#human!leonardo

“None taken,” Stacey replied, giving the arm Raph had around her a squeeze, and feeling comforted by the squeeze he gave her in response. “I have a feeling she’s going to be a handful.”

“Ah, but who would we blame for that, hmmm?” Splinter asked rhetorically, lowering the one year old to nuzzle noses with her as she reached out and patted at his tied back hair.

“Raph,” came the chorus of answers around him, even as far away as the meditation area, followed by laughter.

Chuckling softly at Stacey’s wry comment about their daughter being a handful, Raphael could have easily replied with ‘like father like daughter’ or ‘it’s part of her wonderful charm’ but as usual he felt ganged up on. His soft smile quickly dropped and his brow knitted together with a snarl as he turned to glare at each of his visible brothers. “Hey! Ya ain’t meant to all agree!” he huffed, slumping back into his corner of the sofa only making both of his girls giggle at his pouting.

“Not that it’s a bad thing, of course,” Stacey then hummed after controlling her laughter, turning to place a hand on his broad chest and grace his cheek with a light kiss.

Upon hearing her father’s voice, Sera wiggled and clapped her tiny hands in his direction. Her smile only widening when his attitude faded away, his scarred lips turning into a wide grin when her eyes met his. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with takin’ after daddy now is there, princess?” Once released from her grandfathers hold, she was quickly and happily scooped up into Raph’s arms, her laughter infectious once she was being gently tickled. Blowing a raspberry against her soft belly, he had quickly grown used to his mess of dreadlocks being tugged on by her. His only worry was her getting tangled, but half the time she brought it on herself in a ploy to have more attention from him, not that he ever minded.

Now distracted from her reading, Lily closed her book and set it aside, sighing softly while watching the tender scene. Still lost in his book, Donnie continued his reading once the laughter had died down, only humming softly once he felt her fingers slowly brush through his mop of hair. She’d never thought about children, maybe once or twice before she started her courses in veterinary care, but work had taken the soul focus of her mind until recently. She’d never admit it but after Raph and Stacey brought their daughter home, those maternal thoughts had bubbled to the surface again. Science taught her that it was normal for her to feel this way, but that didn’t stop her from shunning her own mind. Maybe one day, but how many? Maybe one, or two?

“You alright there, Lu?” Donnie asked quietly, brushing a hand against her arm.

Her skin flushed almost as red as her hair, blinking herself out of her thoughts and down to the bright silvery eyes below her. “Oh! Yes! I’m okay, my apologies… my mind wandered from my book.” Smiling softly, she toyed with his hair, ignoring the raised brow she was getting for being so pink in the cheek.

“Sure?”

“Positive.”

Sitting up, careful not to catch his head on the low ceiling of the nook, Donatello shifted himself to look at her properly. “If you’re getting warm you can say…” he added a little awkwardly, reaching up to delicately touch her cheek.

“You know I would do, but I’m very much content. However, let me get you another coffee. I’d like a chai tea right about now.”

Albeit reluctantly, she slid past him after neatly closing his book and adding it to the pile they kept on a shelf, only to have him tail her like a lost lamb. “No, you made me one last time, it’s my turn,” he protested, taking one long stride to get past her with a slightly smug grin.

“But I thought I was your lab assistant, isn’t that my job, sir?” Dancing past him with a coy smile, she peered up at him from under her fringe and gracefully took his mug off of his desk before he even attempted to. Feeling the heat in his cheeks, his eyes watched hers as she shephered him to his desk, backing him up until he nearly tripped and fell into his chair. “It’s my pleasure to.” She was like a magical little pixie, always using her sweetness and smiles to get her way, but more often than not, he did so willingly. Bending at the hip, tucking a stray strand of her hair from her eyes, she softly kissed his nose before disappearing to the kitchen.

Watching her leave until she was out of view, Donnie let out a breathy sigh. Adjusting his glasses, he then ran a hand through his hair, realising the state she had left it in from playing with it. Clearing his throat, he swiveled around in his chair to properly face his desk and its many monitors. Nudging the mouse, a few activated from their screensavers, opening up to a page of many different camera feeds. Flicking through each section quickly, everything seemed normal. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing suspicious or curious. “Looks like patrol is going to be quiet tonight…” he muttered to himself, subconsciously adjusting his glasses again. He checked and double checked all the usual spots for activity before he was greeted by a hot mug of coffee being placed in front of him.

Humming gratefully, he leaned into the kiss being placed on his cheek. “Thank you, sweetheart.” Lifting the mug to his lips carefully, before he had chance to look up at Lily, his eyes caught something on one of the smaller screens. Squinting, he placed the mug down again, punching in a few keys to enlarge the camera feed to his main monitor.

“Something wrong?” Lily murmured close to his ear, gently squeezing his shoulders, not wanting to alert anyone if it wasn’t anything important.

“Possibly. Looks shady already…” he responded quietly, his eyes fixated and switching quickly between different camera angles and figures flashing up. “Maybe patrol will be a little exciting after all.”

Slowly rising from his meditations, rolling his body up in a smooth motion, Leo breathed deeply, trying to release the last tension out of his shoulders. It lingered, however, and his lips pressed in a line of disappointment. Meditation was something he had always had an aptitude for, and it ruffled his feathers that even something as simple as that was failing to bring him back to center. Stepping barefoot to the open doorway into the living space, he dropped a shoulder against the frame. The scene in front of him was bittersweet, causing lines in his forehead to match the grim line of his lips.

Leonardo couldn’t remember a time he hadn’t had purpose driving him. He had always wanted to perform well, finding satisfaction in being the model son, doing his best to give his brothers a worthy example to follow. In retrospect, that might’ve had better effect on Raph if he’d been the opposite, as he seemed forever determined to strike out separately from him. Not that it had served him poorly, he ruminated, looking at the small family he had made for himself. Raph didn’t need an example, he had just needed the space to be himself, find his own. Doubt etched deeply into the back of his mind, wondering if he had been wrong all those years, pushing him the way he had.

Mikey was playing videogames, talking to someone as he did so, quietly. Mikey talking quietly was only one of two things, conspiratorial or something he considered private; ‘his own’. Likely it had to do with the pink haired girl that had come round with him a few times in recent history. There hadn’t been any formal introductions yet, but something told him that was only a matter of time. He’d had girlfriends throughout high school, but nothing serious, more of moths to a flame. If he was being careful, it meant that he viewed this girl differently.

Splinter, his father, had such a look of pure joy on his face, one that erased the hard lines of pain from the years and replaced them with creases of joy. The introduction of his granddaughter had brought forth a side to him that was some bit different than they were used to. Once the small girl graced his arms with her presence, gone was the strict sensei they had grown up with, replaced with a man touched by years but a soul that was youthful once again. It was beautiful, honestly, but somehow just beyond his own grasp.

With a heavy sigh, he watched Lily exit the kitchen with two steaming mugs, moving in close to Donatello. From his station in front of the computer screens and the late hour of the day, he was certain his brother was scouting through camera feeds to determine if there was anything that deserved their attention directly that night, rather than simply running a standard patrol. He found himself hoping for that direction, feeling lost and needing that purpose. Smoothing his hands over his short ponytail, he unexpectedly found understanding in Raph, and his need for altercations that seemed to have tapered off to a significant degree. Had it been a lack of purpose all those years? Purpose that Leo had been given in spades, the dutiful son turned into leader?

Both Donnie and Lily stooped together at the same time, focusing on the same monitor that was blocked from view by their bodies. Seizing the opportunity to relieve himself of the grief of questioning his life choices, Leo walked over to the computer station, stepping wide to the opposite side of Donnie than Lily, so as not to startle them with his presence. Unlike his brothers, he tried remain aware of his ninja-silent movements, preferring not to unsettle the people they chose to bring into their lives.

“Something interesting come up on the feed?” he asked, attempting to view the same monitor without crowding space or seeming overbearing. He was well aware of the perception that he was overbearing, and honestly did his best to remain neutral while maintaining some kind of authority over the small group. It was a delicate balance and not for the faint of heart, as it was rarely appreciated.

“Mmm, down on the pier we’ve been keeping eyes on,” Donnie answered without looking up, hunching closer to the monitor before dedicating four monitors to the activity. One was live feed, the other four after some typing on his behalf, began rotating through short recorded clips. “The activity is all in the last 24 hours, but there’s been a significant increase in the last two hours. Cars, high end or desirable models go in, but none come out.”

“It is a pier warehouse,” Leo stated, well aware that Donatello was probably already working through the square footage of a space that size, and whether that many vehicles could fit inside. “Any chance we’ve just got a collector?”

“Down on the piers? Not a chance,” his brother scoffed, shaking his head. “The moisture off the water down there wreaks havoc on the car bodies, suspension and engines. No, they’d be using a far more advanced storage space for those cars to preserve them, keep them from oxidising. Besides, by the tally of vehicles, put up against their size specifications and the size of that small warehouse space-”

“We’ve got a chop shop?” Leo finished, the first real smile of the evening lifting one side of his mouth into a wry grin. Punching a fist into the palm of his other hand, he pivoted and started to jog off towards the gear room. “Everyone gear up! Looks like we need all hands on deck for tonight’s mission.”

Unlike in the past where the atmosphere would shift and pulse with energy, bodies springing to action as if they needed to be ready yesterday, no one really moved. Heads turned toward the sudden loud order over the silence, but not a whole lot of ‘gearing up’ happened. Raphael had barely registered anything had been said outside of the bubble he had with just him and his daughter. He still was happily captivated by her smile and laugh, now having her laid in his lap as he tickled her gently, repeating the same funny snarl that had her erupt with laughter every time.

It even took Donnie a moment to peel away from his desk, but that wasn’t unusual for him, especially with Lily so joined at the hip. Making his final checks, then double checking them, he managed to pull himself free of his desk chair and turned to find his own gear. Luckily, his ‘assistant’ had already handed him his digital armband, holding it in her own palms with a bright smile. Around her neck were his headphones with the extra cables he needed for the rest of his equipment. “If I wasn’t heading out I’d say keep them on…” he murmured, leaning in to softly catch her lips as she softly hummed, keeping still as he removed them carefully.

As much as she didn’t want to bring an end to the beautiful scene in front of her, Stacey sensed there was an urgency in Leonardo now, given how quickly and eagerly he was to gather himself together. “Raph… babe, come on,” she softly giggled, unable to keep her tone even with how Sera patted at her father’s cheeks.

“Yeah, I heard…” he replied, his eyes not leaving Sera’s while he continued to grin and make playful grizzly faces at her to which she tried to mimic. Moving in close, making her own disgruntled face at Sera which only made her laugh more, Stacey smoothly stole her from Raph’s lap.

“Come on, all hands on deck.”

Grumbling with a sincere scowl, he sat on the edge of his seat on the couch, running a hand through his dreadlocks to tame them back out of his face for a few seconds. “Ugh, really?”

“Yes. Really,” a voice from behind him clarified.

“Ain’t three enough?” he protested, sulking more like Mikey than his usual prickly self.

“Don’t worry, me and lil’ monster will be here waiting when you return.” Nuzzling against Sera as she gently bumped her head against her shoulder tiredly, Stacey smiled up at him with an expectant eyebrow lift that he could never refuse. It was the look he got before she put her foot down. The look when he knew he couldn’t get out of it and would only suffer more if he continued.

“Fine…” Heaving himself up, he ignored the low chuckle from his father as even Mikey was ready before him for once. Brushing past his wife, he muttered about being picked on as usual as he tamed his tendrils back loosely in a low tail, only getting a roll of her eyes and shake of her head in response. Tugging the straps of his arm guards tight, fastening the belts and buckle over his shoulders and waist, he cracked his neck before fixing his faded red bandana. Inhaling deep, he ran a finger along the wooden frame in the brick wall, hesitating before wielding his sai from their place. Spinning both around in each hand, he let out a satisfied growl before slotting them down into the belts on his waist. Switching to a different frame of mind, he then felt he wanted to go. He had something to protect after all.

Sauntering out to group with the others, he bumped a fist against Mikey’s without looking to greet his grin in return. “So, leader, lead the way,” he sneered, his lips twitching into a smirk as his eyes fell and caught Stacey’s, flashing her a wink while he squared his shoulders.

***

Parked not too far from the docks, along a road that linked the warehouses together in neat rows, Kimay’a sat silently in her car. Dropping her head back against the rest, she let out a slow and controlled sigh. She had been patrolling most of the night but had entirely forgotten why she had even offered. Maybe it was because a chest wrenching feeling had started to make her feel sick, feeling boxed in and crowded by the busy office of the station. It was nice to get out of there, as she rarely did, even if it was just driving in circles for a few hours. More often than not, she found herself with piles of paperwork, because she knew she was the only one in the office who didn’t grimace when faced with it. That and she didn’t cut corners to get it done.

Nothing had come in on the radio. Just mundane chatter, updates on other patrols or simple check-ins with her other officers. It was a quiet night. Even if there were shady after hours things going on, all she had to do was slowly drive by and they’d disperse into the night again. Taking a short break, she had pulled over to breathe for a moment. Others did so why couldn’t she? Tilting her head, the light of the docklands dancing across the calm waters catching her eye she watched it contently. It was soothing. Even if it was mildly distorted through the wire mesh fence, and shipment containers, but the small window was enough for now.

***

The four men moved silently through the harbor district, all joking, teasing and getting the messing around out of their systems on their way out, from the distanced safety of the rooftops. Well, Leo’s brothers had gotten it out of their systems on the way. He had silently tolerated it with only brief commands for silence and focus. Singularly minded, he was lost entirely in his own mind, thinking of the docks and the chop shop. There was no time or place for that nonsense, not on a mission. The irritation bound the muscles in his neck and shoulders, and he had tried to breathe evenly and relax them as the moved along. It piled on top of the irritation he had felt back at home, but he shoved those thoughts far away into the depths of his mind, he could deal with them later.

Right now was his time, he was in charge and they had a purpose. A purpose that was built on the foundation of excited uncertainty and almost ritualistic repetition. They had been on numerous missions over the years, and the adrenaline rush as they headed into one never waned. Even when they had a decent amount of information, there was always a decent amount of unknown. The basics were the same, get in quietly, take the criminals down as quickly and effortlessly as possible, restrain them and contact authorities.

That thought actually managed to derail his focus momentarily. Bright gold eyes behind the fringe of dark hair, pressed under a uniform hat. He gave his head an abrupt shake, glancing back at his brothers as if worried they could read his thoughts. No admission of guilt had escaped him after his last meeting with her, not even to his father. After granting her request of his name, he had a similar adrenaline rush as he felt at that moment, the rush of heading into the unknown. Even meditating on it, he couldn’t understand why he would be so reckless as to tell her, but at the same time, he didn’t regret it. Part of him hoped she would be on the responding team that night, just so he could see if he felt any guilt upon seeing her again or not. But if she was, it was likely at least one of his brothers would stick around until the police around, after a bust of that size, and if they found out… he’d never hear the end of it. His reputation and hold as leader would be put to mocking, even more than they already did.

Shaking it off, he redirected his focus on the mission with dedicated accuracy. He could not change what would be, only how he reacted to it. Above all else, he’d at least have the opportunity to unsheath his swords and release some of his pent up frustration. He would never admit it to Raph, but his brother was right. Sometimes you just needed to knock some skulls together.

Gesturing for them to slow a bit as they reached the shipping containers, he was content that he couldn’t hear the ringing of metal beneath any of their feet, not even the continually clumsy Michelangelo. He began to have a good feeling about the bust, like it was just what they all needed to set everything right and for it to feel normal again, the way it was. If he had taken the chance to reflect on that thought more deeply, he would likely have discovered that it was a projection of his own thoughts and feelings, but he allowed himself to simply be content with the thought as they moved in on the hangar.

Finding an obscured corner amongst the shipping containers once up close, they huddled around Donnie as he showed them a map of the area outside the building, anyone on the outside outlined in red. They must have grown into a sense of complacency, there only being one man watching the front door and two off the main hangar door, smoking with assault rifles strapped to their backs. There was a rear entrance, blocked off to traffic by containers, but absolutely not blocked off to ninjas. Coming up with a quick plan, he had Donnie go to the rear to deal with whatever lock was on it, sent Mikey and Raph to deal with the two by the hangar, and set off to take care of the one in front himself. He ignored the offended look from Raph when he instructed two of them to take care of two men. The look was interrupted as Mikey took off to get to them first, and Raph had to take off to catch up so as not to miss his chance. They’d meet Donnie around the back once it was cleared.

As he crept silently to the front corner of the building, he peered around it at the sole guard. Looking bored and put out, likely pulling the short straw to be there, he was swinging binoculars back and forth on their string. Stepping back into shadow, Leo picked up a stray bolt, tossing it at a nearby shipping container. It was an old trick, but it worked almost flawlessly. The guard walked slowly past the corner, cautiously stepping towards the containers, away from Leo. Once the moment presented itself, he moved up behind him without a whisper of sound except the small *shick* of his blades releasing. Bringing both the hilts down hard on the back of the guard’s head before he could even turn, he dropped unconscious to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Leo deftly moved him off where he couldn’t be seen, whispering, “Have a nice nap.”

At the back door, he arrived just after Mikey and Raph, the latter shoving at the former for some reason or another. Glaring at them, they both shrugged, unapologetic. Donnie was already inside, having propped the door open just enough for them to notice, and once they entered, they found him working on a control panel of sorts just away from the door. “It’s a basic system,” he whispered, looking back and forth from his holo to the panel. “I already have the security disabled, I’m ready when you guys are to shut down the lights.”

“Let’s do this,” Raph growled, the smile of anticipation lighting up his face just before the dim lighting shut off. There was shouting and hollering coming from the main hangar, and they fanned out, taking different positions as they made their way to the only door that could lead the criminals to their inevitable fate.

One man burst through the door with a flashlight, cursing and muttering about fuses and having to do things himself. There was a brief struggle of his flashlight shining rapidly around the back area before it went out and there was no more sound. After a few minutes and more yelling at the man to shit or get off the pot, two more men burst through the door, one with a flashlight, one with a rifle. Leo moved to grab the one with the flashlight, as he was closest, getting into a brief struggle, the large man fighting back before Leo kicked the back of his legs hard, causing the man to land on the back of his head with a sickening crack. As he popped back up, he winced as the other man got a short burst of bullets off towards the ceiling, the muzzle flash flickering light across Raph’s snarling face as he lurched forward to headbutt the man.

There was a small thump as the man hit the ground from the impact, but the damage was done. “Gigs up, dudes,” Mikey whispered, swinging down from a rafter to the door. “We go in swinging?”

“Move in fast, spread out away from the door where they won’t expect us,” Leo ordered in a harsh whisper.