#leo antics

The wait was only fifteen minutes, but to someone like Leonardo, it felt a lot longer. The luxury of the limousine could only go so far when he was stuck worrying about his father the entire time! Even though he smiled and joked and attempted to initiate games to pass the time, his heart was beating like a startled rabbit and his stomach churned like butter. He felt like he was going to be sick, but still he swallowed down the anxiety to the best of his ability. The antics of the slider ended up with him sprawled over Raphael’s lap while the snapping turtle brooded, trying to goad his older brother into talking to him, even if it was a scolding.

Not even Leonardo’s incessant pawing and whining could break Raphael from his thoughtful stupor. The only thing that managed to bring the snapper’s attention back to the present was the door opening, and Splinter standing there with the sand guard as before.

“Dad!”

All the children rushed to hug Splinter as if they had been separated for years and not minutes. Splinter indulged their affection for no more than a few seconds before he pried himself free of them. Together, father and children followed the guard once more into the building.

“So who’s this guy anyway, dad?” Leonardo asked.

“I’m not sure. I hardly knew the man for more than a few days, and that was years ago…”

It couldn’t have been long after Splinter had escaped his imprisonment that the man with the slick black hair and perfect suit found him. Splinter and his sons had been hiding in an alleyway of the mystic city, with no way back to the human world. At the time, even the biggest of them— Raphael, of course— had only been the size of Splinter’s hand. Back then, Splinter hadn’t quite considered them sons. Still, they were small creatures that were vulnerable to the cold and to literarily everything else, and he was bigger and warmer and the only chance they had at survival. When the rain started, Splinter did the only thing he could think of to keep them warm.

Bishop found him. Splinter was laying on top of the brothers, using his body like a security blanket to keep them safe from the rain and the wind. To keep them warm. He was still almost-human, taller and skinnier and more hairless than he was in the present, and still feeling the full effects of the mutagen as it slowly took hold.

“Look at you…” Bishop had said, holding an umbrella to keep himself dry and looking down on the pathetic mutants. “You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you Yoshi?”

“How do you know my name?” Yoshi breathed. His chest still seared from the burn of the fire and every word and breath came out wheezing and painful.

“I know a lot about you Yoshi.”

From there, Bishop had taken Splinter away from the Hidden City and back to the surface, into the depths of TCRI. Bishop was nothing but kind to the slightly younger rat; almost too kind for Splinter to trust him. The options given were a simple three: he could stay in the Hidden City where he and his sons risked getting discovered and recaptured by Baron Draxum. He could stay in the human city, forced into hiding, viewed as monsters lurking in the shadows. Or… another option.

“This is retromutagen.” Bishop had held up a vial of pinkish substance and offered it to Splinter. “It can cure you of all that ails. Turn you human again.”

“What of my turtles?”

“It can cure them of their ailment as well. Restore them to their animal states.”

“It would… turn them normal again?”

When Bishop had confirmed, Splinter had grown mad. No, not mad— furious! For a creature to be given such a gift as sapience, only to have it ripped away— that was even crueler than all the years of torture that Splinter had suffered at the hands of Big Mama and Baron Draxum! But, forced to choose, the second option was the one selected, and Splinter was gifted the place he now called the lair. Bishop didn't contact them at all after that; not until Splinter contacted him.

The doors dinged open and the clan filed out into a massive, open floor filled with monitors and workers and machines even Donatello couldn't recognize.

“Woah!”

“Fancy!”

“Are we in Heaven?”

“Quite the opposite, really.” Splinter growled.

“Soooo.” Leonardo said, looking around each of the workers curiously. “Which one is Bishop?”

“I am.”

All eyes turned to face a tall, pallid man dressed in a black suit, his arms folded behind his back as he stood equal height to Raphael.

“Check out Slenderman over there…” Leonardo leaned over to whisper to Michelangelo, pointing to Bishop.

“Leo!” Raphael scolded, then turned to Bishop with a polite bow. “Excuse my brother. He doesn’t always think before he talks.”

“Me?” Leonardo put his hand to his chest, “You are the master of not thinking!”

“Hi mister Bishop!” Michelangelo smiled and held his hand out to Bishop, “I’m Mikey!”

Bishop stared at Michelangelo a moment, tilting his head with a curious hum. He made no attempt to shake Michelangelo’s hand, and, after a few seconds of the awkward stance, Michelangelo pulled his arm back and seemed to deflate like a sad balloon.

“Someone’s not too cheerful.” Donatello scoffed.

“And why’s he grinning like that?” Leonardo commented.

Bishop was smiling very widely. So wide that it almost looked as if his face was being split in two, and his eyes seemed remarkable... dead, somehow. His skin and clothes and teeth seemed too clean, his hair and stance too proper, his outfit too rich, for Leonardo to consider him as anything trustworthy. Bishop’s eyes found April and his smile turned into a frown that just keep deepening until, at last, he said,

“Who is she?”

Splinter grabbed a hold of April and held her protectively. “She is Hamato.”

“She is not your daughter.” Bishop stated, his cold eyes boring into April like a drill.

“She is one of us.” Splinter met evenly.

Bishop seemed very reluctant to let it go. His eyes remained locked onto April for a moment before snapping back to the brothers as his split-grin returned. “I am Agent Bishop from the EPA. Earth Protection Agency.”

“Sooooo, men in black?”

Raphael elbowed Leonardo in the chest for the comment. Bishop gave a laugh that lasted an uncomfortably long period of time.

“Yes, I suppose you could call me that. I have been waiting a long time to meet you boys. A very. Long. Time.”

Michelangelo huddled under Donatello’s arm for security, and it seemed April had a similar idea as she also moved closer to the softshell.

“Our mission here at TCRI is to protect and maintain the innocent ignorance of the people of earth and to limit the knowledge of yokai and mutants to as small a number of people as possible.”

“Tell that to the hundred goons that saw us on the way over.” Leonardo scoffed.

Bishop’s eyes snapped over to him. “Don’t worry. They will be dealt with.”

The way he said those words made Leonardo’s skin crawl; he also sought safety in the presence of Donatello, who opened his arms to welcome his siblings.

Bishop’s neck snapped quite suddenly so he was looking at Raphael. “You should come on a tour of the facilities. I’ll tell you more then.”