[Pitch is led on a chase worthy of the canniest fox with a pack of baying hounds on its tail. Leo is fast and inventive, and the mental and physical tools he has at his disposal have gotten him out of scrapes before. He turns to one after another, resting what confidence remains on the hope that the next one will work.
But as the shadows close in and nothing Leo tries can shake the pursuit in the slightest, he starts to feel desperate. If he was thinking rationally, he would realize this couldn't be his flesh-and-blood enemy - Shredder can't darken the lights, or pursue so closely without ever being fully seen, or start to corner him by appearing at opposite alleyways in a blink.
Unfortunately for rationality, the fear is a creature of its own now, worming its way into the weak points of his psychological defenses and spreading like a disease. Leo can't think beyond the mad dash to escape, and he knows that to make a stand is to hasten his demise; in his condition, Shredder will undoubtedly floor him in less than a minute. So Leo keeps running, far past the point when he should have conserved his energy for the inevitable fight.
As he tires, Leo instinctively thinks of going to ground. But he dares not lead the Shredder to a safe location or to family and he can't access the Keeliai sewers, so he slips into the canals. Surely this will shake his enemy, a human weighted down with heavy armor. But even the teenager's best swimming can't shake his pursuit, and Leonardo - a turtle for goodness' sake - is gasping for air by the time he abandons the effort, hauling himself over the lip of the bank with trembling arms and thudding heart. He scrambles onto dry land and turns before he's even stood up, eyes searching his surroundings; he's got to have made it this time -
But the lights dim, shadows close in and he hears the shink of blades. With a terrorized gasp Leo is back on his feet, expending the last of his energy in a now-hopeless rush to turn some new corner that will magically shake his enemy.
And then he finds himself in a dead end. Leo's throat is dry, his chest aches from the constant adrenalin spikes and trying to hold his breath past even his limits. His shell is against the wall: Leo is cornered. Even though fear calcifies his throat and drains the strength from his knees, the warrior refuses to die with his katana sheathed.
Leo draws his blades once again. His strength is shot, every nerve wound tight as a violin string as he nearly vibrates with terrorized anticipation of the first punishing strike. With his grip weakened by exhaustion he'll probably be disarmed in a matter of seconds, but he'll do everything he can to hold out.
All he can think of now is his brothers. When Shredder's through with Leonardo he'll hunt the rest of them down. Leo's the only one who seriously thought of this inevitability, the only one who truly prepared - Raph is over-confident with their new-found social acceptability and will be downright easy to hunt down, and Mikey - oh god, Mikey.
no subject
But as the shadows close in and nothing Leo tries can shake the pursuit in the slightest, he starts to feel desperate. If he was thinking rationally, he would realize this couldn't be his flesh-and-blood enemy - Shredder can't darken the lights, or pursue so closely without ever being fully seen, or start to corner him by appearing at opposite alleyways in a blink.
Unfortunately for rationality, the fear is a creature of its own now, worming its way into the weak points of his psychological defenses and spreading like a disease. Leo can't think beyond the mad dash to escape, and he knows that to make a stand is to hasten his demise; in his condition, Shredder will undoubtedly floor him in less than a minute. So Leo keeps running, far past the point when he should have conserved his energy for the inevitable fight.
As he tires, Leo instinctively thinks of going to ground. But he dares not lead the Shredder to a safe location or to family and he can't access the Keeliai sewers, so he slips into the canals. Surely this will shake his enemy, a human weighted down with heavy armor. But even the teenager's best swimming can't shake his pursuit, and Leonardo - a turtle for goodness' sake - is gasping for air by the time he abandons the effort, hauling himself over the lip of the bank with trembling arms and thudding heart. He scrambles onto dry land and turns before he's even stood up, eyes searching his surroundings; he's got to have made it this time -
But the lights dim, shadows close in and he hears the shink of blades. With a terrorized gasp Leo is back on his feet, expending the last of his energy in a now-hopeless rush to turn some new corner that will magically shake his enemy.
And then he finds himself in a dead end. Leo's throat is dry, his chest aches from the constant adrenalin spikes and trying to hold his breath past even his limits. His shell is against the wall: Leo is cornered. Even though fear calcifies his throat and drains the strength from his knees, the warrior refuses to die with his katana sheathed.
Leo draws his blades once again. His strength is shot, every nerve wound tight as a violin string as he nearly vibrates with terrorized anticipation of the first punishing strike. With his grip weakened by exhaustion he'll probably be disarmed in a matter of seconds, but he'll do everything he can to hold out.
All he can think of now is his brothers. When Shredder's through with Leonardo he'll hunt the rest of them down. Leo's the only one who seriously thought of this inevitability, the only one who truly prepared - Raph is over-confident with their new-found social acceptability and will be downright easy to hunt down, and Mikey - oh god, Mikey.
The darkness closes in.]