkens. He rubs his shoulder absently; the electrical burn stings.

I hope.

The qualifier goes un-voiced, but it's on his face.]

[Raph's eyes flick to Leo's shoulder, then back to his face.]

Good.

[Raph's willing to put it to rest as long as Leo promises the safety of their brothers and has learned his lesson. As far as he's concerned, it's water under the bridge now.]

[Thank goodness Raph isn't grinding it in. Leo's had about all he can take today.

He does still feel conflicted about Karai - Leo was sure he'd seen something there. Despite everything, he remained certain of it. But it was a mistake to follow that feeling, especially without divulging the situation to his brothers. He refuses to repeat something that put his team at risk like that, and he would learn his lesson no matter how difficult. He'll have a little more trouble teasing out the full value of this lesson without Splinter's guidance, but he gets the basics at least.

Talk to your brothers. Don't flirt with the enemy.

Leo is so happy to have this under the bridge. May it never be resurrected.

His posture shifts as he takes a breath; it's like a weight has been eased. The Mike incident is starting to nag his conscience, but you know what? Leo's done. Today he had a fight with his brother, battled a Kraang fem-bot that shot missiles, led a mission to the WGP, got betrayed by a kunoichi who set lose a genetic monster, nearly got the team killed, and then was shunted to a different dimension with no way home where alternate versions of both himself and his brothers exist and this island is on the back of a giant turtle.

Anything he hasn't yet coped with can just wait until tomorrow. Leo is so. Done.

And when he looks back at Raph, there's a familiar look in his eyes. The one that says I need to blow off some steam, let's go kick some heads.]

So what is there to do around here besides roof-hopping?

['Cause yaknow he's been hearing chatter about gang warfare and anti-foreigner violence so there's got to be SOMETHING to do in this town.]

[Raphael grins, and something that's been knotted tight in his chest since his arrival -since before that, really- loosens and rests. Santo kind of gets this, that this is necessary, but he's not always available and Raphael isn't going to crawl to his new friend every other day when he needs the company or the understanding.

Leo gets this part though. He gets this at least.]

We could go introduce you to the neighbors in the dark parts of the Metal Sector. They're fun to hang out with.

[Raph slips a sai from his belt and spins it for emphasis. Leo's shoulder looks a little rough, but he knows his limitations and he doesn't need Raphael to babysit him. Unless it turns into a competition and Leo gets all bullheaded about it, but that's never stopped them before and it's sure as hell not going to stop Raphael now.]

[Yeah. Yeah, Leo gets this. It's something fundamental to the strong bond that these two volatile brothers, so opposite in temperament, have formed. A love of fighting - both in their own way - and a passion for winning.

Especially when winning involves proving that you're more skilled, faster, smarter, stronger, and just all-around better. They both love it, and they're both good at getting there. It's something they've always had in common. Whether they're engaged in the constant game of one-upping each other, or fighting shell-to-shell and dancing around each other with more fluidity than most people coordinate their own bodies, it knits them together with a bond nearly as strong as their blood.

It's tempting to return the display, but Leo avoids drawing a katana just to show off for his brother. Normally he might, but his dominant shoulder IS sore, and he's had too long a day to be focused on one-upping right now. As far as his shoulder goes, he wouldn't want to go into a mission or a serious battle; but if he needs to draw his blades he can handle himself, and as for kicking around some gang members? Oh, he's more than capable.

Leo grins and smacks a fist into his palm.]

Let's show them how we have fun in our neighborhood: Bring Your Own Beat-down.

[IT'S CLEVER.]

[Leo, sometimes it's not even what you say so much as how you say it. Case in point, that was not a bad saying, but coming out of your boy scout mouth it sounds incredibly dorky.]

Let's just go.

[They locate crime easily enough; a bunch of punks breaking into a nearby store. Some of them apparently know kung fu, which makes things interesting, but it's still much duller than what they're used to, so Raphael goads Leo at the same time.]

Hey, are you still tired from the trip here or something? You're lagging. More than usual, I mean.

Edited 2013-04-24 05:30 (UTC)

[That sounded dorky?

Really?

Aw man...

When they get to the good stuff, Leo starts out simply enjoying himself and taking it easy. It's always amusing to take down punks who think that because they've seen the inside of a dojo that they know what they're doing. But Leo behaves; he avoids pulling with his dominant shoulder to throw, strikes the heaviest blows with his feet or left fist. His blades, of course, are completely unnecessary against scum like this.

Then Raphael opens his mouth, and as usual, caution goes out the window when competition is in the house. Lagging? Leo scoffs.]

Actually, I thought I'd be generous and let you set the pace, Raph. [A kedan thinks he's in Leonardo's blind spot; he's wrong, as is made clear when Leo effortlessly weaves around the strike and plants a kick worthy of a small equine in the man's soft midsection.] I mean, you can't tell me two months of easy pickings - [duck the crowbar, chop to disarm the wielder, spin back around to trip and grab and throw INTO the kedan who was getting back up] - haven't made you a little soft!

[Okay, so that move hurt a little, but it looked good and that's what matters. That's what always matters.]

Soft?! [Raphael snaps his fist back into the face of an attacker who rushed his shell, tone somewhat outraged. Raphael doesn't get soft! Even if getting Donnie to spar with him on a regular basis is...challenging. At least sparring with other-Mike is practically a guarantee.] I've got news for you Leo, I'm better than ever. I'm probably three times as good as you now, instead of just twice as good.

[Leo grins wide at the outrage in Raphael's tone - your voice is still cracking there, bro - before scoffing at the claim.]

Oh come ON, Raph. If you're going to exaggerate, keep it believable. Say that you're... [The next unfortunate offender gets a variation of the Death Dragon sweep that Mikey brought home.] Catching up to me!

[Apparently, Leo is letting his inner brat loose tonight. It's been a long day. And no his own voice totally did NOT crack on that last line, shut up.]

[YOUR VOICE CRACKS JUST AS MUCH LEO YOU SHUT THE HELL UP

Raphael flips a gang member over his shell and turns to jab his sai in Leo's direction.] All right, that's it! Finish up already, you and me are gonna settle right now who's the one that needs to catch up!

[Somewhere in the back of Leo's head is a little voice telling him that he IS tired, he DOES have a fairly painful burn on one shoulder and Raphael has fair enough odds on a good day. Antagonizing his brother is an almost certain way to get his shell handed to him right now.

But his ego has always been louder than that voice. It's also entirely possible this is his subconscious' way of making sure he gets a beat-down to accompany those moral lessons he stumbled through earlier, since Splinter isn't here to whack him with his jade cane. Or, maybe Leo just wants to see what his brother's been doing with his time ninja-wise and this is the clearly the most appropriate way to find out.]

Really, Raph? [A simple elbow to the nose of one guy who's so wobbly that the impact puts him straight out, and then - oh. The last one ran away. Tch, that's no fun.

Except for the part where he turns to his brother with a smirk, drawing one blade so he can meet Raph's weapon with his own. He twirls it, then comes on guard with both hands firmly braced on the handle.

Then the smirk fades and his mask creases between his brow as he prepares to meet a competent opponent.]

All right, fine. You've got something to prove? Let's see it.

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/PLACEHOPS because Leo is a drama bunny

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