Chapter Text
“Aaaand three….two…one. Action. ”
With a scream of pure glee, Leo launched himself off the roof.
The grappling hook Donnie had made him shot out with a whir, latching into the side of a building and letting him swing over the top of the roof corner, standing triumphantly with his foot on the ledge and posing dramatically.
“Told you it would work,” Donnie called, furiously typing calculations, not looking up from their computer. “How long did it hold for? Did it feel sturdy enough? Do I need to m-” They were cut off by Raph, who let out a yell and threw herself full force at the wall. His mystic constructs shot out, latching onto the side of the building and rock-climbing the rest of the way up.
“Dude!” Mikey yelped. Donnie’s older sibling practically shot up from xyr spot on the roof’s machinery. “At least warn someone before you- don’t flip me off! Oh, that's it.” Xe shot one of his mystic chains that caught the ledge, the momentum making xem shoot up to tackle Raph as the two engaged in a mock fight. Donnie knew they wouldn’t hurt themselves though. They knew the signs well enough.
“Dee!” Their twin bounced up and down, waving his arm so furiously that Donnie thought it might fly off. “Dee come on! It's super fun!”
“You have a very different idea of fun.” Donnie frowned. “Besides, I’m...busy.”
“You’re always busy,” Leo whined. “Dad and Draxum both told us this would be good. It's not even very sunny!”
“You can still get sunburned even when it's cloudy.” Donnie recited. “Or snowy. Even if it's not visible, the sun can reflect off the clouds or snow.”
Leo huffed. In less than 30 seconds he had leaped back to the other roof, pulling himself over the ledge and tumbling onto the ground, before crossing over to the shady space where Donnie was sitting.
“What’s wrong dude?” He leaned back to catch Donnie’s glare. “It's not about sunburns. I made sure you found the sunscreen. It's not warm enough to ditch the long sleeves, which you haven’t. So it's not that.”
“Noooo….” Donnie said evasively. “I was…..checking the security feeds…..for those robbers again…..yeah that's it, that's what I was doing.”
“You,” Leo raised an eyebrow, “Are a poor liar.”
“Nooooooooo……”
“Yeeessss….”
“I can just go back to the lair,” Donnie mumbled, closing their computer and placing it carefully in the bag next to them.
“You guys alright?” Mikey called over. The leaf turtle looked as if xe were going to come over, so Leo waved xem off, gave a thumbs up, and both xe and Raph disappeared over the rooftops.
“No more earworms.” Leo grinned, lightly punching Donnie’s shoulder. “So. Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Donnie mumbled something, face smushed into their gray sleeves.
“What was that?”
More mumbling followed.
“Sorry. Couldn’t hear you.”
“I’m scared!” Donnie burst out. They pulled their hood over their head, hiding their face from Leo as if embarrassed. “Ok? Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Leo sat there for a few moments while Donnie’s feet tapped out repetitive patterns on the brick.
“About what?”
Donnie said nothing, only pointed to the large drop of the three-story building.
“Ah.” Leo thought for a few seconds. “I never thought about that.”
“You never asked.” Donnie frowned. “You just assume.”
Leo grimaced. He supposed that was true.
“Well. Wanna race down the fire escape?”
Donnie looked up at Leo’s outstretched hand, a mischievous grin creeping across their face that matched his own.
“Only if you’re ready to lose.”
“ Really Leo. Still?? Him?? ”
“My point still stands!”
“Can you believe this idiot?” Donnie groaned, collapsing onto the couch next to Draxum. “Very evil dude. Creepy. Sparkly. Disintegrated that elf with a mere finger. And that's what Leo says.”
Draxum adjusted his mask, looking up from his book to shoot a confused glance at Donnie. "I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Aaravos.” Donnie stared at him from their spot upside down. “Really deep voice. Sparkly. Purple. Did we never show you? Tell you? Mention The Dragon Prince at all? ”
“Listen, you just don’t have good taste.” Leo whacked Donnie’s head with their hood and Donnie let out an offended gasp.
“Betrayed! By my own clothes! How dare you!”
Leo danced out of the way to Draxum’s other side, pulling up a picture on his phone to show the human. “This guy.”
“That's who Leo thinks is hot.”
Draxum gave a noncommittal shrug, turning back to his book. “Fair point.”
Leo fist-pumped the air triumphantly. “Yes! Told you! I knew I wasn't the only one!”
“Are you two bothering Draxum again?” Splinter wandered out from the kitchen area to greet the twins. “Where are Raph and Mikey?”
“We came back early.” Leo got up to hug Splinter. “They’re doing. Something. I’m not sure what.”
“They’re investigating some minor robberies up by Central Park.” Donnie held up their computer to show him. “Nothing major, just something we thought we’d check out.”
“COWABUNGA!”
There was a giant splash behind the four, the source being Raph, who had seemingly just arrived back with Mikey, and had jumped into the water without even bothering to take his jacket off. The water splashed up in an arc, against the purple mystic constructs, which faded in when it hit them, and then immediately out once the water settled.
“Dude.” Donnie rested their chin on the couch. “You’re going to have to dry that now.”
“Worth it.” Raph scrambled out of the water, wringing out her jacket. “How long ago did you get back?”
“I don’t know. Wasn’t keeping track.”
“Half an hour, maybe 45 minutes.” Leo estimated. “What did you find out?”
“Ugh.” Mikey flopped down on the other couch, rubbing his eyes with one hand. Donnie noticed the bracelets on his wrist had switched from green to blue and made a mental note to remember that. “Nothing! It's like they just vanished without a trace. It's super annoying. But on the bright side! No property damage!”
“That's good, at least.” Leo had moved on from annoying Donnie to floating in the water a few feet away from the others. “Did you guys not run into April? Wasn’t she supposed to be back by now?”
“It's Friday.” Donnie threw a pebble at him. “She doesn’t get out until 3. Remember?”
“Oh.” Checking the clock hung haphazardly above the T.V. revealed that it was, in fact, only 2:38.
“Soon!” Leo proclaimed with a smug grin as if he had been right all along. He hadn’t.
“Only 12 minutes off,” Donnie replied flatly. “Not to mention it takes her around 15 minutes to get from her school to here.”
“You’re boring.”
“I’m correct,” Donnie smirked. “I’m going on a walk.”
“Tell me if you find any cute cats!” Leo called as Donnie made their escape to their room at the end of the tunnel.
"Hmm." They muttered to themself. "Phone is charged. It's still cool enough to require long sleeves and pants. Headphones are charged." They slung a bag over their shoulder with a grin. "Time to find some cats!"
Donnie did not find many cats.
A tragedy, really.
However, they did manage to find the cat that they and Leo affectionately named "Reese's Puff", a very fluffy, very friendly tortoiseshell who got orange and black cat hair all over their sweatpants. Annoying, but manageable, they'd have to hunt down the lint roller later to avoid setting off their allergies.
"Are you going to let me get up now?" They scratched Reese's Puff beneath her chin. The cat purred but didn't move from her spot on Donnie's lap.
Yippee.
Donnie took out their phone and video-called April. It was 3:20, she surely was at the Lair by now.
"Hello?"
"Greetings April," Donnie waved. "Unfortunately I am unable to come home. I'm being trapped by a fuzzy ball of fur."
"Missed opportunity to utilize the 'Cat on my lap' meme."
"So you don't want to see the cat?"
April gave an offended gasp. "What? Of course, I do! Show me the furball." She made a grabby hand motion over the video cam. Donnie beamed and panned the camera down to show the cat, who meowed and tried to bat at the screen.
"Awww, She misses you!" Donnie giggled.
"I have a lot of homework! It's not my fault!"
"Betrayal," Donnie put their hand to their forehead in mock horror. "How dare you miss out on petting Her Majesty, Reese's Puff."
"I'll see her tomorrow! Promise!"
"Hmmm." Donnie paused as if listening to something, then nodded. "Her Majesty accepts your offering."
"Huzzah! The world will no longer end!"
"The world shall only end once I have a supply of uranium."
"Donnie. Nobody is ever going to give you uranium."
"Tragic."
"Alright, gotta go." April rolled her eyes. "My English teacher assigned us like. a bunch of homework AND an essay."
"That's your fault for picking an Honors course."
"Alas, you may be correct…for once. See ya later."
"Yes, yes, see you soon. Wait, for once?" Donnie let out a mock offended gasp as April hung up. "Betrayal!"
They looked down at the cat on their lap.
"Alright, Reese's Puff. Time to go."
Slowly, they lifted the cat up and off their lap, brushing off the hair, and stood up. Reese's Puff gave a sad little meow and rubbed up against their leg.
"I know, I'm sorry I can't keep petting you forever." They mumbled. "Go….I don't know, catch mice or something. Or- wait no. Too close to home. Lizards, I guess?" They huffed. "I forget what cats eat."
Reese's Puff followed Donnie for at least a minute and a half before accepting they weren't staying to pet her more and disappeared. Donnie continued walking down the rows of apartments until they reached the docks with all their warehouses and maybe had to accept that they'd walked too far.
"How did I even get here?" They frowned. Then again, they hadn't been paying attention, lost in their music and looking at the animatics on their phone (John and
Martin animatics their beloved), so they shrugged it off and turned to navigate back home.
Except as they passed by an abandoned warehouse it exploded in a cloud of green flames.
Donnie was knocked backward head-over-heels, skidding a few feet, coming to a stop with a hiss of pain. The scars on their face, shell, arms, and legs burned, and they covered their head and ears, eyes squeezed shut.
Someone was screaming. Their sister was dead.
The smell of burned flesh made them nauseous.
Where was Six?
Realistically, the explosion wasn't that big, Donnie reckoned as they stared up at the acrid, swirling smoke and heard the shouting through the ringing in their ears. People were shouting. People were coming.
"Shit!" Someone hissed. "People will hear us now!"
"I'm not the one who accidentally-" Another voice cut off. "Oh.."
Donnie pushed themself up on their knees, hissing from the pain in their head.
"Shit, it's another turtle!" Donnie could now see the voice belonged to a masked figure in silver and black, with a red face mask obscuring half her face, and hair covering another, so the only thing visible was a single wide brown eye, a bag slung over her shoulder, stuffed to the brim. The second human was shorter, but thinner, almost looking….unhuman.
Donnie bared their teeth, scrambling backward. Their hands found their collapsible bō and spun it into a sharp point directly at the person's head.
"Casey!" Someone else appeared in the hole made by the explosion, climbing over the rubble to run to their friend’s side.
"What are you doing." Donnie's snarl was less a question, and more a barbed hiss, their voice barely recognizable to their own ears. There was a dull throb of pain radiating from their leg but they didn't notice. 'Casey' noticed them staring at the bag and moved to yank it away, but in the process of attempting to grab the bag, accidentally caught the opening flap.
The bag was filled with easily recognizable vials glowing a bright, neon green.
"What…." Donnie's eyes narrowed. "Why do you have empyrean?"
"Casey!" The other person skidded to a halt with an equally full bag, stopping as her eyes landed on Donnie. "W-"
"Put. those. down." Donnie hissed.
Sirens interrupted whatever the two others were going to say next, loud and blaring and making Donnie clap their hands over their ears. Casey tugged her companion's arm, pulling her away from the scene.
"Come on, come on!"
Donnie backed away as the pair disappeared, falling back onto their left leg with a yelp of pain. A giant gash was slashed from their knee to their ankle- and right through their favorite pants too.
"Fuck." They scowled. "Mikey's going to be pissed at me."
Figures on the rooftops watched them go.