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\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrogBlots\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrogBlots\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
and myself! art for this one is by me!
Previous Chapter ","writing":"Part 2\n\nUpon arriving back at the Lair, Donnie ushered Leo into the lab, along with Mikey. Between them, they managed to lay their baby brother out on the workbench, which, more often than Donnie liked, doubled as an examination table. Once Mikey was lying down, Donnie went over to the cooling unit he had salvaged and pulled out his scarce supply of blood. \n\nLamenting that they had so little, he closed the door once again. This situation did call for it, and he was fairly sure that what little supply they had would be enough for Mikey, but he did make a mental note to replenish it as soon as possible. \n\nTurning back towards his brothers, Donnie noticed Raph leaning against the wall just inside his lab, hand still clutching at his arm. Donnie hadn’t forgotten about him but Raph’s injuries were far less dire than Mikey’s, so the red-banded turtle would have to wait. \n\nGoing back over to the table Donnie started setting up everything to give Mikey the blood. Leo stepped out of the way to give Donnie space to work, though Mikey didn't let him go far, grabbing his hand when he saw the IV Donnie was setting up. \n\n“I hate needles...” Mikey whined. \n\n\"It'll be okay,\" Leo assured him, keeping hold of Mikey’s hand, frowning when the younger turtle turned his head to the side and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. \n\n“Is it okay for him to sleep?” Leo questioned looking to Donnie. He wasn’t sure if that was what Mikey was doing, or if he was just avoiding looking at the needle, but thought it was a good idea to check. \n\n“He should be fine to sleep.” Donnie nodded, making sure the IV was properly in place before he moved onto the next task. “I need to reapply his bandages, and see if I have anything left for his bruises. I should also make sure there’re no other injuries I might have missed. I’ll need to make him a splint for his leg so he doesn’t cause further damage to it as well.” Donnie headed toward his medicine cabinet. “I’ll administer some anesthesia, or else the pain might keep him awake all night.”\n\nLeo could tell Donnie wasn’t really talking to him any more, so he simply nodded, petting Mikey’s head gently. Sure, now, that his brother was going to be okay, he let go of Mikey’s hand, finally turning toward Raph, who was still stood silently by the door. \n\n“Come here, I’ll look at your arm,” Leo said, motioning Raph forward. He knew he wasn’t as good, or gentle as Donnie could be with the medical stuff, as he hadn’t had the amount of practice Donnie had, however, he did know the basics that had been taught to them; how to set bones, wrap them properly, stop heavy bleeding. \n\nRaph didn’t look to thrilled about the idea, but he complied all the same, walking over to Leo and reluctantly showing him the damage done, mumbling something that might have sounded like a ‘thanks’, if one were to listen carefully, with a hearing aid. \n\nRaph didn’t look at Leo as the blue-banded turtle started looking it over, focusing on where it was swollen, up near the shoulder, along with the obvious rope burns on his hand. The two of them sat in silence as Leo worked, until the blue-banded turtle finally let out a soft sigh, not looking at Raph as he spoke. \n\n“Why didn’t you call when Mikey first got hurt?” Leo asked, feeling around to see if there were any broken bones, or if it was just a dislocated shoulder. \n\n“Cause I thought I could handle it!” Raph said, already on the defensive, wincing when Leo started prodding at his sore arm. “I figured I’d land down there just fine, move the friggin’ metal scrap and we’d be on our way to-oh! Ow ow ow ow! Y’ found it genius! Stop pokin’ it already!” Raph glared at Leo, the pain from the few pokes up near his shoulder hurt far more than he had expected them to. \n\nLeo gave Raph an apologetic look, placing his hands on Raph’s shoulder. He didn’t warn him more than that, didn’t count to three, just snapped it back into place. \n\n“It’s one thing to gamble with your own safety,” Leo said. Grabbing the bandages and he started securing Raph’s arm and shoulder in place so it wouldn’t pop out of joint again. “Or gamble with mine. But never do that again with our brothers.” Leo’s voice was calm as he worked, and it was hard to tell if he was more angry, or disappointed. \n\nRaph bit back a growl, partly at the pain, and partly at Leo’s statement. He was working up to deny that he was gambling with anyone’s life at all when Leo continued talking, taking advantage of Raph’s pained silence. \n\n“What would you have done if Mikey had cut an artery?” Leo asked, finally looking up to lock eyes with Raph.\n\n“I would have called ya then!” Raph protested, torn between going off on Leo, or just running away to compose himself when he felt the sting of tears in his eyes. “I ain’t stupid, Leo. If it were really bad, I wouldn’t ‘a let it…” He trailed off, looking away as he felt his throat tighten; too many emotions were swirling around inside him right now for him to keep them all in check, and it was starting to affect him. \n\n“He seemed fine, til we got to the power room, then he started havin’ problems,” Raph finished, forcing his voice to stay calm so he wouldn’t do something stupid, like start crying in front of Leo of all people. \n\nLeo finished tying up off the bandages, making sure they were tight enough to restrict any movement, knowing it was all he could do to prevent Raph from using his arm too soon. \n\n“Mikey ‘seeming fine’ is usually a red flag that he’s worse off than he’s letting on,” Leo stated. \n\n“I told him ta stay back!” Raph insisted, picking the old familiar emotion of anger and directing it at Leo. “What do ya want from me, huh? Ta say I fucked up? Cause I fucked up! Okay!? There! Now can you can shut up about this and get off my shell?”\n\n“I want to know that this won’t happen again,” Leo shot back, narrowing his eyes and looking very unimpressed by Raph’s outburst. “I want to know I can still trust you to not get any of us killed because you didn’t think!” \n\nRaph was already feeling overwhelmed by the nights events; upset, guilty, in pain, and now having Leo standing there, accusing him the way he was, was tipping the scale for Raph. The red-banded turtle clenched his free hand into a fist and, feeling his eyes mist up suddenly, he turned around and stormed from the room. \n\nFighting with Leo wasn’t an unusual occurrence in the Lair, and neither was Raph’s anger towards him. However, the nearly bursting into tears was new and Raph knew he had to get away from his brother before he did something stupid, like start truly crying, or punch him, or perhaps a combination of the two. So instead, Raph went to his punching bag, using his good arm to start hitting it, focusing on how tightly he clenched his fist, nails digging into his palm, feeling how it connected with the bag, the familiar vibration of the impacted helping him focus and calm down. \n\nLeo thankfully didn’t follow him, though Raph did glance over his shoulder to make sure of that at least once, and he saw his blue-banded leader turning to go back into the lab, most likely intending to check on Mikey. \n\n-----------x\n\nDonnie was just finishing wrapping Mikey’s leg when Leo came back to stand by the table and watched him. \n\n“I’m going to keep Mikey in here tonight, I’ll watch him until he wakes up,” Donnie explained. \n\nLeo continued to silently watch him as his purple banded brother finished with the bandages and started getting ready to put things away. \n\n“He didn’t have any other injuries,” Donnie informed him, “so I think he’s going to be fine in a day or two. Though, he should probably be kept off his leg for a couple weeks at least, it’s really bad, and even with our accelerated healing, it’s going to take time for broken bones and a cut like that to heal properly.” \n\n“Wonderful,” Leo said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, but he still smiled at his brother. “Good work tonight, Don.”\n\nDonnie smiled at him, and Leo pretended not to see how his brother perked up very slightly at the praise, before dismissing him. \n\n“I have some more work that I need to get done, so I can stay up with Mikey,” he said again, turning his shell to Leo and going back to his work. \n\n“Don’t forget to get some rest yourself,” was all Leo said, knowing the request was falling on deaf ears as Don went straight for his computer, pulling open multiple projects that he clearly had lined up. Shaking his head at him, Leo turned and left the lab, knowing Mikey was now safe and in good hands, he closed the door behind him. \n\nStanding in the main room of the Lair, Leo let his focus drift to Raph still by the punching bag, before letting his eyes drift to Splinter’s door. \n\nTheir father obviously knew they were home, and knew that something had happened, however, as the rat hadn’t come out to question them or demand an update on that night’s mission, Leo was inclined to leave that alone for now, and write this off as an evening of narrow escapes. \n\nSo instead, he looked back at Raph, watching as his brother worked at beating the shit out of the punching bag, taking out his frustrations on it. Leo was fairly sure his red-banded brother was imagining his face on that bag this evening. \n\nHe hated fighting with Raph, hated making his brother feel worse than he already did, he hated pointing out his faults, but Leo also knew he couldn’t just let Raph do what he wanted, knew that he had to keep his brother in line, had to make sure he knew what he had done wrong. Their life was a complicated one and Leo truly hoped Raph knew why he pushed him so hard. \n\n“Screw this,” Raph suddenly said.\n\nLeo blinked at him, his brother’s tone lacking the normal bite to it when he usually suddenly gave up on things. \n\n“I’m going to bed,” Raph’s voice sounded shaky to Leo’s ears, and even his posture seemed off as the red-banded turtle went down the hall to his own room. \n\nLeo half expected to hear the slam of a door, and was not expecting the soft click. His heart clenched painfully in his chest and he was following Raph before he’d even fully thought about what he was doing, only to stop when his hand was on the door. The need to comfort his brother was pulling at him, the need to apologise, because he had been the one to upset Raph this time, he had been the one to push his brother to tears. However, Leo forced himself to let go of the handle and back away from the door, pushing his feelings for Raph back again. \n\n“I’m sorry…” He whispered the words, half hoping that somehow Raph could hear them through the door, hoping that his brother didn’t need to actually hear the apology, that he just somehow knew that Leo was sorry for what he’d said, sorry for how he was forced to treat him, and understood that it really was for his own good. \n\nSighing Leo turned and went to his own room, pausing at the door to look over his shoulder at Raph’s door once more before slipping inside, intending to get some sleep before he had to report to Splinter in the morning. \n\n---------x\n\nMikey woke early the next morning, early for him anyway, and was curious as to what could have possibly woken him up from such a deep sleep. Shifting slightly to get a look around at where he was, Mikey realized then what had woken him. \n\nHis stomach growled loudly, reminding him that they hadn’t eaten dinner last night, or at least, he hadn't. That and the sudden need for the bathroom, had Mikey sitting up on the examination table rather quickly, stopping with a groan when he felt the room spin around him. \n\n“Oh, bad idea,” he said to himself. \n\n“Morning, Mikey,” Donnie greeted. \n\nMikey looked between his fingers at the purple-banded turtle, who was standing up from his desk. \n\n“You slept through the night alright,” he said, taking on his ‘doctor’ tone. \n\nMikey inwardly groaned. \n\n“Yeah, slept totally fine dude,” Mikey said. \n\n“How are you feeling this morning? Any dizziness? Pain?” Donnie questioned. \n\nMikey shook his head slowly. \n\n“Well, a little dizzy, but that’s only ‘cause I sat up too fast, but I’m totally starving this morning, bro, and I seriously need the toilet, so if I could just…” Mikey trailed off, already moving to slide from the table, only to be stopped by Donnie’s hands on his shoulder. \n\n“Tut tut tut!” Donnie exclaimed, holding Mikey where he was. “Not without a crutch you don’t,” Donnie informed him. \n\nMikey groaned outwardly this time as Donnie let him go and went to retrieve one of the crutches he’d salvaged from the dump. \n\n“Your leg should stay in place with that splint, but I don’t want to see you set that foot anywhere near the floor for at least the next week, possibly two.”\n\nMikey made a face as he took the crutch from Donnie, slipping from the table and testing it out by walking a few steps under Donnie’s supervision. \n\n“So, on a scale of one to ten, how upset is Leo?” Mikey questioned, already making his way to the bathroom Donnie had installed in his lab. \n\n“Oh, I’d say only about an eight,” Donnie said, turning to begin sanitizing the examination table, clearly getting ready for the next time one of his brothers inevitably needed it. “He and Raph fought last night after you fell asleep, but that’s not surprising I suppose, not with how bad your leg is banged up.” \n\nLetting out a small sigh Mikey didn’t comment on that. He hated how rare it was that Leo and Raph didn’t fight after any missions lately, but he chose not to comment on that, at least not in the Lair where Splinter might hear. \n\nSlipping into the bathroom, every thought on his mind was suddenly gone as he prepared to relieve the pressure on his bladder. \n\nHe let out a high-pitched shriek. “DONNIE!” \n\nHe turned, just as the bathroom door flew open, and Donnie was there, pale and eyes wide. \n\n“What happened?” Donnie demanded, knowing none of his brothers screamed like that for no reason, not even Mikey when pulling a prank. \n\n“I… Don,” Mikey began, his voice trembling as he stared at his brother. “I think I’m sick. It… it’s gone.” \n\nColor came back to Donnie’s features as he realized that there was nothing immediately wrong with Mikey, or rather, the smaller turtle hadn’t injured himself further by falling or hitting his leg. \n\n“What’s gone?” Donnie questioned, locking eyes with Mikey. \n\nA blush spread over Mikey’s cheeks as he gestured to his lower region. “IT is gone, it… I went to use the bathroom and… Don, there’s nothing THERE!” Mikey explained, panic rising in his voice. \n\nDonnie gave Mikey a skeptical look. He didn’t think Mikey was lying, but he thought perhaps his brother might have hit his head in his fall the previous night and might be seeing things, or be a little confused. \n\n“I can assure you, Mikey,” Donnie said in a calm, yet skeptical voice. “You did not lose your penis in the accident.” \n\n“I’m serious dude! It’s not there!” Mikey insisted, walking forward and staring pleadingly at Donnie. \n\n“Alright, alright.” Donnie held his hands up. “Get back on the table and I’ll examine your cloaca,” he said, helping Mikey back to the table before grabbing a box of gloves from nearby. \n\nMikey was trembling as he pulled himself back up onto the table, his mind was racing as he watched Donnie get his gloves, pull one on and slide a chair up close to the table. \n\n“Now, spread your legs… yes, like that,” Donnie said, one hand was placed on Mikey’s inner thigh, the other was slowly spreading his cloaca. “It could be it’s just gotten stuck, that’s happened to all of us before,” Donnie said, his finger slipping inside Mikey to try and unstick his penis from where it was clearly trapped. \n\nSeveral things happened at once; Donnie’s finger was going deeper than Mikey knew it should be able to, before it hit something that caused Mikey to gasp, a strange chirping noise escaping him when Donnie suddenly jerked back, his own cheeks bright red as he stared up at Mikey with wide eyes. \n\n“D-Don?” Mikey asked, not liking the way Donnie was staring at him, looking just as confused as Mikey felt. \n\n“Mikey,” Donnie said, swallowing almost nervously as his eyes shifted down to stare at Mikey between the legs once more, before seeming to catch himself and standing up quickly, putting another step between him and the turtle on the table. “I don’t know how to say this but… um, you’re... I think, no, I know you’re right, you no longer have a... um… your phallus is gone because...” \n\nMikey got the feeling that it was really bad news if Donnie was having a hard time telling him what had happened, and in true Mikey fashion, his mind jumped to the worst possible outcome. \n\n“... am I dying?” he asked. \n\n“What?! No, no of course not, Mikey, you’re completely healthy, all things considered,” Donnie said. \n\n“Last I checked, bro, a healthy person’s dick doesn’t just vanish!” Mikey exclaimed, his voice a little more high pitched than usual. “How is this even possible?” he asked. \n\n“That’s what I want to know!” Donnie exclaimed, turning away from Mikey as he started to pace back and forth. “One’s entire biological makeup doesn’t just change overnight, it’s just not physically possible, but then again, scientifically speaking, from what we know about the Kraang and the mutagen, we shouldn't even be physically possible. Our understanding of it is so limited, I’ve only ever managed to study that one cansiter father didn’t immediately take away from us. Though he was right that the mutagen is dangerous, it’s the only explanation I have for why you would suddenly be changing genders like this.” \n\nDonnie was rambling and Mikey was doing his best to follow what his purple-banded brother was saying, however, he was still very confused about everything, and his brothers musings weren’t helping. \n\n“Some reptiles have been known to slip genders in an all male environment, but I’ve never known turtles to do that before…” Donnie trailed off, but kept pacing. \n\nMikey could only assume his brother was now tuning him out as he continued his musings internally. \n\nAccepting that he wasn’t going to get any answers from his brother at that moment, and needing someone to talk to about this and calm himself down, Mikey thought about informing Leo about what had happened. However, as he grabbed his crutch and slipped from the table, another scream echoed through the Lair, similar in pitch to Mikey’s earlier one. This broke Donnie out of his thoughts as he and Mikey stared at each other. \n\n“WHERE THE FUCK DID MY DICK GO!?” Raph’s voice, loud and clear indicated that the situation had just gotten worse. \n\nDonnie was already running from the room as Mikey turned to follow. \n\n“Oh fuck…” the orange-banded turtle whispered to himself, moving as fast is he could through the lair to locate Raph, the gears in his mind already turning, and the memory of falling into that tar like mutagen the night before was vividly replaying in his mind over and over again. \n\nMikey caught up with Donnie, his brother standing at the bathroom door as Raph opened it. \n\n“Raph, what happened?” Donnie asked, even though it was obvious he already knew as he was looking Raph over much like he would a science project. \n\n“Is yours gone too?” Mikey interjected before Raph could answer, gaining the attention of the red-banded turtle as Leo’s door opened down the hall, their older brother coming out to see what all the yelling was about. \n\n“Too?” Raph demanded, his breathing picking up as he was obviously starting to panic. “What do ya mean too!? You sayin’ your junk is don’ a disappearing act?!”\n\n“It’s not that,” Donnie cut in. “Mikey’s entire body has changed. It may not be obvious right away, and I'll need to run some tests, but it seems Mikey, and perhaps you too, have slipped genders,” Donnie explained. \n\n“What does that mean, Donnie?” Leo questioned, coming out of his room further, the situation seeming dire enough to warrant his full attention now. \n\n“He means we’re both chicks,” Mikey offered, looking over to Leo, then to Raph again. “Do you… um… was it the stuff we fell in last night?” he offered tentatively to Raph. \n\n“Stuff? What stuff?” Donnie demanded, looking to Raph, and then Mikey. “You didn’t tell either of us about any ‘stuff’,” Donnie said, looking to Leo to find out if Raph had mentioned anything, though he was sure he hadn't. \n\n“That… fuck, I forgot all about that…” Raph admitted, his eyes having widened further after Mikey’s comment. The red-banded turtle’s hands clenched into fists, however neither he nor Mikey were very forthcoming with this information they both had somehow forgotten to mention to either Leo or Donnie. \n\n“Was this another thing that wasn’t ‘too bad’ until recently?” Leo questioned, his eyes fixed on Raph as he spoke. \n\n“It wasn’t Raph’s fault, I forgot about it too. Nothing happened after we fell into it, we didn’t feel any differently,” Mikey offered, coming to stand between Leo and Raph as he began explaining what had happened. “It was just an accident, Leo, and it was totally my fault too, not Raph’s, I had already busted up my leg, and I was looking for something to help so I could walk okay without Raph carrying me, and… I got too close to the black mutagen stuff, and when I tried to stand again, I made Raph lose his footing and we both went under,” the younger turtle explained in a rush. \n\nLeo stared down at Mikey, then looked to Raph again, obviously contemplating what he should do with this new information. From Mikey’s story, Leo had to admit it sounded as if it was Mikey’s fault, and Raph was doing the best he could not to really look at Leo at all. \n\n“I’m going to need to run some tests on both of you,” Donnie said, breaking the tension building in the air. “And I’m going to need a sample of that substance you two fell in for a proper analysis,” he stated. \n\n“Oh great,” Raph started, “we’ll just go dig some up from the building we blew up last night!” he growled. \n\n“Raph,” Leo said, stepping forward and reaching out to place a hand on his brother’s shoulder, and Mikey wasn’t sure why his elder brother thought this would calm Raph down. “Getting angry about this isn’t going to help anyone, least of all you or Mikey.” His voice was calm, and nothing about his stance was really trying to provoke a fight with Raph. \n\nHowever, Raph didn’t seem to take it that way as the red-banded turtle growled, shrugging Leo’s arm off his shoulder. \n\n“I ain’t angry,” he insisted, though his posture and expression said differently. \n\nLeo simply nodded, letting his hand fall back to his side as he looked to Donnie. \n\n“There has to be something on the information you got from the computer last night, maybe with some blood samples you could figure something out?” Leo suggested. \n\nDonnie looked thoughtful, tapping his chin as he hummed. “It’s possible, but it’s equally possible that I may need a sample of the substance to produce the antidote,” he answered honestly. \n\n“So ya can fix us?” Raph questioned. \n\nDonnie shook his head. “It’s too soon to promise anything, all I can say is I’m going to try. I’ll need a blood sample from you first, Raph, as Mikey just got a transfusion, and your blood hasn’t been tampered with,” Donnie said motioning for Raph to follow him. \n\n“I’ll be right there,” Raph said turning to go back into the bathroom, his cheeks tinted pink. “I gotta clean up,” he explained when he got a questioning look from his siblings, though Mikey seemed to realize what had happened. \n\n“That reminds me,” the orange-banded turtle said, a blush coloring his own cheeks and he left out a slightly nervous laugh. “I kinda still need the bathroom,” he explained. \n\nThat seemed to be enough information for his two other brothers, so he turned and headed back to Donnie’s lab to use the bathroom there. \n\nLeo watched him go, looking at Donnie when his brother motioned for him to follow him into the living room. Leo assumed it was so Raph or Mikey wouldn’t hear what Donnie had to say. \n\n“You can fix this, can’t you, Don?” Leo questioned once they were out of earshot of the bathroom. \n\n“Honestly?” Donnie asked, turning to look at Leo. “I don’t know, but I’m going to do everything in my power to,” he promised, letting out a long sigh. “I really wish they had gotten a proper sample of the stuff, it would make this so much easier,” he admitted, leaning against the back of the couch. “I don’t know what is even in those files I got.” He sounded a little frustrated. \n\nLeo stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at Donnie, feeling just as lost as his brother seemed to be. \n\n“I’m at a total loss on how to handle any of this,” Leo stated, though he wasn’t expecting Donnie to have the answer to this problem, or even any words of wisdom, Leo had always felt like he could talk to Donnie openly and honestly about what he was feeling, and his misgivings about how he performed as a leader. \n\n“If we’re lucky this wasn’t the only place that was running this experiment. If nothing else, the information I gathered might have other places listed that we could raid.” Donnie said. \n\nLeo nodded once again, glancing at the dojo door that had remained shut the entire morning, despite the noise and commotion. \n\n“I should tell Sensei, shouldn’t I?” he asked, though he was reluctant to do so. \n\nDonnie followed Leo’s gaze to the door, biting his lower lip. “He might have good advice about how we could be handling this problem,” he said, however, Leo knew Donnie was just as reluctant to talk to Splinter as he was, for numerous reasons. \n\nLeo looked to his brother when Donnie turned to him once more, placing a hand on his arm and patting it gently, apologetically. \n\n“I’m afraid you probably have to get this over with,” Donnie said, his lips quirked up into a half smile, one that Leo didn’t return as he patted Donnie’s arm. \n\n“You go check on Mikey and Raph, maybe keep them in your lab for now, while I get this over with,” he said quietly. \n\nDonnie nodded in agreement and Leo watched him head off to the lab, hopefully to round up their brothers. Leo squared his shoulders and took a deep calming breath, walking in the opposite direction to Donnie, heading for the sliding door of the dojo. \n\nLeo stopped in front of the door as he usually did, taking another deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to face. Raising his hand, he knocked, his heart hammering in his chest as he waited for his father to allow him to enter. \n\nStanding there for nearly a minute, Leo knew better than to leave his new post; Splinter could, and had left him standing here for up to an hour before. It was one form of punishment the rat inflicted on all of them, letting them work themselves up into a state before agreeing to talk with them. \n\nLeo hardly remembered a time when Splinter wasn’t like this. Although Leo was sure the rat had gotten worse over the years, he couldn’t pinpoint a single moment when his father had become almost cruel and controlling the way he was now. \n\n“Enter,” Splinter finally called out to him nearly a full ten minutes later. \n\nLeo kept himself from sighing in relief that he hadn’t been made to stand there all day. Sliding the door open, he slipped inside; closing it behind him once again, he turned and bowed politely to Splinter. \n\n“I assume you are here to discuss the disturbance in the lair this morning, Leonardo,” Splinter said, getting straight to the point. \n\nLeo knew then how closely Splinter had been monitoring the going-ons of the morning commotion. \n\n“Hai, sensei,” Leo said, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead, but not looking at the rat as Splinter sat by the self made shrine in a meditative pose. “It would appear our mission last night, while successful, had… complications,” Leo informed him, and waited to see what Splinter made of that. \n\nSplinter remained where he was, seemingly calm despite the news, though one of his ears twitched ever so slightly when Leo had finished speaking. \n\n“Complications, I see, and are you going to explain what these… complications, which caused our morning so much unrest, happen to be?”\n\nLeo swallowed hard and hoped his father hadn't noticed his momentary lapse as his eyes flicked down to look at him before returning to their previous state of staring straight ahead. He kept his hands clasped behind his back and took a deep breath. \n\n“There was an accident, which affected both Raph and Mikey, physically,” Leo said, his voice not betraying his nervousness. “They appear, according to Donnie, they are now…” Leo trailed off, the word catching in his throat as he saw Splinter stand up from his position. \n\n“They are what?” Splinter prompted, locking eyes with Leo. \n\n“...female, sensei, Raph and Mikey are now female,” Leo said, his voice wavering slightly despite himself. \n\nSplinter didn’t show any outward sign of his surprise, though Leo was sure he’d seen his eyes widen a fraction. \n\n“Female?” Splinter questioned, stroking his chin. “And how, may I ask, did you allow such a thing to happen, Leonardo?” \n\nLeo knew Splinter would see this as his fault, he was the leader after all, so he answered truthfully. \n\n“We had to seperate, it was more efficient, Donnie needed to get information off the computers located on the top floor, while Raph and MIkey went to the power room,” Leo explained, purposely looking at Splinter now. “Donnie is fixin things now,” he said. \n\nSplinter’s eyes remained locked on his eldest sons’, his stare cold yet intense. “There should be nothing to fix, regardless of how it happened. You are the eldest, and the leader of your team, were you able to do your job and lead your team properly, your brothers would not have been inflicted with this… condition,” Splinter said. \n\nLowering his head, Leo broke his gaze with Splinter, his brow furrowed at Splinter’s choice of words, but didn’t dare question it. \n\n“I am truly sorry, Sensei, I will try harder, I will fix this-”\n\n“Yes,” Splinter interrupted. “You will.” \n\nStepping forward the rat placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder; from an outside perspective it would have looked like a kind fatherly gesture, however as Splinter gripped Leo’s shoulder tightly, the turtle flinched. \n\n“I think we will start with you taking over training lessons for the next week, while I supervise,” Splinter said. \n\nLeo wanted to protest, however, it was Splinter’s particular punishment for Leo, making the blue-banded turtle the one to inflict pain on his siblings he had sworn to protect. \n\n“H-hai, sensai,” Leo said, feeling a lump in his throat as he nodded once more. \n\n“You are dismissed,” Splinter said. \n\nLeo turned to leave without another word, pausing at the door to turn and bow politely to Splinter as they had all been taught, before turning and doing his best not to run from the dojo. He didn’t breathe easier until the door was closed behind him and he was a few paces away from the dojo, and out of reach of his father, for now. \n\nTBC\n\n\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Part 2

Upon arriving back at the Lair, Donnie ushered Leo into the lab, along with Mikey. Between them, they managed to lay their baby brother out on the workbench, which, more often than Donnie liked, doubled as an examination table. Once Mikey was lying down, Donnie went over to the cooling unit he had salvaged and pulled out his scarce supply of blood.

Lamenting that they had so little, he closed the door once again. This situation did call for it, and he was fairly sure that what little supply they had would be enough for Mikey, but he did make a mental note to replenish it as soon as possible.

Turning back towards his brothers, Donnie noticed Raph leaning against the wall just inside his lab, hand still clutching at his arm. Donnie hadn’t forgotten about him but Raph’s injuries were far less dire than Mikey’s, so the red-banded turtle would have to wait.

Going back over to the table Donnie started setting up everything to give Mikey the blood. Leo stepped out of the way to give Donnie space to work, though Mikey didn't let him go far, grabbing his hand when he saw the IV Donnie was setting up.

“I hate needles...” Mikey whined.

"It'll be okay," Leo assured him, keeping hold of Mikey’s hand, frowning when the younger turtle turned his head to the side and closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

“Is it okay for him to sleep?” Leo questioned looking to Donnie. He wasn’t sure if that was what Mikey was doing, or if he was just avoiding looking at the needle, but thought it was a good idea to check.

“He should be fine to sleep.” Donnie nodded, making sure the IV was properly in place before he moved onto the next task. “I need to reapply his bandages, and see if I have anything left for his bruises. I should also make sure there’re no other injuries I might have missed. I’ll need to make him a splint for his leg so he doesn’t cause further damage to it as well.” Donnie headed toward his medicine cabinet. “I’ll administer some anesthesia, or else the pain might keep him awake all night.”

Leo could tell Donnie wasn’t really talking to him any more, so he simply nodded, petting Mikey’s head gently. Sure, now, that his brother was going to be okay, he let go of Mikey’s hand, finally turning toward Raph, who was still stood silently by the door.

“Come here, I’ll look at your arm,” Leo said, motioning Raph forward. He knew he wasn’t as good, or gentle as Donnie could be with the medical stuff, as he hadn’t had the amount of practice Donnie had, however, he did know the basics that had been taught to them; how to set bones, wrap them properly, stop heavy bleeding.

Raph didn’t look to thrilled about the idea, but he complied all the same, walking over to Leo and reluctantly showing him the damage done, mumbling something that might have sounded like a ‘thanks’, if one were to listen carefully, with a hearing aid.

Raph didn’t look at Leo as the blue-banded turtle started looking it over, focusing on where it was swollen, up near the shoulder, along with the obvious rope burns on his hand. The two of them sat in silence as Leo worked, until the blue-banded turtle finally let out a soft sigh, not looking at Raph as he spoke.

“Why didn’t you call when Mikey first got hurt?” Leo asked, feeling around to see if there were any broken bones, or if it was just a dislocated shoulder.

“Cause I thought I could handle it!” Raph said, already on the defensive, wincing when Leo started prodding at his sore arm. “I figured I’d land down there just fine, move the friggin’ metal scrap and we’d be on our way to-oh! Ow ow ow ow! Y’ found it genius! Stop pokin’ it already!” Raph glared at Leo, the pain from the few pokes up near his shoulder hurt far more than he had expected them to.

Leo gave Raph an apologetic look, placing his hands on Raph’s shoulder. He didn’t warn him more than that, didn’t count to three, just snapped it back into place.

“It’s one thing to gamble with your own safety,” Leo said. Grabbing the bandages and he started securing Raph’s arm and shoulder in place so it wouldn’t pop out of joint again. “Or gamble with mine. But never do that again with our brothers.” Leo’s voice was calm as he worked, and it was hard to tell if he was more angry, or disappointed.

Raph bit back a growl, partly at the pain, and partly at Leo’s statement. He was working up to deny that he was gambling with anyone’s life at all when Leo continued talking, taking advantage of Raph’s pained silence.

“What would you have done if Mikey had cut an artery?” Leo asked, finally looking up to lock eyes with Raph.

“I would have called ya then!” Raph protested, torn between going off on Leo, or just running away to compose himself when he felt the sting of tears in his eyes. “I ain’t stupid, Leo. If it were really bad, I wouldn’t ‘a let it…” He trailed off, looking away as he felt his throat tighten; too many emotions were swirling around inside him right now for him to keep them all in check, and it was starting to affect him.

“He seemed fine, til we got to the power room, then he started havin’ problems,” Raph finished, forcing his voice to stay calm so he wouldn’t do something stupid, like start crying in front of Leo of all people.

Leo finished tying up off the bandages, making sure they were tight enough to restrict any movement, knowing it was all he could do to prevent Raph from using his arm too soon.

“Mikey ‘seeming fine’ is usually a red flag that he’s worse off than he’s letting on,” Leo stated.

“I told him ta stay back!” Raph insisted, picking the old familiar emotion of anger and directing it at Leo. “What do ya want from me, huh? Ta say I fucked up? Cause I fucked up! Okay!? There! Now can you can shut up about this and get off my shell?”

“I want to know that this won’t happen again,” Leo shot back, narrowing his eyes and looking very unimpressed by Raph’s outburst. “I want to know I can still trust you to not get any of us killed because you didn’t think!”

Raph was already feeling overwhelmed by the nights events; upset, guilty, in pain, and now having Leo standing there, accusing him the way he was, was tipping the scale for Raph. The red-banded turtle clenched his free hand into a fist and, feeling his eyes mist up suddenly, he turned around and stormed from the room.

Fighting with Leo wasn’t an unusual occurrence in the Lair, and neither was Raph’s anger towards him. However, the nearly bursting into tears was new and Raph knew he had to get away from his brother before he did something stupid, like start truly crying, or punch him, or perhaps a combination of the two. So instead, Raph went to his punching bag, using his good arm to start hitting it, focusing on how tightly he clenched his fist, nails digging into his palm, feeling how it connected with the bag, the familiar vibration of the impacted helping him focus and calm down.

Leo thankfully didn’t follow him, though Raph did glance over his shoulder to make sure of that at least once, and he saw his blue-banded leader turning to go back into the lab, most likely intending to check on Mikey.

-----------x

Donnie was just finishing wrapping Mikey’s leg when Leo came back to stand by the table and watched him.

“I’m going to keep Mikey in here tonight, I’ll watch him until he wakes up,” Donnie explained.

Leo continued to silently watch him as his purple banded brother finished with the bandages and started getting ready to put things away.

“He didn’t have any other injuries,” Donnie informed him, “so I think he’s going to be fine in a day or two. Though, he should probably be kept off his leg for a couple weeks at least, it’s really bad, and even with our accelerated healing, it’s going to take time for broken bones and a cut like that to heal properly.”

“Wonderful,” Leo said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, but he still smiled at his brother. “Good work tonight, Don.”

Donnie smiled at him, and Leo pretended not to see how his brother perked up very slightly at the praise, before dismissing him.

“I have some more work that I need to get done, so I can stay up with Mikey,” he said again, turning his shell to Leo and going back to his work.

“Don’t forget to get some rest yourself,” was all Leo said, knowing the request was falling on deaf ears as Don went straight for his computer, pulling open multiple projects that he clearly had lined up. Shaking his head at him, Leo turned and left the lab, knowing Mikey was now safe and in good hands, he closed the door behind him.

Standing in the main room of the Lair, Leo let his focus drift to Raph still by the punching bag, before letting his eyes drift to Splinter’s door.

Their father obviously knew they were home, and knew that something had happened, however, as the rat hadn’t come out to question them or demand an update on that night’s mission, Leo was inclined to leave that alone for now, and write this off as an evening of narrow escapes.

So instead, he looked back at Raph, watching as his brother worked at beating the shit out of the punching bag, taking out his frustrations on it. Leo was fairly sure his red-banded brother was imagining his face on that bag this evening.

He hated fighting with Raph, hated making his brother feel worse than he already did, he hated pointing out his faults, but Leo also knew he couldn’t just let Raph do what he wanted, knew that he had to keep his brother in line, had to make sure he knew what he had done wrong. Their life was a complicated one and Leo truly hoped Raph knew why he pushed him so hard.

“Screw this,” Raph suddenly said.

Leo blinked at him, his brother’s tone lacking the normal bite to it when he usually suddenly gave up on things.

“I’m going to bed,” Raph’s voice sounded shaky to Leo’s ears, and even his posture seemed off as the red-banded turtle went down the hall to his own room.

Leo half expected to hear the slam of a door, and was not expecting the soft click. His heart clenched painfully in his chest and he was following Raph before he’d even fully thought about what he was doing, only to stop when his hand was on the door. The need to comfort his brother was pulling at him, the need to apologise, because he had been the one to upset Raph this time, he had been the one to push his brother to tears. However, Leo forced himself to let go of the handle and back away from the door, pushing his feelings for Raph back again.

“I’m sorry…” He whispered the words, half hoping that somehow Raph could hear them through the door, hoping that his brother didn’t need to actually hear the apology, that he just somehow knew that Leo was sorry for what he’d said, sorry for how he was forced to treat him, and understood that it really was for his own good.

Sighing Leo turned and went to his own room, pausing at the door to look over his shoulder at Raph’s door once more before slipping inside, intending to get some sleep before he had to report to Splinter in the morning.

---------x

Mikey woke early the next morning, early for him anyway, and was curious as to what could have possibly woken him up from such a deep sleep. Shifting slightly to get a look around at where he was, Mikey realized then what had woken him.

His stomach growled loudly, reminding him that they hadn’t eaten dinner last night, or at least, he hadn't. That and the sudden need for the bathroom, had Mikey sitting up on the examination table rather quickly, stopping with a groan when he felt the room spin around him.

“Oh, bad idea,” he said to himself.

“Morning, Mikey,” Donnie greeted.

Mikey looked between his fingers at the purple-banded turtle, who was standing up from his desk.

“You slept through the night alright,” he said, taking on his ‘doctor’ tone.

Mikey inwardly groaned.

“Yeah, slept totally fine dude,” Mikey said.

“How are you feeling this morning? Any dizziness? Pain?” Donnie questioned.

Mikey shook his head slowly.

“Well, a little dizzy, but that’s only ‘cause I sat up too fast, but I’m totally starving this morning, bro, and I seriously need the toilet, so if I could just…” Mikey trailed off, already moving to slide from the table, only to be stopped by Donnie’s hands on his shoulder.

“Tut tut tut!” Donnie exclaimed, holding Mikey where he was. “Not without a crutch you don’t,” Donnie informed him.

Mikey groaned outwardly this time as Donnie let him go and went to retrieve one of the crutches he’d salvaged from the dump.

“Your leg should stay in place with that splint, but I don’t want to see you set that foot anywhere near the floor for at least the next week, possibly two.”

Mikey made a face as he took the crutch from Donnie, slipping from the table and testing it out by walking a few steps under Donnie’s supervision.

“So, on a scale of one to ten, how upset is Leo?” Mikey questioned, already making his way to the bathroom Donnie had installed in his lab.

“Oh, I’d say only about an eight,” Donnie said, turning to begin sanitizing the examination table, clearly getting ready for the next time one of his brothers inevitably needed it. “He and Raph fought last night after you fell asleep, but that’s not surprising I suppose, not with how bad your leg is banged up.”

Letting out a small sigh Mikey didn’t comment on that. He hated how rare it was that Leo and Raph didn’t fight after any missions lately, but he chose not to comment on that, at least not in the Lair where Splinter might hear.

Slipping into the bathroom, every thought on his mind was suddenly gone as he prepared to relieve the pressure on his bladder.

He let out a high-pitched shriek. “DONNIE!”

He turned, just as the bathroom door flew open, and Donnie was there, pale and eyes wide.

“What happened?” Donnie demanded, knowing none of his brothers screamed like that for no reason, not even Mikey when pulling a prank.

“I… Don,” Mikey began, his voice trembling as he stared at his brother. “I think I’m sick. It… it’s gone.”

Color came back to Donnie’s features as he realized that there was nothing immediately wrong with Mikey, or rather, the smaller turtle hadn’t injured himself further by falling or hitting his leg.

“What’s gone?” Donnie questioned, locking eyes with Mikey.

A blush spread over Mikey’s cheeks as he gestured to his lower region. “IT is gone, it… I went to use the bathroom and… Don, there’s nothing THERE!” Mikey explained, panic rising in his voice.

Donnie gave Mikey a skeptical look. He didn’t think Mikey was lying, but he thought perhaps his brother might have hit his head in his fall the previous night and might be seeing things, or be a little confused.

“I can assure you, Mikey,” Donnie said in a calm, yet skeptical voice. “You did not lose your penis in the accident.”

“I’m serious dude! It’s not there!” Mikey insisted, walking forward and staring pleadingly at Donnie.

“Alright, alright.” Donnie held his hands up. “Get back on the table and I’ll examine your cloaca,” he said, helping Mikey back to the table before grabbing a box of gloves from nearby.

Mikey was trembling as he pulled himself back up onto the table, his mind was racing as he watched Donnie get his gloves, pull one on and slide a chair up close to the table.

“Now, spread your legs… yes, like that,” Donnie said, one hand was placed on Mikey’s inner thigh, the other was slowly spreading his cloaca. “It could be it’s just gotten stuck, that’s happened to all of us before,” Donnie said, his finger slipping inside Mikey to try and unstick his penis from where it was clearly trapped.

Several things happened at once; Donnie’s finger was going deeper than Mikey knew it should be able to, before it hit something that caused Mikey to gasp, a strange chirping noise escaping him when Donnie suddenly jerked back, his own cheeks bright red as he stared up at Mikey with wide eyes.

“D-Don?” Mikey asked, not liking the way Donnie was staring at him, looking just as confused as Mikey felt.

“Mikey,” Donnie said, swallowing almost nervously as his eyes shifted down to stare at Mikey between the legs once more, before seeming to catch himself and standing up quickly, putting another step between him and the turtle on the table. “I don’t know how to say this but… um, you’re... I think, no, I know you’re right, you no longer have a... um… your phallus is gone because...”

Mikey got the feeling that it was really bad news if Donnie was having a hard time telling him what had happened, and in true Mikey fashion, his mind jumped to the worst possible outcome.

“... am I dying?” he asked.

“What?! No, no of course not, Mikey, you’re completely healthy, all things considered,” Donnie said.

“Last I checked, bro, a healthy person’s dick doesn’t just vanish!” Mikey exclaimed, his voice a little more high pitched than usual. “How is this even possible?” he asked.

“That’s what I want to know!” Donnie exclaimed, turning away from Mikey as he started to pace back and forth. “One’s entire biological makeup doesn’t just change overnight, it’s just not physically possible, but then again, scientifically speaking, from what we know about the Kraang and the mutagen, we shouldn't even be physically possible. Our understanding of it is so limited, I’ve only ever managed to study that one cansiter father didn’t immediately take away from us. Though he was right that the mutagen is dangerous, it’s the only explanation I have for why you would suddenly be changing genders like this.”

Donnie was rambling and Mikey was doing his best to follow what his purple-banded brother was saying, however, he was still very confused about everything, and his brothers musings weren’t helping.

“Some reptiles have been known to slip genders in an all male environment, but I’ve never known turtles to do that before…” Donnie trailed off, but kept pacing.

Mikey could only assume his brother was now tuning him out as he continued his musings internally.

Accepting that he wasn’t going to get any answers from his brother at that moment, and needing someone to talk to about this and calm himself down, Mikey thought about informing Leo about what had happened. However, as he grabbed his crutch and slipped from the table, another scream echoed through the Lair, similar in pitch to Mikey’s earlier one. This broke Donnie out of his thoughts as he and Mikey stared at each other.

“WHERE THE FUCK DID MY DICK GO!?” Raph’s voice, loud and clear indicated that the situation had just gotten worse.

Donnie was already running from the room as Mikey turned to follow.

“Oh fuck…” the orange-banded turtle whispered to himself, moving as fast is he could through the lair to locate Raph, the gears in his mind already turning, and the memory of falling into that tar like mutagen the night before was vividly replaying in his mind over and over again.

Mikey caught up with Donnie, his brother standing at the bathroom door as Raph opened it.

“Raph, what happened?” Donnie asked, even though it was obvious he already knew as he was looking Raph over much like he would a science project.

“Is yours gone too?” Mikey interjected before Raph could answer, gaining the attention of the red-banded turtle as Leo’s door opened down the hall, their older brother coming out to see what all the yelling was about.

“Too?” Raph demanded, his breathing picking up as he was obviously starting to panic. “What do ya mean too!? You sayin’ your junk is don’ a disappearing act?!”

“It’s not that,” Donnie cut in. “Mikey’s entire body has changed. It may not be obvious right away, and I'll need to run some tests, but it seems Mikey, and perhaps you too, have slipped genders,” Donnie explained.

“What does that mean, Donnie?” Leo questioned, coming out of his room further, the situation seeming dire enough to warrant his full attention now.

“He means we’re both chicks,” Mikey offered, looking over to Leo, then to Raph again. “Do you… um… was it the stuff we fell in last night?” he offered tentatively to Raph.

“Stuff? What stuff?” Donnie demanded, looking to Raph, and then Mikey. “You didn’t tell either of us about any ‘stuff’,” Donnie said, looking to Leo to find out if Raph had mentioned anything, though he was sure he hadn't.

“That… fuck, I forgot all about that…” Raph admitted, his eyes having widened further after Mikey’s comment. The red-banded turtle’s hands clenched into fists, however neither he nor Mikey were very forthcoming with this information they both had somehow forgotten to mention to either Leo or Donnie.

“Was this another thing that wasn’t ‘too bad’ until recently?” Leo questioned, his eyes fixed on Raph as he spoke.

“It wasn’t Raph’s fault, I forgot about it too. Nothing happened after we fell into it, we didn’t feel any differently,” Mikey offered, coming to stand between Leo and Raph as he began explaining what had happened. “It was just an accident, Leo, and it was totally my fault too, not Raph’s, I had already busted up my leg, and I was looking for something to help so I could walk okay without Raph carrying me, and… I got too close to the black mutagen stuff, and when I tried to stand again, I made Raph lose his footing and we both went under,” the younger turtle explained in a rush.

Leo stared down at Mikey, then looked to Raph again, obviously contemplating what he should do with this new information. From Mikey’s story, Leo had to admit it sounded as if it was Mikey’s fault, and Raph was doing the best he could not to really look at Leo at all.

“I’m going to need to run some tests on both of you,” Donnie said, breaking the tension building in the air. “And I’m going to need a sample of that substance you two fell in for a proper analysis,” he stated.

“Oh great,” Raph started, “we’ll just go dig some up from the building we blew up last night!” he growled.

“Raph,” Leo said, stepping forward and reaching out to place a hand on his brother’s shoulder, and Mikey wasn’t sure why his elder brother thought this would calm Raph down. “Getting angry about this isn’t going to help anyone, least of all you or Mikey.” His voice was calm, and nothing about his stance was really trying to provoke a fight with Raph.

However, Raph didn’t seem to take it that way as the red-banded turtle growled, shrugging Leo’s arm off his shoulder.

“I ain’t angry,” he insisted, though his posture and expression said differently.

Leo simply nodded, letting his hand fall back to his side as he looked to Donnie.

“There has to be something on the information you got from the computer last night, maybe with some blood samples you could figure something out?” Leo suggested.

Donnie looked thoughtful, tapping his chin as he hummed. “It’s possible, but it’s equally possible that I may need a sample of the substance to produce the antidote,” he answered honestly.

“So ya can fix us?” Raph questioned.

Donnie shook his head. “It’s too soon to promise anything, all I can say is I’m going to try. I’ll need a blood sample from you first, Raph, as Mikey just got a transfusion, and your blood hasn’t been tampered with,” Donnie said motioning for Raph to follow him.

“I’ll be right there,” Raph said turning to go back into the bathroom, his cheeks tinted pink. “I gotta clean up,” he explained when he got a questioning look from his siblings, though Mikey seemed to realize what had happened.

“That reminds me,” the orange-banded turtle said, a blush coloring his own cheeks and he left out a slightly nervous laugh. “I kinda still need the bathroom,” he explained.

That seemed to be enough information for his two other brothers, so he turned and headed back to Donnie’s lab to use the bathroom there.

Leo watched him go, looking at Donnie when his brother motioned for him to follow him into the living room. Leo assumed it was so Raph or Mikey wouldn’t hear what Donnie had to say.

“You can fix this, can’t you, Don?” Leo questioned once they were out of earshot of the bathroom.

“Honestly?” Donnie asked, turning to look at Leo. “I don’t know, but I’m going to do everything in my power to,” he promised, letting out a long sigh. “I really wish they had gotten a proper sample of the stuff, it would make this so much easier,” he admitted, leaning against the back of the couch. “I don’t know what is even in those files I got.” He sounded a little frustrated.

Leo stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at Donnie, feeling just as lost as his brother seemed to be.

“I’m at a total loss on how to handle any of this,” Leo stated, though he wasn’t expecting Donnie to have the answer to this problem, or even any words of wisdom, Leo had always felt like he could talk to Donnie openly and honestly about what he was feeling, and his misgivings about how he performed as a leader.

“If we’re lucky this wasn’t the only place that was running this experiment. If nothing else, the information I gathered might have other places listed that we could raid.” Donnie said.

Leo nodded once again, glancing at the dojo door that had remained shut the entire morning, despite the noise and commotion.

“I should tell Sensei, shouldn’t I?” he asked, though he was reluctant to do so.

Donnie followed Leo’s gaze to the door, biting his lower lip. “He might have good advice about how we could be handling this problem,” he said, however, Leo knew Donnie was just as reluctant to talk to Splinter as he was, for numerous reasons.

Leo looked to his brother when Donnie turned to him once more, placing a hand on his arm and patting it gently, apologetically.

“I’m afraid you probably have to get this over with,” Donnie said, his lips quirked up into a half smile, one that Leo didn’t return as he patted Donnie’s arm.

“You go check on Mikey and Raph, maybe keep them in your lab for now, while I get this over with,” he said quietly.

Donnie nodded in agreement and Leo watched him head off to the lab, hopefully to round up their brothers. Leo squared his shoulders and took a deep calming breath, walking in the opposite direction to Donnie, heading for the sliding door of the dojo.

Leo stopped in front of the door as he usually did, taking another deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to face. Raising his hand, he knocked, his heart hammering in his chest as he waited for his father to allow him to enter.

Standing there for nearly a minute, Leo knew better than to leave his new post; Splinter could, and had left him standing here for up to an hour before. It was one form of punishment the rat inflicted on all of them, letting them work themselves up into a state before agreeing to talk with them.

Leo hardly remembered a time when Splinter wasn’t like this. Although Leo was sure the rat had gotten worse over the years, he couldn’t pinpoint a single moment when his father had become almost cruel and controlling the way he was now.

“Enter,” Splinter finally called out to him nearly a full ten minutes later.

Leo kept himself from sighing in relief that he hadn’t been made to stand there all day. Sliding the door open, he slipped inside; closing it behind him once again, he turned and bowed politely to Splinter.

“I assume you are here to discuss the disturbance in the lair this morning, Leonardo,” Splinter said, getting straight to the point.

Leo knew then how closely Splinter had been monitoring the going-ons of the morning commotion.

“Hai, sensei,” Leo said, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead, but not looking at the rat as Splinter sat by the self made shrine in a meditative pose. “It would appear our mission last night, while successful, had… complications,” Leo informed him, and waited to see what Splinter made of that.

Splinter remained where he was, seemingly calm despite the news, though one of his ears twitched ever so slightly when Leo had finished speaking.

“Complications, I see, and are you going to explain what these… complications, which caused our morning so much unrest, happen to be?”

Leo swallowed hard and hoped his father hadn't noticed his momentary lapse as his eyes flicked down to look at him before returning to their previous state of staring straight ahead. He kept his hands clasped behind his back and took a deep breath.

“There was an accident, which affected both Raph and Mikey, physically,” Leo said, his voice not betraying his nervousness. “They appear, according to Donnie, they are now…” Leo trailed off, the word catching in his throat as he saw Splinter stand up from his position.

“They are what?” Splinter prompted, locking eyes with Leo.

“...female, sensei, Raph and Mikey are now female,” Leo said, his voice wavering slightly despite himself.

Splinter didn’t show any outward sign of his surprise, though Leo was sure he’d seen his eyes widen a fraction.

“Female?” Splinter questioned, stroking his chin. “And how, may I ask, did you allow such a thing to happen, Leonardo?”

Leo knew Splinter would see this as his fault, he was the leader after all, so he answered truthfully.

“We had to seperate, it was more efficient, Donnie needed to get information off the computers located on the top floor, while Raph and MIkey went to the power room,” Leo explained, purposely looking at Splinter now. “Donnie is fixin things now,” he said.

Splinter’s eyes remained locked on his eldest sons’, his stare cold yet intense. “There should be nothing to fix, regardless of how it happened. You are the eldest, and the leader of your team, were you able to do your job and lead your team properly, your brothers would not have been inflicted with this… condition,” Splinter said.

Lowering his head, Leo broke his gaze with Splinter, his brow furrowed at Splinter’s choice of words, but didn’t dare question it.

“I am truly sorry, Sensei, I will try harder, I will fix this-”

“Yes,” Splinter interrupted. “You will.”

Stepping forward the rat placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder; from an outside perspective it would have looked like a kind fatherly gesture, however as Splinter gripped Leo’s shoulder tightly, the turtle flinched.

“I think we will start with you taking over training lessons for the next week, while I supervise,” Splinter said.

Leo wanted to protest, however, it was Splinter’s particular punishment for Leo, making the blue-banded turtle the one to inflict pain on his siblings he had sworn to protect.

“H-hai, sensai,” Leo said, feeling a lump in his throat as he nodded once more.

“You are dismissed,” Splinter said.

Leo turned to leave without another word, pausing at the door to turn and bow politely to Splinter as they had all been taught, before turning and doing his best not to run from the dojo. He didn’t breathe easier until the door was closed behind him and he was a few paces away from the dojo, and out of reach of his father, for now.

TBC


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