The Colors of a Bruise
@red-and-restrained
Michelangelo ultimately obeyed his scientific sibling’s suggestion that they refrain from upsetting their father further... refrain from explaining that after five days of being declared “missing in action” they found out Leo and Raph weren’t captured by the Kraang, but rather by Shredder’s henchmen. As dire as things were they finally knew without a doubt where their missing brothers were, and... thanks to April’s intuition... that they also were okay. So without further delay Donatello forged a plan to get them out, and it was agreed that it would be far less stressful for the rat if they explained the situation after Raph and Leo were safe again.
No Mutanimals either. It was a stealth mission pure and simple: get in, grab their brothers, run for it. No rushing in on a blaze of glory, no confrontation whatsoever...
the situation was far too dire for that kind of risk.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t have brought Leatherhead though?” Mikey whispered, ignoring the fact that Donatello had successfully brought them past the first line of defense and it was now too late for second thoughts.
____
Leonardo sheathed his gauntlets as he stepped out of the practice room, still overflowing with physical energy even after the long sparring session had come to an end. Despite the fact that his muscles were free of heaviness and aches sweat clung to his black mask as new concepts and twisted perspectives clicked together in his mind, cemented in place by every new move Master Shredder had shown him.
He took the painkillers Stockman provided, as they helped numb the pain of his oncoming migraine.
“Hmph, that went well” he mused earnestly, watching his sibling from the corner of his eye as he swallowed the pills and followed them up with a glass of lukewarm water “Don’t tell Master Shredder I said this, but I didn’t make much sense out of his words during yesterday’s training”
He took a fresh towel from a nearby basin and started roughly cleaning off the sweat dripping down his brow
“I do now though. The way we were used, the weakness we suffered, the opportunities ahead, our true potential, it’s all coming together... I’m just mad at myself for taking this long to catch on”
Leonardo let out a heavy sigh and threw the sweat-soaked towel back in the basin with the sharp precise flick of his arm, hoping that a bit of talk would help organize his thoughts and answer the questions he wouldn’t dare ask his new sensei face to face.
