Dagger From the Mirror (ROTTMNT/TMNT 2012 Crossover Fic)

"Great" Plans Do Fail Sometimes, You Know

Trying to figure out what his own brothers' weaknesses were wasn't something Leonardo particularly wanted to do.

Sure, he'd watched them train sometimes in order to find what they were struggling with so that he could plan out exercises for them during patrol to subtly help them improve, but this? Trying to figure out what their greatest weaknesses were to plot out a way to take them down? That was never what he wanted to do.

But after watching the other Raphael take his own younger brother down and nearly take his life, he knew it was necessary. He didn't know these new turtles well, but they were just alternate versions of Raph and Mikey, right? They should have the same, or at least similar, weaknesses to them. If he could figure out what he'd do if he were trying to actually fully defeat his brothers in battle, then taking down their counterparts should be a breeze.

So as soon as he was done telling Splinter what had happened and let the new April know he wanted to talk to her, he had returned to his room to figure this out. And that was where he was now, sitting at the small and rarely used desk he had as one of the only pieces of furniture in his bedroom. Very rarely used—he had to wipe off a thin layer of dust from the top before he could even start to focus on planning. Had it really been so long since he'd used that desk?

Leonardo didn't like staying in his room much. He spent most of his time with his brothers and, when he wanted a break, just meditated in the dojo. He would go out there now if it weren't for the fact that Splinter and the new April were currently occupying the room. So, he was stuck in here if he didn't want any questions on what he was doing.

"Okay," Leo muttered to himself, "Just figure it out..."

Leo had beaten Raph in training many times before, so he started with that. The difference was, there was an unspoken rule to not go too hard on each other in the dojo. Everyone always held back, and real injuries were always avoided. In this hypothetical case of a real battle between the two, none of those rules would apply. So what would Leo do in such a case? Speaking of brute strength only, Raph was stronger than him. So Leo would have to get the advantage some other way. So what was that way?

He'd probably have use his temper against him. When Raphael was really fired up, he stopped thinking, and it was much easier to get hits on him. The downside was that he was also a bit more dangerous too, and he was slowly learning how to focus that anger into determination. This plan would work much better a few months ago than today, so that left the question of had this other Raph gotten that far yet? Leo wasn't sure, and he needed to figure that out. If the other Raph could control himself...

Wait. Leo paused. The whole point of this was that that Raphael couldn't control himself—the Kraang were in charge right now. Would he even be able to exploit a weakness like that? Surely they'd have dealt with that by now.

Leo decided to push the Raph issue to the side for now.

Moving onto Mikey, Leo considered how he would take his youngest brother down. He was too trusting and easily distracted, those were his biggest weaknesses. He wasn't sure how he would use those, but he knew he could come up with a plan. He just had to-

Leo stopped, covering his face with his hands and groaning in frustration.

"What am I doing?" He murmured, ashamed, "This feels wrong..."

It really did. He didn't want to plot how to bring about his own brothers downfalls, even if he would never ever use it on them. Leonardo was the big brother and the leader. He was supposed to be protecting them and thinking about ways to help them grow stronger! Not... whatever this was. Even if it was for the right reasons, it felt wrong.