Remember. [TMNT 2012]

Chapter 24; Leonardo

Song: Fire - Beartooth

Raphael, Donatello and I are on the move. I lead the way across rooftops as Donatello calls up directions to me.

"Turn left here," the purple-clad turtle is saying. "Take another left," he speaks again after a few seconds. He continues to direct us until finally, he orders us to stop.

"I don't get it." At the confused note in Donatello's voice, Raphael and I look over. Our tallest brother has his brown eyes locked on the tracker in his hands. "It says Mikey was here for a long time, but now he's traveling north. And at a pretty fast pace, too."

"What do you think that means, Donnie?" I ask him. I hope it isn't bad, but my fear is only confirmed when my brother answers.

"It either means Mikey had some desire to have an adventure in the middle of the night, or someone got to him before us."

I bite my lip. Michelangelo may not be the brightest light bulb, but he knows better than to go out on adventures by himself. That leaves only one obvious answer: my youngest brother is in trouble, and it's all my fault.

I don't get a chance to beat myself up for it, however, because Raphael starts talking.

"Leo, I swear, if you're thinking awful thoughts about yourself again, I will personally push you off of this building," he scolds me.

I'm caught off-guard. "H-how did you know-"

"I know how it feels to hate yourself for mistakes," Raphael cuts me off impatiently. "You're our leader, and even you'll do things you shouldn't. We're only teenagers, so no turtle can blame you. So, stop whining and get your sorry butt into action!"

I blink. I'm taken aback by Raphael's speech. Regardless of how he knows what I'm thinking, he's right; I need to stop moping around. It's time I start acting like a real leader again and get our brother back.

A surge of strength passes through me. I look over at Donatello. "Do you have Mikey's coordinates?"

Donatello starts to press buttons on the gadget. A few moments pass before his attention is on me. "Location locked," he confirms.

"Let's move out!" I command. I take the lead more confidently than I did before, and we set off on our mission to finish tracking Michelangelo.

   We fly through the night, rooftop to rooftop. We land effortlessly and never once lose our balance. We are ninjas; we train for this. It's what we live for.

   At Donatello's word, we pause in our tracks again. "Mikey should be in this very building." He puts his tracker away. "Judging by the looks of this place, this is a Foot Clan hideout." Donatello quickly surveys the area for a way in. "There's a sun window over there.  We can lower ourselves inside with our grappling hooks."

   "No way," Raphael argues. "That's practically saying, 'Hey, ambush me!'"

   "We don't have a choice, Raph," I reply, grateful for his usual protests.  Everything is almost normal again. "We weren't going to get out of this without a fight, anyway."

   The red-clad turtle doesn't look convinced, but he also doesn't protest again. Instead, he cracks his knuckles and whips out his grappling hook, along with a sai. "Let's go take out some Footbots."

   I unlatch the sun roof and open it slowly. The floor is a long way down.  The darkness swirling below almost makes me dizzy.  Nothing stirs in the black depths, providing me with a sense of momentary reassurance.

   "Careful, team," I warn as I turn my back to the window. "I don't see anything right now, but something could be down there and waiting to pounce."