Running out of time 

We gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go!

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know! 

***

This-

This is exactly why Leo makes rules!

A car honks as the driver to their left has to slam the breaks when the PartyWagon speeds straight through a red light. Leo barely takes notice, checking that the car isn't about to follow them before returning most of his attention to the road ahead. The rest of it strays between checking the GPS on the phone mount and trying to keep the simmering fury under wraps, adrenaline encouraging a harsh turn around the corner. 

Normally, he's a lot more respectful of street laws, but normally, his brothers don't disappear in the middle of the night to take a joy run across the city without a single word about it! 

As he might have guessed, it was Raph's doing, but Donnie shares a fair amount of blame considering he tried to help hide their departure. Leo knows that they're all still trying to get used to him being head of the family, but they've got to be out of their minds if they think he's going to stand by and let this outright disobedience go unchecked.

If anything happens to them...

He should have called them back. He should have immediately commanded them home, even if they would have mocked him for it. He should have left the minute he found out they were gone instead of worrying that they would deem him paranoid. 

"Sensei Worrinardo's at it again!" 

Whether it be in the heat of battle or in everyday life, ninjas do not let fear overcome them, and leaders can't afford to let it slow them down. 

Shell-for-brains. What would Splinter say?

There's a soft pang at the thought of their father, and he carefully sets aside the emotions that will only serve as a distraction. He needs to keep his head in the game. He can afford to rethink his mistakes when their brothers are safe and grounded to the lair. 

Viseoso's gang has been quiet since the police picked him up from his stronghold hotel after Kavaxas' explosion drew them to the scene. They'd found rooms filled with weapons, valuables, and illegal goods, and the last report that he'd gotten from Donnie was that Viseoso had been carted off for trial. 

Leo doesn't like the risk of Donnie coming into contact with any of the Mafia goons after their last encounter, especially with their most volatile brother at his side. 

He trusted Donnie to keep his head and not to hunt Viseoso down and murder him in some jail cell. Unfortunately, he can't seem to trust him not to dive into a warehouse with their battle-starved brother after he specifically said not to.

A conversation for when he brings them home. 

"Anything?" 

Mikey glances at him and then warily pries a hand from the dashboard in order to pick up his t-phone. "Nothing after Raph said he was gonna spit on your pizza."

"He said what?" Leo can't help the growl under his false calm, and Mikey giggles nervously, unconsciously shifting his body away from the eldest. "Uh. Nevermind?" 

Leo flexes his hands over the steering wheel and forces a deep breath, reminding himself that he is currently in the PartyWagon with the only brother who had respected his authority so far that evening. He narrows his eyes on the horizon, a sliver of orange visible. Aaand dawn is on it's way.

Great. Just absolutely brilliant.

That's it.

"They're not leaving the lair for a week. Two weeks. No lab. No tv. Mandatory meditation will do him some good."

Mikey considers the proclamation as Leo turns onto a new street. "Donnie or Raph?" 

Leo grits his teeth. "I don't know. Both of them!"

"Donnie's probably just gonna imagine a new doohickey the whole time and Raph doesn't really do... Inner peace."

"He should have thought about that before he snuck out!" 

"You know it's gonna make them try again, right?" Mikey interrupts before Leo can argue. "Well, Donnie might give you the cold shoulder, but Raph is definitely gonna sneak out. Probably just to spite you. We did it all the time with Splinter. Kinda pros at it by now." 

He sounds proud of this acknowledgment, and panic twists in Leo's gut as he wonders if his brothers had been sneaking out when he wasn't looking. Mikey's right. They are, and they absolutely had. How many times has this happened behind his back? 

He clenches the wheel, sarcasm drenching every inch of his comeback to mask the new anxiety. "Well, what do you think I should do?" 

Mikey taps his chin with the tip of the t-phone, and Leo bites his tongue to hold back a groan, because of course Mikey still doesn't know what a rhetorical question is. 

"I'd tell them why I'm wiggin' out. You don't want to be the bad guy, and they don't want to be the bad guys, so talk it out. If Raph gets all fussy, Donnie's going to get triggered, and then everyone's the bad guy. So, like, ask them about it. Maybe they had a good reason for going out, you know?"

Leo doubts that any reason they have can placate him, but he shuts his mouth and watches the GPS. None of them know how, but out of everyone, Mikey's the best at dealing with Raph during his fits and Donnie's frustrated spirals, so if there's any logic to his advice, he's probably going to want to take it. 

"Dude, we both know Raph's doing better with the whole 'less yelling and more listening', but he's still got a long way to go. And Donnie only runs off willy-nilly if it's about April." 

Leo's gaze shoots to him. "Something happened to April and they didn't tell us?"

"Bro." Mikey shoots him a very undeserved deadpan and he trains a glare back on the road, because he's trying to follow along with the logic. "He would have mentioned April if she was in trouble. It's Donnie. So it's not about April, and if it's not about April then he used that big brain of his to think about it before running off."

"Great. So he and Raph planned to go behind my shell all along." Leo grumbles bitterly. "You realize that's worse? And why shouldn't I ground them again?"

"Cause they had a reason." Mikey insists as he throws up both arms. "I'm not saying don't ground them or whatever, just talk. Say 'it was dangerous' instead of 'you're both shell-for-brains'! Not that hard." 

That's easy for him to say. He doesn't actually have to talk sense into them.

Mikey's staring expectantly and he sighs. "I'll... Think about it." 

Their youngest brother brightens and faces his phone as Leo suddenly realizes that the GPS is trying to lead him into the alleyways that they're passing straight by. With a final turn that has the wheel shrieking furiously, he takes them into the first wide alleyway that they comes across and stops the vehicle, swinging open the door and surveying the area. 

"Okay. Let's move."

He swipes his t-phone as Mikey hops out of the passenger side, sprinting down the dank alley. 

The city's beginning to wake up, so Leo's grateful that they're ducking further into the heart of the alleyways and out of their sight, even if they're headed into the seedy part of the neighborhood. This area is usually a good shortcut when using rooftop travel, but he worries rooftop travel will leave them too exposed, so they stay down in the fading shadows. 

It's too quiet. They're closing in, and there should be sounds or signs of battle, but the peaceful silence is daunting, warning of incoming dangers. 

Mikey jogs at his side as he leads the way, and he knows that Mikey can sense the wrongness of the situation when he removes his nunchucks, swinging them and setting one side under his armpits. Leo removes a single katana, feeling a calm wash over him with one of his father's blade in hand, and they continue on. 

They turn into a dead-end alley, and they should be right on top of Donnie's position. They're no where near a warehouse as far as he can tell, which means the fight must have moved. But were their brothers chasing the mobsters, or were the mobsters chasing their brothers? 

He refuses to let his fears get the better of him. Mikey kicks a box and looks around blankly before passing Leo a confused look. "Where are they?" 

Good question.

He steps forward as he double-checks his t-phone. They should be right here, so he uses the light that the dawn provides and does a careful scan, checking inside a dumpster and whispering their brothers' names. Mikey gets the hint and obediently follows his example, peeking under boxes that are much less likely to hide giant mutant turtles. 

"Heeere, Raph, Raph. Here Donnie. Just your bros, come to get you!" 

Leo looks back at the t-phone, trying to figure out what the itch in the back of his mind is. He's missing something, an important keynote of information - it hits him.

Dread spikes at his heart and he puts away his t-phone to begin rummaging for another. Raph's known to lose or trash his stuff, but Donnie is never careless with his tech. If someone tried to take it, he would have told it to self destruct. Simple as that. So if it's lying in this garbage, then something or someone must have prevented him from picking it up or blowing it up.

They're in trouble.

He stands to tell Mikey that they need to move on, unwittingly knocking his foot against a unopened can and sending it rolling. The soft clatter of noise catches both their attention, and it bounces off a box only a few inches away, knocking it some and revealing an open window low to the ground. Leo doesn't know why he goes to investigate, but he does, pushing the box to the side and dropping in to find a room filled with dusty furniture and a figure lying limp on a couch.

"Donnie!" 

Donnie is in an awkward forward slump, face pressed into the cushions and one hand brushing the floor. It reminds him off the way his younger brother can often be found collapsed over on his desk when exhaustion overcomes him, but Leo knows that Raph would never let him leave the lair if he was on the verge of collapse, carefully planned disobedience or not. 

His heart in his throat, Leo slides off the fridge and scrambles to his side, tentatively placing a finger on the vein along his neck. His skin is clammy and his face is pale, but there's slower-than-normal heartbeat, and he feels his own settle. He adjusts him so he can lay flat, placing a steady hand on his carapace and scanning the room. That's proof of life for one brother, but...

"Where's Raph?" 

Leo knows what Mikey's really asking- why isn't Raph here? Why did they separate? Why is Donnie alone? Unconscious? What happened?- and to all of that, he only had one answer. 

"I don't know." 

He turns on his t-phone and manually opens one of Donnie's eyes, cautiously pointing the screen light at and away from it. His pupil's stay dilated despite the change in lighting, and Mikey creeps up behind him. Leo doesn't acknowledge him, keeping his tone even. "Donnie. Donnie. Come on, bud, wake up. We need you to tell us where Raph is."  

Donnie doesn't stir and Leo guesses is that this is a problem pizza won't fix. "Mi-"

"The closest warehouse is for electronics." Mikey interrupts knowingly. Leo looks up in surprise, and finds Mikey on his t-phone, the green hue over his face hinting that his younger brother is probably reading off the GPS. "It's not far. They could have run from there. I'm gonna look."

Mikey starts to exit and Leo gets to his feet. "Take a minute to think this through. Aren't you the one always telling us not to split up?" 

"It's morning, dude. And mafia's been on the down-low. They probably won't even be there." Mikey hoists himself up the fridge, and though his smile is hopeful and bright, his gaze is sharp. "'Sides, Raph's not the best at quitting a fight. If they are, I gotta pull him out."

It's an observation masked as a firm plea, but Leo reads him loud and clear. I'm not leaving without our brother.

Leo doesn't argue. He flicks his screen and goes to contacts. Mikey's t-phone rings and he picks up curiously as Leo kneels down next to their brother. "Go."

Mikey disappears through the window and Leo sets the t-phone on the armrest, listening as their youngest brother travels with almost soundless steps. Every now and then, a clunk or soft sound of triumph will flow in through the speaker as Leo checks Donnie over for visible wounds. The only new injury is a purple bruise on his arm, and he picks up the t-phone to get a closer study. 

"He was hit."

He doesn't realize he spoke out loud until Mikey's asking, "D?"

Leo sets the t-phone back down and begins digging through Donnie's belt. "Yeah. And if I know Donnie..." He pulls out a dart of pale green liquid and smirks. "Our genius brother is at it again. Looks like he borrowed a dart."

"You don't think he was gonna use it on us, do you?"

"Just you." Leo teases as he wonders when the Italian mafia went from missiles to tranquilizer darts. In all reality, he's betting it's either for the collectibles shelf or for analyzing, but the idea of Donnie collecting tranq serum to quiet Mikey when he's at his worst isn't entirely unlikely. 

He should bring that up next April Fools...

There's muffled speech that isn't his younger brother, so Leo remains silent, going back to examining his arm. Whoever was aiming did a poor job, and the needle is tucked deeper in the skin that it should have been. Some of it must have broke off when ripped out, and he knows he's going to have to remove that when they get home. 

He's debating how he's going to do that when Mikey pipes up. 

"Nothing."

Leo blinks out of his thoughts. "Nothing at all?"

"No Raph. Couldn't do a lot because there were guys. Some were looking at one of those darts though. I grabbed it."

"Good idea. You're coming back."

"Just gonna do some parameter checking. He's somewhere out here."

"...Alright." Leo doesn't think that's the worst idea, and he absently studies Donnie, wondering if they'd walked straight into a trap. He suddenly notices that his younger brother hasn't so much as stirred the entire time he's been there, and worries about how long he'll be kept under. 

Then again...

Slow breathing, clammy, cool to the touch, pale, slow heart rate, unconscious- It occurs to him that there's no real way of know if this is because of a simple knock-out tranq or a subtle form of poison. He bites his lip as he leans against the bottom of the couch, and after a moment of contemplation, turns on flash to take a picture of the dart. 

He shoots a message at their lead mafia informant. 

<Mafia's got new gear. It hit Donnie. Any info?

Donnie's not going to be happy that they're turning to Rockwell's expertise, but he doesn't appear to be waking up anytime soon, and they need to find out if it's lethal before it gets worse. He'll be less than pleased if they let him die because of whatever petty intelligence war the monkey has going on with his younger brother. 

Speaking of brothers...

He keeps his voice low, leaning on the couch. "Mikey?" 

"Alley around the corner." 

Leo's brows shoot up. "That was fast."

"I'm a speedy guy."

The smug comment lacks real pride. "What's wrong?" 

A moment of pause. "I found something." 

Leo does not like the worry in his tone. "Not Raph?"

"Kinda?"

"Michelangelo."

"Someone chucked his gear." 

Leo shoots back upright. "What?"

"His pads and sais and everything. I've got them, but I think they took him, Leo."

His throat feels tight, but he swallows the nerves. "The mafia must have laid a trap and they just walked right into it. They really are back, and they're targeting us."

But how back are they? What are they dealing with? Why hadn't the Mutanimals mentioned that they are up and about?  How big of a threat are they facing, and what is with the mafia and taking down one brother to run off with another?! Same brothers too! 

What is this, some sick trend?

"What do we do?" 

The question is almost an echo, said with an anxiety-ridden patience that hints it may have been repeated. Leo realizes that his younger brother is slipping in through the window, dropping on the ground and hanging up. One hand holds the t-phone, but his arms are cradling familiar gear, sais glinting as he walks over. Leo lowers his hand and forces his thoughts to center. 

Mikey's looking for guidance, and they need a plan. 

The light from the window brightens the room so that it's no longer one of shadows, but that only adds to the ominous feature, reminding him that day is upon them. They need to get back home, but they also need to find their kidnapped brother. 

-kidnapped. He shouldn't have sent him for pizza. He should have called them back home-

"We need to get home." It's more abrupt than he means it to be, and he takes a steady breath so he can think clearly. "We can't man a search in broad daylight, but we can get in contact with the Mutanimals and pinpoint places to hit."

He looks at the roof, compiling his thoughts. "With Viseoso out of the picture, there's a number of options to why they could be targeting us. If they're attempting kidnappings instead of shooting us down, then the chances of them taking him just to kill him are pretty low. They could use him as bait to get to the rest of us, which gives us time. We regroup, plan, and then break him out come dusk."

The tension in his chest smoothes out as he turns towards his younger brother, who had visibly relaxed. A devious smirk forms as Mikey helpfully adds, "They'll be begging us to take him back once Raph's done with them."

Leo quickly shakes his head- their brother's been kidnapped, this is not the appropriate time to laugh- and then stands, turning a carefully modeled expression between their unconscious brother and the window. "We should get him towards the PartyWagon, but I'm not sure-"

Mikey shoves Raph's gear into his arms and then eagerly whips out his nunchucks, letting the chains fall to his feet. "I've got an idea!"

Leo wants to say no, but he was about to ask for a suggestion. 

Donnie'll just have to forgive him. He got himself into this mess anyway...

"Fine. Let's hear it."