Hyperfixation central. Send help.

i dont see enough people acknowledging in fics and other fanwork that this is the first time april and splinter are seeing raph since metro tower. he's back to them, he's broken free of the krang's control, and he's obviously horribly traumatized from it. there would be tears! many tears! and careful hugs! and whispers of relief! their boy is back, and he's very much hurt, but he's alive! mind you, before the events in metro tower, they had no idea if he was even alive!

Having their ninpo won them the battle with Shredder, “fixed” Karai’s death, and it’s kind of like her last gift to them. Nothing could hurt them now.

Leo worked so hard to master his portals. There were multiple episodes about him being bad at it, how that rattled his confidence. He was finally confident in his portals, (his quick fight with Prime in this scene??? Hello???), so surely he could do anything now.

This scene could easily be Leo just. being Leo. But he's carrying himself with a confidence that he didn't have before, not this deeply. A façade of the narrative he's crafted to cope. He's convinced himself that because they've worked so hard, trained, have their powers, and defeated their biggest enemy, nothing could touch them. He's bargaining.

Their fight with Shredder deeply impacted all of them, even if we don't see it. Losing Karai, nearly losing their dad, etc. they're all a little rattled. Raph spent the entire first half of movie trying to teach Leo the lesson he learned that day: work together, rely on each other, you have your family.

Raph learning this lesson is what awoke their ninpo the first time. It’s why he’s being so strict about it. I’d be pissed too if I finally learned I could rely on my family just for one of them to act like this massive trauma didn’t hurt.

Raph is acutely aware that Leo doesn't understand what he learned that day. He makes as such obvious. Because, unintentionally, Leo throws it in his face. Raph thought he didn't have to carry it alone anymore, but Leo isn't listening. And that didn't matter before, when Raph thought the responsibility was all his, but not only is Leo the leader now, but he wasn't supposed to do it alone anymore.

And Leo throws that in his face. Because Leo thinks Raph doesn't trust him (more on this later), he doesn't realize Raph is hurting. It's not about him.

To finish off the scene, it's Leo's failure to listen and Leo's ninpo that ruins the mission. Their lack of teamwork. On a more symbolic level, their lack of trust. It's Leo literally cutting Raph off before he can reach him.

Another detail I wanna point out is it was Raph to pull Leo away from Karai. He knows Leo was affected by her death. He thought that if he spelled it out for him, he’d finally listen and take this serious; it’s not a game anymore, hasn’t been for a long time. Especially now that the Foot Clan is involved, possibly for the first time since Shedder. I think that’s why Raph is so calm in their argument (until he, rightfully, isn’t).

Leo mocks his stress, so Raph repeats his point. Raph has taken responsibility back. He's placed the weight of all of their lives back on himself, he was supposed to have his family to help him, he wasn't supposed to be alone anymore, (how much heavier does a weight feel when you were free for it for just a moment?) until Leo can get his act together.

But Leo doesn't get it. He think's Raph doesn't trust him. Leo's projecting insecurities he's developed onto him, isn't hearing what Raph is saying. And Raph is frustrated. After everything, you can't take the risk of one of us dying seriously? (He does, it terrifies him, so he makes up a world where that can never happen again.)

It's not that Leo doesn't take the Foot Clan seriously (Warren and Hypno, no. He doesn't think they're threats. Not in the same way.) I’m a firm believer Leo was being serious in this scene. He was doing his typical quip at the beginning, but once the fight starts he doesn't have another one.

He understands the threat here. He does something similar when fighting Krang Prime later on, "Suprise!", "If this isn't the poster shot...", etc. Don't get me wrong, Leo has been insensitive and more than a bit insufferable this entire time, but to his credit he’s listening to Casey here, it’s why he goes for the key in the first place.

But at this point it doesn't matter. Raph is fed up with him and hurt by Leo's actions thus far. You can see Leo considering his options because he doesn't trust Raph's call here (Raph is scared. Raph is responsible for all of them. Dad is hurt.)

Leo makes his decision. The narrative was shattered the second they lost their ninpo, that Splinter got hurt (which Leo doesn't have a very overt reaction to, like he's trying to ignore it). But Leo does understand this threat and goes after the key. He just didn't realize how seriously Raph takes protecting him, that he'd give up his own life to do so (he think's Raph's mad at him, doesn't trust him, that he got in the pod).

(Raph stays to protect him because that's his baby brother and even if he's being a bit of an ass, he'll die to protect him. He looks at him with nothing but love and concern as he places him in that pod.)

Even after this Leo immediately crafts a new narrative: it's CJ's fault. If he hadn't gone after the key, this wouldn't have happened (the whole reason he went after the key was because he trusted CJ's judgement, everything shifts when Raph gets captured).

They lost their safety net, Leo takes a couple tries to try and get around that, but he can't. So, he finds another. CJ said he's the greatest ninja of all time, so he can do this. Raph might not like how he does things, but he was good in the future, so he can do this.

Then that narrative is shattered too. Leo has to confront his fears and not only accept that he has to do it, but he alone can't fix it. He thought that if they just trusted him things would be okay, but he needs to listen to them, to be responsible for them, he can't lose them. The thought terrifies him. It's here that Leo earns the trust he was asking for.

Their ninpo is their connection to each other. Their trust in each other is at an all time low even before the Krang showed up. Donnie and Mikey are affected by Raph and Leo's arguing, and honestly I think Donnie is also a little fed up with Leo. Not as much, but I digress.

Donnie and Raph discussed the escape pods at some point. Either Donnie thought of them or, if they were Raph's/a mutual idea, agreed that they were necessary. He's also coping with some fake confidence, pretty typical for Donnie, see above with him going along with Leo's four shell joke, as well as trying to keep the peace between them and trying not to take sides.

Mikey has faith in his brothers, is willing to call out when they're being unreasonable ("we don't have a plan!"), but he's mostly waiting for everyone to start trusting each other again and is relatively passive in everything.

Donnie fights the most with Leo after Raph is taken, but Leo's being stubborn and he eventually caves. "The world is ending and yet the barbs continue," could have been banter with some truth to it. Donnie (and Mikey, who Donnie spent the entire scene worried about) did almost die in the tunnels he explicitly told Leo was a bad idea. He's frustrated, too, but Leo's able to win him back. I hit the image limit but he's pretty annoyed and cynical about their future for majority of the rooftop scene.

Donnie was the one who almost died when they first faced Shredder. At this point, he's the one who's come closest with death (I think). The only exception is Leo when thrown off the roof, but he was saved by Raph's ninpo.

But Leo's figured it out, and he's able to regain their trust. He's listening, and he wants to reunite them instead of pushing and lashing out. He doesn't want to fight anymore. He gets it, displays his own vulnerability. He might not be able to save them from this, protect them. He could have kept fighting, but he's willing to die for Raph to know that he understands.

I think this insecurity is coming from a genuine place, Splinter's distrust. But that wasn't about him either, it was about Splinter's trauma and fear of Big Mama. That he was placed in the Nexus, a place he spent years being forced to fight, when he swore to never harm another creature. Leo's felt, for a long time, that his team didn't trust him so he has to beg for it. And there was a time they didn't.

But he forgot that he earned Raph's trust, Splinter's too. He thought Raph was mad at him. So he kept acting stupid and lost the trust he had earned because he kept projecting this insecurity onto them, because he didn't listen and assumed Raph just. didn't trust him to be a good hero. It wasn't about him.

It was about what Raph was going through, what Raph needed from him. Leo finally understanding everything Raph was going through, from the pressure of being leader to learning to have faith in his team, is what awoke it the second time. It meant so much to Raph because of how much Leo’s attitude was hurting him. It was Raph’s ninpo that awoke first, not Leo’s, because he didn't have to carry everything alone again. They're able to rely on each other.