Shattered Mirrors Ch9. (The Gullible One)

Raph Pov

Lying there on his shell, Raph didn't say a word, watching through the corner of his eye at his little brothers.

Donnie was just sitting there staring into the abyss, while Mikey was attempting to communicate with him.

The lab, Raph became aware that was where he was still at, was quiet in many ways.

It was only them occupying the space at the moment. Yet he swore April was there, he could still smell her scent close to his beak, was she lying with him?

Closing his eyes, he recapped the events beforehand; the strongest memory was the cold, did he over do it?

(Damn, I must have made my own body to cold… That is why she was laying on me. Donnie doesn't seem to be suffering from a fever anymore, yet he is still acting weird.)

Slowly getting up, a gentle hand pressed against his shoulder to stop him, "Whoa Raph, not so fast take it easy."

Rolling his eyes at Mikey, Raph continued sitting up straight, using the wall behind him as support to stay that way.

"I'm fine Mikey. How is Donnie doing," Raph tilted his head towards Donnie, who didn't even blink on hearing his name.

"I… He won't talk to me bro," the orange clad turtle sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed beside Raph, twiddling his thumbs.

"Where is April or Leo at that… Hell, I don't even see LH."

Just as he mentioned Leatherhead's name suddenly Donnie cringed fearfully, as he did, he laid back down quickly covering himself with his blanket suspiciously.

(Okay… Wasn't suspecting that kind of reaction from him…)

Shrugging, keeping his eyes on Donnie, Mikey bit his lip, "I don't know, Leo has been trying to get a hold of him. As for April, she is fetching some water and something to eat for the two of you."

"Oh I see. Well, I'm good to go," Raph tried to get up again, only to have Mikey protested over his stubbornness.

"Like hell you are. You don't pull a stunt like that and believe we would let you just go off on your merry way. Get back to bed RAPH!" Mikey growled, having Raph pushing him to the side like some rag doll, giving the younger brother a devilish smile as he did.

"Nay, I'm good!"

(And I need to know what is going on; April should be in here with Donnie not Mikey.)

April POV

Leaning against the wall with a tray in her hand, the redhead watched Leo passing back and forth, trying to dial up Leatherhead's number yet again.

For over a half hour the leader has been attempting to get a hold of the alligator, only to have the phone ring on end with no sign of anyone trying to answer it.

(Why isn't he answering?)

"Still trying to get a hold of him?" Raph piped up at the lab door catching both turtles by surprise.

(Raph? Damn stubborn fool!)

"Raph what are you doing?!" April narrowed her eyes, only to receive a smirk on the red clad turtle's lips.

"Standing here, waiting for Leo to answer my question," Raph purred enjoying the frustration surfacing on April's face.

"That is not what I was asking! Don't you play innocent with me. Now back to bed."

(Is he smiling more? Damn him, this isn't some game he is playing.)

Sighing Leo got between the two love birds, this wasn't the time for them to have their lovers quarrel, "Now both of you settle down. Raph she is right, you should be in bed…"

"Sorry Leo no can do, someone needs to check up on LH. You're busy with the matters at hand, Mikey will have to take care of the kids soon and April is needed for Donnie. Leaving me to go find out what's up with our friend."

Tightening his grip on his shell cell, Leo bit his lip hard, contemplating on the statement Raph just gave him.

Finally saying something, but not before sighing heavily, letting everyone in the room know he actually came up blank for a protesting reply against Raph, Leo placed the shell cell away.

"Fine, you can go check on him, but you must keep your shell cell in arms length Raph. I swear if there is any sign of trouble you… I mean this Raph," Leo spat noticing Raph was rolling his eyes like some child that found his lecture fruitless. "You will come back home or call, but in no circumstances do you put yourself in harms way? Do you hear me Raphael!?"

"Yes Sir. I will be a good boy and not steer from your orders, sir," Raph mocked back, enjoying the underline stress lines that showed up on his older brother's face.

"Raph…," Leo swallowed back hard the pissy remark he had towards Raph for his behavior, going back to topic in the end. "I mean it. I shouldn't even be allowing you to leave the lair after what you have been through. Yet I have to admit you had a valid point and you are the only one that could go check on him," Leo crossed his arms, frustrated that there was no other way around this.

"Leo take a chill pill, I will be fine. It's only 5 minutes away."

(Five or forty it's still all the same, I wish Leo wouldn't let him go. Why does Raph have to be so stubborn?)

"I am well aware of that Raph… April I will bring the tray in, I need to talk to Mikey anyways," Leo came to April taking the tray from her, he wanted to leave before he said something to his younger brother that would result in some fight between them.

"Sure Leo," April gave him the tray not taking her eyes off of Raph who was acting all proud of himself.

Once Leo was gone, April didn't hold back, pacing up towards the muscle bound turtle, "Raph this is a bad idea. Do you have any clue how bad of shape you were moments ago?"

Smirking brightly Raph closed in, wrapping his arms around her waist, seeing the sour puss expression on her lips.

"Yes I do, I still can feel your stunning body that was pressing against mine. I'm surprised I didn't burn up."

"Raph! This is serious…" April complained only to be interrupted by Raph's lips pressing against hers.

"April I'm fine, don't worry about me. It's sweet, but not necessary. Besides I will only be a bit and you can nurse me all you like afterwards. I wouldn't mind experiencing that sponge bath thing, which so many lucky guys get to have," Raph growled licking April on the cheek.

(What a ham.)

"Oh really now, I will remember that," April tilted her head sideways, making sure the red clad turtle caught the malicious grin on her lips.

"Yeah… That would be… I really need to get going," the male turtle stuttered nervously, this was never a good sign of her acting in such a manner, it meant she was up to something and this wouldn't end so well for him.

Hurrying towards the door Raph left quickly not daring to look back.

(Raph, please be careful. I still don't trust that alligator.)

Raph POV

Making his way to Leatherhead's place, Raph stopped in front of one of the broken camera's that he has been meaning to fix and inform Leo about.

With everything that was going on, it slipped his mind, not just that, it wasn't like Leo made any effort of bringing it up on his behalf as well.

Raph still had no clue who or what did the damage, he couldn't believe he left it this long.

All he knew someone or thing was still around that could be a threat, how irresponsible of him.

Sighing knowing this wasn't the time to worry about it; he will have to revisit the issue later after he was sure Leatherhead was okay first.

The walk only taking five minutes, Raph was relieved to arrive at Leatherhead's place without incident or any signs of danger on the way.

Yet even with the relief there was something in the air that lingered there, making his nerves on edge.

(Why am I so nervous?)

Taking his time to venture into the old subways station Leatherhead claimed as his lab years ago, Raph put his guard up when the feeling escalated, making him wonder if this was a good idea for him to come here alone after all.

Clearing his throat, Raph called out into the darkness before him, "Hey LH are you home?"

With no answer, Raph took out his sai narrowing his eyes to help him adjust quickly, yet only accomplishing in seeing the outlines of Leatherhead's equipment, nothing in great detail though.

(Damn, where is he?)

With another step forward, Raph suddenly got a cold chill down his spine, as he felt something coming at him full force.

Unable to react in time Raph's shell slammed into a nearby pillar hard as a rush of pain invaded his body.

Gasping for air, Raph eye's widen seeing the injured alligator with his blood lust eyes locked onto him, "LH it's me Raph… Shit what happened to you? Who did this to you?"

As if his voice reached the temperamental alligator, his eyes suddenly softened.

Snapping out of his rage, the big guy nervously took a step back in regret of his rash actions towards his turtle friend.

Feeling the cement under his feet once again, Raph took many deep breaths before speaking, "Hey… LH… What is going on…"

Shaking his head the alligator bit his lip, "I… I'm sorry Raphael.. I…"

Giving a reassuring smile Raph nodded, "No sweat, I know you didn't mean to… So are you going to tell me?"

"I… Why are you here Raphael," Leatherhead asked apprehensively, looking over his shoulders as if someone was going to crawl out of the shadows and attack him.

(Ok he is definitely worried. I should take this easy and get him to tell me when he is ready.)

"Well, I came over because we have been trying to call you for some time now. You see Donnie became sick out of the blue, with a high fever and when you haven't answered our calls I came over to check on you…"

"Oh… A fever?" Leatherhead eased up, tilting his head in wonder.

"Yeah, I found him in the bathroom not to long ago throwing up a storm and he was hot as hell. I had to put him under a cold shower to cool him down," Raph explained noticing Leatherhead was settling down.

"That sounds peculiar."

Scratching his head, Raph nodded, "Yep you're telling me. We have no idea what happened or if he got into something he shouldn't have. When April and Leo saw him last he was ok, and then I found him. By chance did you see him before you left? I need to know what he was doing beforehand."

Becoming nervous once again Leatherhead became silent.

(What is going on? What is he hiding?)

"LH what is going on? Who hurt you?" Raph asked again noticing Leatherheads leg look like it was mangled up.

"I… Raph… Its best you leave," Leatherhead stuttered, looking around once again.

(Did he just addressed me by my nickname? Shit something is, wrong!)

Going towards the alligator, Raph placed his hand on his arm to show his support, "LH you can tell me were friends, what's wrong?"

"You will not believe me if I did tell you, I'm sorry my friend."

Not taking that as an answer Raph crossed his arms, "I will determine if I will believe you or not, so spill it."

Sighing Leatherhead sat on the ground as comfortably as he could, "Raphael I have a question for you. Have you noticed… have you witnessed any odd behavior out of Donatello that didn't match to his current state?"

(Wait a minute, why is he bringing Donnie up?)

Choosing his words carefully, Raph responded to the question, "Well not really, except a few times, but that was nothing that odd, why you ask?"

Nodding, the alligator cleared his throat, "For starters, are you aware the machine that was used on April couldn't be operated by anyone that didn't have former knowledge on how it works. When I say that none of the files Donatello had created in the past would have helped to get it to work correctly."

"No, I didn't know, what are you getting at LH?"

"Raph that machine could only work if it was the old Donatello using it, not the current one… You see I think I discovered a disturbing development with your brother that I didn't notice until it was too late."

Leaning against a pillar, Raph closed his eyes, "Okay… and what would that be. The way you're going your sounding like Donnie is fine, but I know he isn't."

"Oh you're correct on that, he isn't fine at all, far from it. Raphael I believe your brother has a split personality disorder."

Shocked Raph straitened up, feeling all the blood drain from his face, "WHAT?! What do you mean he has a split personality? Where do you get that idea? Is this over the mystery of April's mutation?"

Clenching his fist Leatherhead growled fiercely, "No! From the fact he ambushed me in his own lab, beat the shit out of me and threatened my life in the process. He acted nothing like that docile and confused side that he has been showing to you and your family. He was aggressive, possessive and the way he spoke was beyond the capability of the side he has shown to all of us thus far."

(No this can't be happening…)

"No… Damn it NO! LH you must be mistaken… Please, you must be mistaken…"

"RAPH does these injuries look self conflicted to you? What would I have to gain to spin such a lie? He did this to me, I too am in shock," Leatherhead slammed his fist to the ground.

(Fuck, this can't be happening…)

Biting his lip, Raph put his hand on his face to hide the tears that were forming, "Shit LH… How is this possible… Why haven't we seen this then?"

"I don't know, maybe it's a defense mechanism to protect himself when he feels threatened. I am new to him; he must proceeded me as someone that would hurt him. Or he heard how I lost myself around April. He seemed very possessive over her, more than anything."

"We need to talk to Leo…" Raph started to walk away, he needed to get home fast and let Leo know before something worse happens.

They needed to figure out how to handle this, how to help his poor brother, this is all he needed on top of everything else he went through.

Was this god damn rollercoaster ride ever going to end?

How long does Donnie have to suffer, why can't he just be his old self again?

Stopping the turtle in his tracks, Leatherhead wouldn't allow Raph to leave, "We can't."

Turning around quickly Raph was confused, "Why not, what you describe and the way you look who knows when this other side of Donnie will show up and what he will do to any of us. He might seriously hurt one of us!"

"I understand your concerns, but I doubt it will, unless he is provoked. He threatened to kill me if I dared to bring this up to one of you. What do you think he will do if he finds out? The Donatello you know will do nothing, but the other half might, you can't risk it."

(Shit, what am I to do?)

"So then what leave it? You know we can't just do that either!" Raph held his side feeling like he was losing it.

"No, I think the best options before us, is you to evaluate him. Yet keep in mind of this depressing information, to see if you can determine his behavioral patterns. This way we can figure out how to help him properly. If he doesn't suspect a thing he might show himself more and you will be able to notice these patterns than before. Considering all this time you might have written it off as him having a good day or whatever other reason that comes to mind. He might be doing things that you didn't realize he was doing behind your backs and close doors. Only coming to the conclusion in the end it had to be someone else's doing, not his. Resorting to the path of thought that he is incapable in doing certain tasks," Leatherhead sat back down.

"So spy on Donnie, great… LH do you by chance believe Donnie could be capable of destroying cameras that surrounding the lair?" Raph asked not believing he was.

"I believe so. Why you ask?"

(So Donnie could have been the one that had taken down the cameras when we weren't paying attention? We have been giving him more free time alone… Maybe that was a bad idea after all… Still, why would he take down the cameras?)

Shaking his head Raph let it drop, "Just wondering. Ok I will not tell anyone for now; I really don't need him to go all dark side on us. I guess you need to go to his lab sometime soon too, you would notice things there then I would. But how do we go about it without making Donnie piss. Man, this isn't going to be easy."

"No, it won't be. For now I will work on that other request you had with the kids. I think that would be a way for me to come back. But first I need to heal so no one will question my injuries. I will tell Leo the samples I have here, are all I need for now and can do it in my own lab for I feel shameful for my actions towards April. That will not raise any suspicion."

"Yeah, that would work, so how does finding out who is the kids' father going to help you?"

Smiling Leatherhead nodded, "Oh that is simple Raphael my friend, I will not doubt win the trust over April, even though she would be upset with me for doing this. I doubt Donatello's other side would show itself in front of her, giving me the opportunity to come over more. But only when you can keep Donatello distracted, I can't be alone with him in case he wants to claim his territory again with me."

"Ok sounds like a plan. I'm sorry what Donnie did to you…"

"It's ok my friend I understand and wish only to help your dear brother, for he is also my friend and like family. Which I regard you and your brothers as well," Leatherhead smiled more at his friend.